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The court of Versailles could be seen
凡爾賽宮廷猶如
as a cross, perhaps, between
一個十字架 它匯集了
Royal Ascot and the dealing floor of a futures exchange.
皇家提拔與未來奉獻
A combination of a very socially elite group
包括了一個
who already know each other
由早已互相熟識 經常交流的
and can interact with each other
精英群體
and at the same time
同時也包括一群
a group of hardened professionals
態度堅定的學者 他們擁有
who have their own language and their own codes,
自己的說話風格與行為準則
who know how to strike deals,
也知道如何打破合約
and to extract the best possible advantages
如何在特定情況下
from a particular situation.
取得最佳利益
Versailles was the original hotbed of scandal.
凡爾賽原是流言滋生的溫床
The phrase with which everyone began their conversation
每個人說話
was, "On dit"
都以"據說"開頭
"It's being said." "They're saying this, they're saying that."
"人人都這么說" "他們說這他們說那"
All day, these whispers of rumour would travel about the palace
流言整天在宮中傳遞
and people would send each other little bulletins by sedan chair,
人們坐著轎子傳遞小告示板
to report on what was going on in the different rooms
互相告知各處的動向
and that of course made it a tremendously claustrophobic place to live.
宮中成了幽閉恐懼的住處
You couldn't do anything without everybody knowing about it.
你無法隱藏自己所行之事
It was this extraordinary networking centre.
這里的關系網絡異常復雜
Everyone who was anyone in France, was now at Versailles,
法國的貴族都住進了凡爾賽宮
so to be excluded was disastrous for a French nobleman.
被排斥在外的人則飽受打擊
The worst thing that a courtier could hear from the King
幕僚最不愿聽到的話就是
was, "He's a man I never see."
國王說"我不認識他"
People would spend literally years
人們會花上很多年
trying to hear one word or have a gesture from the King.
爭取得到國王的話語或手勢
