關於英國首相丘吉爾的十件趣聞(下)

White House Suit

5.在白宮的衣服

Churchill apparently had several naked incidents while staying in the White House. On one occasion, he supposedly encountered the ghost of Abraham Lincoln while naked. They stared at each other for some time before Lincoln politely disappeared.

丘吉爾在白宮居住時顯然有過不止一次的裸露事件。有一次，在臥室中，他全身赤裸遇到了亞伯拉罕·林肯的鬼魂。他們互相對視幾分鐘，直到"林肯"從他眼前消失。

President Franklin Roosevelt also saw him naked, along with several White House staff during his 24-day visit in 1941. Churchill had just taken his bath and was pacing around in the nude when Roosevelt came in. The president quickly tried to leave, but Churchill told him not to, declaring that he clearly had nothing to hide from his closest incident is somewhat controversial, since Churchill later insisted that he "never received the president without at least a bath towel" to cover himself. However, Churchill's stenographer and bodyguard both claimed to have witnessed the incident and Roosevelt's secretary said the president told her about it later, describing Churchill as "pink and white all over." And Churchill himself once told King George VI that he was the only person on Earth to ever meet with a president naked.

1941年，在丘吉爾對美國爲期24天的訪問期間，美國總統富蘭克林·羅斯福在白宮一些官員的陪同下看到過全裸的丘吉爾。當時，丘吉爾剛洗完澡，正在白宮的浴室裏光着身子踱步，羅斯福卻正好出現在門口，總統馬上準備離開，丘吉爾卻說不用了，在最親密的盟友面前他沒有什麼可隱藏的。這件事有些爭議，因爲丘吉爾後來堅持說"他迎接總統時至少用了一條浴巾"來遮蓋自己。但是，丘吉爾的速記員和保鏢都說親眼目睹了那次裸露事件。而且，羅斯福的祕書也說道總統後來和她說起過這件事，形容當時丘吉爾就是一絲不掛。丘吉爾也曾告訴過喬治五世，他是世界上唯一一個裸體見總統的人。

Siege Of Sydney Street

4.悉尼街的圍攻

On December 16, 1910, nine unarmed policemen were sent to investigate a reported burglary attempt in Houndsditch, London. When they arrived, the criminals, later identified as anarchist refugees from Latvia, opened fire, killing three policemen and injuring two others in the worst police shooting in London history. It's been noted that the killings reflected something of a culture clash—the Latvians were familiar with the armed and brutally violent Russian police, while the baton-wielding British bobbies were completely taken by surprise and unable to defend themselves. During the melee, one of the gang members was accidentally shot by his friends and died a few days later. A massive manhunt was quickly launched for the two surviving shooters.

1910年12月16日，九名未武裝的警察被派遣至倫敦死狗溝渠街調查一件入室盜竊未遂案。罪犯（後被確認爲來自拉脫維亞的無政府主義難民）在警方到達時向其開火，導致三死兩傷，使之成爲倫敦歷史上最嚴重的襲警事件。值得注意的是此事件中反映出的文化衝突——拉脫維亞人常與全副武裝、殘酷暴力的俄羅斯警察打交道，相比之下揮舞着警棍的英國警察們就顯得措手不及，難以自保了。混戰中一名團伙成員被同夥意外擊中並於幾天後死亡。大規模搜捕行動很快找到了另外兩名襲擊者。

On New Year's Day, the police received a tipoff that the murderers were hiding in a house on Sidney Street. The police cordoned off the area and Churchill, who was the minister responsible for policing at the time, arrived and took command of the operation. Reinforced by the military, the police engaged the criminals in a lengthy gun battle, during which the Latvians fired more than 400 rounds and a bullet tore through Churchill's hat. The situation was only resolved when the building caught fire and Churchill ordered the fire department not to risk attempting to put it out. One of the men inside was shot when he leaned out to escape the flames, while the other burned to death. There has since been a degree of controversy over whether the two men were actually the same Latvians who shot the policemen, although historians have noted that starting a massive, suicidal gunfight implies some level of chill seems to have enjoyed the grisly experience, telling a colleague that the siege was "such fun!" Some papers criticized him for using the battle as a "photo opportunity," noting that it was inappropriate for a politician to directly take command of a police operation. However, the incident seems to have helped cement his reputation as a man of action and improved his popularity with the general public.

