纪录片《凡尔赛宫》 05人生苦短,及时行乐

Le Vau's plans for the remodelling¹ of Versailles were complete,

勒沃改造凡尔赛宫的计划已经完成

and ready to present to his demanding boss.

已可呈现给他挑剔的主顾

Louis certainly knew that what he wanted,

路易当然知道自己想要的

was a building which had that shock and awe² effect.

是令人敬畏的建筑

There's absolutely no doubt that he wanted a building,

毫无疑问 他想要的建筑

that would be sensational³.

必须轰动世人

Le Vau's model was impressive, but had a major flaw.

勒沃的建筑让人惊叹 却有大错

He planned to destroy the old hunting lodge⁴.

他计划拆掉曾经的狩猎行宫

The idea of Louis XIV,

路易十四的想法

was to keep always the little chateau⁵ of his father.

是永远保留他父亲的小行宫

So that was a problem for an architect because architects prefer.

这为建筑师造成了麻烦 因为

to destroy everything and to build a new building.

他们偏向于拆掉一切然后重新建造

So Louis sent the architect away and told him,

所以路易解雇了建筑师 并告之

I want this little chateau preserved.

我要保留小行宫

With Le Vau sent back to the drawing board,

勒沃继续改进图纸

Louis turned his attention to the landscape.

而路易开始观察风景

He wanted to expand the existing garden,

他想扩建现有的花园

adding ornamental⁶ lakes and groves⁷,

加入更多观赏性湖泊与果园 lined with dazzling fountains.

其中点缀耀眼的喷泉

But he'd picked an awful site.

但他选址有误

There were no views - it's hemmed⁸ in by the sides of a valley.

这里被山谷包围 缺少美景

And also Versailles wasn't endowed, the region,

凡尔赛本身也没有

with the sort of trees which Louis wanted for his garden.

路易想要栽在花园里的树木

Louis's chief gardener was the century's,

路易的花园总管是该世纪

most celebrated⁹ landscape designer,

最著名的景观设计师

Andre Le Notre.

安德烈·勒诺特尔

Versailles would be the greatest challenge of his career.

凡尔赛宫是他职业生涯中的大挑战

But the Sun King did not want to wait for his earthly paradise,

不过太阳王不愿等待人间天堂

or for his trees to grow from saplings.

也不愿等待树苗长大

Louis XIV wanted results and he wanted them fast.

路易十四急于求成

This was really a theme of the whole sort of Project Versailles.

这真的是凡尔赛工程的主题

And the solution was to uproot¹⁰ mature trees,

解决方法就是从法国其他地方

from other parts of France and bring them in.

拔出成年树木栽种在这里

And a special contraption was invented,

人们发明了一种奇妙的装置

a horse-drawn contraption,

它由马拉动

which would allow these mature trees to be transported on,

你能想象得出

as you can imagine,

它如何通过糟糕的道路

these terribly bad roads from other provinces.

从其他省份运送成年树木

1 remodelling   

v.改变…的结构[形状]( remodel的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• That shabby street needs remodelling. 那条陋街需要重建。 来自辞典例句
• Function-forming and remodelling collagen, reticular and elastic fibres and the ground substances. 合成蛋白质，构成疏松结缔组织的纤维和基质成分。 来自互联网

2 awe   

n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧

参考例句：

• The sight filled us with awe.这景色使我们大为惊叹。
• The approaching tornado struck awe in our hearts.正在逼近的龙卷风使我们惊恐万分。

3 sensational   

adj.使人感动的，非常好的，轰动的，耸人听闻的

参考例句：

• Papers of this kind are full of sensational news reports.这类报纸满是耸人听闻的新闻报道。
• Their performance was sensational.他们的演出妙极了。

4 lodge   

v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆

参考例句：

• Is there anywhere that I can lodge in the village tonight?村里有我今晚过夜的地方吗？
• I shall lodge at the inn for two nights.我要在这家小店住两个晚上。

5 chateau   

n.城堡，别墅

参考例句：

• The house was modelled on a French chateau.这房子是模仿一座法国大别墅建造的。
• The chateau was left to itself to flame and burn.那府第便径自腾起大火燃烧下去。

6 ornamental   

adj.装饰的；作装饰用的；n.装饰品；观赏植物

参考例句：

• The stream was dammed up to form ornamental lakes.溪流用水坝拦挡起来,形成了装饰性的湖泊。
• The ornamental ironwork lends a touch of elegance to the house.铁艺饰件为房子略添雅致。

7 groves   

树丛，小树林( grove的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The early sun shone serenely on embrowned groves and still green fields. 朝阳宁静地照耀着已经发黄的树丛和还是一片绿色的田地。
• The trees grew more and more in groves and dotted with old yews. 那里的树木越来越多地长成了一簇簇的小丛林，还点缀着几棵老紫杉树。

8 hemmed   

缝…的褶边( hem的过去式和过去分词 )； 包围

参考例句：

• He hemmed and hawed but wouldn't say anything definite. 他总是哼儿哈儿的，就是不说句痛快话。
• The soldiers were hemmed in on all sides. 士兵们被四面包围了。

9 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

10 uproot   

v.连根拔起，拔除；根除，灭绝；赶出家园，被迫移开

参考例句：

• The family decided to uproot themselves and emigrate to Australia.他们全家决定离开故土，移居澳大利亚。
• The trunk of an elephant is powerful enough to uproot trees.大象的长鼻强壮得足以将树木连根拔起。