British writer

Edward VII sat back.

There was an unspeakable atmosphere permeating the auditorium,

A little stuffy and a little cold,

It's like filling a pot of water, lighting it on the fire and starting to heat it, but it is suddenly extinguished.

Whispers spread,

"Your Majesty, did you do it on purpose or accidentally?"

"Do you still need to ask? Of course it was intentional! His Majesty obviously insulted himself in order to disrupt the French guy's offensive rhythm. Otherwise, let the French guy keep talking, and the English would have to kneel down and call the French 'Dad' '."

"Well... Your Majesty is wise!"

"Your Majesty is wise!"

…

LSE students are full of admiration for His Majesty the King.

"Ah this..."

Edward VII scratched his head;

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

No one answered,

The silence grew deafening.

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

Proust said "Huh?"

For a moment, I couldn't remember what I had just said.

Roland muttered below: "The British guys are playing dirty tricks. The home field advantage is too obvious."

Poincaré whispered: "The key still depends on Professor Lu."

The other French scholars nodded unanimously,

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

Verne poked Poincaré in the waist and asked, "If we grant Professor Lu the title of Corresponding Academician of the French Academy, it should have an effect, right?"

Poincaré sighed,

"hope so."

He had a subtle feeling,

The process of wooing Lu Shi was like falling in love with a master, riding a roller coaster with all kinds of pulls.

Unexpectedly, I never expected that I would be pecked in the eye by the geese all day long.

This happens to the French...

On the stage, Proust picked up where he left off and continued: "Let's continue talking about the history of English and French. In 1066, a major historical event occurred that completely changed England - the Norman Conquest."

British scholars all showed expressions of "Sure enough,"

When talking about Britain and France, two things cannot be ignored:

One is the Norman Conquest;

The second is the Hundred Years War.

Edward VII chuckled and said: "It was an incident caused by a king with the same name as me."

In early 1066, King Edward the Confessor died.

After his death without heirs, Harold II, Earl of Wessex, was elected king.

At the end of September, William summoned the feudal lords of Normandy, Brittany, Picardy and other places, led his troops to invade Britain, and founded the Norman Dynasty.

Balfour whispered: "That King Edward is even more unreliable than His Majesty."

Edward VII:? ? ?

Why do you feel that the other party's tone is a bit strange?

Are you praising yourself?

When Balfour saw His Majesty the King's expression was stiff, he immediately realized that there was something wrong with what he said.

He quickly 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 was given first."

Edward VII was very surprised,

"Is there still this matter?"

His attention was successfully diverted in this way.

"Huh~"

Belfort took a deep breath and nodded in Lu Shi's direction.

"Professor Lu also wrote about it in "Guns, Germs and Steel"~ 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 by others,

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

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

Proust was very confident;

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

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

As he spoke, he nodded in Lu Shi's direction.

Proust also looked at Lu Shi,

"Professor Lu, would you like to 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 done in "Guns, Germs, and Steel" and sufficient historical evidence has been given."

James took over the conversation,

"Then, Professor Lu, let's briefly talk about the impact of language."

Lu Shi pondered,

After a moment, he said: "What I am going to say may make you French scholars dissatisfied."

As soon as this was said, all the London Economics students in the auditorium applauded enthusiastically.

"good!"

"I knew Sir Lu was from our side!"

Someone even whistled.

Poincaré was depressed;

Thought,

It's over, I met a scumbag!

Granting Professor Lu the title of Corresponding Academician still failed to restore his love.

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

James said: "The Norse thing is early enough... Sir, what he means is that even without William the Great's Norman Conquest, the English language will still change, it is just a matter of time."

Lu Shi nodded,

"That's right. Moreover, even after the Norman Conquest was completed, the Normans lived high in the castle and were clearly separated from the ruled English. Naturally, it was difficult for their language to sink into the countryside."

It was indeed so at that time,

French as the language of the nobility;

Latin was the language of religion and administration;

English is just a trivial common language.

Proust was young after all;

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

France stood up,

"Professor Lu, although you are a leading figure in history, I still want to point out your problem. It is impossible for the Norman Dynasty, the Normans and the English not to come into contact with each other, so a large number of French words have entered English. This is fact!"

