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  3. With rail strikes continuing into their third week and travellers scrambling to get to home for the holidays, Macron, who turned

With rail strikes continuing into their third week and travellers scrambling to get to home for the holidays, Macron, who turned

admin2022-09-20  0
问题     With rail strikes continuing into their third week and travellers scrambling to get to home for the holidays, Macron, who turned 42 this weekend, made the symbolic move to become the first president in more than 50 years to give up the automatic pension of more than €6,000 a month that all French leaders receive after leaving office, regardless of age or wealth. Macron’s office added that he would not take his seat in France’s constitutional court, where former presidents are members for life and receive a monthly allowance of €13,500.
    The pro-business Macron is aware that the strikes over his planned pensions changes have increasingly focused on him personally, with caricatures and banners at street demonstrations depicting him as king. Just as the anti-government protesters earlier this year complained about Macron building a swimming pool at a summer retreat, and expensively upgrading Elysee carpets and crockery, banners at pensions protests mocked him and other former presidents for their luxury lifestyles and generous settlements once they leave office.
    Le Parisien newspaper hailed Macron’s decision to forfeit his presidential pension as " breaking with a dusty tradition of republican monarchy".
    Despite the strikes, the government insists it will plough ahead to unify the French pensions system, arguing that getting rid of the 42 special regimes for sectors ranging from rail and energy workers to lawyers and Paris Opera staff is crucial to keep the system financially viable as the population ages.
    With strikes set to continue into the new year, the pensions stand-off has become a personal issue for Macron who had promised to deliver the biggest "transformation" of the French social model and welfare system since the postwar era. The very essence of Macron’s political identity is at stake. He has always said he preferred to make structural changes to the French model amid unpopularity than back down in the face of street protests. Failure to deliver the reforms would dent Macron’s firm support base of about 25%, which is crucial for any re-election bid in 2022.
    Travellers across France scrambled to begin their Christmas getaways amid train cancellations and packed roads, with the train operator SNCF warning the traffic would be "severely disrupted" over the festive period. Despite calls bv some unions to suspend strikes during the festive season, rail workers’ groups. continued stoppages. The protest is also affecting businesses, particularly retail, with industry associations reporting declines in turnover of 30% to 60% compared with last year. An Ifop poll showed 51% of French people either supported or sympathised with the strikes, slightly lower than the previous week.
    Macron urged the strikers to ease up for Christmas, saying they should embrace a "spirit of responsibility". On a visit to Ivory Coast, he said: "Strike action is justifiable and protected by the constitution, but I think there are moments in a nation’s life when it is good to observe a truce out of respect for families and family life.
What is the main idea of the passage?
选项 A、French leaders are forced to reform the pension system.
B、The privileges of the president have caused public protests.
C、Macron waives presidential pension amid Christmas strike chaos.
D、Macron attempts to clarify the public misunderstanding about him.
答案C
解析 主旨题。需要综合考虑全文。  
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