David Cameron, who has notoriously poor schoolboy French, is urging today's youngsters to abandon the language of Molière and Voltaire to concentrate on the tongue of the future – Mandarin.
卡梅伦的法语水平相当一般已经是众所周知了，但他却呼吁英国年轻人放弃法语学习，集中精力学习“未来的语言” 汉语。
In a parting shot, as he left China after a three-day visit, the prime minister said that pupils should look beyond the traditional French and German lessons and instead focus on China.
在结束了为期三天的访华行程后，卡梅伦表示，英国的年轻人应该打破只关注法、德语学习的传统局限，今后应集中精力学习中文。
To reinforce his message the prime minister quoted Nelson Mandela, who said learning someone else's language is the best way to their heart. Cameron said: "I want Britain linked up to the world's fast-growing economies. And that includes our young people learning the languages to seal tomorrow's business deals.
为了增强说服力，卡梅伦还引用了南非前总统曼德拉的名言：“要了解一个国度的精神，最好的方法就是学习他们的语言”。卡梅伦表示：“我希望英国能紧跟世界经济发展的脚步，其中之一就是让我们的年轻一代为了未来经济贸易发展学习语言。”
"By the time the children born today leave school, China is set to be the world's largest economy. So it's time to look beyond the traditional focus on French and German and get many more children learning Mandarin.
“等到这一代学生毕业的时候，中国很可能已经是世界最大的经济体了。所以现在是时候将注意力从传统的德、法语学习转向汉语学习了。”
Cameron, who visited a school for six- and seven-year-olds learning English in Chengdu, said that a partnership between the British Council and Hanban – the Chinese National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language – will double the number of Chinese language assistants in the UK by 2016 and provide increased funding to lower the cost to schools of offering Mandarin as a language option.
中国一行中，卡梅伦访问了成都的龙江路小学。他表示，英国文化委员会和中国汉办（中国国家汉语国际推广领导小组办公室）将会继续合作伙伴关系，计划到2016年将英国的汉语助教人数提高一倍，并为开设汉语教学的英国学校提供资金支持以降低其办学成本。
The announcement was welcomed by the British Council and the British Academy, both of which have been pushing for policies to reverse the decline in students taking modern languages at school and university level.
