英语演讲稿：幸福的代价（附中文翻译）
On the fifth of December 1985, a bottle of 1787 Lafitte was sold for 105,000 pounds -- nine times the previous world record. The buyer was Kip Forbes, son of one of the most flamboyant millionaires of the 20th century. The original owner of the bottle turned out to be one of the most enthusiastic wine buffs of the 18th century. Chateau Lafitte is one of the greatest wines in the world, the prince of any wine cellar.
五万英镑 1985年的十二月五号，一瓶1787年的拉菲特葡萄酒被售出。 售价为十万五千英镑， 九倍于前世界纪录。 福布斯先生。 买家是基普·福布斯， 某位二十世纪最声名显赫的百万富翁之子。 这瓶酒的上一任拥有者是 十八世纪最狂热的葡萄酒爱好者之一。 尚图·拉菲特是全世界顶级葡萄酒之一， 任何酒窖中的极品。
Benjamin Wallace: Now, that's about all the videotape that remains of an event that set off the longest-running mystery in the modern wine world. And the mystery existed because of a gentleman named Hardy Rodenstock. In 1985, he announced to his friends in the wine world that he had made this incredible discovery. Some workmen in Paris had broken through a brick wall, and happened upon this hidden cache of wines -- apparently the property of Thomas Jefferson. 1787, 1784. He wouldn't reveal the exact number of bottles, he would not reveal exactly where the building was and he would not reveal exactly who owned the building. The mystery persisted for about 20 years.
本杰明·瓦伦斯：现在，这段影片纪录了 堪称现代葡萄酒世界持续时间最长的秘密。? 而这秘密的存在起因于一位名为哈迪·鲁登斯托克的绅士。 1985年，他对自己在葡萄酒界的朋友们宣布 他有一个令人难以置信的发现 一些在巴黎的工人们砸破了一堵砖墙 从而发现了这些被匿藏的葡萄酒 这似乎是托马斯·杰斐逊的财产。年份1787、1784 他不愿意公开确切的数量 他也不会公布建筑物的确切地址 他更不会公布具体的拥有人姓名 这个秘密持续了20年。
It finally began to get resolved in 2005 because of this guy. Bill Koch is a Florida billionaire who owns four of the Jefferson bottles, and he became suspicious. And he ended up spending over a million dollars and hiring ex-FBI and ex-Scotland Yard agents to try to get to the bottom of this. There's now ample evidence that Hardy Rodenstock is a con man, and that the Jefferson bottles were fakes.
最终，在2005年有人揭开了谜底。 比尔·寇奇是一位佛罗里达的亿万富翁，拥有四瓶杰斐逊葡萄酒。 他对此事开始质疑。 他最终用一百多万美元聘请了一些前FBI 和前苏格兰场侦探彻查这一事件。 如今有充分的证据表明哈迪·鲁登斯托克是个诈骗犯， 那些杰斐逊葡萄酒也是伪造的。
But for those 20 years, an unbelievable number of really eminent and accomplished figures in the wine world were sort of drawn into the orbit of these bottles. I think they wanted to believe that the most expensive bottle of wine in the world must be the best bottle of wine in the world, must be the rarest bottle of wine in the world. I became increasingly, kind of voyeuristically interested in the question of you know, why do people spend these crazy amounts of money, not only on wine but on lots of things, and are they living a better life than me?
但在那20年里 这些酒被高价售出 并被给予葡萄酒界中极高的评价 我想人们都想要相信 全世界最贵的酒一定就是最好的， 肯定是世间最稀有的。 我开始逐渐变得狂热于追求一个问题的答案 那就是：为什么人们愿意为葡萄酒或其他的东西 挥霍大笔金钱? 这些人是否活得比我好?
So, I decided to embark on a quest. With the generous backing of a magazine I write for sometimes, I decided to sample the very best, or most expensive, or most coveted item in about a dozen categories, which was a very grueling quest,
所以，我决心寻求答案。 凭借一份我常投稿的杂志慷慨赞助 我决定在数十个大类中 选出最好的，最贵的或人们最想要的事物加以体验， 你可以想像，这个过程何其痛苦
This was the first one. A lot of the Kobe beef that you see in the U.S. is not the real thing. It may come from Wagyu cattle, but it's not from the original, Appalachian Hyogo Prefecture in Japan. There are very few places in the U.S. where you can try real Kobe, and one of them is Wolfgang Puck's restaurant, Cut, in Los Angeles. I went there, and I ordered the eight-ounce rib eye for 160 dollars. And it arrived, and it was tiny. And I was outraged. It was like, 160 dollars for this? And then I took a bite, and I wished that it was tinier, because Kobe beef is so rich. It's like foie gras -- it's not even like steak. I almost couldn't finish it. I was really happy when I was done.
这里是第一件。 很多你在美国见到的神户牛肉不是真品 那可能是和牛， 但不是原产于阿帕拉契山脉的日本兵库。 在美国只有很少的几个地方可以品尝真正的神户牛肉， 其中之一就是位于洛杉矶，沃尔福冈·普克的饭店，CUT。 我去了那里，点了价值160美元的8盎司肋眼牛排。 上菜了，牛排很小。 我当时气坏了。 这就值160美元? 然后我尝了一口， 我但愿这牛排更小点，因为神户牛肉太肥腻了。 味道就像鹅肝- 甚至不能算牛排。 我几乎就吃不完。 当我终于吃光时，我可真开心。
Now, the photographer who took the pictures for this project for some reason posed his dog in a lot of them, so that's why you're going to see this recurring character. Which, I guess, you know, communicates to you that I did not think that one was really worth the price.