More corrections...

The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy,/ French President Nicolas Sarkozy defended his foreign policy on Thursday which, in his opinion, avoided a Russian military offensive on Tbilissi, put an end to the Lebanese War, freed both the Bulgarian nurses held in Libya and Ingrid Betancourt from the Columbian jungle. In passing/ in so doing, he damaged/ hurt the wisdom of American President George W. Bush in the Russian-Georgian crisis, when he received the 2008 winner of the “Political Bravery Prize” which is attributed by the International Politics magazine. “When it was necessary to go to Moscow and Tbilissi on August 8^th, who defended human rights?” Mr Sarkozy asked. “Was it the United States’ president who said ‘that’s intolerable’? Or was it France which maintained/ upheld talks with Mr Putin, Mr Medvedev and Mr Saakachvili?” he continued, on the eve of his departure for the G20 summit in Washington over the financial crisis.

 

“I recall the phone-call from the American president (on) the day before we went to Moscow: ‘don’t go, they (the Russians) want to go into Tbilissi, they’re 40km away. Don’t go, Give it up.’ But with Bernard Kouchner we went, and how strange/ strangely enough, while we were there, the cease-fire was announced,” the French head of state added.

 

A few days after the beginning of (the) military conflict between Russia and Georgia, the current president of the European Union (E.U.) went to both Moscow and Tbilissi on August 12^th to negotiate a peace plan and a cease-fire both hastily accepted by both belligerent parties.

 

Some critical members of the EU, notably among those in Eastern Europe, considered that the plan gave the lion’s share to Russia, and regretted the fact that it did not explicitly defend Georgia’s territorial integrity. Nicolas Sarkozy threw out any other criticism of his handling other international affairs just as firmly.

 

“If we had not taken the risk of wanting peace and the right for Lebanese people to live freely in inviting Bachar al-Assad, there would still be a war in Lebanon.” was his retort to those who disapproved of his inviting the Syrian head of state to Paris and (his) then going to Damas.

 

“During the electoral/ election campaign, I promised that the nurses (those in Bulgaria held by the Libyans) would be freed. It was France that got them their freedom. Do you think that you can get someone out of gaol without first speaking to the gaolers?” Nicolas Sarkozy continued, justifying his trip to Tripoli to see the Libyan head of state, Mouammar Kadhafi.

 

 AND

A bone-marrow transplant has made the AIDS virus undetectable in a patient.

Or

Bone-Marrow Transplant Makes AIDS Virus undetectable in Patient

The AIDS virus has become undetectable/ invisible in an HIV-positive leukemia sufferer, following a sophisticated bone-marrow transplant; an “interesting” but “isolated case” which should not raise any false hopes, it was said on Wednesday, November 12^th at Berlin’s Charity Hospital. “It is an interesting case where research is concerned,” said Professor Rodolf Tauber in a statement. “However, he who would offer any hope of being cured to the millions of people contaminated by HIV would not be plausible,” he added, calling it an “isolated case.”

 

Having been HIV positive for (the last) ten years// Having contracted the AIDS virus ten years ago (now), the patient, a 42-year-old American living in Berlin, had to undergo a bone-marrow transplant as (part of his) treatment for the leukemia he developed three years ago. Yet, among potential donors whose bone-marrow was compatible with his, there was a person carrying a genetic mutation (transformation/ ‘modification’ inacceptable ici) already known to scientists, but to date unexplained: this particularity, a modification of the virus’ CCR-5 receptor, is present in between 1 and 3% of the European population/ of Europeans, and seems to immunize ‘de facto’ its carriers against HIV.

 

Berlin haematologist Eckhard Thiel’s team, who took charge of the patient/ who looked after/ who treated the patient, chose this particular donor “hoping that after the bone-marrow transplant, the HIV infection in the patient would also be wiped out.” The patient, who had been under antiretroviral treatment for years and who had never actually developed AIDS, ceased/ stopped his treatment at the time of the transplant so that the antiviral drugs would not lead to any rejection. “Normally, stopping antiretroviral drugs leads to the patient’s developing AIDS in (just) a few weeks. To date, more than twenty months since the transplant took, we still cannot detect the presence of HIV in this patient/ HIV is still undetectable in this patient,” Doctor Thiel’s team declared on Wednesday.

Corrections!

Dear Students,

As promised, here are corrections for past translations.

