Ethelread the Unready: A Weak King

决策无方的埃塞尔雷德：一名软弱的国王

ETHELREAD THE UNREADY was the first Weak King of England and was thus the cause of a fresh Wave of Danes.

决策无方的埃塞尔雷德是英国第一位软弱的国王，因此招致了新一轮的丹麦入侵。

He was called the Unready because he was never ready when the Danes were. Rather than wait for him the Danes used to fine him large sums called Danegeld, for not being ready. But though they were always ready, the Danes had very bad memories and often used to forget that they had been paid the Danegeld and come back for it almost before they had sailed away. By that time Ethelread was always unready again.

他被称为决策无方，是因为每当丹麦人打来时，他总是没有作好准备。丹麦人才不会等他，而是伸手讨要被称为丹麦金的大笔钱财，谁叫他没准备好呢。话虽如此，丹麦人的记忆力却总是很差，常常忘记他们已经收了丹麦金，在扬帆返航前，又回来要一次钱。在那个时候，埃塞尔雷德依然忘了作准备。

Finally, Ethelread was taken completely unawares by his own death and was succeeded by Canute.

最后，埃塞尔雷德猝不及防地去世了，克努特接替他成为了新国王。