威廉·莎士比亚：改变世界的剧作家

你看过《狮子王》或者《阿拉丁》或者《美女与野兽》吗？

Have you ever watched The Lion King or Aladdin or Beauty and the Beast?

你听过泰勒·斯威夫特的那首《爱的故事》吗？

Have you ever heard the song Love Story by Taylor Swift?

这些作品其实有一个共同点。

All of these things have one thing in common.

它们都受到了一位四百多年前的作家的启发。

They were inspired by the writings of a guy who lived more than four hundred years ago.

也许你听说过他的名字。

Maybe you've heard of his name.

他叫威廉·莎士比亚。

His name is William Shakespeare.

莎士比亚在大约二十年里写了三十多部戏剧和一百五十多首诗。

Shakespeare wrote more than 30 plays and over 150 poems in about twenty years.

这些戏剧和诗歌里的故事、词语、人物和名字，影响了无数书籍、歌曲、电影，甚至求婚方式。

The stories, words, characters, and names from these plays and poems have inspired books, songs, movies, and wedding proposals.

正因为如此，他既广为人知，又充满神秘感。

Because of that, he's pretty famous and very mysterious.

你很可能听过他的名字，甚至可能听过他那个有趣的外号——‘诗圣’。

There's a good chance you've heard his name before or maybe even his funny nickname, the bard.

但你知道为什么那么多人被他的作品深深吸引吗？

But do you know why so many people are inspired by his work?

让我们回溯到几百年前，看看莎士比亚的生活与创作，弄清楚为什么这位作家即便已经四百多年没写过新作品，至今仍如此受欢迎。

Let's dig into William Shakespeare's life and work from so long ago to see if we can discover why this writer is still so popular even though he hasn't written anything in over four hundred years.

莎士比亚于1564年出生在英格兰的一个叫斯特拉特福的地方。

Shakespeare was born in 1564 in a town called Stratford Upon Avon in England.

没有正式的出生记录，所以我们其实并不知道他确切的出生日期。

There's no official birth record, so we actually don't know what day Shakespeare was born.

是不是有点神秘？

A little mysterious, right?

很多人试图猜测他具体的生日，以及他的童年生活是怎样的。

A lot of people have tried to guess his exact birthday and what his childhood was like.

但我们真正知道的是，他小时候家里人很多，1582年，他刚满18岁就结了婚，组建了自己的小家庭。

But all we really know is that he had a big family growing up, And when he was only 18 years old in 1582, he got married and started a young family of his own.

几年后，莎士比亚的人生开始变得有趣起来，也更神秘了。

A few years later, Shakespeare's story starts to get interesting and more mysterious.

他突然消失了——至少历史记录里是这么写的。

He disappeared, well, at least according to history records.

从1585年到1592年，整整七年，没人知道他在哪儿，住在哪里，干了些什么。

From 1585 until 1592, for seven years, there are no records of him, where he lived, or what he did.

直到1592年，他莫名其妙地出现在了伦敦。

Then in 1592, he turned up in London out of nowhere.

伦敦是英国最大的城市，离他出生的埃文河畔斯特拉特福并不算太远。

London is the biggest city in England, and it's not far away from Stratford Upon Avon where he was born.

不过在十六世纪，出行可没现在这么方便。

Of course, it took a lot longer to travel back in sixteenth century.

莎士比亚从家乡到伦敦，大概花了三天时间。

It probably took about three days for Shakespeare to get from his hometown to London.

但这还是没说清楚，那七年里他到底在哪、在做什么。

That still doesn't explain where he was or what he was doing for the seven years that we have no record of his life.

有些人觉得，他可能只是在伦敦这座大城市里打工。

Some people think he was just working in the big city of London.

也许他在学表演，因为到1592年的时候，他已经能在舞台上当演员了。

Maybe he was learning to be an actor because by 1592, he'd established acting job on stage.

幸运的是，莎士比亚刚到伦敦不久，戏剧行业就开始兴盛起来了。

Luckily for Shakespeare, right about the same time he moved to London, the theater industry took off.

伦敦第一家剧院建于1576年。

The first ever theater in London was opened in 1576.

他们管它叫‘剧院’。

They named it the theater.

这名字算不上多聪明，但对伦敦的演员和作家们，比如莎士比亚，倒是个不错的开端。

Not exactly the most clever name, but it was a good start for actors and writers in London like Shakespeare.

不过，并不是所有人都喜欢莎士比亚的表演方式。

Not everybody loved the way Shakespeare acted, though.

很多人觉得他的表演太夸张了。

Many people thought his acting was a little too dramatic.

有些人甚至觉得他有点怪异。

Some thought he was even a little odd.

