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The next day in the Abbey,little Richard had his shirt taken off him behind a golden screen
第二天 在教堂 小理查在金色幕簾之后 褪去衣衫
and his face, hands and chest touched with the holy oil.
額頭 雙手和胸前被涂上圣油
As they listened to him in his little boy's voice promise to protect the Church,
人們傾聽他用稚嫩的童聲 宣誓保護教堂
do justice and respect the laws and customs of his ancestors,
維護公平 遵從祖先遺留的法律和傳統
the assembly of nobles and priests must have imagined him growing
貴族和牧師們一定想象過 他長大成人
to fit the huge throne of his ferocious great great grandfather Edward I.
戴上他兇殘的曾祖父愛德華一世 留下的那頂巨大皇冠的樣子
Inevitably, as the long ceremony droned on in the darkness,Richard fell asleep.
慶典單調乏味地進行到夜晚 理查睡著了
As he was carried from the Abbey, his legs dangling,
他被帶離教堂的時候 雙腿在空中懸著
one of his oversized slippers fell off,but who'd think that an ill omen?
一只不合腳的鞋掉落 但誰會認為這是不祥之兆呢
He was, after all, only ten.
畢竟 他只有十歲
How was the child marked by all this? 22 years later,
22年后 他還會記得這些嗎
did he remember this moment of anointing as a kind of apotheosis,
他會將這個 被涂圣油的時刻
a magical transformation from a little man into a little god?
當做自己神化的一次奇妙轉變嗎
Perhaps it was as well that Richard mistook himself for a messiah,
也許正因此 理查誤以為自己是救世主
since only someone with that kind of innate self-confidence
因為只有擁有這種 天生自信的人
could have faced down, at the tender age of 14,
才會在14歲時 就敢于面對
the most violent upheaval in the history of medieval England.
中世紀英國史上 最為動蕩的劇變
