巴黎其實沒那麼美好的十個原因(下)

Prices

5.物價

And because they're late, you might as well expect (or at least hope) for them to pay for lunch because it will be fantastically expensive. Living and dining in Paris is notoriously overpriced, not just by big city standards, but by any standards. According to Numbeo, the biggest online database of cost of living, a small bottle of Coke or Pepsi costs $3.91 on average in restaurants. That's the seventh most expensive in the world out of 558 cities.

正因爲你的朋友遲到了，你不妨指望着（至少懷着希望）讓他們來買單，因爲在巴黎，一頓飯的價格簡直高得讓人咋舌。不單大城市的標準是這樣，其實以任何標準來看，在巴黎吃住的價格都是出了名的高昂。根據全球最大消費物價數據中心的數據來看，在餐館裏，一小瓶可口可樂或百事可樂的平均消費就達3.91美元。這就是全球558個城市中消費第7高的城市的消費水平。

Are you planning a move? An apartment outside the city center costs around $9,047 per square meter, which makes Paris the 12th most expensive city in the world (out of 545) to buy a house. Consider some of Paris' chief rival cities that tourists are prone to flock to. Barcelona? 134th out of 545. Florence? Even cheaper, clocking in at 191st.

你是否有搬家的打算？不過即使在巴黎市中心以外的地方，一間公寓的費用也高達每平方米9047美元左右，巴黎真可謂是全球房價排名第12高（在545個城市中）的城市。其他那些對巴黎來說極具競爭力的旅遊城市又如何呢？巴塞羅那？其房價在545個城市中排名爲第134名。佛羅倫薩呢？那房價就更便宜了，排名僅爲第191名。

Food

4.美食

In an interview, award winning food critic A.A. Gill said that even going to expensive restaurants is still, before anything else, a question of grabbing a bite to eat. Well, chefs are hedonistic and food is rocket science in Paris. Everything is about molecular, gourmet, and fine dining and while this may be great to write restaurant guides, it isn't if you just want sustenance. A waiter will come to your table with a drop of a soup that's actually solid, made by a chef who probably last tasted one of his dishes back when Napoleon was around and then charge you a million for it. If it's actual good flavors you're looking for, look elsewhere, and go for the cheaper restaurants. There's a lot of hype surrounding Italian, French, and Spanish food and wine, but where Italian and Spanish food is usually uncomplicated and genuine, chefs in Paris seem to have got it into their heads that what people really want are minimal, complex dishes devoid of taste.

在一次採訪中，一流的美食評論家艾德里安·安東尼·吉爾表示，就算是去很昂貴的法國餐廳，也是隨便吃點東西墊墊肚子。在巴黎，主廚是享樂主義者，但食物的製作卻是一件複雜的事情。所有的一切都和分子料理，美食家以及高檔餐廳有關，雖然這可能對撰寫餐廳指南有利，但要是隻想着填飽肚子也就無關痛癢了。要是上菜的服務員衣服上沾着一滴凝固了的湯漬，那很有可能是廚師上次試吃菜餚時留下的。在當時舊法國金幣還通用的時候，這盤菜可要花費你100萬法郎呢。如果你要尋找的是滿足你味蕾的食物，那麼到其他便宜一點的餐廳去看看吧。這附近有許多打着廣告的意大利菜、法國菜、西班牙菜和紅酒，但意大利菜和西班牙菜製作簡單又正宗，顯然巴黎的主廚們似乎已經明白人們真正想要的是小巧精緻的菜餚，口感並不重要。

In the top ten list of restaurants in the world by Restaurant magazine, there are no French restaurants, and no French chefs. The best dish to have in Paris is probably a croque-monsieur. You may not have realized this, but that's just a fancy way of saying "grilled ham and cheese sandwich." No, really.

在《餐廳》雜誌評出的世界排名前十的餐廳中，沒有法國餐廳，也沒有法國主廚。在巴黎最好的菜大概是"咬先生"。你可能沒聽過，但這其實只是"火腿芝士三明治"的一種時髦的說法。不要不相信，這是千真萬確的。

Waiters

3.侍者

This is a cliche, but stereotypes and cliches are not casual. A clever man named William Winwood Reade stated that, "the individual is an insoluble puzzle, but in the aggregate he becomes a mathematical certainty". So, individually speaking, your waiter in Paris may be nice but in general terms, they can be ludicrously rude. After all, there's a reason that the stereotype for snooty waiters is a Frenchman with an upturned nose.

