比利時人：沒政府5個月 日子更好

Belgians Shrug at 5 Months Without Government

比利時自六月十日舉行大選後，已一百四十九天無法組成聯合政府，打破一九八八年的舊紀錄，但很多比利時百姓卻開始覺得，沒有政府，日子可能過得更好。

149 days have passed since Belgium’s June 10^th elections and a coalition government has still not been formed, breaking the previous record set in 1988. Many Belgians, however, are beginning to feel that life might be better without a government at all.

比利時北部荷語區的佛蘭德斯基民黨在六月大選中獲勝，但仍須若干政黨支持才能組成聯合政府，只是籌組政府的談判一直不順，北部荷語區和南部法語區的分裂加劇，更使政治人物無法心平氣和的處理成立新政府的問題，導致比利時的前途出現疑問。

Victory in the June contest went to Christian Democrats from the Flemish north of the country but minority party support is needed for this party to form a coalition government and talks keep failing. As the divide separating Flemish-speaking northerners from the French-speaking Wallon south gets ever wider, politicians are finding it ever more difficult to address with equanimity the problem of forming a new government and the future of the country itself is in doubt.

儘管如此，多數百姓卻生活如常，許多人甚至質疑政治人物何用。地方政府員工伍特斯對於此次政治危機十分憤怒。他說：「比利時成為國際笑柄，每個比利時人都感到空虛、迷惑、憤怒。誰需要這些政客？」

Despite the apparent turmoil, a majority of Belgians are getting on with life as usual and many even wonder what in fact political figures are good for. One local government employee is furious at the ongoing crisis, saying, “Belgium is a laughingstock of the international community and Belgians feel empty, confused and angry. Who needs these people?"

比利時人口共一千零五十萬，操荷語者占百分之六十，操法語者占百分之四十，由於兩族裔關係緊張，導致選制依嚴格的地區和語言界線安排。一名荷語裔郵差說，多數比利時人採取相互容忍的態度，政客卻強調歧異。

Sixty percent of Belgium’s 10.5 million citizens are Flemish-speaking and the other forty percent are francophone, and tense relations between the two communities have resulted in an electoral system arranged on strict regional and lingual lines. According to one Flemish postal worker, however, the majority of Belgians are very tolerant of each other and it is only politicians who stress communal differences.

People are better off.

Life will be better after you get married.

They are very well-off.

Life has improved for all Africans since the 1970’s, but the best-off are Kenyans who enjoy political stability and a strong economy.

duct tape 銀色防水膠帶

aqueduct 水道橋   羅馬水道橋(Acueduco Romano)位於馬德里西北小鎮塞哥維亞

viaduct 高架橋,引道  elevated highway 高架橋(今通用)

fume with anger/fury/indignation 盛怒

ethnic conflict/ communal conflict 種族歧視   不用racial (基本上race只有human race)

different ethnic communities