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简介：German Chancellor Angela Merkel says Europe's economic turmoil is the continent's greatest crisis since World War II. But critics say she has been doing too little and lacks a bold vision for solving Europe's problems.




参与方式：全文听写
Hints:
German Chancellor Angela Merkel
Second World War
Eric Westervelt
The German TV satire show "Extra 3"
Barry Manilow's "Mandy"
kernel
European Central Bank

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In the upcoming summit, the spotlight will be on German Chancellor Angela Merkel - arguably the most powerful person on the world stage now. She's called Europe's debt morass the continent's biggest crisis since the Second World War, and the leader of Europe's most powerful economy is the decider as the summit approaches. NPR's Eric Westervelt has this profile. The German TV satire show "Extra 3" has had its share of fun depicting Chancellor Merkel as a politically composed yet frumpy - and ultimately empty - leader. You are the woman with zero ideas, the rip-off of Barry Manilow's "Mandy" says. You come across as calm and cool, not a bead of sweaty fear upon your head. You're really beginning to annoy us, the song says. The spoof, like all good satire, has as kernel of truth. Merkel's approach to the debt crisis has been calm, logical, methodical, too slow and unimaginative, according to detractors - especially outside of Germany. They're seething that she insists on austerity as the medicine for debt-ridden southern neighbors while she offers no new ideas for growth and fiercely resists efforts to let the European Central Bank intervene more. The German leadership has been jump from crisis to crisis and too little too late. And her leadership, I think, has been very disappointing.