Napoleon 'tried to learn English'
Napoleon wanted to be read the London papersNapoleon Bonaparte was keen to learn English while in exile, documents shown in Britain for the first time reveal.
The deposed1 French emperor apparently2 wanted to learn the language of his foes3 so he could read what the London papers were writing about him.
Scraps4 of paper from his English lessons in captivity5 on the island of St Helena go on show at London's National Maritime6 Museum on Thursday.
They include lines of French haltingly translated by Napoleon into English.
Count Emmanuel de las Cases, who accompanied the emperor into exile after he surrendered to the English at the Battle of Waterloo, wrote about his desire to learn the language in his memoirs7.
According to him, Napoleon had his first lesson on 17 January 1816, when he asked las Cases to dictate8 to him some sentences in French, which he then translated, using a table of auxiliary9 verbs and a dictionary.
According to historian Dr Peter Hicks, las Cases describes how Napoleon hated being sat down to work like a schoolboy but steeled himself for the task.
Dr Hicks said: He was not necessarily anti-English. He had to fight because it was the enemy of France.
He added: In France people are amazed to find that he was learning English. But he didn't do it for pleasure. He wondered how much money he could have saved in translation if he could have learnt English.
The documents are to feature in the Greenwich museum's Nelson and Napoleon exhibition, being held to commemorate10 the 200th anniversary of Nelson' death at the Battle of Trafalgar.
They are among a wide range of letters, paintings, personal items and objects lent by galleries and museums across Europe.
The English lesson papers, described by Dr Hicks as quite remarkable11, are on loan from the Fondation Napoleon in Paris.
近期在英国展出的历史文献初次披露，拿破仑波拿巴在流放期间曾沉迷学英语。
非常显然，这位当时已遭到罢黜的法国皇帝想要学习敌人的语言，如此就能阅读伦敦报纸上有关他的报道。
拿破仑在被囚禁于圣赫勒拿岛期间学英语的几张碎纸片将于周四在伦敦国立海事博物馆展出。
上面还有几行从法语译过来的磕磕绊绊的英文。
伊曼纽尔卡斯伯爵在回忆录中写道，拿破仑很想学习语言。滑铁卢战役惨败后，卡斯伯爵和拿破仑一同被流放到圣赫勒拿岛，。
据卡斯伯爵说，拿破仑于1816年1月17日开始了他的第一节英语课，当时拿破仑需要卡斯使用方法语讲述几个句子，然后他借用一本词典和一个助动词表将它翻译成英语。
历史学家彼得希克斯博士指出，卡斯在回忆录中描述了拿破仑当时十分痛恨像学生一样坐下来学习，但又强迫自己去学英语。
希克斯博士称：他并不抵制英语，他同英国打仗，仅仅由于英国是法国的敌人。
他还补充说：法国人得知拿破仑在学习英语后很吃惊，但他学习并非为了取乐。他在想，假如掌握了英语，如此可以节省多少翻译费。
这类历史文献将在格林威治博物馆的纳尔逊及拿破仑展览中展出，以此纪念纳尔逊在特拉法加战役中英勇为国捐躯200周年。
同时被展出的还包含从欧洲多家画廊和博物馆借来的很多信件、绘画作品和私人物品等。
这几张被希克斯博士称为相当不平凡的学英语的碎纸片是从巴黎拿破仑基金会借来的。
Vocabulary:auxiliary verb: 助动词
steel: to make hard, strong, or obdurate; strengthen（使坚硬；使坚强；使硬起心肠）
commemorate: to honor the memory of with a ceremony（纪念）
