展望年 法國人全球最悲觀

They'll probably meet the news with a typically Gallic shrug, but the French are the saddest nation on the planet.

It's not just their strings of onions that make our friends across the Channel cry - they top the charts for being the most pessimistic people looking ahead to 2011.

The World Cup humiliation, which saw players sent home in disgrace and the team fail to win a game, won't have helped and nor does the handling of the economy by the enigmatic PM Nicolas Sarkozy.

People in developing economies, by contrast, tend to view the coming year more positively.

Now that the fireworks have been put out and the New Year’s bubbly downed, Europeans are ringing in 2011 in a far more downbeat mood, with the French the most pessimistic of them all.

A BVA-Gallup poll of 53 countries found the French the world champions of scepticism, with 61 per cent of respondents saying 2011 will be 'a year of economic difficulty.'

Britons were not far behind on 52 per cent, Spaniards 48 per cent and Italians 41 per cent.

The poll found that 67 per cent of French respondents believed unemployment would rise over the next 12 months.

Employment was also a major concern in the UK, with 74 per cent of Britons believing unemployment would increase. Pakistan came a close second at 72 per cent.

The overall negative sentiment in Europe comes in stark contrast to the emerging economies in Asia, South America and Africa, where citizens are generally optimistic about the New Year.

In Brazil, India and China, 49 per cent of respondents said they believed 2011 would be economically prosperous, with only 14 per cent predicting hardship.

Vietnam topped the optimism rating with 70 per cent Vietnamese expressing confidence in the economic outlook for 2011.

Even in war-torn countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq, respondents appeared to look forward to a brighter future with only 14 per cent of Afghans and 12 per cent of Iraqis fearing a deterioration of their situation.

The poll was conducted from October 11 to December 13, 2010, in 53 countries. More than 63,000 people were interviewed by telephone, face-to-face or online.

法國人看到這則新聞後很可能會報之以一個法式聳肩：法國是全球最悲觀的國家。

這並不是因爲法國洋蔥串的辛辣味道使英吉利海峽對岸的朋友掉眼淚，而是因爲法國人對2011年的展望最悲觀。

法國隊在世界盃比賽上的丟臉表現——球員不光彩地被遣送回國，法國隊一場未勝，以及神祕兮兮的法國總統尼古拉斯•薩科奇的經濟策略都加重了這種悲觀情緒。

相比之下，發展中國家的人們對來年的心態則更爲積極。

新年的焰火已經熄滅，香檳酒也已喝光，歐洲人懷着沮喪的心情敲響了2011年的鐘聲，而法國人則是歐洲人中最悲觀的。

一項由法國調查機構BVA和蓋洛普民意測驗中心聯合進行的調查顯示，法國人對前景所持的懷疑態度最強烈，61%的被調查者認爲2011年法國經濟會很困難。

緊隨其後的是英國人，有52%的英國被調查者態度悲觀。在西班牙和意大利，這一比例分別爲48%和41%。

該調查還顯示，67%的法國人認爲未來12個月內失業率將會上升。

就業問題在英國也備受關注，74%的英國人認爲失業率將會上升。巴基斯坦人緊隨其後，比例爲72%。

與歐洲整體的消極情緒形成鮮明對比的是亞洲、南美洲和非洲的新興國家人民對新年普遍持有的樂觀態度。

在巴西、印度和中國，49%的被調查者認爲2011年的經濟會很繁榮，只有14%的人認爲經濟會出現困難。

越南人最樂觀，70%的被調查者對2011年的經濟前景很有信心。

甚至在飽受戰爭蹂躪的阿富汗和伊拉克，受訪者也預期會有一個更光明的未來，只有14%的阿富汗人和12%的伊拉克人擔心形勢會惡化。

這項跨國民調是於2010年10月11日至12月13日在53個國家進行的。共有6.3萬餘人通過電話訪談、面談或是網上問答參與了調查。

Vocabulary:

Gallic: 法國的；法國人的

enigmatic: mysterious and difficult to understand（神祕的；費解的；令人困惑的）

bubbly: 香檳酒

downbeat: dull or depressing; not hopeful about the future（沉悶的；沮喪的；悲觀的）