KING Henry VIII had tw daughters.
ne was named Mary， andne was named Elizabeth.
Their last name wasf curse Tudr， the same as their father"s althugh we d nt usually thinkf kings and queens as having last names.
King Henry had a sn， als， and he was first t becme king after his father died， fr thugh he was yunger than his sisters， a by was suppsed t be mre fit t rule than a girl. But he didn"t live lng， and then Mary was the firstf the tw sisters t becme queen.
"Mary， Mary， quite cntrary" did nt apprve what her father had dne when he turned against the ppe and the Cathlic Church. Mary herself was a strng Cathlic and ready t fight fr the ppe and the Cathlic Church. In fact， she wanted t have all wh were nt Cathlics， all thse wh were Prtestants， put t death. She thught that all thse wh did nt believe as she did were wicked and shuld be killed. Like the queen in Alice in Wnderland， she was always saying， "ff with his head！" This seems t us very unchristian， but in thse days their ideas abut such things were different. Mary had the headsf s many peple cutff that she was called Bldy Mary.
Mary married a man wh was just as strng a Cathlic as she and even bldier. He was nt an Englishman， but a Spaniard， Philip IIf Spain， snf Charles V， wh had abdicated.
Philip II was much sterner than his father had been. Philip tried t make thse wh were Prtestants，r wh were suppsed t be Prtestants， cnfess and give up Prtestantism. If they did nt d s， they were trtured as theld Christian martyrs had been trtured. This was called the Inquisitin. Thse suspectedf being Prtestants were trmented in all srtsf hrrible ways. Sme were tied up in the air by their hands， like a picture hungn a wall， until they fainted frm the painr else cnfessed what they were tld t cnfess. Sme were stretchedn a rack， their heads pulledne way and their legs theppsite way， until their bdies were nearly trn apart. Thse wh were fund guiltyf being Prtestants were killedutright， burned t death，r put slwly t death， s that they wuld suffer lnger. Yu shuld knw that Prtestants were nt thenly peple whsuffered under the Spanish Inquisitin. A century earlier， Jews were trtured inthe same way. Mst left Spain t find new hmes in Nrth Africar Eurpe.
The peple whm Philip chiefly persecuted were the Dutch peple in Hlland. Hlland then belnged t his empire， and a great manyf the Dutch peple had becme Prtestants.
Nw， there was a Dutchman called William the Silent because he talked little but did a great deal. William was furius at the way his peple were treated. He fught against Philip and at last succeeded in making his cuntry free and setting up the Dutch Republic. But William the Silent was murdered byrderf Philip.
And that"s the kindf man Bldy Mary had fr a husband.
After Mary Tudr died， her sister， Elizabeth Tudr， became queen. Elizabeth was the strngestf Henry"s three children. Elizabeth had red hair and was very vain and lved t be flattered. Many men lved her but she never married， and， as a wman wh never marries was called a virgin， she was knwn as the Virgin Queen.
Elizabeth was a Prtestant and was just as bitter against the Cathlics as her sister and sister"s husband had been against the Prtestants.
A relativef Elizabeth was queenf Sctland. Sctland is a cuntry nrthf England， but at that time it did nt have the same ruler as England， and its queen was named Mary Stuart. Mary Stuart， Queenf Scts， was yung， beautiful， and fascinating； but she was a Cathlic， and s Elizabeth and she were enemies.
Elizabeth heard that Mary Stuart was trying t becme queenf England as well as Sctland， s she had her， althugh a relative， put in prisn. In prisn Mary Stuart stayed fr nearly twenty years and was then at last put t death by Elizabeth"srders. It is hard fr us t understand hw anyne culd have herwn relative killed in this cld-blded way， especially anyne wh pretended t be a Christian， but in thse times it was a very cmmn custm， as we see when we hearf s many murders cmmitted by the rulersf the peple.
Philip II the great champinf the Cathlics， made up his mind t punish Elizabeth， his sister-in-law， fr killing such a gd Cathlic as Mary Stuart. S he gt tgether a large navyf very fine ships called the Spanish Armada. All Spain was very prudf this fleet. It was bastfully called the Invincible Armada； invincible means uncnquerable.
