Known for being photographed shirtless and alongside wild animals, perhaps at the same time, Vladimir Putin has cultivated an image as an intimidating and fearless figure on the world stage.He’s a martial arts expert, a fearless political actor, and a former spy. His resume holds a certain cachet in the West. As a former KGB agent, he’s automatically associated with secrecy, intimidation, and the old fears Americans had of the Soviet Union for much of the 21st Century. Putin has said of himself that he lived for a long time as an ordinary person, and ordinary is all he wishes to be. For decades though, he has been anything but ordinary, as he has spent his life climbing the ranks of the Russian government, moving farther and farther away from his “ordinary” roots.
因为被拍到光着膀子以及和野生动物在一起的照片，这两个场景可能是在同一时间拍摄，弗拉基米尔·普京在世界舞台上树立了一个令人生畏且无所畏惧的形象。他是一名武术专家、无畏的政治人物，以前还做过间谍。他的履历在西方颇有声望。作为克格勃前特工，他自动与机密、恐吓和21世纪大部分时间里美国人对苏联的旧恐惧联系在一起。普京曾这样自我表述，他作为一个普通人生活了很长一段时间，而他所希望的就是普通的生活。然而几十年来，他一直与众不同，因为他一生都在俄罗斯政府里面往上爬，离他最初的普通生活越来越远。
早年生活
He was born in St. Petersburg in 1952, in the midst of the Cold War. Putin had two older brothers, but unfortunately both died during childhood, so Putin was raised essentially as an only child. He was an atheist as a child, but today he is an Eastern Orthodox Christian.During Putin’s childhood, his mother stayed at home, and his father, a veteran of World War II, worked in a factory. As an interesting aside, his grandfather was a cook who worked for Vladimir Lenin and even prepared meals for Stalin a few times! The Putin family lived in a communal apartment shared by three families, a home where Putin says he used to hunt rats in the stairwell, perhaps a precursor to his later fascination with hunting and with wild animals in general.
普京在冷战中的1952年出生于圣彼得堡。他有两个哥哥，但不幸的是，他们都在童年时代死去，因此普京从小基本上作为独子被抚养长大。他小时候是无神论者，但现在是东正教教徒。在普京童年时期，他的妈妈留在家里，作为第二次世界大战老兵的父亲在一家工厂工作。有趣的是，普京的爷爷为列宁做过厨师，甚至为斯大林做过几顿饭！普京一家住在一个由三户家庭共用的公寓里，普京说他当时曾在楼梯间抓老鼠，这也许是他后来对狩猎和野生动物着迷的原因。
Now growing up, Putin didn’t prove himself to be anything particularly special in his early years. But then, at the age of 12, he discovered athletic competition. It was in the midst of a competition that Putin began to set himself apart. Martial arts was his chosen sport, particularly Sambo and Judo. Though his mother did not initially approve of his participation in these sports, Putin proved himself to be a worthy and skilled competitor in both.At one point, his coach even showed up at the Putin home to speak with his mother about how much promise Vladimir showed. Well, that did the trick, and his parents began to support his athletic pursuits. Putin now holds a black belt in Judo, and has continued to compete in both Sambo and Judo, establishing himself as the first world leader to be at an advanced level in this sports. He also remains the president of the same dojo he practiced in while growing up. Though he established himself as athletically talented, Putin did not excel academically in school during his childhood.
稍微长大后，普京并未表现出自己有任何特别之处。但随后他在12岁时发现了体育比赛。在比赛中，普京开始脱颖而出。武术是他选择的运动，特别是格斗术和柔道。尽管他的母亲最初并不赞成他参加这些运动，但普京证明自己是这两个领域中有价值和有技巧的竞争者。有一次，教练甚至来到普京家中，与他的母亲谈论他表现出多么好的前景。这起到了作用，他的父母开始支持他的体育运动追求。普京现在拥有柔道黑带，并继续参加格斗术和柔道比赛，确立了自己在这项运动中是第一位处于高水平的世界领袖。他仍然是幼年时练习柔道的柔道馆的校长。尽管普京确立了自己的运动天赋，但他童年时期在学业上的表现并不出色。
He attended a local school for his early years, and then attended a magnet school focused on chemistry. He didn’t push himself, but his teachers saw that he did have potential and encouraged him to focus as much on his schoolwork as he did on his martial arts practice. In the sixth grade, when Putin really began to push himself and that showed in his grades. He was welcomed into the Young Pioneers, the youth group run by the Communist Party. This was a serious mark of honor, as Putin had previously been one of only a few from the class not to be welcomed into the organization. From 1970 to 1975, Putin continued his studies at Saint Petersburg State University. While there he studied law, and was required to join the Communist Party. He later left the Party, denouncing communism in 1991 when he said of Marxism-Leninism that: “It became more and more obvious for me, more obvious truth that it was nothing more than a beautiful and harmful fairy tale.“ At Saint Petersburg State University, Putin met Anatoly Sobchak, who would become a key figure in Putin’s political success. Sobchak was an assistant professor at the school, but he actually went on to co-author the Constitution of the Russian Federation and was also the first democratically-elected mayor of St. Petersburg.
