German politics德國政治 When all parties lead to Angela當所有政黨都傾向安吉拉的時(shí)候 Confusion reigns in Germany’s party politics. Thatmay not affect who wins next year’s election德國政壇仍疑云重重，但絲毫不影響明年大選的勝者 Less than a year before Germany’s federal election, Chancellor Angela Merkel is doing well, atleast at home. Her centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party,the Christian Social Union (CSU), are leading in the polls. Better still, the other parties aremaking news either for being in a shambles or, whenever for a moment they are not, forspeculation that they might join a coalition in which Mrs Merkel would be senior partner andthus remain as chancellor. 離德國聯(lián)邦大選還有不到一年的時(shí)間，但至少在國內事務(wù)方面，安吉拉·默克爾總理做的很好。在民意調查中，她領(lǐng)導的中右基督教民主聯(lián)盟（CDU）和其巴伐利亞姊妹黨，基督教社會(huì )聯(lián)盟（CSD）占據了領(lǐng)先地位。好事成雙，有關(guān)其他政黨的新聞要么報道他們處于一片混亂，即使是當他們運行良好的時(shí)候，到處也都猜測他們將加入以默克爾為領(lǐng)導的聯(lián)合政黨，而她也將繼續出任德國總理。 Mrs Merkel’s biggest coup has been to remain personally unsullied by the otherwisedisappointing performance of the ruling coalition of the CDU and CSU with the smaller FreeDemocratic Party (FDP). The world might assume that German politics is given over to thecountry’s responsibility to save the euro. Instead, the CSU and FDP have spent most of theirpolitical energy on tactical projects that are either daft (for the CSU) or petty (the FDP). 盡管由基督教民主聯(lián)盟（CDU）和基督教社會(huì )聯(lián)盟（CSU）以及規模稍小的自由民主黨（FDP）組成的執政聯(lián)盟在其他方面表現令人失望，但是默克爾總理始終保持個(gè)人清白，這是她最妙的招。全世界都認為德國政壇一直致力于履行本國對拯救歐元區的職責。相反，基督教社會(huì )聯(lián)盟（CSU）和自由民主黨（FDP）將他們大部分政治能量都花在他們那些愚蠢（CSU）和瑣碎（FDP）的戰術(shù)項目上。 This month, for example, the CSU tried to pander to Bavaria’s family-values voters by pushingthrough a new subsidy to parents who care for toddlers at home rather than sending them toa creche. Conveniently, the payments will begin next August, just before both the Bavarian andthe federal elections. Most parties, notably the FDP, see this policy as an expensive stepbackwards for a modern society that could leave children of poor families deprived of education.But the FDP accepted it in return for getting rid of a 10 ($12.6) fee that publicly insuredpatients have to pay once a quarter when they see their doctor. 舉個(gè)例子，本月基督教社會(huì )聯(lián)盟（CSU）推動(dòng)了一項新的補貼措施，給在家照顧學(xué)步兒童而不是送他們到托兒所的父母提供津貼，以試圖迎合巴伐利亞重視家庭價(jià)值觀(guān)的選民。恰逢時(shí)宜的是，該補貼明年8月就開(kāi)始發(fā)放，恰好在巴伐利亞大選和聯(lián)邦大選之前。以自由民主黨（FDP）為主的大部分政黨認為該政策是現代社會(huì )倒退的一步，其代價(jià)之昂貴可能會(huì )剝奪貧困家庭孩子的受教育機會(huì )。但是自由民主黨（FDP）還是接受了該政策，并作為回報減免了10歐元（12.6美元）的費用，這公開(kāi)地保證了需每季度支付一次醫藥費的病人的生活。 That the FDP is reduced to horse-trading over such minutiae says a lot about the collapse ofthis once-grand liberal party. The polls suggest it may get less than 5% of votes in theelection, and would thus be ejected from the Bundestag. If an election in Lower Saxony inJanuary confirms such a poor showing, the FDP’s leader, Philipp Rosler (who is also economicsminister), will surely have to go. There are even rumours of a plot to oust him sooner. 