美国总统奥巴马发表有关美国财政状况讲话

2012-04-20 00:00:00来源：可可英语

　　First of all, a six-month extension of the debt ceiling might not be enough to avoid a creditdowngrade and the higher interest rates that all Americans would have to pay as a result. We know what we have to do to reduce our deficits; there’s no point in putting the economy at risk by kicking the can further down the road.
　　首先，延长债务上限6个月可能不足以避免信用降级和所有的美国人因此将不得不支付的较高利率。我们知道我们要做什么才能减少赤字；把破罐子踢向前方因而危及经济是毫无意义的。

　　But there’s an even greater danger to this approach. Based on what we’ve seen these past few weeks, we know what to expect six months from now. The House of Representatives will once again refuse to prevent default unless the rest of us accept their cuts-only approach. Again, they will refuse to ask the wealthiest Americans to give up their tax cuts or deductions. Again, they will demand harsh cuts to programs like Medicare. And once again, the economy will be held captive unless they get their way.
　　但这种方式还有一个更大的危险。根据我们在过去几个星期里所看到的情况，我们知道6个月之后会是什么局面。众议院将再次拒绝避免违约，除非我们其他的人接受他们提出的仅仅削减支出的方式。他们仍将拒绝要求最富有的美国人放弃他们的税收减免。他们还将要求对像联邦老年医保这样的计划进行苛刻的削减。美国经济将再一次被用作质押，除非他们如愿以偿。

This is no way to run the greatest country on Earth. It’s a dangerous game that we’ve never played before, and we can’t afford to play it now. Not when the jobs and livelihoods of so many families are at stake. We can’t allow the American people to become collateral damage to Washington’s political warfare.
　　这绝不是管理地球上最伟大的国家的方式。这是我们以前从来没有玩过的一个危险的游戏，我们现在也玩不起，尤其是在就业机会和许多家庭的生计受到威胁的时候。我们不能让美国人民成为华盛顿政治斗争的牺牲品。

　　Congress now has one week left to act, and there are still paths forward. The Senate has introduced a plan to avoid default, which makes a down payment on deficit reduction and ensures that we don’t have to go through this again in six months.
　　国会现在只剩下一个星期的时间可以采取行动，取得进展的途径仍然存在。参议院已推出一项避免欠付的计划，这为削减赤字做了首付，并确保我们在6个月后不需要旧调重弹。

　　I think that’s a much better approach, although serious deficit reduction would still require us to tackle the tough challenges of entitlement and tax reform. Either way, I’ve told leaders of both parties that they must come up with a fair compromise in the next few days that can pass both houses of Congress -- and a compromise that I can sign. I’m confident we can reach this compromise. Despite our disagreements, Republican leaders and I have found common ground before. And I believe that enough members of both parties will ultimately put politics aside and help us make progress.
　　我认为这种方式要好很多，尽管真正的赤字削减仍需要我们成功应对福利计划和税收改革方面的严峻挑战。我已经向两党领导人表示，无论采用哪一种方式，他们必须在今后几天里拿出一个能够通过国会两院的公平妥协议案——一个我能签署的议案。我相信我们能够达成这个妥协。尽管我们有分歧，共和党领导人和我以前曾找到过共同点。我相信，两党会有足够的成员最终把政治因素搁置一旁，帮助我们取得进展。

　　Now, I realize that a lot of the new members of Congress and I don’t see eye-to-eye on many issues. But we were each elected by some of the same Americans for some of the same reasons. Yes, many want government to start living within its means. And many are fed up with a system in which the deck seems stacked against middle-class Americans in favor of the wealthiest few. But do you know what people are fed up with most of all?
　　我意识到国会的许多新成员和我在诸多问题上看法并不一致。但是，我们每个人都是被美国人民出于某些同样的原因选举出来的。是的，许多人都希望政府开始量入为出。许多人厌倦了似乎总是对美国中产阶级不利而对富有的少数人有利的这样一种体制。但是，你知道人们最厌倦的是什么吗？

本文关键字: 美国人民