2019年经济学人 社会名流克劳斯·冯·比洛(3)

 

The "von Bülow" itself was slightly misleading. His father's side was Danish; his mother, whose name was Bülow, had distant German nobility. His English upbringing endowed him with a Cambridge degree and a call to the bar, but the aristocratic "von" had been added when he and Sunny married, in 1966. He was the one who collected Chippendale and ormolu furniture, but she was the one who had Clarendon Court, as well as a 14-room apartment on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, in which to put it.

“冯·比洛”本身有点误导人。他父亲是丹麦人；他的母亲名叫比洛，有着遥远的德国贵族血统。他在英国的成长经历使他获得了剑桥大学的学位，并获得了律师资格，但当他与桑尼于1966年结婚时，他的贵族身份“冯”被加了进来。他收集奇彭德尔和镀金的家具，而她则拥有克拉伦登庭院，以及曼哈顿第五大道一套有14个房间的公寓。

Opera and theatre were his passions, and he loved to drop classical allusions² as well as names; back in Newport during his second trial, greeted by his labradors, he felt "like Ulysses returning". But it was Sunny, whose first marriage had been to an Austrian prince, who brought most of the dukes, diamonds and gala nights into his life. As an aristocrat¹, tall in his double-breasted suits, he could do stiffly jut-jawed one moment, warm and charming the next: a study in inscrutability, or a witty³ ornament⁴ to the highest socialtier of Newport or New York.

歌剧和戏剧是他的爱好，他喜欢去掉古典典故和名字；在纽波特的第二次审判中，他受到拉布拉多犬的欢迎，他感觉“尤利西斯回来了”。但是，是桑尼把大部分公爵、钻石和晚会都带入了他的生活。桑尼第一次婚姻嫁给了一位奥地利王子。作为一名贵族，他身形高大，穿着双排扣西装，这一刻他会僵硬地撅着嘴，下一刻就会变得热情而迷人：他是不可预测的人的最佳例子，或是新港或纽约上流社会人士的一种一种诙谐的点缀。

He also had an outrageous⁵ side. When he worked for John Paul Getty, the oil tycoon⁶, in London in his bachelor days he fell in with the Clermont set, including John Aspinall and Lord Lucan (who had hoped to murder his wife, but killed the nanny), and hosted their illegal gambling⁷ parties. During his second trial he posed for Vanity Fair in zippered⁸ black leather, tight blue jeans and a devilish grin, with a new, thrice-divorced mistressin tow. He liked unsettling jokes, telling them in his best dark voice. "What is another name for fear of insulin? Claustrophobia."

比洛也有粗暴的一面。在伦敦为石油大亨约翰·保罗·盖蒂工作时，他还是单身。他和克莱蒙特那帮人混在一起，包括约翰·阿斯皮纳尔和洛德·卢坎(他曾希望谋杀自己的妻子，但杀了保姆)，并举办了他们的非法赌博派对。在他的第二次审判中，他穿着带拉链的黑色皮革，蓝色紧身牛仔裤，带着邪恶的笑容，和一个新离婚三次的情妇一起出现在《名利场》杂志上。他喜欢令人不安的笑话，他会用自己最深沉的声音把他们讲出来。“害怕胰岛素的另一个名字是什么？幽闭恐怖症。”

1 aristocrat   

n.贵族，有贵族气派的人，上层人物

参考例句：

• He was the quintessential english aristocrat.他是典型的英国贵族。
• He is an aristocrat to the very marrow of his bones.他是一个道道地地的贵族。

2 allusions   

暗指，间接提到( allusion的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We should not use proverbs and allusions indiscriminately. 不要滥用成语典故。
• The background lent itself to allusions to European scenes. 眼前的情景容易使人联想到欧洲风光。

3 witty   

adj.机智的，风趣的

参考例句：

• Her witty remarks added a little salt to the conversation.她的妙语使谈话增添了一些风趣。
• He scored a bull's-eye in their argument with that witty retort.在他们的辩论中他那一句机智的反驳击中了要害。

4 ornament   

v.装饰，美化；n.装饰，装饰物

参考例句：

• The flowers were put on the table for ornament.花放在桌子上做装饰用。
• She wears a crystal ornament on her chest.她的前胸戴了一个水晶饰品。

5 outrageous   

adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的

参考例句：

• Her outrageous behaviour at the party offended everyone.她在聚会上的无礼行为触怒了每一个人。
• Charges for local telephone calls are particularly outrageous.本地电话资费贵得出奇。

6 tycoon   

n.有钱有势的企业家，大亨

参考例句：

• The tycoon is on the verge of bankruptcy.那名大亨濒临破产的边缘。
• The tycoon has many servants to minister to his needs.那位大亨有很多人服侍他。

7 gambling   

n.赌博；投机

参考例句：

• They have won a lot of money through gambling.他们赌博赢了很多钱。
• The men have been gambling away all night.那些人赌了整整一夜。

8 zippered   

v.拉上拉链( zipper的过去式和过去分词 )；用拉链扣上

参考例句：

• Freeze grapes and put them into a zippered plastic bag. 还可以把葡萄冷冻，然后放在有拉链的塑料袋里。 来自互联网
• Packaging is a VZB( Vinyl Zippered Bag packaging), with a color insert. 包装：有拉链的塑料袋，放一张彩卡。 来自互联网