Edward VII sat back.

There was an indescribable atmosphere in the auditorium,

It's a little stuffy, it's a little cold,

It's like pouring a pot full of water, just lighting a fire and starting to heat it, only to be suddenly extinguished.

Whispering,

"Your Majesty just now, did it happen intentionally or accidentally?"

"Do you need to ask? Of course it's on purpose! His Majesty was clearly defiling himself in order to disrupt the rhythm of the Frenchman's attack. Otherwise, let that Frenchman keep talking, and English will have to kneel down and call 'Daddy' in French. ”

"Hmm...... Your Majesty is wise! ”

"Your Majesty is wise!"

……

The students of London Economics and Political Science were full of admiration for His Majesty the King.

"Ah......h

Edward VII scratched his head,

"How I feel, the way the students look at me has changed."

No one answered,

The silence is even more deafening.

Lu Shi cleared his throat and said, "Mr. Proust, I'm sorry, there was a little episode just now. Please continue. ”

Proust: Huh? "With a bang,

For a while, I couldn't remember where I had just said.

Roland muttered below: "The British are playing yin, and the home advantage is too obvious." ”

Poincaré whispered, "The key is to see Professor Lu." ”

The rest of the French scholars nodded in unison,

As long as Lu Shi is impartial, it will be easy to do.

Verne poked Poincaré in the waist and asked, "Let's confer on Professor Lu the title of Corresponding Academician of the Académie de France, it should have an effect, right?" ”

Poincaré sighed,

"I hope so."

He developed a subtle feeling,

The process of wooing Lu Shi is like falling in love with a master, and he is being pulled by various kinds like a roller coaster.

I didn't expect it, I didn't expect it, but I was pecked by the geese all day long.

This is what happened to the French......

On stage, Proust's broken train of thought continued: "Let's continue to talk about the history of English and French. In 1066, a major historical event took place that completely changed England – the Norman Conquest. ”

British scholars all showed expressions of "sure enough",

Speaking of Britain and France, two things must be mentioned.

One was the Norman Conquest;

The second is the Hundred Years' War.

Edward VII chuckled, "It was an incident caused by a king with the same name as me." ”

At the beginning of 1066, Edward the Confessor of England died.

He died without an heir, and Harold II, Earl of Wessex, was elected king.

At the end of September, William summoned the feudal lords of Normandy, Brittany, and Piccardy to lead an army to invade Britain and establish the Norman dynasty.

Balfour whispered, "That King Edward is even more unreliable than Your Majesty. ”

Edward VII: ???

Why do you feel that the other party's tone is a little weird?

Is this boasting about yourself?

Seeing His Majesty's stiff expression, Balfort immediately realized that there was something wrong with what he said,

He hurriedly continued the topic: "The reason why King Edward the Confessor is unreliable is because he actually promised two people the right to inherit, and it was William who gave it first. ”

Edward VII was astonished,

"And this?"

It was successfully distracted.

"Whew~"

Balfour let out a long breath and nodded in the direction of Lu Shi,

"Professor Lu's "Guns, Germs and Steel" also wrote about it~ As a historian, he is much more familiar with that story than I am."

The conversation between the Prime Minister and the King was listened to,

At this time, Montagu James's eyes lit up, as if he had thought of a plan,

He got up and said, "Mr. Proust, what exactly do you want to say about the Norman Conquest?" ”

Proust is very confident,

"The impact of the Norman Conquest on England was not only political, institutional, but also language, art, culture, ......"

James interrupted: "When it comes to history, we have professionals. ”

As he spoke, he gestured in the direction of Lu Shi.

Proust also looked at Lu Shi,

"Professor Lu, can you have a chat?"

In an instant, everyone's eyes fell on Lu Shi.

Lu Shi stood up and said: "A lot of analysis has actually been carried out in "Guns, Germs and Steel", and enough historical evidence has been given. ”

James took over the conversation,

"Then, Professor Lu will briefly talk about the influence of language."

Lu Shi groaned,

After a while, he said: "What I am going to say next may displease the French scholars. ”

As soon as these words came out, the students of London politics and economics in the auditorium all applauded enthusiastically.

"Good!"

"I know that Sir Lu is from our side!"

There was even a whistle.

Poincaré depressed,

Thought

It's over, I've met a scumbag!

The award of the title of Corresponding Academician to Professor Lu still failed to redeem his funeral love.

Lu Shi continued: "Those who know linguistics, phonetics, and history should know that there was a huge gap between English and Old English in the Middle Ages, and the reason was the invasion of the Norse. ”

James said, "It's too early enough for the Norse...... Jazz means that even without the Norman conquest of Wilhelm the Great, the English language would still change, it was only a matter of time. ”

Lu Shi nodded,

"That's right. Moreover, even after the Norman conquest, the Normans lived high in castles, so distinct from the ruled English, that their language naturally struggled to sink into the countryside. ”

So it was then,

French as the language of the nobility;

Latin is the language of religion and administration;

English is just an insignificant civilian slang.