普京早年就读于当地的一所学校，然后上了一所专注于化学的磁铁学校。他没有严格要求自己，但他的老师看到他确实有潜力，并鼓励他像在武术练习中那样，尽量专注于学业。在六年级的时候，普京真正开始严格要求自己，这在他的成绩中可以看出。他得以加入少先队，这是共产党领导下的少年组织。这是一个严肃的荣誉，因为普京以前是未被欢迎加入该组织的少数几个人之一。从1970年到1975年，普京在圣彼得堡大学学习。他在那里学习法律，并被要求加入共产党。他后来退党了，普京在1991年谴责共产主义时说：“对我来说，越来越明显、越来越清楚的事实是，马克思-列宁主义仅仅是一个美丽且有害的童话故事。”在圣彼得堡国立大学，普京遇见了阿纳托利·索布恰克，此人后来成为普京在政治领域成功的关键人物。索布恰克是学校的助理教授，但后来实际上成为俄罗斯联邦宪法的编写者之一，也是圣彼得堡第一位民主选举的市长。
KGB Agent
克格勃特工
Putin graduated from Saint Petersburg State University in 1975 and it was then that he joined the KGB. The KGB was the Soviet Union’s security agency for much of the twentieth century. It was created in 1954 and continued to operate until 1991 when the Soviet Union itself was dismantled. Translated to English, KGB stands for State Security Committee. It had a reputation for oppression and monitoring the actions and opinions of Soviet citizens.
普京1975年从圣彼得堡国立大学毕业，当时他加入了克格勃。在20世纪的大部分时间里，克格勃都是苏联的安全机构。这家机构创建于1954年，一直运行到1991年苏联解体为止。克格勃的全称是国家安全委员会。它以压迫和监视苏联公民的行为和见解而闻名。
The KGB was a truly frightening organization for democracy, and an indication of the dangers of Communism to westerners. The organization quelled rebellions, and kept a close eye on anyone suspected to be in opposition to the Soviet regime. Putin started his career with the KGB in Leningrad, but later he was moved to Dresden, Germany. Before his transfer to Germany, Putin married. To this day he keeps his home life very private and information about his family is closely guarded. He and his wife Lyudmila were married from 1983 until their divorce in 2013.Their divorce was seemingly amicable, with no specific reason given for it, though Lyudmila made reference to Putin’s dedication to his work and the time investment required to serve as a world leader. They have two daughters together, Maria and Yekatarina, both of whose lives remain incredibly secretive. They both used fake names to go and register for college, and it’s not entirely known in which country either of the Putin daughters currently lives. In 2016, European newspapers even described Maria as a ‘secret’ daughter, noting that she had not been known to be photographed during the entire length of Putin’s time in power. For a former spy and a powerful man with many enemies, it is perhaps sensible that his daughters have maintained this secret life. Putin indeed state: “I have a private life in which I do not permit interference. It must be respected.”
克格勃是一个真正让民主感到恐惧的组织，也是共产主义对西方人威胁的标志。克格勃平息了诸多叛乱，并密切关注任何被怀疑反对苏联政权的人。普京的职业生涯始于列宁格勒的克格勃，但后来被派到德国的德累斯顿。在赴德国之前，普京结婚了。直到今天，他仍将自己的家庭生活保密得非常好，关于其家庭的信息受到严格保密。他和妻子柳德米拉在1983年结婚，在2013年离婚。他们的离婚似乎是友善的，没有给出具体原因，但柳德米拉提到了普京对他的工作的奉献精神，以及作为世界级领导人而投入的时间。普京夫妇有两个女儿，玛丽亚和叶卡捷琳娜，这两人的生活仍然极为秘密。普京的两个女儿都使用假名上大学，并不清楚普京的女儿们目前居住在哪个国家。2016年，欧洲报纸甚至将玛丽亚描述为“秘密”女儿，并指出在普京执政的整个过程中她都未被外界拍摄到。对于一名曾做过间谍、有很多敌人的强权男人来说，他的女儿们维持这种秘密生活也许是明智的。普京确实说过：“我有私生活，不允许出现干涉。这必须予以尊重。”
Putin moved with his family to Dresden, where he served with the KGB for five years. He was fluent in German, and still speaks the language today, and has stated that he feels more comfortable using German than English. Putin served in the Dresden post from 1985 to 1990, working as an undercover agent, playing the part of a translator. The work, though not all of what Putin did is known, wasn’t particularly interesting. Much of it was simply amassing information on people, ensuring they were remained loyal to the Soviets and were not plotting any kind of revolution.
普京与家人一起搬到德累斯顿，在那里的克格勃工作了五年。他说流利的德语，今天仍会讲德语，并说使用德语比使用英语更舒服。普京从1985年至1990年在德累斯顿任职，担任特工，扮演翻译的角色。尽管普京不是所有的工作都被外界所知，但这项工作并不是特别有趣。其中大部分只是收集有关人员的信息，以确保他们仍然忠于苏联，并且不策划任何形式的革命。
In 1989, the situation became rather more dicey for Soviets stationed in Dresden. During one incident, as it became more clear that East Germany was falling out of Soviet control, Putin and his colleagues feared for their lives as crowds stormed the KGB headquarters in Dresden. Putin called in the Soviet military for help, but was told nothing could be done to help them unless Moscow gave the order. Something Moscow never did. While Putin and his colleagues survived that day, it had become increasingly clear that the situation was unstable. During this time, Putin and other KGB agents began burning files so that when the day came and their headquarters was overtaken or abandoned, or both, no files would be left in the hands of their enemies.
1989年，对于驻扎在德累斯顿的苏联人来说，情况变得更加难料。在一次事件中，东德即将脱离苏联的控制变得越来越清楚，人群袭击了德累斯顿的克格勃总部，普京和他的同事们担心自己的生命。普京向苏联军队求助，但被告知，除非莫斯科下达命令，否则他们将无能为力。莫斯科从未下达相关命令，但普京和他的同事在那一天幸免于难，越来越明显的是，形势不稳定。在这段时间里，普京和其他克格勃特工开始焚毁文件，以便当那一天到来，他们的总部被攻占或废弃，或两者情况都出现时，任何文件都不会落入敌人手中。
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