用大家对上段的总结贵族制来引出这段。“贵族制”对大多数人来说，这个词比较负面，代表是少数专权。作者告诉我们这个只有词而已，要看本质，而不是看外在。他用游戏中的“筹码”来解释这个词，“筹码”是代币而非真正的钱，所以“aristocracy"本质来说代表一个能把我们统治好的民主，而不是的大所以为的高高在上的、不可一事的“贵族”。

Is this aristocracy? Well, we need not be afraid of the word, if the reality is good which it betoken: words are wise men's counters, without value of their own; they are the money only of fools and politicians.
这不就是贵族制吗？是的，如果其代表的实质是好的，我们无需惧怕这个词：词语本身并无价值，不过是聪明人的筹码；只有傻子和政治家，才视之为金钱。

细节解析

1、betoken: to show (something)， to be a sign of (something)预示；显示
The straight lines of his eyebrows betokened the impossibility of any sympathy.他眉毛的直线表明不可能有任何同情。《红与黑》
2、counter: a small object that is used in some board games筹码

所在段落

The Story of Philosophy《哲学的故事》第1章Plato第7节VI. The Political Solution第2段第1，2句：

Is this aristocracy? Well, we need not be afraid of the word, if the reality is good which it betoken: words are wise men's counters, without value of their own; they are the money only of fools and politicians. We want to be ruled by the best, which is what aristocracy means; have we not, Carlyle-like, yearned and prayed to be ruled by the best? But we have come to think of aristocracies as hereditary; let it be carefully noted that this Platonic aristocracy is not of that kind; one would rather call it a democratic aristocracy. For the people , instead of blindly electing the lesser of two evils presented to them as candidates by nominating cliques, will here be themselves, every one them, the candidates; and will receive an equal chance of educational election to public office. There is no caste here; no inheritance of position or privilege; no stoppage of talent impecuniously born; the son of a ruler begins on the same level, and receives the same treatment and opportunity, as the son of a bootblack; if the ruler's son is a dolt he falls at the first shearing; if the bootblack's son is a man of ability the way is clear for him to become a guardian of the state(423). Career will be open to talent wherever it is born. This is a democracy of the schools — a hundredfold more honest and more effective than a democracy of the polls.
浙江大学译本： 这是不是贵族政体呢？如果它确实代表的是美好，那么我们无须惧怕这个词：词语是聪明人的游戏筹码，本身并不具备任何价值；只有傻子和政治家才把它们当成真正的金钱。

上句见：Day435