【跟着英剧练发音】The Queens Palaces E1-33

文本：

So you've got this style here, with the two drops and thenthe longer drop. And then you've got this sort of balloon-shaped glass.

Yes.

And these are the bigger droplets¹?

Exactly, and then all the little saucers and everything hasbeen cut.

These are little crowns at the top?

Yes, and I think that these arms are supposed to representsceptres, so it was obviously very specifically royal.

They make this amazing tinkle², as well.

Yes.

And what came next? Was it gas?

A lot of the palace was converted to gas, but in fact thechandeliers, I think, went straight from candles to electricity. And the gaslight would have given off a lot of heat. I mean, the candles did too,actually, and QueenVictoria,quite often in her diary, she writes about some party that she has given,saying, "It's terribly hot," and that was because of the candlesburning. I mean, the manpower involved in maintaining a chandelier like thiswas huge, and we have descriptions of a party George IV gave, describing thenumber of staff, and he had 30 people just to keep the candles lit.

It's not an understatement, is it, this chandelier?

No.

It's just excess in every way, but in the most beautifultaste.

Yes. It's very easy to laugh at George IV for gildingeverything, but I think when you see something like this and you realiseeverything would have been flickering³ in this amazing candlelight, it gives youan idea of what he was trying to achieve in his interiors. It just must havebeen amazing to see.

 

 

 翻译君：

 

得先设计出个样式，然后按部就班一步一步制作，再切割出这种气球状的物件。

没错。

还要切割这些大一点的物件？

是的，所有的小托盘和其他的物件都是切割出来的。

这上面是小皇冠？

是的。我想是用这些权杖来表示王权的有很明显的王室意味这些东西也是闪闪发亮。

是的。

灯是用瓦斯的吗？

很多宫殿已经使用了瓦斯，但事实上这些水晶灯，直接是用电的。瓦斯灯会散发出很多热气，用蜡烛的话也会的。

所以呢，维多利亚女王经常会在她的日记里写到那些宫殿太热了。

就是因为燃烧的蜡烛，况且维护这些巨大的水晶灯需要很多人力。

以前有个说法，乔治四世国王，仅用于维护水晶灯蜡烛的佣人，就达到30人之多。这应该不是空穴来风的说法，用这种过度的奢华，表现他高尚的品味。

是的，乔治四世爱慕虚华，也经常被人耻笑。但你看到这些东西的时候，除了一些摇曳的烛光，你也会看到，乔治四世内心想要得到的东西，这肯定也能让人感到惊诧~。

1 droplets   

n.小滴( droplet的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Droplets of sweat were welling up on his forehead. 他额头上冒出了滴滴汗珠。 来自辞典例句
• In constrast, exhaled smoke contains relatively large water droplets and appears white. 相反，从人嘴里呼出的烟则包含相当大的水滴，所以呈白色。 来自辞典例句

2 tinkle   

vi.叮当作响；n.叮当声

参考例句：

• The wine glass dropped to the floor with a tinkle.酒杯丁零一声掉在地上。
• Give me a tinkle and let me know what time the show starts.给我打个电话，告诉我演出什么时候开始。

3 flickering   

adj.闪烁的，摇曳的，一闪一闪的

参考例句：

• The crisp autumn wind is flickering away. 清爽的秋风正在吹拂。
• The lights keep flickering. 灯光忽明忽暗。