Renan gave priority to this will for a common life over any ethnic definition and set the French idea of the nation in direct contrast to the almost racial notion of people (Volk) that dominates the German tradition.

Renan将这种共同生活的意愿置于一切族性定义之上，并将法国的民族理念与主导德国 传统的近乎种族主义的民族 (Volk) 概念进行直接的对比。

© Project Syndicate 1995 – 2011

http://www.project-syndicate.org/ 23.02.2009

© Project Syndicate 1995 – 2011

http://www.project-syndicate.org/ 23.02.2009

The very reason that led a majority of the French to say “no” to the referendum on the European Union’s draft Constitutional Treaty in May 2005 may lead them to vote for Bayrou, the most pro-European of all candidates.

2005年5月大部分法国人在全民公决中否决欧盟宪法草案的原因可能致使他们把票投给在所有候选人中最为亲欧洲的贝鲁。

© Project Syndicate 1995 – 2011

http://www.project-syndicate.org/ 29.10.2010

© Project Syndicate 1995 – 2011

http://www.project-syndicate.org/ 29.10.2010

Indeed, that is not the way French politics works.

事实上，这从来就不是法国政治运作的方式。

© Project Syndicate 1995 – 2011

http://www.project-syndicate.org/ 23.02.2009

© Project Syndicate 1995 – 2011

http://www.project-syndicate.org/ 23.02.2009

Without the French Revolution, Napoleon Bonaparte would have remained a gifted and frustrated junior military officer.

如果没有法国大革命，拿破仑•波拿巴将仍然是一位怀才不遇的初级军官。

© Project Syndicate 1995 – 2011

http://www.project-syndicate.org/ 15.01.2011

© Project Syndicate 1995 – 2011

http://www.project-syndicate.org/ 15.01.2011

So he went on helplessly with his reading, and the throaty sound of the French was like the wind in the chimneys to her. Of the Racine she heard not one syllable.

这样， 他无力地继续着念诗；他的法文发音的喉音， 她觉是烟囱里的风似的， 他念的拉辛的诗句， 她一宇也都没有听到。

Lawrence, David Herbert / Lady Chatterley's Lover劳伦斯, 大卫 赫伯特 / 查太莱夫人的情人

查太莱夫人的情人

劳伦斯, 大卫 赫伯特

Lady Chatterley's Lover

Lawrence, David Herbert

© Wordsworth Editions Limited 2005

Former French President François Mitterrand was probably the last European statesman who was treated by his nation like a monarch of old.

前法国总统弗朗索瓦•密特朗很可能是最后一个被他的国民当成旧时君主一样对待的欧洲政治家。

© Project Syndicate 1995 – 2011

http://www.project-syndicate.org/ 11.01.2011

© Project Syndicate 1995 – 2011

http://www.project-syndicate.org/ 11.01.2011

Former French President Jacques Chirac, with his seeming contempt for these new members, is gone.

前法国总统雅克·希拉克似乎瞧不起这些新加入的成员国，但他现在已经离任。

© Project Syndicate 1995 – 2011

http://www.project-syndicate.org/ 23.12.2010

© Project Syndicate 1995 – 2011

http://www.project-syndicate.org/ 23.12.2010

In 1968, after ten years of Charles de Gaulle, and in the midst of a period of strong growth and full employment, the French were bored.

1968年，在查尔斯·戴高乐执政10年之后，在一片高速增长和全员就业的大好形势下，法国民众感到了厌倦。

© Project Syndicate 1995 – 2011

http://www.project-syndicate.org/ 01.11.2010

© Project Syndicate 1995 – 2011

http://www.project-syndicate.org/ 01.11.2010

Indeed, strained by decades of governmental failure to curb massive unemployment, the French are nowadays often perceived as having retired from the political sphere to concentrate on their lives and leisure.

事实上，因为对政府几十年来未能制止居高不下的失业率感到失望，法国人现在通常被认为不再关心政治而只关注他们自己的生活和休闲。

© Project Syndicate 1995 – 2011

http://www.project-syndicate.org/ 21.12.2010

© Project Syndicate 1995 – 2011

http://www.project-syndicate.org/ 21.12.2010

For a democratic-minded president to co-habit (as the French call it) with the very man who sought to sabotage Ukraine’s last presidential ballot would, I knew, provoke institutional paralysis and political chaos. And so it has.

因为一位具有民主思想的总统与曾经妄图破坏乌克兰上一次总统投票的人同处一室（法国人的用词）肯定会引发机构瘫痪和政治混乱，我清楚地看到了这一点，而情况也确实不出我的所料。

© Project Syndicate 1995 – 2011

http://www.project-syndicate.org/ 23.02.2009

© Project Syndicate 1995 – 2011

http://www.project-syndicate.org/ 23.02.2009

The Bush Administration felt betrayed by French diplomatic tactics at the United Nations, while French President Jacques Chirac felt confirmed in his mistrust of the sole superpower and his call for a multipolar world.

布什政府感觉被法国在联合国的外交手段背叛了，而法国总统希拉克则更坚定了他对单一超级大国的不信 任，并且呼吁建立一个多极世界。

© Project Syndicate 1995 – 2011

http://www.project-syndicate.org/ 23.02.2009

© Project Syndicate 1995 – 2011

http://www.project-syndicate.org/ 23.02.2009

Whatever their political preferences, many French voters have the feeling that an “amateur” is facing a “professional."

许多法国选民，无论政治倾向如何，都感到这是一个“业余选手”在面对一个“专业选手”。

© Project Syndicate 1995 – 2011

http://www.project-syndicate.org/ 28.10.2010

© Project Syndicate 1995 – 2011

http://www.project-syndicate.org/ 28.10.2010

French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s appointment of Bernard Kouchner as France’s foreign minister was a brilliant political stroke.

法国总统尼古拉·萨尔科齐（Nicolas Sarkozy）任命贝尔纳·库希纳尔（Bernard Kouchner）担任外长是一项明智的政治举措。

© Project Syndicate 1995 – 2011

http://www.project-syndicate.org/ 23.12.2010

© Project Syndicate 1995 – 2011

http://www.project-syndicate.org/ 23.12.2010

At this particular juncture in time and given the condition of their economy can the French reject the candidate that incarnates by far the best hope for change and “Renaissance.”

在这一时代的特殊关口以及鉴于其经济状况，法国人拒绝最为体现变革和“复兴”的最佳希望的候选人。

© Project Syndicate 1995 – 2011

http://www.project-syndicate.org/ 23.02.2009

© Project Syndicate 1995 – 2011

http://www.project-syndicate.org/ 23.02.2009

Sarkozy made public his disagreement with outgoing President Jacques Chirac about the French position against the American-led war in Iraq.

萨尔科齐公开挑战卸任总统雅克·希拉克（Jacques Chirac）反对美国领导的对伊战争的立场。

© Project Syndicate 1995 – 2011

http://www.project-syndicate.org/ 01.11.2010

© Project Syndicate 1995 – 2011

http://www.project-syndicate.org/ 01.11.2010