關於名人的十大不可思議之事(上)

history rocks, but your poor history teachers didn't have time to cover all the fun little bits. Whether these bits were sad, hilarious, or heartwarming, we think it's a shame you missed out. And we're righting that wrong.

歷史是相當有趣的，但你那糟糕的歷史老師卻沒時間給你講一些饒有趣味的小故事。不論這些故事是悲傷的、滑稽可笑的或是溫馨暖人的，我們都認爲錯過它們將是你的遺憾。現在就讓我們來彌補這個遺憾吧。

les Dickens

10.查爾斯·狄更斯

Charles Dickens was probably one of the most famous writers of the Victorian era, and anything that resembles his work has now been granted the honorable title "Dickensian". Although his stories usually have happy endings, his own story most certainly did not start happily. Dickens' early life was spent mostly in debtor's prison because his poor dad couldn't pay off his debts so the whole family had to join him in the slammer, a fairly typical practice in Victorian England.

查爾斯·狄更斯可能是維多利亞時期最著名的作家之一，現在任何與他的作品風格相似的東西都被冠以"狄更斯式作品"的殊榮。儘管他的作品通常都以幸福收尾，但他本人的故事卻沒有一個幸福的開始。他的童年時光大多是在債務人監獄度過的，因爲他貧窮的父親無力償還債務而致使全家入獄，這也是維多利亞時期非常典型的現象。

He eventually worked in a factory to help pay off the debts, and the terrible working conditions were a major inspiration to his writing. As an adult, he appeared to be a more lighthearted guy, often pulLing practical jokes. He had a fake bookcase with books that were hilariously titled, including Noah's Arkitechture and a nine-volume set titled Cat's Lives.

他最終在一家工廠工作，藉此幫忙償還債務，同時，工廠糟糕的工作環境也是他創作的主要靈感來源。作爲一個成人，他表現得卻像一個無憂無慮的男孩，經常開一些無傷大雅的玩笑。他也曾虛構了一個堆滿了書的書架，書名多是滑稽可笑的，比如《諾亞方舟的架構》和一套名爲《貓的生命》系列的九卷書籍。

rt Einstein

9.阿爾伯特·愛因斯坦

Albert Einstein is the archetypal kooky scientist who was clearly more than a little bit off and yet was brilliant as brilliant could be. Einstein, although a seemingly friendly, intelligent guy had quite a few skeletons in the closet. In 1901, Einstein and his first girlfriend, Mileva Maric, were on holiday in Italy. It ended when Mileva found herself with child and Einstein found himself with no money to support her and the new baby. The child, Lieserl, was born in 1902 and disappeared from Einstein's letters to Mileva around 1903. It's unknown what happened to the child, but she probably died of scarlet fever.

阿爾伯特·愛因斯坦是科學界中典型的怪人，我們都清楚地知道他不只是有點聰明，而是聰明得不能再聰明瞭。儘管愛因斯坦表面上看起來友好聰慧，但他也有一些不可告人的祕密。1901年，愛因斯坦和他的第一任女朋友米列娃·瑪利奇在意大利度假。但這次度假很快便結束了，因爲馬利奇懷孕了，而愛因斯坦又沒有足夠的錢來養活馬利奇和這個即將到來的新生兒。他們的這個女兒麗瑟爾在1902年出生，但在1903年左右，在愛因斯坦寫給馬利奇的信中就再未提到過她。沒人知道這個孩子到底怎麼了，但多數人認爲她可能死於猩紅熱。

Later in life, Einstein left Mileva in 1912 (and divorced her in 1919) and married his cousin Elsa Lowenthal soon after. In the latter marriage, Einstein had numerous affairs during the marriage and well after Elsa's death in 1936. Genius? Yes. Playboy? Definitely.

