Question

请帮我解释一句话 ，谢谢

Specifically he laments France's constant attempts "to turn the clock back almost whimsically to a golden age of French superior distinctiveness" in the EU.

"So long as its politicians led by President Chirac remain trapped in an ignorant and impoverishing hostility to the policies required to... compete successfully in the world, (France) will punch significantly below its weight."

Answer 1

太难了，你把悬赏分提高的1000估计有人会帮你想上3天

Answer 2

the needs of veterans,应该是退伍军人抚恤金之类的意思吧，因前文提到accounting，而退伍老兵需要的应该就是抚恤金。

shoddy这个词我们中国人其实常用，就是“假冒伪劣”：the fake and shoddy

practice，视情况而定，在本句可不作翻译。

上面这句话的意思就是：该部门（上下文不明，无法给出确切翻译）已因为作假帐和拖欠退伍军人抚恤金。