????商界當初有最充分的理由對共同市場心生恐懼，現在卻成了這場新的冒險之旅最為熱情的擁抱者。幾年前，法國看起來就像是歐洲弱不禁風的“林妹妹”。法國的政局亂作一團，在阿爾及利亞陷入的僵局讓全國上下士氣低落。此外，以效率低下而臭名昭著的法國工業猶如一盤散沙，那些靠關稅庇護的古老的家族企業似乎根本就不是業已復興的德國企業的對手。然而，如今處于優勢地位的，是自信滿滿的法國人。這種自信，是1914年以來所未曾見過的。

??? 顯然，這中自信跟阿爾及利亞僵局的解決有很大關系。這無疑也跟戴高樂鐵腕推動政治體系轉型有一定的關系。但完全獨立于這些因素之外的是，法國經濟展現了出人意料的力量（事實上，一些商人不僅不愿意把功勞記在戴高樂頭上，而且還罵罵咧咧地譴責他的“波拿巴主義”）。

??? 以雷諾（Renault）、西姆卡（Simca）和標致（Peugeot）為代表的法國轎車并沒有被蜂擁入侵的大眾（Volkswagen）和菲亞特汽車（Fiat）打垮。它們不僅在本土站穩了腳跟，而且還在出口市場上取得了顯著的收獲【體驗法國汽車業活力的一個好辦法就是嘗試著準點去巴黎某個地方赴約。許多游客都知道，沿著香榭麗舍大街（the Champs Elysees）開車，從協和廣場（the Place de la Concorde）驅車到凱旋門（the Arc de Triomphe）這短短一段路程，可能要花費45分鐘）。

??? 看起來已經成為意大利蒙特卡蒂尼公司（Montecatini）和德國大公司活靶子的法國化工業現在已展翅高飛。鑒于佩希內（Pechiney）和圣戈班（Saint-Gobain）公司已經合并了其化工業務，法國化工業甚至有可能做得更好。這兩家綜合性公司已經成為法國復興的先鋒。在鋁業地位尊崇的佩希內公司最近收購了多元化的金融制造商豪威桑德公司（Howe Sound Co.），成功搶灘美國市場。圣戈班公司自詡為世界上最古老的工業平板玻璃制造商，現在，它已在整個歐洲構建起一個強大的企業網絡，不久前還在美國田納西州開設了一家工廠。

??? 常駐巴黎的羅素?埃格斯為大通曼哈頓銀行（Chase Manhattan Bank）提供共同市場發展方面的建議。他喜歡指出，“削減關稅唯一可完全預見的結果就是它將帶給我們一個驚喜。共同市場將充滿了驚喜。”法國的成功就是他最為鐘愛的例證。

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譯者：任文科

????The business community that started out with the best reasons to be frightened now embraces the new adventure with the most enthusiasm. A few years ago France looked like the weak sister of Europe. Its politics were in disorder, its morale depressed by the impasse in Algeria. Moreover, its notoriously inefficient industry, fragmented into old, tariff-protected family firms, seemed sure to be overwhelmed by resurgent German rivals. Yet who's on top now? France--brimming with greater self-confidence than it has enjoyed since 1914.

??? Obviously the liquidation of the Algerian mess had a lot to do with it. So undoubtedly did Charles de Gaulle's ruthlessly masterful transformation of the political system. But quite independently of these factors, the French economy displayed unsuspected strength of its own. (As a matter of fact, some businessmen are not only unwilling to credit de Gaulle but are positively vituperous in their denunciation of his "Bonapartism.")

??? Far from being overwhelmed by invading hordes of Volkswagens and Fiats, the French cars--Renaults, Simcas, Citroens, and Peugeots--have held their own at home and made significant gains in export markets. (A good way to feel the vitality of the French auto industry is to try to get to a Paris appointment on time. As many a tourist knows, it is possible to spend forty-five minutes edging up the Champs Elysees from the Place de la Concorde to the Arc de Triomphe.)

??? The French chemical industry, which looked like a sitting duck for Italy's Montecatini and the big German firms, has taken wing and is flying high. It promises to do even better now that Pechiney and Saint-Gobain have merged their chemical interests. These two great integrated companies have been at the forefront of the French revival. Pechiney, preeminent in aluminum, recently secured a beachhead in the U.S. by acquiring effective control of Howe Sound Co., a diversified metal manufacturer. Saint-Gobain, which proudly claims to be the world's oldest manufacturer of industrial plate glass (it was founded under Louis XIV), now has a formidable network of interests throughout Europe and opened a plant not long ago in Tennessee.

??? E. Russell Eggers, who is stationed in Paris to advise on Common Market developments for the Chase Manhattan Bank, is fond of pointing out that "the only completely predictable result of a tariff cut is a surprise. The Common Market is full of surprises." France's success is his prize example.