2007年VOA标准英语-French Engineer Reflects on Mauritania's Develo

By Phuong Tran
Nouakchott, Mauritania
13 July 2007

French engineer Jean Sahuc arrived in West Africa in the early 1950's to oversee¹ the building of Mauritania's capital. Almost 50 years after he laid the first foundation stones in Nouakchott, Sahuc takes reporter Phuong Tran on a tour of the capital for her report on one of the oldest immigrant communities in Mauritania, the French. This report is one of a five-part series on immigrant communities in West Africa.

Jean Sahuc

French engineer Jean Sahuc, 78, leans close to the steering² wheel of his white truck as he drives around Nouakchott.

He has been retired³ from the French civil service for more than 10 years.

But even in retirement⁴, he is surrounded by multi-colored folders⁵ that carry plans for World Bank-funded schools he is helping⁶ to build.

The engineer says when he arrived in Mauritania in 1953, there was no airport, no agriculture, no local government employees or even a capital. The capital was located in St. Louis, Senegal.

Sahuc says he attended the signing ceremony when the capital was moved to its present location in 1958, two years before Mauritania gained independence from France.

French engineer Jean Sahuc laying first stone at government palace, circa 1960 in Nouakchott, Mauritania

Sahuc says that throughout the 1960's he helped the new government build its offices, ministers' homes, roads, a hospital and airport.

Sahuc points out traffic lanes added in 1970 to ease congestion⁷. But he says traffic has been a problem since the 1972 drought sent people fleeing to the capital in search of work.

Sahuc says, in the past, French families working in Mauritania stayed at least 10 years, some up to 20. Now, he says, the French do not stay as long.

He says it used to be easy to form long-term friendships with other French residents because they stayed longer in Mauritania. Sahuc says that since the French government limited the amount of time its civil servants can work in Mauritania to less than five years, the community is not as close.

Map of Nouakchatt before independence from France

According to France's ministry⁸ of foreign affairs, 3,000 French live in Mauritania, mostly in Nouakchott, while an additional 8,000 pass through every year.

The total population of Mauritania is more than three million.

Even though the French foreign ministry says France is Mauritania's largest bilateral⁹ donor¹⁰, giving about $25 million every year, Sahuc says he thinks France has less influence than before because there are more investors¹¹ from other countries.

He says 50 years ago, there were more than 400 French companies in Mauritania. The French embassy in Mauritania says there are now about a dozen.

Sahuc says despite 50 years in Nouakchott, he and his wife live much like they did in France, with a home garden and colorful flora¹² he manages to keep alive in the middle of the desert.

He says the garden is his way of fighting back against the sand.

Sahuc says he continues to live in Mauritania because of the climate and the simple way of life. But even that is changing, he says.

He says he used to enjoy camping out in the desert among the sand dunes¹³, a common vacation in a country where most still live the nomadic¹⁴ life. But Sahuc says everyone seems to think only about making money now. He says it is hard to get away from that, even in the open desert.

1 oversee   

vt.监督，管理

参考例句：

• Soldiers oversee the food handouts.士兵们看管着救济食品。
• Use a surveyor or architect to oversee and inspect the different stages of the work.请一位房产检视员或建筑师来监督并检查不同阶段的工作。

2 steering   

n.操舵装置

参考例句：

• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration. 他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。
• Steering according to the wind, he also framed his words more amicably. 他真会看风使舵，口吻也马上变得温和了。

3 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

4 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

5 folders   

n.文件夹( folder的名词复数 )；纸夹；（某些计算机系统中的）文件夹；页面叠

参考例句：

• Encrypt and compress individual files and folders. The program is compact, efficient and user friendly. 加密和压缩的个人档案和folders.the计划是紧凑，高效和用户友好。 来自互联网
• By insertion of photocopies,all folders can be maintained complete with little extra effort. 插入它的复制本，不费多大力量就能使所有文件夹保持完整。 来自辞典例句

6 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

7 congestion   

n.阻塞，消化不良

参考例句：

• The congestion in the city gets even worse during the summer.夏天城市交通阻塞尤为严重。
• Parking near the school causes severe traffic congestion.在学校附近泊车会引起严重的交通堵塞。

8 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

9 bilateral   

adj.双方的，两边的，两侧的

参考例句：

• They have been negotiating a bilateral trade deal.他们一直在商谈一项双边贸易协定。
• There was a wide gap between the views of the two statesmen on the bilateral cooperation.对双方合作的问题，两位政治家各自所持的看法差距甚大。

10 donor   

n.捐献者；赠送人；(组织、器官等的)供体

参考例句：

• In these cases,the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards.在这类情况下，接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。
• The Doctor transplanted the donor's heart to Mike's chest cavity.医生将捐赠者的心脏移植进麦克的胸腔。

11 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

12 flora   

n.(某一地区的)植物群

参考例句：

• The subtropical island has a remarkably rich native flora.这个亚热带岛屿有相当丰富的乡土植物种类。
• All flora need water and light.一切草木都需要水和阳光。

13 dunes   

沙丘( dune的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The boy galloped over the dunes barefoot. 那男孩光着脚在沙丘间飞跑。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat. 将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。

14 nomadic   

adj.流浪的；游牧的

参考例句：

• This tribe still live a nomadic life.这个民族仍然过着游牧生活。
• The plowing culture and the nomadic culture are two traditional principal cultures in China.农耕文化与游牧文化是我国传统的两大主体文化。