2023考研英語閱讀英國鄉紳

　　The Englishgentry;Happy landings

　　英國鄉紳;一路順風;

　　The gentry: story of the English. By Adam Nicolson.

　　《鄉紳：英國的故事》，亞當尼克森著。

　　Adam Nicolson has written many books on historyand the countryside, including two about hisfamily s properties at opposite ends of the BritishIsles, Sissinghurst Castle in Kent and the ShiantIsles in the Outer Hebrides. Now he has turned hisattention to the class to which his family can be saidto belong. His grandmother, Vita Sackville-West, was unashamedly a member of thearistocracy but Mr Nicolson states that the gentry has always been composed of GentleUngentles, younger sons and daughters of old families who have declined into the gentry,and Ungentle Gentles, people of more humble origin who through their ability andachievements have advanced up the social ladder.

　　亞當 尼克森寫過很多以歷史和農村為題材的著作，其中包括介紹他家位于不列顛群島兩端的兩處房產：肯特州的悉心赫斯特城堡和外赫布里斯群島的西恩特群島。現在他已經將注意力轉向他家族所在的階層。他的祖母，維塔薩克維爾維斯特，是一位生活無所顧忌貴族。 但是尼克森指出鄉紳階層是由兩種人組成的：出身紳士的平民，他們出身于已退變為鄉紳階層的舊式家族的年輕一代;出身平民的紳士，也就是那些出身卑微，但是憑借自己的能力和成就擠入上層社會的人。

　　Today the term gentry in Britain evokes the introductory chat at an upper-middle-classdinner partyhow did you get here, who do you know, how is Aletheia? It suggests a cosy,genteel, exclusive and somewhat smug world in which background and family are deemedmore important than individual qualities. It is also often preceded by the word landed. Thelaunch of Burke s Landed Gentry, an encyclopedic tome first published in 1826, is partlyresponsible for this . But the principal reason is that the story of thegentry is all about Land.

　　如今在英國鄉紳這個詞讓人想到的就是在一個上流社會的晚宴上開始閑聊的前奏你怎么過來的啊?你認識誰呢?阿萊西婭最近可好呀?這表明在這個親切、高雅、排外，甚至幾分自鳴得意的階層里，一個人的背景和出身比他的品性更為重要。 鄉紳 的前面也經常會加上有土地的這個詞。這個詞的普及有一部份原因歸功于1826年初版的百科全書式大本書《伯克鄉紳名錄》。。但其主要原因在于所有關于鄉紳的故事都和土地密不可分。

　　Mr Nicolson has taken 12 families who are scattered all over England , and, using letters, diaries and legal documents, told their stories at aparticular date and crisis in their existence. He has produced a wonderful portrait ofEngland and the families that were its bedrock. The tale begins 600 years ago with thePlumptons, caught up in the Wars of the Roses, and concludes with the Cliffords, who haveowned and farmed the same corner of Gloucestershire for almost 1,000 years. Whereas thecore values of grace, enterprise and chivalry were crucial to the gentry s idea ofthemselves, Mr Nicolson makes it clear that money and conflict were as important as bloodand family. The gentry were a flexible class and lived a life of struggle and competition.There was no certainty. Survival was what mattered and there was much hedging of bets.

　　尼克森從分布在英格蘭各個地方的十二個家族著手，并利用相關的信件、日記、和法律文書，講述他們某段時間里的故事和生活中的危機。他描繪英國壯麗的景象，而這些家庭則構成了英國的牢固基礎。故事從在600年前玫瑰戰爭中沒落的Plumpton家族說起，到在格洛斯特郡擁有同一處土地并耕作1000年之久的Clifford家族結束。雖然鄉紳階級自認一些例如優雅，進取和騎士風度這樣的核心價值是他們的重要特點，尼克森明確指出錢、斗爭同血緣、家庭一樣重要。鄉紳階層善于適應新的環境，他們的生活中無處不乏競爭和奮斗。生活沒有確定性。生存下來才是關鍵，他們擅于騎墻，確保自己不吃虧。

　　At its best the gentry s idea of goodness and civilisation was attached to a particular placeand an interfolding of people, land, animals, food, housing and hospitality. A sense oforder, sociability and well-being was expressed through landscape. Everything dependedon an underpinning of money and a connection with London and Westminster was generallyessential to prosperity. Many of the gentry were members of the House of Commons.Survival was often contingent on being on the right side during the Wars of the Roses, atthe time of the Reformation, through the upheavals of the 17th century. In the 1940s SirRichard Acland, a Christian socialist, made over the bulk of his large estate in Devon to theNational Trust, but he was an exception. Not everyone was as ruthless as Henry Lascelles,who in the 1700s amassed a fortune through sugar plantations in Barbados and theexploitation of African slaves; but in general the story is of the political and economicdominance of acannily self-renewing class.

