雙語有聲閱讀 | 亨利八世的第五任妻子

I took the last letter out of the box and held it in my hand while I answered Margaret's questions. She wanted to know everything.

我回答瑪格麗特的問題時，把最后一封信從盒子里拿出來，握在手里。她什么都想知道。

And who was the King's fifth wife?' she asked.

“誰是國王的第五任妻子?”她問道。

Katherine Howard.'

“凱瑟琳·霍華德。”

Why did the King want to marry again?'

“國王為什么又想結婚呢?”

He still wanted to have another son, you see. A brother for Prince Edward.'

“他還想再要個兒子，你知道。給愛德華王子作弟弟。”

And how did he meet Katherine?' asked Margaret.

“他是怎么遇到凱瑟琳的?”瑪格麗特問。

She was one of the ladies at Queen Anne's palace, so Henry knew her already. She was only eighteen. Henry fell in love with her immediately. He called her "his beautiful flower" and sent her many expensive presents—gold and jewels and fine dresses.'

“她是安妮王后宮里的一位貴族小姐，所以亨利早就認識她了。她那時只有18歲，亨利立刻就愛上了她。他把她稱作是‘他美麗的花朵’，并送給她很多貴重的禮物——金銀珠寶和漂亮的衣服。”

But did she want to marry him?'

“但是她愿意嫁給他嗎?”

I smiled. 'If the King of England wants to marry you, how do you say no? Henry was very much in love and he wanted to marry her immediately. The Howard family is an old and famous one, and they were very happy for Katherine to marry the King.'

我笑了。“如果英格蘭國王想要娶你，你又怎么能拒絕呢?亨利深深地愛著她并想馬上和她結婚?；羧A德家族是個名門望族，而且他們很愿意凱瑟琳嫁給國王。”

Was he happy with his new Queen?'

“他對他的新王后滿意嗎?”

Yes,' I said. 'At first. She was young, beautiful, and exciting. Very different from Anne of Cleves.'

“是的，”我說，“一開始是這樣的。當初她年輕美貌，惹人喜愛，與克利夫斯的安妮截然不同。”

And did she learn to love the King?'

“那她試著去愛國王了嗎?”

Who can say? But I don't think so. Henry was forty-nine, thirty years older than her. He was very, very fat and heavy. His face was more like a potato than ever, and his eyes were always half-closed. He had a very bad leg and often couldn't walk—and he was always angry when his leg hurt.'

“誰知道呢?但我想沒有。亨利那時已經(jīng)49歲了，比她大30歲。他極其肥胖，而且很笨重。他的臉比以前更像土豆，眼睛也總是半閉著。他有一條腿不太靈便，經(jīng)常無法行走——腿痛發(fā)作時他總是暴跳如雷。”

Margaret looked at the letter in my hand. 'I don't think that I would like to marry a fat old man with a bad leg who couldn't walk!' she said.

瑪格麗特看著我手中的信。“我想我不會愿意嫁給一個又肥又老，且有一條腿行動不便的男人的!”她說。

I laughed. 'But the King's wife, remember, was also the Queen of England, the first lady in the country.'

我笑道：“別忘了，國王的妻子就是英格蘭的王后，也就是國家的第一夫人。”

Yes, that's true,' said Margaret. 'And did they have a son?'

“是的，確實是這樣，”瑪格麗特說，“他們有兒子嗎?”

No, they didn't. They weren't married for very long. Before Katherine married Henry, she had lovers. Henry didn't know this. He thought that he was Katherine's first lover. And about six months after Katherine married Henry, she began to see another man called Thomas Culpeper. He was tall and handsome. Katherine wrote love letters to him, and they met secretly at night.'

“不，他們沒有。他們結婚的時間并不長。凱瑟琳嫁給亨利之前，已經(jīng)有了幾個情人。亨利并不知道這個，他以為他是凱瑟琳的初戀情人。凱瑟琳嫁給亨利大約六個月后，她就開始和另一個叫托馬斯·卡爾佩珀的男人約會。他高大而英俊，凱瑟琳給他寫情書，而且他們在夜里私會。”

What a dangerous thing to do!' said Margaret. 'Katherine wasn't very clever, I'm afraid.'