在新年的第一天警方接到舉報，兇手就藏在悉尼街的一間房屋中。警方立刻封鎖了該區域，丘吉爾，作爲當時對警方負責的部長，到達現場對行動進行指揮。由於軍隊介入，警方實力大增，與罪犯展開了一場漫長的槍戰。期間拉脫維亞人射出400餘發子彈，其中一發還射穿了丘吉爾的帽子。當時大樓起火，丘吉爾下令禁止消防部門冒險撲滅大火，混戰情勢才稍得緩解。樓中一人在傾身躲避火焰時被擊中，另一人被大火燒死。對於這兩人是否就是襲擊警察的兩名拉脫維亞人向來有一定爭議，但歷史學家指出，大規模自殺式的槍戰暗示着某種程度的內疚。丘吉爾似乎對這次驚險的經歷津津樂道，他告訴一名同事這樣一場圍攻真是"太有趣了"！一些報紙批評他將這場混戰當作"上報露臉的機會"，並且指出由一名政治家直接指揮警方行動是非常不合適的。然而，這次事件不僅幫助他鞏固了"行動家"的美名，更提高了公衆對他的支持度。

chill's Sneeze

3.丘吉爾的噴嚏

The border between Jordan and Saudi Arabia includes a sharp zigzag known as Churchill's Hiccup or Churchill's Sneeze. The story goes that Churchill was drawing the map when a sudden hiccup or sneeze caused his hand to slip, making a sharp indent into Jordan. It's a pretty ridiculous story and unsurprisingly it isn't true. Instead, the zigzag shape was actually deliberately designed to give Britain an uninterrupted air corridor between Jordan and Iraq.

在約旦和沙特阿拉伯之間有一段邊境線呈鋒利鋸齒形，被稱爲"丘吉爾打嗝"或"丘吉爾的噴嚏"。傳說丘吉爾在繪製地圖的時候突然打了個嗝或者打了個噴嚏，造成手滑，使邊境線呈鋒利的鋸齒狀縮進約旦。這是個滑稽可笑的故事，毫無疑問並非事實。相反，鋸齒形的邊境線正是故意爲英國設計，使約旦和沙特阿拉伯之間形成一條不間斷的空中走廊。

If there's an element of truth to the story it's that Churchill, as minister for the colonies, did play a significant role in establishing the borders of the modern Middle East. This occurred in the wake of the controversial 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement, in which Britain and France agreed to divide the Middle East between them, ignoring ethnic and religious boundaries in the process. They were so unsure about what to do with Palestine that they actually considered just giving it to Belgium. Meanwhile, France ceded a chunk of Syria to Turkey against the wishes of most of the locals, simply because the wealthy Turkish minority in the area was better at lobbying than the impoverished ain and France also initially agreed to support the creation of a Kurdish state, but then dumped the idea when it became clear they would have to give up large chunks of Iraq and Syria to make it happen. Today, 25 million Kurds remain without a state they can call their own. The agreement is now even used as a recruitment tool by ISIS, which claims that the boundaries were unjust.

故事中唯一一點不假的就是丘吉爾作爲殖民部長在構建現代中東邊界時確實扮演着重要角色。1916年，具有爭議的《賽克斯-皮科爾協議》簽訂，英法同意分割兩國之間的中東地區，但毫不顧及其中涉及的民族與宗教界線。他們並不確定要如何劃分巴勒斯坦，最終就將其劃給了比利時。與此同時，法國仍在違背當地大多數人的意願下將敘利亞的一塊土地割給了土耳其，僅僅因爲當地少部分富裕的土耳其人比窮困潦倒的阿拉伯人更善於遊說罷了。英法本同意支持建立一個庫爾德國家，但在意識到他們需要割捨伊拉克和敘利亞大片土地時就放棄了這個想法。如今，2500萬庫爾德人依舊沒有一個屬於他們自己的國家。"伊拉克和大敘利亞伊斯蘭國"現利用此協議對外宣稱其邊界劃分有失公允，並作爲其募集成員擴張組織的工具。

Black Dog

2.他的黑狗

Throughout his life, Churchill probably suffered from manic depression, which he called his "black dog." At times, his depression was so severe that he didn't like standing close to a passing train or looking at the ocean from a ship because he feared he would be tempted to commit suicide. His close friend Lord Beaverbrook once said that he was always either "at the top of the wheel of confidence or at the bottom of an intense depression."

丘吉爾的一生可能都遭受他本人稱之爲"黑狗"的躁鬱症的折磨。有時，他由於過於焦躁而不喜歡太靠近經過的火車或者從船上看大海，因爲他害怕自己會突然想自殺。丘吉爾的好朋友比弗布魯克男爵曾經這麼說過丘吉爾，"他要麼處在信心的巔峯，要麼處在抑鬱的谷底。"

During his bouts of depression, Churchill would almost cease to function, spending a great deal of time in bed and losing his appetite and ability to concentrate. When he recovered from one such bout, he memorably described how "all the colors come back into the picture." When not depressed, Churchill was famously full of energy, usually working and talking until the early hours of the morning. He bounced constantly from one topic to another, causing Roosevelt to quip that he "has a thousand ideas a day, four of which are good." In fairness, Roosevelt knew Churchill best during the later years of the war, when his doctor had taken to prescribing him amphetamines in order to avoid any depressive episodes, which didn't help his manic tendencies.

