THIS story is about the Agef Elizabeth. I"m nt ging t tell you hwld Elizabeth was， thugh she did live and reign a great many years.
I"m ging t tell yu smef the things that happened during her lng life， fr the time when she lived is called the Agef Elizabeth.
There was a yung man named Raleigh living when Elizabeth became queen.ne day when it was raining and the streets were muddy， Elizabeth was abut t crss the street. Raleigh saw her and， t keep her frm siling her shes， ran frward， tkff his beautiful velvet cape， and threw it in the puddle where she was abut t step， s that she might crss upn it as upn a carpet. The queen was greatly pleased with this thughtful and gentlemanly act and she made him a knight， s that he was then called Sir Walter Raleigh， and ever after that he wasnef her special friends.
Sir Walter Raleigh was much interested in America. Cabt had claimed a great partf it fr England almst a hundred years befre， but England had dne nthing abut it. Raleigh thught smething shuld be dne abut it； he thught English peple shuld settle there， s thatther cuntries like Spain， which had made s many settlements in America， wuld nt get aheadf England. Raleigh gt tgether several cmpaniesf English peple and sent themver t an island called Ranke， which was justff the castf the present statef Nrth Carlina. At that time， hwever， almst the whle castf the United States as far nrth as Canada was called Virginia. It had been named Virginia in hnrf the Virgin Queen Elizabeth.
Smef these Ranke clnists became discuraged with the hardships they had t suffer and s gave up and sailed back hme again. Thse wh remained all disappeared. Where？ Nne knws. We think they must either have been killedr have diedf starvatin. At any rate， ntne was left t tell the tale. Amng these Ranke clnists was the first English child brn in America-a girl， wh had been named Virginia Dare， fr the queen was very ppular and a great many girls were named Virginia after her.
Sme tbacc was brught back frm Virginia， and Sir Walter Raleigh learned t smke. This was such a strange and unknwn thing at that time thatne day while he was smking a pipe， a servant wh saw smke cmingutf his muth thught he wasn fire and， running fr a bucketf water， emptied itver his head.
Virginia is still famus fr its tbacc. At first tbacc was suppsed t be very healthful， fr the Native Americans seemed t have very gd health， and they smked a great deal. Afterward， hwever， in the next reign， King James s hated tbacc that he wrte a bk against it and frbade its use. Nw we knw that James was right and that tbacc can make peple sick with deadly diseases.
After Queen Elizabeth died， Raleigh was put in prisn， fr it was said he was pltting against the new king， James， wh came after Elizabeth. The prisn where he was placed was the Twerf Lndn， theld castle that William the Cnquerr had built. Here Raleigh was kept fr thirteen lng years， and t pass the time away he wrte a Histryf the Wrld. But at last he was put t death as manyther great men were als.
During the reignf Queen Elizabeth， there lived the great writerf plays， the greatest writer the wrld has ever knwn. This man was William Shakespeare.
Shakespeare"s father culd nt write his name. Shakespeare himself spentnly six years at schl. As a by he was rather wild， and he was arrested fr hunting deer in the frestf Sir Thmas Lucy at Stratfrd.
When still a by， Shakespeare married a girllder than himself named Anne Hathaway. After he had been married a few years he left her and their threeShakespeare reading t Elizabeth ( 莎士比亚为伊丽莎白朗诵自己的作品 )children， left the little twnf Stratfrd， and went up t the great cityf Lndn t seek his frtune. There， Shakespeare gt a jb wrking arund a theater， hlding the hrsesf thse wh came t see the plays. Then he gt a chance t act in the theater， and he became an actr， but he did nt becme a very gdne.
In thse days the theaters had n scenery. A sign was put up t tell what the scene was suppsed t be. Fr instance， insteadf frest scenery， they wuld put up a sign saying， "This is a frest，"r insteadf a rm scene a sign saying "This is a rm in an inn." There were n actresses. Men and bys tk the partsf bth men and wmen.
Shakespeare was asked t change smef the plays that had already been written， s that they culd be better acted. He did this very well； then he started in t write plays himself. Usually he tkld stries and made them int plays， but he did it s wnderfully well that they are better than any plays that have ever been written befrer since.
Thugh Shakespeare left schl whennly thirteen yearsld， he seems t have had a remarkable knwledgef almst everything under the sun. He shws in his plays that he knew abut histry and law and medicine. Smef the best knwnf Shakespeare"s plays are Hamlet， The Merchantf Venice， Rme and Juliet， and Julius Caesar.
Shakespeare made a gd dealf mney fr thse times-almst a frtune. Then he left Lndn and went back t live in the little twnf Stratfrd where he was brn. Here at last he died and was buried in the village church. Peple wanted t mve his bdy t a greater and handsmer place， t a famus church in Lndn. But smene， perhaps Shakespeare himself， had written a verse which was carvedn his tmbstne. The last linef this verse said， "And curst be he wh mves my bnes"； s they never were mved， fr nne dared t mve them.
