丘吉尔的四个秘密

晓菲

温斯顿·丘吉尔（1874—1965）是一位非常受民众爱戴的英国首相。他出身于贵族家庭，父亲曾担任英国财政大臣。提起丘吉尔，很多人最熟知的莫过于他叼着雪茄的严肃形象。事实上，这位伟人还有一些鲜为人知的秘密，比如别致的抽雪茄的方式、在白宫的特殊“装扮”等。

Cigars

The classic image of Winston Churchill includes1 a giant cigar between his lips. Churchill developed his love of cigars as a young man， when he traveled to Cuba as a reporter. For the rest of his life， he smoked eight or nine cigars every day. However， he almost never took a bite， preferring to2 chew on the end until it went out， then re-lighting it and re-starting again. At any given time， Churchill had 3，000 to 4，000 cigars in his house， his favorite being Romeo & Juliet brand.

酷愛雪茄

温斯顿·丘吉尔给人的印象，嘴里总是叼着一支大雪茄。少年时代，他在古巴当记者时，就爱上了雪茄。他每天抽八九支，却很少真正吸上一口，大多数时候只是叼着雪茄的末端，待它熄灭后再重新点上，周而复始。无论什么时候，他的家中总储存着3000到4000支雪茄，“罗密欧与朱丽叶”是他最喜欢的雪茄品牌。

His “White House Suit”

Churchill apparently3 had several nude4 incidents while staying in the White House. President Franklin Roosevelt also saw him naked， along with several White House staff 5 during his 24-day visit in 1941. Churchill had just taken his bath and was walking around naked when Roosevelt entered the room. The president quickly tried to leave， but Churchill told him not to， saying that he clearly had nothing to hide from his closest ally6.

Two Churchills

Although Winston Churchill is famous for his political career， he was an accomplished7 writer. In fact， he won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953.

Coincidently， there was another writer named Winston Churchill who was active during the same time. This Winston Churchill was an American who wrote a number of novels， six or seven of which became huge bestsellers8.

Interestingly， both Churchills published their first books in 1898， although the American Churchill was the first to become famous for his writing. Unsurprisingly， he would be overshadowed by the fame of British Churchill and is almost forgotten today. But at the time， the two writers were often confused9 with each other. To avoid further difficulty， the two Churchills agreed that the British Churchill would publish as Winston S. Churchill while the American would simply go by Winston Churchill.

His “Black Dog”

Throughout his life， Churchill probably suffered from manic（躁狂的）depression10， which he called his “black dog”. At times， his depression was so severe that he didnt like standing close to a passing train or looking at the ocean from a ship because he feared he would try to commit suicide11.

When not depressed， Churchill was famously full of energy， usually working and talking until the early hours of the morning. He jumped constantly from one topic to another， causing Roosevelt to laugh observing that he “has a thousand ideas a day， four of which are good”.

在白宮的“装扮”

丘吉尔在白宫居住时，显然有过不止一次的“裸露事件”。1941年，在丘吉尔对美国为期24天的访问期间，美国富兰克林·罗斯福总统在白宫一些官员的陪同下看到过赤身裸体的丘吉尔。当时，丘吉尔刚洗完澡，正光着身子在浴室里走来走去，罗斯福恰好出现在门口。总统试图马上离开，丘吉尔却说不用了，在最亲密的盟友面前他没什么可隐藏的。

两位丘吉尔

尽管温斯顿·丘吉尔因其政治生涯而出名，但他确实是个才华横溢的作家。事实上，他在1953年获得了诺贝尔文学奖。

说来也怪，活跃在同一时期的还有另一个叫做温斯顿·丘吉尔的作家。这位丘吉尔是美国人，著有许多部小说，其中有六七本是畅销书。

有趣的是，两位丘吉尔都在1898年出版了他们的第一本著作。不过，虽然美国的丘吉尔先因作品而出名，但毫无疑问他最终被英国的丘吉尔所获得的声望超越，如今几乎被人遗忘。但在当时，人们常常分不清这两位作家。为了避免产生更多麻烦，两人一致决定，英国的丘吉尔出版署名为“Winston S. Churchill”，而美国的丘吉尔则简单署名为“Winston Churchill”。

他的“黑狗”

丘吉尔可能患有躁狂抑郁症，他把这种病叫做“黑狗”。有时，他由于过于焦躁而不喜欢太靠近经过的火车或者从船上看大海，因为他害怕自己突然想自杀。

在不抑郁的时候，丘吉尔总是精力充沛，工作或与人交谈直到凌晨。他能不断地从一个话题跳到另一个话题，使得罗斯福总统嘲笑他“一天有1000种想法，但只有4个是有用的”。

Tips

●prefer to：意思是“更喜欢做……”，常与短语rather than 或instead of搭配。如：I prefer to sing rather than dance. 比起跳舞，我更喜欢唱歌。Prefer后也可直接加动名词。如：I prefer singing.我更喜欢唱歌。

●had nothing to do：短语have nothing to hide from sth./sb.的意思是“没什么可隐瞒”。如：I have nothing to hide from my parents. 我没有什么可对父母隐瞒的。当然，替换动词“hide”可以衍生出不同意思。如：As a young man， I have nothing to lose. 作为一个年轻人，我没有什么可害怕失去的。