could only come through, along with national identity,

还有国家的身份认同感只能通过
through these sort of agencies of change.

所谓现代化的动力来到法国
And this is what sociologists used to call Modernization theory,

这是社会学家们说的现代化理论
almost at its worst;

这可能是最糟糕的理论了
and I say this

虽然我这么说
with considerable affection for my late friend Eugen Weber,

但我对故去的朋友韦伯仍是怀有敬意的
and we had debated this before.

我们曾经为此争辩
And the three big agencies of change,

而带来变革的三大动力
some of which you've already heard a little bit about,

你们已经听过一些了
according to Weber,

根据韦伯的说法
that transformed peasants into Frenchmen were railroads;

铁路交通是农民变成法国人的第一动力
that is, again the trunk lines reaching out from Paris,

就是从巴黎延伸出的铁路干线