尽管有不少批评声，莎士比亚却给人留下深刻印象，名气也渐渐起来了。

Even though he had some critics, Shakespeare was memorable, and he was starting to get famous.

他还开始创作自己的剧本。

He even began to write some plays of his own.

就在莎士比亚刚站稳脚跟时，一场大瘟疫突然在伦敦爆发了。

Just as Shakespeare had made a name for himself, a big plague started to break out across London.

1590年代，由于瘟疫蔓延、多人染病，伦敦所有的剧院和戏院都不得不迅速关闭。

In the fifteen nineties, all of the theaters and playhouses had to shut down quickly because the plague was spreading and making people sick.

剧院关门后，莎士比亚有了大把空闲时间。

With theaters closed, Shakespeare had plenty of time.

正是在这段时间，他开始写更多的作品。

This is when he started writing even more.

他不停地写，写了一遍又一遍。

He wrote and wrote and wrote, and then he wrote some more.

他不再写剧本，转而开始写诗和十四行诗。

Instead of plays, he started writing poetry and sonnets.

十四行诗是一种诗歌，但对行数和音节有严格的限制。

Sonnets are poems, but they have strict rules on the number of lines and syllables in them.

因为每首都有特定的节奏，听起来有点像歌曲。

They're kind of like a song because of the specific rhythm each of them has.

所以写起来更难。

This means they're harder to write.

几年后，剧院终于重新开放了。

After a few years, theaters were able to reopen again.

为了继续热爱表演，莎士比亚加入了一个剧团。

To continue his love of acting, Shakespeare joined an acting group.

这个剧团叫宫务大臣剧团。

It was called Lord Chamberlain's Men.

他们在伦敦相当有名。

They were pretty well known in London.

有时候，他们甚至会为英国国王和王后演出戏剧。

Sometimes they would even act out a play for the king and queen of England.

这个剧团叫‘宫务大臣剧团’，因为莎士比亚那个时代，女人是不允许登台演戏的。

It was called Lord Chamberlain's Men because in Shakespeare's time, women weren't allowed to do any acting.

所以所有角色都得由男孩和男人来扮演。

This meant that all characters had to be played by boys and men.

想象一下，一个男孩要演完你最爱的那部电影里的所有角色。

Imagine a boy trying to play all of the parts in your favorite movie.

幸好现在谁都能当演员了。

It's a good thing that today, anyone can be an actor.

靠着这个剧团，莎士比亚参与建造了一座全新的剧院，叫环球剧院。

With this acting group, Shakespeare helped build a brand new theater called the Globe.

它不仅名字比之前的剧院好听多了，而且今天依然矗立在伦敦。

Not only did it have a much better name than the theater, but it actually still exists in London today.

虽然经过多次翻修和重建，但今天你依然可以去那里，观看一场和莎士比亚时代一模一样的戏剧。

It has had to be remodeled and reconstructed, but you can actually go there today and watch a play just like the ones in Shakespeare's time.

也许正是因为环球剧院，人们至今还对莎士比亚津津乐道。

Maybe the Globe is one of the reasons people still talk about Shakespeare so much.

环球剧院非常特别。

The globe is unique.

它是圆形的，中间没有屋顶。

It's round, and it doesn't have a roof over the middle of it.

样子有点像甜甜圈。

It looks a little bit like a doughnut.

四百年前，它之所以独特，是因为它让来自不同背景的人都能聚在一起看戏。

Four hundred years ago, it was special because it allowed people from all different types of backgrounds to gather and watch plays.

经济条件差的人也能买得起站在中间的站票。

People with less money could afford standing tickets in the middle of the globe.

他们就站在舞台正前方。

They stood right in front of the stage.

这意味着他们得直接面对从露天顶棚吹进来的风雨和寒气。

This meant that they were exposed to any rain, wind, or cold that came in through the open roof.

有钱人则坐在剧场外圈的座位上。

People with more money sat on the outside ring of the theater.

他们坐得舒服，视野也更好，但离舞台没那么近。

They had comfy seats and higher views, but they weren't as close to the action.

环球剧院其实并不算大。

The globe wasn't all that big.

在某些方面，观众本身就是演出的一部分。

In some ways, the audience was part of the play.

有时候，观众会对台上的演员大喊大叫。

Sometimes the audience would shout at the actors on stage.

他们会鼓掌欢笑，也会嘘声一片，甚至把食物扔向他们不喜欢的演员。

They would cheer and laugh, but also boo and even throw food at the actors that they didn't like.

还有乐手在现场演奏音效，为演出增添气氛。

There were also musicians who would play noises to try to make the play more exciting.