　　只有依托于某個特定的氛圍中，在土地，房屋，客人，動物，食物，宴會交相輝映的背景下，才能看到紳士文明高貴的一面。紳士階層的秩序感、社會感和幸福感也是通過對自然景觀的描述來表現。一切以錢為基礎，同倫敦、威斯敏斯特有關的事情通常對繁榮發展都至關重要。許多鄉紳都是下議院的議員。在玫瑰戰爭、宗教改革、以及十七世紀動蕩期，生存往往取決于站對立場。上世紀四十年代，基督教社會主義黨人Richard Acland將自己大部分土地轉讓給國民信托組織，這在當時獨一無二。十八世紀，Henry Lascelles靠在巴巴多斯的蔗糖種植園和剝削非奴積累大量財富，但并不是每個人都像他一樣冷酷無情。但總體來說，這是關于這樣一個精明謹慎、自我革新的階層如何影響政治和經濟的故事。

　　In tracing the rise and fall of this ruling class, Mr Nicolson has some fascinating stories totell, and he tells them well, not least that of the Capels, who were forced by penury to liveabroad and found themselves in Brussels on the eve of the battle of Waterloo. He concludesthat competition, unkindness and dominance always underlay the beautiful sense ofcommunity which the gentry world embodied. But that is life: it is a struggle andcommunity is political.

　　隨著統治階層的興亡更迭，尼克森講述了一些引人入勝的故事，而且他說得恰到好處，尤其是說到Capel家族因為貧窮被迫流亡海外，最終在滑鐵盧戰爭前夕到達布魯塞爾。鄉紳所象征的優雅階級表面之下是由激烈競爭、不近人情、恃強凌弱這些特質所支撐的。但這就是人生，是一次努力奮斗，人聚集在一起就是政治。

　　The Englishgentry;Happy landings

　　英國鄉紳;一路順風;

　　The gentry: story of the English. By Adam Nicolson.

　　《鄉紳：英國的故事》，亞當尼克森著。

　　Adam Nicolson has written many books on historyand the countryside, including two about hisfamily s properties at opposite ends of the BritishIsles, Sissinghurst Castle in Kent and the ShiantIsles in the Outer Hebrides. Now he has turned hisattention to the class to which his family can be saidto belong. His grandmother, Vita Sackville-West, was unashamedly a member of thearistocracy but Mr Nicolson states that the gentry has always been composed of GentleUngentles, younger sons and daughters of old families who have declined into the gentry,and Ungentle Gentles, people of more humble origin who through their ability andachievements have advanced up the social ladder.

　　亞當 尼克森寫過很多以歷史和農村為題材的著作，其中包括介紹他家位于不列顛群島兩端的兩處房產：肯特州的悉心赫斯特城堡和外赫布里斯群島的西恩特群島。現在他已經將注意力轉向他家族所在的階層。他的祖母，維塔薩克維爾維斯特，是一位生活無所顧忌貴族。 但是尼克森指出鄉紳階層是由兩種人組成的：出身紳士的平民，他們出身于已退變為鄉紳階層的舊式家族的年輕一代;出身平民的紳士，也就是那些出身卑微，但是憑借自己的能力和成就擠入上層社會的人。

　　Today the term gentry in Britain evokes the introductory chat at an upper-middle-classdinner partyhow did you get here, who do you know, how is Aletheia? It suggests a cosy,genteel, exclusive and somewhat smug world in which background and family are deemedmore important than individual qualities. It is also often preceded by the word landed. Thelaunch of Burke s Landed Gentry, an encyclopedic tome first published in 1826, is partlyresponsible for this . But the principal reason is that the story of thegentry is all about Land.