在以後的生活裏，愛因斯坦於1912年離開了馬利奇（1919年與她離婚），並很快就和他的表姐艾爾莎·洛文塔爾結婚。在這段婚姻裏，愛因斯坦有過不少婚外情，即使在1936年艾爾莎死去之後，他仍一直與其他許多女性有染。他是天才嗎？這當然是毋容置疑的。他是花花公子嗎？這也是千真萬確的。

rt Louis Stevenson

8.羅伯特·路易斯·史蒂文森

Granted, Robert Louis Stevenson isn't a household name, but you probably know him for his hit novel Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. What you probably don't know is that he wrote the novel on cocaine and then gave it to his wife for review. After his wife stated that the book was an allegory, and that he should write it as such, Stevenson burned it so that he could force himself to write it according to his wife's feedback. Speaking of his wife, Fanny Osbourne met Robert Louis Stevenson while she was in Paris–they fell in love, and she became his muse. When Fanny had to return home to America, Stevenson saved up for three years to see her again so that they could be together. That's one determined man.

誠然，羅伯特·路易斯·史蒂文森並不是一個家喻戶曉的名字，可你也許讀過他的諷刺小說《化身博士》。但你可能不知道的是，這篇小說是在他吃了可卡因之後創作出來的，並隨後拿給他的妻子校對。在他妻子說這本書是一則寓言，並告訴他應該怎樣寫之後，史蒂文森便燒燬了原稿，以此強迫自己按照妻子的反饋來寫。他的妻子芬妮·奧斯朋和史蒂文森在巴黎結識，並很快墜入愛河，自此，芬妮成爲史蒂文森的靈感來源。當芬妮不得不回到她在美國的家時，史蒂文森節衣縮食三年去看她，這樣他們又可以在一起了。由此可見，這是一個有決心的人。

ham Lincoln

7.亞伯拉罕·林肯

Famous for his mighty beard, Abraham Lincoln was a curious figure. Though he wasn't actually born in a log cabin, he did have a relatively hard childhood. Hard labor was part of the daily regime in the frontier where Lincoln grew up, and, at the age of nine, he lost his mother to milk sickness. As President, he would grow to be history's tallest President of the United States, standing proud at 6'4″. Even after he died, his story didn't quite end. In 1876, a group of counterfeiters wanted to hold Lincoln's body for ransom, at the hefty fee of $200,000 in gold and the release of one of their accomplices. They were caught and sentenced to a year in jail.

以他那非凡的大鬍子而聞名的亞伯拉罕·林肯是一個古怪的人。儘管實際上他並非出生在小木屋，但他卻有一個相對悲慘的童年。在他出生的地方，繁重的勞動成了他日常生活不可分割的一部分，在他幾歲時，他的母親又因爲乳毒病而去世。作爲總統，他六尺四寸（約1.93米）的身高也足以令他自豪了，他大概是美國曆史上最高的總統。即使在他死後，他的故事也沒就此畫上句號。1876年，一個製造假幣的團伙想要將林肯的屍體作爲向聯邦政府討價還價的籌碼，他們不僅索要20萬美元贖金，還要求釋放他們的一個同夥。這個團伙最終被捕並判一年監禁。

George III

6.喬治三世國王

He was the King of England during the War, right? So? So, he was nuttier than a squirrel. He is thought to have begun to lose his marbles due to arsenic poisoning, since arsenic was spread around like fairy dust in everything back in the early 19th century from medicine to cosmetics. Eventually confined to a straitjacket within his own palace, he died in 1820, blind and insane. He may have been a tyrant to the American colonists, but you can't help but feel a bit sorry for the guy.

他是戰爭時期的英格蘭國王，是這樣吧？還有呢？還有他是一個相當愚蠢的人。在19世紀晚期砷被廣泛應用於藥物與化妝品中，像仙塵一樣在整個英格蘭肆虐，喬治三世國王就被認爲由於砷中毒而神志不清。爲了治療，他被強迫在自己的宮殿裏穿上緊身約束衣，最終於1820年在雙目失明且神志不清的狀況下死去。對美國殖民者來說，他可能是一個暴君，但你還是會禁不住爲這個可憐的人感到些許悲哀。

翻譯:李念 來源：前十網