昔日的英国王室 伊丽莎白女王

PART TWO: ELIZABETHI - THE VERGIN QUEEN

Introduction Queen Elizabeth's reign was so important in history that it was called the Elizabethan Age.

During her reign England's progress in the field of discovery and colonization was immense. Englishmen explored the New World and brought back an incredible amount of riches. Trade began with other countries which helped to develop English commerce.

This was the beginning of the English colonization in the New World.

The Elizabethan Age was also rich in learning. It was the age of Shakespeare, Bacon, Marlowe and other famous names.

Queen Elizabeth I was an exceptional Queen. Like her father, Henry VIII, she was very intelligent and had a strong character.

Unlike him, she was just and moderate . Her people loved her greatly.

She brought peace, unity and power to her country.

Chapter One: Young Elizabeth 

Elizabeth was born on 7 Septel 11. ber 1533. Her childhood was not happy.

She was two years old when her mother, Anne Boleyn, was beheaded. She spent most of her early life at Hatfield House, away from her father, King Henry VIII.

However, Henry wanted his daughter to have the best education. Roger Ascham, a great scholar and humanist , was Elizabeth's private teacher. She was very intelligent, witty and enjoyed learning. She could read, write and speak Latin, Greek, French, Spanish, Italian and Welsh fluently .

Elizabeth loved riding horses, hunting and dancing. Like her father, she had a talent for music and played the lute and the virginals. Unlike her father,

she was very thrifty and did not like spending money.

Elizabeth wasn't beautiful but she was elegant. She was thin, of medium height and very vain . She had red hair, expressive eyes and lovely hands.

When Henry VIII died in 1547, Edward VI became King at the age of nine.

But his reign was short. He died of tuberculosis when he was only fifteen.

In 1553 his half-sister Mary (Catherine of Aragon's daughter) became Queen. Her mother was a Catholic and she wanted England to be a Catholic country again. Protestants were persecuted and almost 300 were killed.

For this reason she was also known as "Bloody Mary".

Young Elizabeth was in danger because she was a Protestant and was very popular with the people. Queen Mary thought Elizabeth plotted against her and imprisoned her in the Tower of London in 1554. Elizabeth never forgot this terrible experience. After two months Mary freed her.

On the night of 17 November 1558 Queen Mary died. The bells of London rang and everyone celebrated: young Elizabeth was the new Queen!

Elizabeth became Queen at the age of 25. Like others of her time Elizabeth believed in astrology . Her astrologer was John Dee, a famous astronomer.

He chose the best day for her coronation ceremony: 15 January 1559.

Elizabeth was loved by the people but she was still in danger. The Kings of France and Spain wanted to invade England and bring back the Catholic faith.

The young Queen was alert, clever and prudent . She carefully chose advisers who were honest, loyal and experienced.

William Cecil was Elizabeth's Secretary of State and her most important minister. He was her dear friend and she trusted him completely. Cecil served her for 40 years! Elizabeth was very wise to choose Matthew Parker as Archbishop of Canterbury. He established a moderate Church of England and created a compromise between Catholics and extreme Protestants.

She also chose Lord Robert Dudley to be part of her court. He was her childhood friend and sweetheart, and remained one of her favorites for many years.

Elizabeth was a strong ruler. England was now a Protestant country. The Act of Supremacy made her Head of the Church of England. All priests had to use the Book of Common Prayer.

The Queen liked meeting her people and was always kind to the old and the sick. She and her court frequently went on tours, or "progresses", around the country to visit noble subjects. It was an honor to be part of a royal tour.

However, the cost of entertaining the Queen and her court was astronomical and several nobles went bankrupt !

格利弗游记

Part Two: Life in Lilliput 

The next day the Emperor of Lilliput came to see me again. I tried to speak to him in English, but he did not understand me. I tried all the languages I knew, but he still did not understand me. He stayed about two hours, and then he went away. He left some soldiers in charge of me.

Some of the people from the city began to come near me. They, too,wanted to see the giant man. Not all of them were friendly, however. A small group of them began to shoot arrows at me. The colonel in charge of the soldiers was very angry, and he captured six of the ringleaders . He told the soldiers to tie them with ropes. Then he gave them to me to punish. I picked up all six men in my hand, and put five of them into my pocket. I lifted the sixth man very close to my face. I pretended that I wanted to eat him, and took out my penknife . The colonel and the soldiers looked unhappy when they saw me doing this — and the prisoner was terrified! I

put the knife near the man's body, and gently cut the ropes around him. Then I placed him on the ground. I did the same thing with the other five men.

