Now that it's all over but the kerchief-wringing, now that Prince William's latter-day fairy tale romance with commoner Kate Middleton is royally kaput, it's time for the sages to weigh in. And Kate was, sorry to say, way too middle class.
如今除了擰乾手帕，一切已事過境遷；如今威廉王子和平民凱特．密道頓童話故事般的羅曼史已被王室封殺，該是智者進場評估的時候了。實在很難啟齒，但凱特的問題出在她實在太中產階級了。
It wasn't Kate, per se. It was her mother, a former airline flight attendant who was caught on video chewing gum next to her elegantly hatted and serenely smiling daughter at William's graduation from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.
問題不在凱特本身，而在她當過空服員的媽媽，在參加威廉從桑赫斯特皇家軍事學院的畢業典禮時，影帶拍到她坐在優雅戴著禮帽、沈靜微笑的女兒旁邊，口中正嚼著口香糖。
There was more. Carole Middleton, who runs a party-supply business with her husband and made enough, after all, to buy a $2 million house in Berkshire and send her daughter to prestigious Marlborough College, said "toilet" instead of "lavatory." She said "pardon" when she couldn't hear what someone had just said. ("What" is more posh.)
不只如此，凱特的母親卡洛．密道頓和她丈夫經營趴踢用品供應生意，而且賺的錢足以在波克夏買幢兩百萬美元的房子，還送她女兒上名校馬爾堡學院。但要上洗手間，她用「廁所」而不是盥洗室或洗手間；當她聽不清楚某人剛剛說了什麼時，她說「對不起，請再說一遍。」比較優雅時尚的說法是：「什麼？」
When she met Queen Elizabeth II, William's grandmother, she said, "Pleased to meet you." Well, columnists wanted to know, who wasn't happy to meet the queen "Hello, Ma'am," was what was called for.
當她晉見英國女王伊麗莎白二世，也就是威廉的祖母時，她說：「很高興見到您。」那麼，專欄作家想知道，誰會不高興見女王呢？所以，用「哈囉，夫人，」才上道。
Within days, the tabloids, who by and large sympathized with the deposed princess-to-be, had rendered their anguished verdicts: "Kate was too middle class," the Mail on Sunday pronounced sadly. "Not posh enough for royals," fumed the Mirror. By Tuesday, the papers were publishing "cut-and-keep" guides on "how to be posh," and the Telegraph had a quiz on "what class are you"
短短幾天內，基本上同情被黜準王妃的小報，已經下了它們痛苦的裁決：「凱特太中產階級了，」「星期郵報」悲傷的宣稱。「對王室來說，她不夠優雅時髦，」「鏡報」怒稱。到了周二，各大平面媒體均開始發表「如何維持優雅體面時尚」「可以剪報存檔」的指南，「電訊報」更發表一份「你屬於什麼階級」的問卷。
The Middleton affair has reminded Britain that it has not yet achieved its aspirations of a classless society. If indeed it ever had them.
密道頓事件提醒英國，它尚未達到它所嚮往的無階級社會，如果英國曾達標的話。
"The English have developed snobbery to an art form," style commentator Stephen Bayley said.
「英國人已把勢利發展成一門藝術，」時尚評論家貝利說。
《詞解》
kerchief-wringing 擰乾手帕
commoner 平民
kaput 封殺
per se本身
lavatory盥洗室或洗手間
posh優雅時尚
by and large 基本上
tabloids 小報
verdicts裁決
fumed 憤怒
classless society無階級社會