Neil: Yes, if the servants talk about the Earl when he's not there, they say 'his lordship'. "His lordship is out" or "his lordship is in the drawing room".
Feifei: His lordship 的意思是阁下、大人。"His lordship is out" 伯爵大人出门了;"his lordship is in the drawing room" 伯爵大人在drawing room 里?画室?Drawing room 这里是伯爵搞艺术的房间吗?
Neil: Ha ha, no. In those days, large houses often had a special room for people to sit in after dinner, especially if they had guests. They called it a drawing room.
Feifei: 原来 drawing room 是饭后和客人一起休息的房间。Nice!
Neil: Very nice. Now, the Earl's wife also had a title: she was the Countess of Grantham, and the servants had to call her 'My lady'.
Feifei: 伯爵夫人的头衔是the Countess of Grantham – Grantham 伯爵夫人。仆人们得称伯爵夫人 'my lady' 夫人。
Neil: And when a servant is talking about her, they say 'her ladyship.'
Feifei: 在仆人们谈及伯爵夫人的时候，需要称其her ladyship 夫人她。
Neil: Her ladyship has retired to her rooms.
Feifei: Her ladyship has retired to her rooms. Retired 退休?夫人她年龄很大吗?
Neil: Haha, no. In those days, 'retired' often meant something like 'gone somewhere else' or 'gone to bed'.
Feifei: 原来 'retired' 的意思是离开或就寝。说了这么多仆人对主人的尊称，那主人怎么称呼仆人呢?
Neil: Well, the masters didn't talk to the very lowest servants, the cleaners, forexample. But for higher servants, the masters called them by name.
Feifei: 主人从不会与职位最低的仆人说话。在主人和高职位的仆人说话时会直呼其名。那是叫他的名字呢还是姓呢?
Neil: That depended on the status of the servant.
Feifei: 叫名还是称姓完全取决于地位status.
Neil: Most of the highest servants were called Mr, Mrs or Miss plus their surname, like Mr Smith or Mrs Jones. Other servants were called by their first names. But masters often gave servants made-up names.
Feifei: 主人称呼职位高的仆人时会用Mr, Mrs或Miss 加上其姓;对于职位较低的仆人来说，主人会直接叫其名或随便给起个名字。因为仆人太多了，主人不可能记住所有人的名字。那主人比较喜欢用哪些名字呢?
Neil: James and John for men, and Emma for women.
Feifei: 因此很多仆人都被称为James, John 或者Emma. Very interesting! 好了，今天节目我们讲了一些英国贵族阶层与其仆人之间的称谓以及日常用语。
Neil: Yes, that's a taste of the language of a hundred years ago.
Feifei: Well, the language may change, but it seems people still love costume drama! 别忘了，如果你在英语学习中遇到任何疑惑，可以在微博上给我们留言或发邮件告诉我们你的问题。我们的邮箱是questions.chinaelt@bbc.co.uk.
Neil: But please address us as 'My lady' and 'my lord'! Bye!
Feifei: Bye!
(Source: bbcukchina.com/learningenglish)
