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The Nordics in charge

北歐掌控

A Scandinavian wave

一次斯堪的納維亞狂潮

How the Nordics get so many senior internationalpositions

北歐為何擁有眾多較高的國際職位

WHEN it comes to international jobs, Scandinaviadoes well. Sweden, Denmark and Norway have only 20m people, yet their nationals often runglobal organisations. Jens Stoltenberg, a former Norwegian prime minister, is taking over froma former Danish prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, as NATO's boss. Thorbjorn Jagland,another former Norwegian prime minister, has just won a second term at the Council ofEurope. Now attention is on the current Danish prime minister, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, who isa front-runner to succeed Belgium's Herman Van Rompuy as president of the EuropeanCouncil.

說到國際工作，斯堪的維納亞(在地理上是指斯堪的納維亞半島，包括挪威和瑞典，文化與政治上則包含丹麥)表現算是個中翹楚。盡管瑞典、丹麥和挪威僅有2千萬人口，他們的公民卻掌舵者全球組織。挪威前首相Jens Stoltenberg正接棒前丹麥首相Anders Fogh Rasmussen成為北約的領袖。另一位挪威的前首相Thorbjorn Jagland則剛剛于歐洲議會選舉中贏得了第二任期�，F今關注的是當前丹麥首相Helle Thorning-Schmidt能否繼任比利時的 Herman Van Rompuy成為歐洲理事會主席。

With the European Union's foreign-policy chief and the head of the Eurogroup of financeministers, this job should be filled at an EU summit on July 16th, after the European Parliamentconfirms Luxembourg's Jean-Claude Juncker as European Commission president. Ms Thorning-Schmidt has disavowed any interest, saying she hopes to lead the Social Democrats to anotherelection win next year. But Mr Fogh Rasmussen played a similarly oblique game in 2009,repeatedly denying any interest in NATO. Afterwards he claimed that “being a candidate” and“canvassing” were separate. Ms Thorning-Schmidt's real drawback is that Denmark is not in theeuro. But as a woman from the centre-left, she balances Mr Juncker. She is also married to theson of Neil Kinnock, a former British Labour leader and European commissioner.

有了歐盟的外交政策首腦和眾歐洲集團財政部長領導的推動下，這件工作會在歐洲議會明確來自盧森堡的Jean-Claude Juncker接任歐洲理事會主席之后，于7月16日在歐盟峰會上宣布結果。Thorning-Schmidt顯然已失去任何興趣，她表示，她希望能夠帶領SD黨贏得明年選舉的勝利。但Fogh Rasmussen在2009年曾玩過類似的把戲，也曾一度聲稱對北歐不再關心。后來他表示“成為一名候選人”和“為自己拉票”這兩者是相互獨立的。對Thorning-Schmidt來說真正的劣勢是丹麥并不屬于歐元集團。但是作為一名中左派的女士，他與Juncker旗鼓相當。她也已經同前英國工黨領袖和歐盟委員Neil Kinnock的兒子成婚。

Other politicians are less coy. Finland's former centre-right prime minister, Jyrki Katainen, hasstepped down to seek a big international job. He is now interim economics commissioner(replacing another Finn, Olli Rehn), and he might stay on or take the Eurogroup job. Sweden'sforeign minister (and another former prime minister), Carl Bildt, is a possibility for the foreign-policy post, though some find him too abrasive.

其他的政治家就沒那么扭捏作態。芬蘭前中右派首相Jyrki Katainen已為一份優渥的國際工作而辭職。如今他是臨時的經濟專員(替代了另一位芬蘭人Olli Rehn)，而且她很可能留任或是接手歐元集團的工作。瑞典的外交部長(也是另一位前首相)Carl Bildt，很可能上任外交政策的職位，盡管有人發現他行事并不謹慎。

What gives the Nordics a head start? One answer is that they are unthreatening to bigcountries . Another is that a history of parliamentary compromise gives them the ability tocross ideological divides. It has been a long time since any Nordic country had a single-partymajority government. Mr Katainen's 2011-14 cabinet was a six-party patchwork. Yet there isa limit to how many Nordics the world can absorb. No matter how perfect they are, not all willwin prizes.

到底是什么給予了北歐這樣的優勢?一種解釋是他們對大國并無威脅。另一種是議會的妥協給了他們跨越意識上分裂的可能性。距北歐國家建立一個多黨合作的政府到現在已經有很長時間了。2011-14年Katainen的內閣曾由六黨組合而成。然而對于這個世界能接受多少北歐人還是存有一定限制。無論他們有多完美，也不可能人人獲勝。

【重點解析】

1.come to 蘇醒;達到;來到

例句:There are thousands of students absolutelygagging to come to this university.

肯定有成千上萬的學生都渴望到這所大學念書。

2.take over 奪取;接管;接收

例句:Prime candidate to take over his job isMargaret Ramsay.

接替他工作的首要人選是瑪格麗特·拉姆齊。

3.hope to 希望能夠

例句:I hope to God they are paying you well.

我真希望他們給你一份好的酬勞。

4.step down 辭職;下臺

例句:The manager had to step down on account of poor health.

那位經理由于身體不好,只能辭職不干。