Mountagha Sow
France is indeed a powerful country.
Military
In the EU, France has the most extensive military capabilities comprising nuclear attack submarines, an aircraft carrier, a stockpile of ballistic missiles, long-range nuclear missiles and the likes. Through EADS, Eurocopter and others, France is also in the top three exporters of weapons of all kinds. The biggest deals on the table (at the time of writing this answer) are the sale of Mistral helicopter-carriers (along with submarines) to Russia and Brazil.
Furthermore, and unlike most countries, France is able to project its forces far from its homeland. That is thanks to military bases in United Arab Emirates (another client for French-made weapons), the French Carribeans, South Pacific (Wallis and Futuna) and many others (notably in Africa).

法國確實(shí)是強(qiáng)國
軍事上
法國是歐盟中軍事能力最全面的國家，法國有攻擊型核潛艇，一艘航空母艦，彈道導(dǎo)彈和遠(yuǎn)程核導(dǎo)彈等。通過歐洲宇航防務(wù)公司，歐洲直升機(jī)公司和其他類似企業(yè)，法國成為了世界三大武器出口國之一。在寫這篇文章的時(shí)候，法國最大的軍火訂單是向來自俄羅斯和巴西的米斯特拉爾直升機(jī)航母和潛艇
而且，和大部分國家不同，法國可以將力量投射到遠(yuǎn)離國土之外的地方。這要感謝法國在阿聯(lián)酋（法國武器的另一個(gè)客戶），法屬加勒比、南太平洋（瓦利斯和富圖納群島）和許多其他地方（主要在非洲）上的軍事基地

Geopolitics
Along with Germany, France is a founding member of the European unx and, as such, wields enormous influence over European affairs. For example, it is after the French refusal of the 2005 proposal for a European Constitution that the project was amended into the Lisbon Treaty (now in force).

地緣政治
法國和德國一樣，都是歐盟的創(chuàng)始成員國，因此對歐洲事務(wù)有著巨大的影響力。例如，2005年法國拒絕了歐洲憲法的提案后，該提案就被修改為了里斯本條約(現(xiàn)在還在生效)。

For better or for worse, France has been a driving force of African politics for the better part of the 20th century. Obviously, that was due in large part to France's colonial past. However, there are remnants of that colonial past to this day. Fourteen African countries use what is called the CFA Franc. It is an artificial currency pegged to euro. Its value is fixed by the French Public Treasury and backed by deposits of gold from these African countries to the Bank of France. Since the CFA Franc is not directly convertible in any other currency but the Euro, France effectively has the levers of macroeconomic policy of 14 African countries (the better part of the countries surrounding the Gulf of Guinea).

不管怎樣，在20世紀(jì)的大部分時(shí)間里，法國一直是非洲政治的推動(dòng)力。顯然，這在很大程度上是由于法國的殖民歷史。即使到了今天，非洲還有法國殖民時(shí)代的殘余。14個(gè)非洲國家使用的貨幣被稱為非洲金融共同體法郎，這貨種幣與歐元掛鉤的，其價(jià)值由法國財(cái)政部確定，并以這些非洲國家存入法國銀行的黃金作為擔(dān)保。由于除歐元外，非洲金融共同體法郎不能直接兌換任何其他貨幣，因此法國有效控制了14個(gè)非洲國家(大部分幾內(nèi)亞灣周邊國家)宏觀經(jīng)濟(jì)政策的杠桿。
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Let's also add that since the founding of the UN, France has had a permanent seat at the Security Council (with a veto right). French is also one of the official languages of the UN.
There is also what could be called a tradition of having a French at the head of the International Monetary Fund (Michel Camdessus, Dominique Strauss-Kahn et Christine Lagarde are the most memorable).

還要補(bǔ)充一點(diǎn)，自聯(lián)合國成立以來，法國一直是安理會(huì)常任理事國(擁有否決權(quán))。法語也是聯(lián)合國的官方語言之一。國際貨幣基金組織也有讓法國人擔(dān)任總裁的傳統(tǒng)(其中最令人難忘的是米歇爾·康德蘇、多米尼克·斯特勞斯-卡恩和克里斯蒂娜·拉加德)。

Economy
France is an economic powerhouse (roughly the size of California). It is a world leader in Energy (Total, Alstom, Areva), Construction (Vinci, Bouygues), Telecommunications (Orange), Automobile (Renault-Nissan), Pharmaceutics (Sanofi-Aventis), Telecommunications (Alcatel-Lucent), Chemistry (Air Liquide) and many others.
A CapGemini World Wealth Report recently showed that France is tied with the UK when it comes to number a millionaires in USD (at 430 000 on a population of 65 million).
Eurostat (the EU's statistics agency) has establish that French workers have the highest hourly productivity in Europe (beating the Germans and Swedes). France has, in the last decades, consistently ranked among the most productive nations in the world.

