美国国家公共电台 NPR Le Pen Finds Support In Pro-Europe French City

 

LOURDES GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

And now to France, where the polls show a tight race in the upcoming presidential election. Among the subjects dividing the population is membership in the European Union. The EU is still very popular in France, but right-wing candidate Marin Le Pen says if elected, she will hold a referendum on leaving the EU, and that is winning supporters in unlikely places. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley has our story from eastern France near the border with Germany.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELLS)

ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE¹: Cathedral bells ring out over the majestic² French city of Metz. Metz was built by the French and the Germans and has a shared history going back more than a thousand years. Metz is in the heart of the Alsace-Lorraine region, which changed hands four times since the Franco-Prussian War in 1871. Today, a group of soldiers is showing off their tanks and military hardware to the public in the cathedral square.

JONATHAN NAEGELE: My name is Jonathan. I'm the communication officer for the Deutsche-Fransuziche Brigade. It's a binational military brigade with German and French units working together.

BEARDSLEY: Jonathan Naegele of the French army says this region has close-knit ties with Germany in just about every area. He describes a sort of kinship between the two peoples. It's Franco-German friendship week in Metz, and French and German flags fly together all over town.

(CROSSTALK)

BEARDSLEY: Mayors from twinned cities speak at a reception. It wasn't always like this, says Metz Mayor Dominique Gros. The 75-year-old says his father, grandfather and great-grandfather all fought in wars against Germany.

DOMINIQUE GROS: (Through interpreter) When I was little, I learned that Germany was our enemy, but we've managed to overcome this ancestral hatred³, and we built Europe together. Today, we work together. Our young people go to university together. And we have the same democratic values.

BEARDSLEY: But Gros says people are beginning to look inward again, and he's worried by the nationalist feelings being stirred up by Marine⁴ Le Pen. Despite the deep European sentiment here, a recent poll showed Le Pen has a lot of support in Alsace-Lorraine. Franck Bucher is a political reporter for a local paper. He says many French people are frustrated⁵ when they see the strength of the economies in nearby Germany, Switzerland and Luxembourg, where many of them go to work.

FRANCK BUCHER: (Through interpreter) People feel like the French politicians aren't able to do anything about the economy and social problems in France, so part of Le Pen's success comes from this despair. And because she has never been in power, she's able to position herself as the anti-system candidate.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MARINE LE PEN: (Speaking French).

BEARDSLEY: While Metz celebrating Franco-German friendship, on the other side of town, Le Pen is holding a rally. She accuses her opponents of trying to scare people about her opposition⁶ to the EU. We don't need the EU to go shopping or to work in Germany, she says.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

LE PEN: (Through interpreter) Putting back borders doesn't mean closing your country and keeping people and goods from coming and going. It just means being able to control which people and goods come and go and to keep certain people from getting into our country and staying.

(CROSSTALK)

BEARDSLEY: Jerome and Julien Ferrand are brothers in their 60s. They started voting for Le Pen's party, the National Front, in 2005 when the French people rejected the enlargement of the EU in a referendum. But the French government pushed the measure through parliament anyway. Jerome Ferrand says the people's no was turned into a yes to build an EU that nobody wanted.

JEROME FERRAND: (Through interpreter) We want a Europe of nations in solidarity⁷ but one where every country has control and can do what's best for its own people. We don't want to live under German hegemony.

BEARDSLEY: The brothers say they don't blame Germany. They blame French politicians for taking the EU too far. The men say Franco-German relations will be just fine without the EU. Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Metz, France.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 majestic   

adj.雄伟的，壮丽的，庄严的，威严的，崇高的

参考例句：

• In the distance rose the majestic Alps.远处耸立着雄伟的阿尔卑斯山。
• He looks majestic in uniform.他穿上军装显得很威风。

3 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。

4 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

5 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

7 solidarity   

n.团结；休戚相关

参考例句：

• They must preserve their solidarity.他们必须维护他们的团结。
• The solidarity among China's various nationalities is as firm as a rock.中国各族人民之间的团结坚如磐石。