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On a cold winter night in 1916, Felix Yusupov anxiously prepared to pick up his dinner guest.
1916年，冬夜寒凉，费利克斯·尤苏波夫坐立不安，等待着晚餐来客。
If all went as planned, his guest would be dead by morning, though four others had already tried and failed to finish him off.
如果一切顺利，这位客人将在早晨前死亡，在此之前，这位客人逃过了四次谋杀。
The Russian monarchy was on the brink of collapse, and to Yusupov and his fellow aristocrats, the holy man they'd invited to dinner was the single cause of it all.
俄罗斯帝国已是危在旦夕，以尤苏波夫为首的贵族认为，这位客人是罪魁祸首。
But who was he, and how could a single monk be to blame for the fate of an empire?
他是谁呢，为什么一个修道士会导致王朝覆灭？
Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin began his life in Siberia, born in 1869 to a peasant family.
格里戈里·拉斯普廷出生于西伯利亚，他在1869年诞生于一个乡下家庭。
He might have lived a life of obscurity in his small village, if not for his conversion to the Russian Orthodox Church in the 1890s.
他本可能会在村庄的平淡生活中度过一生，如果他没有在十八世纪九十年代皈依俄罗斯正教会的话。
Inspired by the humbled monks that wandered endlessly from holy site to holy site, he spent years on pilgrimages across Russia.
虔诚的修士不息跋涉朝圣，目睹此景，拉斯普廷被深深地鼓舞，于是他花费数年踏上了跨越俄罗斯的朝圣之旅。
On his travels, strangers were captivated by Rasputin's magnetic presence.
旅途当中，他的迷人气质吸引众人。
Some even believed he had mystical gifts of prediction and healing.
更有甚者相信他拥有预知和治愈的能力。
Despite Rasputin's heavy drinking, petty theft, and promiscuity,
即便拉斯普廷酗酒、偷盗、淫逸放荡，
his reputation as a monk quickly spread beyond Siberia and attracted both laypeople and powerful Orthodox clergymen.
西伯利亚乃至之外的人们还是十分敬仰这个朝圣的修道士，不论正统教徒还是平民百姓，都纷纷被其吸引。
When he finally reached the capital, St. Petersburg, Rasputin used his charisma and connections to win favor with the imperial family's spiritual advisor.
当他抵达首都圣彼得堡时，拉斯普廷利用魅力和人脉换取到皇室家族宗教顾问的席位。
In November 1905, Rasputin was finally introduced to Russian Tsar Nicholas II.
1905年11月，拉斯普廷被引荐给尼古拉斯二世。
Nicholas and his wife Alexandra devoutly believed in the Orthodox Church,
尼古拉斯和妻子亚历山德拉是正教会的虔诚信徒，
as well as in mysticism and supernatural powers, and this Siberian holy man had them transfixed.
他们拥护神秘主义、相信超自然力量的存在，而这个西伯利亚修士的到来，正如同一道神谕的降临。
It was a particularly tumultuous period for Russia and their family.
当时正值王朝与皇室的动荡时期。
The monarchy was barely clinging to control after the Revolution of 1905.
1905年第一次俄国革命之后，帝国正走向失控。
Their political struggles were only intensified by personal turmoil: Alexei, the heir to the throne, had a life-threatening blood disease called hemophilia.
然而，皇子的疾病让形势进一步恶化：皇位继承人，阿列克谢，患上了危及性命的血友病。
When Alexei suffered a severe medical crisis in 1912, Rasputin advised his parents to reject treatment from doctors.
1912年，阿列克谢的病情加重，拉斯普廷让他的父母放弃医生的治疗。
Alexei's health improved, cementing the royal family's belief that Rasputin had magical healing powers, and guaranteeing his privileged place on the royal court.
阿列克谢的病情好转，皇室家族越发坚信拉斯普廷拥有治愈的魔力，并赐予他在皇室中的特权地位。
Today, we know that the doctors had prescribed aspirin, a drug that worsens hemophilia.
今天，我们知道当年医生开的药是阿司匹林，而这种药会加重血友病。
After this incident, Rasputin made a prophecy: if he died, or the royal family deserted him, both their son and their crown would soon be gone.
此事过后，拉斯普廷作出预言：若他死亡，或被皇室抛弃，（此处指他本人）则皇子与王朝必死无疑。
Outside the royal family, people had mixed views on Rasputin.
皇宫之外，百姓对拉斯普廷意见不一。
On one hand, peasants regarded him as one of their own, amplifying their often-unheard voice to the monarchy.
一方面，农民们将他视为同党，因为他向皇室传达了被忽视的声音。
But nobles and clergymen came to despise his presence.
但贵族和神职人员渐渐开始鄙视他。
Rasputin never ceased his scandalous behavior, and they were skeptical of his so-called powers and thought he was corrupting the royal family.
他们不满拉斯普廷放纵无度的行为，并开始怀疑他所谓的“力量”，认为他正在腐蚀皇室。
By the end of World War I, they were convinced the only way to maintain order was to eliminate this sham of a holy man.
到了一战后期，他们坚信要想维护秩序，便应除掉这个虚伪的神棍。
With this conviction, Yusupov began to plot Rasputin's assassination.
尤苏波夫下定决心，开始谋划对拉斯普廷的暗杀。
Though the exact details remain mysterious, our best guess at how it all unfolded comes from Yusupov's memoirs.
虽然各种细节仍然充满未知，但我们能从尤苏波夫的回忆录中探知一二。
He served Rasputin a number of pastries, believing they contained cyanide.
他先将注入氰化物的点心送给拉斯普廷。
But unbeknownst to Yusupov, one of his co-conspirators had a change of heart, and substituted the poison with a harmless substance.
但尤苏波夫不曾料到，其中一个同谋者起了慈悲心，将点心中的毒药换成了无害物质。
To Yusupov's shock, Rasputin ate them without ill effect.
于是尤苏波夫惊讶地看到点心对拉斯普廷没有丝毫影响。
In desperation, he shot Rasputin at point-blank range. But Rasputin recovered, punched his attacker, and fled.
在绝望中，他把枪头指向拉斯普廷，当时他们之间的距离非常近。但拉斯普廷没有死，他打倒了攻击者并趁机逃跑。
Yusupov and his accomplices pursued him, finally killing Rasputin with a bullet to the forehead and dumping his body in the Malaya Nevka river.
尤苏波夫和同伴追捕他，拉斯普廷终于在被射中额头后身亡，他的尸体沉入马来亚涅夫卡河中。
But far from stabilizing the monarchy's authority, Rasputin's death enraged the peasantry.
然而，俄罗斯帝国的政权并没有变稳定，反而激怒了拥护拉斯普廷的农民。
Just as Rasputin prophesied, his murder was swiftly followed by that of the royal family.
就像拉斯普廷的预言那样，他死后，皇室家族的死亡随之降临。
Whether the downfall of the Russian monarchy was a product of the monk's curse, or the result of political tensions decades in the making, well, we may never know.
俄罗斯帝国的覆灭，究竟因修士的诅咒所致，还是数十年政局紧张积下的恶果，或许永远不为世人所知。