自由民主黨（FDP）淪落到在這種細枝末節上討價(jià)還價(jià)，這很大程度上體現了這個(gè)曾今的偉大的自由政黨的淪陷。民意調查顯示其在大選中得到的選票不會(huì )超過(guò)5%，而且可能會(huì )因此被驅逐出聯(lián)邦議院。如果一月份下薩克森州進(jìn)行的大選證實(shí)了這個(gè)糟糕的調查結果，那么FDP的領(lǐng)導人，菲利普·羅斯勒（他還是經(jīng)濟部長(cháng)），將不得不離職。甚至有傳言他們已經(jīng)在密謀立刻驅逐他。 With the coalition so preoccupied, the main opposition Social Democratic Party (SPD) mighthave been expected to attack more effectively. That was the idea behind picking PeerSteinbruck, a famously sharp-tongued former finance minister, as the party’s candidate forchancellor. Mr Steinbruck has, however, become embroiled in a sustained debate about thespeaking fees he has been earning on the side (1.25m since 2009, the highest of anyBundestag member). Never loved by his party’s blue-collar and trade-union base, MrSteinbruck, the millionaire, may have turned off many of his erstwhile comrades completely. 由于聯(lián)合政府占據著(zhù)顯著(zhù)的主導地位，主要的反對派社會(huì )民主黨（SPD）可能需要采取更加有效的政治攻擊。一個(gè)幕后想法就是推選以言語(yǔ)犀利而著(zhù)稱(chēng)的前財政部長(cháng)佩爾·施泰因布呂爾為該黨的總理候選人。然而，施泰因布呂爾卷入到一場(chǎng)有關(guān)他在位期間所得的高額演講費的持續辯論中（從2009年至今高達125萬(wàn)歐元，德國聯(lián)邦議員中的最高值）。百萬(wàn)富翁施泰因布呂爾先生從來(lái)沒(méi)有得到他所在黨派的藍領(lǐng)階層和工會(huì )基地的厚愛(ài)，他可能已經(jīng)完全失去了許多昔日同事的信任。 It is telling that the SPD chairman, Sigmar Gabriel, is continually having to parry questionsabout an election outcome in which the SPD would play second fiddle to Mrs Merkel in another“grand coalition”, like the one Germany had from 2005-09. Absolutely not, insist both Mr Gabrieland Mr Steinbruck, claiming that they overlap ideologically only with the Greens, the othercentre-left party. (The Left Party is still considered too toxic to touch, for it descends largelyfrom the old East German Communist Party, and it is anyway also struggling to stay inparliament.) 有消息稱(chēng)大選結果將會(huì )產(chǎn)生另外一個(gè)和德國2005-09期間實(shí)行的非常相似的“大聯(lián)合政府”，而社會(huì )民主黨（SPD）將會(huì )充當默克爾總理的副手，關(guān)于該結果的問(wèn)題層出不窮，社會(huì )民主黨（SPD）主席西格瑪爾·加布里爾不得不一直回避這些問(wèn)題。絕不可能，加布里爾和施泰因布呂爾都堅決否認，他們聲稱(chēng)他們的思想理念只和另一個(gè)中左黨派綠黨（the Greens）有異曲同工之妙。（左翼黨仍然被民眾認為是有害政黨而不愿涉及，因為其很大程度上起源于老派的東德共產(chǎn)黨，而且無(wú)論如何它也掙扎在議會(huì )的邊緣。） The SPD is terrified whenever the Greens generate optimism for the wrong reason: theirsuitability as an alternative coalition partner for Mrs Merkel. The Greens have been on a rollsince capturing the mayorship of Stuttgart, capital of the rich south-western state of Baden-Wurttemberg, which is also the first and so far only state to be governed by a Green premier.Their success is credited to the dominance within the party’s southern branch of the “realo”wing: pragmatists who can appeal to ecologically minded but conservative urban voters.Such “bourgeois” Greens could get along fine with the CDU and CSU in Berlin, goes thethinking. 