Proust is young after all,

When it comes to literature, he's good at it, but history is a bit beyond his ability.

Francis got up,

"Professor Lu, although you are a leader in the field of historiography, I still have to point out your problem. It was impossible for the Normans, Normans and England not to come into contact with each other, so a lot of French words entered the English language, and that's true! ”

Lu Shi nodded,

"Yes, you're right. While the Norman conquest eliminated the written form of the English language, it promoted its grammatical changes. In that trend, English is in danger of being swallowed up by French. But then...... Isn't it a war? ”

The French don't think of the Normans as their own.

As a result, the Normans of England lost their home in Normandy and had to intermarry with the native nobility of England.

As a result, more and more aristocrats became bilingual.

Then, when the Hundred Years' War broke out, English even became a symbol of the King of England's patriotism to fight against France, completely turning French into a "foreign language".

Francis shrugged,

"Professor Lu, let's just talk about language. So, didn't you admit it just now? French is English dad. ”

"Ah......h

Lu Shi didn't expect the other party to summarize so briefly.

And because the word English has multiple meanings,

English，

English; Englishman;

French，

French; French.

The phrase "French is the father of English" is similar to "the French are the father of the English".

The scene exploded instantly,

“Fxxk！”

"The French are more annoying than the other."

"I really want to kill him!"

……

The crowd was excited.

But the Francis was unmoved,

If he had been afraid, he wouldn't have changed his name to "France".

He said: "Look, I have proven that there is even a problem with the accuracy of the English language. ”

This sentence goes straight to the point.

The difficulty of rebuttal was a bit greater, and the British could only sulk.

Balfour looked at Edward VII,

Unexpectedly, His Majesty the King actually looked like a smiling face, with a big belly, like a Maitreya Buddha.

Balfour was surprised: "Your Majesty, aren't you angry?" ”

Edward VII spread his hands,

"What are you angry about? Aren't you angry yet? ”

Balfour smiled and didn't answer.

He's a politician,

If you get angry because of this, then just go home and sell sweet potatoes.

As a result, His Majesty also smiled knowingly and whispered: "I knew that you also wanted to see them fight, so you don't get angry." ”

Balfour: "......"

He decided not to speak to the wise king as much as possible.

At the same time, James launched a counterattack,

"Mr. Francis, you don't seem to have listened carefully to Sir Lu. One of the important things he just said, 'The Norman conquest destroyed the written form of English and promoted its grammatical changes,' is that true? ”

Francis was astonished,

It feels like the other party is blowing himself up when he says this.

He said, "Professor James, do you want to admit it too?" ”

The corners of James' mouth are hooked,

"Written...... Scold...... Hehe......"

There was silence.

Soon, many people reacted.

What they are fighting for today is the first language of "The Little Prince", which is a historical raffle and has no meaning.

Precise language in writing does not necessarily have an advantage.

George Bernard Shaw smiled: "Monsieur Francis, I must admit that the French language is all about precision...... Of course, in terms of accuracy, it is still not comparable to Russian and Arabic......"

A group of French scholars are full of black lines,

￣□￣｜｜

I secretly said in my heart,

This old bastard, he can't praise the French language with pleasure, and he has to bring out Russian and Arabic.

George Bernard Shaw continued, however, "English is about simple, efficient communication. Therefore, the time required to go from zero knowledge of English to being able to speak correctly will be much shorter than that of French. ”

Verne got up,

"Isn't that right? The pronunciation of French is obviously more regular. ”

George Bernard Shaw said, "But French grammar is complex. Conjugation, femininity, voice, tone...... It takes longer to go from zero to getting started. ”

No one can argue with this.

Even in modern times, it is not uncommon for adult Frenchmen to write letters.

But there is no ambiguity in their pursuit of foreign girls in French.

This kind of situation occurs in all languages,

Taking modern Chinese as an example, there is a phenomenon called "xianyu", which refers to the fact that there are redundant components in a certain language combination and are not regarded as "redundant warts".

Like what

"Almost laughed" and "Almost didn't laugh",

The latter explicitly adds a negative word, while both mean the same thing in some cases.

To put it bluntly, some words are spoken in spoken language, and there is no language disease,

But on paper, the problem is serious.

The complex grammar of the French language makes it a large number of differences in spoken and written.

The corners of George Bernard Shaw's mouth curled,

"Monsieur Verne, The Little Prince is a masterpiece of children's literature, and its main audience is children. I think for children, the language they should be exposed to is one that is more consistent between spoken and written, right? ”

Hit the snake and hit the seven inches,

Verne was speechless.

George Bernard Shaw continued: "Moreover, I do not think that there is such a thing as the most precise language, only the ability of the person who uses it to express it accurately. ”

Poincaré immediately met the head-on,

That's not right. French is now being used more and more in diplomacy, can you say, without a linguistic advantage? ”

George Bernard Shaw fell into deep thought,

As a result, I couldn't think of a counterexample for a while.

Unexpectedly, Edward VII actually stood up again,

Looking at his chubby figure,

The scene was eerily quiet.

