5.物价
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.
正因为你的朋友迟到了，你不妨指望着（至少怀着希望）让他们来买单，因为在巴黎，一顿饭的价格简直高得让人咋舌。不单大城市的标准是这样，其实以任何标准来看，在巴黎吃住的价格都是出了名的高昂。根据全球最大消费物价数据中心的数据来看，在餐馆里，一小瓶可口可乐或百事可乐的平均消费就达3.91美元。这就是全球558个城市中消费第7高的城市的消费水平。
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？不过即使在巴黎市中心以外的地方，一间公寓的费用也高达每平方米9047美元左右，巴黎真可谓是全球房价排名第12高（在545个城市中）的城市。其他那些对巴黎来说极具竞争力的旅游城市又如何呢？巴塞罗那？其房价在545个城市中排名为第134名。佛罗伦萨呢？那房价就更便宜了，排名仅为第191名。
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.
在一次采访中，一流的美食评论家艾德里安·安东尼·吉尔表示，就算是去很昂贵的法国餐厅，也是随便吃点东西垫垫肚子。在巴黎，主厨是享乐主义者，但食物的制作却是一件复杂的事情。所有的一切都和分子料理，美食家以及高档餐厅有关，虽然这可能对撰写餐厅指南有利，但要是只想着填饱肚子也就无关痛痒了。要是上菜的服务员衣服上沾着一滴凝固了的汤渍，那很有可能是厨师上次试吃菜肴时留下的。在当时旧法国金币还通用的时候，这盘菜可要花费你100万法郎呢。如果你要寻找的是满足你味蕾的食物，那么到其他便宜一点的餐厅去看看吧。这附近有许多打着广告的意大利菜、法国菜、西班牙菜和红酒，但意大利菜和西班牙菜制作简单又正宗，显然巴黎的主厨们似乎已经明白人们真正想要的是小巧精致的菜肴，口感并不重要。
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《餐厅》杂志评出的世界排名前十的餐厅中，没有法国餐厅，也没有法国主厨。在巴黎最好的菜大概是"咬先生"。你可能没听过，但这其实只是"火腿芝士三明治"的一种时髦的说法。不要不相信，这是千真万确的。
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.
对巴黎服务生，我们向来都有成见，但这种成见并非随随便便形成的。一个名叫威廉·温伍德·里德的聪明小伙子说过："虽然每个人都是一个未解之谜，但总体来看的话，就有迹可循了。"所以，就个别巴黎的服务员来说，可能很不赖，但总体来看，他们的态度可能相当无礼。毕竟，法国人那高挺的鼻子，给了我们一个对他们傲慢的态度有所成见的理由。
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厅，他们会故意聘用一些无情冷酷、不苟言笑的服务员；这样的话，他们在解释所谓的烹饪"概念"时就不会在意你的饥肠辘辘了。
2.圣母院
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.
让我们从一堂小小的历史课说起：欧洲饱经杀戮、饥荒、灾难、独裁和战争数百年，曾不断被罗马人、拜占庭人、蛮族人、撒拉逊人、奥斯曼人、俄罗斯帝国等征服和重建。众所周知，苦难孕育人文艺术，欧洲正因如此涌现出大量的优秀作品：纪念碑、绘画、拱门、桥梁、雕像、教堂数不胜数。
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.
巴黎圣母院无疑是世界上最著名的教堂，但其并非独一无二。法国有数以百计的天主教堂、大教堂以及与本国历史相关的修道院，而巴黎圣母院规模并非最大，历史也并非最悠久。它甚至还不是巴黎最古老的教堂，实际也比明信片上的看起来小，因此，略失壮观。这些至少告诉我们巴黎圣母院之所以声誉卓著，一部分原因是它是被人误解的驼背家伙——卡西莫多的家乡。
1.埃菲尔铁塔
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.
埃菲尔铁塔建于1889年，基本上代表着昔日欧洲。它是世界博览会(如今称作EXPO的国际活动)的入口。铁塔为双曲面结构，简而言之，就是由铁管建成的。虽然起初埃菲尔铁塔备受批评，但如今却是世界上知名度最高的建筑之一。
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.
比起巴黎的其他地标，埃菲尔铁塔更具有象征性。的确，它引人注目，备受喜爱。但它真能使纽约的自由女神像、伦敦的议会大厦、罗马的角斗场相形见绌吗？答案显而易见。
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