Winston Churchill is probably the most popular British prime minister ever. Having served his country as a soldier and politician, he is often considered the among the greatest of Britons. But while his heroic stand against the Nazis is well known, there are still a few facts about the popular politician that might surprise you.
温斯顿·丘吉尔——可以说是最受民众爱戴的英国首相之一。他利用士兵和政治家的双重身份，为自己的国家鞠躬尽瘁，被视为最伟大的英国人之一。我们都知道他对纳粹有着明确的反对态度，但除此之外还有一些会令你大吃一惊的真实故事。

10.His Cigars
10.酷爱雪茄

The classic image of Winston Churchill includes a giant cigar stuck between his lips. Churchill developed his love of cigars as a young man, when he traveled to Cuba to report on an ongoing rebellion against the colonial Spanish government. For the rest of his life, he smoked eight or nine cigars every day. However, he almost never took a puff, preferring to chew on the end until it went out, then relight it and start again. To prevent the cigar from becoming soggy, Churchill invented the "bellybando," a strip of brown paper which could be glued around the end. At any given time, Churchill had 3,000 to 4,000 cigars in his house, mostly his favorite Romeo y Julieta brand. The cigars were kept in boxes labeled "large" or "small" and "wrapped" or "naked." They were mostly gifts, which helped keep expenses down. (One of his servants observed that "in two days his cigar consumption was the equivalent of my weekly salary.") On one occasion, the president of Cuba presented Churchill with 2,400 top-quality cigars, although his paranoid security team insisted that one cigar from each box be sent off and tested for poison. Perhaps the story that best illustrates his love of cigars occurred during World War II, when he had a special oxygen mask designed so that he could still smoke his cigar on an unpressurized, high-altitude flight.
温斯顿·丘吉尔给人的印象总是嘴里叼着一支雪茄。他是从少年时代开始抽第一口烟的，当时作为一名记者，在古巴报道了当地人民起义反抗当时的殖民政府——西班牙的事件。那时起，丘吉尔便和雪茄结下了不解之缘。他每天要抽上八九只雪茄，却很少真正地吸上一口，大多数时候他只是叼着雪茄的末端，待它熄灭后再重新点上，然后周而复始。为了避免雪茄受潮，丘吉尔自制了一种防潮套，用胶水把一长条牛皮纸和雪茄粘连在一起。无论什么时候，他的家中总储存着3000到4000支雪茄，品种繁多，其中罗密欧与朱丽叶是他最喜欢的牌子。所有保存这些雪茄的匣子都被标出了尺寸和有无茄衣。它们大多数都是作为礼物被送给丘吉尔的，帮他减少了不少这方面的开支。（据丘吉尔的一个仆人回忆，首相两天抽的雪茄总价值是仆人一周的薪水）古巴领导人在一次与丘吉尔见面会上，送给他2400支顶级雪茄。尽管谨慎的安全小组坚持每个匣子内都应当抽取一只雪茄接受检查，但首相显然等不及他们的测试结果。二战期间，他还特制了一种飞行氧气面罩，这种面罩上开了一个洞，让他在高空非增压舱时仍可大抽雪茄。这再一次证明了丘吉尔对雪茄的痴迷到了令人无法想象的地步。

