LOOK around Europe, and one leader stands above all the rest:Angela Merkel. In France Francisco Hollande has given up thepresence that his country leads the continent. David Cameron,triumphantly re-elected, is turning Britain into little England.Matte Renzi is preoccupied with Italy's comatose economy.

　　环顾欧洲，在各国领导人中，安格拉·默克尔一峰高耸。奥朗德已然放弃了法国引领欧洲大陆的主张，再次胜选的卡梅伦正在把大不列颠变成小英格兰，伦齐一门心思都用在了意大利奄奄一息的经济上面。

　　By contrast, in her ten years in office, Mrs Merkel has grown taller with every upheaval. In the debtcrisis, she began as a ditherer but in the end held the euro zone together; over Ukraine, shecorralled Europeans into imposing sanctions on Russia (its president, Vladimir Putin, thinks she isthe only European leader worth talking to); and over migration she has boldly upheld Europeanvalues, almost alone in her commitment to welcoming refugees.

　　相比之下，在她执政的这十年中，每逢动荡，默克尔都要长高一些。在债务危机中，一开始，她还是是犹豫不决者，但最终却将欧元区团结在了一起;在乌克兰问题上，她欧洲人抱起团来对俄罗斯实施了制裁(俄总统普京认为，她是唯一一位值得对话的欧洲领导人);在移民问题上，她勇敢地坚守了欧洲价值观，匹马单枪地做出了欢迎难民的承诺。

　　It has become fashionable to see this as a progression from prudence and predominance torashness and calamity. Critics assert that, with her welcoming attitude to asylum-seekers, MrsMerkel has caused a flood that will both wreck Europe and, long before, also bring about her ownpolitical demise. Both arguments are wrong, as well as profoundly unfair. Mrs Merkel is moreformidable than many assume. And that is just as well: given the European Union's manychallenges, she is more than ever the indispensable European.

　　将此视为是一个从谨慎和卓越到鲁莽和灾难的演变已经成为时尚。批评者断言，由于她对难民的欢迎态度，默克尔带来了一场将同时摧毁欧洲和她的政治生命的洪水。这两种观点既是非常不公平的，也是错误的。默克尔不仅比众人想象的还要强大;而且，鉴于欧盟所面临的众多挑战，她比以往更是一位不可或缺的欧洲人。

　　Why Mutti matters

　　为什么说大妈至关重要

　　Mrs Merkel's predominance in part reflects the importance of Germany—the EU's largest economyand its mightiest exporter, with sound public finances and historically low unemployment. She isalso the longest-serving leader in the EU.

　　默克尔的一峰高耸部分地反映了德国，这个有着有着牢固的公共财政和史上最低失业率的欧盟最大经济体和最强大出口国的重要性。她还是欧盟中服务时间最长的领导人。

　　Her personal qualities count for much, too. She has defended Germany's interests without losingsight of Europe's; she has risked German money to save the euro, while keeping septicemicGermans onside; and she has earned the respect of her fellow leaders even after bruising fightswith them. Most impressively (and alone among center-right leaders in Europe), she has done thiswithout pandering to anti-EU and anti-immigrant populists. For all the EU's flaws, she does nottreat it as a punchbag, but rather as a pillar of peace and prosperity.

　　她的个人品质也起了很大的作用。她在没有忽视欧洲利益的前提下保护了德国的利益;她在拿德国的钱冒险去拯救欧元的同时，也让心存疑虑的德国人没有逾越雷池一步;她赢得了其他领导人的尊重，即便是在同他们有过激烈的争吵之后。给人印象最深的一点(在欧洲的中右翼领导人中只有她自己如此)是，她是在没有取悦反对欧盟和反对移民的民粹主义者的前提下做到这一点的。尽管欧盟有着这样和那样的缺陷，她也没有把它当成是一个出气筒，而是把它看做是和平与繁荣的一块基石。

　　Mrs Merkel is far from perfect. She is not given to great oratory or grand visions. She can be botha political chameleon who adopts left-wing policies to occupy the center-ground, and a scorpionwho quietly eliminates potential rivals. Her natural caution has given rise to a German neologism,merkeln (“to merkel”, or put off big decisions). Her timidity in handling the euro's woesdeepened the crisis unnecessarily; she has spurned the risk-sharing that the euro area needs tothrive.

　　默克尔还远非完美。她生来就不会长篇大论，也没有得到高瞻远瞩的能力。在政治上，她可以同时是一条采纳中左翼政策以占领中间派阵地的变色龙和一只悄悄地消灭潜在对手的蝎子。她的这种天生谨慎给德语带来了一个新名词——merkeln(推迟重大决定)。她在处理欧元危机中的谨小慎微不必要地加深了危机;她抛弃了欧元区繁荣兴旺所需要的风险共担。

　　Ironically it is boldness, not timidity, that has brought Mrs Merkel the greatest challenge of hertime in office. Her staunch refusal to place an upper limit on the number of refugees that Germanycan absorb has caused growing consternation at home and criticism abroad. As Germanmunicipalities protest, her political allies are denouncing her and eastern European countries areaccusing her of “moral imperialism”. With Multidimensional fading, there is even talk of her losingpower.

　　具有讽刺意味的是，正是这种大胆而不是谨慎给默克尔带来了执政期间最大的挑战。她对于给德国能够接收的难民数量设置上限的严词拒绝引发了国内日渐严重的恐慌和国外的批评。由于一些德国城市的抗议，她的政治对手正在诋毁她，东欧各国也在指责她的“道德帝国主义”。随着欢迎文化的退潮，甚至出现了她将被迫下台的说法。

　　The doubts are overblown. Critics are wrong to assume that Mrs Merkel is about to be toppled.Grumbling aside, she remains the dominant figure of her Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Arecent poll found that 82% of CDU members approve of her leadership and 81% want her to runfor a fourth term as chancellor at the election due in 2017. The electoral maths favors anotherCDU-led government. Mrs Merkel is unlikely to go unless she chooses to.

　　这些担忧未免过虑了。认为默克尔会被掀翻的批评者错了。把各种抱怨之声放在一边，她仍然是她的基民盟的主导人物。一份最新民调发现，在基民盟成员中，82%的人赞同她的领导，81%的人希望她在2017年的大选中竞选第四个总理任期。选举数据青睐的是由基民盟领导的另一个政府。默克尔不可能去领导这个政府，除非她选择这样做。