The Invincible Armada set frth in 1588 t cnquer the English navy. Lined up in the shapef a half-mn， the ships sailed grandly tward England.
The English fleet was cmpsednlyf little bats. Insteadf gingut tmeet the Armada in regular sea battle as the Spaniards expected， the English ships sailedut and attacked the Spanish ships frm behind and fughtne ship at a time. The English were better fighters， and their small bats were quicker and mre easily managed. They culd strike a blw and get away befre a Spanish ship culd turn arund int psitin t fire. Gradually the English fleet sankr destryed the big Spanish batsne byne.
Then the English set smeld bats afire and started them drifting tward the Spanish fleet. As all bats at that time weref curse madef wd， the Spaniards became frightened at these burning piles drifting dwn upn them， and partf the fleet sailed away. The rest tried t get back t Spain by sailing the lng way rund， nrthf Sctland. Hwever， a terrible strm struck them， and almst all the bats were shipwrecked， and thusandsf dead bdies were washed upn shre. The great Spanish Armada was destryed， and with it ended the pwerf Spain at sea. Spain was n lnger the great natin it had been.
At the beginningf Elizabeth"s reign， the largest and mst pwerful cuntry in the wrld was Spain； at the endf her reign it was England that was the mst pwerful. Her fleet， which King Alfred had started far back， becamenef the largest.
Peple at that time thught it impssible fr a wman t rule as well as a man， but under Elizabeth"s rule England in turn became the leading cuntryf Eurpe. Elizabeth prved that a wman culd rule England better than mst kings had.
【中文阅读】
国王亨利八世有两个女儿。 一个名叫玛丽，一个名叫伊丽莎白。
她们当然都姓都铎，和她们父亲的姓一样，不过我们通常不会想到国王和王后 姓什么。
国王亨利也有一个儿子。他父亲死后，他第一个接任国王，因为尽管他比姐姐 们年幼，但是人们都认为男孩比女孩更适合来治理国家。可是他没活多久就死掉了， 接着两姐妹中玛丽先成为女王。
"玛丽，玛丽，别树一帜"1，她不赞同父亲转而同教皇和天主教会作对时的所作所 为。玛丽本人是坚定的天主教徒，随时愿意为教皇和天主教会而战。事实上，她希 望把所有不是天主教徒的人，和所有那些新教教徒全部处死。她认为所有那些和她1 这是一首儿歌里的句子--译者注。
