关于英国首相丘吉尔的十件趣闻(下)

White House Suit

5.在白宫的衣服

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.

丘吉尔在白宫居住时显然有过不止一次的裸露事件。有一次，在卧室中，他全身赤裸遇到了亚伯拉罕·林肯的鬼魂。他们互相对视几分钟，直到"林肯"从他眼前消失。

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，在丘吉尔对美国为期24天的访问期间，美国总统富兰克林·罗斯福在白宫一些官员的陪同下看到过全裸的丘吉尔。当时，丘吉尔刚洗完澡，正在白宫的浴室里光着身子踱步，罗斯福却正好出现在门口，总统马上准备离开，丘吉尔却说不用了，在最亲密的盟友面前他没有什么可隐藏的。这件事有些争议，因为丘吉尔后来坚持说"他迎接总统时至少用了一条浴巾"来遮盖自己。但是，丘吉尔的速记员和保镖都说亲眼目睹了那次裸露事件。而且，罗斯福的秘书也说道总统后来和她说起过这件事，形容当时丘吉尔就是一丝不挂。丘吉尔也曾告诉过乔治五世，他是世界上唯一一个裸体见总统的人。

Siege Of Sydney Street

4.悉尼街的围攻

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，九名未武装的警察被派遣至伦敦死狗沟渠街调查一件入室盗窃未遂案。罪犯（后被确认为来自拉脱维亚的无政府主义难民）在警方到达时向其开火，导致三死两伤，使之成为伦敦历史上最严重的袭警事件。值得注意的是此事件中反映出的文化冲突——拉脱维亚人常与全副武装、残酷暴力的俄罗斯警察打交道，相比之下挥舞着警棍的英国警察们就显得措手不及，难以自保了。混战中一名团伙成员被同伙意外击中并于几天后死亡。大规模搜捕行动很快找到了另外两名袭击者。

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举报，凶手就藏在悉尼街的一间房屋中。警方立刻封锁了该区域，丘吉尔，作为当时对警方负责的部长，到达现场对行动进行指挥。由于军队介入，警方实力大增，与罪犯展开了一场漫长的枪战。期间拉脱维亚人射出400余发子弹，其中一发还射穿了丘吉尔的帽子。当时大楼起火，丘吉尔下令禁止消防部门冒险扑灭大火，混战情势才稍得缓解。楼中一人在倾身躲避火焰时被击中，另一人被大火烧死。对于这两人是否就是袭击警察的两名拉脱维亚人向来有一定争议，但历史学家指出，大规模自杀式的枪战暗示着某种程度的内疚。丘吉尔似乎对这次惊险的经历津津乐道，他告诉一名同事这样一场围攻真是"太有趣了"！一些报纸批评他将这场混战当作"上报露脸的机会"，并且指出由一名政治家直接指挥警方行动是非常不合适的。然而，这次事件不仅帮助他巩固了"行动家"的美名，更提高了公众对他的支持度。

chill's Sneeze

3.丘吉尔的喷嚏

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.

在约旦和沙特阿拉伯之间有一段边境线呈锋利锯齿形，被称为"丘吉尔打嗝"或"丘吉尔的喷嚏"。传说丘吉尔在绘制地图的时候突然打了个嗝或者打了个喷嚏，造成手滑，使边境线呈锋利的锯齿状缩进约旦。这是个滑稽可笑的故事，毫无疑问并非事实。相反，锯齿形的边境线正是故意为英国设计，使约旦和沙特阿拉伯之间形成一条不间断的空中走廊。

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.

故事中唯一一点不假的就是丘吉尔作为殖民部长在构建现代中东边界时确实扮演着重要角色。1916年，具有争议的《赛克斯-皮科尔协议》签订，英法同意分割两国之间的中东地区，但毫不顾及其中涉及的民族与宗教界线。他们并不确定要如何划分巴勒斯坦，最终就将其划给了比利时。与此同时，法国仍在违背当地大多数人的意愿下将叙利亚的一块土地割给了土耳其，仅仅因为当地少部分富裕的土耳其人比穷困潦倒的阿拉伯人更善于游说罢了。英法本同意支持建立一个库尔德国家，但在意识到他们需要割舍伊拉克和叙利亚大片土地时就放弃了这个想法。如今，2500万库尔德人依旧没有一个属于他们自己的国家。"伊拉克和大叙利亚伊斯兰国"现利用此协议对外宣称其边界划分有失公允，并作为其募集成员扩张组织的工具。

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."

丘吉尔的一生可能都遭受他本人称之为"黑狗"的躁郁症的折磨。有时，他由于过于焦躁而不喜欢太靠近经过的火车或者从船上看大海，因为他害怕自己会突然想自杀。丘吉尔的好朋友比弗布鲁克男爵曾经这么说过丘吉尔，"他要么处在信心的巅峰，要么处在抑郁的谷底。"

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.

在他抑郁发作的时候，丘吉尔几乎停止工作，大部分时间都躺在床上，没有食欲，也无法集中精神。有一次恢复正常后，他根据记忆描述这种经历为，"画面中的颜色都回来了。"当丘吉尔不抑郁的时候，他总是精力充沛，工作或者谈话直到凌晨。他能一直从一个话题跳到另一个话题，使得罗斯福嘲笑他说，"一天有一千种想法，但只有四个是有用的。"公平的说，罗斯福是二战后期最了解丘吉尔的人，那时候，丘吉尔的医生为了避免他抑郁发作，已经开始给他开安非他命，但这对他的躁郁倾向并没有帮助。

Quotes

1.他的妙语连珠

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.

丘吉尔的妙人妙语可以写成一本书了。但不幸的是，人们认为是他说的话有些并不是真的。比如，据说南希·阿斯特对丘吉尔说过，"如果我是你的妻子，我将在你的咖啡里下毒。"对此，丘吉尔回复，"如果我跟你结婚了，我宁愿喝了那杯毒咖啡。"然而，这件事的确发生过，但丘吉尔并没有参与其中，是他的好朋友比弗布鲁克男爵回复的那句话。

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."

丘吉尔确实与阿斯特交过手，她很聪明，而且是议会中第一个女性英国籍成员，但这相对来说不具引用性。实际上，丘吉尔对阿斯特抱怨过，"当你踏进下议院，我觉得像一个女人进了我的浴室，而我除了海绵没有能保护自己的东西。"阿斯特如是回答，"难道你从来没有想过你那令人望而生畏的外貌已经提供了足够的保护吗？"丘吉尔并不能抱怨阿斯特的无礼，因为他也曾经机智的回答另一个指责他醉酒的女性议员说，"女士，你长得如此丑陋，我明早一准就会清醒了。"但是，他可能并没有说过，"美国人在尝遍了所有方法后总能做出正确的事。"他也没有对一个在句子最后用哀叹介词的公务员说，"这种英语我无法忍受。"丘吉尔跟萧伯纳都否认了这样一个著名的坊间故事：萧伯纳给了丘吉尔两张他新剧的票，并邀请他说，"如果你有朋友的话，带他一起来。（讽刺丘吉尔没有朋友）"而丘吉尔则回答说，"如果第二天还有演出的话"他一定会来（回应萧伯纳的剧没有人看）。但是，丘吉尔的崇拜者不要就此绝望，传言还是有真实存在的。有一次，当助手告诉丘吉尔掌玺大臣过来拜访时，他正在厕所里，于是作出了著名的指示，"告诉掌玺大臣，我被关在枢密院了，一次只能处理一件事。"

审校：张茜 编辑：简简单单 来源：前十网