Lu Shi nodded,

"Yes, you are right. While the Norman Conquest eliminated the written form of English, it also promoted its grammatical changes. According to that trend, English was even in danger of being swallowed up by French. But then... wasn't there a war? ?”

The French would not regard the Norman dynasty as their own;

As a result, the Normans in England lost their home in Normandy and had to intermarry with the local nobles in England.

This resulted in more and more nobles becoming bilingual.

Later, when the Hundred Years War broke out, English even became a symbol for the King of England to inspire patriotism to fight against France, completely turning over and making French a "foreign language."

France shrugged.

"Professor Lu, we are only talking about language. So, didn't you just admit it? French is the father of English."

"Ah this..."

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

And because English words have multiple meanings,

English,

English;English;

French,

French; French.

The sentence "French is the father of English" is similar to "The French are the father of 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 France was unmoved;

If he was afraid, he wouldn't change his name to "France".

He said: "Look, I proved with facts that there is even a problem with accuracy in English."

This statement goes to the heart of the matter.

It was a bit difficult to refute, and many British people could only sulk.

Balfour looked at Edward VII,

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

Belfort was surprised and said: "Your Majesty, aren't you angry?"

Edward VII spread his hands,

"Why are you angry? Aren't you angry too?"

Belfort smiled and said nothing.

He is a politician,

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

As a result, His Majesty the King also showed a knowing smile and whispered: "I knew you wanted to see them fight, so you are not angry."

Belfort: "..."

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

At the same time, James launched a counterattack,

"Mr. France, you don't seem to have listened carefully to Sir Lu's words. The key point of what he just said is, 'The Norman Conquest destroyed the written form of English and at the same time promoted its grammatical changes.' Is this the original sentence?"

The Frenchman was surprised.

It feels like the other person is blowing himself up by saying this.

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

The corners of James' mouth curled up,

"Written...hehe...hehe..."

There was a moment of silence.

Soon, many people reacted.

What they are fighting for today is the first language of "The Little Prince". It makes no sense to argue with history.

Precise language in writing may not necessarily have an advantage.

Bernard Shaw smiled and said: "Mr. France, you must admit that French requires precision... Of course, in terms of accuracy, it cannot compare with Russian and Arabic..."

A group of French scholars have black lines on their heads,

￣□￣｜｜

I thought to myself,

This old bastard can't even praise French happily. He has to bring out Russian and Arabic.

Bernard Shaw was very happy and continued: "English pursues simple and efficient communication. Therefore, the time required to go from scratch in English to being able to speak correctly will be much shorter than in French."

Verne stood up,

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

Bernard Shaw said: "But French grammar is complicated. Conjugation, feminine and masculine, voice, mood... It takes longer to get started from scratch."

No one can argue with this.

Even in modern times, it is often the case that adult French people have trouble writing letters.

But there’s nothing ambiguous about their pursuit of foreign girls in French.

This kind of situation exists in every language.

Taking modern Chinese as an example, there is a phenomenon called "Xianyu", which means that there are redundant elements in a certain language combination that are not regarded as "excess warts".

for example,

“Almost laughed out loud” and “Almost didn’t laugh out loud.”

The latter clearly has a negative word, but the two express the same meaning in some cases.

To put it bluntly, some words are spoken in spoken language without any language problems.

But on paper, the problem is serious.

French's complex grammar allows for a large number of variations in spoken and written language.

The corners of George Bernard Shaw's mouth curled up,

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

Hit the snake seven inches,

Verne was speechless when asked.

George Bernard Shaw continued: "Moreover, I believe that there is no most precise language, only the accuracy of the person who uses it."

Poincaré immediately faced the blow,

"That's wrong. French is being used in more and more diplomatic situations. Can you say that there is no language advantage?"

Bernard Shaw fell into deep thought,

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

Unexpectedly, Edward VII stood up again,

Looking at his chubby figure,

The place was eerily quiet.

Belfort suddenly stood up and said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, would you like to think about it first and speak later."

Edward VII paid no attention to the Prime Minister.

