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| Napoleon wanted to
be read the London papers
| |
Napoleon Bonaparte was keen to learn English while in exile, documents
shown in Britain for the first time reveal.
The deposed French emperor apparently wanted to learn the language of
his foes so he could read what the London papers were writing about him.
Scraps of paper from his English lessons in captivity on the island of
St Helena go on show at London's National Maritime Museum on Thursday.
They include lines of French haltingly translated by Napoleon into
English.
Count Emmanuel de las Cases, who accompanied the emperor into exile
after he surrendered to the English at the Battle of Waterloo, wrote about
his desire to learn the language in his memoirs.
According to him, Napoleon had his first lesson on 17 January 1816,
when he asked las Cases to dictate to him some sentences in French, which
he then translated, using a table of auxiliary verbs and a dictionary.
According to historian Dr Peter Hicks, las Cases describes how Napoleon
hated being sat down to work like a schoolboy but steeled himself for the task.
Dr Hicks said: "He was not necessarily anti-English. He had to fight
because it was the enemy of France."
He added: "In France people are amazed to find that he was learning
English. But he didn't do it for pleasure. He wondered how much money he
could have saved in translation if he could have learnt English."
The documents are to feature in the Greenwich museum's Nelson and
Napoleon exhibition, being held to commemorate the 200th anniversary of
Nelson' death at the Battle of Trafalgar.
They are among a wide range of letters, paintings, personal items and
objects lent by galleries and museums across Europe.
The English lesson papers, described by Dr Hicks as "quite remarkable",
are on loan from the Fondation Napoleon in Paris.
(Agencies) |
最近在英國展出的歷史文獻首次披露，拿破侖·波拿巴在流放期間曾熱衷于學習英語。
很顯然，這位當時已遭到罷黜的法國皇帝想要學習敵人的語言，這樣就可以閱讀倫敦報紙上有關他的報道。
拿破侖在被囚禁于圣赫勒拿島期間學習英語的幾張碎紙片將于周四在倫敦國立海事博物館展出。
上面還有幾行從法語譯過來的磕磕絆絆的英文。
伊曼紐爾·卡斯伯爵在回憶錄中寫道，拿破侖非常想學習語言。滑鐵盧戰(zhàn)役慘敗后，卡斯伯爵和拿破侖一同被流放到圣赫勒拿島，。
據卡斯伯爵說，拿破侖于1816年1月17日開始了他的第一節(jié)英語課，當時拿破侖要求卡斯用法語口述幾個句子，然后他借助一本詞典和一個助動詞表將其翻譯成英語。
歷史學家彼得·希克斯博士指出，卡斯在回憶錄中描述了拿破侖當時十分痛恨像學生一樣坐下來學習，但又強迫自己去學習英語。
希克斯博士稱：“他并不抵制英語，他同英國打仗，僅僅因為英國是法國的敵人。”
他還補充說：“法國人得知拿破侖在學英語后非常吃驚，但是他學習并不是為了取樂。他在想，如果學會了英語，這樣可以節(jié)省多少翻譯費。”
這些歷史文獻將在格林威治博物館的納爾遜及拿破侖展覽中展出，以此紀念納爾遜在特拉法加戰(zhàn)役中英勇殉國200周年。
同時被展出的還包括從歐洲多家畫廊和博物館借來的大量書信、繪畫作品和私人物品等。
這幾張被希克斯博士稱為“相當不平凡的”學習英語的碎紙片是從巴黎拿破侖基金會借來的。
（中國日報網站譯） |
Updated: 2005-07-05 10:43
