2007年VOA标准英语-India's 'French Riviera' Clings to Gallic Cultu

By Steve Herman
Pondicherry, India
03 September 2007

India has been celebrating the 60th anniversary of its independence from the British Raj. But the British were not the only colonizers on the subcontinent in the mid-20th century. While the Union Jack¹ was lowered for the last time in 1947, other nations hung on. The Portuguese² clung to their colony in Goa until ousted³ by Indian troops in 1961. In 1954, the French quit their sleepy Indian seaside enclave of Pondicherry in southern India. VOA's Steve Herman traveled to what is now the Union Territory of Pondicherry to see what remains⁴ of the French legacy⁵ there.

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Quiet venue in Pondicherry

 On a quiet, shady street a few blocks from the Bay of Bengal, a three-wheeled auto⁷ taxi sputters⁸ past the decaying facades⁹ of French-built structures. The driver presses the bulb of his exterior-mounted horn to warn the few pedestrians¹⁰ ambling¹¹ along the Rue¹² de la Caserne.

This beachside community has been infused by Indian speech, dress and food since the French agreed to abandon their last territories in India in 1954. But the French atmosphere lingers, among the colonial-era mansions¹³, churches, boulevards and promenades¹⁵.

Prabhakar Vaidyanathan epitomizes the modern Pondicherry. His family chose Indian nationality over French after nearly 300 years of French colonial rule.

"We had a choice, but we refused to become French. But I still studied French. I have a lot of French friends. What remains of the French here now is a little of the culture that we've shared with them, they've shared with us, the way we eat, the way we speak," he said. "Even our Tamil [language] is different than the Tamil in Tamil Nadu."

Pondicherry cathedral

That mélange of Tamil and French, along with English, is the lingua franca [common commercial language] of the nearly one million people living in this territory of 300 square kilometers, which hugs the coast of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

France has a consulate¹⁶ here and various French entities¹⁷ help to maintain the cultural influence, including secondary schools, an Alliance Francaise (which runs the Le Club restaurant), the Institut Français de Pondichéry and the hangout of the now elderly men who fought in France's wars, the Foyer du Soldat.

While an estimated 20,000 Pondicherrians have moved to France, about 10,000 French reside here.

Alain Golivet is an abstract artist who came to Pondicherry from France five years ago. Sitting at the bar of a seaside hotel and sipping¹⁸ a cognac, Golivet says he does not spend much time waxing nostalgic about the faded French influence.

Golivet says he sees Pondicherry as a small town in a big country, a nice place for old guys to hang out with their French-speaking friends in the former administrative¹⁹ capital of Indian France.

 

Despite the émigrés from France, Golivet does not expect the new blood will restore Pondicherry's Gallic vigor²⁰.

The artist predicts that a half-century from now, the only remnants of France in Pondicherry will be basically what is here now - the architecture in the French Quarter.

That does not seem to cause angst among the locals. After all, the French, Dutch, English and Portuguese fought for centuries for domination of this patch of coast, and all have faded from memory with little consequence.

Street scene in Pondicherry

Pondicherry faces challenges in expanding its tourism base. It has less than 1,000 air-conditioned hotel rooms. It is several hours by car or train from the nearest airport at Chennai. The town is overshadowed as a tourist destination by its neighbor Auroville, a sprawling²¹ utopian commune, which actually lies in Tamil Nadu, not the territory of Pondicherry.

The current territorial²² government has officially renamed the enclave Puducheri, although few people anywhere use the name. It plans to build a deep-water port for international trade and tourism.

Two thousands years ago, a port existed just south of the town where Roman goods, including wine, were imported. Those gathered in the bar of the Hotel Promenade¹⁴ say they will drink to that.

1 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

2 Portuguese   

n.葡萄牙人；葡萄牙语

参考例句：

• They styled their house in the Portuguese manner.他们仿照葡萄牙的风格设计自己的房子。
• Her family is Portuguese in origin.她的家族是葡萄牙血统。

3 ousted   

驱逐( oust的过去式和过去分词 )； 革职； 罢黜； 剥夺

参考例句：

• He was ousted as chairman. 他的主席职务被革除了。
• He may be ousted by a military takeover. 他可能在一场军事接管中被赶下台。

4 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

5 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

6 venue   

n.犯罪地点，审判地，管辖地，发生地点，集合地点

参考例句：

• The hall provided a venue for weddings and other functions.大厅给婚礼和其他社会活动提供了场所。
• The chosen venue caused great controversy among the people.人们就审判地点的问题产生了极大的争议。