The soldiers and the people were very happy when they saw that I was kind to the men who had tried to hurt me with their arrows.

The Emperor asked his government ministers what to do with me. They suggested that someone should teach me their language. I studied very hard,

and in about a month I could speak it. Then I told the Emperor that I was tired of being a prisoner. I asked him to let me go. He said that he would consider my request. He asked me to be patient, and he told me they would treat me well. Then the Emperor told me that he wanted his soldiers to search me for weapons. I replied that I would show his men everything I had in my pockets. The Emperor thanked me, but he explained that the law was very clear: the search had to be carried out by the Emperor's men themselves. He asked me to help the men carry out the search. I agreed to do this. I picked up the two men very carefully, and put them into my coat pockets. The two men later wrote a report for the Emperor. This is what they said in the report:

We found a very large piece of cloth in the giant 's right pocket. In his left pocket we found a very large metal box. We asked the giant man to open this box for us. It contained a kind of powder that made us sneeze a lot. Then we looked in the giant's right waistcoat-pocket. We found some pieces of white material, and these were tied with ropes. We think these are papers, because there seems to be writing on them. The letters are very large - each letter is as big as a man's hand!

We found a huge machine in the giant's left waistcoat-pocket . This machine has about twenty pieces of metal on it. We think it is the giant's comb . In both of his trouser pockets we found a very long tube of metal attached to a piece of wood. We donot know wha tthis is. Then we saw a  very large chain that went into another pocket. We asked the giant to show us the whole chain. He pulled it out of his pocket, and we saw a large machine on the end of it. This machine is round, and it has writing on it.

This machine makes a huge noise. We do not know if the machine is an animal, or a kind of god. We believe it may be the giant's god, because of something he told us. He said,

'I never do anything without looking at this first.'

The giant has a belt around his body, and there are some objects hanging from this. We saw a huge sword , the length of five men. We also saw a large bag on the belt. This contains some metal balls and some black powder — we do not know what these are.

I did not show the two men the pocket where I kept my glasses.

The Emperor was very curious to see all the objects described in the report.

First he asked to see my sword. Then he wanted to see the 'very long tube of metal attached to a piece of wood.' I explained that this was my pistol, and I offered to fire it for him. I took some of the 'black powder', and put it into the pistol. Then I fired - the noise frightened the Emperor's soldiers very much! Next the Emperor wanted to see my watch. He did not know what it was, but he was very interested in the noise it made.

Everybody in Lilliput was very happy with my behaviour, and the people began to trust me. Sometimes they came to dance on my hand. The children played hide and seek in my hair.

The Emperor was very pleased with me as well, and he invited me to see some special dances. These dances are performed in the Emperor's court, by his ministers and other important people. They are very strange dances.

For the first dance, they place a rope above the ground, and the ministers dance on this rope. The government minister who does the best dance is given a government job. These dances are very dangerous, and there are many accidents. Most of the Emperor's ministers fall off the rope sooner or later, and are injured.

There is another kind of dance that is performed in the Emperor's court.

This dance is performed for the Emperor, the Empress, and the first minister.

The Emperor puts some coloured threads on a table. The threads are blue,

red, and green. Then the dancers enter the room, and the performance begins.

The Emperor holds a long piece of wood in front of himself. The dancers jump over the wood, or go under it. The Emperor raises and lowers the wood all the time, and it is difficult for the dancers to know whether they have to jump or to go under the wood. The best dancer is given the blue thread, the second best dancer is given the red one, and the third best is given the green one. Everyone in the court wants to win a blue thread. It is a great honour to have a piece of blue thread.

I thought it was a good idea to make a friend of the Emperor, and I tried to please him. He was very proud of his soldiers, and this gave me an idea. One day I organised a special military parade for him. I placed some sticks on the ground. Then I tied my handkerchief to the sticks, and lifted some of the Emperor's horsemen onto the handkerchief. They had a parade in the air, and this amused the Emperor greatly! Another time, the Emperor's army had a parade near the city. The Emperor asked me to stand very still with my feet apart—and the whole army marched between my legs!

I asked the Emperor again to give me my freedom. The Emperor asked his ministers if this was a good idea. They said I had to agree to certain conditions before I could have my freedom. The two most important conditions were these: I must not leave Lilliput without permission, and I must help the Emperor's army if there was a war. I agreed to these conditions, and the Emperor gave me my freedom.