昔日的英国王室
Chapter Two: The Growth of Commerce and Industry
In November 1840 the Queen had her first child, Victoria. She was very clever and was the Queen's favorite child. In 1841 Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, was born.
Between 1840 and 1857 Victoria and Albert had nine children-four sons and five daughters. Victoria was a strict mother. The children's food and clothing were always very simple. Victoria and Albert were devoted parents and spent a lot of time with their children. Family values and morality were very important to the royal couple. They became an example for their people. Most Victorians had large families. In the late 1800s, the average family had five or six children.
Albert introduced the first Christmas tree to the royal family, since it was a German custom. Soon it was popular all over Britain. Victoria was very fond of Christmas and its traditions.
The first public railway opened in 1825 and attracted a lot of attention. It was built by George Stephenson, an engineer. In 1830 the Liverpool to Manchester Railway opened and soon transported 1,200 passengers every day.
With the railway, people and goods travelled cheaply and quickly.
Railways spread rapidly all over England, Scotland and Wales. People started going to the seaside and seaside towns developed. By 1848 there were no more stage coaches - almost everyone travelled by train.
In 1842 Victoria and Albert took their first train ride. The Queen liked the speed, comfort and privacy of the train. Soon the royal family travelled by Royal Train, a specially designed carriage. In 1840 the first national postal system was created and the "Penny Black" became the first adhesive postage stamp. Victoria's profile appeared on it. It cost only one penny to send a letter anywhere in Great Britain. Today the red Victorian letter boxes are still used!
Victoria had three royal houses but she didn't like any of them. She wanted a private, remote family home. She and Albert bought a large estate called Osborne on the Isle of Wight. Victoria loved Osborne and was very happy there.
In 1847 the royal couple bought a house in Scotland: Balmoral Castle. It was surrounded by green hills and forests. Victoria liked the fresh, clean air and Albert liked hunting and fishing.
Poverty was a big problem in 19th-century Britain. Working people had a very difficult life. Adults and children worked long hours in factories in dangerous conditions. They were usually hungry and often ill. Squalid houses, unclean water and dirty streets caused many diseases. The air was full of smoke and fog. People did not live long in these conditions.
People without work lived on the streets. They were beggars 0r thieves.
Others lived in workhouses. Some Victorians tried to help the poor. Dr Barnardo opened a home for orphans in London. Charles Dickens wrote about these social problems in his novels, for example in Oliver Twist and David Copperfield.
Social reforms were seriously needed. In 1847 the Ten Hour Act limited the working day of women and children to ten hours a day!
In 1848 Parliament passed laws to make towns and cities cleaner. But progress was very slow.
The middle and upper classes had clean, comfortable houses, far from the industrial centers in green areas called suburbs. Their children received a good education.
Under Victoria's reign Britain became the richest commercial nation. It produced machines, textiles, ships and other goods, and sold them to other countries.
Albert wanted to show Britain's products, inventions and machines to the world. He decided to open an international exhibition. For two years he worked intensely on this complex project. The British began to appreciate Albert's qualities.
On 1 May 1851 Queen Victoria opened the Great Exhibition in the Crystal Palace in London. She called it "the most beautiful spectacle ever seen." The Crystal Palace was truly a spectacle. It was made of iron and glass, and was as big as four football fields! There were over 7,000 exhibitors from Britain and 6,000 from other countries. It was an enormous success with over 6
million visitors in 140 days!
Chapter Three: Wars and Loss During the 1850s there were wars and revolts in Europe and Asia.
British soldiers fought in several of them. The most important was the Crimean War on the Black Sea. Russia wanted to expand its empire and perhaps block the Mediterranean and overland routes to India. So Britain and France decided to help Turkey fight Russia.
The Crimean War was the first war that was photographcd. For the first time newspapers showed photographs of a war - a painful, tragic spectacle .
Victoria was very unhappy because the soldiers suffered. She sent them mittens and scarves, and visited the wounded soldiers in British hospitals.
She wrote letters to the soldiers' widows, Albert wrote hundreds of letters to Members of Parliament to ask thern to send more help to the soldiers.
Victoria helped Florence Nightingale who went to Crimea with 38
nurses. She courageously set up a hospital for wounded soldiers and saved many lives. After the war Florence Nightingale opened the first school for nurses in London. This was the beginning of modern nursing and improved hygienic conditions in hospitals.
When the Crimean War ended in 1856 Victoria presented a special medal for courage to many soldiers. This medal was called the Victoria Cross and it was made of captured Russian cannon!
