亡国之君的日记(英中对照)

古德明《征服英语》之英语军事故事，古德明，香港英语教育作家，他开了一个《征服英语专栏》，在专栏中专门用英语写了世界近代史上的军事小故事，用英语讲述历史中那些惊心动魄的战争。
亡国之君的日记

nicholas Ⅱ , the last czar of russia, faithfully wrote in his diary every day, but the entries usually consisted only of descriptions of pleasant walks and social gatherings.
on one memorable day in 1906, for example, the czar described the weather, his walk, his dinner, and his evening reading. indeed, his entry contained only one sentence which did not directly concern his personal leisure: "signed a decree dissolving the duma." the day ranks among the most significant in russian history: a majority of opposition candidates had won election to the duma. though more than a decade would pass before the russian revolution and the czar's execution, the wheels of fate had begun to turn.

俄国末代沙皇尼古拉二世每天都老老实实写日记，但记述的通常只是写意的散步、社交聚会等。
例如一九○六年有一天极不寻常，这位沙皇记述的却是天气、散步、晚餐、夜读等生活细节，整篇日记只有一句和私人休闲活动没有直接关系：「签署诏令解散国会。」那一天是俄国历史上最重要日子之一：反对派候选人大部分获选成为国会议员。虽然俄国革命、尼古拉二世遭处决等，是十余年后才发生的事，但命运之轮已经开始转动。
【附注】「国会」叫法各国或有不同：英国叫parliament，美国叫congress，丹麦、瑞典、日本等叫diet，俄国沙皇时代则叫duma。留意「沙皇」除了拼作czar，也可拼作tsar。