4月6日至7日，中国国家主席习近平应美国总统特朗普的邀请，在其私人奢华庄园海湖庄园 In 1973, cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post donated her 128-room Palm Beach mansion to the U.S. government to be used as the "winter White House." And now that Donald Trump is president, that legacy has in some sense come true.
1973年，美国谷物食品公司女继承人马乔里•麦利维泽•波斯特将这所拥有128个房间的棕榈滩别墅捐赠给美国政府当作“冬季白宫”。而如今，特朗普成为美国总统，在某种意义上，这一遗赠当初的用意算是实现了。
Post was one of the world's richest women when she finished building Mar-a-Lago in 1927 at a cost of $7 million. American architect Marion Sims Wyeth designed the estate, which sits on 20 acres that border the Atlantic Ocean on one side and Florida's Intracoastal Waterway on the other.
作为当时世界上最富有的女性之一，波斯特斥资700万美元于1927年建成海湖庄园。庄园由美国建筑师玛丽恩•西姆斯•怀斯设计，占地20英亩 Post willed her home to the American government upon her death with the intention that it be used as a warm-weather retreat for the president. But in 1981 the government returned Mar-a-Lago, which had been declared a National Historic Landmark a year earlier, to the Post Foundation, citing its high annual maintenance cost of $1 million.
波斯特死后将海湖庄园遗赠给美国政府，打算让总统将这里作为温暖的静养之所。1980年，海湖庄园被列为美国国家历史地标。美国政府于1981年将其归还给波斯特基金会，原因是庄园每年的维护费高达100万美元。 MAR-A-LAGO'S LIVING ROOM IN 1967
Enter Donald Trump. The mogul's reported first offer for the property - $28 million - was turned down. But he persisted and the market slumped. Trump ended up getting the property for $5 million in 1985, and paid an additional $3 million for Post's antiques and furniture.
随后特朗普出现了。据称，这位地产大亨最初出价2800万美元购买海湖庄园遭到拒绝。但他没有放弃，而适逢房地产市场暴跌。特朗普最终在1985年以500万美元的价格购得庄园，并额外支付300万美元购买波斯特的古董和家具。
Trump turned Mar-a-Lago into a private club in 1995 and built a 20,000-square-foot ballroom with $7 million in gold leaf. He also spent $100,000 on four gold-plated sinks. Basically, there's gold everywhere you look. (When Trump is in residence, he and his family stay in a private wing of the house.)
1995年，特朗普将海湖庄园改造成一间私人俱乐部，并斥资700万美元打造了一个2万平方英尺 Last spring, Trump's former butler and Mar-a-Lago's unofficial historian, Anthony Senecal told the New York Times about the house's "library, paneled with centuries-old British oak and filled with rare first-edition books that no one in the family ever read."
2016年春天，特朗普的前任管家兼海湖庄园非官方历史专家安东尼•塞内加尔对《纽约时报》描述了这里的图书馆：“墙壁镶嵌着百年英国橡木，馆内摆满了珍贵的初版书籍，不过这家人谁也没读过那些书。”
Trump hasn't always seen eye-to-eye with the locals over his plans for Mar-a-Lago. In the last decade, for example, he has fought the town of Palm Beach over the size of an American flag. The original, installed in 2006, was on an 80-foot pole and Palm Beach ordinances forbade flag poles higher than 42 feet; violation carries a daily fine of $250.
特朗普总是因为对海湖庄园的安排不断与当地人发生摩擦。例如，在过去十年里，他曾为了一面美国国旗的尺寸与棕榈滩镇争论不休。他起初在2006年安装的旗杆高80英尺 Trump sued for $25 million claiming his right to free speech was being violated. Ultimately he and the town came to an agreement: Trump switched to a smaller flag posted on a 70-foot pole. And instead of paying fines, he donated $100,000 to veterans' charities.
特朗普以侵犯言论自由为名起诉棕榈滩镇，要求其赔偿2500万美元。最终，双方达成和解：特朗普换了一面较小的国旗挂在70英尺 Then last year Trump sued Palm Beach County for what he called "deliberate and malicious" moves to direct departing flights from the Palm Beach International Airport over Mar-a-Lago. He dropped that suit in November, after the election. It's a moot point now anyway, as the secret service requested a no-fly zone be established over Mar-a-Lago when Trump is in residence.
之后，在2016年，特朗普又因棕榈滩镇安排棕榈滩国际机场的离港航班飞过海湖庄园而将其起诉，称这是“蓄意且恶意的行为”。2016年11月大选结束后，特朗普放弃诉讼。不过，现在这个争议已经没有意义了，因为特朗普身处海湖庄园期间，特勤处要求在其上空设立禁飞区。
When he opened Mar-a-Lago, Trump welcomed Jewish members, African-Americans, and gay couples, who had been prohibited from joining other Palm Beach clubs. Club members reportedly used to pay a $100,000 initiation fee and annual dues of $14,000 (along with taxes and an annual food minimum of $2,000) for the privilege of using the facilities like pool. On January 1, following Trump's November victory, the inauguration fee was reportedly increased to $200,000.
特朗普的海湖庄园开业后，俱乐部成员包括犹太人、非裔美国人以及同情恋情侣，而这些人都被禁止进入其他棕榈滩俱乐部。据报道，该俱乐部成员需缴纳10万美元的入会费和1.4万美元的年费 It is, by most accounts, a profitable business. Trump made $15.6 million from the club in 2017. He reportedly stands to profit even more as president, both through higher fees and through increased interest in the club and its events.
很多事实表明，这是一件有利可图的买卖。2017年，特朗普从这家俱乐部赚了1560万美元。据称，他担任总统后，俱乐部的盈利甚至更高，因为会费涨了，而且人们对这间俱乐部及其举办的活动也更感兴趣。 The Beach Club is on the Atlantic Ocean side of the property.
Trump apparently feels more comfortable at Mar-a-Lago than almost anywhere else, and his pleasure in the estate was in evidence when he talked about it back in 2017. "I have 24 acres in Palm Beach and nobody has anything like that. A big house is on one acre. I have 24. It's the great estate of Palm Beach."
特朗普似乎觉得海湖庄园几乎比其他任何地方都更加舒适，从他2017年的一次谈话就可以看出他对这座庄园的喜爱。“我在棕榈滩拥有占地24英亩的宅子，其他人都没有。占地一英亩的就是大宅。而我的宅院占地24英亩。这是棕榈滩上雄伟的庄园。”