“做這事兒可太危險了!”瑪格麗特說，“恐怕凱瑟琳不太明智。”

And people saw her and began to talk about it, and somebody told the King... One of his friends wrote it all down in a letter, and put the letter into Henry's hand when he was in church.'

“人們看見了她，并開始議論起來，后來有人把此事告訴了國王……他的一個朋友把這一切都寫在了信上，趁亨利在教堂時，把信塞到了他的手里。”

Oh dear,' said Margaret. 'So then...' Already she knew what happened next.

“哦天吶，”瑪格麗特叫道，“那么后來……”她已猜到后面發(fā)生的事了。

Yes,' I said. 'Henry was wildly angry. He talked, people say, about taking a sword and cutting off her head himself. But he sent Thomas Culpeper to prison, and soon after he sent Katherine to the Tower.'

“是的，”我說，“亨利勃然大怒。據(jù)說，他揚言要用刀親自把她的頭砍下來。但后來他把托馬斯·卡爾佩珀打入監(jiān)牢，隨后不久又把凱瑟琳送進了倫敦塔。”

Like Anne Boleyn, years before,' said Margaret.

“和幾年前安妮·博倫一樣。”瑪格麗特說。

Let's see what her letter says,' I said, opening it. 'The writing is very untidy—I think she wrote this in a hurry.'

“咱們看看她信上說些什么，”我打開信說道，“信寫得非常潦草——我想她寫的時候一定很匆忙。”

Tower of London

倫敦塔

11th February 1541

1541年2月11日

Dear Henry

親愛的亨利：

Please forgive me! I didn't want to make you unhappy and angry. Believe me!

請原諒我!我沒想讓你不悅并惹你生氣。相信我!

It's true that when I was a young girl, I was friendly with different young men. I was so young and stupid. I also spent a lot of time with Thomas Culpeper when I was your wife. But believe me, Henry, I didn't know what I was doing. Remember, I am only twenty years old now. You are so much older than me, and you understand much more about the world.

當我還是個少女時，的確和各種各樣的年輕男子交往密切。我當時太小了，什么都不懂。和你結婚后，我也確實和托馬斯·卡爾佩珀度過了很多時光。但是相信我，亨利，我不知道自己在做什么。想想看，我現(xiàn)在只有20歲。你比我年長很多，比我更了解世事。

Please, Henry, please, please help me! Don't send me to my death! I am so afraid here in the Tower—I pray day and night that you will come and take me away. How can you kill your beautiful flower? They tell me that in two days' time they will cut off my head... Henry, I don't want to die! Please let me live a little longer... please! Just a few weeks... a few days... Please, Henry, please...

求求你，亨利，求你了，求你救救我!不要讓我去死!我在塔里很害怕——我整日祈禱，希望你能來把我?guī)ё撸阍趺纯梢詺⑺滥忝利惖幕ǘ淠?他們告訴我，會在兩天內(nèi)把我處死……亨利，我不想死!請讓我再多活一段時間吧……求求你了!哪怕僅有幾星期……幾天……求求你，亨利，求求你……

Your unhappy wife

你不幸的妻子

Katherine Howard

凱瑟琳·霍華德

When I finished reading the letter, Margaret was silent. Perhaps she could hear Katherine Howard's cries and see her white face.

我讀完這封信時，瑪格麗特沉默了。她好像聽到了凱瑟琳的哭喊，看到了她蒼白的臉。

I put the letter away, and Margaret looked at me.

我把信收了起來，瑪格麗特看著我。

There aren't any more letters, are there?' she said.

“沒有信了，是嗎?”她說。

No,' I said. 'That was the last letter.'

“沒有了，”我說，“那是最后一封。”