推薦：BBC昨天發表的壹篇文章。其用詞講究，行文優美，讓人莞爾，也令人唏噓。

　　以下是文章全文和翻譯，與各位看官分享。

　　《Today, the door swings shut on the Elizabethan era》

　　（伊麗莎白時代之門，今日關閉）

　　By Jonny Dymond

　　For two minutes today the drumming will cease, the pipers will fall silent, the march of boots on procession routes will still.

　　今天，有兩分鐘的時間，鼓聲將停止，風笛將沉寂，葬禮路線上的儀仗隊也將停下腳步。

　　For two minutes today, at the end of the funeral service in Westminster Abbey, before the national anthem is heard, before the coffin is taken away for committal and burial at Windsor, there will be silence.

　　威斯敏斯特教堂的葬禮結束前，在國歌響起之前，在靈柩送往溫莎城堡安葬之前，將有兩分鐘的默哀。

　　And a door will swing shut.

　　之後，壹扇門將猛然合上。

　　A reign of seven decades will come to a close. For 10 rather bewildering days we have spoken of the Queen and the new king as if they could somehow both be with us.

　　70年的統治，即將告壹段落。在這令人困惑的10天裏，我們壹直在談論女王和新國王，仿佛他們二人都能與我們同在。

　　Today that long week of transition comes to an end.

　　今天，這壹周漫長的過渡即將結束。

　　In the earliest years of her reign, a new Elizabethan Age was proclaimed by some. Such was the excitement over the young queen, the marvels of technology and the new prosperity, after the grinding grey of the depression years, the sacrifice of World War Two and the hard road of recovery after it.

　　在她統治的最初幾年，曾有人宣告，壹個新的伊麗莎白時代即將來臨。經歷了陰暗難熬的蕭條歲月，二戰的犧牲，和戰後艱難的復蘇之路之後，人們的興奮情緒，與年輕的女王有關，也與科技奇跡和新興繁榮有關。

　　She - wise in her earliest decades to fickle fashion - dismissed all that talk. But if this was not an age - and who are we to contradict her? - then it was an era, the Elizabethan Era.

　　年輕的她，憑借著應對浮躁無常的智慧，駁斥了這壹說法。但如果這不是壹個時代（我們又有什麼資格反駁她呢），那也可以說，這是壹個年代，伊麗莎白年代。

　　Over decades of wrenching change, she was constancy, for a largely still-conservative country. That profile on the stamps, that voice at Christmas, that bowed head on Remembrance Sunday.

　　在經歷了幾十年的痛苦變革之後，對於壹個仍然普遍保守的國家來說，她曾壹直都在。她是郵票上的那張側臉，是聖誕節的那個聲音，是在陣亡將士紀念日低下的頭。

　　Today the door swings shut on that.

　　今天，這扇門關上以後，這些即將不再。

　　It swings shut too on "Prince" Charles, on his many decades as Prince of Wales.

　　這扇門，已為查爾斯“王子”而關閉，他身為威爾士親王的幾十年，行將結束。

　　His staff always bridled at the idea of him as an understudy or apprentice, pointing to his decades of achievement, of carving out a distinct role.

　　壹直以來，他的工作人員總是對他作為候補演員或者作為學徒的身份感到不滿。他們指出，幾十年來，他也有所成就，也在扮演壹個獨特的角色。

　　His challenge, once Royal Mourning is over, is in part to enjoy - and show that he enjoys - the role of monarch.

　　壹旦哀悼期結束，他的部分挑戰在於，他要享受，並向大家表明，他的確享受扮演君主這壹角色。

　　His mother understood that part of the job was to rally people - to take people's minds off bills and dull jobs and complaining relatives, to entertain and divert and sometimes delight.

　　他的母親明白，這份工作的部分職責是團結民眾：把大家的註意力從賬單、枯燥的工作和唧唧歪歪的親戚身上轉移開。她需要娛樂大眾、轉移註意力、時不時給他們帶來歡樂。

　　That he did good work as prince, transforming so many lives for the better, is unquestionable. But often, alongside, the impression given was that things were grim, that there was a lot of cause for complaint. The word "appalling" seemed to come up a lot.

　　作為王子，他做得很好，改善了很多人的生活，這毋庸置疑。但與此同時，他經常會讓人覺得，境況不妙，有很多事情值得抱怨。“駭人聽聞”這個詞似乎經常與他聯系在壹起。

　　Now the door swings shut on that. Britons want to see the best of themselves reflected in their sovereign.

　　隨著這扇門的關閉，這壹狀況也將結束。英國人希望，他們的君主能體現自身最好的壹面。

　　And, as the silence stretches out across Westminster, across the capital and the country, the door swings shut on Elizabeth, on the woman known to so many and never really known at all, on the little girl known to her grandpa as Lilibet.

　　隨著威斯敏斯特大教堂的寂靜蔓延至整個首都、乃至整個國家時，這扇門將為伊麗莎白而合上。這個大家都如此熟悉，但卻談不上真正了解的人，這個被她爺爺稱為“莉莉白”的小女孩，將與世界告別。

　　In The Unseen Queen, the BBC's beautiful documentary of family-filmed footage of the young princess, Lilibet prances and dances, pranks and laughs. Her eyes shine with laughter. And they shine with love, for her father, the king who would die so early, and her husband Prince Philip, who would be by her side for so long.

　　基於皇室家庭錄影資料，BBC制作了壹部優美的紀錄片，《看不見的女王》。在其中，年輕的莉莉白公主昂首闊步、翩翩起舞，時而打鬧，時而大笑。她的雙眼因歡笑而閃耀，也散發著愛的光芒。其中，妳能看到她對父親的愛，彼時她尚不知道這位國王將英年早逝；其中，也有對丈夫菲利普親王的愛，在他們漫長的余生中，他會壹直伴她左右。

　　Over the decades that prancing, dancing, loving girl and young woman was by necessity put out of sight. This past week have come reminders from friends and confidantes, and those members of the public she let into the secret, that Lilibet was always there.

　　在過去幾十年裏，出於必要，那個歡騰著、跳著舞的可愛女孩和年輕女人，消失在了人們的視線之外。在過去的壹周裏，她的朋友、知己、以及那些她曾分享過秘密的普通人都提醒我們，莉莉白公主壹直都在。

　　She introduced the documentary.

　　她為紀錄片做了開場。

　　"You always hope that future generations will find them interesting," she said of the family films, "and perhaps be surprised that you too were young once".

　　在談到家庭影像時，她說：“妳總是希望，後世會覺得這些影像是有趣的。也許他們會驚訝，她也曾經年輕過。”

　　No-one should be too surprised. Because in her final months, that youthful Elizabeth, that Lilibet, returned to public view with that playful gleam in her eye, drawing a marmalade sandwich from her handbag.

　　我們不必太過驚訝。因為在她生命的最後幾個月裏，那個年輕的伊麗莎白，那個莉莉白，曾帶著俏皮的眼神回到了公眾的視野，從手提包裏掏出了壹個果醬三明治。

　　The handbag is closed. The gleam is now a memory. And today the door swings shut.

　　現在，這個手提包合上了。她眼裏的光芒也已成追憶。今天，壹扇門永遠地關上了。