對巴黎服務生，我們向來都有成見，但這種成見並非隨隨便便形成的。一個名叫威廉·溫伍德·裏德的聰明小夥子說過："雖然每個人都是一個未解之謎，但總體來看的話，就有跡可循了。"所以，就個別巴黎的服務員來說，可能很不賴，但總體來看，他們的態度可能相當無禮。畢竟，法國人那高挺的鼻子，給了我們一個對他們傲慢的態度有所成見的理由。

High-end restaurants in the center seem to employ unsympathetic and unsmiling waiters on purpose; they will enjoy keeping you hungry while they explain the "concept" of their cuisine.

在市中心一些非常高端的餐廳，他們會故意聘用一些無情冷酷、不苟言笑的服務員；這樣的話，他們在解釋所謂的烹飪"概念"時就不會在意你的飢腸轆轆了。

e Dame

2.聖母院

Let's begin with a small history lesson: Europe has been carved by centuries of blood, famine, plagues, dictatorships, and wars. It's been conquered and rebuilt repeatedly by the Romans, the Byzantines, the Barbarians, the Saracens, the Ottomans, the Russian empire, and the list continues. It's no secret that suffering breeds character and art, and the result is that Europe has plenty.

讓我們從一堂小小的歷史課說起：歐洲飽經殺戮、饑荒、災難、獨裁和戰爭數百年，曾不斷被羅馬人、拜占庭人、蠻族人、撒拉遜人、奧斯曼人、俄羅斯帝國等征服和重建。衆所周知，苦難孕育人文藝術，歐洲正因如此涌現出大量的優秀作品：紀念碑、繪畫、拱門、橋樑、雕像、教堂數不勝數。

Monuments, paintings, arches, bridges, statues, cathedrals. Therefore, despite being arguably the most famous church in the world, Notre Dame isn't unique. There are hundreds of catholic churches, cathedrals, and abbeys of historical relevance in France and Notre Dame is neither the largest nor the oldest. It's not even the oldest in Paris and is actually slightly smaller than it appears on any postcard and, consequently, slightly less imposing. Something tells us at least part of the reason it enjoys such a sterling, famed reputation is that it was home to a misunderstood little guy with an unsightly deformity on his back.

巴黎聖母院無疑是世界上最著名的教堂，但其並非獨一無二。法國有數以百計的天主教堂、大教堂以及與本國曆史相關的修道院，而巴黎聖母院規模並非最大，歷史也並非最悠久。它甚至還不是巴黎最古老的教堂，實際也比明信片上的看起來小，因此，略失壯觀。這些至少告訴我們巴黎聖母院之所以聲譽卓著，一部分原因是它是被人誤解的駝背傢伙——卡西莫多的家鄉。

Eiffel Tower

1.埃菲爾鐵塔

The Eiffel Tower was built in 1889, which in Europe means basically yesterday. It was the entrance to the world's fair, the international event today known as EXPO. It's a hyperboloid structure, which in plain English means it's made of iron tubes. Though initially criticized, today it's one of the most recognizable structures in the world.

埃菲爾鐵塔建於1889年，基本上代表着昔日歐洲。它是世界博覽會(如今稱作EXPO的國際活動)的入口。鐵塔爲雙曲面結構，簡而言之，就是由鐵管建成的。雖然起初埃菲爾鐵塔備受批評，但如今卻是世界上知名度最高的建築之一。

The Eiffel Tower probably embodies and summarizes Paris better than any other landmark. Yes, it's striking and likeable. But does it really outshine the Statue of Liberty in NYC, or the Parliament Building in London, or the Colosseum in Rome? Exactly.

比起巴黎的其他地標，埃菲爾鐵塔更具有象徵性。的確，它引人注目，備受喜愛。但它真能使紐約的自由女神像、倫敦的議會大廈、羅馬的角鬥場相形見絀嗎？答案顯而易見。

翻譯:李聞昱 審校：Aileen 來源:前十網