經(jīng)濟(jì)
法國是一個(gè)經(jīng)濟(jì)強(qiáng)國(經(jīng)濟(jì)規(guī)模大致相當(dāng)于美國加州)。法國在能源(道達(dá)爾、阿爾斯通、阿?，m)、建筑(芬奇、布伊格)、電信(Orange)、汽車(雷諾-日產(chǎn))、制藥(賽諾菲-安內(nèi)特)、電信(阿爾卡特-朗訊)、化學(xué)(液化空氣集團(tuán))和許多其他領(lǐng)域都處于世界領(lǐng)先地位。
凱捷集團(tuán)最近發(fā)布的世界財(cái)富報(bào)告顯示，法國的百萬富翁人數(shù)與英國不相上下(在6500萬人口中，法國的百萬富翁人數(shù)為43萬)。
歐盟統(tǒng)計(jì)局的報(bào)告證明，法國工人的每小時(shí)生產(chǎn)率在歐洲是最高的(超過德國和瑞典)。在過去的幾十年里，法國一直是世界上生產(chǎn)力最高的國家之一。
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Agriculture
From times immemorial, France was the granary of Europe (which made it self-sufficient long before many other European countries). In his Commentaries on the Gallic Wars (Commentarii de Bello Gallico), Julius Ceasar recounts how tribes coming from today's Germany tried to conquer Gaul to seize its fertile soils.
Nowadays, it is still an agricultural powerhouse. As of 2008, it received a fifth of the annual 130 billion euros invested annually by the EU in agriculture (Common Agricultural Policy).

農(nóng)業(yè)
從古代起，法國就是歐洲的糧倉(這使它比其他許多歐洲國家在更早之前就實(shí)現(xiàn)了自給自足)。在《高盧戰(zhàn)記》中，凱撒記述了來自如今德國的部落是如何試圖征服高盧，以奪取其肥沃的土地的。
如今，法國仍然是一個(gè)農(nóng)業(yè)強(qiáng)國。截至2008年，歐盟每年都要在農(nóng)業(yè)領(lǐng)域投資(共同農(nóng)業(yè)政策)1300億歐元，其中五分之一給了法國。

Cultural influence
The French language is an important element of France's soft power. It is spoken by anywhere between 220 and 292 million people. A study by Natixis Bank (cited by Forbes) even goes as far as predicting that French will be the most widely spoken language in the coming decades. In any event, with the use of French, comes enormous cultural influence. That influence also has an institutional basis. Since 1637, the Académie Fran?aise has standardized, organised and rationalised the French language thus setting the rules followed by tens of millions of people across the globe.

文化影響力
法語是法國軟實(shí)力的重要組成部分。全球有2.2億到2.9億人使用法語。法國外貿(mào)銀行的一項(xiàng)研究(其研究成果曾被《福布斯》雜志引用)甚至預(yù)言，在未來幾十年，法語將成為全世界使用最廣泛的語言。無論如何，法語的普及帶來了巨大的文化影響力。法語的影響力有其制度根基。自1637年以來，Académie Fran?aise已經(jīng)使法語標(biāo)準(zhǔn)化、組織化和合理化，為全球數(shù)千萬人制定了規(guī)則。

Since the 1990s, France sits on top of world tourism rankings (Paris being the most visited city in the world) thus spreading its culture and history. Actually, Paris's aura is such that during WWII Hitler specifically prohibited the LuftWaffe from bombing the city in order to preserve its beauty.

自20世紀(jì)90年代以來，法國一直在世界旅游排行榜上名列前茅(巴黎是世界上游客最多的城市)，法國文化和歷史由此得到傳播。事實(shí)上，巴黎的光環(huán)如此之大，以至于二戰(zhàn)期間，希特勒特地禁止德國空軍轟炸巴黎，以保護(hù)巴黎不被破壞。
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Is it even necessary to mention its literature, its philosophers, its gastronomy (which has been declared to be part of the world's intangible heritage)? Those cultural attributes draws over 260 000 foreign students each year who leave the country with a head of French values and art de vivre.

還有必要說說法國的文學(xué)，哲學(xué)家和法國美食嗎（已被宣布為世界非物質(zhì)遺產(chǎn)的一部分）？正是這些文化特質(zhì)每年吸引著超過26萬名留學(xué)生來法學(xué)習(xí)，畢業(yè)離開時(shí)他們帶著法國的價(jià)值觀和生活藝術(shù)回到了自己的國家
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Conclusion
One could go on and on about France. The bottom line is that it is a country that draws its power from a rich and ancient history, a long tradition of innovation and intellectual pursuit.

結(jié)論
法國的優(yōu)點(diǎn)我可以一直不停說下去。最重要的是，法國是一個(gè)可以從豐富古老的歷史中汲取力量的國家，有著悠久的創(chuàng)新和追求智慧的傳統(tǒng)。