一个外国客户听说我想去巴黎,就送了一本关于巴黎的小说给我。小说的名字是"Almost French"
下面这段话是摘自"Almost French"这本小说：
If I had to pick one word to sum up my life in France, it'd have to be "adventure". Every moment has been vivid, intensely felt. No doubt many people who live in a foreign country would say the same thing. But there is, I think, something that sets France apart from many other parts of the world. I know of no other country that is so fascinating yet so frustrating, so aware of the world and its place within it but at the same time utterly insular. A nation touched by nostalgia, with a past so great - so marked by brilliance and achievement -- that French people today seem both enriched and burdened by it. France is a like a maddening,moody lover who inspires emotional highs and lows. One minute it fills you with a rush of passion, the next you are full of fury, itching to smack the mouth of some sneering shopkeeper or smug civil servant. Yes, it's a love-hate relationship. But it's charged with (充满）so much mystery, longing and that French specialty - seduction - that we can't resist coming back for more.
看完这段话后，你也想去巴黎么？ ^___^
be itching to do something, be itching
for something informal to want to do something very much
and as soon as possible:
He was itching for a fight.
insular: 与外界隔绝，封闭
"...with a past so great - so marked by brilliance and achievement - that French people today seem both enriched and burdened by it."
确实，辉煌的过去，虽让人骄傲，却让人感伤。 人还是活在当下，向前看比较好。