德国。如果大选中某一政党的选票未达半数，则需要组阁形成联盟政府。默克尔领导的保守阵营基督教民主主义政党联盟在9月份拿到了32.5%的选票，因此需要组阁。除了默克尔领导的政党之外，还有绿党和亲商的自由民主党。但是由于在谈判的时候存在分歧，默克尔只能在其中选择一个，随后组建少数派联盟政府。
默克尔有两个选择：组建少数派联盟政府，或者重新大选。两个选择都有问题：默克尔倾向于不组建少数派联盟政府；重新大选又有可能增加其他党派如选择党的选票数。德国选择党获得12.6%的选票，被认为具有一定程度的“纳粹”性质，倾向于反全球化、反移民、反欧盟，支持民粹。德国总统弗兰克-瓦尔特·施泰因迈尔 (Frank-Walter Steinmeier)希望各政党能够多多考虑，目前似乎有进展表明有政党愿意重新回到谈判桌前。
如今，作为欧洲政治、经济之锚的德国出现了动荡，默克尔也面临着其政治生涯中的最大危机。
Nov 21st 2017发表在Espresso上。
No Deal: Germany's Coalition Talks
① The decision by the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) to walk out of talks with Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) and the Greens has scuppered attempts to build a new coalition government.
② Christian Lindner, the FDP's leader, said too little agreement had been reached on subjects such as migration and energy.
③ The only other majority coalition available to Mrs Merkel after September's election would be a "grand coalition" with the centre-left Social Democrats, but they have ruled that out.
④ That leaves either a minority coalition with one of the FDP or the Greens, or—with the blessing of Germany's president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier—new elections.
⑤ Mrs Merkel said yesterday that she would prefer a new vote to leading a minority government, after Mr Steinmeier urged parties to "reconsider their attitudes".
⑥ The drama plunges Europe's once-stable bastion into political crisis and almost certainly marks the beginning of the end of Mrs Merkel's career.
Deal：make a deal. No deal. It’s a deal.
Coalition: 政党之间为了组建政府建立的联盟。
Alliance：国家、机构之间的联盟。
Scupper：使@努力付诸东流。
Coalition government；联盟政府。
Walk out of talks with @：退出与@的谈判。
Ruled that out：
Minority coalition & Majority coalition & grand coalition：
Election:
Blessing：支持、同意。
Drama：戏剧性的局面。
Bastion：堡垒，其实有引申义为某一机构某一精神的捍卫者。this university is a bastion of free academic spirit in this country.
如何让英文表达更简洁：不单单使用make sth good/bad/better/worse，而是使用一些本身就带有“使**变得##”意思的单词，例如：promote，enhance，bolster：使变好。=undermine，exacerbate，aggravate：使变坏。
too little agreement had been reached on subjects。Reach agreement：达成共识。
that leaves either A or B. 前面导致后面选择为A或者B。
prefer @ to $：比起@更愿意$。
plunge @ into crisis 把@拖入危机中。
Mark the beginning of 标志@进程的开始。
