I think it was Napoleon who said you can know a state’s foreign policy by its geography. By and large the rule still holds good. In the case of Angela Merkel’s Germany an unkind observer would modify it slightly. Export markets would claim a place alongside geography.
我记得拿破仑曾经说过，了解一个国家的地理，也就了解了它的外交政策。目前这个原则基本上仍然适用，但说到安格拉•默克尔(Angela Merkel)领导下的德国，不厚道的观察家可能会将这句话稍作修改：对于德国外交政策而言，出口市场与地理同样重要。
Ms Merkel has been in Washington this week. The German chancellor was feted by Barack Obama. A 19-gun salute was followed by the award of the presidential medal of freedom and a glittering White House banquet. No other European leader has received such cosseting during Mr Obama’s tenure. They must have been seething in Nicolas Sarkozy’s Elysée palace.
两周前，在出访华盛顿期间，默克尔受到了美方的盛情款待。巴拉克•奥巴马(Barack Obama)先是以19响礼炮表示欢迎，接着向她颁发了“总统自由勋章”，并在白宫举办了一场盛大的宴会。在奥巴马任内，还没有其他哪位欧洲领导人受到过如此的厚待，他们当时一定在尼古拉•萨科齐(Nicolas Sarkozy)的爱丽舍宫里愤愤不平。
Custom has it that these events are a reward for faithful allies. In Ms Merkel’s case, the warmth of the reception was more a mark of hope than of appreciation. Mr Obama may still pay homage to a special relationship with Britain, but Germany is the European power he does not want to lose.
按照惯例，这种礼节是对忠诚盟友的回馈，但对默克尔而言，这样的热情招待更像是一种希冀，而不是感激。奥巴马可能仍尤其看重与英国的特殊关系，但德国毕竟是奥巴马不愿失去的一个欧洲强国。
Relations between the White House and the Chancellery have scarcely been cordial of late. They have been marked by a public spat over Libya, arguments about economic policy and divisions over the future of nuclear energy in the wake of the disaster at Japan’s Fukushima plant.
美德两国政府近来的关系很难称得上和睦，前后就利比亚问题和经济政策争论不休，在日本福岛核电站发生灾难后，对于核能未来的看法也产生了分歧。