介绍:
（下拉有中英对照文本）
It was the beginning of a strange time in her father’s house. The marquis spent most of his time at Versailles and Sido was left alone to explore the château and read the unread books. On his return her father would talk of the parties he had attended and how well he had been received, of Madame this and the Duchess of that. He never discussed Sido’s forthcoming marriage, just as he never discussed
politics or the Revolution. The closest he came to acknowledging that anything untoward was happening was when he bemoaned how many of his friends had seen fit to leave for long vacations abroad. Of Versailles he talked more favorably, of balls, parties, and the card tables, though here too he had his complaints.
“I observe,” he said, “that standards of dress are slipping. It is a tragedy, the loss of whalebone in corsets. Whalebone gives women such excellent stature. Now the fashion is all for ladies to look like milkmaids in their white muslin gowns, without proper support or lacing. As a result,” he announced, as if it were the most shocking piece of news ever, “women are slouching! So inelegant.”
接下来Sido在父亲家度过了一段时间。侯爵基本上呆在Versailles。而Sido则独自在城堡里，读了一些没有读过的书。Sido父亲回来后，会谈论自己参加的聚会。自己很受夫人们的欢迎。他从不谈论Sido即将结婚的事，就像从来没有讨论过政治或是革命。最近他开始承认，不幸的事情开始发生了，自己有很多朋友都去国外度假了。在Versailles，他谈论的话题更积极一些，比如舞会、宴会和牌桌，尽管在这里他也有一些的抱怨。
“我注意到，”他说，“衣服的标准在下降。这是一个悲剧，鲸须胸衣不再流行了。鲸须能让女性的身材更出色。现在流行的女士服装看起来就像穿着白纱礼服的挤奶女工，没有合适的花边来装扮”他宣布，就像这是最惊人的新闻，“妇女们都没精打采的！所以并不优雅。”
Sido listened quietly, relieved that there was no need for her to comment, for what could she say to such a kaleidoscope of folly? She realized that, like the king himself, the marquis was out of touch with what was happening all around him. The decadence, the waste continued, and still the poor stayed poor while her father and his acquaintances determinedly danced, dined, gambled, gossiped, and spent their way to disaster.
It was only after the murder of his friend Madame Perrien that the fact that something terrible was happening dawned upon him. By then, it was all too late.
Sido静静地听着，很高兴自己不用发表意见，因为对她来说这很是愚蠢。她意识到，就像国王一样，侯爵与周围发生的一切都失去了联系。依旧颓废，浪费，穷人还是贫穷，而父亲和他的朋友依旧在跳舞，吃饭，赌博，聊天，用他们的方式度过这场灾难。
直到他的朋友Madame Perrien被谋杀，人们才意识到发生了可怕的事情。到那时，一切都太晚了。
It had started with one of the marquis’s extravagances, a grand fête, Now that the National Assembly had collectively lost its mind and agreed to pass this ridiculous declaration of the rights of man, he felt it his duty to throw one of his spectacular parties, a reminder, if one was needed, of how preposterous this revolution was. For the idea that all men were equal was laughable; no one in his right mind could believe it. In his opinion, the sooner the populace was crushed the better.
这开始于侯爵一个奢侈的聚会，现在国民大会都失去了理智，同意通过这个可笑的人权宣言，他觉得将自己有责任开一场别开生面的聚会，这是一个提醒，提醒人们这场革命是很荒谬的。人人平等的想法是可笑的，没有一个头脑正常的人能相信这一点。在他看来，越早打败民众越好。
For the time being the marquis was more concerned about deciding on a theme for his fête.
After days of deliberation he settled on the idea that everyone would come dressed as a character from the Commedia dell’arte: The guests would be transported across the lake to an Italian piazza, where they would dine and be entertained by jugglers, fire-eaters, and tightrope artists. Scores of scene painters, carpenters, and metalworkers were needed to make such an ambitious vision a reality.
The invitations had been sent out, with one notable and fatal exception. Count Kalliovski. The marquis's reason for leaving the count off the guest list was childish, with, alas, no thought to the consequences. The marquis was bitterly jealous of Count Kalliovski’s new acquaintance with Robespierre, a bourgeois lawyer from Arras, one of the leaders of the Revolution. Misguidedly, The marquis believed that once the count discovered he had not been invited to this party, he would come back full of remorse: for how could he ever have risen so high in
count circles without the marquis’s help and guidance? The marquis had a talent for rearranging unpalatable truths to suit his narrow point of view.
What concerned him the most at the present time, and had almost turned the pink clouds of his mind gray with worry, was what to wear so as to outshine all his guests. Finally he concluded that none of the characters from the Commedia dell’arte reflected his noble nature. so he decided upon a costume that would truly enhance the glories of his personality. He would be the sun itself.
侯爵暂时更关心聚会的主题。
商议了几天后，他决定每个人都要打扮成一个喜剧人物。客人会穿过湖到达意大利广场，吃饭和娱乐。那里有杂耍和走钢丝艺人。风景画家，木匠，和金属工人会达成这个目标的。
伯爵发出了请帖，却没有发给Kalliovski伯爵。侯爵不邀请Kalliovski伯爵的原因很是幼稚，也没有想过后果。只是因为侯爵非常厌恶伯爵新认识的一个资产阶级律师，名叫Robespierre，来自Arras，是革命的一个领袖。侯爵认为一旦伯爵发现自己没有被邀请参加这个晚会，会悔恨不已。要是没有自己的帮助，伯爵又怎么能有今天的地位呢？侯爵有这样一种能力，可以重新解释令人不快的事实，以符合他狭隘的观点。
而目前，他最担心的 是穿什么衣服来接待客人。最后他得出结论，任何喜剧的人物都不能体现他崇高的性质。于是他决定穿一套服装。这将真正提升他人格的光辉。他将是太阳本身。
Sido, on hearing that the count was not coming, had felt a huge sense of relief. Now she could enjoy the fête without any worries about her forthcoming betrothal. Yet in all the preparations, her father never once asked to see her, and as the day drew nearer she realized that she had once again been forgotten.
On the eve of the party the marquis, as if at last remembering her, called for Sido to be brought to his chamber.
He was sitting in his dressing robe, his feet in a bowl of rosewater while his fingernails were attended to, a tall glass of champagne in the other hand, and
beside him on the table a small pyramid of confectionery.
He looked at Sido and said irritably, “Don’t stand there. The light is most unbecoming.”He addressed Luc, his valet." She may observe the party from the
side room in the temple, but that is all. I don’t want her wandering about tomorrow. Everything must be charming.” With that he lifted his pampered hand and waved her away."
Not for the first time did Sido wonder why it was that her father disliked his only child so very much.
Sido听说伯爵不来，觉得自己解脱了。现在她可以享受聚会了，而不用担心自己即将订婚。然而，准备过程中，她的父亲从来没有要见她，随着日子越来越近，她意识到自己又一次被遗忘了。
聚会前夕，侯爵仿佛终于记起了她，要求Sido来他这里。
他坐在更衣室里，脚泡在水里，正在修理指甲，另一只手边放着一只香槟酒杯，旁边的桌子上摆着一个小金字塔糖果。
他看着Sido，生气地说，“别站在那儿。光都被挡住了。”他对管家Luc说。“她可以在寺庙的侧室里看这场聚会，就这样了，我不想让她明天到处闲逛。一切都将很迷人。”他举起那只养尊处优的手，挥手示意Sido走开。
Sido不是第一次想，为什么父亲这么不喜欢他唯一的孩子。
----每周一/三/五晚更----
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