At this time India was controlled by the British East India Company, a trading company set up in India. In 1857 there was a rebellion against the British who lived in India. It was called the Indian Mutiny . Thousands of people were killed. After this rebellion India became part of the British Empire and was controlled by the British government.
Victoria was very healthy and was rarely ill. She did not like hot rooms and always kept windows open, even in winter!
Albert was usually cold and was not as healthy as Victoria. He worked too much and rarely rested. He was also worried about his son, the Prince of Wales. The Prince's adventures with women and gambling shocked Albert,
who was very upright .
Albert became very tired and weak. In November 1861 he caught typhoid fever , but he continued working until he died on 14 December. Victoria was devastated - it was the greatest agony of her life. She was lost without Albert. She was convinced that her son, the Prince of Wales, was responsible for Albert's death. She did not permit the Prince of Wales to help her with government work.
Victoria visited Albert's impressive tomb at Frogmore near Windsor regularly. She wanted everyone to remember him. The Albert Memorial and the Royal Albert Hall near the Kensington Gardens in London were built to honour her beloved husband.
In her sadness and misery Victoria became a recluse. For thirteen years she refused to appear in public and go to Privy Council meetings. However,
she continued studying government papers privately and never lost contact with her kingdom. She spent a lot of time at Balmoral Castle, far from London. A Scottish servant called John Brown became her loyal friend.
During this period Victoria and the monarchy became very unpopular, and some politicians wanted to abolish it and create a republic!
格列佛游记——致歉，原有书籍中音频有缺失后面四章，整个网络也没有完整版本
Part Six: My career as a Performer
I was happy with the farmer and his family, and the days passed quickly.
There were always a lot of visitors to the house. They came to see me. They were all interested in the little man that the farmer had found in the field.
One of the farmer's friends noticed that everybody in the village wanted to see me.
'You could make a lot of money,' he told the farmer. 'Everybody in the village has seen the little man. Why don't you take him into town on market day? Make the people pay you to see him.'
The farmer thought this was a good idea. Glumdalclitch did not like the idea, because she was afraid the people would hurt me. She also knew that I
was very modest , and that I would not want to perform for the public.
The next morning, however, the farmer took Glumdalclitch and me to town. They put me into a box on one of the horses, and the journey was very uncomfortable for me.
The horse moved very violently , and it was like being in a ship during a storm.
When we arrived at the town, we stayed in a hotel. The farmer told the people in the town about me, and lots of them came to see me. We organised a show for them.
'Stand up!' Glumdalclitch told me.
I stood up, and bowed politely to the people in the room. They laughed,
and clapped their hands.
'Take out your sword!' she said next.
I took out my sword, and looked fiercely at the people in the room. Once again, everybody laughed and clapped their hands.
The farmer made a lot of money, and he decided to travel to other towns.
We went from town to town. Everyone came to see us, and I was very popular.
We lived like this for a long time. It was a terrible life for me. I did not like to be a spectacle for the people. I was unhappy, and I became ill.
Every day I lost strength, and I thought I was going to die. Glumdalclitch was worried about me, but her father just wanted to make as much money as possible from me. He did not care about me at all.
One day we came to the capital city of Brobdingnag. We performed our show for the people as usual. A lot of people came to see me, and the farmer was happy. We decided to stay in the city for a while.
Soon the whole city was talking about me. One day a man from the palace came to talk to the farmer.
'The Queen wants to see this little man,' he said. 'Bring him to the palace tonight.'
The farmer, Glumdalclitch and I were very excited. We decided to perform a very special show for the Queen. We wanted to please her.
Part Seven: The Queen We performed our special show for the Queen, and the Queen loved it.
She smiled when I bowed to her, and she pretended to be frightened when I
took out my sword. She clapped very loudly when we finished.
'What a wonderful little man!' she said to the farmer. 'I want to keep him.
Will you sell him to me?'
'Yes, I'll sell him to you, Your Majesty,' the farmer told her.
I was sad, because I liked Glumdalclitch. Then I had a good idea. I
approached the Queen. I could speak a few words of their language now,
and I asked her to do something for me.
The Queen smiled at me.
'What is it, little man?' she asked. 'What can I do for you?'
'Can Glumdalclitch stay here with me, Your Majesty?' I asked.
'Of course she can!' the Queen said. 'You two are friends, aren't you?'
That is how my life with the Queen of Brobdingnag began. The Queen introduced me to the King, and he and I became friends very quickly. The King asked me a lot of questions about England. He was very surprised that everybody in England was small like me.
