前西德总理施密特逝世

 　　Helmut Schmidt, the former West German chancellor¹ who steered² his country through the world economic crisis and cold war tension of the 1970s and early 1980s has died at the age of 96.

　　前西德总理、在上世纪70年代至80年代初带领国家挺过世界经济危机和冷战紧张局势的赫尔穆特施密特(Helmut Schmidt)去世，享年96岁。

　　Of the six chancellors³ who led West Germany between the end of the second world war and its 1990 reunification with the east, none wore the mantle⁴ of statesmanship at home and abroad with more poise⁵ and more trenchant⁶ professionalism than Schmidt.

　　在从第二次世界大战结束至1990年两德统一的那段时期主政西德的六名总理中，没有第二个人做得到像施密特那样，以沉着以及犀利的专业精神在国内外扮演政治家的角色。

　　Angela Merkel, the current chancellor, praised Schmidt as a man who had “rendered outstanding service to his country”. She said she often sought his advice, and had visited him in Hamburg as recently as last year.

　　现任德国总理安格拉默克尔(Angela Merkel)称赞施密特“为国家提供了杰出的服务”。她说，她经常征求他的意见，就在去年还去汉堡拜访了他。

　　“He was a political institution,” Ms Merkel said.

　　“他是一个政治名人，”默克尔说。

　　Ms Merkel singled out how Schmidt had dealt with the challenge of terrorism in 1970s Germany, supported the deployment⁷ of Pershing cruise missiles in western Europe in the 1980s, a controversial decision that put strains on his Social Democratic party (SPD), and helped to launch the European Monetary⁹ System in 1979.

　　默克尔提到了施密特如何在上世纪70年代应对德国面临的恐怖主义挑战，在80年代支持在西欧部署潘兴(Pershing)弹道导弹（那是一个有争议的决定，使他所在的社民党(SPD)受到压力），并在1979年帮助启动欧洲货币体系(European Monetary System)。

　　She called him “one of the fathers of summit diplomacy”, noting that he and the French president Giscard d’Estaing had held one of the world’s first economic summits 40 years ago.

　　默克尔形容施密特是“峰会外交的鼻祖之一”，指出他与时任法国总统的吉斯卡尔德斯坦(Giscard d’Estaing)在40年前举行了世界上最早的经济峰会之一。

　　When he succeeded Willy Brandt in 1974 as the country’s second Social Democrat⁸ chancellor, Schmidt — a former defence and finance minister — brought a wealth of experience to his office and quickly developed authority on the world stage.

　　当他在1974年接替维利勃兰特(Willy Brandt)，成为西德第二位社民党总理时，曾担任国防部长和财政部长的施密特带来了丰富的经验，在世界舞台上迅速树立了威信。

　　The centre-left Social Democrat led West Germany from 1974 to 1982, when he lost power to conservative Helmut Kohl. His leadership qualities, like his principles, were turned to the best advantage of his country and of Europe.

　　中间偏左的社民党从1974年起主政西德至1982年，那年施密特败在保守的赫尔穆特科尔(Helmut Kohl)手下。施密特的领袖气质和他的原则一样，成为他的国家乃至整个欧洲的最佳优势。

　　Schmidt’s straight-talking, sometimes moralistic political style was influenced by a conviction that his country had to build on the most stringent¹⁰ lessons from the catastrophe¹¹ of the war.

　　施密特直话直说、有时近乎道德说教的政治风格背后的信念是，他的国家必须在汲取战争灾难所带来的最严厉教训的基础上谋求发展。

　　His view was that the shadow of Hitler and Auschwitz obliged Germany to promote European integration¹² and international stability.

　　他的观点是，希特勒和奥斯维辛集中营的阴影使德国有义务推动欧洲一体化和国际稳定。

　　One his best-known sayings, which summed up his gritty, pragmatic side and suspicion of ideologues was “whoever has a vision should go and visit a doctor”. Schmidt went on to become an iconic elder statesman, weighing in on Germany’s political debates into his 90s.

　　他最爱说的一句话是“有想象力的人都应该去看医生”，这句话道出了他坚强务实的一面，以及他对空想家的怀疑。施密特后来成为一个偶像般的元老级政治家，在90多岁时仍然影响着德国的政治辩论。

　　The Suddeutsche newspaper said in an obituary¹³: “As a politician, Helmut Schmidt was a crisis manager and global economist¹⁴. As a pensioner¹⁵, he was a publicist and elder statesman. After he was voted out of the chancellery, his popularity rose from year to year.”

　　《南德意志报》(Suddeutsche)的讣告称：“作为一个政治人物，赫尔穆特施密特是一位危机管理者和全球经济学家。作为一名退休的人，他是一个公关专家和元老级政治家。在他被选民们逐出总理府之后，他的人气一年比一年高。”

　　Frank-Walter Steinmeier, foreign minister, said: “We Germans have lost a father figure ... Helmut Schmidt was not only a chancellor of the Germans -— he was a mentor¹⁶ of the Germans.”

　　德国外长弗兰克-瓦尔特施泰因迈尔(Frank-Walter Steinmeier)表示：“我们德国人失去了一个父亲般的人物……赫尔穆特施密特不仅是德国人的总理，他还是德国人的导师。”

　　Mr Steinmeier praised Schmidt’s global vision, saying he “always saw Germany in Europe and Europe on the world stage”. He joked about Schmidt’s love of smoking, saying: “ Helmut Schmidt was a great statesman down to his last cigarette.”

