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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 dealing floor of a futures exchange.
皇家提拔与未来奉献
A combination of a very socially elite 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 rumour 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 disastrous 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 literally 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
