通过繁忙的街道，路经几处她任期内的标志性建筑，撒切尔夫人昨日被运抵议会，这里是她获得最伟大成就的地方之一。

After so long out of the public eye, the former prime minister was allowed to take centre stage again on this, the first leg of her final journey.

长时间淡出公共视线之后，英国前首相得到许可重新回到这里，作为她最终行程的起点。

There were no military bands, no massed crowds lining the streets, and none of the pomp and ceremony that will accompany her funeral today.

今天的葬礼不会有军队护送，街道两边没有拥挤的人群，也不会有盛大典礼。

 

 

But the 30 minutes it took to transport her coffin across London was a prelude to Lady Thatcher’s last stand – her return to the Palace of Westminster, the battleground where she made her name.

但是这段用时30分钟穿过伦敦街道运送棺柩的过程仅是撒切尔夫人葬礼的序曲，她将回到她成名的战场威斯敏斯特宫。

It began with her coffin being placed into a standard hearse at a funeral directors’ headquarters in North London and draped in a Union Jack.

棺柩放置在伦敦北部葬礼承办总部的标准灵车中，上面披着英国国旗。

 

 

Then five motorcycle outriders and a shadowing police helicopter escorted it through the capital’s busy weekday traffic to a splendid, temporary resting place in readiness for the big day.

五辆摩托车警卫及一架警用直升机保护灵车穿过首都工作日拥挤的车流，送到一处豪华的地方暂歇，准备迎接这盛大的。

In defiance of the anarchy threatened for her funeral, the journey was punctuated by simple ripples of applause, and even provoked a few cheers along the way.

除了威胁到葬礼秩序的混乱场面，行程中不时穿插着一片片掌声，有时甚至激起一阵欢呼。

Cars came to a standstill as drivers realised this was no ordinary procession.Tourists, passers-by and a scattering of spectators suddenly found themselves witnessing a moment in history.

护送车队停了下来，驾驶者意识到这不是一般的列队行进。游客、路人以及观众发现自己正在见证历史的一幕。

Street before driving slowly up to the Lords’ entrance to Parliament. Here, maybe only by chance, the Iron Lady lay briefly in the shadow of a bronze statue of Richard the Lionheart.

车慢慢行进到议会上议院的入口。或许是偶然地，铁娘子躺在了狮心王理查德铜像的庇荫下。

An undertaker lifted a large wreath – a circle of white roses with a hand-written card inscribed: ‘Beloved Mother, Always in our Hearts’ – from the coffin to allow four pall-bearers in black ties to carry the casket inside.

一名殡仪工作人员举起灵柩上的大花圈，花圈堆满白玫瑰，上面一张手写卡片写道：“亲爱的妈妈，您永远活在我们心中。”四名佩戴黑领带的抬棺人将灵柩抬进去。

 

And then, moments before Big Ben sounded the hour, she was gone from public view.

大本钟敲响四点时，撒切尔夫人被送走。

Once, Lady Thatcher would have taken her place inside as the dominant figure at the heart of some rowdy Commons debate, surrounded by baying enemies and noisy allies.

曾经，撒切尔夫人是下议院辩论的核心人物，总是被愤怒的对手和喧闹的盟友围在中间。

Now, in a solitary coffin beneath the silent, vaulted emptiness of an ornate crypt, she was alone. For the next 18 hours, ahead of today’s procession to St Paul’s, she was scheduled to remain in the marble and stone surroundings of the chapel of St Mary Undercroft, deep beneath St Stephen’s Hall.

现在，在教堂沉寂而华丽的拱形地下室中，她独自躺在棺材里。接下来的18个小时，在今天要去圣保罗大教堂之前，她将留在周遭由大理石建成的圣玛丽教堂里，就在圣史蒂芬大厅的地下深处。