信仰不同的人都是邪恶的，都该被杀。就像《爱丽丝漫游仙境》中的那个女王一样， 她总是说："砍掉他的头！"在我们看来，这似乎非常不符合基督教教义，但是在那 个年代他们对于这些事情的看法是不同的。玛丽让那么多人都掉了脑袋，因此她被 称为"血腥玛丽"。
玛丽的丈夫也是像她一样强硬的天主教徒，甚至比她还要凶残嗜血。他不是英 国人，而是西班牙人，西班牙腓力二世，就是那个退位的查理五世的儿子。
腓力二世可比他父亲要严厉多了。腓力极力让那些新教徒，或那些被认为是新 教徒的人认罪并放弃新教。如果他们不这么做，他们就会遭受到以前基督教殉道士 所遭受的那种严刑拷打。这被称为"异端裁判所"。那些被怀疑是新教徒的人受到各 种各样的折磨。有些人被捆住手吊在空中，像挂在墙上的画一样，直到他们痛得晕 过去或者承认自己被指控的罪行。有些人被绑在肢刑架上向两头拉直，头向一个方 向拉，腿向相反的方向拉，直到身体几乎被拽断。那些确认是新教徒而被判有罪的 人有的被立刻杀死，有的被烧死，还有的被慢慢折磨而死，这样受罪的时间更长。 你应该知道新教徒不是唯一在西班牙异端裁判所受折磨的。一个世纪以前，犹太 人早就遭受过同样方式的折磨。大多数犹太人离开了西班牙到北非或欧洲寻找新的 家园。
腓力迫害的主要是生活在荷兰的荷兰人。当时荷兰隶属他的帝国，而很多荷兰 人成了新教徒。
那时，有个荷兰人被称为"沉默的威廉"，因为他不怎么说话，但是为大家做了 很多事情。威廉为他的同胞受到这样的虐待，感到极度愤慨。他奋起反抗腓力，终 于使荷兰脱离了西班牙的统治，成为独立的荷兰共和国。但是沉默的威廉却被腓力 派来的人谋杀了。
"血腥玛丽"的丈夫就是这样一个人。
玛丽 都铎死后，她的妹妹伊丽莎白 都铎做了女王。伊丽莎白是亨利三个孩子 中最刚强的。伊丽莎白长着一头红发，非常自负，喜欢被人奉承。有很多男人爱上 了她，但是她一直没有结婚。因为没有结过婚的女人被称为童贞女，所以她被称为 "童贞女王"。
伊丽莎白是新教徒，与她姐姐和姐夫极度仇恨新教徒相反，她极度仇恨天主 教徒。
伊丽莎白有个亲戚是苏格兰女王。苏格兰是英国北边的一个国家，但是那时候 它还没有与英国统一，它有自己的女王，名叫玛丽 斯图亚特。玛丽 斯图亚特，这 位苏格兰人的女王，年轻、貌美、迷人；但是她是天主教徒，所以伊丽莎白和她是 敌人。
伊丽莎白听说玛丽 斯图亚特正企图吞并英国，于是她不顾亲戚的情面，把她 关进监狱。玛丽 斯图亚特在监牢里被关了将近二十年，最后还是被伊丽莎白下令处 死了。我们很难理解怎么会有人这么残忍地杀死自己的亲戚，尤其是这个人还自称 是个基督徒，但是在那个时代这是非常普遍的惯例，当我们听说了历史上很多统治 者都残杀了那么多的人，我们就领会这一点了。
腓力二世作为天主教的强大捍卫者，下决心要惩罚他的妻妹伊丽莎白，因为她 竟然杀死了像玛丽 斯图亚特这样虔诚的天主教徒。于是他集结了大批精良船只，组 成了一支大型舰队，被称为西班牙舰队。所有的西班牙人都为有这样一支舰队而感 到自豪。它被吹捧称为"无敌舰队"，"无敌"的意思是"不可战胜"。
1588 年无敌舰队出发去征服英国海军。所有舰船排成一行成半月形，浩浩荡荡 地向英国驶去。
英国舰队都是由小船组成的。西班牙人没有料到，英国舰船没有像常规海战那 样正面迎战西班牙舰队，而是驶出去，从背面袭击西班牙舰队，而且一次只进攻一 条船，各个击破。英国士兵本来就比西班牙士兵训练有素，加之他们的小船速度更 快，也更容易操控。他们发起一次进攻，就马上离开，西班牙舰船根本来不及调转 方向，向他们开火。渐渐地，英国舰队逐个击沉或摧毁了大型西班牙舰船。
接着英国人点燃几条旧船，让它们漂向西班牙舰队。因为当时所有的船毫无例 外都是用木头打造的，所以西班牙人看到这些燃烧的火堆向自己漂过来，惊慌失措 了，一部分舰队逃跑了。剩下的船设法从苏格兰北边绕个大弯子回西班牙。但是一 场可怕的暴风雨袭击了他们。几乎所有的船都失事了，数以千计的尸体被海浪冲上 岸。不可一世的无敌舰队被摧毁了，随之而来的是西班牙海上霸权的终结。西班牙 不再有昔日强国的风光了。
伊丽莎白初登王位的时候，世界上最大最强的国家是西班牙；在她统治的末期， 英国是世界上最强大的国家。她的舰队，也就是很久以前由阿尔弗雷德大帝开创的 海军舰队，成为世界上最强大的舰队之一。
那时人们认为管理国家大事，女人肯定不如男人，但是在伊丽莎白统治之下， 英国接替西班牙成为欧洲的第一国家。伊丽莎白证明了女人治理国家可能比大多数 国王做得更好。
公元 1588 年
