去年在英國議會發表講話中引用了一句莎士比亞的名言：

　　What‘s past is prologue。

　　凡是過去，皆為序章。

今年是莎士比亞去世400周年

英國首相卡梅倫特撰文《永恒的莎士比亞》

以此紀念偉大的莎翁。

　　This year‘s four hundredth anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare is not just an opportunity to commemorate one of the greatest playwrights of all time。 It is a moment to celebrate the extraordinary ongoing influence of a man who – to borrow from his own description of Julius Caesar – “doth bestride the narrow world like a Colossus。”

　　今年是英國戲劇大師威廉·莎士比亞去世400周年。我們懷念他的偉大作品，也向他永存于世的影響力致敬。正如名劇《裘力斯·凱撒》中的臺詞，“他像一位巨人(微博)，跨越了這狹隘的世界”。

　　Shakespeare‘s legacy is without parallel： his works translated into over 100 languages and studied by half the world’s schoolchildren。 As one of his contemporaries， Ben Jonson， said： “Shakespeare is not of an age， but for all time。”He lives today in our language， our culture and society – and through his enduring influence on education。

　　莎翁的作品被翻譯成100多種語言，被全世界一半的學生誦讀，其傳播之廣，前所未有。同時代的劇作家本·瓊森曾說，“莎士比亞超越了時代，他將永世不朽。”今天，他仍然活在我們的語言、文化和社會中，對教育的影響彌久常新。

　　Shakespeare played a critical role in shaping modern English and helping to make it the world‘s language。 The first major dictionary compiled by Samuel Johnson drew on Shakespeare more than any other writer。 Three thousand new words and phrases all first appeared in print in Shakespeare’s plays。 I remember from my own childhood how many of them are found for the first time in Henry V。 Words like dishearten， divest， addiction， motionless， leapfrog – and phrases like “once more unto the breach”， “band of brothers” and “heart of gold” – have all passed into our language today with no need to reference their original context。 Shakespeare also pioneered innovative use of grammatical form and structure – including verse without rhymes， superlatives and the connecting of existing words to make new words， like bloodstained – while the pre-eminence of his plays also did much to standardise spelling and grammar。

　　莎翁在構建現代英語，使之成為全球通用語方面發揮了關鍵作用。塞繆爾·約翰遜編纂的《英語大辭典》中引用莎翁的句子，比其他作家都多。莎翁劇本中創造的英語新詞、新短語多達三千。歷史劇《亨利五世》中不少第一次出現的詞，如dishearten、divest、addiction、motionless和leapfrog，以及短語，如once more unto the breach、band of brothers和heart of gold，都沿用至今，成了耳熟能詳的詞匯。他在語法形式和結構方面亦有創新，如無韻詩、最高級和組合現有詞匯形成新詞方面（如bloodstained），而他的一些杰出劇作也對拼寫和語法的標準化發揮了作用。

　　But Shakespeare‘s influence is felt far beyond our language。 His words， his plots and his characters continue to inspire much of our culture and wider society.Nelson Mandela， while a prisoner on Robben Island， cherished a quote from Julius Caesar which said “Cowards die many times before their death， the valiant never taste of death but once。” While Kate Tempest’s poem “My Shakespeare” captures the eternal presence of Shakespeare when she wrote that Shakespeare “…is in every lover who ever stood alone beneath a window…every jealous whispered word and every ghost that will not rest。” Shakespeare‘s influence is everywhere， from Dickens and Goethe to Tchaikovsky， Verdi and Brahms； from West Side Story to the Hamlet-inspired title of Agatha Christie’s “The Mousetrap” – the longest-running theatre production in London‘s West End today。 While his original plays continue to entertain millions – from school halls across the world to the overnight queues as hundreds scrambled for last minute tickets to see Benedict Cumberbatch playing Hamlet at London’s Barbican last year。

　　而莎翁的影響遠不止語言。遣詞造句、情節構思、人物塑造等，無不為人類文化和社會帶來靈感。尼爾森·曼德拉在羅本島服刑時曾以《裘力斯·凱撒》中的名句“懦夫一生死多次，勇者一生死一回”激勵自己。凱特·坦皮斯特在詩中寫道：“莎翁是孤獨的戀人，是愛慕的低語，是無法安息的靈魂”，這是對不朽作品的很好詮釋。無論是狄更斯、歌德，還是柴可夫斯基，威爾第和勃拉姆斯，從西城故事到深受《哈姆雷特》啟發的篇名——《捕鼠器》（作者是阿加莎·克里斯蒂，該劇在倫敦西區常演不衰），我們都能找到莎翁的影子。他的作品為數百萬人帶來樂趣，不僅是學校，去年，大家徹夜排隊，就為了觀看在倫敦芭比肯藝術中心由本尼迪克特·康伯巴奇主演的《哈姆雷特》。

