Best Friend

Does it mean that friends help each other, but that best friends help save each other? Is that too easy to tell?I don't quite understand it yet.

Madame de Maintenon

The story of M

Jul 24th 2008
From The Economist print edition

AS THE Marquise de Maintenon—mistress and for 30-odd years morganatic wife of Louis XIV—lay dying in 1719, in the tranquil setting of Saint-Cyr, a charitable institution she had set up for the education of impoverished young noblewomen, she must have reflected on what surely counts as one of the most extraordinary rags-to-riches stories of all time. She herself had described her life as a miracle.

Born Françoise d’Aubigné in a prison in Niort, in western France, in 1635, she was the unwanted daughter of Constant d’Aubigné, an improvident and unscrupulous minor nobleman. D’Aubigné had been condemned as a traitor and a murderer, and he continued throughout his life to exchange his Protestant faith for the Catholic as circumstances dictated in a period of great religious unrest. Her mother, Jeanne de Cardilhac, a Catholic, was the daughter of d’Aubigné’s former jailer.

Veronica Buckley gives a lively account of Françoise’s progress from the house of her loving Huguenot paternal aunt and uncle, via the Caribbean with her unloving mother and two brothers, to a convent from which, at the age of 15, she married the 42-year-old Paul Scarron, a horribly disfigured poet and wit. From her mother Françoise had inherited beauty, intelligence, a strong will and iron self-discipline; from her father a good dose of the adventurer.

With these advantages she made her way in her husband’s raffish and bohemian salon in the Marais district of Paris, managing to maintain her reputation in spite of a lifelong friendship with Ninon de Lenclos, the most famous courtesan of the time. When in 1669 another friend, the ravishingly beautiful Marquise de Montespan, then Louis XIV’s favourite mistress, chose the, by then, widowed Françoise Scarron as governess for her growing brood of royal bastards, she also offered her the opportunity of a lifetime.

As Louis XIV moved from his palace of Saint-Germain to the glories of Versailles, south-west of Paris, Françoise, serious, intelligent and obliging, in stark contrast to the passionate and demanding Marquise de Montespan, increasingly provided the king with a quiet refuge. A title and her own estate of Maintenon, “beautiful and grand”, soon followed. Before long, she was appointed second lady–in-waiting to the new dauphine. With the court increasingly under the influence of Bishop Bossuet and other dévots (ultra-Catholic priests), Madame de Maintenon set out to ensure her own future by saving the king’s soul.

So it was that soon after the queen’s death at the age of 45 in 1683, Louis was persuaded that he should no longer live in sin. To the horror of his ministers he married Françoise de Maintenon, by then his mistress of 11 years. Her morganatic marriage to the king was to be a well-kept secret for the next three decades.

Ms Buckley has written an admirably balanced life with a wealth of biographical detail and great sympathy for her subject. This is not always easy to share, particularly when the reader learns that Madame de Maintenon once had a real scaffold set up (though never used) as a means of controlling the girls at Saint-Cyr. But the author’s thorough knowledge of the history of France’s grand siècle is not always matched by a feel for it. An over-domesticated Louis XIV is rarely convincing as the Sun King, and the twists and turns that lead Françoise ever upwards are sometimes recounted with a prosaic inevitability that robs such an extraordinary adventure of real excitement.

法国国王路易十四的第二任妻子曼特农夫人于1719年在她生前建立的圣希尔校园里长眠于世。曼特农曾是路易十四出身卑微的情妇，后一跃成为伴其身边三十年之久的正统夫人--曼特农女侯爵，这经历在她自己看来都是一段奇迹。

1635年，原名弗朗索瓦奥比涅的曼特浓夫人出生在法国南部城市Niort的一座监狱里，父亲康斯坦奥比涅是个臭名昭著的没落贵族，曾经落下叛国和杀人的罪名，作为一个新教徒，在那段动荡的日子里大肆鼓吹天主教徒加入他们的阵营，她的母亲则是康斯坦之前狱守的女儿。

幼年的弗朗索瓦先后跟随她的亲戚辗转各处，最终在修道院中以十五岁的年华嫁给了残疾诗人做妻子，两人相差二十八岁。继承了母亲的美貌、机智和自律以及父亲的探索精神，弗朗索瓦的地位丝毫未受到丈夫负面影响的干扰，还与当时最有名气的妓女尼农朗克洛交往甚密，一生保持深切的友谊。后机缘巧合结友当时路易十四的情妇，并为他们的私生子做女家教。

