纪录片《凡尔赛宫》 26沉重的过去注定导致悲剧

Louis had been called the King of France since he was five,

自5岁起路易就被称为法国国王

but others ran the country in his name.

但另有其人以他之名统治国家

On his 12th birthday, it was time for him to take his crown,

12岁生日时 他终于能够接过王冠

and his place on the world stage.

登上世界的舞台

The coronation of Louis XV was a moment of great hope,

路易十五的加冕仪式

and expectation for the French people.

为法国人民带来了巨大希望

They'd had long years of war,

法国常年战乱

and now the country was at peace,

现在终于迎来了和平

and it had a young king,

新王登基

in whom it was possible to invest every conceivable hope.

民众将所有希望都寄托在他身上

So, they couldprojecttheir ambitions and expectations,

所以人们能将雄心与期望

for the new reign¹ on this young, as yet, untested king.

寄予年轻而尚未经受考验的新国王

But, there was a shadow over Louis's inheritance,

但路易十五的继任阴影重重

cast not by an eclipse, but by a mountain of debt.

并非来自月食 而是堆积如山的债务

Despite all his success in war and diplomacy²,

尽管路易十四能征善战 精通外交

Louis XIV never managed to balance the books,

他却不善经营国库

or even pay for the building of his enormous palace.

甚至无法支付建造宫殿的花销

Louis XIV, when he died, left France in absolutely dire³ straits.

路易十四驾崩前让法国深陷困境

After a long war he, of course, left France,

常年战乱后 他留给法国的

something like, 20-years revenue in debt,

是相当于20年国库税收的债务

2 billion livres in debt, at least.

至少20亿里弗

And this was going to be an absolutely massive problem.

这必定会带来巨大危机

2 billion livres. That's 160 billion pounds in today's money.

20亿里弗相当于现代的1600亿英镑

But, before he could start work on that problem,

但在新王着手解决这个危机前

there was one other thing thatdemanded

他还需要立刻解决

the new King's immediate⁴ attention,

另一问题

marriage.

那就是婚姻

1 reign   

n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势

参考例句：

• The reign of Queen Elizabeth lapped over into the seventeenth century.伊丽莎白王朝延至17世纪。
• The reign of Zhu Yuanzhang lasted about 31 years.朱元璋统治了大约三十一年。

2 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

3 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

4 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。