評論
打印
For some who came after him, India was more than an invitation just to smash and grab.
克萊夫的后來者們并非都抱著前來燒殺搶掠的心態。
Warren Hastings, the first to hold the title of Governor-General, was committed to the possibility of repairing the broken body of India the Indian way.
瓦倫·黑斯廷斯，英屬印度第一任總督，他深信彼時分崩離析的印度是有可能以印度特有方式得以恢復的。
He learned Persian and four Indian languages.
他掌握了波斯語以及四門印度當地的語言。
He founded the Asiatic Society, dedicated to understanding Indian culture, commissioned the first Anglo-Hindustani dictionaries, translations of Indian law codes and the Bhagavadgita.
創立了亞洲學會，這個學會致力于了解印度文化，主持編寫第一部盎格魯-印度斯坦字典，并翻譯印度的法典以及《薄伽梵歌》。
And under Hastings' administration, there was a tantalisingly brief moment when the two cultures actually converged rather than collided.
在黑斯廷斯的管理之下，英國與印度的文化在彼此沖撞了很久之后出現了曇花一現的包容與融合。
British men had Indian mistresses, even wives, sometimes two, one in Delhi, one in Lucknow.
英國人會養印度情婦，甚至娶印度新娘，還有的英國人在德里和勒克瑙各娶一位。
They went to cock fights, smoked hookah pipes with Indian princes, made deals with Hindu money men.
他們會去圍觀斗雞表演，與印度王子一起抽水煙，并與印度富人做交易。
But for many of the British who came to India, there would be no home, just a cenotaph, their presence immortalised only in stone.
但很多來到印度的英國人并沒有在此安居樂業，只留下一方紀念碑，只有石碑銘記著他們曾經來過。
Acres in central Calcutta are still occupied by Park Street Cemetery.
加爾各答市中心的大塊土地至今仍為公園路公墓。
In the early days, one in three wouldn't make it through the first monsoon.
在殖民早期，有三分之一的歐洲人熬不過到達印度之后的第一個雨季。
In all, it's said over two million Europeans are buried in India.
據說共有超過兩百萬歐洲移民客死他鄉。
And the imperial size of their graveyard monuments says something about a wish to be remembered, to leave an imposing mark on the subcontinent.
如此壯觀的墓碑群體現著殖民者想被銘記，想在這塊次大陸上留下烙印的愿望。
But neither translations of Hindu epics nor Mughal-sized tombstones persuaded everyone that the British really were Indianising themselves.
然而英國人雖然翻譯了印度史詩，也留下了巨大的墓碑，但是人們始終難以相信英國人真的想融入印度社會與文化。
Many still saw them as conquerors to be resisted to the death.
很多人仍視其為侵略者，認為應該誓死抵抗。
They were rulers like Tippu Sultan, who built up his southern Indian state of Mysore into a dynamic Moslem power.
比如像蒂普·蘇丹這樣的印度領袖，他將印度南部城市邁索爾建設為穆斯林的新興力量。
For 20 years, he bitterly and effectively opposed British rule, bloodying their armies and fighting their soldiers to a standstill.
他與英國統治者進行了20年艱苦卓絕而卓有成效的斗爭，與英軍血戰到底，令英軍的鐵騎止步于此。
But it couldn't last. Tippu Sultan, the tiger, would learn that a new kind of British governor-general had arrived at the end of the 18th century,
然而好景不長。綽號為老虎的蒂普·蘇丹將會發現，在十八世紀末派遣而來的總督改變了殖民政策，
contemptuous of Warren Hastings' tendency to go native, and resolved to squash the least sign of local insurrection.
新任總督對黑斯廷斯的入鄉隨俗不屑一顧，并打算完全消滅當地人的反抗活動。
The most uncompromising of all was Richard Wellesley, the older brother of the future Duke of Wellington.
其中最強硬的一位便是理查德·韋爾斯利，他是未來的威靈頓公爵的哥哥。
Yet again, France provided the impetus for action.
而法國再一次成為這場戰役的導火索。