社會(huì )民主黨（SPD）無(wú)時(shí)無(wú)刻不擔心綠黨由于錯誤原因而過(guò)分樂(lè )觀(guān)：他們可以作為默克爾的備用的聯(lián)盟伙伴。自從奪得了斯圖加特市長(cháng)的職位后，綠黨一直運行順暢。斯圖加特是德國南部富有的巴登-符騰堡州的首都，這也是綠黨總理控制的第一個(gè)也是到目前為止唯一一個(gè)州。他們的成功在于很好地控制了該黨南部的分支現實(shí)主義黨人：他們都是實(shí)用主義者，能夠吸引生態(tài)意識強烈但是保守的城市選民。進(jìn)一步說(shuō)，這些“資產(chǎn)階級”綠黨人士將會(huì )和柏林的基督教民主聯(lián)盟（CDU）和基督教社會(huì )聯(lián)盟（CSU）很好地相處。 As if to reinforce this impression, the Greens have just elected Katrin Goring-Eckardt, aleader in the Lutheran church who is from the east and is by Green standards a conservative,as their co-candidate for chancellor. (The other candidate, Jurgen , was almost preordained,for the Greens always pair a woman and a man.) Ms Goring-Eckardt’s selection was a rebuff toClaudia Roth, a flamboyant leftist. The choice immediately renewed speculation about an olivebranch to the CDU. 似乎是為了加強這種印象，綠黨剛剛選舉了卡特琳·格林-?？柕?lián)慰偫淼穆?lián)合候選人。來(lái)自東部的卡特琳·格林-?？柕率锹返陆虝?huì )的領(lǐng)導人，按照綠黨標準，她是一個(gè)保守派。（另外一個(gè)候選人尤爾根·特利汀，這幾乎是內定的，因為綠黨習慣于推選男女候選人各一名。）格林-?？柕碌娜脒x是對虛張聲勢的左派克勞迪婭·羅斯的有力回擊。這個(gè)選擇很快就被認為是向基督教民主聯(lián)盟（CDU）拋出的橄欖枝。 The relative decline of the traditional main parties, the CDU and SPD, in favour of smaller andyounger ones, explains much of this party manoeuvring. Some of these may just be fads. ThePirates have done well in four state elections but now seem to be self-destructing, unable toform basic policy and being generally tedious. Yet, as German society becomes moreindividualistic, says Oskar Niedermayer, a professor at Berlin’s Free University, traditional partystructures based on interest groups (Catholics, say, or trade unionists) lose appeal, leavingallegiances in flux. 傳統的重要黨派（如CDU和SPD）的相對衰落，規模較小和年輕的黨派逐漸獲得支持，這很大程度上解釋了這個(gè)政黨運作。有些政黨只是一時(shí)潮流。海盜黨（The Pirates）在4個(gè)州的選舉中表現得相當出色，但是現在他們似乎已經(jīng)要自我毀滅了，他們無(wú)法形成基本方針，而且非常單一。然而，隨著(zhù)德國社會(huì )越來(lái)越個(gè)人主義化，傳統的建立在利益集團（天主教徒或工會(huì )主義者）之上的政黨結構已經(jīng)失去了吸引力，這使得民眾的忠誠飄忽不定，柏林自由大學(xué)的教授奧斯卡·尼德邁爾說(shuō)道。 At the same time and despite the campaign rhetoric, the differences between the main partieshave, he thinks, got smaller, making any radical change of direction unlikely. That is especiallytrue next year, since it seems increasingly likely that Mrs Merkel, with her safe pair of hands, willcontinue as chancellor. Only her coalition partner remains to be chosen. 同時(shí)，他認為，盡管在這個(gè)時(shí)候競選高調四起，主要政黨之間的區別卻已經(jīng)變得越來(lái)越小，他們也不可能給大選方向帶來(lái)巨變。這個(gè)現象在明年格外如此，因為越來(lái)越多的現象表明擁有放心的幫手的默克爾將連任德國總理。而等待我們選擇的只有她的聯(lián)合政黨的伙伴。 1詞匯學(xué)習： 1.step backwards 倒退例句:This could be a step backwards, increasingstate influence. 不斷增加的國家影響力，可能是個(gè)倒退。2.in favour of 支持；贊成例句:All the affiliated organizations are in favour of the plan. 所有的分支機構都贊成該計劃。3.get along with 與...和睦相處例句:Brown was always saying that nobody could get along with Croft. 布朗老是說(shuō)誰(shuí)也別想跟克洛夫特合得來(lái)。 4.appeal to 吸引例句:Does the idea of working for a venture company appeal to you ? 你有沒(méi)有興趣到合資企業(yè)去工作?
