中英双语阅读：英国占领缅甸后，竟然继续向清朝纳贡（难度：中）

British rule in Burma lasted from 1824 to 1948, from the successive three Anglo-Burmese wars through the creation of Burma as a Province of British India to the establishment of an independently administered colony, and finally independence. The region under British control was known as British Burma. Various portions of Burmese territories, including Arakan (Rakhine State) or Tenasserim were annexed by the British after their victory in the First Anglo-Burmese War; Lower Burma was annexed in 1852 after the Second Anglo-Burmese War. The annexed territories were designated the minor province (a chief commissionership) of British India in 1862

英国对缅甸的统治从1824年持续到1948年，从连续三次英缅战争，到设立缅甸为英属印度的一个省，再到建立独立的殖民地，到最后缅甸独立。英国控制下的地区被称为英属缅甸。缅甸领土的不同部分，包括若开邦(Arakan，若开邦)和Tenasserim在第一次英缅战争胜利后被英国吞并;下缅甸在第二次英缅战争后于1852年被英国吞并。被吞并的领土规划成英属印度殖民地的一个下属省份。

Prior to British conquest在被英国征服之前

重点词句：

prior to 在……之前；居先

例句

It is important to enrich the soil prior to planting.

栽种之前给土壤施肥很重要。

缅甸公主

Because of its location, trade routes between China and India passed through the country, keeping Burma wealthy through trade, although self-sufficient agriculture was still the basis of the economy. Indian merchants traveled along the coasts and rivers throughout the regions where the majority of Burmese lived, bringing Indian cultural influences into the country that still exist there today. As Burma had been one of the first Southeast Asian countries to adopt Buddhism on a large scale, it continued under the British as the officially patronised religion of most of the population.

由于其地理位置，中国和印度之间的贸易路线经过缅甸，使缅甸通过贸易致富，尽管自给自足的农业仍是缅甸经济的基础。印度商人沿着海岸和河流等大部分缅甸人居住的地区旅行，把印度文化带到这个国家，这种文化影响至今仍然存在，使得缅甸成为第一个大规模采用佛教的东南亚国家，在英国的统治下，佛教依然是大多数人口的宗教信仰。

重点词句：

self-sufficient

adj. 自给自足的；极为自负的；过于自信的

例句：

The country is totally self-sufficient in food production.

在粮食生产上，这个国家完全做到了自给自足。

Although she had various boyfriends, Madeleine was, and remains, fiercely self-sufficient.

尽管有过各种各样男朋友，马德琳过去和现在一直都非常自立。

Before the British conquest and colonisation, the ruling Konbaung dynasty practiced a tightly centralized form of government. The king was the chief executive with the final say on all matters, but he could not make new laws and could only issue administrative edicts. The country had two codes of law, the Dhammathat and the Hluttaw, the center of government, was divided into three branches—fiscal, executive, and judicial. In theory, the king was in charge of all of the Hluttaw, but none of his orders got put into place until the Hluttaw approved them, thus checking his power. Further dividing the country, provinces were ruled by governors, who were appointed by the Hluttaw, and villages were ruled by hereditary headmen approved by the king.

在英国征服和殖民之前，执政的孔邦王朝实行严格的中央集权政体。国王是对所有事情都有最终决定权的行政长官，但他不能制定新的法律，只能发布行政命令。这个国家有两部法典，Dhammathat和Hluttaw，即政府的中心，被分为三个分支——财政、行政和司法。理论上，国王掌管着所有的Hluttaw，但在Hluttaw批准之前，他的命令都不能执行，从而制约了他的权力。为了进一步划分国家，各省由Hluttaw任命的总督统治，而村庄则由国王批准的世袭首领统治。

重点词句：

final say 最终决定权

例句：

Who has the final say around here?

这里谁有最后决定权？

One or two powers should not have the final say on world affairs.

世界上的事不应该由一两个国家说了算。

Arrival of the British

英国人的到来

Conflict began between Burma and the British when the Konbaung dynasty decided to expand into Arakan in the state of Assam, close to British-held Chittagong in India. This led to the First Anglo-Burmese War (1824–26). The British dispatched a large seaborne expedition that took Rangoon without a fight in 1824. In Danuphyu, south of Ava, Burmese General Maha Bandula was killed and his armies routed. Burma was forced to cede Assam and other northern provinces.The 1826 Treaty of Yandabo formally ended the First Anglo-Burmese War, the longest and the most expensive war in the history of British India. Fifteen thousand European and Indian soldiers died, together with an unknown number of Burmese army and civilian casualties.The campaign cost the British between 5 and 13 million pounds sterling (between 18 and $48 billion in 2020 U.S. dollars) which led to an economic crisis in British India in 1833.

