英国《泰晤士报》网站7月29日在“life & style”专栏发表Hugo Rifkind的文章，题目是：Why Sarkozy is not fond of being a Frenchman（为什么萨科奇不喜欢当一个法国人），还有一个副题：法国的诋毁者中会不会也有他们自己的总统，萨科奇（Could the detractors of the French include France’s own president, Nicolas Sarkozy）？摘要如下（英语原文附后）：

    法国人常说，如果少了酒和奶酪，就没了阳光，由此可见法国人对奶酪的锺爱。但令人感到惊讶的是，法国总统萨科齐却讨厌奶酪，不管什么种类。对于一个法国人，没有奶酪比让他们去死更难受。除非，萨科齐总统不喜欢做法国人。萨科齐不喜欢做法国人的十大表现： 
　　1.喜欢慢跑。法国当代哲学家亚伦.芬凯尔克劳特近来在法国官方电视台上发言，请求萨科齐总统停止慢跑。他说：“法国人比较锺情散步，那被看做是灵敏的精神行为，而慢跑则是肉体行为。萨科齐总统应该像诗人兰波那样漫步，此外，他穿的T恤也显得粗鲁。” 

　　2.风格学美国总统。2008年，萨科齐改变法国宪法，允许他同时在国会两院发表“国情咨文”演讲。为了保持国会的独立性，这是自从1873年以来不被允许的。 

　　3. 他在美国新罕布什尔州度假。2007年，当萨科齐在美国新罕布什尔州的沃尔夫伯勒私人别墅度假时，法国社会学家惊呼：“他不在法国的蓝色海岸或者多尔多涅度假，却去了那里。法国人有权知道，谁在为我们的总统度假买单。” 

　　4. 羡慕英国人。2006年时任法国内政部长的萨科齐说：“我们应该扪心自问，为何英国人能在法国土地上购买房产。答案很简单，因为英国国民生产总值比法国多10%，英国人的生活标准当然就比法国人高。” 

　　5. 他认为学习英语很重要。萨科齐的英语公认比较蹩脚，但他本人认为英语很重要。他认为，法国人不应该坚持在国际问题中讲法语，而是像其他国家的人那样讲英语。
6. 他想弥合教会与国家的分歧。尽管这个问题令人头疼，但却非常重要。法国是一个以天主教为主的国家，但伊斯兰教和犹太教也很有势力。1905年，法国通过了《世俗法》，确立了政教分离原则。 

　　7. 他想让法国人周末工作。2007年大选时萨科齐问道：“为什么只有我们的商业机构周末不营业？”自从萨科齐当选总统后，他就提出“多工作多赚钱”的口号，誓言要提高法国经济的竞争力。 

　　8. 他不喜欢喝酒。法国是葡萄酒之乡，但萨科齐绝大多数时候却是个禁酒主义者，只喝饮料或橘汁。很多酿酒商为此抱怨称：“我们怎能信任一位不喜欢酒的总统呢？” 

　　9. 他与意大利女人结婚。布吕尼出生在意大利，7岁的时候，她才搬到了法国。萨科齐此前已经结过两次婚。 

　　10. 他谴责“法国傲慢自大”。2007年竞选总统时，在伊拉克战争问题上，萨科齐谴责当时的希拉克政府“法国式的傲慢自大”。而只有那些讨厌法国的人才认为，“法国式的傲慢自大”是件坏事。

