纪录片《凡尔赛宫》 51碌碌无为不被喝彩的一生

Louis XV, himself, must be intensely mortified¹

路易十五自己一定非常心烦意乱

by the fact that he is not loved,

因为他不再受人民爱戴

that he faces opposition² at court,

被当庭质问

and for the fact that he is so isolated³

他在自己掌权时期

within his own courtly environment.

却如此孤立无援

If the Abbe intended to wound Louis,

就算神父有心伤害路易

he could not have expected what happened next.

他也完全意料不到接下来的事

Weeks after this humiliating dressing⁴ down

这场屈辱性的训斥之后的数周后

by the Abbe Beauvais at Easter, Louis XV falls ill.

路易十五病倒了

Nobody knows what's wrong with him.

无人知晓病因

And it takes the doctors, gathered around him,

御医们聚集在他周围

several days to work out what's going on.

连续数日 想搞清楚病因

They bleed him, which can only weaken him, to my mind,

给他放血 但我认为这只会让他更虚弱

and then, suddenly, one of the doctor sees familiar blotches⁵,

突然 其中一名御医看到熟悉的斑点

and they realise that he has smallpox⁶.

他们才意识到他得了天花

It is a complete bolt out of the blue.

这犹如晴天霹雳

Smallpox, in the 18th-century,

天花 在18世纪

is still an absolute killer⁷ disease.

仍是一种致死性疾病

1 mortified   

v.使受辱( mortify的过去式和过去分词 )；伤害（人的感情）；克制；抑制（肉体、情感等）

参考例句：

• She was mortified to realize he had heard every word she said. 她意识到自己的每句话都被他听到了，直羞得无地自容。
• The knowledge of future evils mortified the present felicities. 对未来苦难的了解压抑了目前的喜悦。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

3 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

4 dressing   

n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料

参考例句：

• Don't spend such a lot of time in dressing yourself.别花那么多时间来打扮自己。
• The children enjoy dressing up in mother's old clothes.孩子们喜欢穿上妈妈旧时的衣服玩。

5 blotches   

n.（皮肤上的）红斑，疹块( blotch的名词复数 )；大滴 [大片]（墨水或颜色的）污渍

参考例句：

• His skin was covered with unsightly blotches. 他的皮肤上长满了难看的疹块。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His face was covered in red blotches, seemingly a nasty case of acne. 他满脸红斑，像是起了很严重的粉刺。 来自辞典例句

6 smallpox   

n.天花

参考例句：

• In 1742 he suffered a fatal attack of smallpox.1742年，他染上了致命的天花。
• Were you vaccinated against smallpox as a child?你小时候打过天花疫苗吗？

7 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。