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引发了第一次世界大战的男人(2)

来源:可可英语 编辑:Vicki   可可英语APP下载 |  可可官方微信:ikekenet

By the early 1880s, the two cousins had grown into very different people.

到了19世纪80年代初,这两个表亲已经成长为截然不同的人。

Off on his family's estates, Franz Ferdinand had become exactly the sort of man the newly-reorganized Austro-Hungarian Empire was designed to churn out.

弗朗茨·斐迪南离开了家族的领地,成为了新重组的奥匈帝国想要培养的那种人才。

He'd joined the army, become a captain within a year.

他参军了,不到一年就当上了上尉。

Now he was in his early twenties and climbing the ranks, ready to serve his country.

现在他才二十出头,正步步高升,准备为国效力。

Even his love of flowers had been offset by a newfound passion for the masculine sport of hunting.

甚至他对花卉的热爱也被他对男性运动狩猎的新爱好所抵消。

And no-one hunted quite like Franz Ferdinand.

没有人能像弗朗茨·斐迪南那样狩猎。

If it moved, and wasn't wearing an Austrian army uniform then Ferdinand was more than happy to shoot it.

如果猎物移动了,而且没有穿奥地利军队的制服,那么斐迪南就会非常乐意射杀它。

It's estimated he shot over a quarter of a million animals in his lifetime.

据估计,他一生中射杀了超过25万只动物。

But, despite the outward success of Ferdinand's military upbringing, it hadn't sanded off all the rough edges.

但是,尽管斐迪南的军事教育表面上很成功,但它并没有磨掉斐迪南所有的棱角。

Adult Franz Ferdinand was a man with a volcanic temper.

成年的弗朗茨·斐迪南是一个脾气暴躁的人。

Like many rich people, he was used to getting what he wanted.

像许多富人一样,他习惯于得到他想要的。

But whereas most rich people sulk in private when they don't, Ferdinand sulked openly, for days on end.

大多数富人在私下里生闷气,而斐迪南却公开生闷气,一连好几天。

It got so bad that his army buddies would avoid him like most of us would avoid a pedophile made of ebola.

情况严重到他的战友们都躲着他,就像我们大多数人躲着一个被埃博拉病毒感染的恋童癖一样。

Still, at least Franz Ferdiand was broadly content.

不过,至少弗朗茨·费迪南对此很满意。

The same can't be said for Rudolf. In the years since Count Gondrecourt had been kicked out on his sadistic backside, Ferdinand's cousin had gone from bad to worse.

鲁道夫就不一样了。自从摆脱了冈德科特的虐待后,斐迪南的堂兄变得越来越坏。

He'd become melancholic. Alcoholic. Other "cholics" that medical science hasn't even dreamed of.

他变得忧郁、嗜酒,还有一些医学连做梦都想不到的毛病。

Yet even as he emotionally decayed, Rudolf intellectually sharpened.

然而,就在鲁道夫的情感逐渐衰退时,他的智力却变得敏锐起来。

At the time of our story, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was home to a kaleidoscope of ethnicities.

当时的奥匈帝国各种种族杂居在一起,

There were Czechs. Slovaks. Poles. Italians. Croats. Slovenes. Serbs. Romanians. Ukrainians.

有捷克人、斯洛伐克人、波兰人、意大利人、克罗地亚人、斯洛文尼亚、塞尔维亚人、罗马尼亚人、乌克兰人。

However, only Austrians and Hungarians were represented at the top.

然而,只有奥地利人和匈牙利人地位较高。

While that had been common in empires of the past, it wasn't so viable in a Europe now brimming with nationalism.

虽然这在过去的帝国中很常见,但在如今充满民族主义的欧洲就不那么可行了。

As future emperor, Rudolf was desperate to reform things.

作为未来的皇帝,鲁道夫渴望改革。

Unfortunately, his father's motto was essentially "do nothing and hope for the best."

不幸的是,他父亲的座右铭可以说是“无所事事,想着美事”。

Franz Josef was slow. Conservative.

弗朗茨·约瑟夫性子慢,而且保守。

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As suspicious of demands for autonomy as he was of his heir's reforming zeal.

他怀疑对自治的要求,就像他怀疑他的继承人的改革热情一样。

But rather than talk about it, Franz Josef simply sidelined Rudolf, marrying him off to Princess Sophie of Belgium, a woman so dull she could've been used as anesthetic.

但弗朗茨·约瑟夫并没有谈论这件事,而是把鲁道夫边缘化了,让他和比利时的索菲公主,一个迟钝得可以被用作麻醉剂的女人成了亲。

Frustrated at court, stuck with a wife he hated, and still dealing with the scars of his abusive childhood, Rudolf began to drift into a poisonous depression.

在宫廷受挫,和憎恨的妻子纠缠不清,再加上童年受虐留下的伤疤仍未愈合,鲁道夫患上了严重的抑郁症。

Interestingly, it was around this time that Franz Ferdiand's life also took a grim turn.

有趣的是,就在这个时候,弗朗茨·费迪南的生活也发生了非常不好的转折。

In the mid-1880s, the third in line to the throne was diagnosed with tuberculosis - a lung disease that killed many in the 19th Century.

