Margaret Thatcher

Age 10, I was the proud winner of a prize at the Grantham Eisteddfod for reciting Poetry. In the first years of the war I would go out as part of a concert party to the surrounding villages, and recite from my Oxford Book of English Verse. A book which even now, is never far from reach. Methodism itself, of course, has in the form of the Wesley hymns, some really fine religious poetry. It was, I confess, the musical side of Methodism which I liked best. Our church had an exceptionally good choir. Every other year we would perform an oratorio: Handel ’s Messiah, Haydn’s Creation or Mendelssohn’s Elijah. We were a musical family. From the age of five my parents had me learn the piano. My mother played too. Sadly, at sixteen, I found it necessary to stop music lessons when I was cramming for my university entrance. And I still regret that I never took up the piano again.
Perhaps the biggest excitement of my early years was a visit to London when I was twelve years old. I came down by train in the charge of a friend of my mother’s. Arriving at Kings’ cross where I was met by Reverend Skinner and his wife, family friends, who were going to look after me. The first impact of London was overwhelming. Kings’ Cross itself was a giant bustling cavern. The rest of the city had all the dazzle of a commercial and imperial capital. For the first time in my life I saw people from foreign countries. Some in the traditional native dress of India and Africa. The sheer volume of traffic and of pedestrians was exhilarating. They seemed to generate a sort of electricity. London’s buildings were impressive for another reason; begrimed with soot, they had a dark imposing magnificence which constantly reminded me that I was at the center of the world. I was taken by the Skinner’s to all the usual sites. I fed the pigeons in Trafalgar Square. I rode the Underground, a slightly forbidding experience for a child. I visited the zoo where I rode on an elephant and recoiled from the reptiles: an early portent of my relations with Fleet street. And I went to look at Downing Street. But unlike the young Harold Wilson, I did not have the prescience to have my photograph taken outside No. 10.

Grantham Eisteddfod：Grantham(格兰萨姆)是英格兰的一个小镇，撒切尔夫人在那里长大，并在那里读初级学校：
Eisteddfod（艾斯特得福特）是一项传统的竞赛，主要内容有威尔士民族舞蹈歌咏和表演。
Verse 诗歌  hymn 圣歌，赞美诗  choir 唱诗班  

oratorio名词 圣乐(歌曲)；(以基督教《圣经》故事为主题的)清唱剧。
cram 塞满，填满
Overwhelming 压倒优势的，这里指极为深刻的    bustling：喧闹的，繁忙的 
pedestrian 步行者，徒步旅行者。

exhilarating 使人高兴的，令人振奋的   portent：预兆
Prescience 预感

10岁时，我已是格兰萨姆艾斯特得福特朗诵大赛获奖者中的佼佼者。第一次世界大战头一年，我随歌舞表演会到周围各村庄去朗诵牛津课本中的英语诗歌。即使是现在，那本书也并非遥不可及。诗文本身是韦斯利圣诗形式。其中有优美的宗教诗。我得承认，诗文中我最喜欢的是它的音乐性。我们教堂有个很棒的唱诗班。每隔一年在教堂大厅演出一场清唱剧：有亨德尔的《弥赛亚》、海顿的《创造》、门德尔松的《以利亚》。我们是音乐世家，五岁父母让我学钢琴。我母亲也会弹琴。令人伤心的是十六岁时，我不得不停了音乐课而为升大学忙碌地准备功课。可我依然为后来没有继续练琴遗憾不已。
也许早年我最感兴奋的事是我12岁时的那次伦敦之行。当时母亲的一个朋友带我乘火车去的。到达国王十字街时，史金尼夫妇前来接我，他们是我家的朋友，随后一直照顾我。伦敦给我的第一印象是不可磨灭的。国王十字街是一个巨大繁忙的闹市。城市四处充满着商业和帝国首都的气氛，让人眼花缭乱。这是我平生第一次看见来自异国他乡的人们。有一些还穿着印度和非洲的传统的民族服装。街上车水马龙和熙熙攘攘的行人就像产生电流一样，令人振奋。伦敦的建筑出于另一种原因给人深刻的印象，烟熏灰暗的外表赋予的壮丽辉煌不断地提醒我，我站在世界的中心。史金尼夫妇带着我游览了所有景点。我在特拉法尔加广场喂鸽子。我搭乘地铁，这对一个孩子而言是挺可怕的经历。我参观了动物园，我骑着大象，遇到爬虫胆怯地后退：这是我和舰队街的一点关系的早期预兆。我还去了唐宁街，但不象小哈洛德•威尔逊，我没在10号门外拍照留念，我没有那种预感。

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