Only once in your life， I truly believe， you find someone who can completely turn your world around.... Your only hope and security is in knowing that they are a part of your life.

—Bob Marley

Do you believe in true love? Do you believe in love at first sight? Do you believe in love lasting forever? Perhaps the true love stories below will make you believe in love.

你相信真愛嗎？你相信一見鐘情嗎？你相信永恒的愛嗎？也許以下這些真實(shí)的愛情故事會讓你相信愛情。

Antony1) and Cleopatra2)

The love story of Antony and Cleopatra is one of the most memorable， intriguing3) and moving of all times. The story was later dramatized by William Shakespeare， and is still staged all over the world. Antony and Cleopatra fell in love at first sight. The relationship between these two powerful people put Egypt in a powerful position. But their love affair outraged4) the Romans who were wary5) of the growing powers of the Egyptians. Despite all the threats， Anthony and Cleopatra got married. However， the Roman general Octavian6) destroyed their combined forces a few years later. Hearing a 1 report that Cleopatra was dead， Antony was shattered7) and fell on his sword. When Cleopatra learned about Antony's death， she took her own life.

Shah Jahan8) and Mumtaz Mahal

When they first met in Agra， Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal were only 16 and 15 years old. They got married a few years later， in 1612， Mahal being Jahan's third and favorite wife. But in 1631， Mumtaz Mahal died while giving birth to her 14th child. Shattered， Shah Jahan decided to build the Taj Mahal9) in the memory of his beautiful wife as a symbol of their eternal love. Yet Shah Jahan was never able to complete a black marble mausoleum10) he planned for himself. Deposed11) by his son， Shah Jahan was imprisoned in the Red Fort of Agra12)， and spent lonely hours staring across the Jamuna River at the monument to his beloved queen. Eventually， he was buried beside her in the Taj Mahal.

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert

Victoria was a lively， cheerful girl， fond of drawing and painting. She ascended the throne of England in 1837 after the death of her uncle， King William IV. In 1840， she married her first cousin， Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Victoria loved her husband deeply. She relied on his advice in matters of state， especially in diplomacy. When Albert died in 1861， Victoria was devastated. She did not appear in public for three years. Her extended seclusion13) generated considerable public criticism. However， under the influence of Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli， Victoria resumed public life， opening Parliament in 1866. But Victoria never stopped mourning her beloved prince， wearing black until her death in 1901. During her reign， the longest in English history， Britain became a world power on which \"the sun never set\".

Robert and Elizabeth Browning

Elizabeth Barrett Browning and her husband， Robert Browning， led lives suited for leading Romantic poets. Their story contains all the elements—a secret courtship14)， elopement15)， love poems， and the beautiful Italian landscape.

Writing poetry as a child， Elizabeth published a book， Poems， in 1844. The work impressed Browning， a poet himself， and he began a correspondence16). The two later met and fell in love. Opposition from Elizabeth's father forced them to elope in 1846. They later fled to Italy， where they lived and worked for 15 years. Much of their work was inspired by their own long romance， including Elizabeth's Sonnets from the Portuguese. After Elizabeth's death in 1861， Browning returned to England where he continued to write until his own death in 1889.

Marie and Pierre Curie

Unable to continue her studies in Poland because universities did not admit women， Marie Curie traveled to Paris in 1891 to attend the Sorbonne. She spent every spare hour reading in the library or in the laboratory. The industrious17) student caught the eye of Pierre Curie， director of one of the laboratories where Marie worked. Pierre ardently18) wooed19) Marie and made several marriage proposals. They were finally married in 1895 and began their famous partnership. The couple discovered polonium and radium in 1898， and then won a Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903 for discovering radioactivity.

When Pierre died in 1906， Marie was devastated. She noted that， as of20) that moment she suddenly had become \"an incurably and wretchedly lonely person\". Later Marie took Pierre's place at the Sorbonne， becoming the school's first female professor. In her exhausting work regime she sought a meaning for her life. In 1911， Marie became the first person to win a second Nobel Prize. She continued to experiment and lecture until her death of aplastic anemia21) in 1934， driven by the memory of the man she loved.

