IN THE NEWS - Germany Awaits a New Leader, and a New Day

IN THE NEWS - Germany Awaits a New Leader, and a New Day
By Jerilyn Watson

Broadcast: Saturday, October 15, 2005

I'm Doug Johnson with IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

The major political parties in Germany are working to complete negotiations¹ for a new government. When they finish, Parliament is expected to elect Angela Merkel as the new chancellor². She is a conservative who would be the first woman to lead Germany. Angela Merkel would also be the first leader from the former East Germany.

 
 
Her party, the Christian³ Democratic Union, narrowly won elections last month for the Bundestag, the German parliament. But it did not receive enough votes for a majority. The Christian Democrats⁴ and the Social Democratic Party of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder agreed Monday to form a coalition⁵.

The next chancellor will face a national unemployment rate of more than eleven percent. The German economy is the largest in Europe. But economic growth has slowed.

Mister Schroeder said this week that he would not take part in the new government. He has been chancellor since nineteen ninety-eight. Under the coalition agreement, the ministries⁶ led by Social Democrats would include the Foreign Ministry⁷. Miz Merkel's party and the allied⁸ Christian Social Union would get leadership of the defense⁹ and economy ministries, among others.

Political experts say sharing power with her opponents almost surely will limit the ability of Angela Merkel to make changes. For example, she wants to ease laws that protect jobs and help keep labor¹⁰ costs high in Germany. But unions support the protections.

Miz Merkel also says she wants to improve relations with the United States. Mister Schroeder refused to support American plans for the invasion of Iraq in two thousand three. However, Germans do not expect Miz Merkel to want to send troops to Iraq either.

Germany does wants a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. The United States has not shown support for that idea.

Angela Merkel is fifty-one years old. She was born Angela Kasner in Hamburg, West Germany. Her father was a Lutheran clergyman. He was sent to lead a small church in East Germany while Angela was a baby. So she grew up under Communist rule.

There, she received a doctoral degree in physics at the University of Leipzig in nineteen eighty-six. Later she did research in East Berlin. She is married to a chemistry professor, Joachim Sauer. They have no children.

She became active in the democracy movement in East Germany in nineteen eighty-nine. She joined the Christian Democratic Union about the time East and West Germany re-united in nineteen ninety. Voters elected her to Parliament the following year.

She soon became minister for women and young people, in the cabinet of Chancellor Helmut Kohl. Angela Merkel has chaired the Christian Democratic Union since two thousand. She has led its delegation¹¹ in Parliament since two thousand two. Her forceful personality often leads to comparisons with the former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher¹².

IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English was written by Jerilyn Watson.  I'm Doug Johnson.

1 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

2 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。

3 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

4 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 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。

6 ministries   

（政府的）部( ministry的名词复数 )； 神职； 牧师职位； 神职任期

参考例句：

• Local authorities must refer everything to the central ministries. 地方管理机构应请示中央主管部门。
• The number of Ministries has been pared down by a third. 部委的数量已经减少了1/3。

7 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

8 allied   

adj.协约国的；同盟国的

参考例句：

• Britain was allied with the United States many times in history.历史上英国曾多次与美国结盟。
• Allied forces sustained heavy losses in the first few weeks of the campaign.同盟国在最初几周内遭受了巨大的损失。

9 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

10 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

11 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

12 thatcher   

n.茅屋匠

参考例句：

• Tom Sawyer was in the skiff that bore Judge Thatcher. 汤姆 - 索亚和撒切尔法官同乘一条小艇。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险
• Mrs. Thatcher was almost crazed; and Aunt Polly, also. 撒切尔夫人几乎神经失常，还有波莉姨妈也是。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险