The King and Queen ordered a special box for me. It was made of wood,
and there was a table inside, and some small chairs and a bed. The inside of the box was covered with soft material, so that I would not be hurt when someone carried it from one place to another. I kept a collection of interesting objects in the box. One of these was a servant's tooth - it was more than a metre in length!
It was a happy time for me, but there were many dangers because of my small size. There are some incidents that I remember particularly.
Every morning Glumdalclitch carried my box to the window. One day she carried me to the window as usual, and then she left me there. Some huge wasps came in through the window, and entered the box. They were the size of birds in England, and they were very fierce. I was frightened of them.
I took out my sword and fought them. I killed four of them. Luckily, the others flew away.
Another dangerous occasion that I remember was this. Glumdalclitch left me in the garden one day, and the weather was very bad. First it rained, and then it hailed very hard. The hail-stones were the size of tennis-balls, and they hurt me badly. I managed to hide under a tree, but I was still hit by some of them.
Another danger came from an idea that the Queen had. She knew that I like boats, and she ordered one of her servants to make a little boat for me.
The servant put the boat into a tank of water on the table. I spent many hours in this boat. One day, however, a frog jumped out of the water into the boat.
I thought the boat would sink, and I was frightened. I was lucky, and I managed to push the frog out of the boat.
The King and I had many conversations. He was a friendly man, but he did not understand anything about science. He was very surprised when I told him about the English army. He could not understand when I described the cannons that the army uses. When I offered to build a cannon for his own army, he became angry.
'No, Gulliver, I forbid it!' he said. 'I don't understand what these cannons are, but they seem terrible things. Never mention this subject again, please!'
My real problems in Brobdingnag started with the Queen's dwarf .Before my arrival at the palace, he had been the smallest person anyone had ever seen. I was much, much smaller than him, and he was jealous. He played all sorts of tricks on me — some of them were very dangerous.
We were having dinner with the Queen one night. The dwarf suddenly picked me up, and dropped me into a bowl of cream.
The bowl was very deep, and I nearly drowned. Luckily Glumdalclitch was there, and she saved me.
Another evening the dwarf attacked me again at dinner. This time he picked me up and pushed me into a bone on the Queen's plate.
He attacked me a third time in the garden one afternoon. I was walking under some apple trees. He climbed into one of the trees, and shook the branches ⑥
. The apples, which were the size of barrels, fell onto the ground near me. It was a very dangerous and foolish thing to do.
It was not only the dwarf who was dangerous. Animals were also a danger to me, because I was so small. One day the gardener's dog picked me up in his mouth.
I was very frightened, and I thought he was going to eat me.
The dog carried me very gently to the gardener, and dropped me at his feet.
But the worst fright I had was with a monkey . The monkey came into a room of the palace. He picked me up, and carried me away. He seemed to think I was a baby monkey. He tried to give me food to eat, and then he climbed onto the roof of the palace with me in his hand. I was terrified.
Some of the Queen's servants saw what happened. They ran to fetch ladders, and they climbed onto the roof to save me.
I spent about two years in Brobdingnag. Once again I began to think of home, and to be lonely. I was tired of being special because of my size. I
wanted to go back to England.
One day the King decided to visit one of his palaces near the sea. He wanted me and Glumdalclitch to go with him, as usual.
We travelled to the palace together. When we arrived, Glumdalclitch did not feel very well, and she went to bed.
One of the King's servants carried my box to the beach. I was inside, and I
enjoyed looking at the waves from the window.
The servant put the box down, and then he went back inside the palace. It was a hot day, and I fell asleep in the box.
I woke up suddenly when the box began to move. I looked out of the window, and the ground was a long way away—I was up in the air! I
couldn't understand what had happened. Then I looked again, and I saw that a huge eagle was flying with the box in its mouth. I was very frightened,
and I did not know what to do.
Then I heard another noise. I looked out of the window, and there were two large birds flying towards the eagle. They attacked the eagle. They had a terrible fight. In the middle of the fight the eagle dropped the box.
The box fell into the sea with a great crash 'I thought the box would break, but it was very strong. It floated in the water for a long time.
The captain of an English ship saw the box in the water. He ordered his men to bring it onto the ship. The sailors were very surprised when they saw a man inside it.
The captain asked me to tell him my story, and I did. He did not believe the things I told him about Brobdingnag. 'Giants!' he said. 'You don't expect me to believe that, do you? Giants don't really exist, my friend!'
'Then where do you think this came from?' I asked him. I went into the box for a moment, and took out the servant's tooth that I kept there. I showed it to the captain. Now he believed my story!