只差四十多天了，比利時可望改寫世界紀錄！
法語與荷語兩大族群不合，使得政府難產。根據維基百科：自從比利時聯邦化後，政府結構更趨複雜。在聯邦政府以下根據語言族群而設立了三個社區，即法語社區、荷語社區以及德語社區；同時又設立了三個行政區，即瓦隆區、法蘭德斯區和布魯塞爾-首都區。
官方語言，不一定經國家立法規定，有些只是官方提倡。中国的官方語言是普通話，美利堅合眾國是英語，日本的官話以前稱國語現在改稱日本語....。美國憲法中沒有明訂官方語言，聯邦政府也不曾制訂任何法律來規定語言的使用，所以美國在1800年代就開始有"English Only Movement"，但是這個運動從來沒有真正流行或是影響到聯邦政府。在2000年柯林頓總統簽署了一項行政命令，聯邦政府機關須改善與移民的溝通方式。這無疑與"English Only Movement"的宗旨背道而馳。但是相對的，這個行政命令也維護了新移民的權利與美國這個移民國家的的多元性、包容與活力。或許正是這份對多元價值的包容才讓美國聯邦得以運行，並且維持強盛的國力。
台灣也有過"Mandarin Only Movement",而且是由集權政府所發起的，我也經歷過那段歷史。近十幾二十年來，本土劇大為流行，偶爾在談話性的節目上聽到藝人們抱怨著「國語人」要講台語的辛苦。那麼原本說台語的人在一個"Mandarin Only"的環境下得辛苦又何止是只有工作上的挫折呢！
Charlemagne
Jan 27th 2011 | from PRINT EDITION
The trouble with Flanders
Why Belgium’s unending linguistic disputes matter to Europe
PITY the books of Leuven, a seat of learning since 1425. The Dutch humanist Erasmus taught at the university; Mercator, the Flemish cartographer who projected the globe, learnt maths there.
But besides intellectual ferment, Leuven has known much cultural vandalism. Some manuscripts were carted to Paris when French revolutionaries closed the university. The library was set ablaze by the Germans in the first world war. It was rebuilt with international (mainly American) help, and burnt again in the second world war.
In 1968, though, it was the Belgians themselves who cleft the book collection during their language wars. To Flemish students’ cries of Walen Buiten (“Walloons Out”), the French-speaking bit of the university was ejected. The library’s 1.6m books were divided, often by the crude expedient of keeping odd-numbered tomes in Leuven and sending even-numbered ones to the new campus of Louvain-la-Neuve, in French-speaking Wallonia.
The 1968 partition divided the Catholic church (both universities are Catholic) and brought down the government. Belgium’s conservative Catholic party split into Francophone and Flemish halves, followed by the liberals and the socialists. Belgian politics became tribal, with each party championing its own linguistic agenda. Over the years these rows have turned Belgium into a near-ungovernable federation, with powers devolved downwards. The Belgian state has become a hollowed-out shell, with a little-loved flag and a forlorn sovereign, Albert II, who could yet end up as the last king of the Belgians—indeed, the last Belgian.
Chronic bickering since the election in June 2010 has left a caretaker government in office for 230 days and counting, a European record. Belgium is on course to beat Iraq’s 289 days without a government. Yet the country has so many layers of administration that daily life goes on. Belgian ministers made a decent fist of their country’s six-month rotating presidency of the European Union in the second half of 2010. Eurocrats in Brussels are only faintly aware of living in a paralysed country. And, despite a few recent wobbles, the bond markets seem largely unconcerned about Belgium’s giant public debt of close to 100% of GDP. It was only on January 23rd that Belgian students organised protest rallies to urge their country’s politicians to get a move on.
The world gives little thought to Belgium. Yet it may soon have to pay more attention. As the crisis drags on, a break-up of Belgium looks less unthinkable than it was. The effects would be felt far beyond the fantasy world of Tintin and Magritte’s bowler-hatted men falling from the sky.
Paradoxically the slow dissolution of Belgium, the most pro-European of countries, goes hand in hand with the (uneven) deeper integration of the EU. Belgium is facing its worst troubles just as the EU confronts the gravest challenge to the euro. One way of looking at Belgium’s divide is as a counterpart to the EU’s split between a Germanic, frugal north and a subsidy-dependent Latin south. Financial markets stand ready to dump Belgian bonds at any hint of formal partition, because of uncertainty over who would repay the country’s debts. But, for the moment, the euro gives all parties the luxury of intransigence. Without it, the stalemate might have triggered a run on the Belgian franc.
Today’s blockage is unlike previous ones in that an avowedly separatist party, the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), has for the first time become dominant in Flanders. Led by Bart de Wever, a charismatic bruiser, the N-VA’s appeal stems precisely from popular exasperation with the messy, unsatisfying compromises of the older political groups. It wants a decisive shift of powers to Flanders, and makes little secret of its wish to see Belgium “evaporate” within the EU. Danny Pieters, the N-VA president of the Belgian Senate, says he sees no need for a Flemish army: one day Belgian forces will be part of a European one. For the N-VA, Europe is the acid that will help to dissolve Belgium.