From The Times
July 29, 2009
Why Sarkozy is not fond of being a Frenchman
Could the detractors of the French include France’s own president, Nicolas Sarkozy?
Hugo Rifkind
At first, the world thought that Nicolas Sarkozy had just passed out while jogging. Now — sacre bleu! — we learn that not only was he on a diet (prepared for him by Carla’s fitness instructor) but that this diet included a ban on cheese. A ban on cheese? No Brie? No Camembert? No Roquefort or Reblochon? What sort of cheese-eating surrender monkey is he? Surely, for a Frenchman, this is a fate worse than death. Unless, that is, President Sarkozy is not all that fond of being a Frenchman. We consider the case for the prosecution . . .
1. He jogs No, seriously. This is really bad. Alain Finkielkraut, a renowned French philosopher, recently appeared on the main state television channel and begged the President to stop jogging. “Western civilisation, in its best sense, was born with the promenade,” he said, genuinely vexed. “Walking is a sensitive, spiritual act. Jogging is management of the body.” Sarkozy, he said, should merely stroll, as Rimbaud apparently did. To jog, according to another commentator, is to concentrate on la politique, the dirty business of deals and compromise, as opposed to le politique, its more philosophical counterpart. Plus, he often does it in a NYPD T-shirt, which is patently rude.
2. He styles himself on a US president Last year, Sarkozy changed the French constitution to allow himself to give a “state of the union” address to both houses of Parliament at once. This had not been allowed since 1873, to safeguard parliamentary independence. Other constitutional changes included setting a two-term limit on the presidency, which seems to ring a bell from somewhere, too.
3. And he holidays in New Hampshire Not the Côte d’Azur, not the Dordogne but New Hampshire. In America. When he stayed at a private villa in Wolfeboro in 2007, the French Socialists raised a terrible fuss. “The French people ... have the right to know which generous donor is paying such a price for our president, and to whom he must show his gratitude in one way or another!” seethed one former agriculture minister who was clearly just bitter at having to take the children to Disneyland Paris, again.
4. He’s actually jealous of Britain “We should ask ourselves why the English buy our houses in the Dordogne, in the Périgord and in many other regions,” he said as Interior Minister in 2006. “The answer is simply because the British GDP is 10 per cent greater than the French, and that the standard of life of the British is higher than that of the French.” And not a word about our grim food or scorched red skin. It’s not normal.
5. He thinks it is very important to learn English Sarkozy’s English is admittedly lamentable, as several hilarious YouTube clips will show, if you take the time to hunt them down. But he did take lessons before coming here last year and even suggested, a few years ago, that the French should stop insisting on speaking their own language in international negotiations, but should switch to speaking ours like everybody else.
6. He wants to reduce the separation between Church and State It’s quite boring, this, but terribly important. France is fiercely secular, with none of this Church of England middle ground malarky we have over here. Yet it’s all a terrible mess because the State does fund churches built before 1905 but is powerless to involve itself in other religious buildings (eg, mosques). Meanwhile, when the French pass laws that have an effect on religions, such as banning headscarves in schools (which they did in 2005), they currently have to do so without mentioning those religions at all, which is more than a little silly. Sarko wants an overhaul.
7. He wants to make the French work on Sundays “How are we supposed to explain that we are the only country where shops are closed on Sunday?” he asked during his 2007 election campaign. Since then there has been a long-running fight during which he has drafted one law, had to abandon it and only just squeezed through a second. He’ll be making them work at lunchtime next.
8. He doesn’t drink wine C’est vrai. Most of the time, the French President is teetotal and sticks to fizzy water and orange juice. This has not passed unnoticed by France’s many wine-makers. “How can we trust a president who doesn’t like wine?” wailed a farmer from the Loire when wine sales began to slide in 2007. This year, worse still, an official French government health warning recommended cutting out wine altogether. It’s basically treason.
9. He married an Italian It’s a bit unfair, this one. Carla Bruni was born in Italy but moved to France when she was 7. Plus, Sarko has been married twice before, which is as French as anything.
10. He has denounced “French arrogance” While running for the presidency in 2007, he criticised the Chirac administration for “French arrogance” over the Iraq war. Only a raging Francophobe could consider French arrogance to be a bad thing. You might as well slam the Swiss for being excellent timekeepers or the Brazilians for looking good on beaches.
So there you have it. Sarko, the self-hating Frenchman. Everything on which La France prides herself, this man hates. He has probably never been on strike in his life. Hell, he’ll be using soap and winning wars next. Quelle horreur!

更多翟华推荐文章请参阅

乘客最容易遗忘的10大物品 (2009-01-11 08:36:56)

洋山寨版颈椎疗法 (2009-01-10 08:19:29)

“妄评”中国何时休 (2009-01-09 07:05:24)

2009年改善生活的10个奇招 (2009-01-02 09:49:21)

双语ZT：邓以后的日子(附外国网友评论)(2008-12-28 18:05:28)

双语ZT：透过希望的眼睛看中国(2008-12-28 17:59:26)

双语ZT：指望中国老百姓手松点救经济(2008-12-21 08:04:42)

双语ZT：为什么中国人不敢花钱(2008-12-20 09:02:23)

ZT：日本普通家庭也过得和中国人一样紧巴(2008-12-17 06:30:45)

周日ZT：给“汉语热”泼点冷水(2008-12-07 08:05:38)

周末双语ZT：中国式人肉搜索是善还是恶？ (2008-12-06 08:50:33)

周末ZT：中国如何才能更了解其他国家？(2008-11-30 08:14:51)

周末双语ZT：国民需求建立远高于钢筋混凝土(2008-11-30 08:08:38)

中国官员必备（背）反思演讲稿(2008-11-22 07:42:52)