Francois Hollande had quite a first day as French president: swearing in, Champs Elysees parade in torrential rain, then a lightning strike to his plane en route to meet the world's most powerful woman.

Hollande could already consider himself unlucky with the one-in-a-million lightning strike that delayed his visit to Berlin to see Chancellor Angela Merkel and his luck with the weather did not improve as he arrived in Germany.

Merkel was all smiles as she greeted the new president and appeared relaxed throughout. Hollande, on his first foreign trip as France's leader, seemed stiffer and less at ease, only sometimes cracking a smile.

The leaders of Europe's two powerhouses engaged in a brief handshake -- gone the kisses on the cheeks Merkel had with Hollande's predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy -- then squelched onto the red carpet, flanked by a military band.

Waving briefly to a handful of onlookers huddled under umbrellas, the two leaders stood side-by-side for the two national anthems, she in her customary pose with hands clasped at her front, he almost standing to attention.

The journey across the Rhine was anything other than auspicious, with Hollande's presidential Falcon forced to return to Paris "for safety reasons and as a precaution" after being hit by lightning.

At the highly awaited news conference, Merkel said the fact he made it to Berlin despite the unlikely event of a lightning strike was "maybe a good omen for our co-operation."

They made the most of what they could agree on, but Hollande warned ominously that "everything was on the table" concerning EU economic policy, ahead of a meeting of European leaders in Brussels on May 23.

"This meeting wasn't intended to answer all the questions that have been asked, but was mainly meant for us to get to know each other better, to establish ties, a working method, to find a solution together" to the crisis, said Hollande.

(Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)

双语资讯

(Agencies)

法国新任总统弗朗索瓦•奥朗德任职的第一天堪称非比寻常：宣誓就职；在香榭丽舍大道乘车巡游时突降暴雨；随后在飞往德国与默克尔会面途中又遭遇雷击。

奥朗德可能以为，遇到概率极低的雷击事件，导致他推迟了去柏林与德国总理默克尔的会晤已经实属不幸，但在他抵达柏林后，天气也没变好。

默克尔在迎接这位新总统时笑容满面，一直非常轻松。此次是奥朗德首次以法国总统的身份出访，他看上去比较紧张，不太轻松，只是偶尔露个笑脸。

欧洲两个大国的领导人先握了握手，而不是像默克尔之前会见奥朗德的前任萨科奇那样互相亲吻面颊，之后两人在军乐队的伴奏下走上红毯。

两位领导人朝举着伞的民众挥了挥手，之后并肩站在一起听两国的国歌演奏。默克尔习惯性地把手扣在前面，奥朗德一直肃立倾听。

这次横跨莱茵河的出访行程最初不太走运，奥朗德的总统专机猎鹰型座机在突遭雷击之后，“为了安全起见，同时也为了预防事故发生”被迫返回巴黎。

默克尔在众人期待已久的资讯发布会上表示，尽管遭遇雷击返航，但奥朗德仍飞往德国访问“是两国开展合作的好兆头”。

两人最大范围地达成了一致，但奥朗德提醒说，考虑到欧洲的经济政策，“所有的问题都可以公开来谈”。欧洲各国领导人将于5月23日在布鲁塞尔举行会晤。

奥朗德说：“这次会晤不是为了解决所提出的所有问题，主要是为了增进了解，建立联系和工作方法，一起找到应对危机的解决办法。”

Vocabulary:

omen: 预兆，征兆

make the most of: 尽量利用，十分重视

on the table: 公开地，摆在桌面上

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