Paris intrigues, astonishes, provokes, overwhelms... and gets under your skin. The City of Light is the apex of architectural beauty, artistic expression, and culinary delight. As drop-dead arrogant as the Arc de Triomphe, as disarmingly quaint as a lac-curtain bistro, it seduces newcomers with a Latin-lover style and its subtle siren song invites unhurried exploration of its picture-perfect streets.
巴黎既令人着迷，又让人惊叹。它引人入胜，令人无法抗拒，难以忘怀。建筑之美、艺术之语和烹饪之乐都在这座“灯火之城”里达到了顶峰。像凯旋门一样引人注目的高傲，像饰有蕾丝窗帘的小酒吧一样令人放松的优雅，巴黎以其“拉丁恋人”般的情调吸引着新来的游客，它深奥动人的歌声召唤着人们慢慢欣赏它如画的街景。
Paris is a city of vast, noble perspectives and intimate, ramashackle streets, of formal espaces vertes (green open spaces) and of quiet squares. This combination of the pompous and the private is one of the secrets of its perennial pull. Another is its size. Paris is relatively small as capitals go, with distances between many of its major sights and museums invariably walkable.
巴黎既有宏伟高贵的景观，也有让人倍感亲切的破旧老街；既有规整开阔的绿地，也有幽静的广场。这种恢弘与静谧的融合是巴黎能永远吸引世人的奥秘之一。另外一点是它的面积。作为首都，巴黎相对来说面积不大。许多主要景点和博物馆之间都相距不远，步行即至。
A visit to Paris will never be quite as simple as a quick look at Notre-Dame, the Louvre, and the Eiffel Tower. You'll discover that around every corner, down every ruelle (little street) lies a resonance-in-wait.
巴黎之行绝不只是到巴黎圣母院、卢浮宫和埃菲尔铁塔这些地方走马观花般地看看那么简单。几乎在每一个角落附近，每一条小路上，你都能体会到那等待已久了的身心的共鸣。
You can stand on the rue du Faubourg St. Honore at the very spot Edmond Rostand set Ragueneau's pastry shop in Cyrano de Bergerac. You can read the letters of Madame de Sevigne in her actual hotel particulier, or private mansion, now the Musee Carnavalet. You can breathe in the fumes of hubris before the extravagant onyx tomb Napoleon designed for himself. You can gaze through the gates at the school where Voltaire honed his wit and lay a garland on Oscar Wilde's poignant grave at pere Lachaise.
你可以驻足于福布·圣奥诺雷街上的拉格诺点心店，它曾是埃德蒙·罗思丹的戏剧《西哈诺·德·贝热拉克》中的主要场景；你可以在塞维尼夫人的故居中阅读她的书信，如今这里已是卡纳瓦莱博物馆；你可以在拿破仑为自己设计的奢华的缟玛瑙墓前感受他的盛气凌人；你可以在路过伏尔泰曾经埋头苦读的学校时，从大门向里张望；你还可以到拉雪兹神父公墓，在令人唏嘘的奥斯卡·王尔德的墓前献上一个花环。 |