2019年经济学人 法国前总统雅克·希拉克(4)

 

A product of France's elite¹ schools, including ena, he was better linked in the public mind with his love of rural Corrèze, where his grandfathers came from: its paysans, its cattle, its cheeses. Compared with his brash successor, Nicolas Sarkozy, he seemed a model of understatement, one of the last French presidents who seemed to embody² the nation.作为法国精英学校(包括法国国家行政学院)的产物，在公众心目中他与对科雷塞乡村的热爱有着更好的联系，科雷塞乡村是他祖辈的故土：那里有农民，牛，和奶酪。和他的傲慢的继承者尼古拉·萨尔科齐相比，他似乎是个低调的典范。最后一位拥抱这个国家的法国总统。By 2010 he was France's most admired political figure. His ineffectual latter years belied³ formidable willpower and political talent, which earned him the nickname, as Prime Minister Georges Pompidou’s troubleshooter in the 1960s, of "the bulldozer". He could charm, too. In 1968 he negotiated a truce⁴ with the leaders of protests that had taken France to the brink⁵ of chaos⁶. Unlike previous generations of public figures, he was personally untouched by the controversies⁷ of the second world war.到2010年，希拉克是最受法国人钦佩的政治人物。他晚年的无能掩盖了他强大的意志力和政治才能，这为他赢得了“推土机”的绰号，在20世纪60年代，他曾是英国首相乔治·蓬皮杜的排解纠纷者。他也有魅力。1968年，他和把法国带到混乱边缘的抗议的领导者达成了停战协议。不像之前的公共人物，他个人没有受到二战的争议的影响。

Perhaps thanks to that, he lanced a historical boil. In a speech in 1995, just two months after taking office, he ended decades of blame-dodging by accepting that France—not just the Vichy regime— bore moral responsibility for the Nazi⁸ deportation⁹ of 76,000 Jews, most of whom perished. In remarks that seem unremarkable now, he said the "homeland of the Enlightenment...committed the irreparable". He left France with many burdens. But not that one.也许正是因为这一点，他打破了一项历史记录。在1995年的一个演讲里，就在他上任两个月之后，他结束了几十年的推卸责任，他接受了法国-不仅仅是维希政权- 对纳粹驱逐76000名犹太人负有道德责任，其中大部分人丧生。在那些现在看来平淡无奇的话里，他说了“启蒙运动的故乡...犯下了不可挽回的罪行”。他给法国留下了很多负担。但是在这一方面没有。

1 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

2 embody   

vt.具体表达，使具体化；包含，收录

参考例句：

• The latest locomotives embody many new features. 这些最新的机车具有许多新的特色。
• Hemingway's characters plainly embody his own values and view of life.海明威笔下的角色明确反映出他自己的价值观与人生观。

3 belied   

v.掩饰( belie的过去式和过去分词 )；证明（或显示）…为虚假；辜负；就…扯谎

参考例句：

• His bluff exterior belied a connoisseur of antiques. 他作风粗放，令人看不出他是古董鉴赏家。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Her smile belied her true feelings. 她的微笑掩饰了她的真实感情。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 truce   

n.休战，(争执，烦恼等的)缓和；v.以停战结束

参考例句：

• The hot weather gave the old man a truce from rheumatism.热天使这位老人暂时免受风湿病之苦。
• She had thought of flying out to breathe the fresh air in an interval of truce.她想跑出去呼吸一下休战期间的新鲜空气。

5 brink   

n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿

参考例句：

• The tree grew on the brink of the cliff.那棵树生长在峭壁的边缘。
• The two countries were poised on the brink of war.这两个国家处于交战的边缘。

6 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

7 controversies   

争论

参考例句：

• We offer no comment on these controversies here. 对于这些争议，我们在这里不作任何评论。 来自英汉非文学 - 历史
• The controversies surrounding population growth are unlikely to subside soon. 围绕着人口增长问题的争论看来不会很快平息。 来自辞典例句

8 Nazi   

n.纳粹分子，adj.纳粹党的，纳粹的

参考例句：

• They declare the Nazi regime overthrown and sue for peace.他们宣布纳粹政权已被推翻，并出面求和。
• Nazi closes those war criminals inside their concentration camp.纳粹把那些战犯关在他们的集中营里。

9 deportation   

n.驱逐，放逐

参考例句：

• The government issued a deportation order against the four men.政府发出了对那4名男子的驱逐令。
• Years ago convicted criminals in England could face deportation to Australia.很多年以前，英国已定罪的犯人可能被驱逐到澳大利亚。