学前说明

Mary Queen of Scots 苏格兰玛丽女王 —— 300词汇量，适用小学初一

我们从阅读这篇小说开始，小学和初一同学可能会有一些生词和新的语法，初二以后的同学可以当做消遣来阅读，培养自己的英语阅读速度和语感。

我会在文末带孩子们学习一些语法和短语难点，帮助大家学习和巩固单词和语法知识。

封面

阅读原文

Soon everyone in Europe heard the news. The Queen of France and the Queen of England wrote angry letters to me. Who killed the King? they asked. I was very unhappy at this time, James. We looked for the killers, but we could not find them. Please believe me, James. The Scots lords are difficult men. Some were friends, some were enemies, but they changed all the time.

Many people in Scotland said：'Bothwell killed Lord Darnley.' I heard them, outside the castle, and in the town. But I never believed it. People in Edinburgh sold horrible stories and pictures of Bothwell the same day that Darnley died. It was too soon. Perhaps Darnley's killers wrote these stories about Bothwell, before they killed Darnley.

I don't think Lord Bothwell killed your father, James. He was a good friend to me in difficult times. He was a good strong, clever man, and he worked hard. I liked that. A lot of women liked him, I think.

Three times that spring, he asked me to marry him. He had a wife, and I could not marry again, so soon. I asked him to wait.

Then, on24th April, I rode out of Edinburgh to the north. I had five or six friends with me. Six miles outside the town, Lord Bothwell met us, with an army.

'Why are you here, my lord?' I said.

He smiled.' Because I want to meet you, Mary,' he said. 'I want you to come with me to my castle.' He rode next to me, and his men rode between me and my friends.

I was afraid, and a little excited, too. 'But, my lord, you can't do this!' I said. 'I don't want to come with you now.'

'But I want you, Mary,' he said. 'Your friends can't stop me. I love you, and I want to marry you. What's wrong with that?'

I said nothing. What could I say? I liked him, and he had an army. I had only six friends. So I rode with him to his castle in Dunbar, and stayed there two weeks. And then… He was a strong man, and I was only a woman. And I did like him, James. I liked him very much.

After two weeks in Dunbar, Bothwell and I rode back to Edinburgh. His wife did not want him, and was happy to divorce him. So, on 15th May 1567, I married him.

He was a good man, James. A much better man than your father. I needed a strong man to help me rule the country.

But I was wrong. I understand that now. All the Scots lords were afraid of Bothwell, and many of them were his ene-mies. They had an army, and on 15th June, Bothwell and I rode out to fight them.

We met them at Carberry Hill. It was a hot day, and the two big armies stood, and looked, and waited. Their army had a big flag with a picture of your poor dead father, Darnley, on it. Under the picture, there were the words 'Find my killers, oh God.'

'Come on, my lord,' I said to Bothwell. 'Our army is better than theirs—let's fight them!'

Both well rode up and down, and talked to his men. But they didn't want to fight. They talked, and looked at the flag, and waited. Then some of them walked home.

At five o'clock that evening Lord Kirkcaldy rode from his army to talk to us. He said to me, 'My lady, leave your husband, and come with us. We don't want men to die.'

And so, because our men didn't want to fight, I went with him. It was a very bad day for me. They took me back to Edinburgh, and people in the streets screamed at me：'Kill the woman! She sleeps with her husband's killer! We want James to be King! Kill her now!'

I was unhappy, and afraid, and I was pregnant again. They took me to Lochleven Castle, and put me in a room like a prison. There, I did not eat for two weeks, and Bothwell's children—there were two babies—wer born dead. I nearly died too—I was so angry and tired and ill. Then, one day after the babies died, Lord Lindsay gave me a letter. It said：

I, Mary, Queen of Scots, give the kingdom of Scotland to my son, James. From today, James is the new King of Scots. But because he is a child, the Earl of Moray, my half—brother, can rule the country for him.

