A Child's History of England.27

Then, the Red King went over to Normandy, where the people suffered greatly under the loose rule of Duke Robert. The King's object was to seize upon the Duke's dominions. This, the Duke, of course, prepared to resist; and miserable war between the two brothers seemed inevitable, when the powerful nobles on both sides, who had seen so much of war, interfered to prevent it. A treaty was made. Each of the two brothers agreed to give up something of his claims, and that the longer-liver [活得长的，不是肝]of the two should inherit all the dominions of the other. When they had come to this loving understanding, they embraced and joined their forces against Fine-Scholar; who had bought some territory of Robert with a part of his five thousand pounds, and was considered a dangerous individual in consequence.

suffered greatly under the loose rule... 管理松散，道路坑坑洼洼，盗贼啸聚山林？

St. Michael's Mount, in Normandy (there is another St. Michael's Mount, in Cornwall, wonderfully [to a very great degree] like it), was then, as it is now, a strong place perched [虎踞龙蟠] upon the top of a high rock, around which, when the tide is in, the sea flows, leaving no road to the mainland. [听起来像权游里的某个地方] In this place, Fine-Scholar shut himself up with his soldiers, and here he was closely besieged by his two brothers. At one time, when he was reduced to great distress for want of water, the generous Robert not only permitted his men to get water, but sent Fine-Scholar wine from his own table; and, on being remonstrated with by the Red King, said 'What! shall we let our own brother die of thirst? Where shall we get another, when he is gone?' At another time, the Red King riding alone on the shore of the bay, looking up at the Castle, was taken by two of Fine-Scholar's men, one of whom was about to kill him, when he cried out, 'Hold, knave [不名誉的人]! I am the King of England!' The story says that the soldier raised him from the ground respectfully and humbly, and that the King took him into his service [招致麾下]. The story may or may not be true; but at any rate it is true that Fine-Scholar could not hold out against his united brothers, and that he abandoned Mount St. Michael, and wandered about - as poor and forlorn as other scholars have been sometimes known to be.

六级/考研单词: wretched, inevitable, potent, noble, interfere, treaty, embrace, territory, mount, perch, tide, mainland, besiege, distress, generous, thirst, shore, bay, humble, unite, abandon, scholar
remonstrate, demonstrate, monstrare [拉丁文] 'show'
the service: a country's military forces; disservice: 损害
at any rate: anyway

The Scotch became unquiet in the Red King's time, and were twice defeated - the second time, with the loss of their King, Malcolm, and his son. The Welsh became unquiet too. Against them, Rufus was less successful; for they fought among their native mountains, and did great execution [executioner: 飞斧屠夫] on the King's troops. Robert of Normandy became unquiet too; and, complaining that his brother the King did not faithfully perform his part of their agreement, took up arms, and obtained assistance from the King of France, whom Rufus, in the end, bought off [bribe] with vast sums of money. England became unquiet too. Lord Mowbray, the powerful Earl of Northumberland, headed a great conspiracy to depose the King, and to place upon the throne, Stephen, the Conqueror's near relative. The plot [密谋] was discovered; all the chief conspirators were seized; some were fined [罚款], some were put in prison, some were put to death. The Earl of Northumberland himself was shut up [关起来] in a dungeon beneath Windsor Castle, where he died, an old man, thirty long years afterwards. The Priests in England were more unquiet than any other class or power; for the Red King treated them with such small ceremony [礼节] that he refused to appoint new bishops or archbishops when the old ones died, but kept all the wealth belonging to those offices in his own hands. In return for this, the Priests wrote his life when he was dead, and abused [insult] him well. I am inclined to think, myself, that there was little to choose between the Priests and the Red King; that both sides were greedy and designing [别有用心的]; and that they were fairly matched.

六级/考研单词: indigenous, execute, potent, conspire, throne, conquer, plot, jail, priest, ceremony, bishop, abuse, incline, greed

near relative... close/distant relative/cousin; second cousins: the children of sb's parents' (first) cousins.

The Red King was false of heart, selfish, covetous [having a very strong desire to have sth that sb else has], and mean [吝啬; 不善良]. He had a worthy minister in his favourite, Ralph, nicknamed - for almost every famous person had a nickname in those rough days - Flambard, or the Firebrand. Once, the King being ill, became penitent, and made Anselm, a foreign priest and a good man, Archbishop of Canterbury. But he no sooner got well again than he repented of his repentance, and persisted in wrongfully keeping to himself some of the wealth belonging to the archbishopric [archbishop的领地]. This led to violent disputes, which were aggravated by there being in Rome at that time two rival Popes; each of whom declared he was the only real original infallible Pope, who couldn't make a mistake. At last, Anselm, knowing the Red King's character, and not feeling himself safe in England, asked leave to return abroad. The Red King gladly gave it; for he knew that as soon as Anselm was gone, he could begin to store up all the Canterbury money again, for his own use.

六级/考研单词: desire, worthy, nickname, fame, priest, persist, aggravate, rival

老友记》里Joey说"You're mean."观众笑了，因为好像只有女的才这么说。但《生活大爆炸》里Will Wheaton说"people would be mean to me"时观众没笑。再如《罗马假日》里公主说了"You're mean"。也许和时代潮流有点关系？ man purse (男用手袋)有欲盖弥彰感。

repented of his repentance... Raj: Wow, you've managed to screw up screw-up. (设法把搞砸搞砸了)

fallible: from Latin fallere 'deceive'; the fallen: soldiers who have been killed in a war; "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen"