默克尔将寻求连任 | 金融时报 [E534]

据报道，德国总理默克尔20日表示，她将参加明年的德国大选，并寻求再次连任总理。据悉，德国联邦议院将于2017年秋季进行选举，改选后的联邦议院推举出下一任总理。默克尔已连续执政超过10年，若连任成功，这将是她的第四个总理任期，根据德国《基本法》，德国联邦总理没有连任届数限制，因而她再度竞选连任不存在任何制度障碍。

Merkel seeks to lead Germany again in face of rising populism

默克尔将寻求连任

Financial Times

金融时报

Angela Merkel has decided to seek a fourth term as German chancellor[1], less than two weeks after Donald Trump’s election in the US left her as the west’s pre-eminent[杰出的;出类拔萃的;卓越的] defender of liberal values.

安格拉•默克尔(Angela Merkel)决定寻求第四个德国总理任期，不到两周前，唐纳德•特朗普(Donald Trump)当选美国总统，使她成为西方的头号自由派价值观捍卫者。

The announcement to stand again came days after meetings with world leaders that underscored[强调] Ms Merkel’s importance to an international order rocked by Mr Trump’s electoral victory, and the rise of populist[民粹主义] and nationalist parties across Europe.

在她再次参选的声明发出几天前，默克尔与世界领导人的会晤突显了她对国际秩序的重要性，特朗普当选以及民粹主义和民族主义政党在欧洲各国崛起撼动了这一秩序。

She announced her decision to seek re-election last night, ending months of speculation. She said that she had “thought endlessly” about whether to run again and described the decision as “anything but trivial, not for the country, for the party and for me personally”.

她昨晚宣布了她将再次参选的决定，从而结束了长达数月的猜测。她表示，她一直“不停思考”自己是否再次参选，她称这一决定“不是小事，对于我的国家、我的政党以及我自己而言都是如此”。

Ms Merkel said that she wanted to serve Germany in “these difficult and uncertain times”.

默克尔表示，她希望在“当今艰难和不确定的时期”为德国服务。

She said that the election would “be more difficult than any since reunification” in 1990, with society more polarised[两极分化的] than when she began her third term in 2013, and her CDU[基督教民主联盟(Christian Democratic Union)] party, facing challenges from the right and left.

她表示，这场选举将“比自（1990年）德国统一以来的任何选举都更艰难”，社会两极分化程度比她在2013年开始第三任总理任期时更为严重，同时她所在的基民盟(CDU)面临着来自右翼和左翼的挑战。

Last week, the 62-year-old won the endorsement of Barack Obama, US president, who was in Berlin on the last leg of[最后一站] his final European tour for an informal summit with five EU heads of government. The outgoing[即将卸任的] president described Ms Merkel as his “closest international partner”, jesting[2] that if he were German he would vote for her.

上周，62岁的默克尔获得了美国总统巴拉克•奥巴马(Barack Obama)的支持，奥巴马当时在柏林，这是他任内最后一次欧洲访问的最后一站，他与5位欧盟政府首脑召开了一次非正式峰会。这位即将卸任的美国总统称默克尔是他“最密切的国际合作伙伴”，并开玩笑说，如果他是德国人，他会投票给默克尔。

Her decision to run is likely to be met with relief[欣慰地] in EU capitals, where she is seen as a rock of stability at a time of tectonic shifts[地球构造的转变/剧变] in European politics. In recent years EU leaders have looked to Ms Merkel and Germany to help solve the continent’s problems, ranging from the refugee crisis to the Greek bailout[3] and Brexit.

默克尔参选的决定可能会让欧盟各国松一口气，在欧盟内部，她被视为欧洲政治剧变时期稳住阵脚的磐石。最近几年，欧盟领导人一直依靠默克尔和德国来帮助解决欧洲的问题，从难民危机到希腊纾困和英国退欧。

LR注：纾(shū)困，“纾”是舒缓、缓解的意思。英文：bailout

Ms Merkel’s decision comes as the French yesterday went to the polls to select a centre-right candidate for next year’s election. Pollsters expect the winner to face far-right leader Marine Le Pen in the battle for the presidency.

在默克尔宣布参选之际，法国昨日投票，将为明年总统大选选出一位中右翼候选人。民调专家预计，获胜者将在总统大选中迎战极右翼领导人马琳•勒庞(Marine Le Pen)。

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[1]German chancellor 德国总理

《各国领导人称谓》

总统:President (US, France, Russia, Ireland)

总理:Premier (China), Chancellor (Germany) Prime Minister (Italy, Sweden, Demark, the Netherlands, Norway, Finnland,Canada)

首相:Prime Minister (Britain, Spain, Japan)

加拿大總督:The Governor General

主席:Chairman (China, North Korea) President (China)

最高领导人: Dear Leader (North Korea)

[2]jest：to say something intended to be funny 开玩笑

Would I jest about something so important?

我会拿这么重要的事开玩笑吗？

★ in jest：intended as a joke and not said seriously 开玩笑地，诙谐地

I only said it in jest - you're obviously not fat.

我那么说是开玩笑——很显然，你不胖。

(不要问我这例句为什么标红...

★ (Idiom) many a true word is spoken in jest.：said about humorous remarks that contain serious or true statements 戏言寓真理。

[3]bailout：with reliefthe act of helping a person or organization that is in difficulty, usually by giving or giving or lending money （通常指从经济上）帮助（某人或机构）脱离困境

Three years of huge losses forced the bank to seek a government bailout.

长达3年的巨额亏损迫使银行向政府寻求援助。

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