　　如今在英國鄉紳這個詞讓人想到的就是在一個上流社會的晚宴上開始閑聊的前奏你怎么過來的啊?你認識誰呢?阿萊西婭最近可好呀?這表明在這個親切、高雅、排外，甚至幾分自鳴得意的階層里，一個人的背景和出身比他的品性更為重要。 鄉紳 的前面也經常會加上有土地的這個詞。這個詞的普及有一部份原因歸功于1826年初版的百科全書式大本書《伯克鄉紳名錄》。。但其主要原因在于所有關于鄉紳的故事都和土地密不可分。

　　Mr Nicolson has taken 12 families who are scattered all over England , and, using letters, diaries and legal documents, told their stories at aparticular date and crisis in their existence. He has produced a wonderful portrait ofEngland and the families that were its bedrock. The tale begins 600 years ago with thePlumptons, caught up in the Wars of the Roses, and concludes with the Cliffords, who haveowned and farmed the same corner of Gloucestershire for almost 1,000 years. Whereas thecore values of grace, enterprise and chivalry were crucial to the gentry s idea ofthemselves, Mr Nicolson makes it clear that money and conflict were as important as bloodand family. The gentry were a flexible class and lived a life of struggle and competition.There was no certainty. Survival was what mattered and there was much hedging of bets.

　　尼克森從分布在英格蘭各個地方的十二個家族著手，并利用相關的信件、日記、和法律文書，講述他們某段時間里的故事和生活中的危機。他描繪英國壯麗的景象，而這些家庭則構成了英國的牢固基礎。故事從在600年前玫瑰戰爭中沒落的Plumpton家族說起，到在格洛斯特郡擁有同一處土地并耕作1000年之久的Clifford家族結束。雖然鄉紳階級自認一些例如優雅，進取和騎士風度這樣的核心價值是他們的重要特點，尼克森明確指出錢、斗爭同血緣、家庭一樣重要。鄉紳階層善于適應新的環境，他們的生活中無處不乏競爭和奮斗。生活沒有確定性。生存下來才是關鍵，他們擅于騎墻，確保自己不吃虧。

　　At its best the gentry s idea of goodness and civilisation was attached to a particular placeand an interfolding of people, land, animals, food, housing and hospitality. A sense oforder, sociability and well-being was expressed through landscape. Everything dependedon an underpinning of money and a connection with London and Westminster was generallyessential to prosperity. Many of the gentry were members of the House of Commons.Survival was often contingent on being on the right side during the Wars of the Roses, atthe time of the Reformation, through the upheavals of the 17th century. In the 1940s SirRichard Acland, a Christian socialist, made over the bulk of his large estate in Devon to theNational Trust, but he was an exception. Not everyone was as ruthless as Henry Lascelles,who in the 1700s amassed a fortune through sugar plantations in Barbados and theexploitation of African slaves; but in general the story is of the political and economicdominance of acannily self-renewing class.

　　只有依托于某個特定的氛圍中，在土地，房屋，客人，動物，食物，宴會交相輝映的背景下，才能看到紳士文明高貴的一面。紳士階層的秩序感、社會感和幸福感也是通過對自然景觀的描述來表現。一切以錢為基礎，同倫敦、威斯敏斯特有關的事情通常對繁榮發展都至關重要。許多鄉紳都是下議院的議員。在玫瑰戰爭、宗教改革、以及十七世紀動蕩期，生存往往取決于站對立場。上世紀四十年代，基督教社會主義黨人Richard Acland將自己大部分土地轉讓給國民信托組織，這在當時獨一無二。十八世紀，Henry Lascelles靠在巴巴多斯的蔗糖種植園和剝削非奴積累大量財富，但并不是每個人都像他一樣冷酷無情。但總體來說，這是關于這樣一個精明謹慎、自我革新的階層如何影響政治和經濟的故事。

　　In tracing the rise and fall of this ruling class, Mr Nicolson has some fascinating stories totell, and he tells them well, not least that of the Capels, who were forced by penury to liveabroad and found themselves in Brussels on the eve of the battle of Waterloo. He concludesthat competition, unkindness and dominance always underlay the beautiful sense ofcommunity which the gentry world embodied. But that is life: it is a struggle andcommunity is political.

　　隨著統治階層的興亡更迭，尼克森講述了一些引人入勝的故事，而且他說得恰到好處，尤其是說到Capel家族因為貧窮被迫流亡海外，最終在滑鐵盧戰爭前夕到達布魯塞爾。鄉紳所象征的優雅階級表面之下是由激烈競爭、不近人情、恃強凌弱這些特質所支撐的。但這就是人生，是一次努力奮斗，人聚集在一起就是政治。