They become sort of a staging area

它们变成了展台
for what became known as the Belle Epoque.

成就了人们所说的巴黎美丽年代
It wasn't so belle for people who didn't have any money,

对于囊中羞涩的人来说就没那么好了
because those were hard economic times.

因为当时正处于经济困难时期
These department stores still exist.

这些百货商厦现在还在
The BHV, the Bazaar de l'Hotel de Ville still exists in Paris.

BHV 市政厅百货公司至今仍在巴黎营业
Bon Marché.

乐蓬马歇百货公司
There's a terrific book

迈克尔·米勒有本
on Bon Marché by Michael Miller.

描写乐蓬马歇百货公司非常精彩的书
It's still there.

这家百货公司至今也还在
Zola called them "The cathedrals of modernity."

左拉将此称为"现代教堂"
Already in the 1850s they had singing groups

早在十九世纪五十年代那儿就有