阅读训练《法国小酒馆的命运》

Times are hard for Le Fontenoy, the only surviving cafe in this village in north-central France which once had three, as well as a butcher's, a boulangerie, a grocer's and a restaurant. Now, as changing habits and new laws alter the residents' relationship with an erstwhile local fixture, its future is looking bleak. It is a bistro with no kitchen, a former tabac with no cigarettes, and Letouzey's coffers are as empty as his bottle of pastis.

In a last-ditch attempt to save the cafe he deems "the social link of the village", the determined patron has launched an online appeal for donations which he hopes will bring in enough money to keep the business afloat in the short term. If he does not get the ¤10,000 (£9,000) he has asked for, he warns, "we'll be dead. It'll be quick."

The fundraising mission at Fontenay-Saint-Père, about 35 miles north-west of Paris, has attracted considerable media attention. But its struggle is just the tip of the iceberg. Last year, in its île de France region alone, about 2,000 bistros and cafes went under. Across France as a whole, about are 35,000 still open. In the 1960s there were 200,000.

Last week Le Parisien, the capital's daily newspaper, issued a clarion call for the hard-hit bistro, warning on its front page that time was running out to save the "fast disappearing" bastion of "jambon beurre baguettes, egg mayonnaise, jokes, chat and table football".

But opinions are divided on how to go about this. Many, including the government, feel that it is up to the industry to adapt according to the needs of society and that any business that cannot keep up with the pace of change does not deserve to survive.

Bernard Quartier, president of an industry group representing cafes and brasseries, believes the onus is on owners to provide their customers with new services, such as showing sporting events on television or offering coffees for the symbolically low price of one euro. (Parisian customers can often expect to pay almost three times as much for an espresso.)