Today, the door swings shut on the Elizabethan era

伊丽莎白时代之门，今日关闭

For two minutes today the drumming will cease, the pipers will fall silent, the march of boots on procession routes will still.

今天，有两分钟的时间，鼓声将停止，风笛将沉寂，葬礼路线上的仪仗队也将停下脚步。

For two minutes today, at the end of the funeral service in Westminster Abbey, before the national anthem is heard, before the coffin is taken away for committal and burial at Windsor, there will be silence.

威斯敏斯特教堂的葬礼结束前，在国歌响起之前，在灵柩送往温莎城堡安葬之前，将有两分钟的默哀。

And a door will swing shut.

之后，一扇门将猛然合上。

A reign of seven decades will come to a close. For 10 rather bewildering days we have spoken of the Queen and the new king as if they could somehow both be with us.

70年的统治，即将告一段落。在这令人困惑的10天里，我们一直在谈论女王和新国王，仿佛他们二人都能与我们同在。

Today that long week of transition comes to an end.

今天，这一周漫长的过渡即将结束。

In the earliest years of her reign, a new Elizabethan Age was proclaimed by some. Such was the excitement over the young queen, the marvels of technology and the new prosperity, after the grinding grey of the depression years, the sacrifice of World War Two and the hard road of recovery after it.

在她统治的最初几年，曾有人宣告，一个新的伊丽莎白时代即将来临。经历了阴暗难熬的萧条岁月，二战的牺牲，和战后艰难的复苏之路之后，人们的兴奋情绪，与年轻的女王有关，也与科技奇迹和新兴繁荣有关。

She - wise in her earliest decades to fickle fashion - dismissed all that talk. But if this was not an age - and who are we to contradict her? - then it was an era, the Elizabethan Era.

年轻的她，凭借着应对浮躁无常的智慧，驳斥了这一说法。但如果这不是一个时代（我们又有什么资格反驳她呢），那也可以说，这是一个年代，伊丽莎白年代。

Over decades of wrenching change, she was constancy, for a largely still-conservative country. That profile on the stamps, that voice at Christmas, that bowed head on Remembrance Sunday.

在经历了几十年的痛苦变革之后，对于一个仍然普遍保守的国家来说，她曾一直都在。她是邮票上的那张侧脸，是圣诞节的那个声音，是在阵亡将士纪念日低下的头。

Today the door swings shut on that.

今天，这扇门关上以后，这些即将不再。

It swings shut too on "Prince" Charles, on his many decades as Prince of Wales.

这扇门，已为查尔斯“王子”而关闭，他身为威尔士亲王的几十年，行将结束。

His staff always bridled at the idea of him as an understudy or apprentice, pointing to his decades of achievement, of carving out a distinct role.

一直以来，他的工作人员总是对他作为候补演员或者作为学徒的身份感到不满。他们指出，几十年来，他也有所成就，也在扮演一个独特的角色。

His challenge, once Royal Mourning is over, is in part to enjoy - and show that he enjoys - the role of monarch.

一旦哀悼期结束，他的部分挑战在于，他要享受，并向大家表明，他的确享受扮演君主这一角色。

His mother understood that part of the job was to rally people - to take people's minds off bills and dull jobs and complaining relatives, to entertain and divert and sometimes delight.

他的母亲明白，这份工作的部分职责是团结民众：把大家的注意力从账单、枯燥的工作和唧唧歪歪的亲戚身上转移开。她需要娱乐大众、转移注意力、时不时给他们带来欢乐。

That he did good work as prince, transforming so many lives for the better, is unquestionable. But often, alongside, the impression given was that things were grim, that there was a lot of cause for complaint. The word "appalling" seemed to come up a lot.

作为王子，他做得很好，改善了很多人的生活，这毋庸置疑。但与此同时，他经常会让人觉得，境况不妙，有很多事情值得抱怨。“骇人听闻”这个词似乎经常与他联系在一起。

Now the door swings shut on that. Britons want to see the best of themselves reflected in their sovereign.

随着这扇门的关闭，这一状况也将结束。英国人希望，他们的君主能体现自身最好的一面。

And, as the silence stretches out across Westminster, across the capital and the country, the door swings shut on Elizabeth, on the woman known to so many and never really known at all, on the little girl known to her grandpa as Lilibet.

随着威斯敏斯特大教堂的寂静蔓延至整个首都、乃至整个国家时，这扇门将为伊丽莎白而合上。这个大家都如此熟悉，但却谈不上真正了解的人，这个被她爷爷称为“莉莉白”的小女孩，将与世界告别。

In The Unseen Queen, the BBC's beautiful documentary of family-filmed footage of the young princess, Lilibet prances and dances, pranks and laughs. Her eyes shine with laughter. And they shine with love, for her father, the king who would die so early, and her husband Prince Philip, who would be by her side for so long.

基于皇室家庭录影资料，BBC制作了一部优美的纪录片，《看不见的女王》。在其中，年轻的莉莉白公主昂首阔步、翩翩起舞，时而打闹，时而大笑。她的双眼因欢笑而闪耀，也散发着爱的光芒。其中，你能看到她对父亲的爱，彼时她尚不知道这位国王将英年早逝；其中，也有对丈夫菲利普亲王的爱，在他们漫长的余生中，他会一直伴她左右。

Over the decades that prancing, dancing, loving girl and young woman was by necessity put out of sight. This past week have come reminders from friends and confidantes, and those members of the public she let into the secret, that Lilibet was always there.

在过去几十年里，出于必要，那个欢腾着、跳着舞的可爱女孩和年轻女人，消失在了人们的视线之外。在过去的一周里，她的朋友、知己、以及那些她曾分享过秘密的普通人都提醒我们，莉莉白公主一直都在。

She introduced the documentary.

她为纪录片做了开场。

"You always hope that future generations will find them interesting," she said of the family films, "and perhaps be surprised that you too were young once".

在谈到家庭影像时，她说：“你总是希望，后世会觉得这些影像是有趣的。也许他们会惊讶，她也曾经年轻过。”

No-one should be too surprised. Because in her final months, that youthful Elizabeth, that Lilibet, returned to public view with that playful gleam in her eye, drawing a marmalade sandwich from her handbag.

我们不必太过惊讶。因为在她生命的最后几个月里，那个年轻的伊丽莎白，那个莉莉白，曾带着俏皮的眼神回到了公众的视野，从手提包里掏出了一个果酱三明治。

The handbag is closed. The gleam is now a memory. And today the door swings shut.

现在，这个手提包合上了。她眼里的光芒也已成追忆。今天，一扇门永远地关上了。