万花筒 Kaleidoscope2007-11-18&11-19, 罢工效应凸显（在线收听）

Along the rails, there is kind of an empty feeling. But in the stations, the atmosphere is more one of confusion and frustration. An estimated 20 million passengers ride French public transportation each day, and while some trains, buses and subways are coming back online, many are not. And you didn't have to be using public transit to find yourselves stuck. The strike's impact spared no one. And if anyone was profiting from it, it was the phone company which had to handle all those calls from people changing their plans because they could not get to where they were going. But a lot of people are not profiting from it. According to one estimate, the strike is costing the French economy 20 million euros, nearly $30 million, each day. Everyone from big businesses to the corner shops. Henry Depash says no train, no clients so he closed his station cafe for the day. Dominique Lucent isn't sure what her losses are going to be at a neighborhood bakery but she says unlike normal days, after 10:30 in the morning she has practically no customers at all. And it's not just the French who are affected by the strike. France is a nation that attracts 76 million tourists a year. Most depending on some point on public transportation.
It has not been a good experience. It's very hard with the language barrier, not being able to use the system.

So, what were the biggest troubles about, you know, being here?

Getting to the Eiffel Tower, getting to the Louver, any tourist spot was a lot more difficult, either taxi or walking you had to do. So you didn't get to see as much, basically, with the time that we had.

And if the striking transport workers who continue to fight against the government's planned pension reforms are leaving some confused, hurting financially or frustrated, at least some French who have been hurt by the strike say their feelings have on beyond anger to disappointment with their country men.

I think it's a shame from the country, a shame for France, a shame internationally, and people that are striking are fighting for privilege that come from another century, but shouldn’t exist anymore. So it's a bit sad to paralyze a whole country especially when the majority of French people are actually against the strike.

Whatever their feelings about the strike, all those affected by it, including the strikers themselves, shared one thing in common -- no clear idea of how much longer it will go on. Jim Bitterman, CNN, Paris.