甚至还有一个真炮，遇到剧情需要时就会开火。

There was even a real cannon that would fire when it fit into the play.

在忙于演戏和建剧院的同时，莎士比亚把所有空闲时间都用在了写作上。

Between all of this acting and building of theaters, Shakespeare spent whatever free time he had left writing.

我们确切知道，他写了38部戏剧和200多首其他诗歌。

We know for sure that he wrote 38 plays and more than 200 other poems.

有些人认为他写的更多，但证据并不充分。

Some people think he wrote even more, but the evidence isn't clear on that.

首先，今天已经没有他作品的原始手稿留存下来。

For one, there are no original copies of his plays around today.

甚至连一封他亲笔写的信都没能保存下来。

There aren't even any surviving letters from Shakespeare.

正因如此，很多人对他展开了各种猜测。

Many people make guesses about him because of that.

有些人简直难以想象，一个人怎么可能创作出这么多精彩的故事。

Some are shocked at how one could possibly come up with so many good stories.

我们唯一能确定的是，他的剧作大受欢迎。

The only thing we know for sure is that his plays were a hit.

他写了三种类型的戏剧：悲剧、喜剧和历史剧。

He wrote three types of plays, tragedies, comedies, and histories.

名字就差不多说明了它们的内容。

They're almost exactly what they sound like.

悲剧的结局总是悲伤的，主角通常都不会成功或得胜。

Tragedies had sad endings where the main characters usually did not end up winning or succeeding.

喜剧的结局都是圆满的。

Comedies had happy endings.

剧情幽默轻松，让人开心。

They were funny and light hearted.

历史剧讲述的是真实事件，通常是关于国王王后做出英勇事迹的故事。

Histories told the stories of real events, usually about kings and queens who did something heroic.

莎士比亚最著名的悲剧之一叫《罗密欧与朱丽叶》。

One of Shakespeare's most famous tragedies is called Romeo and Juliet.

这可能是世界上最著名的爱情故事。

It's probably the most famous love story in the world.

它启发了超过三十四部电影。

It's inspired more than 34 movies.

但你也能想到，既然是悲剧，结局自然不幸福。

But as you can imagine, since it's a tragedy, it doesn't have a happy ending.

里面有一句特别有名的话。

It does have a very famous line in it.

你有没有听过人说：‘罗密欧，罗密欧，你为什么非得是罗密欧？’

Have you ever heard someone say, oh, Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?

这是朱丽叶在对那个她爱却不能见的人说的话。

It was something Juliet was saying to the man she loved but wasn't allowed to see.

让莎士比亚影响如此深远的，不只是那些戏剧性的台词。

It's not just dramatic lines that have made Shakespeare so influential.

你知道‘uncomfortable’这个词吗？

Do you know the word uncomfortable?

其实，‘uncomfortable’这个词也是莎士比亚在《罗密欧与朱丽叶》里创造的。

Well, that's a word that Shakespeare invented in Romeo and Juliet too.

他特别喜欢在词前面加‘un’，来造出精准表达他意思的新词。

He liked to add the prefix un to a lot of words to make new words that meant exactly what he wanted them to.

‘un’这个前缀的意思就是‘不’。

The prefix un means not.

对你来说，这可能没什么稀奇，甚至有点无聊，但如果你不知道莎士比亚在造词方面天赋异禀，那这段简短的解释应该还算挺有帮助的。

This may be unsurprising or even uninteresting to you, but if it is unknown to you that Shakespeare was unnaturally talented at making up words, then perhaps this unshort explanation was unmistakably useful.

莎士比亚一共创造了1700个词，其中很多我们今天还在用。

Shakespeare invented a total of 1,700 words, and many of them we still use today.

我们今天说的‘bandit’、‘bedazzled’、‘eyeball’、‘fashionable’和‘gossip’，都源自他。

We can thank Shakespeare for words such as bandit, bedazzled, eyeball, fashionable, and gossip.

如果你能用这五个词造出一句话，那可就加分了。

Extra points if you can use all five words in one sentence.

莎士比亚在编刻薄的骂人话方面也很在行。

Shakespeare was also pretty good at coming up with some outrageous insults.

这些话有时既刻薄又激烈，所以今天要是用的话得小心点。

They were sometimes both harsh and passionate, so anyone using them today should be careful.

《温莎的风流娘儿们》是莎士比亚的一部喜剧。

The Merry Wives of Windsor is one of Shakespeare's comedies.

在这部戏里，有个角色骂另一个人是‘史上最臭、最恶心的混合体’。

In this play, one of his characters calls another the rankest compound of villainous smell that ever offended nostril.