For the section entitled Phrasal Verbs:

Carmakers /car-manufacturers  still see no improvement on the horizon for the European (car) market, which is leading them to multiply the launching of new models to boost demand and get out of the current price war.
Today's Story: The Geneva car show is opening its doors today, but European makers / manufacturers  aren't really celebrating / it is no picnic for car-manufacturers. It's far from a celebration. European car sales fell by 0.7% last year and French sales by 2%. And this year will not be better. Peugeot-Citroen and Renault are suffering from competition.
Their sales have been declining while those of foreign makers / manufacturers  are increasing. Our two carmakers / car-manufacturers  have been behind in renewing their product line / model line.
How can this gloom be explained?
You have the increase in petrol / gasoline prices, unemployment, fear of the future and slow growth in purchasing power.
Buying a car is a major expense requiring some serious consideration, and in general it can be put off for a year or even two. This morosity in the car market is causing an ongoing price war, with rebates and promotions, which are transformed into lower profits for most makers : manufacturers, and by job cuts. German makers / manufacturers  cut 45,000 jobs last year. That's not the case at the moment in France.
But Peugeot-Citroen or Renault have cut back on temporary workers and their factories are far from running at full capacity. Getting out of this situation means car makers / manufacturers  will have to take up / meet  three challenges: the first is constant innovation. New models must be constantly released / rolled out.  Renault plans on 23 over the next 4 years. 
The second: produce / make  economical and less polluting cars. That means hybrid engines, a mixture of gas and electricity, while waiting for the hydrogen engine.
And the last challenge, which especially concerns our two French car makers / manufacturers, is to succeed in the upscale market. It's their Achilles' heel. Yet it's the big cars that are the money makers. And you're sheltered from Japanese or Korean competition, which is more and more acute for small and mid-size cars.

And then an earlier assignement from the section entitled Comparaison (2nd Part):

A report by the ‘Secours Catholique’ which is due out on Thursday expresses concern about the precariousness of many single-parent families. The worst hit are women, when, often, unemployment adds to the burden of bringing up children. Chantal has written everything down on a piece of paper, right down to the last cent. On the first side is her revenue. What with her minimum state-handout, family allowance and her income support, the/ this 43-year-old widow earns 698 € 32 each/ a/ per month.

On the back of the page, her expenses: the rent for her three-bedroom apartment/ flat in Reims, the insurance, telephone, internet, gas and electricity bills come to 356 € 36. With the 341 € 96 that she has left she has got to live under the same roof as two daughters (15 and 25) – she has two others who have already left home. // She only has 341 € 96 left to live on with her two daughters (15 and 25) – the two others have already left home. That’s not much/ a lot. It is not easy. // It’s little and hard. // It’s little. It’s hard. Even by shopping in/ at the Protestant help shop every Wednesday/ on Wednesdays for a few Euros. Even calling on social aid from the high school where her youngest is enrolled. Out of shear desperation, she has called on the ‘Secours Catholique.’

One in two families is single-parented.

The ‘Secours Catholique’ receives an increasing number of women who are doing their utmost / trying hard to keep their heads above water, to feed and clothe their children, each year. As its 2007 report (due out on November 13^th) points out, 60% of families helped out that year by the association were single parent families. Ten years previous, the figure was one family in/ out of two present during opening hours of the ‘Secours Catholique.’ “The poorest of the poor today are women who run households on their own,” remarked François Soulage, the president of the association.

Indeed, not all single-parent families (i.e. 20% of French households) are in dire straits. But the picture painted last June by the INSEE  (national institute of statistics and economic studies) under the eloquent title “Single-Parent Families: Hard to Get a Job and a Home” also put a face on the precariousness linked to living alone. These mothers, who are not as qualified as those who live with somebody, who are more often unemployed, have smaller incomes. “The risk is that their financial poverty is greater than that of couples, despite the benefits and handouts they can get to make ends meet/ balance the budget,” the INSEE’s study showed.

 

Working along...

I hope you're all enjoying the vacation. Please continue to work ahead in the green booklet, continuing with

PASSIF (2e partie)

&

PROPOSITIONS RELATIVES

We'll correct these sections in class, as much as we can, and anything else will be posted on this blog.

Corrections of past assignments will be posted soon!

See you next week,

Brooke

Your next assignment...

Hello everybody...  

Well, we're back.  Er, almost--I won't have class with you this week, though, because we only have afternoon classes, but no classes at all on Wednesday due to a "journée de mobilisation nationale"...  

Please work on the following assignment for Wednesday, April 15th:  

PHRASAL VERBS

&

PASSIF (1ere partie)

Here's the correction of last week's translation...!

Barack Obama: A Symbol

As an African-American, Barack Obama’s rise to the presidency of the United States is a confirmation/the consecration of affirmative action, created in 1972 in order/which aims to facilitate minority access/bring greater access to minorities at universities, in administrations and in their integration in the private sector. 

 

Today’s job market is more representative of the American “melting pot.”  Does the fact that a black man has risen to the country’s most prestigious position signify/mean that job discrimination/in the workplace has disappeared in the United States?  Certainly not.  “There is no law that forces a private enterprise/company to apply/heed (the principles) of affirmative action,” underlines/stresses Judson Miner, co-founder of the law office of Miner, Barnhill & Galland, and one of Barack Obama’s former bosses.  Based in Chicago, his office is on the lookout for/searches for/keeps a watch on companies that practice/apply/use segregationist hiring policies.  “The government should be more active,” explains Jeffrey Cummings, one of the office’s Africain-American lawyers.  “A lot of people don’t believe in affirmative action, like Bush.”