　　施泰因迈尔称赞施密特的全球视野，称他“总是在欧洲的舞台上看待德国，在世界舞台上看待欧洲”。他调侃了施密特的烟瘾，称：“赫尔穆特施密特直到抽最后一根烟的时候仍是一位伟大的政治家。”

　　Hans-Dietrich Genscher, a former German foreign minister, said: “We know that Germany has become poorer, and we feel that we will miss him again and again ... For me, Helmut Schmidt’s death marks the parting from a companion in difficult times.”

　　德国前外长汉斯-迪特里希根舍(Hans-Dietrich Genscher)表示：“我们知道德国遭受了无可挽回的损失，我们觉得我们会一次又一次怀念他……对我而言，赫尔穆特施密特的逝世标志着在困难的时候告别一位同伴。”

　　Sigmar Gabriel, head of the SPD said: “Helmut Schmidt embodied¹⁷ in the best sense of the word the international tradition of social democracy ... we will miss his judgment¹⁸, his world view and his advice. We grieve for Helmut Schmidt and are proud that he was one of us.”

　　社民党主席西格马尔加布里尔(Sigmar Gabriel)表示：“赫尔穆特施密特体现了国际社会民主传统的精华……我们会想念他的判断力，他的世界观和他的高见。我们哀悼赫尔穆特施密特，并对他曾经是我党的一员感到自豪。”

1 chancellor   

n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长

参考例句：

• They submitted their reports to the Chancellor yesterday.他们昨天向财政大臣递交了报告。
• He was regarded as the most successful Chancellor of modern times.他被认为是现代最成功的财政大臣。

2 steered   

v.驾驶( steer的过去式和过去分词 )；操纵；控制；引导

参考例句：

• He steered the boat into the harbour. 他把船开进港。
• The freighter steered out of Santiago Bay that evening. 那天晚上货轮驶出了圣地亚哥湾。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 chancellors   

大臣( chancellor的名词复数 )； （某些美国大学的）校长； （德国或奥地利的）总理； （英国大学的）名誉校长

参考例句：

• The opposition leader spoke against the chancellors' proposals and mincemeat of them. 反对派领导人反对大臣们的建议，并将他们驳得体无完肤。
• Chancellors and defence secretaries are supposed to keep such disputes private. 各部大臣和国防大臣本应该私下进行这种争论。

4 mantle   

n.斗篷，覆罩之物，罩子；v.罩住，覆盖，脸红

参考例句：

• The earth had donned her mantle of brightest green.大地披上了苍翠欲滴的绿色斗篷。
• The mountain was covered with a mantle of snow.山上覆盖着一层雪。

5 poise   

vt./vi. 平衡，保持平衡；n.泰然自若，自信

参考例句：

• She hesitated briefly but quickly regained her poise.她犹豫片刻，但很快恢复了镇静。
• Ballet classes are important for poise and grace.芭蕾课对培养优雅的姿仪非常重要。

6 trenchant   

adj.尖刻的，清晰的

参考例句：

• His speech was a powerful and trenchant attack against apartheid.他的演说是对种族隔离政策强有力的尖锐的抨击。
• His comment was trenchant and perceptive.他的评论既一针见血又鞭辟入里。

7 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。

8 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

9 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

10 stringent   

adj.严厉的；令人信服的；银根紧的

参考例句：

• Financiers are calling for a relaxation of these stringent measures.金融家呼吁对这些严厉的措施予以放宽。
• Some of the conditions in the contract are too stringent.合同中有几项条件太苛刻。

11 catastrophe   

n.大灾难，大祸

参考例句：

• I owe it to you that I survived the catastrophe.亏得你我才大难不死。
• This is a catastrophe beyond human control.这是一场人类无法控制的灾难。

12 integration   

n.一体化，联合，结合

参考例句：

• We are working to bring about closer political integration in the EU.我们正在努力实现欧盟內部更加紧密的政治一体化。
• This was the greatest event in the annals of European integration.这是欧洲统一史上最重大的事件。

13 obituary   

n.讣告，死亡公告；adj.死亡的

参考例句：

• The obituary records the whole life of the deceased.讣文记述了这位死者的生平。
• Five days after the letter came,he found Andersen s obituary in the morning paper.收到那封信五天后，他在早报上发现了安德森的讣告。

14 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

15 pensioner   

n.领养老金的人

参考例句：

• The tax threshold for a single pensioner is$ 445.单身领退休年金者的纳税起点为445英镑。
• It was the pensioner's vote late in the day that influenced the election of Mr.Sweet.最后是领取养老金者的选票影响了斯威特先生的当选。

16 mentor   

n.指导者，良师益友；v.指导

参考例句：

• He fed on the great ideas of his mentor.他以他导师的伟大思想为支撑。
• He had mentored scores of younger doctors.他指导过许多更年轻的医生。

17 embodied   

v.表现( embody的过去式和过去分词 )；象征；包括；包含

参考例句：

• a politician who embodied the hopes of black youth 代表黑人青年希望的政治家
• The heroic deeds of him embodied the glorious tradition of the troops. 他的英雄事迹体现了军队的光荣传统。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。