女王萬歲！

2016年末，美國選出了新的領導人；但在地球的另一端，英國女王伊麗莎白二世（Queen ElizabethII）今年才剛慶祝在位65週年，成為英國史上第一位慶祝「藍寶石禧年」的君主。她更締造了歷史，成為英國史上在位最久的君王。

撰文及考題設計／British Council 英協教育中心 Jen Wen　中譯／陳怡君（中央社編譯）

2016 saw a new head of state elected in the USA.But on the other side of the globe, Britain’s QueenElizabeth II just celebrated 65 years on the throne,the only monarch to ever celebrate the SapphireJubilee. She has also made history by being thelongest reigning monarch in British history, and isan upstanding example of a strong female leader,one who is capable of modernizing the governmentand able to work endlessly for the benefit of hercountry.

2016年末，美國選出了新的領導人；但在地球的另一端，英國女王伊麗莎白二世（Queen ElizabethII）今年才剛慶祝在位65週年，成為英國史上第一位慶祝「藍寶石禧年」的君主。她更締造了歷史，成為英國史上在位最久的君王。她勇於改造政府、願為國家利益工作不歇，樹立堅強的女性領導人典範。

She was born on April 21, 1926 and was educatedprivately at home in Windsor, without any ideathat one day, she would be the Queen of England.Her uncle, Edward VIII abdicated the throne toElizabeth’s father, George VI. This was becauseEdward proposed to a woman who had been twicedivorced and, because the monarch is the head ofthe Church of England, this was both politically andreligiously inappropriate.

伊麗莎白生於1926年4月21日，從小在位於溫莎的家中接受教育，她從未想過自己有天將成為英國女王。伊麗莎白的伯父愛德華八世，將王位讓給她的父親喬治六世。由於愛德華八世向一名曾兩度離婚的女人求婚，但因為英國君王同時也是英國教會的最高領袖，這在政治和宗教立場上都是極為不妥的。

Edward chose to marry rather than remain kingand so George ascended to the throne, puttingElizabeth next in line. It is later said that Edwardand his wife became Nazi sympathisers before andduring World War II and were certainly receivedby Adolf Hitler on a trip to Germany. In 1952, KingGeorge died at the relatively young age of 56, fromexhaustion (and possibly the stress from rulingduring World War II). Elizabeth then became theruler of Britain.

愛德華八世為了婚姻選擇退位，由弟弟喬治六世繼任，伊麗莎白順理成章成為下一個王位繼承人。之後有傳聞指出，早在第二次世界大戰前及戰爭期間，愛德華與他的妻子都是納粹支持者，且曾前往德國受到希特勒接待。1952年，喬治國王為國事積勞成疾，以56歲英年早逝，伊麗莎白繼位為英國女王。

Since her accession on February 6, 1952,Queen Elizabeth has ruled with grace and dignity.During her reign the British Empire has evolvedinto the Commonwealth of Nations, also knownsimply as the Commonwealth. It is an organisationcomposed of 52 sovereign states that were formerlyterritories of the British Empire. It functions byhaving the national governments working togetherto developing plans and reach agreements whichare best for the majority. All member countries are“free and equal”, and five of them even have theirown monarchs. Africa and the Caribbean beganto decolonize quickly in the 1960’s and 1970’s,transitioning to self-government. Early in herreign, Elizabeth and her husband commenced on aseven-month trip, visiting 13 countries during whichshe was the first reigning monarch of Australia andNew Zealand to visit those nations.

自1952年2月6日登基以來，伊麗莎白女王以優雅有尊嚴的姿態治理國家。自她就任起，大英帝國已成為聯邦制，由52個隸屬於前大英帝國的主權國家組成「大英國協」。成員國政府凝聚同為民眾謀福祉的共識，彼此合作擬定計畫。成員國間關係「自由且平等」，其中五國甚至有自己的君王。在1960年至1970年間，加勒比海及非洲屬地去殖民化，迅速轉型為自治國家。在就任初期，女王與夫婿展開為期七個月的旅程，途中訪問13個國家。她也是首位訪問澳洲與紐西蘭的在位君王。

It has not always been a walk in the park forQueen Elizabeth. Though she celebrated her SilverJubilee in 1977, she suffered two personal losses thefollowing years: Anthony Blunt, former Surveyorof the Queen’s Pictures (an individual responsiblefor the care and preservation of the royal collectionof pictures) was revealed as a Communist spy.Then came the assassination of her relative LordMountbatten by the Irish Republic Army (IRA).In the 1980’s, six close-range shots were fired atthe Queen as she rode her horse, Burmese, downthe Mall just days before Prince Charles and Dianawedding. It was later discovered that they werejust blanks. The perpetrator was sentenced to fiveyears in prison, but only served three. Elizabeth'sson Prince Andrew, served with the British forcesduring the Falklands War from April to September1982. Later that year, an intruder broke into theQueen’s bedroom in the morning, and sat the foot of the bed chatting with her until assistance arrivedseven minutes later.

對伊麗莎白女王而言，治理國家並不總是輕鬆容易。1977年，女王慶祝即位「銀禧」25週年，卻在翌年遭逢兩次變故：負責管理、保存皇室庫存肖像畫的前肖像官安東尼‧布朗特（Anthony Blunt），被揭發有共諜身分；接著女王的姻親，蒙巴頓伯爵（Lord Mountbatten, 1900-1979）遭愛爾蘭共和軍暗殺。1980年代，就在查爾斯王子與黛安娜的婚禮前幾天，女王騎著愛駒波密絲（Burmese）行經倫敦林蔭道，遭近距離開了六槍。行凶者事後被發現使用空包彈，被判監禁五年實際僅服刑三年。1982年，女王的兒子安德魯王子在4月至9月間，投身英阿福島戰爭前線服役。之後同年的某個早晨，一名闖入者擅入女王寢室，在床尾和女王「閒談」達七分鐘，直到支援趕抵為止。

In the 1990’s the Queen made an address at ajoint meeting of the United States Congress afterthe coalition victory in the Gulf War. In 2011, shewould be the first monarch to visit Ireland since1911, showing the diplomatic and symbolic power ofthe crown. She has had 13 Prime Ministers duringher reign, whom she meets on a weekly basis. Shealso handles about 430 engagements per year andsupports hundred of charitable organizations andprogrammes. She has four children and many grandchildren.Long live the Queen!

1990年代，女王在美國參眾兩院聯席會議中，針對波灣戰爭盟軍勝利發表演說；2011年，她成為史上第一位訪問愛爾蘭的英國君王，展現外交手腕同時宣示皇室權威。女王在位期間與歷任13名首相每週會晤。她一年出席約430場活動，支援數百個慈善機構與計畫，也是四位子女的母親和眾多孫子女的祖母。女王萬歲！(完)【更多精彩內容請見《全球中央》2017年4月號；訂閱 《全球中央數位雜誌》；本文由《全球中央》雜誌授權刊載，未經同意禁止轉載。】

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