阅读难度：

Why did so many women choose to become mistresses -- or even seek out the position?

Slate.com recommends historian Elizabeth Abbott's new book, "Mistresses: A History of the Other Woman," to explore reasons behind.

For several millenniums, a handful of women have learned to parlay their scandalous relationships into positions of power -- and some have changed history in doing so.

In some cases, they were coerced by powerful men. But in others, they cast themselves into lives of indecency because they were able to gain power in this way.

Many of the women profiled in Abbott's book used their cunning and social advantages to carve out roles of great influence.

In most cases, their ascendancy was only possible through that strategic partnership.

Hernán Cortés' mistress Malinche, Cixi (Tz'u-hsi) in China, Louis XV of France's mistress Jeanne-Antoinette, the mistress of Fidel Castro Celia Sanchez are among the list.

（点击Slate网站查看原文）

新书收录有影响力情妇

       为什么那么多女人愿意做别人的情妇，甚至对这一角色趋之若鹜？

       Slate网站推荐的历史学家伊丽莎白·阿伯特的新书《情妇们：另外一个"她"的历史》可以帮你找到答案。

       几千年来，众多女子利用为人不齿的关系做筹码，获取了权力与地位，有些甚至改写了历史。

       有时候，她们是被权势阶层胁迫，而多数情况下，她们道德沦丧只因想获得权力。

       阿伯特书中所收录的女子无一不是狡猾的利用女性的特有优势，精心谋划，最终成为极具影响力的人物。

       很多时候，她们的上位只有仰仗另一半的光辉才能实现。

       埃尔南·科尔特斯的情妇玛琳切、中国的慈禧、法国国王路易十五的情妇让娜·安托瓦妮特、以及菲德尔·卡斯特罗的情妇西利亚·桑切斯都榜上有名。

(China.org.cn September 5, 2011)