莎翁恆久遠　共鳴不分古今

中譯／陳怡君 撰文及考題設計／British Council 英協教育中心 Mark O’Sullivan 　

Poet, actor, and playwright, this 16th century British iconic figure has managed to transcend time and boundaries as his legacy stills lives on after 400 years and has spanned the globe. Widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language, William Shakespeare’s worldwide fame is without doubt, yet surprisingly little is really known about his personal life.

詩人、演員與劇作家，16世紀的英國代表性人物威廉莎士比亞已超越時空，在他死後400年作品仍在世界各地流傳。儘管廣被視為最偉大的英文作家，全球盛名無庸置疑，但令人訝異的是，莎士比亞的個人生活卻罕為人知。

We know that he was born in 1564 in Stratford- Upon-Avon in England, and at age 18 he married Anne Hathaway, who was 8 years his senior. They had three children together, Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith, and he died in 1616 at the age of 52. It is often claimed that he died on his birthday, but exact details of the dates of his actual birth and death are uncertain, as no precise records exist, only church records of him being baptised and buried.

我們知道他1564年生於英格蘭小鎮史特拉福， 18歲娶了大他8歲的安妮．哈瑟維，兩人育有三名子女，分別是蘇珊娜與雙胞胎兄弟漢姆奈特與朱帝斯。莎士比亞在1616年辭世，享年52歲。一般都說他是在生日當天過世，但由於缺乏確實記載，他出生與死亡日期的確切細節迄今無法證實，目前僅有他受洗與下葬的教堂紀錄。

Even his exact name is a bit of a mystery, as recordings at the time show anything ranging from Willm Shakp , to Wm Shakspe , to William Shaksper , among many other variations. Interestingly, the ‘William Shakespeare’ name that we use today only became the established spelling by the middle of the 20th century.

就連他的真實姓名也是個謎，過去文獻顯示從「Willm Shakp」、「Wm Shakspe」到「William Shaksper」的拼法都有。有趣的是，我們今天使用的「William Shakespeare」是一直到20世紀中葉才確立下來。

A few exper ts have called Shakespeare’s authorship into question, a nd b elieve t hat t he Shakespeare from Stratford was used as a cover for another author, or possibly authors, who for whatever reason could not or did not want to reveal their true identities. It has been suggested that Shakespeare’s humble upbringing as the son of a glove-maker and being born and raised in a simple sheep farming community, would not have provided the education or background to nurture such a literary genius. In addition to this, it is suggested that his works display intimate knowledge of court politics and culture, foreign countries, aristocratic sports, and therefore no-one other than a highly educated nobleman could have written such details. The most popular suggested alterative authors are Sir Francis Bacon or Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl or Oxford.

一些專家也質疑莎士比亞的作家身分，認為來自史特拉福的莎士比亞可能是另名作者或者作者群的掩護──無論出於什麼原因，無法或不想曝光真實身分。外界向來懷疑，身為手套工人之子以及在綿羊牧場社區中成長的寒微出身，無法提供培育這位文學天才所需的教育或背景；此外，他的作品對於法庭政治與文化、外國、貴族運動展現深入了解，除非是受過高等教育的貴族才能寫出這般細節。法蘭西斯培根爵士或英國第17代牛津伯爵愛德華德維爾，是莎士比亞作品真實作者的最熱門人選。

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It is often said that about 2,000-3,000 new words and phrases were invented by William Shakespeare and there are countless examples of language that we still currently use today that are directly attributed to him. His extensive collection of writings includes around 38 plays and 154 sonnets (poems) and has been translated into every major living language, and these works have been performed more than that of any other playwright. Apart from the direct theatres performances of his plays, many have also been adapted into other forms of entertainment. Romeo and Juliet , for example, has formed the basis of many modern interpretations of this classic love-tragedy story, from the Disney animation ‘Lion King II’, to the Broadway musical ‘West Side Story’, to the Hollywood romantic-zombie-comedy ‘Warm Bodies’.

一般都說莎士比亞創造約2,000至3,000個新詞彙與用語，我們今天仍在使用的無數語言例子也得直接歸功於他。他廣泛的作品集包括約38部戲劇與154首十四行詩，被翻譯成當代使用的語言， 且演出的作品超過任何一位劇作家。他的戲劇除了直接在劇場演出外，不少也被改編成其他娛樂形式，舉例來說，從迪士尼動畫《獅子王II》、百老匯音樂劇《西城故事》、到好萊塢浪漫殭屍喜劇《殭屍哪有那麼帥》，而《羅密歐與茱麗葉》已成為許多現代經典愛情悲劇版本的基礎。

Today, his plays still remain hugely popular and are constantly being studied, interpreted and reinvented into modern works around the world. The fact that his characters and storylines still live on after their Elizabethan origins, shows the genius of his writing in being able to present the emotions and conflicts of real people, which is why so many can relate to his vast body of work and why his legacy will continue to live on in the future.

直到今天，他的劇本仍在世界各地廣受歡迎， 並且持續受到研究、解讀並且重新改編為現代作品。他源自伊莉莎白時代的角色與台詞仍持續流傳，顯示他的寫作才華能夠呈現真實人類的情感與衝突，這就是為什麼許多人對他的鉅作產生共鳴以及其作品得以傳世的原因。(完)

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