A Child's History of England.38

CHAPTER 12 ENGLAND UNDER HENRY THE SECOND

PART THE FIRST

Henry Plantagenet, when he was but [only] twenty-one years old, quietly succeeded to the throne of England, according to his agreement made with the late King at Winchester. Six weeks after Stephen's death, he and his Queen, Eleanor, were crowned in that city; into which they rode on horseback in great state, side by side, amidst much shouting and rejoicing, and clashing of music, and strewing of flowers.

The reign of King Henry the Second began well. The King had great possessions, and (what with his own rights, and what with those of his wife) was lord of one-third part of France. He was a young man of vigour, ability, and resolution, and immediately applied himself to remove some of the evils which had arisen in the last unhappy reign. He revoked all the grants of land that had been hastily made, on either side, during the late struggles; he obliged numbers of disorderly soldiers to depart from England; he reclaimed all the castles belonging to the Crown; and he forced the wicked nobles to pull down their own castles, to the number of eleven hundred, in which such dismal cruelties had been inflicted on the people. The King's brother, Geoffrey, rose against him in France, while he was so well employed [occupied, claimed], and rendered it necessary for him to repair to that country; where, after he had subdued and made a friendly arrangement with his brother (who did not live long), his ambition to increase his possessions involved him in a war with the French King, Louis, with whom he had been on such friendly terms just before, that to the French King's infant daughter, then a baby in the cradle, he had promised one of his little sons in marriage, who was a child of five years old. However, the war came to nothing at last, and the Pope made the two Kings friends again.

六级/考研单词: throne, accord, amid, rejoice, clash, reign, vigor, resolve, haste, struggle, oblige, depart, wicked, noble, inflict, render, necessity, ambition, infant, cradle

昨天刚扣了扣claim和reclaim，今天就遇到了。学英语还愁找不到资源吗？

Now, the clergy, in the troubles of the last reign, had gone on very ill indeed. There were all kinds of [various W1S1] criminals among them - murderers, thieves, and vagabonds [tramp, FRIENDS.Mona: "tramp?!"]; and the worst of the matter was, that the good priests would not give up the bad priests to justice, when they committed crimes, but persisted in sheltering and defending them. The King, well knowing that there could be no peace or rest in England while such things lasted, resolved to reduce the power of the clergy; and, when he had reigned seven years, found (as he considered) a good opportunity for doing so, in the death of the Archbishop of Canterbury. 'I will have for [更多宾语在后面，莫急] the new Archbishop,' thought the King, 'a friend in whom I can trust, who will help me to humble these rebellious priests, and to have them dealt with, when they do wrong, as other men who do wrong are dealt with.' So, he resolved to make his favourite, the new Archbishop; and this favourite was so extraordinary a man, and his story is so curious, that I must tell you all about him.

W1S1...W3S3是LDOCE的标法，共3~4千词。Written, Spoken, 1最常用，2很常用。3常用。有一丢丢偏差或者说不适合我们，如parliament W2.
very ill indeed... I very much like swimming. 语法是正确的，老外也说类似的句子(不常见而已)。She's very sick indeed. 与She's very very sick相比，bloody splendid.

Once upon a time, a worthy [deserving respect] merchant of London, named Gilbert à Becket, made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and was taken prisoner by a Saracen [萨拉森人] lord. This lord, who treated him kindly and not like a slave, had one fair daughter, who fell in love with the merchant; and who told him that she wanted to become a Christian, and was willing to marry him if they could fly to a Christian country. The merchant returned her love, until he found an opportunity to escape, when he did not trouble himself about the Saracen lady, but escaped with his servant Richard, who had been taken prisoner along with him, and arrived in England and forgot her. The Saracen lady, who was more loving than the merchant, left her father's house in disguise to follow him, and made her way, under many hardships, to the sea-shore. [What does she see in this guy?] The merchant had taught her only two English words (for I suppose he must have learnt the Saracen tongue himself, and made love in that language), of which London was one, and his own name, Gilbert, the other. [not food and sex?] She went among the ships, saying, 'London! London!' over and over again, until the sailors understood that she wanted to find an English vessel that would carry her there; so they showed her such a ship, and she paid for her passage with some of her jewels, and sailed away. Well! The merchant was sitting in his counting-house in London one day, when he heard a great noise in the street; and presently Richard came running in from the warehouse, with his eyes wide open and his breath almost gone, saying, 'Master, master, here is the Saracen lady!' The merchant thought Richard was mad; but Richard said, 'No, master! As I live, the Saracen lady is going up and down the city, calling Gilbert! Gilbert!' Then, he took the merchant by the sleeve, and pointed out of window; and there they saw her among the gables [山墙] and water-spouts of the dark, dirty street, in her foreign dress, so forlorn, surrounded by a wondering crowd, and passing slowly along, calling Gilbert, Gilbert! When the merchant saw her, and thought of the tenderness she had shown him in his captivity, and of her constancy, his heart was moved, and he ran down into the street; and she saw him coming, and with a great cry fainted in his arms. They were married without loss of time, and Richard (who was an excellent man) danced with joy the whole day of the wedding; and they all lived happy ever afterwards.

六级/考研单词: worthy, merchant, pilgrim, holy, slave, disguise, hardship, vessel, sail, warehouse, sleeve, dirt, tender, faint, superb

"911, what is the address of your emergency?" "Once upon a time, there was an accident..." 狄大人这本书好在什么地方？我看了些英语的儿童读物(高级的看起来太费劲)，故事情节太小儿科(废话)。此书趣味性堪称《英国的那些事儿》，词汇量超过专业四级又不到专八。学英语和学英美文学是两码事。儿童版百科全书没意思，净讲地球绕着太阳转。

This merchant and this Saracen lady had one son, Thomas à Becket. He it was [It was he] who became the Favourite of King Henry the Second.