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What rights do people have, and where do they come from?
人们有哪些权利，而权利又从何而来？
Who gets to make decisions for others and on what authority?
谁为其他人做决定，而又是基于何种授权？
And how can we organize society to meet people's needs?
我们又要如何组建社会以满足人们的需求？
These questions challenged an entire nation during the upheaval of the French Revolution.
这些问题在法国大革命崛起时激荡着全国上下。
By the end of the 18th century, Europe had undergone a profound intellectual and cultural shift known as the Enlightenment.
在十八世纪后期，欧洲历经了重大的知识及文化转变，称之为“启蒙运动”。
Philosophers and artists promoted reason and human freedom over tradition and religion.
哲学家及艺术家提升了理性及人之自由，使其超越传统及信仰。
The rise of a middle class and printed materials encouraged political awareness,
中产阶级和印刷术的崛起激发了政治觉醒，
and the American Revolution had turned a former English colony into an independent republic.
而美国独立战争也将早期的英国殖民地转化成为一个独立的共和政权。
Yet France, one of the largest and richest countries in Europe
然而法国，作为欧洲一个最强大最富有的国家，
was still governed by an ancient regime of three rigid social classes called Estates.
却仍然以旧制度实行统治，这是由古板的三个社会阶级组成，叫作“阶级制度”。
The monarch King Louis XVI based his authority on divine right
国王路易十六利用君权神授稳固统治权，
and granted special privileges to the First and Second Estates, the Catholic clergy, and the nobles.
并赋予特权给第一和第二阶级，分別是天主教神职人员以及贵族。
The Third Estate, middle class merchants and craftsmen, as well as over 20 million peasants,
第三阶级，包含中产阶级、工匠以及超过两千万的农民，
had far less power and they were the only ones who paid taxes, not just to the king, but to the other Estates as well.
他们拥有非常少的权利，而且他们是唯一需要缴税的族群，不只纳税给国王，还要缴纳给其他阶级。
In bad harvest years, taxation could leave peasants with almost nothing
收成不好的时候，纳税几乎让农民所剩无几，
while the king and nobles lived lavishly on their extracted wealth.
而国王和贵族却利用这些榨取来的财富极尽奢侈。
But as France sank into debt due to its support of the American Revolution
不过由于支持美国独立战争使得法国负债累累，
and its long-running war with England, change was needed.
加上其与英国的长期争战，现况亟须改变。
King Louis appointed finance minister Jacques Necker,
路易国王任命雅克·内克尔为财务大臣，
who pushed for tax reforms and won public support by openly publishing the government's finances.
他奋力争取税务改革，并借由公布政府的财政走向来赢得大众的支持。
But the king's advisors strongly opposed these initiatives.
然而国王的顾问却强烈地反对这些措施。
Desperate for a solution, the king called a meeting of the Estates-General,
苦求解决之道，国王于是召集了三级会议，
an assembly of representatives from the Three Estates, for the first time in 175 years.
这个会议是由三个阶级代表所组成，睽违了175年后首次举行。
Although the Third Estate represented 98% of the French population, its vote was equal to each of the other Estates.
虽然第三阶级代表多达98%的法国人民，但他们和其他庄园拥有的投票数是一样的。
And unsurprisingly, both of the upper classes favored keeping their privileges.
不出意外，两个上层阶级都倾向保留他们的特权。
Realizing they couldn't get fair representation, the Third Estate broke off, declared themselves the National Assembly,
意识到无法获得平等的代表效力，第三阶级瓦解了，宣示自己为“国民议会”，
and pledged to draft a new constitution with or without the other Estates.
并誓言起草新的宪法，其中包含或不包含其他阶级。
King Louis ordered the First and Second Estates to meet with the National Assembly,
路易国王命令第一和第二阶级与国民议会会面，
but he also dismissed Necker, his popular finance minister.