安東尼和克婁巴特拉

安東尼和克婁巴特拉的愛情故事是史上最令人難忘、最讓人著迷、最打動人心的愛情故事之一。他們的故事后來被威廉·莎士比亞寫成劇本，現(xiàn)在仍在世界各地的舞臺上演。安東尼和克婁巴特拉一見鐘情。這兩位手握重權(quán)的大人物間的親密關(guān)系使埃及成為勢力強(qiáng)大的國家?？墒牵麄兊膽偾榧づ四切┪职＜暗膭萘υ絹碓綇?qiáng)的羅馬人。盡管有種種威脅，安東尼和克婁巴特拉還是結(jié)為了夫妻。但幾年以后，羅馬將軍屋大維擊潰了他們的聯(lián)軍。當(dāng)安東尼聽到克婁巴特拉已死這一假情報(bào)時(shí)，他傷心欲絕，舉劍自盡。得知安東尼的死訊后，克婁巴特拉也殉情自殺。

沙·賈汗和穆姆塔茲·瑪哈爾

在阿格拉初次邂逅時(shí)，沙·賈汗和穆姆塔茲·瑪哈爾分別才16歲和15歲。幾年后，他們于1612年結(jié)婚了，瑪哈爾成了沙·賈汗的第三個(gè)妻子，也是他最愛的妻子。但在1631年，穆姆塔茲·瑪哈爾在生第14個(gè)孩子時(shí)難產(chǎn)身亡。悲痛欲絕的沙·賈汗決定建造泰姬陵以紀(jì)念自己美麗的妻子，象征他們之間的永恒愛情。然而，沙·賈汗永遠(yuǎn)沒能建成一座計(jì)劃用來埋葬自己的黑色大理石陵墓。沙·賈汗被兒子趕下王位后，囚禁在阿格拉紅堡中，凝視著賈木納河對岸摯愛王后的陵墓度過了孤寂的時(shí)光。最終，他被葬于泰姬陵內(nèi)，陪在瑪哈爾身邊。

維多利亞女王和艾伯特親王

維多利亞是一個(gè)活潑、快樂的女孩，喜歡繪畫。在叔叔威廉四世國王死后，她于1837年繼位，成為英國女王。1840年，她嫁給了最大的堂弟，薩克森-科堡-哥達(dá)王子艾伯特。維多利亞深愛著自己的丈夫，她在國家大事特別是外交事務(wù)上十分仰賴他的意見。1861年艾伯特去世后，維多利亞身心交瘁，有三年時(shí)間都沒有公開露面。這次過長的隱居行為招致大量的公眾批評。不過，在首相本杰明·迪斯雷利的影響下，維多利亞于1866年召開議會，重新回到大眾中間。然而，維多利亞從未停止對自己深愛的親王的悼念，她始終穿著黑色的衣服，直至1901年去世。她是英國歷史上在位時(shí)間最長的君主，在她統(tǒng)治期間，英國成為世界強(qiáng)國，被稱為“日不落”帝國。

羅伯特和伊麗莎白·勃朗寧

伊麗莎白·巴雷特·勃朗寧和丈夫羅伯特·勃朗寧的生活正符合他們杰出的浪漫詩人身份。他們的故事包含了所有浪漫元素——暗中追求、私奔、情詩，以及美麗的意大利風(fēng)光。

伊麗莎白從小就開始寫詩，1844年，她出版了《詩歌》一書。這本詩集打動了同為詩人的勃朗寧，他開始和她通信聯(lián)系。兩人后來相見并墜入愛河。由于伊麗莎白父親的反對，他們被迫在1846年私奔。之后他們逃往意大利，在那里共同生活和工作了15年。他們許多作品的靈感都來自兩人之間浪漫長久的愛情，包括伊麗莎白的《葡萄牙十四行詩集》。1861年伊麗莎白去世后，勃朗寧回到英國，繼續(xù)寫作直到1889年離開人世。

