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It was a small gesture, but a pointed one, and designed to underscore
the Queen's staunch support
for London's Olympic bid.
As members of the International Olympic Committee attended a banquet
last night, Buckingham Palace abandoned tradition to present each with a
menu card written not in French, but English.
For as long as anyone can remember menus at the Queen's official
banquets have been written in French, generally regarded as the
international language of cuisine.
But, as three generations of the Royal Family and the Prime Minister
joined sporting stars and dignitaries in the State Dining Room alongside
the IOC's Evaluation Commission, there, in plain English, were the menus.
With Paris one of four cities vying for the 2012 games alongside
London, there were no doubts as to where the Queen's sentiments lay. She
even banned French wines from the menu, replacing pre-prandial champagne with
Nyetimber 1995, an English sparkling wine, and choosing Commonwealth wines
from Australia and New Zealand to accompany the meal.
"It probably is the first time menus for such an occasion have not been
in French," admitted one Palace aide. "It is very unusual. But, it is the
British Olympic bid, and we wanted to showcase Britain, not France."
Footmen each wore lapel pins bearing the London 2012 logo.
The IOC guests were driven in a fleet of taxis to the Palace, which had
been floodlit for the
occasion, and through the Grand Entrance lit by burning torches.
They were greeted by the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh in the White
Drawing Room after being presented by the Princess Royal, who was a member
of the British equestrian team at the Montreal Games in 1976 and has been
a member of the IOC since 1988. Her daughter, Zara Phillips, who was
shortlisted for the 2004 Olympics but ruled out when her horse was
injured, was also present.
The dinner, attended by 46, was the highlight of London's presentation
to the IOC delegates, who arrived on Tuesday and now head off to assess
Paris's chances.
(Agencies) |
盡管只是一個(gè)小小的舉動(dòng)，卻具有明顯的針對(duì)性——它充分體現(xiàn)了英國女王對(duì)倫敦申奧的堅(jiān)定支持。
昨晚（2月18日），國際奧委會(huì)的成員們?cè)谟捉饾h宮參加了一場(chǎng)晚宴。在宴會(huì)上，白金漢宮的主人摒棄傳統(tǒng)，為每位客人提供的菜單全部改為英文書寫，而不是法文。
在人們的記憶中，英國女王舉辦的正式宴會(huì)的菜單一直都是用法文書寫的，因?yàn)榉ㄕZ通常被視為烹飪領(lǐng)域的國際語言。
然而，當(dāng)英國皇室三代成員、國家首相與體育明星、社會(huì)名流們同聚一堂，在國宴廳宴請(qǐng)國際奧委會(huì)考察評(píng)估小組時(shí)，菜單上出現(xiàn)的卻是簡(jiǎn)樸的英文。
巴黎是和倫敦一起競(jìng)爭(zhēng)2012年奧運(yùn)會(huì)主辦權(quán)的四座城市之一，而女王支持的對(duì)象自然不言而喻。她甚至把法國葡萄酒排除在菜單之外，代之以本國Nyetimber酒莊1995年產(chǎn)的餐前香檳（一種英國汽酒），還選擇了來自英聯(lián)邦國家澳大利亞和新西蘭的配餐酒。
白金漢宮的一位助手承認(rèn)說：“這種場(chǎng)合的菜單不用法文也許是頭一次。這很不尋常，但這畢竟是英國的申奧活動(dòng)呀，我們想展示我們英國的風(fēng)采，而不是法國的。”
每位男侍者的衣領(lǐng)上都別著2012年倫敦申奧的徽章。
來自國際奧委會(huì)的客人們被出租車隊(duì)送進(jìn)了白金漢宮。為了這次盛宴，白金漢宮被裝點(diǎn)得燈火輝煌。宮殿入口處的整個(gè)前廳都被熊熊燃燒的火炬照亮。
客人們由長公主安妮引進(jìn)白金漢宮的白色會(huì)客廳，女王和愛丁堡公爵在那里迎接他們。安妮公主作為英國馬術(shù)隊(duì)的成員參加了1976年加拿大蒙特利爾奧運(yùn)會(huì)，而且從1988年起成為國際奧委會(huì)成員。出席宴會(huì)的還有她的女兒扎拉·菲麗普斯。小公主菲麗普斯曾被列入2004年奧運(yùn)會(huì)的馬術(shù)運(yùn)動(dòng)員候選名單，但終因她的馬受傷而未能參加奧運(yùn)會(huì)。
這場(chǎng)晚宴共有46人參加，是倫敦向國際奧委會(huì)代表進(jìn)行申奧陳述的亮點(diǎn)。國際奧委會(huì)代表團(tuán)成員于上周二抵達(dá)英國，現(xiàn)在他們已經(jīng)前往法國，對(duì)巴黎進(jìn)行評(píng)估。
（中國日?qǐng)?bào)網(wǎng)站譯） |
Updated: 2005-02-22 10:23