【中文阅读】
这个故事是关于伊丽莎白年代的。我不打算给你讲伊丽莎白活到多大年纪，尽 管她确实比较长寿，在位也很多年。
我要给你讲的是她漫长一生中发生的一些重大事情，因为她生活的那个时期现 在被称为伊丽莎白时代。
伊丽莎白成为女王时，英国有个年轻人名叫罗利。一天正下着雨，街道泥泞， 伊丽莎白正要过马路。罗利看到她，为了不让她弄脏鞋子，罗利赶紧跑上前，脱下 自己漂亮的天鹅绒斗篷，把它铺在她即将踩到的水坑里，这样她就可以踩在斗篷上 过马路，就像走在地毯上一样。女王对这一体贴周到的绅士行为感到非常满意，于是封他为骑士，这样他就被称为沃尔特 罗利爵士，从此以后他成了伊丽莎白一个特 别亲密的朋友。
沃尔特 罗利爵士对美洲很感兴趣。差不多一百年前，卡伯特曾宣布美洲的一 大片土地为英国所有，但是英国对这片土地无所作为。罗利认为应该做点什么；他 认为英国人应该在那里定居，这样其他已经在美洲建立了许多殖民地的国家，比如 西班牙，就不会超过英国。罗利召集了几批英国人，把他们送到了一个叫做罗厄诺 克的岛上，离现在的北卡罗来纳州的海岸不远。不过那时几乎整个美国海岸向北直 到加拿大都叫做"弗吉尼亚"。取这个名字是为了纪念"童贞女王"伊丽莎白 1。
在罗厄诺克岛上的殖民者，其中有些人因为生活艰难困苦而变得意气消沉，于 是不愿再坚持下去，就乘船回国了。留在那里的人后来都失踪了。他们去哪里了呢？ 没有人知道。我们认为他们要么被杀，要么饿死了。无论怎样，没有一个人留下来 讲述这个故事了。在罗厄诺克岛上的这些殖民者中，有第一个出生在美洲的英国孩 子--一个女孩，被取名为弗吉尼亚 戴尔。因为女王当时深受爱戴，许多女孩都以 她的名字取名为弗吉尼亚。
有人从弗吉尼亚带回了一些烟草，沃尔特 罗利爵士学会了吸烟。这在当时是 一件非常奇怪、无人知晓的事情，所以有一天，当他在吸烟斗时，一个仆人看见烟 从他的嘴巴里冒出来，还以为他着火了，急忙跑去打了一桶水，浇在了他的头上。
现在弗吉尼亚州仍然以盛产烟草而闻名。最初烟草被认为非常有益健康，因为 美洲的土著人看上去非常健康，而且他们吸烟很厉害。不过，后来下一任国王詹姆 斯对烟草极为痛恨，还写了一本书反对吸烟，并禁止人们吸烟。如今我们知道詹姆 斯是对的，烟草可以让人们患上致命的疾病。
伊丽莎白女王去世之后，罗利被关进监狱，因为据说他正密谋反对伊丽莎白的 继任者，新国王詹姆斯。关押罗利的监狱是伦敦塔，就是征服者威廉建造的那座古 老的城堡。在那里罗利被关了长达十三年之久，为打发时间，他写了《世界史》。但 是最后他还是被处死了，就像许多其他大人物悲惨的结局一样。
伊丽莎白女王统治时期，生活着一位伟大的剧作家，也是迄今为止世界上最伟 大的作家。这个人就是威廉 莎士比亚。
莎士比亚的父亲连自己的名字都不会写。莎士比亚本人在学校里也只读了六年书。他小时候相当顽劣，在斯特拉特福他曾到托马斯 卢西爵士的树林里猎鹿而 被抓。
莎士比亚还未成年就结婚了，妻子年纪比他大，名叫安妮 哈瑟维。结婚几年 后，他离开她和他们的三个孩子，离开小镇斯特拉特福，前往大城市伦敦去寻找发 迹的机会。在伦敦一家剧院外面，莎士比亚找到一份工作，替那些来看戏的人照看 马。后来他得到一个在剧场里表演的机会，就做了演员，不过他并没有成为一名很 优秀的演员。
在那个年代，剧场没有舞台布景。人们举起一块牌子说明是什么场景。例如，1 英语"弗吉尼亚"含有"处女"的意思--译者注。
他们举起一块牌子，上面写着"这是森林"，就代替了森林布景，或者牌子上写着 "这是酒馆里的一个房间"，就代替了房间布景。男演员既扮演男人的角色，也扮演 女人的角色。
有人请求莎士比亚改写一些别人写好的剧本，为的是更适合演出。他干得非常 出色；于是他开始自己写剧本。通常他采用古老的故事，把它们改编成剧本，但是 他写的剧作太精彩、太感人了，胜过了他之前和之后的任何剧作。
虽然莎士比亚 13 岁就离开了学校，但是他好像对世界上各种各样的事物都很 了解。从他的剧本里可以看出他了解历史、法律和医学。莎士比亚最著名的剧本有《哈姆雷特》、《威尼斯商人》、《罗密欧与朱丽叶》和《尤里乌斯 恺撒》。 在那个时期莎士比亚挣了很多钱--几乎是一大笔财富。然后他离开了伦敦回到他出生的小镇斯特拉特福居住，直到去世，最后安葬在一个乡村教堂里。人们想 把他的遗体移到一个更宽阔、更气派的地方，移到伦敦的一座著名的教堂。但是有 人，也许是莎士比亚本人，早就写了一首诗，刻在他的墓碑上。这首诗的最后一行 是"移我尸骸者，必遭诅咒"；所以他的尸骸未被移走，因为没有人敢这么做。
