我写信是为了回应贵社的社论（《卫报》对法国抗议的观点：一个两极分化的国家正处于危险的政治时刻，10月19日）。虽然焦点在于埃马纽埃尔·马克龙，但我们不能忘记法国行政体系的层级结构，从市长到议员、参议员、行政长官以及地区首长。所有人都是政府的一部分，却很少有人站出来将漏雨的学校屋顶和缺少教师的问题推向全国意识。
I'm writing in response to your editorial ( The Guardian view on France's protests: a polarised country is in a perilous political moment, 19 October ). While the focus is on Emmanuel Macron, let us not forget the hierarchical structure of French administration, from mayors to MPs to senators to prefects and heads of region. All are part of the government, but few stood up to bring leaky school roofs and missing teachers to national consciousness.
我谴责对商店和国家建筑的无意义破坏。但我也谴责学生必须通过抗议才能被听见的事实。在这个高度层级化国家的众多行政层级中，没有人采取行动，惰性占据了主导。
I deplore the senseless destruction of shops and state buildings. But I also deplore the fact that students had to protest to be heard. In the many administrative tiers of this highly hierarchical country, no one acted and inertia prevailed.
从中央来看，政府财政压力巨大，却拒绝承认巨额赤字、人口老龄化和低退休年龄之间可能存在关联。对提高退休年龄的温和尝试也引发了激烈抗议。个人退休的金融工具仍然复杂且受限。因此，这一僵化体系将持续运作，直至下一场危机的到来。
Centrally, the government is financially challenged but refuses to acknowledge that having a huge deficit, an ageing population and a low retirement age are perhaps connected. Modest attempts to increase the retirement age also provoked violent protests. Financial tools for individual retirement remain complex and restricted. Thus, this sclerotic system presses on until the next crisis.
民粹主义边缘的任何一方都未提供可行的前进道路。玛琳·勒庞的国民联盟和让-吕克·梅朗雄的“不屈法国”都在积极回避面对退休定时炸弹，宁愿以政治上便利的承诺取代财政现实。
Neither side of the populist fringe offers a viable path forward. Marine Le Pen's National Rally and Jean-Luc Mélenchon's La France Insoumise actively avoid confronting the retirement timebomb, preferring politically expedient promises over fiscal reality.
如果一个体系把退休视为神圣不可侵犯的事，即使人工智能正以闪电般的速度重新定义工作的意义；如果在我们生活于24/7世界的当下，仍然认为让全体员工在同一个月份请四到五周假、导致八月份生产力停滞是合理的；如果同一体系让年轻人在漏雨的教室里死记硬背，而为60岁以上的人提供免费社交晚餐，那么当压力阀显示出疲惫迹象时，我们就不应感到惊讶。我的担忧是，下次剧变时会释放出多少蒸汽。穆里尔·E·科克罗夫特·杜克莱尔，诺曼底，法国
If a system treats retirement as a sacred cow even when the meaning of work is being redefined at lightning speed by AI, if it's acceptable to have productivity grind to a halt in August because the wisdom of asking employees to all take four to five weeks off in the same month while we live in a 24/7 world is never questioned, and if that same system lets young people study by rote in leaky classrooms while offering its over-60s free social dinners, let us not be surprised if the pressure valve is showing signs of fatigue. My concern is how much steam will be let out at the next convulsion. Muriel E Cockcroft Duclair, Normandy, France