中英雙語話中國歷史名人 第9期:劉邦

Gao Zu(temple name)，personalname Liu Pang，or Liu Chi，post-humous name Kao Huang-ti(born 256 B. C.，China，died 195 B. C., China) was the founder and first emperor of the Han Dynasty(206 B. C. -A. D. 220)，under which the Chinese imperial system assumed most of the characteristics that it was to retain until it was overthrown in 1911 or 1912. He reigned from 206 to 195 B . C..

高祖(廟號)劉邦，又名劉季，溢號高皇帝，生於公元前256年，卒於公元前195年，漢朝(公元前206至公元220年)開國皇帝。漢朝統治期問，中國的帝制呈現出了它一直保持到公元1911年或1912年帝制被推翻時的大多數特徵。

Born of a peasant family, Liu Pang began his career as a police officer under the Qin Dynasty.

劉邦出生於一個農民家庭，起初是秦朝的亭長。

He turned rebel after the death of the Qin emperor Shih huang-ti，who had been the first to unify China.

秦始皇去世後劉邦參加了起義。

The rebels were under the nominal leadership of Hsiang Yü，a warlord who defeated the Qin armies and then tried to restore the pre-Qin feudal system，reinstating many of the former nobles and dividing the land among his generals.

起義領袖是項羽，是一位軍閥。項羽打敗了秦軍後試圖恢復先秦封建體制。項羽恢復了很多舊貴族的身份並且將土地分封給各位將軍。

Liu Pang，by then an important rebel leader, received control of the kingdom of Han in West China，now Szechwan and southern Shanxi Provinces.

劉邦那時已是一個重要的起義軍領導人物，得到了中國西部的漢國(今四川和陝西南部)。

The former allies soon turned against each other, and Liu's peasant shrewdness led him to victory over the militarily brillant but politically naive Hsiang Yü.

很快，這兩個原來的盟友就反目成仇了。劉邦農民所特有機靈使他戰勝了有勇無謀的項羽。

The civil war ended when Hsiang Yü took his own life in 202 B. C.，upon which Kao-tsu became the ruler of China.

公元前202年項羽自盡，內戰結束，隨即高祖君臨天下。

Liu was a coarse man who once urinated into the formal hat of a court scholar to show his disdain for education.

劉邦是一個粗鄙的人，曾經往儒冠裏撒尿以示對知識的輕蔑。

Nevertheless，he was a pragmatic and flexible ruler who recognized the need for educated men at court. He showed particular concern for reviving the rural economy and for lightening the tax burden of the peasants.

但是作爲一個統治者，劉邦很實際也非常靈活。劉邦認識到了對官員們進行教育的必要性，特別關注農村經濟的復興和農民賦稅的減輕。

Though generally humane in civil matters，he dealt harshly with those who threatened his reign from within China.

儘管處理國內事務劉邦是非常仁慈的，但是他對任何威脅到他統治的外部力量決不手軟。

His conduct of foreign affairs was a skillful combination of diplomacy and the use of force. His descendants continued the process of consolidating and expanding the empire.

劉邦處理外國事務時巧妙地把外交手段和武力手段結合到一起，他的子孫繼續帝國的鞏固與擴張。