Because I was afraid, and tired, and ill, I wrote my name on the letter：Mary. But it is not important, James, it doesn't change anything. I am Queen of Scots, not you. That letter changes nothing.

Bothwell went over the sea, and died in a prison in Denmark. I was a prisoner in Lochleven for a year. A lot of people in Europe were angry about that. Queen Elizabeth wrote to the Earl of Moray. 'You cannot keep a Queen in prison, 'she said. 'It is very wrong!' I was pleased about that. But Moray didn't listen.

Lord Douglas lived in the castle, and his young son, William, liked me. One day, there was a wedding in the castle. People sang and danced and drank. William Douglas gave me some old women's clothes. I put the clothes on, and walked quietly out of the castle with him. He shut the castle door behind us, to keep his father's friends in. Then we got on some horses, and rode away through the night.

All my friends came back to me. Soon I had a big army. 'Mary is our Queen again!' people said. 'Give her back her son!' You were in Earl Moray's castle, James, so I came to fight him. I rode with my army to Langside, near Glasgow. And there…

There, James…

There, my son, I lost the fight. I am so sorry. I had many good, strong men in my army, but Earl Moray's men were stronger. Many of my men died, and some ran away. After the fight, I ran away too.

I did not want to go to prison again. So I rode south, to England. 'Queen Elizabeth wants to help me,' I thought. 'She understands. She wrote to Moray and she is a Queen, like me. I can come back to Scotland with her army, kill Moray, and find my baby son James. I am in England but I am free. I can try again.'

I was wrong about that, too. Very wrong.

翻译

不久，每个欧洲的人都知道了这件事。法国的女王和英格兰的女王给我写来了愤怒的信。谁杀死了亲王？他们质问道。在那段时间里我很不愉快，詹姆斯。我们寻找凶手，但是我们没能找到。请相信我，詹姆斯。苏格兰的贵族们很难对付。有些是朋友，有些是敌人，可他们不停地变。

苏格兰的很多人都说：“博思韦尔杀死了达恩利亲王。”在城堡外，在镇上，我都能听到这种传言。但是我从来不相信它。爱丁堡的人出售有关博思韦尔的可怕的故事和图片，叫做《达恩利死的那一天》。这简直太神速了。或许杀达恩利的凶手们在他们杀死达恩利之前就写了这些有关博思韦尔的故事。

我认为博思韦尔勋爵没有杀害你父亲，詹姆斯。在我艰难时，他是我很好的朋友。他是个善良、健壮、聪明的男人，而且他工作努力。我很喜欢这点。许多女人都喜欢他，我想。

在那个春天，他向我求了三次婚。他有妻子，我不能这么快又一次嫁人。我让他等一等。

在4月24日，我骑马离开爱丁堡去北方。有五六个朋友随同我。在出城镇6英里的地方，博思韦尔勋爵带着一支队伍在那里迎候我。

“你怎么在这儿，我的勋爵？”我问道。

他笑了。“因为我想见到你，玛丽，”他说。“我想让你跟我到我的城堡去。”他骑马跟在我旁边，他的人骑马跟在我和我的朋友之间。

我很害怕，又有点儿激动。“可是，我的勋爵，你不能这样做！”我说。“我不能现在就跟你走。”

“但是我需要你，玛丽。”他说：“你的朋友们阻止不了我。我爱你。我要娶你。那又有什么错”？

我无话可说。我能说什么呢？我喜欢他，并且他有一支队伍，而我只有六个朋友。于是，我骑马随他来到他在唐巴尔的城堡，并在那儿呆了两个星期。之后……他是个强有力的男人，而我只是个女人。而且我确实很喜欢他，詹姆斯。我非常喜欢他。

