纪录片《凡尔赛宫》 68知道历史永恒不变的规律吗

Marie Antoinette had given

玛丽·安托瓦内特

the French people an heir to the throne,

曾诞下一位王子

but as an Austrian outsider,

但由于她是奥地利人

she had never been verypopular.

法国民众从未喜欢过她

Now, as the financial crisis deepened,

法国财政危机愈发严峻时

ordinary people came to see her not as their queen,

老百姓已不再将她视为王后

but as a symbol of the selfishness of the aristocratic elite¹.

而是自私的贵族上流阶层的代表

It's a truism of history,

这是历史永恒不变的规律

when there's economic stress,

当经济危机袭来

people look round for who to blame.

人们总是会四下寻找替罪羊

And it was all too easy

而这一次 大家不约而同地

to blame the Austrian, L'autrichienne.

将罪责都推到了奥地利婆娘的身上

And that she had an extravagant² court,

而她确实不够检点 她的宫殿极尽豪奢

and that country people were starving

乡下的农民还吃不饱饭

and she was having parties and giving balls.

她却在大办宴会 纵情歌舞

So that's really what caused

主要就是因此

the major downturn in her reputation.

她从此声名狼藉了

There is a stream of salacious pamphlets

17世纪70年代到80年代间

which come out about Marie Antoinette

社会上流传着画满玛丽·安托瓦内特的

in the 1770s and 1780s.

黄色小报

The sorts of things that they say,

那些小报上写着

that she has a very wild sex life.

她的性生活极度放荡

Frustrated³ in her relations with the king,

由于她难以从国王那里得到满足

she has sexual relations with his brothers.

她便开始与国王的兄弟发生性关系

She's the new Messalina,

她被看做是第二个美撒利娜

she's the new sort of sexuallywildperson at the court.

是王宫中第二个性生活如此放浪的女人

And this is dragging the monarchy⁴ down.

而这也令君主制一步步走向深渊

1 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

2 extravagant   

adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的

参考例句：

• They tried to please him with fulsome compliments and extravagant gifts.他们想用溢美之词和奢华的礼品来取悦他。
• He is extravagant in behaviour.他行为放肆。

3 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 monarchy   

n.君主，最高统治者；君主政体，君主国

参考例句：

• The monarchy in England plays an important role in British culture.英格兰的君主政体在英国文化中起重要作用。
• The power of the monarchy in Britain today is more symbolical than real.今日英国君主的权力多为象徵性的，无甚实际意义。