而后成为寡妇的弗朗索瓦以自己的美貌、智慧与品德给予即将继承帝位的路易十四以支持和鼓励，（做好宗教调查后再做评论）。

更多资料：

电影：情妇校长

Funny Explanations

	If you have set yourself on fire, do not run. 引火上身，切忌狂奔。
	If you spot terrorism, blow your anti-terrorism whistle. If you are Vin Diesel, yell really loud. 目击恐怖事件时，立即吹反恐哨。当然如果你是Vin Diesel（嗓门奇特），尽情吼吧。
	If you spot a terrorist arrow, pin it against the wall with your shoulder. 发现恐怖标志，用肩膀把它钉在墙上。
	If you are sprayed with an unknown substance, stand and think about it instead of seeing a doctor. 不明物质喷向你时，站住想想，别去医院。
	Use your flashlight to lift the walls right off of you! 用手电筒的光移走压在身上的石块
	To eliminate smallpox, wash with soap, water and at least one(1) armless hand under a faucet with no sink. 预防天花有以下几个条件：肥皂、水龙头、至少一只没胳膊的手放在水龙头下方做水槽。
	Michael Jackson is a terrorist. If you spot this smooth criminal with scary eyes, run away now. Michael Jackson是恐怖分子。看见这个长着一副可怕眼睛的滑头，马上跑。
	People, animal corpses and the biohazard symbol are all at risk of being sucked into the time-tunnel vortex. 人类，动物尸体和生化危机的标志随时有可能被吸进时空隧道的漩涡里。
	Be on the lookout for terrorists with pinkeye and leprosy. Also, they tend to rub their hands together manically. 小心的红眼病和麻风的恐怖分子，还有，他们通常急躁的搓着两手。
	If a door is closed, karate chop it open. 发现门关着，空手道剁开它。
	If your building collapses, climb under your table and practice yoga postures. 如果楼塌了，爬到桌子底下练瑜伽。
	Try to absorb as much of the radiation as possible with your groin region. The current world record is 5 minutes, 12 seconds. 用腹股沟接收尽可能多的辐射，目前个人世界纪录是坚持五分十二秒。
	After exposure to radiation it is important to consider that you may have mutated to gigantic dimensions: watch your head. 化疗之后，提醒自己有可能已经变成巨人：小心撞头。
	If you've become a radiation mutant with a deformed hand, remember to close the window. No one wants to see that. 如果你已经变成一个脑袋畸形的巨人，别忘了关窗户。别吓招别人。
	If you hear the Backstreet Boys, Michael Bolton or Yanni on the radio, cower in the corner or run like hell. 听见Backstreet Boys，Michael Bolton，或Yanni的音乐，要不躲到墙角，要不就玩儿命的跑。
	Your respiratory and digestive systems are optional. Cast them aside if you feel you no longer need them. 你的呼吸系统和消化系统都是可有可无的，没用就扔了吧。
	If you are trapped under falling debris, conserve oxygen by not farting. 被压在残骸底下的时候，不要撒气，否则会减少氧气。
	Survive a biohazard attack by first standing, then begging on your knees, then rolling over and playing dead. 在生化袭击中要想活命，先站住，再跪地求饶，最后翻身装死。
	Do not drive a station wagon if a utility pole is protruding from the hood. 若电线杆上的电缆脱落，不要开旅行车出门。
	A one-inch thick piece of plywood should be sufficient protection against radiation. 一英尺厚的夹板足已阻挡辐射。
	No pyromaniacs admitted. 严惩纵火狂。

I am sure that everybody with a common sense could understand what the pictures actually say, so just enjoy the words whilst being aware of the facts and the way out in case.

Edgar Rice Burroughs

埃德加·赖斯·巴勒斯（Edgar Rice Burroughs，1875－1950）美国作家，在美国文学史上的地位虽然不高，但是他的《人猿泰山》长篇系列小说却可称得上是经典之作。自问世以来，一直经久不衰，深受广大读者喜爱。
　
巴勒斯开始写作是在上世纪的一十年代，除写《人猿泰山》系列之外，还着有《火星》等系列科幻小说。其文风观点介于乐观与悲观之间，作品兼有科幻、冒险成分，至今仍脍炙人口。