BBC英国史

What better way to give this new British court a European makeover,to turn it into a byword for Baroque gorgeousness?

还有什么 比得上给英国宫廷涂上欧洲的色彩 使其变为一个巴洛克风格的典范呢

There would be a stunning new royal art collection gathered from all over Europe,

这里将会坐拥全欧洲收集而来的 皇家收藏

of a quality to make popes and emperors moan with envy Mantegnas, Titians, Rembrandts.

奢华的程度足以令教皇和帝王嫉妒不已 曼特尼亚 提香和伦勃朗的作品

Charles's unprepossessing French Queen, Henrietta Maria,

查理不讨人喜欢的法国王后亨利埃塔·玛丽亚

with her sallow skin and discoloured teeth,was airbrushed into stardom

她蜡黄的皮肤和变色的牙齿 变得明星般耀眼

by the glossiest glamourist of them all,Anthony Van Dyke.

使其最为出众最为迷人 这是安东尼·冯·戴克的大作

And beyond the palace,the king was satisfied to see his will being done,

在这宫廷之外 国王的意志得以贯彻

people he disapproved of being made to desist.I like not this.

凡是不同意的人都会被惩罚 我不喜欢这样

Out in the shires, his taxes were being collected,his justice was being carried out,and the skies had not fallen in.

在各个郡中 税收一切正常 他的正义也得到执行 天并没有塌下来

Who missed the talkers, the parliament now?Surely nobody.

谁会想念那些演讲者和议会呢 显然没人会

Sooner or later, Charles was going to have to come down to earth,

迟早查理得走下神坛回归人间

and when he did he'd notice that his earthly kingdom was ruled not by images but by words.

到那时他会发现他的国家 不是靠图画而是靠文字管理的

Now, unlike the invitingly soft scenery of Rubens's fantasy kingdom,

与鲁宾斯美丽奇幻王国景象所不同的是

words were hard things, black and white things.

文字是冷酷的 是黑白分明的

And in the hands of wordsmiths, lawyers, preachers, printers,

在作家 律师 牧师和印刷者的手中

they had a razor-sharp edge that would cut right through all that Stuart mush about British union

这些语言大师如同手握利刃 能够一刀斩断 所有斯图亚特王朝所谓的联合

and bring the playground of the gods crashing to the ground.

并泼飘飘欲仙的统治者们一头冷水

词汇解析

1、collection

(一批)收藏品，收集物

Robert's collection of prints and paintings has been bought over the years.

这些年来，罗伯特逐渐收藏了一批版画和绘画作品。

The Art Gallery of Ontario has the world's largest collection of sculptures by Henry Moore.

安大略美术馆是世界上收藏亨利·摩尔雕塑作品最多的美术馆。

(故事、诗歌或文章的)集子，作品集

Two years ago he published a collection of short stories called 'Facing The Music'.

两年前，他出版了短篇小说集《勇敢面对》。

The Brookings Institution has assembled a collection of essays from foreign affairs experts.

布鲁金斯研究所将一批外交专家撰写的文章结集出版。

收集;采集

Money can be sent to any one of 22,000 agents worldwide for collection.

可以把钱汇给分布在世界各地的22,000名筹款代理人中的任何一位。

computer systems to speed up collection of information.

加速信息收集的计算机系统

2、come down

(成本、水平或数量)下降，降低

Interest rates should come down.

利率应该降低。

If you buy three bottles, the bottle price comes down to 2.42 pounds.

如果买3瓶，价格会便宜一些，每瓶2.42英镑。

落下;降落

The cold rain came down.

下起了冰冷的雨。

The curtain came down after the first act.

第一幕过后，幕布落了下来。