British Vision- Issue 6 威廉王子投笔从戎

本期难点
1. ironing: 这个词不难，熨衣服。在这里是说Wills以后不能搞特殊了，衣服也得自个熨了。
2. cotton wool: cotton made absorbent by chemically freeing it from its fatty matter 药棉。
3. wrap someone up in cotton wool (British & Australian): to protect someone too much without allowing them to be independent enough.

His last precious moments of freedom. Arriving back at Heathrow with his girlfriend Kate after a skiing-trip, three days before starting Sandhurst where for the first 5 weeks he will have no contact with the outside world.

William who passed a four-day assessment 1 last year faces a tough physical challenge when he starts at the military academy.

There'll be a lot of this, but also dorm starts, long tracks and doing your own ironing, Harry 2's proof of the transmission from a lazy civilian 3 to a disciplined army man, and William's already made it clear he would want to see action on the front line.

Price William: "The last thing I want to do will, is be mollycoddled 4 or wrapped up in cotton wool, cause if I was to join the army, I'd want to go where my men went, and I 'd want to do what they did. Um, I would not want to be, you know, kept back for, sort of, being precious or whatever. It's the last thing I want.

That's a view shared by Harry, but the pair are very different. Harry was considered a weak student, but he's( has) nonetheless thrived here at Sandhurst. William is less outgoing, more thoughtful, but one day he will be head of the arm forces. And this represents his first major decision taken primarily for duty.

After Eton and a gap year, William went to St Andrew's University. He is 23 now, and will see the army as just one of his career choices.

After Eton and a 2-year gap, Harry joined Sandhurst aged 5 20, providing some structure in his life.

Prince William and Prince Harry will probably not meet a great deal at Sandhurst. It's an enormous campus. And indeed they will be in different colleges, and because they are at different stages of military training, although they will try to meet, because I'd rather say they'd like to meet out. They won't have the chance as regularly as you might think. But I dare say Prince William will have benefited from getting a bit of advice from his younger brother on what he should do and what he shouldn't do, and especially what he should pack.

And it is needed, after all their father, uncle and grandfather were all navy men, Harry was the first to break ranks.

Prince Harry: You are now in the army, sort yourself, sort your life out. As many, I think, as many pointed 6 out that as a university student he's coming after, you know, a few lazy years in university like everybody is.

Lazy or not, as a graduate, William will quickly overtake his brother in rank when he passes out. But for the moment, Harry will be enjoying the rare situation of being senior to his older sibling 7.

Catherine Vichy, Sky News.