7 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

8 sputters   

n.喷溅声( sputter的名词复数 )；劈啪声；急语；咕哝v.唾沫飞溅( sputter的第三人称单数 )；发劈啪声；喷出；飞溅出

参考例句：

• Fat sputters in the frying pan. 肥油在炸锅里劈啪劈啪地响。 来自辞典例句
• Worst cases can lead to recession or the dreaded'stagflation", when inflation soars and growth sputters. 当时最严重的情况是在通货膨胀物价剧增时导致经济萧条或可怕的滞涨现象。 来自互联网

9 facades   

n.（房屋的）正面( facade的名词复数 )；假象，外观

参考例句：

• Terraces of asphalt are placed by the building's south and west facades. 沥青露台位于建筑的南面和西面。 来自互联网
• Preserving historic buildings or keeping only their facades (or fronts) grew common. 保存历史建筑或是保持它们普通的正面增长。 来自互联网

10 pedestrians   

n.步行者( pedestrian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Several pedestrians had come to grief on the icy pavement. 几个行人在结冰的人行道上滑倒了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Pedestrians keep to the sidewalk [footpath]! 行人走便道。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

11 ambling   

v.（马）缓行( amble的现在分词 )；从容地走，漫步

参考例句：

• At that moment the tiger commenced ambling towards his victim. 就在这时，老虎开始缓步向它的猎物走去。 来自辞典例句
• Implied meaning: drinking, ambling, the people who make golf all relatively succeed. 寓意：喝酒，赌博，打高尔夫的人都比较成功。 来自互联网

12 rue   

n.懊悔，芸香，后悔；v.后悔，悲伤，懊悔

参考例句：

• You'll rue having failed in the examination.你会悔恨考试失败。
• You're going to rue this the longest day that you live.你要终身悔恨不尽呢。

13 mansions   

n.宅第，公馆，大厦( mansion的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Fifth Avenue was boarded up where the rich had deserted their mansions. 第五大道上的富翁们已经出去避暑，空出的宅第都已锁好了门窗，钉上了木板。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• Oh, the mansions, the lights, the perfume, the loaded boudoirs and tables! 啊，那些高楼大厦、华灯、香水、藏金收银的闺房还有摆满山珍海味的餐桌！ 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

14 promenade   

n./v.散步

参考例句：

• People came out in smarter clothes to promenade along the front.人们穿上更加时髦漂亮的衣服，沿着海滨散步。
• We took a promenade along the canal after Sunday dinner.星期天晚饭后我们沿着运河散步。

15 promenades   

n.人行道( promenade的名词复数 )；散步场所；闲逛v.兜风( promenade的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• He often promenades his wife along the Thames Embankment. 他常常带太太沿着泰晤士河堤防散步。 来自辞典例句
• Stoas lined marketplaces and sanctuaries and formed places of Business and public promenades. 柱廊围绕在市场和神庙的四周，是交易和公众散步的场所。 来自互联网

16 consulate   

n.领事馆

参考例句：

• The Spanish consulate is the large white building opposite the bank.西班牙领事馆是银行对面的那栋高大的白色建筑物。
• The American consulate was a magnificent edifice in the centre of Bordeaux.美国领事馆是位于波尔多市中心的一座宏伟的大厦。

17 entities   

实体对像； 实体，独立存在体，实际存在物( entity的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Our newspaper and our printing business form separate corporate entities. 我们的报纸和印刷业形成相对独立的企业实体。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities. 北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。

18 sipping   

v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• She sat in the sun, idly sipping a cool drink. 她坐在阳光下懒洋洋地抿着冷饮。
• She sat there, sipping at her tea. 她坐在那儿抿着茶。

19 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。

20 vigor   

n.活力，精力，元气

参考例句：

• The choir sang the words out with great vigor.合唱团以极大的热情唱出了歌词。
• She didn't want to be reminded of her beauty or her former vigor.现在，她不愿人们提起她昔日的美丽和以前的精力充沛。

21 sprawling   

adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着）

参考例句：

• He was sprawling in an armchair in front of the TV. 他伸开手脚坐在电视机前的一张扶手椅上。
• a modern sprawling town 一座杂乱无序拓展的现代城镇

22 territorial   

adj.领土的，领地的

参考例句：

• The country is fighting to preserve its territorial integrity.该国在为保持领土的完整而进行斗争。
• They were not allowed to fish in our territorial waters.不允许他们在我国领海捕鱼。