 

Though at times its existence has been threatened by the Republicans, positive discrimination is probably going to take off again under a Democratic government/administration.  During the primaries, Barack Obama reaffirmed his intention to revise affirmative action, so that Whites and Blacks could benefit equally/Whites could also benefit.  

*

The Revenge of the Twisted Vegetable/the Bent Veggie/Bent Vegetables

Business.  Brussels wants to do away with/get rid of regulations /the norms for certain early fruits and vegetables

By Julie MAJERCZAK, Brussels (EU) correspondent

Crooked carrots, lopsided melons or even croissant-shaped/horn-shaped cucumbers could soon be back on European supermarket shelves.  In the name of “less bureaucracy,” the European Commission has decided not to interfere any longer/more with the shape, the grade or other commercial norms previously imposed on fruits and vegetables.  To this end, the member States should give the proposal the green light tomorrow.  But will the consumer be the winner in this story?

At the moment, in the scathing/harsh world of European commercial norms, in order for fruits and vegetables (to have the right) to be sold in supermarkets and other stores/and elsewhere, they must meet/match certain criteria for color, shape, size or even grade, so they can be classified/organized into one of three categories based on differences/variations in quality.  Thus, those that are either too small, too big, not round enough or too long end up at best as/becoming/being turned into jam/jelly/preserves, mash or sauce, if not (going) straight into (the) trash.

“With the food price hikes/rise in food prices (we’ve seen/we’re seeing), it’s absurd/ridiculous to throw away/toss fruits and vegetables just because they don’t have the right look/the perfect look/look perfect,” complains/pleads Michael Mann, spokesperson for the Agriculture Commission/Committee.  Plus/What’s more, these canons of beauty don’t come cheap/aren’t free.  The Commission has (thus) proposed to do away with commercial norms/regulations for 26 fruits and vegetables out of the 36 total that are regulated….  For the remaining ten, such as apples, lemons, kiwis, strawberries and tomatoes, the Commission will maintain the common norms, but has suggested authorizing their sale to consumers with a label/tag that indicates their future transformation/plans to change them in the future.  Less waste and lower prices, who could ask for anything more/what more could we ask for?

Back in the era of poster demonstrations and card games...

It's working!

You're all sending me your work...

...I'm sending you individual corrections (for the grammar exercises), and I'll be posting a correction on the blog next week (for the translation).

Please tell everyone in our class to sign-up!

Have a good weekend.

Brooke

Correction for our class's first translation (La Comparaison 1ere partie, Livret vert)

We did this during the first week of class but some of you asked to see the correction again... 

CELA S’EST PASSÉ HIER

 

Hier, encore, les mauvaises nouvelles, illustrations de la crise économique, ont été annoncées partout dans le monde.

 

En France

Plus des trois quarts des établissements de crédit ont reconnu avoir « sensiblement » ou « quelque peu » durci leurs critères d’attribution de crédits aux entreprises depuis la fin juin, selon une étude réalisée par la Banque de France.  Ce durcissement des critères est plus marqueé pour les PME (82%) que pour les grandes entreprises (52%).  La production industrielle a baissé de 0,5% en septembre par rapport au mois d’août.  Elle a été pénalisée par la baisse de régime du secteur automobile.

 

Aux Etats-Unis

Fannie Mae, le géant du refinancement hypothécaire, a essuyé une perte de près de 29 milliards de dollars au 3^e trimestre.  Placé sous la tutelle de l’Etat américain en septembre, Fannie Mae a souffert de la dégradation des marchés financiers et de l’immobilier.  L’Etat devrait aider AIG, un des leaders mondiaux de l’assurance, à hauteur de 150 milliards de dollars, contre 85 milliards prévus en septembre.  AIG a souffert d’une perte au troisème trimestre de 24,5 milliards de dollars.

 

Boris Cassel

Le Parisien, mardi 11 novembre 2008 (page 6)

 

SUGGESTED TRANSLATION:

GOINGS-ON/ TALK OF THE TOWN/ NEWS OF THE DAY

 

Yesterday, once again, bad news—a daily symptom of the economic crisis—was announced around the world. 

 

In France

Since the end of June, more than/over three-quarters of credit-granting institutions admitted having “noticeably” or “somewhat/slightly” tightened their criteria for granting loans/credit to enterprises/businesses//granting business loans, according to a study conducted by the Banque de France.  This tightening of criteria is more noticeable for the SME (82%) than for large companies (52%).  In comparison to the month of August, industrial output/production in September declined by 0.5%, [Industrial output/production declined 0.5% in September compared with (the month of) August,] due to a decline in the automobile sector. 

 

In the U.S.A.

Fannie Mae, the giant mortgage lender/the giant in mortgage refinancing, saw a loss of nearly 29 billion dollars in the third quarter.  Brought under control of the US government in September, Fannie Mae suffered from the decline in the stock market and the real-estate market.  The government should also come to the aid of/will also be helping to bailout AIG, a world leader in insurance, with a sum of 150 billion dollars (more than the 85 billion originally planned in September).  AIG suffered a loss of 24.5 billion dollars in the third quarter.