VOA标准英语2009-Paris Youths Occupy Mansion to Protest Lack

By Lisa Bryant
Paris
12 November 2009

The economic crisis has taken a toll¹ on young Europeans - especially in France, where nearly one in four French between the ages of 15 and 25  is unemployed². Now a group of young Parisians has found an imaginative way to publicize their plight³ - by taking over one of the city's most elegant addresses.

Tourists often pause before the 17th-century stone mansion⁴ across from the Place des Vosges. It was once home to the Marquise de Sevigne, a witty⁵ French socialite during the days of Louis XIV. More recently it stood unoccupied - until a group of young squatters moved in two weeks ago, to protest the lack of jobs and affordable⁷ housing in France.

Thirty-year-old Laurent Dubouchet shows a visitor around the mansion. He is a painter and one of the oldest in the group. The rest - about 40 of them - are students and workers in their twenties. The first squatters began moving in two weeks ago. They're still  arriving - along with a couple of cats, which prowl in the courtyard.

Many of them have part time jobs - but they can't live on their wages. Dubouchet says finding a full-time⁸ job is very difficult.

"I look for jobs. Everybody here is looking for jobs, part-time jobs, any kind of thing," said Laurent Dubouchet.

BRYANT: "What do people tell you?

DUBOUCHET: "There is no job. That is what people tell me. There is no job."

The group calls itself Black Thursday, in memory of the 1929 stock market crash in the United States. But this latest financial crisis has wreaked⁹ havoc¹⁰ on economies worldwide - including in France, where the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development estimates that 10 percent of the population is unemployed. That is one of the highest rates in Europe. Young French are even harder hit - 24 percent of them cannot find work.

Anne Sonnet¹¹ is an OECD economist¹² specializing in the youth labor¹³ market. She says there are a number of factors explaining high youth unemployment here.

"It's partly because of education qualifications," said Anne Sonnet. "Very often they are not well prepared for the labor market mix. And often it's because of the barriers in the labor market. There are many barriers concerning the relatively¹⁴ high minimum wage. The minimum wage is relatively high compared to the [average] wage in France so it's a barrier when you don't have any qualifications and when you start your career."

Sonnet says young people coming from poor and immigrant families are particularly disadvantaged. France is not the only country where young people are having a hard time. The OECD reports more than one in three young Spaniards is unemployed. Youth unemployment in Italy, Greece, Sweden and Slovakia is also high.

In France, the government is pushing a raft of measures to help young people find jobs, including emphasizing apprenticeships. But the young squatters at Place des Voges say they have little faith in the government. Meanwhile, they say, they have gotten support from their rich neighbors -- some of whom have dropped with food. Even the owner of the mansion they are squatting¹⁵ in has shown some sympathy for their cause.

But one local resident, who gives her name as Nadja, says the young people have no right to squat⁶.

Nadja says that squatting is not going to solve France's unemployment problem.

For their part, the squatters hope to take advantage of a French law preventing authorities from evicting¹⁶ tenants¹⁷ during the winter months. So far, they say, the local police have been very helpful and friendly.

 

1 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

2 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

3 plight   

n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定

参考例句：

• The leader was much concerned over the plight of the refugees.那位领袖对难民的困境很担忧。
• She was in a most helpless plight.她真不知如何是好。

4 mansion   

n.大厦，大楼；宅第

参考例句：

• The old mansion was built in 1850.这座古宅建于1850年。
• The mansion has extensive grounds.这大厦四周的庭园广阔。

5 witty   

adj.机智的，风趣的

参考例句：

• Her witty remarks added a little salt to the conversation.她的妙语使谈话增添了一些风趣。
• He scored a bull's-eye in their argument with that witty retort.在他们的辩论中他那一句机智的反驳击中了要害。

6 squat   

v.蹲坐，蹲下；n.蹲下；adj.矮胖的，粗矮的

参考例句：

• For this exercise you need to get into a squat.在这次练习中你需要蹲下来。
• He is a squat man.他是一个矮胖的男人。

7 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

8 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

9 wreaked   

诉诸（武力），施行（暴力），发（脾气）( wreak的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The earthquake wreaked havoc on the city. 地震对这个城市造成了大破坏。
• They have wreaked dreadful havoc among the wildlife by shooting and trapping. 他们射杀和诱捕野生动物，造成了严重的破坏。

10 havoc   

n.大破坏，浩劫，大混乱，大杂乱

参考例句：

• The earthquake wreaked havoc on the city.地震对这个城市造成了大破坏。
• This concentration of airborne firepower wrought havoc with the enemy forces.这次机载火力的集中攻击给敌军造成很大破坏。

11 sonnet   

n.十四行诗

参考例句：

• The composer set a sonnet to music.作曲家为一首十四行诗谱了曲。
• He wrote a sonnet to his beloved.他写了一首十四行诗，献给他心爱的人。

12 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

13 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

14 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

15 squatting   

v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的现在分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。

参考例句：

• They ended up squatting in the empty houses on Oxford Road. 他们落得在牛津路偷住空房的境地。
• They've been squatting in an apartment for the past two years. 他们过去两年来一直擅自占用一套公寓。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 evicting   

v.（依法从房屋里或土地上）驱逐，赶出( evict的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Money spent on evicting sex offenders cannot be spent on treating them. 花在打击性侵犯者上的钱并不能花在治疗这一社会问题上。 来自互联网
• Money spent on evicting sex offenders cannot be spent on treating them. Does this matter? 钱被花费在驱逐性犯罪者而不是用做教育他们，这样做真的好么？ 来自互联网

17 tenants   

n.房客( tenant的名词复数 )；佃户；占用者；占有者

参考例句：

• A number of tenants have been evicted for not paying the rent. 许多房客因不付房租被赶了出来。
• Tenants are jointly and severally liable for payment of the rent. 租金由承租人共同且分别承担。