History rocks, but your poor history teachers didn't have time to cover all the fun little bits. Whether these bits were sad, hilarious, or heartwarming, we think it's a shame you missed out. And we're righting that wrong.
历史是相当有趣的，但你那糟糕的历史老师却没时间给你讲一些饶有趣味的小故事。不论这些故事是悲伤的、滑稽可笑的或是温馨暖人的，我们都认为错过它们将是你的遗憾。现在就让我们来弥补这个遗憾吧。

10.Charles Dickens
10.查尔斯·狄更斯

Charles Dickens was probably one of the most famous writers of the Victorian era, and anything that resembles his work has now been granted the honorable title "Dickensian". Although his stories usually have happy endings, his own story most certainly did not start happily. Dickens' early life was spent mostly in debtor's prison because his poor dad couldn't pay off his debts so the whole family had to join him in the slammer, a fairly typical practice in Victorian England.
查尔斯·狄更斯可能是维多利亚时期最著名的作家之一，现在任何与他的作品风格相似的东西都被冠以"狄更斯式作品"的殊荣。尽管他的作品通常都以幸福收尾，但他本人的故事却没有一个幸福的开始。他的童年时光大多是在债务人监狱度过的，因为他贫穷的父亲无力偿还债务而致使全家入狱，这也是维多利亚时期非常典型的现象。
He eventually worked in a factory to help pay off the debts, and the terrible working conditions were a major inspiration to his writing. As an adult, he appeared to be a more lighthearted guy, often pulling practical jokes. He had a fake bookcase with books that were hilariously titled, including Noah's Arkitechture and a nine-volume set titled Cat's Lives.
他最终在一家工厂工作，借此帮忙偿还债务，同时，工厂糟糕的工作环境也是他创作的主要灵感来源。作为一个成人，他表现得却像一个无忧无虑的男孩，经常开一些无伤大雅的玩笑。他也曾虚构了一个堆满了书的书架，书名多是滑稽可笑的，比如《诺亚方舟的架构》和一套名为《猫的生命》系列的九卷书籍。

9.Albert Einstein
9.阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦

Albert Einstein is the archetypal kooky scientist who was clearly more than a little bit off and yet was brilliant as brilliant could be. Einstein, although a seemingly friendly, intelligent guy had quite a few skeletons in the closet. In 1901, Einstein and his first girlfriend, Mileva Maric, were on holiday in Italy. It ended when Mileva found herself with child and Einstein found himself with no money to support her and the new baby. The child, Lieserl, was born in 1902 and disappeared from Einstein's letters to Mileva around 1903. It's unknown what happened to the child, but she probably died of scarlet fever.
阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦是科学界中典型的怪人，我们都清楚地知道他不只是有点聪明，而是聪明得不能再聪明了。尽管爱因斯坦表面上看起来友好聪慧，但他也有一些不可告人的秘密。1901年，爱因斯坦和他的第一任女朋友米列娃·玛利奇在意大利度假。但这次度假很快便结束了，因为马利奇怀孕了，而爱因斯坦又没有足够的钱来养活马利奇和这个即将到来的新生儿。他们的这个女儿丽瑟尔在1902年出生，但在1903年左右，在爱因斯坦写给马利奇的信中就再未提到过她。没人知道这个孩子到底怎么了，但多数人认为她可能死于猩红热。
Later in life, Einstein left Mileva in 1912 (and divorced her in 1919) and married his cousin Elsa Lowenthal soon after. In the latter marriage, Einstein had numerous affairs during the marriage and well after Elsa's death in 1936. Genius? Yes. Playboy? Definitely.
在以后的生活里，爱因斯坦于1912年离开了马利奇（1919年与她离婚），并很快就和他的表姐艾尔莎·洛文塔尔结婚。在这段婚姻里，爱因斯坦有过不少婚外情，即使在1936年艾尔莎死去之后，他仍一直与其他许多女性有染。他是天才吗？这当然是毋容置疑的。他是花花公子吗？这也是千真万确的。

8.Robert Louis Stevenson
8.罗伯特·路易斯·史蒂文森

Granted, Robert Louis Stevenson isn't a household name, but you probably know him for his hit novel Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. What you probably don't know is that he wrote the novel on cocaine and then gave it to his wife for review. After his wife stated that the book was an allegory, and that he should write it as such, Stevenson burned it so that he could force himself to write it according to his wife's feedback. Speaking of his wife, Fanny Osbourne met Robert Louis Stevenson while she was in Paris–they fell in love, and she became his muse. When Fanny had to return home to America, Stevenson saved up for three years to see her again so that they could be together. That's one determined man.
诚然，罗伯特·路易斯·史蒂文森并不是一个家喻户晓的名字，可你也许读过他的讽刺小说《化身博士》。但你可能不知道的是，这篇小说是在他吃了可卡因之后创作出来的，并随后拿给他的妻子校对。在他妻子说这本书是一则寓言，并告诉他应该怎样写之后，史蒂文森便烧毁了原稿，以此强迫自己按照妻子的反馈来写。他的妻子芬妮·奥斯朋和史蒂文森在巴黎结识，并很快坠入爱河，自此，芬妮成为史蒂文森的灵感来源。当芬妮不得不回到她在美国的家时，史蒂文森节衣缩食三年去看她，这样他们又可以在一起了。由此可见，这是一个有决心的人。

7.Abraham Lincoln
7.亚伯拉罕·林肯

Famous for his mighty beard, Abraham Lincoln was a curious figure. Though he wasn't actually born in a log cabin, he did have a relatively hard childhood. Hard labor was part of the daily regime in the frontier where Lincoln grew up, and, at the age of nine, he lost his mother to milk sickness. As President, he would grow to be history's tallest President of the United States, standing proud at 6'4″. Even after he died, his story didn't quite end. In 1876, a group of counterfeiters wanted to hold Lincoln's body for ransom, at the hefty fee of $200,000 in gold and the release of one of their accomplices. They were caught and sentenced to a year in jail.
以他那非凡的大胡子而闻名的亚伯拉罕·林肯是一个古怪的人。尽管实际上他并非出生在小木屋，但他却有一个相对悲惨的童年。在他出生的地方，繁重的劳动成了他日常生活不可分割的一部分，在他几岁时，他的母亲又因为乳毒病而去世。作为总统，他六尺四寸（约1.93米）的身高也足以令他自豪了，他大概是美国历史上最高的总统。即使在他死后，他的故事也没就此画上句号。1876年，一个制造假币的团伙想要将林肯的尸体作为向联邦政府讨价还价的筹码，他们不仅索要20万美元赎金，还要求释放他们的一个同伙。这个团伙最终被捕并判一年监禁。

6.King George III
6.乔治三世国王

He was the King of England during the War, right? So? So, he was nuttier than a squirrel. He is thought to have begun to lose his marbles due to arsenic poisoning, since arsenic was spread around like fairy dust in everything back in the early 19th century from medicine to cosmetics. Eventually confined to a straitjacket within his own palace, he died in 1820, blind and insane. He may have been a tyrant to the American colonists, but you can't help but feel a bit sorry for the guy.
他是战争时期的英格兰国王，是这样吧？还有呢？还有他是一个相当愚蠢的人。在19世纪晚期砷被广泛应用于药物与化妆品中，像仙尘一样在整个英格兰肆虐，乔治三世国王就被认为由于砷中毒而神志不清。为了治疗，他被强迫在自己的宫殿里穿上紧身约束衣，最终于1820年在双目失明且神志不清的状况下死去。对美国殖民者来说，他可能是一个暴君，但你还是会禁不住为这个可怜的人感到些许悲哀。

翻译:李念 来源：前十网