9.His Daring South African Escape
9.南非历险记

In 1899, Churchill traveled to South Africa to cover the ongoing Boer War for the Morning Post. While there, he was offered a chance to accompany an expedition on an improvised armored train. Although correspondents for the Times and the Manchester Guardian declined the invitation, describing the train as a "death trap," Churchill was all too eager to go along. That turned out to be a mistake. As the train was returning to the British lines, it was ambushed by a Boer commando (similar to the one pictured above), which opened fire from a nearby hill. As the British returned fire, the train driver steamed ahead at full speed—and ran right into the rocks the Boers had placed on the tracks, causing one of the cars to derail on a curve. One British crew member managed to escape and make it back to safety, but Churchill and the other survivors were taken prisoner. The captured men were taken to a school the Boers had converted into a prison camp. Churchill remained there until 1900, when he jumped a fence while the guards were distracted. Two captured officers were supposed to follow, but the guards returned and they were unable to join him. When it became obvious that the two officers were not coming, Churchill made his way through Pretoria and managed to sneak on board a cargo train. Forced to jump off by thirst, he then walked through the bush until he came across a cottage owned by a British mining engineer, who agreed to hide him at the bottom of a mine shaft. He also told him that the Boers had placed a £25 bounty on his head. With the help of the engineer, Churchill was able to board a train to Portuguese East Africa, escaping South Africa for good.
1899年，丘吉尔作为《晨报》的记者到南非去跟踪采访布尔战争。在那里，他有机会作为一名战地记者随着简易装甲列车进行跟踪采访。虽然《泰晤士报》和《曼彻斯特卫报》的记者们都视这次采访为"死亡陷阱"，婉拒了随行采访的邀请。然而，丘吉尔却十分渴望前往，后来的事态发展却也证明了他这一决定的错误性。在乘坐火车返回英国的途中，遭到了布尔人突击队的伏击，双方在附近的山丘处开火交战。就在英国士兵全力反击时，火车却全速前进撞上了布尔人放置在轨道上的石块，导致火车在转弯时其中一节车厢脱轨。其中一些英国士兵逃离了埋伏，并安全地回国。但是丘吉尔和其他战争中的生还者却没有那么幸运，他们悉数被俘并被押送至一所由布尔当地学校改造的战俘集中营。丘吉尔一直被布尔人拘留至1900年，直到有一天趁守卫不注意，翻越围墙成功越狱。原计划中有两个被俘的军官也会和丘吉尔一同越狱，但是巡逻的守卫回来了，以至计划流产。当丘吉尔意识到那两名军官没有越狱成功时，他便独自一人穿过比勒陀利亚，偷溜上一辆货运火车，设法逃离。中途迫于饥渴，他跳下了火车，徒步穿越灌木丛直到来到了一座英国采矿工程师的小屋，工程师答应让他藏在一处煤矿通风井的底部，并告诉丘吉尔布尔人正以重金25英镑悬赏通缉他。在这位工程师的帮助下，丘吉尔登上了一辆去往葡属东非的火车，成功逃离了南非。

8.The Two Winstons
8.两个身份

Although it's somewhat overshadowed by his political career, Winston Churchill was an accomplished writer. In fact, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953. His first book was The Story Of The Malakand Field Force, a first-hand account of a military campaign in what is now Pakistan.
尽管与他的政治事业相比稍为逊色，但温斯顿·丘吉尔确实是个才华横溢的作家。事实上，他荣获1953年的诺贝尔文学奖。他的第一本著作《马拉坎德远征史》，是纪录发生在现今巴基斯坦境内一次战役的第一手资料。
Funnily enough, there was another writer named Winston Churchill who was active at the same time. This Winston Churchill was an American who wrote a number of novels, six or seven of which became huge bestsellers. These included Richard Carvel, described as "a serious historical novel, embracing a romantic courtship and many events on land and sea," which sold an astonishing two million copies and made the author a rich man. Interestingly, both Churchills published their first books in 1898, although the American Churchill was the first to become famous for his writing. Unsurprisingly, he would eventually be eclipsed by the fame of his British counterpart and is almost forgotten today. But at the time, the two writers were often confused with each other. To avoid further difficulty, the two Churchills eventually agreed that the British Churchill would publish as "Winston S. Churchill" while the American would simply go by "Winston Churchill."
说来也奇怪，活跃在同一时期的还有另一个叫做温斯顿·丘吉尔的作家。这个作家是美国人，著有许多小说，其中有六七本小说是畅销书。其中，《理查德·卡维尔》被誉为是"一部严肃历史题材小说，讲述了一个浪漫的求爱故事以及许多发生在海洋及陆地的事件，"这本书售出了二百万册，销量惊人，作者也由此成为了一个富有的人。有趣的是，两个丘吉尔都在1898年出版了他们的第一本著作，不过美国的丘吉尔首先因作品而出名。不足为奇，他最终会被英国的丘吉尔所获得的声望超越，并且如今几乎被人遗忘。但在当时，人们常常搞混这两个作家。为了避免产生更多麻烦，两人最终一致决定，英国的丘吉尔出版署名为"Winston S. Churchill"，而美国的丘吉尔则简单署名为"Winston Churchill"。

