各国名人英文介绍-Angela Merkel

Angela Merkel was born in Hamburg in 1954. She became Germany’s first female Chancellor¹ and the first from communist East Germany in 2005. ‘Forbes’ magazine listed her as the most powerful woman in the world in 2006 and 2007. Western media often dub² her the “Iron Lady” because of her no-nonsense approach to her work and reputation as a tough negotiator.

Merkel grew up in the former German Democratic Republic. She was a member of the socialist³ youth movement and participated in many communist-led activities. She speaks Russian fluently. She studied physics at the University of Leipzig in the 1970s and physical chemistry in Berlin in the 1980s. She earned a Ph.D. based on her research on quantum chemistry.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Merkel became involved in the growing democracy movement. She won a seat in the unified⁴ German parliament in 1990 and was appointed Minister for Women and Youth. In 1994, she was made Minister for the Environment. This was her springboard to rise to the top. She was elected Chancellor in November 2005.

In 2007, Merkel took on the six-month rotating position of President of the European Council and chair of the G8. That same year, she met the Dalai Lama in Berlin, thus angering the Chinese. In 2008, she spoke⁵ of Germany’s “Holocaust Shame” in Israel’s Knesset. She also received the Charlemagne Prize "for her work to reform the European Union".

1 chancellor   

n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长

参考例句：

• They submitted their reports to the Chancellor yesterday.他们昨天向财政大臣递交了报告。
• He was regarded as the most successful Chancellor of modern times.他被认为是现代最成功的财政大臣。

2 dub   

vt.（以某种称号）授予，给...起绰号，复制

参考例句：

• I intend to use simultaneous recording to dub this film.我打算采用同期录音的方法为这部影片配音。
• It was dubbed into Spanish for Mexican audiences.它被译制成西班牙语以方便墨西哥观众观看。

3 socialist   

n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的

参考例句：

• China is a socialist country,and a developing country as well.中国是一个社会主义国家，也是一个发展中国家。
• His father was an ardent socialist.他父亲是一个热情的社会主义者。

4 unified   

(unify 的过去式和过去分词)； 统一的； 统一标准的； 一元化的

参考例句：

• The teacher unified the answer of her pupil with hers. 老师核对了学生的答案。
• The First Emperor of Qin unified China in 221 B.C. 秦始皇于公元前221年统一中国。

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。