The Café Culture in France

Nick Steven

∷王丁玎 選 李香蘭 譯注

The café culture in France goes back centuries; cafes have always been a gathering place for intellectuals to meet and debate philosophical issues; for the Avant Garde set to display their works; for artists to compare and exchange ideas and for writers to drown their sorrows over their artistic anguish or melancholy.1. Avant Garde:（藝術(shù)界）先鋒/前衛(wèi)派；drown: 淹沒(méi)，把……淹死；anguish: 痛苦，苦惱；melancholy: 憂郁，悲哀。Even the freedom fighters of the French Revolution and later the French Resistance would meet in cafes to plot their course.2. plot: 密謀，策劃；course: 道路，路線。In Paris you can find cafes like Café de Flore or Les Deux Magots with name plates indicating where famous cultural figures have sat like Hemingway, Sartre and Picasso.3. Café de Flore: 花神咖啡館，位于巴黎第六區(qū)圣日耳曼大道和圣伯努瓦街轉(zhuǎn)角，長(zhǎng)期以來(lái)一直以其知識(shí)分子精英主顧著稱(chēng)；Les Deux Magots: 雙叟咖啡館，位于左岸的圣日耳曼德佩區(qū)。The Café Society, as it was called, developed in the 19th century as a group of “beautiful people”.

Today you can still find cafes in Paris on every street.They come in many forms but the locals and tourists alike flock to them to soak up the unique atmosphere and sip on a small cup of coffee.4. alike: 以同樣的方式，類(lèi)似于；flock: 聚集，成群而行；soak: 吸收，滲透；sip: 抿，小口喝。In Paris you can find the highest concentration of chic and trendy cafes, both big and small in the Latin Quarter on the Left Bank and in Saint Germaine.5. chic: 別致的，時(shí)髦的；Latin Quarter: 拉丁區(qū)，位于法國(guó)巴黎塞納河南岸的大學(xué)區(qū)；Left Bank:左岸地區(qū)，位于巴黎塞納河左岸，是作家、學(xué)者和藝術(shù)家的匯集之所；Saint Germaine: 巴黎圣日耳曼大道。

The quintessential French cafe has seating indoors and out with small (usually round tables) and plenty of wooden paneling and red and black decor.6. quintessential: 典型的，精髓的；paneling: 鑲板；décor: 裝飾，裝潢。However today’s modern Parisian cafés come in all shapes and sizes: some decorated in chrome and stainless steel but most of them still stick to the traditional intimate interior and outdoor sidewalk seating.7. chrome: 鉻合金；sidewalk: 路側(cè)人行道。

You can usually find a few cakes or sandwiches on any French café menu and many now offer a full restaurant service. The drinks however are more important than the food in the French café culture.60% of French café goers have a preference for “café” or espresso8. espresso: 意大利濃縮咖啡。served in a small cup. Among the most popular drinks are café au lait (coffee made with steamed milk) which is the drink of choice in the morning, petite or grande café crème or Café Noisette( a single or double espresso with a little cream), Café Leger is weak espresso as it has double the water and Café Americain is what we call filter coffee. The café culture includes wine and liquor but they are always drunk with moderation and style not guzzled down as in a bar.9. moderation: 適度，節(jié)制；guzzle: 豪飲。

The classic French waiter, the “garcon” that Jean Paul Sartre modeled his character on in his book Existentialism is an intricate part of the Paris café culture although café etiquette requires that you call him Monsieur.10. garcon:（法）侍者；intricate: 錯(cuò)綜復(fù)雜的；etiquette: 禮節(jié)，禮儀；Monsieur: （法）先生。Paris waiters are aloof11. aloof: 冷淡的，冷漠的。and superior and few admit to knowing English. You should also remember that in the French café culture the customer is not always right! I’m speaking very generally of course but you will find that the Paris café waiters have a distinct character which is all part of the café culture experience. Perhaps the source of the French café waiter’s attitude is that they are not dependant on tips for their salary and so there is not that incentive to pander to the customer’s needs.12. incentive: 激勵(lì)的；pander to: 迎合，取悅。You’ll find that many of the café patrons also exude a certain aloof formal air.13. patron: 老顧客；exude: 流露，顯露。

The other aspects of the French café culture experience are the cigarettes, up until not so long ago smoking was allowed indoors and a thin cloud of smoke would be consistent with most café vibes14. vibe: 氣氛，氛圍。.Now that smoking in public places is illegal the Parisian smokers have moved outdoors and can be seen sucking on thin cigarettes and cigars on the café patios15. patio: 露臺(tái)。or sidewalks. Another idiosyncrasy16. idiosyncrasy: 特質(zhì)。of the French café culture is that there are normally no menus offered automatically as the choices are quite standard, you will also get your bill with your coffee but you can wait until you are ready to go before you pay.

