纪录片《凡尔赛宫》 18哪里有权利斗争哪里就有流言蜚语

The court of Versailles could be seen

凡尔赛宫廷犹如

as a cross, perhaps, between

一个十字架 它汇集了

Royal Ascot and the dealing¹ floor of a futures² exchange.

皇家提拔与未来奉献

A combination of a very socially elite³ group

包括了一个

who already know each other

由早已互相熟识 经常交流的

and can interact with each other

精英群体

and at the same time

同时也包括一群

a group of hardened professionals

态度坚定的学者 他们拥有

who have their own language and their own codes,

自己的说话风格与行为准则

who know how to strike deals,

也知道如何打破合约

and to extract the best possible advantages

如何在特定情况下

from a particular situation.

取得最佳利益

Versailles was the original hotbed of scandal.

凡尔赛原是流言滋生的温床

The phrase with which everyone began their conversation

每个人说话

was, "On dit"

都以"据说"开头

"It's being said." "They're saying this, they're saying that."

"人人都这么说" "他们说这他们说那"

All day, these whispers of rumour⁴ would travel about the palace

流言整天在宫中传递

and people would send each other little bulletins by sedan chair,

人们坐着轿子传递小告示板

to report on what was going on in the different rooms

互相告知各处的动向

and that of course made it a tremendously claustrophobic place to live.

宫中成了幽闭恐惧的住处

You couldn't do anything without everybody knowing about it.

你无法隐藏自己所行之事

It was this extraordinary networking centre.

这里的关系网络异常复杂

Everyone who was anyone in France, was now at Versailles,

法国的贵族都住进了凡尔赛宫

so to be excluded was disastrous⁵ for a French nobleman.

被排斥在外的人则饱受打击

The worst thing that a courtier could hear from the King

幕僚最不愿听到的话就是

was, "He's a man I never see."

国王说"我不认识他"

People would spend literally⁶ years

人们会花上很多年

trying to hear one word or have a gesture from the King.

争取得到国王的话语或手势

1 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

2 futures   

n.期货，期货交易

参考例句：

• He continued his operations in cotton futures.他继续进行棉花期货交易。
• Cotton futures are selling at high prices.棉花期货交易的卖价是很高的。

3 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

4 rumour   

n.谣言，谣传，传闻

参考例句：

• I should like to know who put that rumour about.我想知道是谁散布了那谣言。
• There has been a rumour mill on him for years.几年来，一直有谣言产生，对他进行中伤。

5 disastrous   

adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的

参考例句：

• The heavy rainstorm caused a disastrous flood.暴雨成灾。
• Her investment had disastrous consequences.She lost everything she owned.她的投资结果很惨，血本无归。

6 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。