A Child's History of England.24

Besides all these troubles, William the Conqueror was troubled by quarrels among his sons. He had three living. Robert, called Curthose [curt-hose], because of his short legs; William, called Rufus or the Red, from the colour of his hair; and Henry, fond of learning, and called, in the Norman language, Beauclerc, or Fine-Scholar. When Robert grew up, he asked of his father the government of Normandy, which he had nominally possessed, as a child, under his mother, Matilda. The King refusing to grant it, Robert became jealous and discontented; and happening one day, while in this temper, to be ridiculed by his brothers, who threw water on him from a balcony as he was walking before the door, he drew his sword, rushed up-stairs, and was only prevented by the King himself from putting them to death. That same night, he hotly departed with some followers from his father's court, and endeavoured to take the Castle of Rouen by surprise. Failing in this, he shut himself up in another Castle in Normandy, which the King besieged, and where Robert one day unhorsed and nearly killed him without knowing who he was. His submission when he discovered his father, and the intercession [intercede, 求情] of the queen and others, reconciled them; but not soundly [sound: thorough]; for [because] Robert soon strayed abroad, and went from court to court with his complaints. He was a gay [careless; thoughtless], careless, thoughtless [狄大人是为了凑字数吗？] fellow, spending all he got on musicians and dancers; but his mother loved him, and often, against the King's command, supplied him with money through a messenger named Samson. At length the incensed King swore he would tear out Samson's eyes; and Samson, thinking that his only hope of safety was in becoming a monk, became one, went on such errands no more, and kept his eyes in his head.

六级/考研单词: besides, conquer, quarrel, fond, nominal, jealous, temper, ridicule, balcony, sword, haste, depart, endeavor, besiege, reconcile, stray, gay, fellow, seldom, errand

All this time, from the turbulent day of his strange coronation, the Conqueror had been struggling, you see, at any cost of cruelty and bloodshed, to maintain what he had seized. All his reign, he struggled still, with the same object ever before him. He was a stern, bold man, and he succeeded in it.

六级/考研单词: turbulent, conquer, struggle, reign, stern, bold

still我不确定啥意思。查字典；
1. up to a particular point in time and continuing at that moment; 仍然; 依旧; 还是 Amy, why are you still there?
2. even so; 尽管那样 Rachel didn't do much work, but she still passed the exam.
1的意思是：William是个倔人，他就一直那么干了。2的意思是：虽然儿子们很闹心，但他没有一气之下不管事了，比如天天打野和喝酒。
ever after - for all time after sth. 所以object ever before him应该是他永远达不到的目标。

He loved money, and was particular [fussy, picky] in his eating, but he had only leisure to indulge one other passion, and that was his love of hunting. He carried it to such a height that he ordered whole villages and towns to be swept away to make forests for the deer. Not satisfied with sixty-eight Royal Forests, he laid waste an immense district, to form another in Hampshire, called the New Forest. The many thousands of miserable peasants who saw their little houses pulled down, and themselves and children turned [make/let go out] into [两个介词连用在英语里很常见，见钱歌川的《英文疑难详解》] the open country without a shelter, detested him for his merciless addition to their many sufferings; and when, in the twenty-first year of his reign (which proved to be the last), he went over to Rouen, England was as full of hatred against him, as if every leaf on every tree in all his Royal Forests had been a curse upon his head. In the New Forest, his son Richard (for he had four sons) had been gored to death by a Stag; and the people said that this so cruelly-made Forest would yet be fatal to others of the Conqueror's race.

六级/考研单词: indulge, hunt, immense, wretched, peasant, shelter, mercy, reign, curse, fatal, conquer

He was engaged in a dispute with the King of France about some territory. While he stayed at Rouen, negotiating with that King, he kept his bed [ keep one's bed (古) - stay in bed because of illness] and took medicines: being advised by his physicians to do so, on account of having grown to an unwieldy size. Word being brought to him that the King of France made light of [joke about sth or treat it as not being very serious; levity] this, and joked about it, he swore in a great rage that he [the King of France] should rue [regret] his jests. He assembled his army, marched into the disputed territory, burnt - his old way! - the vines, the crops, and fruit, and set the town of Mantes on fire. But, in an evil hour; for, as he rode over the hot ruins, his horse, setting his hoofs upon some burning embers, started, threw him forward against the pommel of the saddle, and gave him a mortal hurt. For six weeks he lay dying in a monastery near Rouen, and then made his will [遗嘱], giving England to William, Normandy to Robert, and five thousand pounds to Henry. And now, his violent deeds lay heavy on his mind. He ordered money to be given to many English churches and monasteries, and - which was much better repentance - released his prisoners of state, some of whom had been confined in his dungeons twenty years.

六级/考研单词: engage, territory, medicare, advice, physician, rage, assemble, march, wicked, ruin, saddle, mortal, deed, confine