Anyone despairing at the trajectory(轨迹；发展态势) of their career should spare a thought for(为……想一想) Europe’s socialist politicians. At the turn of the century over two-thirds of citizens in the European Union lived in countries run by leaders from the centre-left. The continent’s future looked red, or at least rose-tinted(乐观的；玫瑰色的). Granted, the likes of Gerhard Schröder in Germany and Tony Blair in Britain were hardly dyed-in-the-wool(彻头彻尾的) pinkos(粉红分子（左派人士的贬称）); they aimed not to overthrow capitalism but to temper its excesses(缓和其过度行为). Yet their trick of pinching the right’s best ideas and mixing them with leftie shibboleths(陈旧的口号；标志性用语) soon lost its lustre(光彩；光泽). By 2016 the number of Europeans living in countries run by social democrats had slumped to just one-third. Those who assumed the pendulum would soon swing back leftward have had their hopes dashed(希望破灭), then dashed again. Today only three of the EU’s 27 national leaders are progressives—Pedro Sánchez in Spain, Mette Frederiksen in Denmark and Robert Abela in tiny Malta. They represent just a tenth of the union’s population.
任何对自己职业生涯轨迹感到绝望的人，都应该想想欧洲的社会主义政治家。世纪之交，超过三分之二的欧盟公民生活在中间偏左领导人执政的国家。欧洲的未来看起来一片红，至少是玫瑰色的。诚然，德国的格哈德·施罗德和英国的托尼·布莱尔之流算不上彻头彻尾的粉红分子；他们的目标不是推翻资本主义，而是缓和其过度行为。但他们窃取右翼最佳理念并掺杂左派口号的做法，很快就失去了光彩。到2016年，生活在社会民主党执政国家的欧洲人数量骤降至仅三分之一。那些以为钟摆很快就会左摆的人，希望一再落空。如今，欧盟27国领导人中只有三位是进步派——西班牙的佩德罗·桑切斯、丹麦的梅特·弗雷德里克森和袖珍小国马耳他的罗伯特·阿贝拉。他们仅代表欧盟十分之一的人口。
It could soon be less. On May 8th it was announced that Ms Frederiksen had failed in her initial bid to form a coalition government following elections in March. Her deputy as prime minister, Troels Lund Poulsen, has been asked by the king to see if his centrist outfit can cobble together(草草拼凑) an alliance, thus booting Ms Frederiksen into opposition. The canny(精明的) incumbent may yet find a way to cling to office(紧握权力), despite having led the Social Democrats to their worst electoral score in well over a century. But even a Danish reprieve(缓刑；暂时缓解) would be a scant consolation for her fellow European socialists. Ms Frederiksen is the black sheep(害群之马) of the continental left, having thrived in part by being ostentatiously(招摇地) tough on migrants, a formula that many in her camp feel betrays the humanist roots of their creed. (They are much happier with her willingness to stand up to(勇敢对抗) Donald Trump, who inadvertently(无意中) gave Ms Frederiksen a boost in the polls by threatening to invade Greenland.)
数字可能还会更少。5月8日，消息称弗雷德里克森在三月大选后组建联合政府的初步努力失败。丹麦国王已要求她的副首相特罗尔斯·隆德·波尔森，看看他所在的中间派政党能否拼凑出一个联盟，从而将弗雷德里克森踢入反对党。这位精明的现任首相或许仍能找到办法保住职位，尽管她领导社会民主党取得了一个多世纪以来最差的选举成绩。但即使是丹麦的暂时喘息，对她的欧洲社会主义同僚来说也是微不足道的安慰。弗雷德里克森是欧洲大陆左派的害群之马，她在一定程度上因对移民态度强硬而出名，这种策略在她许多同僚看来背叛了他们信条的人文主义根源。（他们更喜欢她敢于对抗唐纳德·特朗普，特朗普威胁入侵格陵兰无意中提升了弗雷德里克森的民调支持率。）
Once the party of labour(劳工政党), Europe’s centre-left now spends much of its time searching for gainful employment(有报酬的工作). Could the continent become a socialist-free zone, at least at the top of national politics? Mr Sánchez is the left’s last great hope, yet he will face voters within a year or so, and his party is lagging behind the centre-right. It is not clear who would replace him as a figurehead(名义领袖) for the defenders of the euro-proletariat(欧元区无产阶级). The Netherlands is the only one of the EU’s biggest ten countries in which socialists (after having merged with an erstwhile Green rival) have eked out a narrow lead in the polls—and the Dutch are not due to hold national elections for four years. A few smaller countries may deliver left-leaning governments, for example Sweden or Finland. In Germany and Poland the centre-left is a junior partner(次要合伙人) in governing coalitions; in Romania it recently brought one down(推翻了一个（联盟）).
曾经是劳工政党，欧洲的中左翼如今却花大量时间寻找有报酬的工作。欧洲是否可能成为没有社会主义者的区域——至少在国家政治顶层？桑切斯是左派最后的希望，但他将在一年内面临选民考验，他的政党落后于中右翼。目前还不清楚谁能接替他成为欧元区无产阶级捍卫者的象征人物。在欧盟最大的十个国家中，只有荷兰的社会主义者（在与曾经的绿党对手合并后）在民调中勉强取得微弱领先——而且荷兰距离下次大选还有四年。少数小国可能产生左倾政府，例如瑞典或芬兰。在德国和波兰，中左翼是执政联盟中的小合伙人；在罗马尼亚，中左翼最近推翻了一个联盟。
A rose bush, trimmed
玫瑰丛，被修剪