7.The Accident That Almost Killed Him
7.险些致命的车祸事故

In December 1931, Churchill was on a late-night visit to his friend Bernard Baruch (pictured with Churchill) in New York when he had a brush with death. While crossing the street, he was hit by a car, which then dragged him behind it for a short distance. As it turned out, Churchill had instinctively looked to the right when he wanted to cross. However, since cars drive on opposite sides of the road in America and Britain, he should actually have looked left. Instead, he stepped serenely into the path of an oncoming car. Churchill sustained severe bruising on his chest and a sprained shoulder. He played down the severity of the injuries, writing that he couldn't understand "why I was not broken like an eggshell or squashed like a gooseberry." He also accepted all the blame for the accident, informing the police that the driver was innocent and securing his release. Since the accident occurred during Prohibition, Churchill managed to talk his doctor into writing him a note asserting that "the post-accident concussion of Hon. Winston S. Churchill necessitates the use of alcoholic spirits, especially at meal times."
1931年12月，丘吉尔深夜拜访他的纽约朋友伯纳德·巴鲁克，而就在那时他与死神擦肩而过。当时丘吉尔正在过马路，突然被车撞倒并被拖行至车后的不远处。后来人们发现，丘吉尔在过马路时本能地向右看。但是，由于在美国和英国的汽车行驶方向是相反的，所以当时的他应该看左边。但他却浑然不知地走向马路，没注意到背后有一辆汽车正飞驰而来。丘吉尔胸口有严重瘀伤并扭伤了肩膀。他掩盖了伤势的严重性，只写道他无法理解"为什么他没有像蛋壳一样碎掉或者是像醋栗一样被压扁。"同时，他承担了那次事故的所有责任，告诉警察司机是无辜的，并且确保司机获得释放。因为事故发生在禁酒时期，丘吉尔设法说服他的医生把他的报告写成："温斯顿.S.丘吉尔事故后出现脑震荡，需要饮用烈性酒，尤其是用餐的时候。"

6.His Interest In Islam
6.对伊斯兰文化的痴迷

Churchill was so fascinated by Islam that his family thought he might convert. His interest was revealed by the discovery of a 1907 letter written by Lady Gwendoline Bertie, who was engaged to his brother at the time. The letter was written as Churchill was about to leave on a tour of North Africa and Lady Gwendoline warned that "if you come into contact with Islam your conversion might be effected with greater ease than you might have supposed."
丘吉尔着迷于伊斯兰文化，他的家人甚至一度担心他会转向伊斯兰信仰。当时已与丘吉尔哥哥订婚的格温多琳·伯蒂女士，在1907年给丘吉尔的一封家书中提到了他这一兴趣。这封信是写给正要开始北非之旅的丘吉尔，信中格温多琳女士告诫他说："如果你接触到了伊斯兰教，你也许会比自己想象的更加容易改变自己的信仰。"
In reality, Lady Gwendoline probably didn't need to worry, since Churchill was basically an atheist by that point and never seriously considered converting to Islam. However, he did have an interest in Islamic culture and he and his friend Wilfrid Brunt often dressed in Arab clothing in private. During World War II, Churchill managed to find £100,000 to build the London Central Mosque, which he hoped would attract Muslim support for the war. He was also against the way Frederick Lugard treated Muslim tribes in northern Nigeria, then a British colony. Nevertheless, Churchill still criticized Islam in his book The River War, which bemoaned the treatment of women in the Sudan.
实际上，格温多琳女士不必太过担心。因为丘吉尔在这一问题上是一个无神论者，他从未认真考虑过皈依伊斯兰教。不过他对伊斯兰文化确实很感兴趣，他和他的朋友维尔弗里德·布伦特还经常私底下穿阿拉伯服装。二战期间，丘吉尔设法凑集了10万英镑修建伦敦中央清真寺，希望通过这一举动得到穆斯林对战争的支持。同时，他也反对弗雷德里克·卢吉对待当时作为英国殖民地的尼日利亚北部穆斯林部落的方式。然而，丘吉尔在他所著的《河上的战争》一书中指责了伊斯兰教，文中表达了他对伊斯兰教对待女性态度的不满。

审校：张茜 编辑：简简单单 来源：前十网