19世纪80年代中期,王位的第三顺位继承人费迪南被诊断出患有肺结核——这种肺病在19世纪夺走了许多人的生命。

But things were worse for Rudolf.

而鲁道夫的情况更糟。

While Franz Ferdinand's disease was something that could be understood, Rudolf's disease was something that hid away from sight, something his family didn't even try to understand.

弗朗茨·费迪南的病是被理解的,而鲁道夫的病则是隐藏在视线之外的,他的家人甚至都不会试着去理解。

It was an attitude that would lead to tragedy.

这种态度会导致悲剧的发生。

On January 30, 1889, Rudolf - now extremely depressed - took his 17-year old lover, Baroness Mary Vetsera, to his hunting lodge Mayerling.

1889年1月30日,极度沮丧的鲁道夫带着他17岁的情人玛丽·韦瑟拉男爵夫人来到他的狩猎小屋梅尔林。

There, the two signed a suicide pact.

在那里,两人签署了自杀协议。

Then Rudolf shot her through the head before turning his pistol on himself.

然后鲁道夫一枪爆了她的头,然后把手枪对准了自己。

The bullet that passed through Rudolf's brain did more than just kill the Crown Prince.

穿过鲁道夫大脑的那颗子弹不仅杀死了王储。

It ended Franz Josef's line, extinguishing his only male heir.

也终结了弗朗茨·约瑟夫的血脉,毁掉了他唯一的男性继承人。

It was a moment when history trembled, then pivoted on its axis. When the multiverse branched.

这是让历史颤抖的时刻,也是历史扭转的时刻。平行宇宙出现了分支。

Poor Franz Ferdinand didn't know it yet, but Rudolf's two gunshots had just set him on a path to his own, equally-violent destiny.

可怜的弗朗茨·斐迪南此时还不知道,鲁道夫的两枪让他走上了一条通往他自己的同样暴力的命运的道路。

Of all the unintended consequences of Rudolf's suicide, Franz Ferdinand becoming heir was likely the most unintended of all.

在所有意想不到的鲁道夫自杀的后果当中,弗朗茨·斐迪南成为继承人大概是最意想不到的。

That's because Ferdinand was third in line to the throne.

因为斐迪南是王位的第三顺位继承人。

After Rudolf decided to decorate Mayerling's walls with the inside of his skull, the succession passed to Ferdinand's dad, Karl Ludwig.

在鲁道夫决定用他的头骨装饰梅耶林的墙壁之后,继承权传给了斐迪南的父亲卡尔·路德维希。

But Karl wasn't interested. Within days, he'd abdicated his claim.

但是卡尔不感兴趣,没过几天他就放弃了自己的继承权。

And just like that, Franz Ferdinand - hot-headed, military, flower-loving Franz Ferdinand - was the future emperor.

就这样,弗朗茨·斐迪南——一个冲动的、热爱军事的、爱花的弗朗茨·斐迪南——成为了未来的皇帝。

For Emperor Franz Josef, this was a little like being forced to swallow a pint of freshly-squeezed disappointment.

对于弗朗茨·约瑟夫皇帝来说,这有点像被迫吞下一品脱刚榨出来的失望。

Franzes Ferdinand and Josef did not get on.

弗朗兹·费迪南和约瑟夫关系不太好。

The emperor was a reserved man who never showed emotion to anyone but his beloved wife Sisi.

皇帝是个内向的人,除了他深爱的妻子塞西,他从不对任何人表露感情。

While Franz Ferdinand… Well, let's just say the sulking and the volcanic temper had not improved with age.

而弗朗茨·斐迪南,姑且这么说吧,他的愠怒和暴躁脾气并没有随着年龄的增长而改善。

Even though Karl Ludwig abdicated his claim, Franz Josef refused to name Ferdinand his heir.

尽管卡尔·路德维希放弃了他的继承权,弗朗茨·约瑟夫也拒绝指定斐迪南为他的继承人。

He claimed Ferdinand's tuberculosis made him unfit to be emperor, that he might die at any moment.

他声称费迪南的肺结核使他不适合当皇帝,他随时可能死去。

So, in 1892, Franz Ferdinand set off for warmer climes, desperate to relieve his infected lungs.

于是,1892年,弗朗茨·斐迪南前往气候温暖的地方,不顾一切地缓解他那受感染的肺部。

重点单词   查看全部解释    
extremely [iks'tri:mli]

想一想再看

adv. 极其,非常

联想记忆
claim [kleim]

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n. 要求,要求权;主张,断言,声称;要求物

 
offset ['ɔ:fset]

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n. 抵销,支派,平版印刷,弯管,[计]偏移量

 
dull [dʌl]

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adj. 呆滞的,迟钝的,无趣的,钝的,暗的

 
uniform ['ju:nifɔ:m]

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n. 制服
adj. 一致的,统一的

联想记忆
zeal [zi:l]

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n. 热情,热忱

联想记忆
desperate ['despərit]

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adj. 绝望的,不顾一切的

联想记忆
volcanic [vɔl'kænik]

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adj. 火山的,猛烈的

 
depressed [di'prest]

想一想再看

adj. 沮丧的,降低的,不景气的,萧条的,凹陷的,扁平

联想记忆
understand [.ʌndə'stænd]

想一想再看

vt. 理解,懂,听说,获悉,将 ... 理解为,认为<

 

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