默克尔联盟未能就德国新总统人选达成一致

 　　Chancellor¹ Angela Merkel’s attempt to choose a new German president by consensus² has run into trouble after her Social Democrat³ coalition⁴ partners proposed foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier for the job.

　　总理安格拉.默克尔(Angela Merkel)试图以协商一致方式选出德国新总统的努力遭到挫折。此前，她的联盟伙伴社民党(SDP)提议由外长弗兰克-瓦尔特.施泰因迈尔(Frank-Walter Steinmeier)接任新总统。

　　By putting forward a top party member to succeed 76-year-old former pastor⁵ Joachim Gauck, the SPD is pushing Ms Merkel’s conservative CDU/CSU bloc⁶ to nominate a leader from its own ranks — and engage in a contested election.

　　社民党提议由本党重要成员接替76岁的前牧师约阿希姆.高克(Joachim Gauck)，将推动默克尔领导的基民盟/基社盟(CDU/CSU)联盟从己方阵营指定一名领袖人物——然后由两者竞选总统。

　　The succession hunt comes as next year’s parliamentary elections looms⁷ large on the horizon. Although the presidency⁸ is largely honorary, Ms Merkel and SPD leader Sigmar Gabriel both think that the party securing the job could benefit in the Bundestag poll, even if it is only from the kudos⁹ of winning.

　　在明年议会选举即将到来之际，总统继任角逐开始了。尽管总统主要是个名誉职位，但默克尔和社民党领导人西格马尔.加布里尔(Sigmar Gabriel)都认为，由本党人士出任总统，可能会让本党在德国联邦议院(Bundestag)选举中受益，即遍只是声望方面的胜利。

　　Ms Merkel would prefer not to rock the boat and to focus on recovering support from voters alienated¹⁰ by her controversial refugee policies. But Mr Gabriel, as the junior coalition partner, wants to move out of the chancellor’s shadow before the Bundestag election by picking some fights.

　　默克尔更愿意不打破现状，希望集中精力重新获得被她的争议性难民政策疏远的选民的支持。但是，加布里尔作为联盟中分量较轻的伙伴，希望通过挑起一些争斗，在联邦议院选举之前摆脱默克尔的阴影。

　　Ms Merkel originally hoped the popular Mr Gauck would stay for a second five-year term when his presidency ends in March. After Mr Gauck announced his planned retirement¹¹ in the summer, she sought a conservative-social democrat consensus candidate. But soundings taken among lawyers, academics and church leaders have proved fruitless.

　　默克尔最初希望，明年3月任期结束时，颇受欢迎的高克开始第二个五年任期。在今夏高克宣布打算退休后，默克尔寻求跟保守的社民党经过协商推出候选人。但是，在律师、学者和教会领袖当中的物色没有成功。

　　Peter Tauber, CDU secretary-general, said at the weekend that he still wanted a joint¹² candidate “who stands above party conflicts and builds bridges in society”.

　　基民盟秘书长彼得.陶贝尔(Peter Tauber)在周末表示，他仍然希望推出一位联合候选人，“此人超越了党派冲突，能为社会搭建桥梁”。

　　But Mr Gabriel announced in an interview on Monday in Bild, the top-selling newspaper, that he would back 60-year-old Mr Steinmeier because he understood “the challenges of our time”. Opinion polls regularly rate the foreign minister as Germany’s most popular politician.

　　但是，加布里尔在周一接受畅销报纸《图片报》(Bild)采访时表示，他将支持60岁的施泰因迈尔，因为此人理解“我们这个时代的挑战”。民调结果经常显示，这位外长是德国最受欢迎的政治家。

　　If the CDU/CSU puts forward a partisan¹³ choice, one favourite could be finance minister Wolfgang Sch?uble. But the tough 74-year-old campaigner would then be lost to the bloc in the parliamentary election.

　　如果基民盟/基社盟提出一名党内人选，很可能是财长沃尔夫冈.朔伊布勒(Wolfgang Sch?uble)。但是，这位74岁的强硬竞选者在议会选举中将不再属于基民盟/基社盟联盟。

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 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

3 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。

4 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

5 pastor   

n.牧师，牧人

参考例句：

• He was the son of a poor pastor.他是一个穷牧师的儿子。
• We have no pastor at present:the church is run by five deacons.我们目前没有牧师：教会的事是由五位执事管理的。

6 bloc   

n.集团；联盟

参考例句：

• A solid bloc of union members support the decision.工会会员团结起来支持该决定。
• There have been growing tensions within the trading bloc.贸易同盟国的关系越来越紧张。

7 looms   

n.织布机( loom的名词复数 )v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的第三人称单数 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• All were busily engaged,men at their ploughs,women at their looms. 大家都很忙，男的耕田，女的织布。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The factory has twenty-five looms. 那家工厂有25台织布机。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

9 kudos   

n.荣誉，名声

参考例句：

• He received kudos from everyone on his performance.他的表演受到大家的称赞。
• It will acquire no kudos for translating its inner doubts into hesitation.如果由于内心疑虑不安而在行动上举棋不定，是得不到荣誉的。

10 alienated   

adj.感到孤独的，不合群的v.使疏远( alienate的过去式和过去分词 )；使不友好；转让；让渡（财产等）

参考例句：

• His comments have alienated a lot of young voters. 他的言论使许多年轻选民离他而去。
• The Prime Minister's policy alienated many of her followers. 首相的政策使很多拥护她的人疏远了她。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

12 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

13 partisan   

adj.党派性的；游击队的；n.游击队员；党徒

参考例句：

• In their anger they forget all the partisan quarrels.愤怒之中，他们忘掉一切党派之争。
• The numerous newly created partisan detachments began working slowly towards that region.许多新建的游击队都开始慢慢地向那里移动。