BBC英国史

The odd thing is that Richard actually seemed to be one step ahead of his enemies in fatalistic pessimism,

奇怪的是 理查好像 比他的敌人们 更相信宿命论

so that when he got the bad news that many of his most trusted supporters and allies had switched to the other side,

因此 当他得知 很多备受自己信任的支持者和同盟者 倒戈相向之时

his reaction was not to dig in his heels,make a stand, make a fight of it,

他的反应并不是紧追不舍 奋起反抗

but rather to flee at night across the country,

而是连夜逃窜

disguised as a priest, bewailing his misfortunes and as usual blaming them on everybody else.

伪装成一名牧师 感慨自己的不幸 如往常一样 把责任推卸给他人

At some point in his uncontested march towards Richard,

面对理查毫无反抗的溃败

Bolingbroke's aims changed,from simply getting his lands back to overthrowing the king.

博林布鲁克的目标 由仅仅夺回土地 变成推翻国王

Now I can see my end,Shakespeare has Richard say a neat little piece of Lancastrian propaganda,

我已经看见了自己的末日 莎士比亚笔下的理查如是说 这部作品对兰开斯特家族做了一个巧妙宣传

which solved the embarrassing problem of a deposition

同时也化解了国王被废黜的尴尬局面

by making Richard seem as though he had resigned the crown,rather than having it snatched from his desperate grip.

使理查看似自动放弃王 而非不情愿地被他人夺下

In fact, it took a month of painful negotiations to get Richard,

实际上 历时一个月的 艰难谈判

now a prisoner in the Tower, to give up the throne.

才使后来被关进伦敦塔的理查放弃王位

Three times they asked him to surrender,three times he refused,before finally bowing to the inevitable.

被再三要求投降 他也再三拒绝了 但最终不可避免地屈服

词汇解析

1、desperate

（因绝望而）孤注一掷的，铤而走险的，拼命的

Troops are needed to help get food into Kosovo where people are in desperate need.

需要军队帮助将科索沃人民亟需的食品送抵那里。

Desperate with anxiety, Bob and Hans searched the whole house.

焦急万分的鲍勃和汉斯把整座房子找了个遍。

极需要的;渴望的

They'd been married nearly four years and June was desperate to start a family.

他们结婚已快4年了，琼非常渴望要个孩子。

People are desperate for him to do something.

人们极希望他能做点什么。

极困难的;极严重的;极危险的

India's United Nations ambassador said the situation is desperate.

印度驻联合国大使说形势非常危急。

I decided not to abandon John when he was in such a desperate position.

我决定不在约翰走投无路的时候抛弃他。

2、surrender

投降;屈服

General Martin Bonnet called on the rebels to surrender.

马丁·邦尼特将军呼吁反叛者投降。

She surrendered to the police in London last December.

她去年 12 月在伦敦向警方自首。

(被迫)放弃，交出

Nadja had to fill out forms surrendering all rights to her property.

纳佳不得不填表放弃其全部财产所有权。

Gen. Morgan's troops yesterday surrendered their heavy weapons to Belgian and US troops.

昨天，摩根将军的部队被迫向比利时和美国军队交出了他们的重型武器。