The French café culture is for people who like to be seen and to people watching, there is room in any French café for quiet book readers, romantic couples, business meetings and animated groups of friends sharing a bottle of wine.

法國(guó)的咖啡館文化可以追溯到很久以前。作為集會(huì)的場(chǎng)所，知識(shí)分子在此探討哲學(xué)問(wèn)題，先鋒派藝術(shù)家在此展覽作品，畫(huà)家在此比較和交流想法，作家在此將自己的憂愁盡情融入文學(xué)作品藝術(shù)化的苦惱和憂郁情緒中，甚至連法國(guó)大革命及法國(guó)保衛(wèi)戰(zhàn)中的自由斗士也在此商量對(duì)策路線。在巴黎，像花神和雙叟這樣的咖啡館會(huì)有標(biāo)牌，由此我們可以知道哪些是名人坐過(guò)的座位，例如海明威、薩特、畢加索等。正如其名，在19世紀(jì)咖啡館社交界發(fā)展為“咖啡館社團(tuán)”。

如今，巴黎的大街小巷咖啡館隨處可見(jiàn)，大小不一，但是不管是當(dāng)?shù)厝诉€是游客都喜歡聚集于此感受這種獨(dú)特的氣氛，品嘗一小杯咖啡。在巴黎，大大小小的時(shí)尚咖啡館最集中的地帶是在左岸的拉丁區(qū)及圣日耳曼大道。

典型的法國(guó)咖啡館室內(nèi)室外都有座椅，通常配有小圓桌、木制鑲板以及紅黑色的裝飾。然而，如今巴黎的時(shí)尚咖啡館各式各樣，有些還用鉻合金和不銹鋼裝飾，但是大多數(shù)仍然沿用傳統(tǒng)的內(nèi)部格局，室外座椅延伸到人行道。

法國(guó)咖啡館的菜單通常也提供一些蛋糕或三明治，現(xiàn)在很多咖啡館還提供全套的餐飲服務(wù)。但是，在法國(guó)咖啡館，飲品遠(yuǎn)比食物重要。60%的咖啡館常客還是喜歡喝小杯的意式濃縮咖啡。最風(fēng)靡的咖啡包括：歐蕾咖啡（加入蒸奶的咖啡）一般是上午飲品的選擇，小杯或者大杯的法式牛奶咖啡或者榛子咖啡（加入少量奶油的單倍或雙倍濃縮咖啡）、水量加倍的淡味濃縮萊杰咖啡以及美式咖啡（即過(guò)濾式咖啡）?？Х瑞^也提供酒，但是來(lái)咖啡館的顧客一般都喝得適量，而不是像在酒吧那樣豪飲的風(fēng)格。

薩特在其著作《存在主義》中刻畫(huà)的典型的法國(guó)服務(wù)生體現(xiàn)了巴黎咖啡文化復(fù)雜的一面，雖然出于禮貌我們要稱(chēng)呼其“先生”。巴黎服務(wù)生態(tài)度有點(diǎn)孤傲，很少有人承認(rèn)自己會(huì)說(shuō)英語(yǔ)。記?。涸诜▏?guó)的咖啡文化中，顧客不一定總是對(duì)的！當(dāng)然，這并不是絕對(duì)的，但是你會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)巴黎咖啡館的服務(wù)生擁有獨(dú)特的性格特征，從而構(gòu)成了法國(guó)咖啡文化的一部分?；蛟S，服務(wù)生態(tài)度冷淡的原因在于他們并不指望著小費(fèi)作為糊口的錢(qián)，因此對(duì)于迎合顧客的需求也沒(méi)有很強(qiáng)烈的意愿。你會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)很多咖啡館的常客也流露出某種冷淡、嚴(yán)肅的神情。

香煙則是法國(guó)咖啡文化的另一方面。不久之前人們才能在室內(nèi)吸煙，一縷薄煙似乎也更貼近大多數(shù)咖啡館的氛圍。既然公共場(chǎng)合禁止吸煙，巴黎的煙民則轉(zhuǎn)向室外，因此可以在露天咖啡館看到他們的身影。法國(guó)咖啡文化的另一顯著特征是咖啡館一般不會(huì)主動(dòng)提供菜單，因?yàn)榭晒┻x擇的飲品和食品都是標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的配置。咖啡端上桌時(shí)會(huì)附上小票，但是你可以等到離開(kāi)之前再買(mǎi)單。

法國(guó)的咖啡文化適用于那些喜歡出入公共場(chǎng)合的人們，咖啡館聚集著各種各樣的人：有安靜讀書(shū)的人，也有浪漫的情侶；有商務(wù)會(huì)談的人，也有共享一瓶美酒的友人。