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Francis Bacon
弗朗西斯·培根
Francis Bacon’s words “knowledge is power” are well-known to us. This talented boy is so clever that he entered the Trinity College, Cambridge, at the age of twelve and lived for three years there with his older brother.At Cambridge he met the Queen for the first time. The Queen was impressed by his precocious intellect, and was accustomed to call him “the young Lord Keeper”. He began to study law at Gray’s Inn, but his studies were interrupted for two and a half years while he served with the English ambassador to France. The sudden death of his father in February 1579 prompted Bacon to return to England. Sir Nicholas had laid up a considerable sum of money to purchase an estate for his youngest son, but he died before doing so, and Francis was left with only a fifth of that money. Having borrowed money, Bacon got into debt. To support himself, he reentered Gray’s Inn. He made rapid progress. He was admitted to the bar in 1582.
我們都知道弗朗西斯·培根的名言“知識就是力量”。這位極富才華的少年天資聰穎，十二歲便進入劍橋大學三一學院，和他哥哥一起在那度過了三年時光。在劍橋時，他第一次見到女王，女王對他早熟的才華印象深刻，并習慣地稱他為“小掌璽大臣”。他在葛萊學院學習法律。但是他中途中斷了兩年半學業，為英國駐巴黎大使工作。1579年2月，培根的父親尼古拉斯猝死，使他提前回到英國。他父親生前為他最小的兒子準備了一大筆購買不動產的錢，可惜他在購買前去世了，培根只得到了那筆錢的五分之一。因為借款，培根債務纏身。為養活自己，他重新回到葛萊學院學習。此后他取得了快速的進步，于1582年成為一名律師。
Bacon’s goals were threefold: discovery of truth, service to his country, and service to the church. Knowing that a prestigious post would aid him toward these ends, in 1580 he applied, through his uncle, for a post at court. It’s a pity that his application failed. However, Bacon’s fortune soared in the next dozen years. In 1613 he was appointed attorney general and in 1618 lord chancellor.
培根有三個方面的目標：發現真理，為國盡忠，服務教會。他知道一個顯赫的職位有助于他實現這些目標，于是1580年他就通過叔叔申請了一個在法院的職位，但申請失敗了。然而培根的運氣在接下來的十多年里迅速好轉。1613年，他被任命為檢察長，1618年晉升為大法官。
Disaster struck soon after. He was convicted by the High Court of Parliament for accepting bribes. Then he was sentenced to a fine and imprisonment. From then on, Bacon devoted himself to study and writing. Some historians believe Bacon may have been innocent of the bribery charges; Bacon himself said that he pleaded guilty by force deliberately so to save the king from a worse political scandal.
但是災難很快降臨。他被英國上議院法庭認定犯有受賄罪，判處罰金和監禁。從那以后，培根將精力放在了學術和寫作上。一些歷史學家認為，關于受賄的指控，培根可能是無辜的。培根自己說為了避免國王涉入更嚴重的政治丑聞，他不得不承認有罪。
By the end of March 1626, Bacon came to the suburb of North London through the snow. Suddenly he wanted to do an experiment concerning the possibility of using the snow to preserve meat. At that time he was studying hot and cold theory and its practical application. However, because of his frail body, he could not withstand the invasion of cold. His bronchitis relapsed and conditions deteriorated. Soon he died in April 9, 1626 early morning, leaving assets of about 7,000 and debts to the amount of 22,000.
1626年3月底的一天，培根踏著積雪去倫敦北郊。他突發奇想，決定做一個關于用雪來保存肉的可能性的實驗，當時他正在研究冷熱理論及其實際應用問題。然而，他身體虛弱，沒能經受住風寒的侵襲，導致他支氣管炎復發。隨后，他病情惡化，于1626年4月9日的清晨病逝，留下了7，000英鎊財產和22，000英鎊的債務。
