中英雙語話史記 第98期:王安石變法

Song Dynasty

宋朝

Reform Instituted by Wang Anshi as Prime Minister

北宋王安石變法

The Northern Song Dynasty suffered poverty as well as weakness.

北宋既貧窮又軟弱。

The redundancy of officials and soldiers, and extravagant expenditure resulted in a severe financial crisis.

過多的官員和士兵以及過度的消費導致了嚴重的經濟危機。

Ever since the early years of the Song Dynasty, peasant uprisings had increased and the royal government faced political crisis.

就算是在宋朝的早期也出現了不斷的農民起義，政府面臨着政治危機。

Although it maintained a large army, they Northern Song Dynasty had struggled in misery and crises, never having a strong national power.

儘管北宋掌握着一個龐大的軍隊，它卻輸掉了和遼國還有西夏的每一場戰爭。從未有過強大的國力。

A sense of misery impelled many reformers of political foresight to initiate reform and seek the way to build a prosperous country with efficient military forces.

國家的不幸促使一些有政治遠見的改革家開始改革並尋求利用有效的軍事力量建立一個繁榮的國家的途徑。

In 1069, Song Shenzong, Emperor who was eager to find the way of governing the country, appointed Wong Anshi, vice prime minister, to carry out reform.

1069年，宋神宗作爲一個想要找到統治國家方法的帝王，命副丞相王安石實行變法。

The reform was pursued mainly in financial and military areas.

變法主要集中於經濟和軍事領域。

The chief content and purpose of Wang Anshi's political reform lay in bringing about national prosperity and powerful military forces.

王安石變法的主要內容和目的在於帶來國家繁榮和有力的軍事武裝。

He restrained himself from putting forward such crucial proposals as reducing the number of redundant officials, cutting down redundant expenditure and controlling annexation of land.

他剋制自己不要提出一些重要的決策例如裁減官員、削減開銷以及控制土地兼併。

His reform achieved remarkable success in the increase of national revenue, the construction of water conservancy works, and the improvement of combat effectiveness.

他的變法取得了很大的成效，國民收入得以上升、水利工程得到建設、戰鬥的效力不也斷髮展。

In spite of this, the old liners were still strongly opposed to the reform, throwing obstacles in its way.

儘管如此，遵循守舊的人仍然強烈反對變法，爲變法增加了難度。

After Song Shenzong's death, the conservatives came to power, and the reform ended in failure.

宋神宗死後，反對者佔了上風，變法以失敗告終。