Balfour suddenly became two heads and said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, do you want to think about it first, and then speak." ”

Edward VII didn't bother with the Prime Minister at all.

He looked left and right,

"I've always wondered if diplomacy is an occasion that requires precision?"

This made everyone confused.

Diplomacy doesn't need precision, so what else needs to be?!

Edward VII saw that everyone was puzzled, and could not help sighing,

"I've signed a lot of paperwork and found that diplomatic rhetoric is never precise and requires a lot of ambiguity. Because only if it is sufficiently vague it is necessary to rely on diplomats to make interpretations, and the power of interpretation makes them ...... Hmmm......"

His Majesty paused.

Because he found that the scene was even quieter than before,

Everyone was looking at them with strange eyes.

He was puzzled,

"Am I not right?"

Right!

That's right!

In the field of diplomacy, the value of language itself is almost negligible, and national strength and international influence are the main ones.

But it's precisely because of this that you can't tell the truth out of the way.

Balfour wanted to cry, and had to whisper in the ear of His Majesty.

Edward VII was surprised again, and smiled awkwardly,

"Masters, please ignore what I have just said. I didn't say anything. There is no 'precision', no 'diplomatic rhetoric', no 'room for ambiguity'. ”

With that, he sat back.

But there was still an unspeakable silence at the scene.

The French scholars, in particular, looked at each other.

Poincaré whispered, "Sure enough! King Edward was not as ridiculous as the outside world said, but a very intelligent man. He had just disrupted Marcel's attacking rhythm, and now he was making a fuss about the precision of the French......"

The more I talked, the more I felt like I was facing a great enemy.

Roland asked, "What to do?" The other party sent the king, we can't fight! ”

The rest of the people were very depressed,

They would never have imagined that the mascot of feudal remnants would be so useful.

Poincaré said: "In the end, it depends on what Professor Lu says. Now what we have to do is to fight the British to the end. ”

Similar statements appeared on the side of the British side:

"We can't afford to lose to the French!"

The British also found out that the other party could not be dismissed in a few words.

So, the two sides began to explode each other,

"French is the most romantic language," the French side said. ”

The British side said: "The universality of English does not need any praise to endorse, let alone the unquantifiable indicator of 'most romantic'." ”

The French side said: "Isn't 'The Little Prince' romantic? Do you look down on Professor Lu? ”

The British side said: "We love Professor Lu! ”

The French side said, "Then our love will only be greater than yours!" ”

……

In the next period of time, the two sides were arguing with each other, you and me, and the fight was not exciting.

Of course, the result is still the same -

No one can convince anyone.

And Proust is miserable,

He was the first to take the stage to express his views, but he was inexplicably hung on it, and instead he was more like the host of the exchange meeting.

And so it was, almost two hours.

Approaching noon,

Outside the window, the sun becomes blazing, and the trees gently sway, casting dappled shadows that provide a hint of cool shelter to the ground.

"Tsk......"

Edward VII was bored,

I wanted to see a fight between the two sides, but that's it!?

He touched his belly,

Would like to have lunch.

Lu Shi felt that both sides had been almost grinded, and he had said what he should have said and what he shouldn't have said.

He coughed lightly, letting everyone's attention fall on himself,

"Ladies and gentlemen, your debates have proved that English and French are excellent languages in terms of history, expression, writing, etc. Therefore, the publication of "The Little Prince" should be authorized to be sold by the publishing houses of the two countries at the same time. ”

This result was not unexpected.

The key thing is......

Poincaré asked, "Professor Lu, what was the first language of The Little Prince when it was created?" ”

Lu Shi said without hesitation: "French." ”

This answer made the scene quiet,

Immediately afterwards, the French scholars burst into enthusiastic cheers,

Looking at their happy faces, it was like winning another Hundred Years War.

The British, on the other hand, were dejected.

James couldn't help but ask: "Professor Lu, "The Little Prince" was obviously created by you in London, why do you use French?" ”

Lu Shi spreads his hands,

"The key to how a book should be expressed depends on the content of the story, right? Language, on the other hand, is the expression itself, and it should also depend on the content. ”

This reason is quite reasonable,

After all, the little prince wanders with roses and foxes, and he has a lot of French flavor.

Roland whispered: "Professor Lu is worthy of being a great writer!" ”

Verne wanted to laugh when he heard it,

He exchanged glances with Poincaré and Francis,

The three of them tacitly felt that the title of corresponding academician of the French Academy must have played a certain role.

Professor Lu is like a Frenchman, but he is not a scumbag.

And Lu Shi's next words also confirmed their idea of "waves, but not scum".

Just listen to him say, "Don't worry, I'm working on another piece of children's literature in English, and it's a long one." I believe that it will achieve the same success as "The Little Prince". ”

There was silence in the auditorium,

Immediately, cheers erupted,

"Lu, I love you!"

"I knew I didn't love the wrong person!"

"I love Lu!"

……

There are countless "lovers" for Lu Shi.

(End of chapter)