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

　　They’re fed up with a town where compromise has become a dirty word. They work all day long, many of them scraping by, just to put food on the table. And when these Americans come home at night, bone-tired, and turn on the news, all they see is the same partisan three-ring circus here in Washington. They see leaders who can’t seem to come together and do what it takes to make life just a little bit better for ordinary Americans. They’re offended by that. And they should be.
　　他们厌倦的是一个妥协意味着丢人的城市。他们终日辛劳，许多人省吃俭用，只不过是为了餐桌上有饭吃。这些美国人晚上回到家，精疲力尽，打开电视看新闻时，看到的是华盛顿千篇一律的党派争斗闹剧。他们看到的是领导者似乎无法坐在一起，采取必要措施让普通美国人的生活有一点点改善。他们对此感到恼火。他们理应恼火。

　　The American people may have voted for divided government, but they didn’t vote for a dysfunctional government. So I’m asking you all to make your voice heard. If you want a balanced approach to reducing the deficit, let your member of Congress know. If you believe we can solve this problem through compromise, send that message.
　　是的，美国人民投票选举了分权的政府，但他们没有投票选举一个功能失常的政府。所以，我吁请大家发出你们的声音。如果你们希望以一种均衡的方式来减少赤字，让你们的国会议员知道。如果你们认为我们可以通过妥协来解决这个问题，请发出这个信息。

　　America, after all, has always been a grand experiment in compromise. As a democracy made up of every race and religion, where every belief and point of view is welcomed, we have put to the test time and again the proposition at the heart of our founding: that out of many, we are one. We’ve engaged in fierce and passionate debates about the issues of the day, but from slavery to war, from civil liberties to questions of economic justice, we have tried to live by the words that Jefferson once wrote: “Every man cannot have his way in all things -- without this mutual disposition, we are disjointed individuals, but not a society.”
　　但是，建国以来美国一直演绎着一个如何妥协的伟大实验。由于民主国家由多个种族和宗教构成，每一种信仰和观点都受到欢迎，我们屡次验证了建国原则中的一个核心命题：合众为一。我们对当前的问题进行激烈和充满热忱的辩论，但是从奴隶制到战争，从公民自由到经济公正，我们一直努力把杰斐逊的一段话作为座右铭：“每个人都不能在所有的事情上随心所欲——没有这种相互的交换，我们是毫不相关的个体，而不是一个社会。”

　　History is scattered with the stories of those who held fast to rigid ideologies and refused to listen to those who disagreed. But those are not the Americans we remember. We remember the Americans who put country above self, and set personal grievances aside for the greater good. We remember the Americans who held this country together during its most difficult hours; who put aside pride and party to form a more perfect union.　
　　历史上有很多人坚守僵化的意识形态，拒绝听取不同意见，但这些人并不存在于我们的记忆之中。我们所记得的是这样一些美国人，他们把国家置于自我之上，抛弃个人恩怨而追求公众利益。我们所记得的美国人在最困难的时刻维护了国家的统一；他们放弃了个人功名和党派利益，组成一个更美好的合众国。

　　That’s who we remember. That’s who we need to be right now. The entire world is watching. So let’s seize this moment to show why the United States of America is still the greatest nation on Earth -- not just because we can still keep our word and meet our obligations, but because we can still come together as one nation.
　　这就是我们所记得的人。我们现在就需要做这样的人。这是一个举世瞩目的时刻。因此，让我们抓住这一时刻，让大家看到为什么美国仍然是地球上最伟大的国家——不仅仅是因为我们仍然信守诺言、履行义务，而且因为我们仍然可以作为一个民族团结起来。

　　Thank you, God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America.
　　谢谢大家，愿主保佑你们，愿主保佑美利坚合众国。

本文关键字: 美国人民