在他抑鬱發作的時候，丘吉爾幾乎停止工作，大部分時間都躺在牀上，沒有食慾，也無法集中精神。有一次恢復正常後，他根據記憶描述這種經歷爲，"畫面中的顏色都回來了。"當丘吉爾不抑鬱的時候，他總是精力充沛，工作或者談話直到凌晨。他能一直從一個話題跳到另一個話題，使得羅斯福嘲笑他說，"一天有一千種想法，但只有四個是有用的。"公平的說，羅斯福是二戰後期最瞭解丘吉爾的人，那時候，丘吉爾的醫生爲了避免他抑鬱發作，已經開始給他開安非他命，但這對他的躁鬱傾向並沒有幫助。

Quotes

1.他的妙語連珠

The great quotes of Winston Churchill have filled entire books. Unfortunately, many of the quotes attributed to him just aren't true. For instance, Nancy Astor is often said to have told him "If I were your wife I would put poison in your coffee," to which Churchill replied "If I were married to you, I'd drink it." The incident did happen, but Churchill wasn't involved at all. Instead, his good friend Lord Birkenhead delivered the reply.

丘吉爾的妙人妙語可以寫成一本書了。但不幸的是，人們認爲是他說的話有些並不是真的。比如，據說南希·阿斯特對丘吉爾說過，"如果我是你的妻子，我將在你的咖啡裏下毒。"對此，丘吉爾回覆，"如果我跟你結婚了，我寧願喝了那杯毒咖啡。"然而，這件事的確發生過，但丘吉爾並沒有參與其中，是他的好朋友比弗布魯克男爵回覆的那句話。

Churchill did have a run-in with Astor, herself a great wit and the first female British Member of Parliament, but it was rather less quotable. Apparently, Churchill complained that he "felt when you entered the House of Commons that a woman had entered my bathroom and I had nothing to protect myself with but the sponge" to which Astor replied "Would it never occur to you that your appalling appearance might have been protection enough?" Churchill couldn't really complain about Astor's rudeness, since he genuinely did respond to another female MP accusing him of being drunk with "Madam, you are ugly and I will be sober in the morning." However, he probably didn't say that "Americans will always do the right thing, after they have tried everything else" or tell a civil servant bemoaning prepositions at the end of sentences that "this is the kind of English up with which I will not put." And both Churchill and George Bernard Shaw denied the famous story in which Shaw sent Churchill two tickets to his new play and invited him to "bring a friend, if you have one" only for Churchill to reply that he would come on the second night "if there is one."However, Churchill fans shouldn't despair just yet. It most likely is true that Churchill was in the toilet when an aide informed him that the Lord Privy Seal had arrived to see him, prompting the memorable instruction to "tell the Lord Privy Seal that I am sealed in the privy and can only deal with one s–t at a time."

丘吉爾確實與阿斯特交過手，她很聰明，而且是議會中第一個女性英國籍成員，但這相對來說不具引用性。實際上，丘吉爾對阿斯特抱怨過，"當你踏進下議院，我覺得像一個女人進了我的浴室，而我除了海綿沒有能保護自己的東西。"阿斯特如是回答，"難道你從來沒有想過你那令人望而生畏的外貌已經提供了足夠的保護嗎？"丘吉爾並不能抱怨阿斯特的無禮，因爲他也曾經機智的回答另一個指責他醉酒的女性議員說，"女士，你長得如此醜陋，我明早一準就會清醒了。"但是，他可能並沒有說過，"美國人在嚐遍了所有方法後總能做出正確的事。"他也沒有對一個在句子最後用哀嘆介詞的公務員說，"這種英語我無法忍受。"丘吉爾跟蕭伯納都否認了這樣一個著名的坊間故事：蕭伯納給了丘吉爾兩張他新劇的票，並邀請他說，"如果你有朋友的話，帶他一起來。（諷刺丘吉爾沒有朋友）"而丘吉爾則回答說，"如果第二天還有演出的話"他一定會來（迴應蕭伯納的劇沒有人看）。但是，丘吉爾的崇拜者不要就此絕望，傳言還是有真實存在的。有一次，當助手告訴丘吉爾掌璽大臣過來拜訪時，他正在廁所裏，於是作出了著名的指示，"告訴掌璽大臣，我被關在樞密院了，一次只能處理一件事。"

審校：張茜 編輯：簡簡單單 來源：前十網