在唐巴尔呆了两个星期后，我和博思韦尔驱马回到爱丁堡。他的妻子不想要他了，并且很乐意地和他离了婚。因此，在1567年5月15日，我嫁给了他。

他是个好人，詹姆斯。一个比你父亲好得多的男人。我需要一个强壮的男人来帮我统治这个国家。

但是我错了。现在我明白了。所有苏格兰贵族都很害怕博思韦尔，他们中有许多人是他的敌人。他们拥有一支军队。于是在6月15日，我和博思韦尔策马去迎战他们。

我们在卡贝琳山头相遇。那是个炎热的一天，两支大规模的军队站着互相观望等待。他们的军队有一面很大的旗帜，上面是你可怜的死去的父亲的画像。画像下面有一行字“找出杀死我的杀手，噢！上帝！”

“冲吧，我的勋爵，”我对博思韦尔说道。“我们的军队比他们的强，跟他们战斗吧！”

博思韦尔骑着马跑来跑去，并和他的人说着什么。可他们不想打仗。他们一边望着那面军旗，一边谈论着等待着。然后，有一些人回去了。

晚上5点钟，柯克考德勋爵骑马从他的军队里过来和我们谈话。他对我说，“我的夫人，离开你的丈夫，跟我们一起走。我们不想有人死亡。”

正因为我们的人不想打仗，我跟他走了。这一天对我来说实在太糟了。他们把我带回了爱丁堡，街上的人们冲着我尖叫：“杀了这个女人！她和杀她丈夫的凶手一起睡觉！我们要让詹姆斯做国王！现在就杀了她！”

我既伤心又害怕，那时候我又怀孕了。他们把我带到拉克利文城堡，并把我关进一间像监狱一样的房间里。在那里，我两个星期没有吃饭，并且怀着博思韦尔的孩子——两个婴儿——一出生就死了。我几乎也要死掉——我感到非常愤怒、非常疲惫，而且病得很重。在两个婴儿死去的那一天，林德辛勋爵给了我一封信。信上写道：

我，玛丽，苏格兰女王，把苏格兰王国交给我的儿子，詹姆斯。从今天起，詹姆斯就是苏格兰的国王了。但因为他还是个小孩，可以由马里伯爵，我的同父异母兄弟为他治理这个国家。

由于我害怕、疲惫，又在生病，于是我便在信上签了名：玛丽。但这并不重要，詹姆斯，这并不能改变什么。我是苏格兰的女王，不是你。那封信改变不了什么。

博思韦尔飘洋过海，并死在了丹麦的监狱中。我在拉克利文做了一年的囚徒。许多欧洲人民对此感到非常愤怒。伊丽莎白女王写信给马里伯爵。“你不能囚禁一个女王，”她说。“这是极其错误的！”我很高兴她这样说。但马里根本不听。

道格拉斯勋爵住在这城堡里，他年轻的儿子，威廉很喜欢我。一天，在城堡里有一场婚礼。人们唱歌跳舞，举杯畅饮。威廉.道格拉斯给了我一些老妇人的衣服。我穿上这些衣服，并随他偷偷地离开了城堡。他关上了身后城堡的门，留下他父亲的朋友们在里面。于是我们骑上马，连夜骑马离开。

我所有的朋友都回到了我身边。不久，我就有了一支庞大的军队。“玛丽又是我们的女王了！”人们说道。“把她的儿子还给她！”你在马里伯爵的城堡里，詹姆斯，因此我去和他作战。我骑马率领我的军队来到格拉斯哥附近的朗塞得。并且在那里……

在那里，詹姆斯……

在那里，我的儿子，我战败了。我是那么伤心。在我的军队里，我有许多精良的战士。可马里伯爵的士兵比我们还要强壮。我的很多人都战死了，有些跑了。战争结束后，我也落荒而逃。

我再也不想进监狱了。因此我往南骑，去英格兰。“伊丽莎白女王会帮助我。”我想。“她能理解的。她写过信给马里，并且她像我一样是个女王。我可以带着她的军队回到苏格兰，杀了马里，找回我的孩子詹姆斯。我虽在英格兰但我是自由人。我可以东山再起。”

关于这点我又错了，而且大错特错。