BBC英国史

Despite his famous victory at Agincourt,Henry V remains a might-have-been,dead at 35 from dysentery.

除去在阿金库尔战役中大获全胜 亨利五世一直碌碌无为 于35岁时死于痢疾

So neither he nor his son, Henry VI,could prevent what the stealing of Richard's crown had made inevitable - a long, bloody war between competing wings of the Plantagenet family.

因此他和儿子 亨利六世 都不能阻止窃取理查王位 所带来的不可避免后果 金雀花王室中敌对两翼的漫长血战

For 30 years, the houses of York and Lancaster slogged it out in a roll call of battles we know as the Wars of the Roses.

整整30年 约克家族 和兰开斯特家族 在著名的玫瑰战争中展开拉锯战

There are only two ways to feel about the Wars of the Roses.

对于玫瑰战争 通常有两种感受

Either the endless chronicle of violent seizures of the Crown makes you thrill to one of the great English epics,

要么是漫长暴力的王位争夺 谱写出令人惊心动魄的伟大史诗

or else it leaves you feeling slightly numbed.

要么是让人渐渐麻木

If you're in the dazed and confused camp,the temptation of course is to write off the whole sorry mess

如果你身处这片晃眼的刀光剑影中 最好的办法就是置身混乱之外

as the bloody bickering of overgrown schoolboys,whacking each other senseless on the fields of Towton, Barnet and Bosworth.

任由那些乳臭未干的孩子 在陶顿 巴尼特和博斯沃思战役中 麻木机械地拔刀相向

But there was something at stake in all the mayhem,

但混乱之中 仍有亟待解决之事

and that was the need to make the English monarchy credible again;

那就是重振英格兰君主的威信

to re-solder the chains of allegiance,which had once stretched all the way from Westminster

重铸忠诚之索 它曾经一路从威斯敏斯特

out to the constables and justices in the shires,and which had been so badly broken by the fate of Richard II.

延伸至英格兰中部的治安官和法官中 因为它已被理查二世击得粉碎

词汇解析

1、prevent

防止；预防；阻止

These methods prevent pregnancy.

这些方法能防止怀孕。

Further treatment will prevent cancer from developing.

进一步的治疗将阻止癌症恶化。

阻止；制止；阻碍

He said this would prevent companies from creating new jobs.

他说这将使公司无法创造新的工作机会。

Its nationals may be prevented from leaving the country.

其国民可能会被禁止出境。

2、confuse

混淆;搞错

Great care is taken to avoid confusing the two types of projects.

大家非常谨慎，以免把这两类项目弄混。

I can't see how anyone could confuse you with another!

我不明白怎么会有人把你和另外一个人搞混！

把…弄糊涂;使困惑

German politics surprised and confused him.

德国政治既令他惊讶，又让他困惑不解。

搅乱;使复杂化

To further confuse the issue, there is an enormous variation in the amount of sleep people feel happy with.

使问题进一步复杂化的是，每个人需要的睡眠时间千差万别。