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Now it's really likely that you've already heard of Coco Chanel either from her famous perfume, or the luxury clothing brand based on her name.
从著名的“香奈儿”香水，或者奢侈服装品牌“香奈儿”，或许你已经听说过可可·香奈儿这个名字了。
As a woman trying to build a business in a time where the world was controlled by men, Chanel started at less-than-zero.
香奈儿白手起家，是一名试图在世界被男性控制的时代建立自己事业的女性。
And yet she found a way to climb to the position of being one of the most wealthy and powerful women in the world.
然而，她找到了一种办法，爬上了世界上最富有、最有权势的女性之一的位置。
On today's Biographics, we are here to tell you the true rags-to-riches story of Coco Chanel.
在今天的传记节目里，我们将向大家讲述可可·香奈儿从赤贫到暴富的真实故事。
Gabrielle Chanel was born on August 19th, 1883 in France's Loire Valley.
加布里埃尔·香奈儿于1883年8月19日出生在法国的卢瓦尔河谷。
Her mother, Eugénie Jeanne Devolle, was an unwed laundry woman. She gave birth to Gabrielle in a charity hospital run by nuns.
她的母亲欧也妮·珍妮·德沃勒是一个没有结婚的洗衣妇，在一家修女开办的慈善医院里生下了加布里埃尔。
On the day she was born, her mother had to write "traveling" where the father's name should be.
在她出生那天，她的母亲不得不在本应写着她父亲名字的地方写上了“游历”(父亲去游历了)一词。
That wasn't just an excuse for an absentee dad, though, because Albert Chanel traveled from town to town selling clothing to local peasants.
但他并不是没有父亲，因为艾伯特·香奈儿(父亲)从一个城镇跑到了另一个城镇，向当地农民出售衣服。
Gabrielle had one older sister, Julia, and they were less than a year apart.
加布里埃尔有一个姐姐，名叫朱莉娅，她们的年龄相差不到一岁。
The couple had their hands full with two infant daughters, and they could hardly scrape by with what money they had.
这对夫妇带着两个襁褓中的女儿忙得不可开交，手头的钱很难勉强度日。
In 1884, Albert and Jeanne's family gave them money so that they could pay for a marriage license.
1884年，艾伯特和珍妮彼此的家人给了他们一些钱，让他们能够付得起结婚证的钱。
After their union was official, they had several more children, and the family all lived in a cramped one-room apartment in the town of Brive-la-Gaillarde.
他们在正式结婚后又生了几个孩子，全家人都住在布里夫-拉-盖拉德镇的一个狭小的一居室公寓里。
Gabrielle learned how to sew at an early age to help her father with his clothing business.
加布里埃尔很小的时候就学会了缝纫，帮助父亲做服装生意。
But when she was just 12 years old, Gabrielle's mother became sick, and died.
但在加布里埃尔12岁的时候，她的母亲生病去世了。
Raising young children is very much a full-time job, so he could not earn an income and take care of them at the same time.
抚养孩子在很大程度上是一项全职工作，所以他不能在赚取收入的同时照顾他们。
He sent his sons to work on a farm, and the girls were sent to a convent called Aubazine to be raised by nuns.
他把儿子们送到农场干活，女儿们则送到一个叫奥巴津的修道院由修女们抚养。
The nuns taught her discipline, as well as how to read and write.
修女们教她遵守纪律，还教她读书写字。
She learned to carry herself with the grace and elegance of a lady, rather than a peasant.
她学会了用淑女的高贵和典雅(而非农民)来表现自己。
Most of the other children living in the convent were orphans.
住在修道院的其他孩子大多都是孤儿。
But since her father was still alive, Gabrielle refused to consider herself an orphan, too.
但由于她的父亲还活着，加布丽尔拒绝把自己也视为孤儿。
She held onto the hope that her father would return one day, and that they could be a family again.
她抱着父亲终有一天会回来的希望，希望他们能再次成为一家人。
At this time in her life, books were a way for her to get lost in a world of fantasy.
在她生命中的这段时间，书籍是她迷失在幻想世界里的一种方式。
She began to create elaborate stories about her own life, as well, to help ease the pain of her reality.
她也开始精心编造关于自己生活的故事以减轻现实给她带来的痛苦。
Later in life, one of the most common stories she told her friends was how she was raised by her strict "Aunties".
在她之后的生活中，她最常告诉朋友的故事之一就是她是如何如何被严格的“保姆们”带大的。
She continued giving lies and half-truths about her past, which made it almost impossible for anyone to know just how difficult her childhood truly had been.
她在自己过去的事情上一直在撒谎，说话半真半假，所以几乎没有人知道她的童年到底有多艰难。
At age 18, Gabrielle left the convent to find a job.
18岁时，加布里埃尔离开修道院去找工作。
There were very few opportunities for women to find work, but she was lucky to have the sewing skills she learned from her father.
妇女找工作的机会很少，但她很幸运，她有从父亲那里学到的缝纫技能。
She worked as a seamstress during the day, making clothing for rich ladies in the town of Moulins.
白天她是一名女裁缝，在穆兰镇为有钱的女士们做衣服。
This was a very solitary job, and she was hidden in a backroom working long hours mending and assembling garments.
这是一项非常孤独的工作，她要在一间后屋里长时间地缝补、缝制衣服。
At night, she worked a second job at a nightclub, where she would sing and dance in front of a crowd.
晚上她就在一家夜总会做第二份工作，即在一群人面前唱歌跳舞。
When she was 23, her act caught the attention of a man named Etienne Balsan.
23岁时，她的表演引起了一个名叫艾蒂安·巴尔桑的男人的注意。
He was the wealthy heir to the Balsan garment company, which supplied the French army with its uniforms.
他是“巴尔桑服装公司”的继承人，十分富有，该公司为法国军队提供制服。
Gabrielle Chanel started going by the nickname "Coco".
之后加布里埃尔·香奈儿开始有了“可可”这个昵称。
Years later, even Chanel herself would tell everyone a different story of where the name came from.
多年以后，就连香奈儿本人也告诉了大家一个关于这个名字的由来的不同故事，
Some believe it was based on the lyrics of a song she used to sing.
有的人认为这个名字来源于她曾唱过的一首歌的歌词。
Others think it's short for the French word "Cocotte", which means "a kept woman"- or- in today's slang, "sugar baby".
还有的人认为"Coco"是法语“Cocotte”的缩写，意思是“妓女”，在今天的俚语里就是“sugar baby(甜心芭贝)”的意思。
For someone in Gabrielle Chanel's situation, these wealthy men were the only hope she had of escaping poverty.
对于像加布里埃尔·香奈儿这样的人来说，这些富人是她摆脱贫困的唯一希望。
Balsan had a "type"- which was aspiring actresses.
巴尔桑有一种“特殊爱好”——有抱负的女演员。