但他同时也解雇了受人爱戴的财务大臣内克尔。
In response, thousands of outraged Parisians joined with sympathetic soldiers to storm the Bastille prison,
因此，几千名愤怒的巴黎人民加入了同样不满的士兵，席卷了巴士底监狱，
a symbol of royal power and a large storehouse of weapons.
那里是皇室权力的象征，也是相当大的军火库。
The Revolution had begun. As rebellion spread throughout the country, the feudal system was abolished.
于是大革命便展开了。当叛变蔓延至全国，封建制度就被废除了。
The Assembly's Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen proclaimed a radical idea for the time
国民议会的《人权和公民权宣言》主张的想法在当时相当前卫，
that individual rights and freedoms were fundamental to human nature and government existed only to protect them.
个人的权利和自由是人性之根本，而政府的存在正是去保护这些。
Their privileges gone, many nobles fled abroad, begging foreign rulers to invade France and restore order.
他们的特权没了，许多贵族逃到国外，乞求国外的统治者侵略法国并重建秩序。
And while Louis remained as the figurehead of the constitutional monarchy, he feared for his future.
路易国王作为君主立宪制的虚位元首，他开始害怕的他的未来。
In 1791, he tried to flee the country but was caught.
1791年，他试图逃亡，但最后被抓了。
The attempted escape shattered people's faith in the king.
尝试逃走的行为使人民对国王的信任瓦解。
The royal family was arrested and the king charged with treason.
皇室家族因而被逮捕，国王则被判叛国罪。
After a trial, the once-revered king was publicly beheaded, signaling the end of one thousand years of monarchy
审判确立后，曾受敬重的国王被当众斩首，象征着长达千年的王权统治的结束，
and finalizing the September 21st declaration of the first French republic, governed by the motto 'liberté, égalité, fraternité.'
并在9月21日宣告建立了法国第一个共和政体，以“自由、平等、博爱”为其格言。
Nine months later, Queen Marie Antoinette,
九个月后，皇后玛丽·安东尼，
a foreigner long-mocked as 'Madame Déficit' for her extravagant reputation, was executed as well.
她是个外国人，因奢侈无度而被讥讽为“赤字夫人”，也被处决了。
But the Revolution would not end there.
但大革命并没有就此结束。
Some leaders, not content with just changing the government,
一些首领不满于仅仅是改换政府，
sought to completely transform French society -- its religion, its street names, even its calendar.
他们寻求彻底改变法国的社会--宗教信仰、街道名称甚至是历法。
As multiple factions formed, the extremist Jacobins lead by Maximilien Robespierre
当众多歧见形成，以马克西米连·罗伯斯庇尔为首的极端分子雅各布宾派，
launched a Reign of Terror to suppress the slightest dissent,
展开了恐怖统治，连最轻微的异议都要镇压，
executing over 20,000 people before the Jacobin's own downfall.
在雅各布宾垮台前共处决了超过两万人。
Meanwhile, France found itself at war with neighboring monarchs seeking to strangle the Revolution before it spread.
同时，法国也因邻国君王试图遏止大革命的扩散，和邻国展开了战争。
Amidst the chaos, a general named Napoleon Bonaparte took charge,
战乱之中，拿破仑·波拿巴将军主持战事，
becoming Emperor as he claimed to defend the Revolution's democratic values.
在他主张捍卫大革命的民主价值之时，当上了皇帝。
All in all, the Revolution saw three constitutions and five governments within ten years,
总而言之，法国大革命仅仅在十年之内，见证了三部宪法和五个政权，
followed by decades alternating between monarchy and revolt before the next Republic formed in 1871.
接着的几十年不断在君主政治及叛变间更迭，直到1871年建立了下一个共和政权。
And while we celebrate the French Revolution's ideals,
而当我们在庆祝法国大革命的理念时，
we still struggle with many of the same basic questions raised over two centuries ago.
我们仍旧挣扎于许多两世纪前就存在的同样的根本问题。