瑪麗和皮埃爾·居里

由于波蘭的大學(xué)不招收女性，無法繼續(xù)學(xué)業(yè)的瑪麗·居里于1891年來到巴黎，進(jìn)入索邦大學(xué)讀書。她把所有課余時(shí)間都用來在圖書館讀書或在實(shí)驗(yàn)室做實(shí)驗(yàn)。這名勤奮的學(xué)生引起了瑪麗工作的一間實(shí)驗(yàn)室的導(dǎo)師皮埃爾·居里的注意。皮埃爾對瑪麗展開了熱烈的追求，并多次向她求婚。終于，他們于1895年結(jié)為伴侶，并開始了兩人著名的合作。夫婦二人在1898年發(fā)現(xiàn)了釙元素和鐳元素，后又因發(fā)現(xiàn)放射現(xiàn)象而獲得1903年的諾貝爾物理學(xué)獎。

1906年皮埃爾過世后，瑪麗深受打擊。她寫道，從那一刻起，她突然變成了“一個(gè)無藥可救、愁苦可憐的孤獨(dú)之人”。后來，瑪麗接替了皮埃爾在索邦大學(xué)的職位，成為那里的第一位女教授。從令人精疲力竭的工作中，瑪麗探尋著自己生活的意義。1911年，瑪麗成為首位兩度獲得諾貝爾獎的人。直到1934年因患再生障礙性貧血去世之前，她一直以對愛人的追憶為動力，繼續(xù)做實(shí)驗(yàn)，繼續(xù)給學(xué)生授課。

1.Antony [#712;aelig;nt#601;n#618;] n. 安東尼，全名馬克·安東尼(Mark Antony，83~30BC)，古羅馬統(tǒng)帥與政治領(lǐng)袖。

2.Cleopatra [#716;kli#720;#601;#712;paelig;tr#601;] n. 克婁巴特拉(60~30BC)，埃及托勒密王朝末代女王，貌美，有權(quán)勢，愷撒和安東尼都為之傾心。

3.intriguing [#618;n#712;tri#720;ɡ#618;#331;] adj. 引起好奇心(或興趣的)；有迷惑力的

4.outrage [#712;a#650;tre#618;d#658;] vt. 激怒，激起……的義憤

5.wary [#712;we#601;ri] adj. 謹(jǐn)防的；唯恐的(of)

6.Octavian [#594;k#712;te#618;v#618;#601;n] n. 屋大維(63BC~14AD)，即后來的奧古斯都(Augustus)，羅馬帝國第一代皇帝，愷撒的繼承人，在位時(shí)擴(kuò)充版圖，改革政治，鼓勵文化藝術(shù)。

7.shattered [#712;#643;aelig;t#601;d] adj. 震驚而悲傷的

8.Shah Jahan [#712;#643;ɑ#720;d#658;#601;#712;hɑ#720;n] n. 沙·賈汗(1592~1666)，印度莫臥兒帝國皇帝，在位時(shí)征服了德干各國，興建泰姬陵和德里新城。

9.Taj Mahal [#712;tɑ#720;d#658;m#601;#712;hɑ#720;l] n. 泰吉·馬哈爾陵，即泰姬陵，印度著名風(fēng)景名勝之一，通體使用白色大理石建成，是沙·賈汗為紀(jì)念愛妻穆姆塔茲·瑪哈爾所建。

10.mausoleum [#716;m#596;#720;s#601;#712;li#720;#601;m] n. 陵墓

11.depose [d#618;#712;p#601;#650;z] vt. 罷免；廢黜

12.the Red Fort of Agra: 阿格拉紅堡，位于賈木納河畔，是莫臥兒王朝國王與王后們居住過的王城，距泰姬陵15公里左右，全部采用紅砂巖建造而成，1983年被列入世界遺產(chǎn)名錄。

13.seclusion [s#618;#712;klu#720;#658;n] n. 隱退，隱居

14.courtship [#712;k#596;#720;t#643;#618;p] n. 求愛期

15.elopement [#618;#712;l#601;#650;pm#601;nt] n. 私奔。elope [#618;#712;l#601;#650;p] vi. 私奔

16.correspondence [#716;k#594;r#601;#712;sp#594;nd#601;ns] n. 通信，通信聯(lián)系

17.industrious [#618;n#712;d#652;stri#601;s] adj. 勤奮的，勤勞的

18.ardently [#712;ɑ#720;dntli] adv. 熱情地；熱烈地

19.woo [wu#720;] vt. 向(女子)求愛(或求婚)

20.as of: <美> 自……起

21.aplastic anemia: 再生障礙性貧血