　　But perhaps one of the most exciting legacies of Shakespeare is his capacity to educate。 As we see from the outreach work of the Royal Shakespeare Company and Shakespeare‘s Globe and the impact of pioneering British charities like the Shakespeare Schools Festival， studying and performing Shakespeare can help improve literacy， confidence and wider educational attainment。

　　莎翁財富的精華還體現在教育上。從皇家莎士比亞劇團和莎士比亞環球劇院一直上演的莎翁作品，到英國先鋒慈善活動，如“莎士比亞學院藝術節”的影響力，我們發現，研究、表演莎翁作品有助于提高文學鑒賞力、自信和受教育水平。

　　Every day throughout 2016， Britain is inviting you to join us in celebrating the life and legacy of William Shakespeare。 On 5 January， Twelfth Night， we launched “Shakespeare lives” –an exciting global programme of activity and events to highlight his enduring influence and extend the use of Shakespeare as an educational resource to advance literacy around the world。

　　2016年，英國邀您一起了解莎翁生平，欣賞莎翁名作。1月5日，我們將在全球推出“永恒的莎士比亞”紀念活動，紀念他的不朽魅力，并將其作品作為教材，在全球推廣文學鑒賞活動。

　　The programme will run in more than seventy countries， led by the British Council and the Great Britain campaign。 You can share your favourite moment of Shakespeare on social media， watch never-before-seen performances on stage， film and online， visit exhibitions， take part in workshops and debates， and access new Shakespearean educational resources to get to grips with the English language。

　　該活動由英國文化協會和GREAT英國推廣活動主辦，在全球70多個國家開展。您可以在社交媒體上分享莎翁精彩時刻，觀看前所未有的舞臺表演、電影和在線節目，參觀展覽，參加討論并獲得新版莎翁教材，提高英語水平。

　　The Royal Shakespeare Company will tour China； Shakespeare‘s Globe will perform across the world from Iraq to Denmark。 Young people will reimagine Shakespeare in Zimbabwe。 A social media campaign called “Play your Part” will invite the next generation of creative talent to produce their own digital tribute to the Bard – and， in partnership with the British charity Voluntary Services Overseas， we will raise awareness of the huge challenge of global child illiteracy and use Shakespeare to increase educational opportunities for children around the world。

　　皇家莎士比亞劇團將來華巡演，莎士比亞環球劇院也將在伊朗、丹麥等各地演出，年輕觀眾們甚至可以在津巴布韋欣賞到莎翁名作。屆時社交媒體將上線“Play Your Part”活動，邀請新生代創作人才，以數字形式向莎翁致敬。另外我們將攜手英國慈善機構——海外志愿服務，提高“全球兒童文盲問題嚴峻性”的意識，并利用莎翁著作為全球兒童提供教育機會。

　　Beyond the great gift of language， the bringing to life of our history，his ongoing influence on our culture and his ability to educate， there is just the immense power of Shakespeare to inspire.From the most famous love story to the greatest tragedy； from the most powerful fantasy to the wittiest comedy； and from the most memorable speeches to his many legendary characters， in William Shakespeare we have one man， whose vast imagination， boundless creativity and instinct for humanity encompasses the whole of the human experience as no one has before or since。

　　除了語言成就、歷史意義和文化、教育影響力，莎翁也為后人提供了巨大的創作靈感。從愛情故事到四大悲劇，從奇思妙想到幽默喜劇，從經典名句到不朽人物，莎翁不只是一位作家，他廣闊的想象力，無限的創作力和無盡的人文情懷，囊括了整個人類世界，達到了“前無古人，后無來者”的境界。

　　So， however you choose to play your part， please join us in 2016 in this unique opportunity to celebrate the life and enduring legacy of this man； ensuring that， as he himself put it， “all the world‘s a stage”and that through his legacy， truly， Shakespeare lives。

　　2016年，我們等你來參與：了解莎翁生平，探索精神財富。正如他所說，“全世界是個舞臺”。在這里，作品長青，莎士比亞永恒。