When Sa' id Pasha came into power in 1854, he approved a plan from the enterprising and manipulative French diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps.

当萨伊德·帕夏于 1854 年上台时，他批准了一个来自富有进取心和操纵能力的法国外交官费迪南·德·莱塞普斯的计划。

After it was found that Napoleon's surveys got the height of the seas wrong, the canal's biggest sponsor was Frenchman Ferdinand de Lesseps.

拿破仑经过调查发现海洋高度量错了，运河的最大赞助商是法国人费迪南德·德莱塞普斯。

The French company was run by a very famous man at that time, Ferdinand de Lesseps.

这家法国公司由当时非常有名的人 Ferdinand de Lesseps 经营。

The first attempt at this colossal construction project was taken up in 1881 by French diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps.

1881 年，法国外交官 Ferdinand de Lesseps 首次尝试了这一庞大的建设项目。

Interestingly, they had not started it; it was begun by a French man named Ferdinand de Lesseps  in 1880, but he could not finish it because he ran out of funding.

有趣的是，他们并没有开始这个项目；它是由一位名叫费迪南德·德·雷赛布 (Ferdinand de Lesseps) 的法国人于 1880 年开始的，但由于资金用完而无法完成。