use very large sums of the money given to pay the foreign troops，and also of having taken bribes from the men who contracted to supply bread to the army.Having been dismissed from his command，Marlborough went across to the Continent，where he stayed until George the First became King.Then，returning，he was again made Commander of the Forces，and lived in England until his death.
中文阅读
1.在查理二世、詹姆士二世和威廉三世统治时期，有个人名声雀起，后来他成为最伟大的军队指挥官之一。他的名字叫做约翰·邱吉尔，是个非常英俊的男人，但由于过度贪财，使他的伟大沾上了瑕疵，这也促使他做了一些见不得人的事。
2.然而，直到安妮女王当政，他才获得了自己作为一名将军的无上荣誉。英国与法国打了一仗，战争主要在一个叫做比利时的国家进行。在那里，曾经因为忠于威廉三世的事业而被赐为马尔伯勒公爵的邱吉尔，开始展现他攻城拔寨、夺占沿河一些重要堡垒的军事天赋。凭借这些成就，女王授予他公爵。
3.不过，他很快就厌烦了此类工作，开始追求更高的目标。他沿着莱茵河行进，然后转向东方，越过高山进入巴伐利亚，来到多瑙河一个叫做布伦海姆的小村庄。
4.8月一个星期天的早上，法国和巴伐利亚军队与马尔伯勒率领的英军相遇。英国人在布伦海姆村庄发动了首波进攻，而那里已经于匆忙间用树干设置了路障。尽管许多英国军人爬上木制围栏，用枪托击打法国步兵，但法国人从留下的防御阵地的射弹孔里发出的火力速度极快，迫使英国军队节节后退。
5.英国骑兵试图给布伦海姆留下点印象，但却未能成功。实际上，仅有加农炮就够了。不过，马尔伯勒此时却机警地看到了敌军阵线两翼之间的一条宽阔地带。就像在下跳棋游戏一样，在战争中，将敌军割裂为两股是获胜的必由之路。
6.马尔伯勒对此心知肚明，而且发现除了法国骑兵没有别的阻力，因此他迅速机动自己的几乎全部士兵，将敌人的战斗队形切断。他将士兵放在两个被切断的部分之间，然后掉转枪口、各个击破。坚守布伦海姆村庄的勇士们于是只能投降。在英国，这次获胜被看成是一次辉煌的胜利，这个欢呼雀跃的国家赐予这位胜利者一座金碧辉煌的宫殿和一大块土地a。
7.马尔伯勒还在比利时赢得了另外三场伟大战斗的胜利，分别是拉米利斯战斗b、欧德纳德战斗c和马尔普拉奎特战斗d。但是，他的政敌开始掌权，在签订a 宫殿和地产：即布伦海姆公园，位于牛津郡的伍德斯托克附近，牛津市西北8英里处。
b 拉米利斯战斗：1706年进行。拉米利斯位于南布拉班特，离布鲁塞尔26英里。
c 欧德纳德战斗：1708年进行。欧德纳德位于东弗兰德斯，离根特14英里。
d 马尔普拉奎特战斗：1709年进行。马尔普拉奎特位于法国，蒙斯南部约9英里处。
《乌德勒支协约》a之前，他就被迫交出了军权。但他的影响力却长期得以保持，因为他的妻子一直在对安妮女王的思想施加影响。公爵夫人和女王经常一起亲密地聊天（如同弗里曼夫人和莫莉夫人一样），而且公爵夫人想要什么，就能让女王做什么。
8.不过，有一个名叫马萨姆的狡猾女人正在等着女王。她设法博取了女王王室成员的喜爱，并消除了公爵夫人对国家事务的全部影响力。傲慢的公爵夫人并没有意识到自己的影响力是怎样无影无踪的，仍在采用老套的方法，努力迫使女王听从她的意愿。时间一长，她在几个场合无法控制自己的情绪，甚至突然破口大骂。
9.这种事让公爵夫人和公爵双双完全失宠。公爵受到下院的起诉，罪名是将用于外国雇佣军开支的数额庞大的资金挪作已用，以及收受为军队提供食品的供应商的贿赂。交出军队指挥权之后，马尔伯勒辗转来到欧洲大陆，并在那里住到乔治一世当上国王。在回到英国之后，他再次当上军队总指挥，并在英国生活到去世。
a《乌德勒支协约》：缔结于1713年，对战争的总结。通过它，英国获得了直布罗陀、米诺卡岛、哈德逊湾地区、纽芬兰和新斯科舍。
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SOCIAL CONDITION-THE STEWARTS
社会状况：斯图亚特王朝
abounded，was plentiful.
