By David Cameron

Shakespeare Lives

This years 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare is not just an opportunity to commemorate one of the greatest playwrights of all time.1 It is a moment to celebrate the extraordinary ongoing influence of a man who—to borrow from his own description of Julius Caesar—“doth bestride the narrow world like a Colossus.”2

Shakespeares legacy is without parallel：3 his works translated into over 100 languages and studied by half the worlds schoolchildren. As one of his contemporaries， Ben Jonson， said： “Shakespeare is not of an age， but for all time.”4 He lives today in our language， our culture and society—and through his enduring5 influence on education.

Shakespeare played a critical6 role in shaping modern English and helping to make it the worlds language. The first major dictionary compiled by Samuel Johnson drew on Shakespeare more than any other writer.7 Three thousand new words and phrases all first appeared in print in Shakespeares plays. I remember from my own childhood how many of them are found for the first time in Henry V 8. Words like dishearten， divest， addiction， motionless， leapfrog—and phrases like “once more unto the breach”， “band of brothers” and “heart of gold”—have all passed into our language today with no need to reference their original context.9 Shakespeare also pioneered innovative use of grammatical form and structure—including verse without rhymes， superlatives and the connecting of existing words to make new words， like bloodstained—while the pre-eminence of his plays also did much to standardise spelling and grammar.10

But Shakespeares influence is felt far beyond our language. His words， his plots11 and his characters continue to inspire much of our culture and wider society. Nelson Mandela， while a prisoner on Robben Island， cherished a quote from Julius Caesar which said “Cowards die many times before their death， the valiant never taste of death but once.”12 While Kate Tempests poem “My Shakespeare” captures the eternal presence of Shakespeare when she wrote that Shakespeare13 “…is in every lover who ever stood alone beneath a window… every jealous whispered word and every ghost that will not rest.” Shakespeares influence is everywhere， from Dickens and Goethe to Tchaikovsky， Verdi and Brahms； from West Side Story to the Hamlet-inspired title of Agatha Christies The Mousetrap—the longest-running theatre production in Londons West End today.14 While his original plays continue to entertain millions—from school halls across the world to the overnight queues as hundreds scrambled for last minute tickets to see Benedict Cumberbatch playing Hamlet at Londons Barbican last year.15

But perhaps one of the most exciting legacies of Shakespeare is his capacity to educate. As we see from the outreach work of the Royal Shakespeare Company and Shakespeares Globe and the impact of pioneering British charities like the Shakespeare Schools Festival， studying and performing Shakespeare can help improve literacy， confidence and wider educational attainment.16

Beyond the great gift of language， the bringing to life of our history， his ongoing influence on our culture and his ability to educate， there is just the immense17 power of Shakespeare to inspire. From the most famous love story to the greatest tragedy； from the most powerful fantasy to the wittiest comedy； and from the most memorable speeches to his many legendary characters， in William Shakespeare we have one man， whose vast imagination， boundless creativity and instinct for humanity encompasses the whole of the human experience as no one has before or since.18

1. anniversary： 周年纪念日；commemorate： 纪念；playwright： 剧作家。

2. 这也是向他永存于世的影响力致敬的时刻。莎士比亚的存在，借用他对尤利乌斯·恺撒的描述，“像巨人一样横跨在这狭窄的世界上”。 extraordinary： 非凡的，卓越的；ongoing： 持续存在的；Julius Caesar： 尤利乌斯·恺撒，即恺撒大帝，罗马帝国的奠基者，该句中引用的话出自莎士比亚戏剧作品《尤利乌斯·恺撒》；doth： does的旧时写法；bestride： 跨坐；Colossus： 巨人。

3. legacy： 遗产；without parallel： 无与伦比的。

4. 与他同时代的剧作家本·琼森曾说道：“莎士比亚超越了时代，并将永世不朽。”contemporary： 同时代的人；Ben Jonson： 本·琼森（1572—1637），英格兰文艺复兴时期剧作家、诗人，代表作有《福尔蓬奈》（Volpone）和《炼金士》（The Alchemist）。

5. enduring： 持久的。

6. critical： 极重要的。

7. compile： 编纂；Samuel Johnson： 塞缪尔·约翰逊（1709—1784），英国作家、文学评论家和诗人，1755年编成《英语大辞典》，是美国韦氏大词典问世前最具权威性的英文词典；draw on： 吸收。

8. Henry V： 《亨利五世》，莎士比亚基于英格兰国王亨利五世的生平，于1599年创作的著名历史剧。

9. 像dishearten、divest、addiction、motionless、leap-frog这些词，和once more unto the breach、band of brothers、heart of gold这些短语都沿用至今，成为了大家无需参考语境即认识的词汇。dishearten： 使沮丧；divest： 剥夺；addiction： 上瘾；motionless： 静止不动的；leapfrog： 跃过；once more unto the breach： 共赴战场，breach指“突破口，缺口”；band of brothers： 兄弟连；heart of gold： 善良的心；reference： 参考，查阅；context： 语境。

10. pioneer： 倡导，当开拓者；verse： 诗；rhyme： 押韵； superlative：（形容词或副词的）最高级；bloodstained： 血污的；pre-eminence： 卓越； standardise： 使标准化。

11. plot： 故事情节。

12. 纳尔逊·曼德拉在罗本岛服刑时常以《尤利乌斯·恺撒》中的话激励自己：“懦夫一生死多次，勇者一生死一回”。Nelson Mandela： 纳尔逊·曼德拉，于1994年至1999年间任南非总统，是首位黑人总统，被尊称为“南非国父”；Robben Island： 罗本岛，曾为监狱关押犯人，现为旅游胜地；coward： 懦夫；valiant： 勇士。

13. capture： 逼真地表现，再现；eternal： 不朽的，永恒的。

14. 该句中提到的人物依次为英国作家狄更斯（Dickens）、德国作家歌德（Goethe）、俄罗斯作曲家柴可夫斯基（Tchaikovsky）、意大利作曲家威尔第（Verdi）、德国作曲家勃拉姆斯（Brahms）；提到的作品依次为舞台剧《西区故事》（West Side Story）、《哈姆雷特》（Hamlet）和英国侦探作家阿加莎·克里斯蒂的《捕鼠器》（The Mousetrap）；Londons West End： 伦敦西区，是与纽约百老汇齐名的世界著名戏剧中心。

15. overnight： 夜间的，通宵的；scramble for： 争夺，争抢；Benedict Cumberbatch： 本尼迪克特·康伯巴奇，英国演员，英剧《神探夏洛克》男主角； Barbican： 英国伦敦巴比肯艺术中心，是欧洲最大的表演艺术中心之一。

16. outreach： 外展服务；Royal Shakespeare Company： 皇家莎士比亚剧团，是英国乃至世界最具影响力的剧团之一；Shakespeares Globe： 莎士比亚环球剧院，是英国戏剧艺术的中心，一座专为欣赏、研究莎士比亚及其同时代优秀剧作家的作品的剧场；literacy： 读写能力；attainment： 成就，造诣。

17. immense： 巨大的。

18. fantasy： 想象，幻想；witty： 妙趣横生的；legendary： 享有盛名的；instinct： 本能，直觉；encompass： 包含。