On a cold January morning in 1936, George V was given a king’s burial. Following his coffin was his eldest son, the handsome, much loved, Prince of Wales. He was about to be proclaimed the next king of England. He was that exceptional thing: a model royal. He was at ease in every company. Everyone expected him to shake the stuffiness out of the monarchy. But as time passed, as he span between the royal duties, people began to remark that the prince was approaching 40 and still unmarried. Only a privileged few knew that he’d been stepping out with the mysterious American, a woman who was cheating on her husband with the future king of England. This was the lady known as Wallis Simpson, whom he was determined to marry.
So now he was king, but no one could persuade him to give up Wallis. Not even Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin who spoke for the nation when he said Britain did not want an American divorcee for a queen. Ministerial car shuttled between Westminster and Buckingham Palace but the king could not be budged. He was forced to abdicate and all over the country flags flew at half-mast.
In the summer of 1937 there was a quiet wedding in France. The couple looked a bit nervous, especially the groom, but only a year before he’d been a king. Now he and his wife would be called the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.
So now the man who’d given up a kingdom and a woman who’d given up two husbands embarked on their endless round of fun and gaiety. In the war years they’d been trapped in the Bahamas, but emerged every now and then to attend the great cultural festivals where they startled the locals with the brilliance of their attire. But the man who’d been a king found he was now only a celebrity. There were even rumors that he and the duchess were breaking up so they had to parade their devotion for the cameras.
Four years later it was the nation’s turn to mourn the Duke and to reflect on one man’s decision to trade the crown of England for the love of Wallis and the price they had both had to pay.
1936 年1月一天寒冷的早晨，英国王室为乔治五世举行国葬。跟在他灵柩之后的是他的长子——英俊而深受爱戴的威尔士王子。他将被宣布成为英国的新国王。他是个模范的皇室成员，卓尔不群又平易近人。人人都期望着他会一改王室拘谨沉闷的形象。但时之以日，在他履行王室职责的同时，人们开始注意到王子已年近四十却仍然形只影单。只有少数几人有幸得知他一直在和一位神秘的美国女子约会，她瞒着丈夫和未来的英国国王来往。这位女士就是沃丽斯·辛普森，是王子决意要娶的人。
等他成为国王后，没人能说服他放弃沃丽斯。连首相斯坦利·巴尔德温也不行——他代表国家说英国不想让一个离过婚的美国人成为王后。大臣们的汽车在威斯敏斯特教堂和白金汉宫之间穿梭往返，但国王丝毫不为所动。他被迫让位，为此举国降下半旗。
1937年夏天，他们静静地在法国举行了一个婚礼。两人看起来有点紧张，尤其是新郎，一年之前他还是个国王。现在他和妻子被称为温莎公爵伉俪。
放弃了江山的他和曾经两度离婚的她开始去尽情地享乐。战争时代他们被困在巴哈马群岛，但偶尔会出席一些盛大的文化节庆，他们的华衣美服让当地人惊叹不已。不过曾为国君的他发现自己现在只是个名人。甚至有传言说他和公爵夫人将要离异，于是他们不得不在镜头前表现恩爱一面。
四年后，全国哀悼公爵的逝世并深思他的决择——他为了对沃丽斯的爱情放弃了英国王位，他们两人都为此付出了代价。
Colin Powell Sing a Song鲍威尔一展歌喉，唱功“技惊四座”
Colin Powell has a hard time letting go of work, even when he’s forced to play and sing.
Since taking office last year, the ever dignified Secretary of State has learned that karaoke is a great leveler in the Asia-Pacific, where tradition requires he and other foreign ministers to individually perform a skit-and-song in front of their peers at the end of the region’s largest security meeting.
The skit opened with Powell chairing a meeting, looking completely at home as he took advice from staffers. “Don’t do it,” pleaded one. “No rolling on the floor this time,” admonished another.
Then, the American president appeared on a huge backdrop video screen with advice for his chief diplomat. “Practice this time,” said President Bush.
Powell and staff then rose and labored with gusto through the old “South Pacific” standard “Some Enchanted Evening”—with lyrics bent to the arcana of Southeast Asian foreign relations.
Loud applause followed. The diplomatic audience agree—diplomatically, and on background—that Powell was “really good.”
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov also found favor, making a trip five centuries into the future and returning as a robot, singing “We Are the World.”
Finally, all the ministers lined up to massacre an Abba tune, “I Have a Dream.”
“We will be together. It’s not a fairy tale,” they sang. “We will see the future. We will never fail.”
Early reviews were positive.
“Great fun,” declared Philippine special envoy Domingo Siazon.
“The Americans were hilarious, the Russians innovative. Powell singing was good,” said Syed Hamid Albar, Malaysia’s foreign minister. “It was a good break after all this talk on terrorism.”
美国国务卿鲍威尔平日一向是个“工作狂”，即便是放松一下的时候，比如唱歌，也是出于工作的需要。
这位一向不苟言笑的国务卿先生自去年上任以来已经认识到卡拉OK在亚太地区外交中起着举足轻重的平衡作用。这种情况下，鲍威尔和其他各国外长在亚太地区最大的安全会议结束之时，都不得不在同僚们的面前表演上一段。
在由鲍威尔主持的亚太安全会议上，外长们的“表演”开始了。鲍威尔神态自若，不过他的随行人员却不停地在劝告他，其中一个人请求他说：“不要这么做”；另一个人劝诫他道：“这次不要唱歌了，因为看上去显得很滑稽。”
这时，美国总统布什出现在了会堂的巨型背景屏幕上。布什向他的这位首席外交官建议道：“这次你就大胆去做吧。”
接着，鲍威尔和其工作人员起立，满怀热情地缓缓唱起了那首古老的经典南太平洋歌曲“迷人的夜晚”，其歌词暗指了东南亚地区微妙的外交关系。
随后响起了热烈的掌声。这些外交官听众承认（有的是出于礼貌，有的是真的这样认为）鲍威尔唱得非常好。
俄罗斯外长伊万诺夫也从中得到了乐趣。他表演的是，到500年后的未来去旅行，回来的时候变成了机器人，嘴里唱着那首《天下一家》（ “We Are the World”）。
最后，各国外长排着队唱起了著名瑞典演唱组合ABBA的歌《我有一个梦》（ “I Have a Dream”）。
不过他们的唱功实在令人不敢恭维，简直对不起这首经典老歌。
演出结束后，大家的反应还不错。
菲律宾特使多明戈·西亚松声称，表演“太有意思”了。
“美国代表的表演非常热闹，俄罗斯的节目非常有创意。鲍威尔的演唱非常好，”马来西亚外长赛义德·米德·阿尔巴表示：“在讨论恐怖主义问题后，能够看到这样的表演是一种很好的休息。”
About the Fields—Maradona球场内外的马拉多纳
“We” could not win the World Cup, since no British team had even qualified for the finals in the USA. So the British media decided to restage the glorious Falklands War instead, with the Argentinian captain Diego Maradona cast in the role of the headlines.