译者 frmann
Eurozone crisis forces Belgium to finally form a government
欧元区危机迫使比利时组成政府
Eurozone crisis forces Belgian politicians to act and form a coalition with French-speaking Elio Di Rupo at the helm
欧元区危机迫使比利时政治家们行动起来，组成以讲法语的艾里奥·迪茹坡为首的联合政府
Angelique Chrisafis
安格里科·克里萨菲斯
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 1 December 2011 19.56 GMT
卫报，2011年11月1日星期四，格林尼治时间1956
Students tried stripping to their underwear and handing out free chips; giant lions and roosters snogged in the street; the country's leading actor ordered all men to go on shaving strike; and a woman senator said politicians' wives should deny them sex.
学生们脱下衣服，只穿着内衣以示抗议；人们带着巨大的狮子（象征北方的弗拉芒地区）和公鸡（象征南方的瓦隆地区）的模型上街游行；最有影响力的演员号召所有男人不刮胡子表达不满；一位女参议员要求政治家们的配偶举行“床上罢工”。
But in the end, it took a looming financial meltdown in the eurozone to force Belgium's absurdly divided and squabbling political class to form a government.
不过最终终结比利时政坛荒诞的分裂和争吵的是可能导致欧元区瓦解的经济危机。
After breaking the modern-day world record for failing to form a government – making war-torn Iraq look like amateurs – Belgium has surmounted the linguistic and cultural stand-off that threatened to wipe it from the map, and agreed to form a coalition in the name of sorting out its finances.
比利时在创造了现代史上无政府时间最长的记录后——受到战火摧残的伊拉克跟它比起来就像过家家——终于战胜了可能导致国家瓦解的语言和文化的对立，各方同意为了解决财政危机成立联合政府。
After 535 days without a proper leader – the country has been led by a transitional caretaker government – Belgian officials said there was now likely to be a coalition cabinet in place next week.
在没有一位正式的领导人长达535天后——其间国家一直由看守政府来管理——比利时官员称联合政府将于下周就职。
But the crisis has left divisions more deeply entrenched than ever between the rich, Dutch-speaking north and poorer, French-speaking south, with melting pot Brussels marooned in the middle.
不过这次政治危机让比利时北方富裕的弗拉芒语区和南方贫穷的法语区之间的分歧更加深刻，而混乱的中心——布鲁塞尔则夹在中间。
More than 80 rounds of negotiations came to nothing but in the end Belgian politicians had no choice after Standard & Poor's downgraded its credit rating and borrowing stood as high as the country's GDP, with its banking sector seriously shaken.
八十余次的谈判毫无进展。但是现在标准普尔下调了比利时信用评级，国家债务总额和国内生产总值相当，银行业不稳，比利时政客们再也坐不住了。
Yet the birthplace of René Magritte, and spiritual home of surrealism, might not yet have finished with the absurd political crisis. The 180-year-old country once described as an accident of history might have averted a split, but the linguistic iron curtain remains in place.
不过超现实主义的精神家园，勒内·马格里特的出生地尚未终止荒诞的政治危机。这个一度被称为历史的意外的只有一百八十年历史的国家也许避免了分裂，但语言的“铁幕”仍然横亘在南北之间。
During the year-and-a-half-long crisis, relentless stereotyping was in abundance, deepening the divide, with Flemings, who make up 60% of the 10.5 million population, described as a bunch of tetchy, right-wing nationalist extremists, and Francophones as work-shy scroungers.
在这次长达一年半的危机中，各种加深分歧的无情的陈词滥调不绝于耳：占一千万人口中60%的弗拉芒人被称为易怒的右翼民族主义极端分子，而操法语者则成立不愿工作的乞丐。
A tentative coalition of six parties of very different political hues now faces the minefield of putting in place severe austerity measures, tax changes and cuts, which are bound to spark social unrest, with strikes already planned on the streets of Brussels.
目前，六个风格迥异的政党临时联合组成了政府，他们将面临一系列严峻的任务：制定并执行严格的紧缩政策，改革税收政策并削减开支。后者必将引发社会动荡，事实上在布鲁塞尔进行罢工的计划已经出炉。
No easier task is the plan to reform the very essence of the way politics in divided Belgium are run.
在这里输入译文
Conspicuously absent from the coalition is Belgium's biggest single political party, the right-wing, separatist Flemish N-VA, led by Bart De Wever, whose electoral triumph last year helped cement the deadlock. His major political platform was to dissolve Belgium and split Flanders from French-speaking Wallonia. This hasn't happened and De Wever is now shouting from the sidelines.
很显然，比利时政坛最大的玩家——由巴尔特·德韦弗领导的右翼分裂主义势力“新弗拉芒人联盟”并未加入联合政府。事实上，新弗拉芒人联盟在去年大选中的胜利导致了目前的僵局出现。巴尔特·德韦弗的基本政治主张是分裂比利时，让弗拉芒区和讲法语的瓦隆区分离。德韦弗的主张还没实现，他正在场外发出自己的声音。
Meanwhile, the ruling coalition will be led by the colourful, bow-tie wearing and perpetually smiling figure, Elio Di Rupo. At 60, he will be Belgium's first French-speaking prime minister in 30 years, a rare centre-left voice in a European Union that has veered right, and one of few proudly gay world leaders. He's also the first Socialist to take the premiership in Belgium since 1974.
