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Kate Middleton A Modern Princess 凯特．密道顿：现代王妃

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The British royal family welcomes a new member this month with an extravagant wedding  这个月，英   国王室家族将以奢华婚礼迎接新成员

She may be wearing Princess Dianna’s engagement ring, but Prince William of Wales’ fiancée, Kate Middleton, is no Diana. After a lengthy courtship and time to become accustomed to the stresses of being a royal, her life changed dramatically and forever.

她或许将戴着已故英国黛安娜王妃的订婚戒，但威廉韦尔斯王子的未婚妻凯特．密道顿绝非另一个黛安娜。爱情长跑多年，终于习惯了身为王室成员的压力后，凯特的生活将永久彻底改观。

The fairy tale  童话故事

The daughter of middle-class commoners and descendant of working-class coal miners will become Princess Catherine and, eventually, Queen Catherine. She’ll marry the future King William V.

凯特为中产阶级平民之女，而且是工人阶级煤矿工的后代，但她将成为凯特王妃，最后则会成为凯瑟琳王后。她即将嫁给未来的国王威廉五世。

No one anywhere is surprised. They’ve been a couple more or less continuously for nine years, after meeting in 2001 at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. She’s the 28-year-old daughter of a former pilot and former flight attendant who operate an online party-supply company. He’s the second-in-line to the British throne, son of Prince Charles the Prince of Wales and his first wife, the late Princess Diana, and the grandson of Queen Elizabeth II. William, also 28, just finished training as a helicopter rescue pilot in the Royal Air Force and is living near his base in Wales.

不会有人对此感到惊讶，因为两人从2001年在苏格兰圣安德鲁斯大学相识后，就差不多在一起九年了。凯特今年廿八岁，双亲分别当过机师与空服员，目前经营宴会用品网络公司。威廉则是英国王位第二顺位继承人，父亲是韦尔斯亲王查尔斯王子，母亲是查尔斯的第一任妻子已故黛安娜王妃，祖母则是英国女王伊丽莎白二世。同样也是廿八岁的威廉刚结束皇家空军直升机救援驾驶的训练，目前住在韦尔斯的基地附近。

So who is she?  她是何许人？

“She is a very modern English woman,” says Joanne Fowler, senior writer for People, which closely covers all royals but especially the British variety. “She … is smart. She’s athletic, she’s very much of the moment. … She’s handled her time in the limelight with incredible grace and dignity, not making a mess of anything.”

「她是非常现代的英国女性。」《时人杂志》资深撰稿人乔安妮．福勒表示；该杂志密切报导各国王室家族消息，但特别着重英国王室。「她……很聪明，热爱运动，很受欢迎。……她在众所瞩目之下时，以无比优雅、庄重的方式应对，没搞砸任何事情。」

William proposed [in October] and presented Middleton with his mother’s engagement ring, an oval blue sapphire surrounded by diamonds.

威廉在十月向凯特求婚，并献上母亲的订婚戒指，上头镶有钻石环绕的椭圆蓝宝石。

Diana, killed in a car crash in Paris in 1997, won’t be there to experience the joy of the wedding, so “this was my way of making sure that my mother didn’t miss out on today,” said William.

1997年在巴黎车祸丧生的黛安娜，无法亲自到场感受婚礼的喜悦，所以「我用这个方式来确保母亲不会错过今天，」威廉表示。

“It’s very, very special,” Middleton said about the ring.

「这真的非常、非常特别，」凯特如此描述这枚戒指。

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extravagant [ɪkˋstrævəgənt] adj. 奢侈的；浪费的

courtship [ˋkortʃɪp] n.  求爱期﹐ 恋爱期 the act, period, or art of seeking the love of someone with intent to marry

commoner [ˋkɑmənɚ] n. 平民 a person without noble rank or title

anywhere [ˋɛnɪ͵hwɛr] adv. 在任何程度上; 在任何一点上 to any extent or degree; at all

of the moment 此刻 of importance at this time

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A new princess for a new decade  新时代的新王妃

And what took so long? William said he wanted to make sure Middleton had the chance to see what life would be like as a member of the royal family.

