15 Things You Didn’t Know About William Shakespeare

By Simon Crerar

一提到莎士比亞，首先浮現(xiàn)在人們腦海中的就是他那經(jīng)典的四大悲劇、四大喜劇以及令人們永遠嘆為觀止的十四行詩集。今年是莎士比亞誕辰450周年，人們紀念這位偉人的同時，又發(fā)現(xiàn)了什么不為人知的事情呢？

1. According to the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations1. Oxford Dictionary of Quotations:《牛津名言辭典》。, Shakespeare wrote close to a tenth of the most quoted lines ever written or spoken in English.

2. Shakespeare has been credited2. credit: 認為……有（某種優(yōu)點或成就）。by the Oxford English Dictionary with introducing almost 3,000 words to the English language.

3. William Shakespeare would have been considered a very controversial3. controversial: 有爭議的。figure when he married a much older woman who was pregnant with their child.

Anne Hathaway (not the actress) was 26 years old when William married her at the age of 18. She duly4. duly: 及時，按時。gave birth to Susannah six months after the wedding.

4. Shakespeare never published his plays.

They are known today only because two of his fellow actors—John Hemminges and Henry Condell—recorded and published 36 of them posthumously5. posthumously: 于死后。under the name The First Folio6. The First Folio:《第一對開本》，莎士比亞第一部劇本合集，以對開本形式印刷，共包括其36部作品，由莎士比亞國王劇團同事約翰·赫明斯和亨利·康德爾于1623年籌劃出版，距莎士比亞逝世大約7年。, which is the source of all Shakespeare books published.

5. Copyright didn’t exist in Shakespeare’s time, so there was a thriving7. thriving: 興旺的，繁榮的。trade in copied plays.

To help counter this, actors got their lines only once the play was in progress, often in the form of cue acting where someone backstage whispered them to the person shortly before he was supposed to deliver them.8. 為了杜絕這種情況，演員們只有當演出開始時才會拿到自己的臺詞，通常是以出場提示的方式——后臺的某人用耳語告知即將上場的演員他要說的臺詞。counter:反擊，還擊；cue:（戲劇或音樂表演的）提示，暗示。

6. Aside from writing 37 plays and composing 154 sonnets, Shakespeare was also an established actor.9. sonnet: 十四行詩；established: 頗有聲望的。

He performed in many of his own plays as well as those of his contemporaries10. contemporary: 同時代的人。, such as Ben Jonson.

7. Shakespeare had close connections with King James I11. King James I: 詹姆士一世（1566年—1625年），英格蘭國王。.

The King made the actors of Shakespeare’s company“Grooms of Chamber”, in response Shakespeare changed the company’s name from the “Lord Chamberlain’s Men”to the “King’s Men”.12. groom: 男仆；chamber:（王室中的）接見室；Lord Chamberlain:（英國王室的）宮務大臣。The new title made Shakespeare a favourite with the King and in much demand for Court performances.

8. Sometime after his unsuccessful application to become a gentleman, Shakespeare took his father to the College of Arms to secure their own family crest13. crest:（貴族家庭或組織的）飾章，紋章。.

The crest was a yellow spear on a yellow shield, with the Latin inscription “Non Sans Droict”, or “Not without Right”.14. spear: 矛；shield: 盾；inscription:（硬幣、獎章上的）鐫刻文字，銘文。

9. Unlike most artists of his time, Shakespeare died a very wealthy man with a large property portfolio15. portfolio: 投資組合。.

He was a brilliant businessman forming a joint-stock16. joint-stock: 合資的。company with his actors meaning he took a share in the company’s profits, as well as earning a fee for each play he wrote.

10. Shakespeare placed a curse on his grave in Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon in the form of a poem etched on his tombstone.17. 莎士比亞長眠于埃文河畔斯特拉特福的三一教堂，他的墓碑上刻著一句詩文形式的詛咒。Trinity Church: 位于斯特拉福德的三一教堂，這里既是莎翁出生受洗禮的地方，也是他的長眠之地；Stratfordupon-Avon: 埃文河畔斯特拉特福，是莎士比亞的故鄉(xiāng)；etch: 刻。

Though this undoubtedly helped his bones to remain untouched since his death, in 1747 Stratford citizens replaced the original bag of grain grave marker with a quill18. quill: 羽毛筆。.

11. Although Shakespeare is almost universally considered as one of the finest writers in the English language, his contemporaries were not always as impressed19. impressed: 使人印象深刻的。.

The first recorded reference to Shakespeare, written by theatre critic Robert Greene in 1592, was as an “upstart crow,20. upstart: 傲慢自負的，自命不凡的；crow: 烏鴉。beautified with our feathers”.

12. There are more than 80 variations recorded for the spelling of Shakespeare’s name.

In the few original signatures that have survived, Shakespeare spelt his name “WillmShaksp,” “William Shakespe,” “Wm Shakspe,”“William Shakspere,” ”Willm Shakspere,” and “William Shakspeare”.There are no records of him ever having spelt it “William Shakespeare”, as we know him today.

13. The original Globe Theatre came to a premature end in 1613 during a performance of Henry VIII, when a cannon set light to the thatched roof.21. premature: 過早的，提前的；Henry VIII:《亨利八世》，是莎士比亞創(chuàng)作的一部歷史劇，故事基于英格蘭國王亨利八世的人生；cannon: 大炮；set light to: 引火燒，使……燃燒；thatched: 用茅草蓋的。

Within two hours the theatre was burnt to the ground. It was rebuilt in 1614.

14. The Royal Shakespeare Company sells more than half a million tickets a year for Shakespeare productions at their theatres in Stratford-on-Avon, London and Newcastle.

15. Nobody knows Shakespeare’s true birthday. It’s celebrated on April 23—three days before his baptism22. baptism: 洗禮。, which was recorded on April 26, 1564.

However, as Shakespeare was born under the old Julian calendar,what was April 23 during Shakespeare’s life would actually be May 3 according to today’s Gregorian calendar.23. Julian calendar: 儒略歷，是格里歷的前身，由羅馬共和國獨裁官儒略·愷撒采納埃及亞歷山大的希臘數(shù)學家兼天文學家索西琴尼計算的歷法，自公元前46年1月1日起執(zhí)行，取代了舊羅馬歷法。一年設12個月，大小月交替，四年一閏，平年365日，閏年于二月底增加一閏日，年平均長度為365.25日。由于累積誤差隨著時間越來越大，1582年后被教皇格里高利十三世改善，變?yōu)楦窭餁v；Gregorian calendar: 格里歷，即沿用至今的公歷。