練習:

　　What should be more French than an outdoor market on a sunny Sunday morning? The air is filled with vital fragrances from the fruits and vegetables piled high in the greengrocers’ creative layouts. A trace of the Atlantic blows off the shellfish on the fishmonger’s bed of ice.

　　This, you think, is the very essence of France, until read those little signs that tell you the tomatoes (which are really pretty tasteless) come from Moroccan hothouses, the grapes from South Africa, and the kiwis from Chile.

　　For generations, the French have prided themselves on their distinctiveness. Nothing has stood for France’s sense of exceptionalism more famously than its cooking. Gallic talent, taste and techniques have been exported all over the world. And therein lies part of the problem. From the Thames to Tokyo, non-French cooks have cracked the codes of the best French cuisine. Meanwhile, what was mediocre elsewhere has been imported. (Believe it or not, one restaurant associate with a famous Paris chef serves steak with a sauce that’s indistinguishable from the stuff on a Big Mac.) The result: many tourists—as well as the French themselves—no longer see what’s so special about French cooking.

　　The decline goes well beyond recent surveys that show growing complaints about mediocre quality and high prices. More and more restaurants-owners say that government tax and economic policies are limiting their profits, and thereby hurting their capacity to invest and hire more staff. They have got stuck in the red tape for which France is infamous—not to mention regulations from Brussels that affect everything from sales taxes to the bacteria in the Brie cheese. Many warn that expanding the European Union to the east will hurt small French farmers, who remain the backbone of traditional cuisine—and, hence French identity: Unfortunately for the French, there are few reassuring answers to these questions.

　　France’s problem isn’t the lack of creativity, but rather an unfavorable political environmentfor creativity. If you’re choked by bureaucracy and taxes, as so much of France is, “there is not much you can do,” says Raymond Blanc, born in the Jura region of France and chef of the two-star hotel-restaurant Manoir aux Quat’saisons. “I can open a business in England in five days. In France it would take three months.” The manoir aux Quat’saisons, by the way, is in Oxford, Britain, France’s ancient rival. And, when it comes to cooking, a future one as well.

　　參考譯文:

　　還有什么比晴朗的周日上午的露天市場更具法國風情呢?空氣中滿是水果和蔬菜的香味, 這些水果和蔬菜被商販們擺放得極具創意.魚販子們冰床上的新產品還帶著大西洋的痕跡.

　　你可能會認為這就是法國的精髓所在, 直到你看到那些小標簽上標明西紅柿(真的很難吃)是摩洛哥的溫室里培養出來的, 葡萄是從南非出產的, 而獼猴桃的產地則是智利.

　　對于幾代法國人來說, 他們都為自己的獨特而感到驕傲.沒有什么比烹飪更能代表法國的優越性.法國人的烹飪天賦,品味以及技術已經遍及世界各地, 但是 卻存在著問題.從泰晤士到東京, 非法國本土廚師已經破解出了最高水平法式烹飪的秘訣.與此同時, 其他地方平庸的烹飪技藝被引入法國.(信不信由你, 一家號 稱有巴黎名廚的餐館做牛排用的醬料與做巨無霸所用的醬料別無兩樣.)其結果是: 許多游客——連同法國人自己——根本就看不出法國烹飪到底有什么特別.

　　這種衰落與最近一項調查吻合.這項調查顯示人們對法式烹飪的平庸及高價的抱怨在不斷增加.越來越多的餐館老板聲稱政府的稅收和經濟政策使他們的利潤 減少, 因而削弱了他們進一步投資或者雇用更多員工的能力.他們陷入繁文縟節使得法國聲名狼籍——更不用提布魯塞爾的那些條條框框, 從銷售稅到布里干酪里的 細菌含量, 這些條條框框的影響遠處不在.許多人警告說, 歐盟東擴會損害法國小農場主的利益, 而這些人是法國傳統烹飪的支柱——因此出現了法國的身份問題. 讓法國人感到不幸的是, 對于這些問題, 至今沒有找到讓人放心的解決辦法.

　　法國的問題并不在于缺少創造性, 而是政治環境不利于創造性的發展.如果官僚作風和稅收壓得你透不過氣來, 就像法國一樣, “你根本就沒辦法有所作 為.”瑞蒙德.布朗說道, 他出生在法國的釹拉地區, 現在是一家叫做四季莊園的二星級賓館的主廚.”在英國, 我能在五天之內開店, 而在法國則要花上三個月時 間.”順便說一句, 四季莊園開在英國的牛津, 法國的老對手那里.在烹飪方面, 英國在未來仍將是法國的競爭對手.

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