联合政府将由戴着领结，永远保持微笑，人生丰富多彩的艾里奥·迪茹坡来领导。现年60岁的迪茹坡是比利时三十年年来首位讲法语的首相，他是目前集体向右转的欧盟政坛上少有的左翼人士，还是一位自豪的同性恋领袖。此外，迪茹坡是1974年以来首位社会主义首相。
But he speaks poor Dutch. This is a serious problem in a country where language is so important and so fiercely protected that, in areas of Dutch-speaking Flanders, town council meetings can find their decisions annulled if anyone is heard to utter a word of French.
但迪茹坡的弗拉芒语很糟糕，在这个语言很重要，两方都严格保护自己语言的国家将成为一个大麻烦。在弗拉芒区，市议会的决议可能因为参与者说了一个法语单词而失效。
The biggest Flanders daily, Het Laatste Nieuws, has slammed Di Rupo's dire pronunciation and syntax. He has promised to improve. But the failing is not lost on the Flemish separatist De Wever, who said: "My Nigerian-origin cleaning lady who has been in Belgium for two years speaks better Dutch than Elio. In Brussels you can't sell a handbag without being bilingual, yet you can become prime minister without speaking proper Dutch."
弗拉芒区最大的日报《最新消息》抨击了迪茹坡糟糕的弗拉芒语发音和语法。迪茹坡发誓要努力改善自己的语言水平。不过弗拉芒分裂主义者德韦弗并没有放过这个机会，他说：“我家刚来比利时两年的尼日利亚清洁工讲的弗拉芒语都比艾里奥好些。不能自如掌握两种语言的人在布鲁塞尔连卖包包的活都做不了，不讲弗拉芒语的人居然要成为首相了。”
Political observers said they believed the coalition federal government could hold, but that Belgium now faced major cuts and reforms ranging from pensions to taxes and unemployment benefits, which could upset unions and business leaders alike. The absurd political stalemate has also left its scars.
政治观察家称他们相信联合组成的联邦政府（比利时的确是个联邦国家）可以站住脚，但是比利时目前面临大幅削减开支，以及涵盖养老金、税收和失业救济金在内的大幅度改革，工会和企业领导人都将不满。另外政坛长期的僵局也会产生一些后遗症。
Pascal Delwit, professor in political science at the Free University of Brussels, said: "Belgium is the capital of surrealism, and this long political crisis was typically surrealist, accompanied by a kind of general calm among citizens. When there was a hung parliament in 2010 in the UK, after six days people were saying 'what's happening?'. Here it lasted more than 530 days, with no mass movement in the streets, a calm pragmatic population that accepted the surrealist elements."
布鲁塞尔自由大学的政治学教授帕斯卡·戴维特说：“比利时是超现实主义的中心，这次长期的政治危机就是一个典型的超现实主义作品，当然广大国民的冷静也对完成这件巨制发挥了重要作用。2010年英国大选产生悬峙国会后仅仅6天（没有政府）人们就担心‘到底出了什么问题？’。而在比利时，无政府状态超过五百三十天也没有引起大规模街头抗议活动。比利时人民是冷静务实的，不过他们也的确能接受超现实主义。”
But he said the divide between the two main linguistic communities – around 75,000 Belgians speak German – had deepened during the stalemate: "The crisis and insults have made it worse. The idea of Belgium breaking up and separating was repeated so much it became a more accepted idea. And we saw repeatedly how French-speakers see Dutch-speakers as arrogant proto-fascists and Francophones are seen as lazy people who refuse to work. Yet what we've now shown is that Dutch-speakers and French-speakers from left and right could agree on a difficult budget. It's as if Conservatives, Lib Dems and Labour formed a government together."
不过他说政治僵局让存在于两个主要语言区——另外有约七万五千人讲德语——的裂痕加深了：“危机和双方的相互攻击让情况恶化了。比利时将陷入分裂的想法重复了无数次，有更多人可以接受这种主张了。我们一直可以听到双方彼此攻击：讲法语的人认为讲弗拉芒语的人是傲慢的潜在法西斯主义者，而他们自己则被看做不愿工作的懒汉。不过，最终我们还是看到了一个由弗拉芒区和瓦隆区的左翼与右翼政治家组成的将会达成艰难的预算的联合政府。这有点像是保守党、自由民主党和工党联合组成了政府。”
Pierre Vercauteren, politics professor at the University of Mons, called the new political consensus a "historic moment". "The conclusion of the political accord its a huge relief for Belgian people. But just because there is relief, that doesn't mean everyone is happy with the accord."
蒙斯大学的政治学教授皮埃尔·维克托亨称新政府的成立是一个“历史性的进步”，“达成政治协议对人民是一种解脱。不过解脱并不意味着所有人都对协议满意。”
from 译言-每日精品译文推荐 http://article.yeeyan.org/view/235852/236946