Outsiders often bounce off Paris’s surface — something I experienced when I was a foreign correspondent there a decade ago. The social networks built up by the French at school can persist at university and carry through to work, creating an impenetrable knot for newcomers. At least that was my excuse for the woeful lack of dinner party invitations I received when I was living there; I’m sure Parisians had their own reasons — ones that were perhaps less consoling to my eggshell ego.
當(dāng)外來(lái)者想融入巴黎時(shí),往往會(huì)無(wú)從著手——這是10年前我擔(dān)任駐巴黎記者時(shí)體會(huì)到的。法國(guó)人在學(xué)校建立的人脈網(wǎng)可能維持至大學(xué),然后帶入職場(chǎng),對(duì)新來(lái)者構(gòu)成難以克服的屏障。至少這是我在巴黎生活期間極少收到晚宴邀請(qǐng)的借口;我肯定巴黎人有自己的理由——或許難以撫慰我的蛋殼般的虛榮心。