Sometimes you really do need to smell the coffee. Arriving in Turin recently I made straight for the nearest bar and ordered a caffe macchiato. A charming woman served it up. I drank it standing at the counter. It was perfection. It cost EU1. Then I had another. The bar was absolutely ordinary, with fading tablecloths and some pensioners doddering in the corner. Such a cheap moment of happiness, obtainable in its pure form only in Italy, gets you wondering: are things really so bad in Europe? Life here is better than you'd ever know from watching TV news.
有时候，你确实需要来上一杯咖啡，清醒清醒头脑。不久前，我一抵达意大利都灵，便径直前往最近的咖啡馆，点了一杯玛奇雅朵咖啡。一位相貌迷人的女子将咖啡端上柜台。我就站在柜台前品尝。咖啡味道绝佳，且只要1欧元。于是我又点了一杯。这间咖啡馆普普通通，桌布已经褪色，一些老人在角落蹒跚而行。这种廉价的幸福享受只有在意大利才最为“正宗”，它让人深思：欧洲的境况是否真的那么糟糕？这里的生活远比电视新闻呈现的画面要美好。