He looked around,

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

This statement confused everyone.

Diplomacy doesn’t require precision, so why does it require precision? !

Seeing everyone's confusion, King Edward VII couldn't help but sigh.

"I have signed many documents and found that diplomatic language is always imprecise and requires a lot of room for ambiguity. Because only when it is vague enough, we must rely on diplomats for interpretation, and the right to interpret makes them...well..."

His Majesty the King paused.

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

Everyone was looking at him strangely.

He didn't understand,

"Am I wrong?"

right!

So 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 is precisely because of this that we cannot give away all the truth.

Balfour felt like crying, and had no choice but to whisper in His Majesty's ear.

Edward VII was surprised again and smiled awkwardly.

"Masters, please ignore what I just said. I said nothing. There is no 'precision', no 'diplomacy', and no 'fuzzy space'."

After saying that, he sat back.

But there was still an unspeakable silence.

Especially the group of French scholars looked at each other in confusion.

Poincaré whispered: "It's true! King Edward is not as absurd as the outside world says, but is a very smart man. He first disrupted Marcel's offensive rhythm just now, and now he is precise in French Making a fuss..."

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

Roland asked: "What should we do? The other party has sent a king, and we can't fight!"

The rest were extremely depressed,

They would never have thought that the mascot of a remnant of feudalism could have such wonderful uses.

Poincaré said: "In the end, it depends on Professor Lu's statement. What we have to do now is to fight the British to the end."

Similar statements also appeared on the British side:

"We can't lose to the French!"

The British also discovered that the other party could not be dismissed with just a few words.

As a result, the two sides began to explode with each other,

French said: "French is the most romantic language."

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

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

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

French said: "Then our love will only be more than yours!"

…

During the following period, the two sides exchanged words and exchanges, and the fight was exciting.

Of course, the result is still the same——

No one can convince anyone.

But Proust was miserable.

He was the first to go on stage to express his views, but was inexplicably left alone. Instead, he was more like the host of the exchange meeting.

Nearly two hours passed like this.

It's approaching noon,

Outside the window, the sunlight becomes blazing, and the trees sway gently, casting mottled shadows, providing a hint of cool shelter to the ground.

"Tsk..."

Edward VII sighed in boredom,

I originally wanted to see a fight between the two sides, but this is the result! ?

He touched his belly,

Want to have lunch.

Lu Shi felt that both sides were almost worn out, and both what should be said and what should not be said had been said.

He coughed lightly, letting everyone's attention fall on him.

"Everyone, your debate has been enough to prove that English and French are excellent languages ​​from the aspects of history, expression, writing, etc. Therefore, regarding the publication of "The Little Prince," the publishing houses of both countries should be authorized and sold at the same time."

This result was not unexpected.

The key thing is...

Poincaré asked: "Professor Lu, what was your first language when you were writing "The Little Prince"?"

Lu Shi said without hesitation: "French."

This answer brought silence to the scene.

Immediately afterwards, the French scholars burst into cheers,

Looking at their happy faces, it was like they had won another hundred-year war.

The British were crestfallen.

James couldn't help but ask: "Professor Lu, you obviously wrote "The Little Prince" in London, why did you use French?"

Lu Shi spread his hands,

"The key to how a book should be expressed depends on the content of the story, right? And language, the expression itself, should also depend on the content."

This reason is quite reasonable,

After all, the little prince wanders between roses and foxes, and is very French.

Roland whispered: "Professor Lu is indeed a great writer!"

Verne wanted to laugh when he heard that.

He exchanged glances with Poincaré and France,

The three of them tacitly agreed that the title of Corresponding Academician of the French Academy must have played a certain role.

Professor Lu is as promiscuous as the French, but not a scumbag.

And Lu Shi's next words also confirmed their idea of ​​"wavering, but not scumbag".

Just listen to him say: "Don't worry, I am writing another children's literature work in English, and it is a long one. I believe it will achieve the same success as "The Little Prince"."

There was silence in the auditorium,

Immediately, cheers broke out,

"Lu, I love you!"

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

"I love Lu!"

…

There are countless people who "show love" to Lu Shi.