换句话说，莎士比亚是在说，对方身上的味道太难闻，都快把鼻子熏坏了。

To translate, Shakespeare was telling one of his characters that they smelled so bad that his nose was hurting.

这招骂人确实挺厉害的。

It was a pretty good way to insult someone.

不过莎士比亚最钟爱的骂人词，绝对是‘癞蛤蟆’。

Shakespeare's favorite insult, though, was definitely calling someone a toad.

他老爱这么用。

He used that one a lot.

总之，莎士比亚写遍了世间百态。

In short, Shakespeare wrote about everything.

他写过女巫和国王、幽灵和世仇家族。

He wrote about witches and kings, ghosts and rival families.

他的角色会争吵、开玩笑、哭泣，可能生活在森林里、岛上、城市中，甚至奢华的派对上。

His characters would argue, joke, and cry, and they might live in forests, on islands and cities, and even at luxurious parties.

观众永远猜不到，那些讨人喜欢的角色，最后是喜结良缘，还是在幕终前被毒死。

Audiences never knew if his charming characters were going to end up happily married or poisoned by the end of the scene.

他的每一部剧都跟上一部不一样，但每部都一样出人意料、引人入胜。

Each of his plays were different from the last, but each one was just as unpredictable and interesting.

写了二十年的剧本、演戏、投身戏剧行业后，莎士比亚在1610年退休，回到了安静的家乡。

After about twenty years of writing, acting, and working in the theater industry, Shakespeare retired in 1610, and he returned to his quiet hometown.

六年后，他因病在那儿去世。

It was there that he died six years later from a sickness.

他的人生已经够扑朔迷离了，可他的离世还藏着一个谜。

As if his life weren't full of enough mysteries, his death actually holds one more.

他的墓碑上刻着一道诅咒，警告人们别靠近他的坟墓。

Shakespeare's gravestone has a curse written on it warning people to stay away from his grave.

历史学家认为，这段文字是他当年在伦敦工作时亲自写下的。

Historians believe he actually wrote this himself while he was working in London.

你可能会觉得，他去世后故事就结束了，但其实并没有。

With his death, you might think his story is over, but it isn't.

他的作品至今仍在流传。

His work lives on.

他写的喜剧、悲剧、历史剧和十四行诗，如今被各行各业的人广泛引用。

The comedies, tragedies, histories, and sonnets that he wrote are used by people in all different kinds of professions today.

我们普通人说话时，也会引用他的话，比如形容自己‘陷入困境’。

Regular people like you and I might quote him when we say we're in a pickle.

像毕加索和达利这样的著名画家，都曾以他的剧作场景为灵感创作素描。

Famous painters like Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali have made sketches of scenes from his plays.

披头士乐队和泰勒·斯威夫特等知名音乐人，也引用过他的角色或受其启发。

Famous musicians like the Beatles and Taylor Swift have quoted or been inspired by his characters.

很多电影，比如《美女与野兽》《阿拉丁》和《狮子王》，都从他的角色、台词和故事中汲取了灵感。

And many, many films like Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King take inspiration from Shakespeare's characters, speeches, and stories.

莎士比亚启发了你能想到的几乎所有艺术形式。

Shakespeare has inspired just about every type of art you can think of.

那么，为什么这位作家会有如此巨大的影响力呢？

So why is this one writer so incredibly influential?

是因为人们对他的出生日期和神秘失踪感到好奇吗？

Is it because people are intrigued by the mystery of his birth date and his disappearance?

是因为人们不相信一个人能独自创造出这么多精彩的故事吗？

Is it because people don't believe one man could possibly have imagined so many good stories on his own?

或者，也许只是因为他是个出色的作家，他的戏剧充满戏剧性、刺激又引人入胜。

Or maybe it's simply because he was a good author whose plays were dramatic, exciting, and entertaining.

也可能是因为他特别喜欢用一些生动的词，比如‘ swagger ’和‘ bedazzled ’。

It could also be because he liked to keep using fun words like swagger and bedazzled.

我们唯一能确定的是，莎士比亚的文字和故事在全球各地都被人们熟知和引用。

One thing we know for sure is that Shakespeare's words and stories are known and used by people all over the world.

如果你有机会去伦敦，不妨去环球剧院看看，那里至今还在上演他的众多剧作。

If you ever find yourself in London, check out one of his many plays still being performed at The Globe.

不管你坐在前排还是后排，都不会觉得失望。

Whether you stand near the stage or sit near the back, you won't be disappointed.

但如果你真觉得不好，千万别扔番茄。

But if you are, no tomato throwing, please.

那可绝对不行。

That's just unacceptable.