comestic，household.
cmbroidered，ornamented；braided.
exquisites，fops.
freebooters，robbers.
hackney-coach，a coach let out for hire.
highwaymen，robbers who frequented the roads.
jennets，small horses.
mansions，country houses.
meagre，small；slight.orchards，fruit-gardens.paupers，very poor persons.physicians，doctors of medicine.polished，refined.
preserved，kept；protected.projecting，extending.profuse，abundant.sheltering，overhanging.subscribed，combined.
1.Though during former periods the face of Britain changed much as years rolled by，yet the change since the Stewarts reigned has perhaps been the most marked of all.Where there are now to be seen green meadows and yellow corn-fields，orchards white with spring blossoms，or golden with autumn fruit，and cozy farm-houses nestling among the sheltering trees，there was then in many places nothing but forest，furze，or marsh.
2.Through the old woods wandered deer in great troops；a few wild bulls；and，until the peasantry killed them during the Civil War，wild boars，long preserved for royal sport.Badgers，wild cats，eagles，huge bustards were common even in the southern and eastern lowlands of England.The sheep and oxen were much smaller than ours.The British horses，now famed all the world over，then sold for fifty shillings each.Spanish jennets for the saddle，and gray Flanders mares for harness，were the breeds most prized.
3.Our mines were still poorly worked.Corn wall yielded tin，and Wales yielded copper，but in quantities far below the present supply.Salt，now a leading export，was then so badly prepared that the physicians blamed it as the cause of many diseases of the skin and lungs.The iron manufacture was checked by the cry which was raised about the waste of wood in the furnaces.The smelters had not yet learned to use coal，which was still only a domesticfuel，burned in the districts where it abounded，and in London，whither it was carried by sea.
4.The population of England at the close of the seventeenth century was about five million and a half.The increase of people in the northern counties far exceeded that in the south of the island.The cause of this may be found in the rapid improvement of these counties，which followed the union of the Crowns in 1603.
5.Previously，the north had been constantly ravaged by the Border robbers，called moss-troopers，from whom neither house nor herd was safe.Gradually these freebooters were hunted down，and life and property became secure.Coal-beds were discovered.Manufacturing towns began to rise，and were soon filled with a thriving population.
6.After the capital，Bristol was the greatest English sea-port，and Norwich the chief manufacturing town under the Stewarts.Manchester，the modern centre of the cotton trade，contained only 6，000inhabitants，and could boast of neither a printing-press nor a hackney-coach.Leeds，now the great woollen mart，had a population of about 7，000persons.There were not more than 200seamen belonging to the port of Liverpool.
7.London，when Charles the Second died，had a population of half a million.One old bridge spanned the Thames.The houses were all built with the upper stories projecting over the shops below.The city was the merchant‘s home.He did not then，as now，leave his counting-house after business hours for a gay villa in the suburbs.
8.The coffee-houses，
first set up in Cromwell’s time，were the greatlounges，where the news and scandal of the day were discussed.In one might be seen the exquisites，with their flowing wigs，their embroidered coats，their fringed gloves，and scented snuff.To another crowded literary men to hear JohnbDrydentalk.There were coffee-houses for every class.
