II. The Political Career of Francis Bacon
第二部分 培根的政治生涯
Bacon was born on January 22, 1561, at York House, London, the residence of his father, Sir Nicholas Bacon, who for the first twenty years of Elizabeth's reign had been Keeper of the Great Seal.
1561年1月22日，培根在他父亲尼古拉斯培根勋爵的府邸伦敦约客府降生。在伊丽莎白执政的最初20年，他父亲一直负责掌管王印。
出生于金雀花王朝后期
兰卡斯特家族PK约克家族（玫瑰战争）
"The fame of the father," says Macaulay, "has been thrown into the shade by that of the son. But Sir Nicholas was no ordinary man."
麦考来曾说：“父亲的声威被儿子的名望掩盖了，但尼古拉斯勋爵绝非等闲之辈。”
一旦用来爵位的称号，后面一定要跟他的名，不是姓。
Sir/Duke
It was one might have suspected; for genius is an apex, to which a family builds itself through talent, and through talent in the genius's offspring subsides again towards the mediocrity of man.
就像可能有些人这样认为，天才一旦到了顶峰，因为整个家族通过天才不断的蓄力，天才的天赋到了天才的后代的时候就慢慢退化，就变成平庸众人。
talent是养成的
genius是天生的
Bacon's mother was Lady Anne Cooke, sister-in-law of Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley, who was Elizabeth's Lord Treasurer , and one of the most powerful men in England.
培根的母亲安妮.库克是伊丽莎白的财政大臣威廉.塞西尔勋爵（即伯利勋爵）的小姨子，塞西尔在英格兰极有权势人之一。
Her father had been chief tutor of King Edward VI; she herself was a linguist and a theologian, and thought nothing of corresponding in Greek with bishops.
安妮的父亲曾是英王爱德华六世的首席教师；她本人则是一位语言学家与神学家，但是她和这些主教不同之处就是可以用希腊语来思考。
那时神学家都是用拉丁语来思考的。
She made herself instructress of her son, and spared no pains in his education.
她亲自教养儿子，并不遗余力。
But the real nurse of Bacon's greatness was Elizabethan England, the greatest age of the most powerful of modern nations.
然而，对培根伟大之处真正给养的是伊丽莎白时代的英国--这个强国最伟大的时代。
The discovery of America had diverted trade from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, had raised the Atlantic nations—Spain and France and Holland and England—to that commercial and financial supremacy which had been Italy's when half of Europe had made her its port of entry and exit in the Eastern trade;
因为美洲的发现使贸易中心由地中海转到大西洋，并且真正提升了大西洋沿岸的几个国家--西班牙、荷兰、法国及英国--提升到在商业与金融至高无上的地位，取代了意大利--曾经半个欧洲将其作为与东方进行贸易的口岸。
历史背景：
中世纪和文艺复兴时代，因为十字军东征打开了向东的道路，如：海路，所以意大利是整个欧洲的港口。
and with this change the Renaissance had passed from Florence and Rome and Milan and Venice to Madrid and Paris and Amsterdam and London.
随着这样的变化，文艺复兴由佛罗伦萨和罗马和米兰和威尼斯转向了马德里、巴黎、阿姆斯特丹及伦敦。
After the destruction of the Spanish naval power in 1588, the commerce of England spread over every sea, her towns throve with domestic industry, her sailors circumnavigated the globe and her captains won America.
1588年，西班牙队无敌舰队被击溃，英国建了海上霸权，英国商业迅速扩张至海外，国内工业与城市发展也日趋繁荣，水手们环游地球，船长们征服美洲。
（经济，政治，军事）
英国海上将领尼尔森
Her literature blossomed into Spenser's poetry and Sidney's prose;
英国文学在斯宾塞的诗歌与西德尼的散文中大放异彩。
her stage throbbed with the dramas of Shakespeare and Marlowe and Ben Jonson and a hundred vigorous pens.
莎士比亚、马洛、本.琼森以及众多健笔如飞的剧作家也开始活跃在舞台上。
vigorous pens很多剧本可能不是莎士比亚自己写的。
语言点
Keeper of the Great Seal: 掌玺大臣
be thrown into the shade of: 活在……的阴影下
apex: n. 顶点
build oneself: 蓄力
subside: vi. 退化
Lord Treasurer: n. 财政大臣
bishop: n. 主教
instructress: n. 女家庭教师
spare no pains: 不遗余力
supremacy: n. 至高无上的地位
spread over every sea: 在每一片海域都出现
thrive: vi. 发展
circumnavigate: vt. 环航
throb: vi. 跳动；悸动
vigorous pens: 健笔如飞的作家们
