15 Things You Didn’t Know About William Shakespeare

By Simon Crerar

一提到莎士比亚，首先浮现在人们脑海中的就是他那经典的四大悲剧、四大喜剧以及令人们永远叹为观止的十四行诗集。今年是莎士比亚诞辰450周年，人们纪念这位伟人的同时，又发现了什么不为人知的事情呢？

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

2. Shakespeare has been credited2. credit: 认为……有（某种优点或成就）。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: 有争议的。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: 及时，按时。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:《第一对开本》，莎士比亚第一部剧本合集，以对开本形式印刷，共包括其36部作品，由莎士比亚国王剧团同事约翰·赫明斯和亨利·康德尔于1623年筹划出版，距莎士比亚逝世大约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: 兴旺的，繁荣的。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. 为了杜绝这种情况，演员们只有当演出开始时才会拿到自己的台词，通常是以出场提示的方式——后台的某人用耳语告知即将上场的演员他要说的台词。counter:反击，还击；cue:（戏剧或音乐表演的）提示，暗示。

6. Aside from writing 37 plays and composing 154 sonnets, Shakespeare was also an established actor.9. sonnet: 十四行诗；established: 颇有声望的。

He performed in many of his own plays as well as those of his contemporaries10. contemporary: 同时代的人。, 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），英格兰国王。.

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）接见室；Lord Chamberlain:（英国王室的）宫务大臣。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:（贵族家庭或组织的）饰章，纹章。.

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:（硬币、奖章上的）镌刻文字，铭文。

9. Unlike most artists of his time, Shakespeare died a very wealthy man with a large property portfolio15. portfolio: 投资组合。.

He was a brilliant businessman forming a joint-stock16. joint-stock: 合资的。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. 莎士比亚长眠于埃文河畔斯特拉特福的三一教堂，他的墓碑上刻着一句诗文形式的诅咒。Trinity Church: 位于斯特拉福德的三一教堂，这里既是莎翁出生受洗礼的地方，也是他的长眠之地；Stratfordupon-Avon: 埃文河畔斯特拉特福，是莎士比亚的故乡；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: 羽毛笔。.

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: 傲慢自负的，自命不凡的；crow: 乌鸦。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: 过早的，提前的；Henry VIII:《亨利八世》，是莎士比亚创作的一部历史剧，故事基于英格兰国王亨利八世的人生；cannon: 大炮；set light to: 引火烧，使……燃烧；thatched: 用茅草盖的。

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: 洗礼。, 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: 儒略历，是格里历的前身，由罗马共和国独裁官儒略·恺撒采纳埃及亚历山大的希腊数学家兼天文学家索西琴尼计算的历法，自公元前46年1月1日起执行，取代了旧罗马历法。一年设12个月，大小月交替，四年一闰，平年365日，闰年于二月底增加一闰日，年平均长度为365.25日。由于累积误差随着时间越来越大，1582年后被教皇格里高利十三世改善，变为格里历；Gregorian calendar: 格里历，即沿用至今的公历。