When Muhterem Aras became the first Muslim house speaker of one of Germany's federal parliaments in May the time could not have been more sensitive. The country had just welcomed more than 1 million refugees in 2015 — many of them Muslims.

今年五月，当穆特琳.阿拉斯成为德国联邦议会的第一个穆斯林众议院议长在时，这个时间点不可能更敏感了。2015年，该国刚刚迎来了超过一百万的难民 -他们中许多人是穆斯林。

For months tensions had risen between supporters and opponents of refugees.

几个月来，支持和反对接纳难民者之间的紧张关系持续上升。

Parliamentary presidents' words carry particular weight because of their significance for bridging the divides between various parties.

议会主席的言词具有特别的份量，因为他们的意义在于弥合各方的分歧。

The office could enable Aras to become a significant counterweight to the Alternative for Germany an anti-foreigner party which has double-digit approval ratings in the polls at the moment.

这个职位可以让阿拉斯对最近在民调中取得两位数支持率的德国新选项党（一个反对外国人的政党》形成重要的平衡力量。