经济学人185:德国政治 为了更短的枪炮和额外的睡眠

 　　German politics

　　德国政治

　　For curvy cannons¹ and extra sleep

　　为了更短的枪炮和额外的睡眠

　　The election of a satirical party to the European Parliament speaks volumes

　　一个讽刺党派为了进入欧盟议会进行选举是很有意义的

　　The chairman and the faux fanatics²

　　党派领导人和“粉丝”

　　“SATIRE cannot have any consequences,” argued Martin Sonneborn in his masters thesis in 1994. Almost by accident, he has proved himself wrong. Die Partei, the elaborate joke of a party he heads, won 0.62% of the German vote in the elections for the European Parliament in May. That was enough for Mr Sonneborn to win a seat.

　　1994年马丁·索恩伊博在他的硕士毕业论文中宣扬“讽刺是没有任何意义的！”但是出乎意料的，他却证明自己的言论是错误的。他领导的Die Partei“政党”就是一个讽刺性政党，这对他来说无疑是一个精心准备的玩笑。今年5月在德国举行的欧洲议会选举投票中，索恩伊博领导的政党赢得了0.62%的选票。那已经足够让索恩伊博赢得一个席位了。

　　The Party mimics³ the grandiosity⁴ of the Nazi⁵ and East German communist parties. Its much longer official name mentions animal rights and the “promotion of elites”. Mr Sonneborn is its GroVaZ. The Party, he proclaims, is “always right”.

　　该党派模仿纳粹以及东德社会主义政党的“壮举”。事实上，它更加冗长的官方名称更着重于维护动物权利和“发展精英阶层”。而索恩伊博先生则是它的终生荣誉主席。在该党中，他所说的一切都是“正确的”。

　　德国政治.jpg

　　Its platform has evolved since its founding in 2004. Early on it advocated a war of aggression⁶ against Liechtenstein and the rebuilding of the Berlin Wall. Lately it has become less bellicose⁷. It wants to get rid of daylight-saving time while continuing to set the clocks back every autumn, giving Germans an extra hour of sleep. As a member of the European Parliament Mr Sonneborn plans to revive the EU's infamous⁸ cucumber-curvature law . But now it will apply to weapons exports and will promote curviness rather than discouraging it: every 10cm of gun or tank barrel will have to curve by 2cm.

　　从它2004年成立起，它的活动范围一直在发展。早期，它甚至一直鼓动对列支敦士登的侵略战争和重建柏林墙。随后它变得不那么好战了，转而追求去除夏令时，在每个秋天将钟表时间向后拨以给德国人民额外一小时睡眠时间。成为欧盟议会一员之后，索恩伊博居然计划恢复欧盟臭名昭著的农产品外观出口限制法案。但是现在，它们将目光投向了武器出口条例，开始推荐改装出口而不是禁制：每把枪支长度或者坦克的油桶将在被削减2厘米后再出口。

　　The Party's big theme, though, is “the transcendence of Inhalte”, a word which translates as “issues” or “content”. Mr Sonneborn campaigns for contentlessness before standing-room-only crowds at cabaret-style book launches and at rallies of faux-fanatical supporters.

　　尽管该党派的主基调是“卓越的Inhalte””，但是索恩伊博总是在人山人海的人群前为一些毫无意义的事情抗争，要么是在歌舞表演式的新书发布会上，要么是在“粉丝”集会上。

　　That message has a particular resonance⁹ now, with Germany's two biggest parties—Angela Merkel's Christian¹⁰ Democratic Union and the Social Democratic Party—governing together in a “grand coalition”. One calls itself centre-right, the other centre-left. Normally they are fierce rivals. But in moments of honesty and inebriation¹¹ even their members admit they can no longer tell the difference. Mr Sonneborn celebrates this ideological¹² and stylistic sameness. “We do modern turbo politics, by going in no direction much faster” than the mainstream¹³ parties, he says.

　　这些言论现在有了实际上的共鸣者，因为众所周知，德国两个最大的政党—默克尔的基社盟和社民党组成了“大联盟”共同执政。而它们两者一个宣称自己是右倾政党，另一个则自称左倾派。通常意义上两者应该是水火不容的。但现在，说实话，无论是从哪一方面即便是他们各自的追随者也没办法区分清楚。索恩伊博为这种意识形态和语言上的同化而鼓掌。他表示：“我们正运行的是现代混合政治，通过无目的的前进，相比传统政党我们能前进得更快。”

　　Mr Sonneborn's American equivalent is Stephen Colbert of “The Colbert Report”, a mock-news show on a comedy channel. Both assume a political persona and rarely step out of it. Unlike Mr Sonneborn's turbo-centrist, Mr Colbert's on-screen character is a lovably deranged¹⁴ right-winger who would do well with the real-life audience of Fox News if he traded his irony¹⁵ for earnestness. “Satire is not comedy,” says Mr Sonneborn. “It has aggressive momentum¹⁶.” In America, that means mocking partisanship¹⁷. In Germany, the target is the featureless blob that passes for party politics.