孔邦王朝决定扩张到阿萨姆邦的阿拉干，靠近英国控制的印度吉大港，产生了缅甸和英国之间的冲突。这导致了第一次英缅战争(1824-26年)。1824年，英国派遣了一支大规模的海上远征队，不战而降，占领了仰光。在阿瓦以南的丹柔玉，缅甸将军班杜拉被杀，他的军队溃败。缅甸被迫割让阿萨姆邦和其他北部省份。1826年的Yandabo条约正式结束了第一次英缅战争，这是英属印度历史上持续时间最长、代价最高的战争。高达1万5千名欧洲和印度士兵丧生，缅甸军队和平民的伤亡人数不详。这场运动花费了英国500万到1300万英镑(约合2020年的180亿到480亿美元)，导致了1833年英属印度的经济危机。

In 1852, the Second Anglo-Burmese War was provoked by the British, who sought the teak forests in Lower Burma as well as a port between Calcutta and Singapore. After 25 years of peace, British and Burmese fighting started afresh and continued until the British occupied all of Lower Burma. The British were victorious in this war and as a result obtained access to the teak, oil, and rubies of their newly conquered territories.

1852年，英国人为了寻找下缅甸的柚木森林以及加尔各答和新加坡之间的一个港口，挑起了第二次英缅战争。经过25年的和平，英国和缅甸的战争重新开始，直到英国占领了整个下缅甸。英国在这场战争中取得了胜利，并因此获得了柚木、石油和红宝石的新占领领土。

重点词句：

afresh adv. 重新；再度

例句：

It was a chance to start afresh.

这是个重新开始的机会。

The work will have to be done afresh.

这工作得重新再做了。

In Upper Burma, the still unoccupied part of the country, King Mindon had tried to adjust to the thrust of imperialism. He enacted administrative reforms and made Burma more receptive to foreign interests. But the British initiated the Third Anglo-Burmese War, which lasted less than two weeks during November 1885. The British government justified their actions by claiming that the last independent king of Burma, Thibaw Min, was a tyrant and that he was conspiring to give France more influence in the country. British troops entered Mandalay on 28 November 1885. Thus, after three wars gaining various parts of the country, the British occupied all the area of present-day Myanmar, making the territory a Province of British India on 1 January 1886.

在缅甸仍未被占领的上缅地区，明顿国王曾试图调整自己以适应帝国主义带来的冲击。他实施了行政改革，使缅甸更能接受外国利益。但是英国发动了第三次英缅战争，这场战争在1885年11月持续了不到两周。英国政府宣称，缅甸最后一位独立的国王锡巴敏(Thibaw Min)是一个暴君，他正在密谋让法国在该国拥有更大的影响力。英国军队于1885年11月28日进入曼德勒。因此，经过三次战争，英国占领了缅甸的各个地区，并在1886年1月1日占领了现在的缅甸，使其成为英属印度的一个省。

重点词句：

present-day

adj. 现代的；当今的；现在的；现时的

例句：

Even by present-day standards these were large aircraft.

即使按现今的标准，这些也是大型飞机。

Even by present-day standards these were large aircraft.

即使按现今的标准，这些也是大型飞机。

英属缅甸旗帜

Burmese armed resistance continued sporadically for several years, and the British commander had to coerce the High Court of Justice to continue to function. Though war officially ended after only a couple of weeks, resistance continued in northern Burma until 1890, with the British finally resorting to systematic destruction of villages and appointment of new officials to finally halt all guerrilla activity.

缅甸的武装抵抗断断续续地持续了好几年，英国指挥官不得不强迫高等法院继续保持运转。虽然战争仅在几周后就正式结束了，但缅甸北部的抵抗活动一直持续到1890年，英国最终采取了有计划地破坏村庄和任命新官员的方式，平息了一切游击活动。

Traditional Burmese society was drastically altered by the demise of the monarchy and the separation of religion and state. Intermarriage between Europeans and Burmese gave birth to an indigenous Eurasian community known as the Anglo-Burmese who would come to dominate the colonial society, hovering above the Burmese but below the British.

君主制的消亡和政教分离极大地改变了缅甸的传统社会。欧洲人和缅甸人之间的通婚孕育了一个土生土长的英缅混血群体，也就是盎格鲁-缅人。盎格鲁-缅人后来主宰了殖民地社会，居于缅甸人之上，但居于英国人之下。

重点词句：

hover over 在…盘旋

例句：

The search bar appears only when you hover over it.

搜索栏只在你鼠标经过它上方时才出现。

Seagulls hover over the surging waves.

海鸥在惊涛骇浪上翱翔。

盎格鲁-缅人

After Britain took over all of Burma, they continued to send tribute to China to avoid offending them, but this unknowingly lowered the status they held in Chinese minds. It was agreed at the Burma convention in 1886 that China would recognise Britain's occupation of Upper Burma while Britain continued the Burmese payment of tribute every ten years to Peking.

在英国接管了整个缅甸之后，他们继续向清国进贡以避免冒犯清国，但这不知不觉地降低了他们在清国人心目中的地位。在1886年的缅甸公约中，其；清国同意承认英国对上缅甸的占领，同时英国继续缅甸每十年向清朝进贡一次。

重点词句：

unknowingly

adv. 不知不觉地

例句：

She had unknowingly broken the rules.

她无意中犯了规。

The firm says it unknowingly published incorrect statistics.

这家公司说它不知情地出版了错误的数据。