English Quiz 209

(English Quiz 209)

1. The two men know each other from Sarkozy's brief stint as French Finance Minister in 2004; they met regularly at E.U. ministerial meetings in Brussels. Aides say they get on well and respect each other, but so far that's all. Cozying up to each other is not yet on their agenda; Sarkozy's first two trips as President will be to Berlin and Brussels, not London. Still, in a country where being called Anglo-Saxon is often an insult, Sarkozy is openly admiring of the ability of Britain and the U.S. to create jobs. He promises to deregulate France's labor market and lower the nearly 9% unemployment rate, one of the highest in Europe and almost double that of Britain's. During a May 2 debate with his Socialist opponent, Segolene Royal, he lauded Britain--along with Ireland, Sweden and Denmark--for its success in combatting unemployment. That sort of attitude drew flak during the campaign--opponents tried to paint him as an American-style neoconservative--but it was a winning message. "He's as economically liberal as it's possible to be for a French politician," says Grant.
Q: 試翻 "Still, ... to create jobs."

2. There's certainly a lot of lost ground to make up. France has languished in the economic doldrums for the past few years, even as Britain has caught up and overtaken it. In 2002, according to statistics of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Britain's national income per capita exceeded France's for the first time, and since then the gap has grown sharply. Brits, long the poorer neighbors, are now on average 10% richer than the French. That's one important factor feeding a deepening mood of pessimism about the future in France--a mood that Sarkozy is pledging to change. Brown has challenges of his own. As the architect of Labour's economic policies, he has presided over an economy that has broken records by notching up an astonishing 58 consecutive quarters of growth. Yet he still faces the huge task of raising the quality of public services, particularly the health system, up to French levels. (The French have their own problems extracting value for money from their hospitals, but at least patients don't need to wait six months for a nonemergency medical procedure.) Both countries have a spending problem: French national debt has quintupled since 1980, while Britain is running a budget deficit equivalent to 3.5% of its GDP, according to Peter Spencer, an economics professor at the University of York. While consumer spending has helped fuel Britain's powerful growth, Spencer says, "the bottom line is that we are all living beyond our means."
Q: 試翻 "France has languished ... overtaken it."

3. And yet so far, the U.S., Britain and France have remained united on the need to maintain diplomatic and financial pressure on Iran--which Western policymakers quietly believe is having an impact on the regime's behavior. That could provide a basis for cooperation between the U.S. and Europe on other issues. Although he's unlikely to jettison France's combative and historic love-hate relationship, Sarkozy isn't afraid to say that he admires the U.S. That marks a sharp break with Chirac, who often couched his policies as a counterweight to U.S. influence and frequently called for a "multipolar world" that would dilute American power. But Sarkozy and Brown have provided hints that they intend to push Washington to pay more attention to issues beyond the Middle East, such as Third World development and global warming. In his victory speech, Sarkozy addressed "our American friends" and said, "I want to tell them that France will always be at their side when they need her. But I also want to say that friendship means accepting that friends can think differently and that a great nation like the U.S. has the duty not to impose obstacles to the fight against climate change." Persuading the current U.S. Administration to take more dramatic action on the environment may turn out to be an even more formidable task than curbing unemployment or reforming social services. But if the arrival of Sarkozy and Brown leads to closer cooperation on global issues between the U.S.'s two oldest European allies, then Washington will benefit in the long run. The world tends to be a more agreeable place when your friends get along.
Q: 試翻 "Although he's unlikely to ... would dilute American power."