Strangely, perhaps, this same erosion of sovereignty is seen as an antidote to violent nationalism. European integration overcame the historic enmity between France and Germany. Ireland’s entry into the EU helped to end the worst of Northern Ireland’s sectarian war. In the Balkans, the EU offers the balm of membership to heal the trauma of the Yugoslav wars. But is this not all romantic nonsense when Belgium, a founder of the EU as well as the host to its capital, struggles to hold together? No, says Mark Leonard, director of the European Council on Foreign Relations, a think-tank. By “taking the gun out of politics”, the EU has contradictory effects. It makes it easier to draw violent groups into politics; but it also allows peaceful nationalists to act up, and voters to support them, because there is no danger of bloodshed.
Put the carving knife away
This does not mean that Belgium can dissect itself without anybody worrying. Spain and Italy would not be the only places to fret about the precedent of rich regions pulling away from poorer ones. Scottish nationalists speak of independence within Europe. Many ex-communist countries have big national minorities: think of Hungarians in Slovakia. Redraw Belgium and break the mystique of European tolerance—and one creates doubts across much of the EU’s eastern swathe.
Changing national borders only rarely resolves nationalist and ethnic disputes. Where communities overlap, tolerance, minority rights, autonomy and cross-border co-operation are better democratic tools. Take Brussels. If Flanders breaks away from Belgium, could Brussels, officially bilingual but overwhelmingly Francophone, leave Flanders? Indeed, this conundrum offers the best hope that, in the end, Flemings and Walloons will live together somehow. Splitting a city is harder than breaking up a university—luckily for Belgium, and perhaps for Europe.
Economist.com/blogs/charlemagne (http://www.economist.com/blogs/charlemagne)
from PRINT EDITION | Europe
cartographer /kɑr'tɑgrəfɚ/ 製圖員
ferment 發酵 v. /fɚ'mɛnt/ n. /'fɝmɛnt/
ablaze
1. burning quickly and strongly 猛烈燃燒 not before noun written
* The whole building was soon ablaze. 整棟大樓很快就熊熊燃燒起來。
* Cars and buses were set ablaze during the riot. 暴亂中許多轎車和公共汽車被縱火焚燒。
2. full of bright colours or light 閃耀；發光；明亮；色彩鮮豔 ~ (with sth) not before noun written
* The trees were ablaze with the colours of autumn. 樹木披上了絢麗的秋裝。
* There were lights still ablaze as they drove up to the house. 他們駕車到了屋前時，（屋內）燈火仍然通明。
3. full of strong emotion or excitement 充滿激情的；情緒激動的
cleft 裂口
expedient /ɪk'spidɪənt/
noun an action that is useful or necessary for a particular purpose, but not always fair or right 權宜之計；應急辦法
The disease was controlled by the simple expedient of not allowing anyone to leave the city. 通過禁止任何人出城的簡單應急辦法使疾病得到了控制。
adj. of an action 行動 useful or necessary for a particular purpose, but not always fair or right 得當；可取；合宜；權宜之計 not usually before noun "
tomes 大部頭
Francophone 法語
devolve
devolve on/upon sb/sth
if property, money, etc.devolves on/upon you, you receive it after somebody else dies （財產、金錢等遺產）轉給，傳給，移交 written
devolve sth to/on/upon sb
if a duty, responsibility, etc.devolves on/upon you, it is given to you by somebody at a higher level of authority （職責、責任等）交由…接替，委託…承擔
to give a duty, responsibility, power, etc. to somebody who has less authority than you （將職責、責任、權力等）移交，轉交，委任 "
bicker 鬥嘴
wobble 搖晃
bowler 投球手
bowler hat a hard black hat with a curved brim and round top, worn, for example, in the past by men in business in Britain 常禮帽（英國舊時商人等戴）"
dissolution
1. the act of officially ending a marriage, a business agreement, or a parliament （婚姻關係的）解除；（商業協議的）終止；（議會的）解散 uncountable ~ (of sth) written
2. the process in which something gradually disappears 消失；消亡 uncountable ~ (of sth) written
the dissolution of barriers of class and race 階級和種族隔閡的消除
3. the act of breaking up an organization, etc. 解體；瓦解；分裂
intransigence [ɪnˈtrænsədʒəns] noun 不妥協;不讓步
avowedly 公然
bruiser a large strong aggressive man 好勇鬥狠的彪形大漢
exasperation [ɪgˌzæspəˈreʃən] noun 1. 惱怒;激怒 2. 惹人惱怒的事
dissect 解剖
swathe 裹
conundrum 難題
顯示文章地圖
文章定位：