　　在美国，索恩伊博的同道中人就是斯蒂芬·科尔伯特，他是某个喜剧频道的一个讽刺新闻节目——“科尔伯特报告”的主持人。两者都假定自己是一个政治家但却极少真正涉足政治。不同于索恩伊博的中立主义，科尔伯特在荧幕上表现的是一个可爱的，滑稽的右翼分子。如果他用自己的讽刺行为去换取观众的热心，他就能和福克斯新闻的真实观众们极好地相处。索恩伊博表示，“讽刺并不只有哗众取宠的成分，它同时也富有一定的攻击性。”在美国那只是意味着党派性偏见和讽刺。而在德国，它目标则放在了被误认为是党派政治行为的一些平淡无奇琐事上。

1 cannons   

n.加农炮，大炮，火炮( cannon的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Cannons bombarded enemy lines. 大炮轰击了敌军阵地。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• One company had been furnished with six cannons. 某连队装备了六门大炮。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 fanatics   

狂热者，入迷者( fanatic的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The heathen temple was torn down by a crowd of religions fanatics. 异教徒的神殿被一群宗教狂热分子拆除了。
• Placing nukes in the hands of baby-faced fanatics? 把核弹交给一些宗教狂热者手里？

3 mimics   

n.模仿名人言行的娱乐演员，滑稽剧演员( mimic的名词复数 )；善于模仿的人或物v.（尤指为了逗乐而）模仿( mimic的第三人称单数 )；酷似

参考例句：

• Methods:Models were generate by CT scan,Mimics software and Abaqus software. 方法：采用CT扫描，Mimics软件和Abaqus软件的CAD进行三维有限元模型的创建。 来自互联网
• Relaxing the mind and body mimics the effect that some blood-pressure pills would have. 放松身心会产生某些降压药才能产生的效果。 来自辞典例句

4 grandiosity   

n. 宏伟, 堂皇, 铺张

参考例句：

• Integral designed with novelty, delicate style and comprehensive function, the hotel and considerably grandiosity. 酒店整体设计新颖，风格别致，功能齐全，无论是主题建筑，还是装饰装修，都构思巧妙，气势宏大。

5 Nazi   

n.纳粹分子，adj.纳粹党的，纳粹的

参考例句：

• They declare the Nazi regime overthrown and sue for peace.他们宣布纳粹政权已被推翻，并出面求和。
• Nazi closes those war criminals inside their concentration camp.纳粹把那些战犯关在他们的集中营里。

6 aggression   

n.进攻，侵略，侵犯，侵害

参考例句：

• So long as we are firmly united, we need fear no aggression.只要我们紧密地团结，就不必惧怕外来侵略。
• Her view is that aggression is part of human nature.她认为攻击性是人类本性的一部份。

7 bellicose   

adj.好战的；好争吵的

参考例句：

• He expressed alarm about the government's increasingly bellicose statements.他对政府越来越具挑衅性的声明表示担忧。
• Some irresponsible politicians made a bellicose remarks.一些不负责任的政客说出一些好战的话语。

8 infamous   

adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的

参考例句：

• He was infamous for his anti-feminist attitudes.他因反对女性主义而声名狼藉。
• I was shocked by her infamous behaviour.她的无耻行径令我震惊。

9 resonance   

n.洪亮；共鸣；共振

参考例句：

• Playing the piano sets up resonance in those glass ornaments.一弹钢琴那些玻璃饰物就会产生共振。
• The areas under the two resonance envelopes are unequal.两个共振峰下面的面积是不相等的。

10 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。

11 inebriation   

n.醉，陶醉

参考例句：

• His practice of inebriation was lamentable. 他的酗酒常闹得别人束手无策。 来自辞典例句
• Poor Tom lamentably disgraced himself at Sir Charles Mirable's table, by premature inebriation. 可怜的汤姆在查尔斯·米拉贝尔爵士的宴会上，终于入席不久就酩酊大醉，弄得出丑露乖，丢尽了脸皮。 来自辞典例句

12 ideological   

a.意识形态的

参考例句：

• He always tries to link his study with his ideological problems. 他总是把学习和自己的思想问题联系起来。
• He helped me enormously with advice on how to do ideological work. 他告诉我怎样做思想工作，对我有很大帮助。

13 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

14 deranged   

adj.疯狂的

参考例句：

• Traffic was stopped by a deranged man shouting at the sky.一名狂叫的疯子阻塞了交通。
• A deranged man shot and killed 14 people.一个精神失常的男子开枪打死了14人。

15 irony   

n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄

参考例句：

• She said to him with slight irony.她略带嘲讽地对他说。
• In her voice we could sense a certain tinge of irony.从她的声音里我们可以感到某种讥讽的意味。

16 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

17 Partisanship   

n. 党派性, 党派偏见

参考例句：

• Her violent partisanship was fighting Soames's battle. 她的激烈偏袒等于替索米斯卖气力。
• There was a link of understanding between them, more important than affection or partisanship. ' 比起人间的感情，比起相同的政见，这一点都来得格外重要。 来自英汉文学