至于为何拖了那么久，威廉表示，他要让凯特有机会明白，王室家族成员的生活究竟是什么样子。

She didn’t say much, even as she acknowledged the idea of being queen was “a daunting prospect.” Middleton has never said much, and that’s partly why she’s being hailed as the perfect match for media-phobic William and his complicated family.

凯特没有透露太多讯息，但她承认成为王后是个「令人畏惧的前景。」她向来不多话，这多少也解释了为何外界赞扬她和痛恶媒体的威廉及他复杂的家庭简直是天作之合。

A Cinderella story  麻雀变凤凰

Katie Nicholl, royals correspondent for The Mail on Sunday and author of William and Harry: Behind the Palace Walls, says Middleton handled her first interview “with dignity and humility. She was charming, she was shy and soft-spoken, it was reminiscent of Diana.”

凯特．妮可为《星期日邮报》专跑王室新闻的记者，同时也是《威廉与哈利：宫内的真实人生》（直译）一书作者。她表示，凯特首次受访时，表现得「庄重又谦逊。她很迷人，很害羞，轻声细语，让人联想起黛妃。」

But Middleton is very different from Diana Spencer, who was just 20 when she married 12-year-older Prince Charles in 1981. Diana was inexperienced and naïve. Middleton is older, more mature, and more experienced with the royal family and the media.

然而凯特与黛安娜．史宾塞也有大相径庭之处。黛安娜在1981年嫁给长她12岁的查尔斯王子，当时她才20岁。当时的黛安娜天真无知，而凯特则年纪较长、较成熟，与王室家族相处、应付媒体也比较有经验。

Still, her life changes for good now. “From now on, the media attention and scrutiny will only increase. Now she will have a life of protection officers, royal duties, a life of being the center of attention,” Nicholl says.

但无论如何，凯特的生活将永远改观了。「从现在起，媒体只会更加紧迫盯人。她的生活少不了随扈在侧、履行王室义务，一生都将成为备受注目的焦点。」妮可表示。

Middleton has also been, briefly, a working woman, first in the fashion industry and then helping her parents run their company. When she becomes Princess Catherine, She’ll spend time making public appearances, plus loads of charity work.

凯特也曾短暂上过班，一开始是从事时尚业，后来则协助双亲经营公司。等她成为凯特王妃后，就会出席公开活动，并参与大量慈善工作。

“She comes from a close-knit family, and maybe that’s part of what we’re seeing in her self-confidence,” says Fowler. “She seems to know who she is. She’s really quite a together girl after being under such scrutiny in the past few years.”

「她来自关系紧密的家庭，这或许是她充满自信的部分原因。」福勒表示。「她似乎清楚自己的身份。她真的是相当镇定自若的女孩，即使过去几年受到那样的检视都没有任何影响。」

－by Maria Puente

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Cinderella [͵sɪndəˋrɛlə] n. 灰姑娘

close-knit [ˋklosˋnɪt] adj. 紧密连结在一起的; 严谨的 held tightly together, as by social or cultural ties

together [təˋgɛðɚ] adj.【口】情绪稳定的；做事有效率的 Slang emotionally stable and effective in performance

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the limelight 聚光灯下；受人注目 public attention and interest

daunting [ˋdɔntɪŋ] adj.令人怯步的; 吓人[令人畏惧]的 making one feel slightly frightened or worried about one’s ability to achieve something

hail as  欢呼…是…; 称作…是… to praise a person by saying that they are similar to someone or something very good

phobic [ˋfobɪk] n. & adj. 恐惧……的"；"憎恶……的" having a strong dislike or fear of something

reminiscent [͵rɛməˋnɪsnt] of 发人联想的[（+of）] making one remember a particular person, event or thing

naïve [nɑˋiv] adj. 天真的 too ready to believe someone or something, especially because of a lack of experience

scrutiny [ˋskrutnɪ] n. 监视，监督 the careful and detailed examination of something in order to get information about it

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