奥巴马2008年在奥兰多佛罗里达的演讲——人人都能拥有美国梦（中英）
Today, we stand at a defining moment in our history. With seven straight months of job loss; the highest percentage of homes in foreclosure since the Great Depression; family incomes down $1,000 and the costs of gas, groceries and health care up a whole lot more than that~so many people are looking at their children, wondering if they’ll be able to give them the same chances they had.
今天，我们站在历史中的决定性时刻。我们已经连续七个月承受着失业的痛 苦；我们经历着自大萧条以来最高的房屋没收比率；家庭的收人减少了 1000美元， 但汽油、生活用品和医疗保健的费用的涨幅却远远大于1000美元——很多人看着他 们的孩子，担心他们是否能够给予他们自己曾经拥有的那种机会。
Our cities, I don’t have to tell you, have been especially hard hit—facing shrinking tax bases, growing budget deficits, social services that just can’t keep up with people’s needs. Let’s be very clear: when more than 80 percent of Americans live in metro areas； when the top 100 metro areas generate two-thirds of our jobs; when 42 of our metro areas now rank among the world’s 100 largest economies—the problems of our cities aren’t just “urban” problems any more. They are American’s problems and that’s result with resolve and effort by all of American.
毋庸赘言，我们的城市受到的冲击尤为严重，萎缩的课税基础和日渐增加的财 政赤字已经不能满足人们需求的社会服务。让我们清楚地认识一点：当超过80%的美国人都生活在大都市，当最好的100个市区提供了我们2/3的工作，当我们有42个大 都市都排在世界经济前100强的大都市里时，我们城市面临的问题就不再仅仅是“城 市”的问题了，它们就变成了整个美国的问题，变成了需要所有的美国人来参与解 决和贡献自己的力量的问题。
So we’ve got a decision to make. We can continue President Bush’s economic policies—the policies that got us here in the first place. That’s the course that my opponent would have us follow in this race. He’s said we’ve made “great progress economically under President Bush. His economic advisor said we are going through a mental recession. I disagree. We face serious issues in this election, and we have real differences. But I’m not going to spend time assaulting Senator McCain’s character. I’m not going to compare him to pop stars. I will, however, compare our two economic visions for the future.
所以，我们要作出一个决定。我们可以继续执行布什总统的经济政策，正是那 些政策使我们走到了今天这一步，那些政策也是我的对手——参议员麦凯恩让我们 继续走下去的道路。他说，我们在布什总统的领导下，“经济发展取得了巨大的进 步”。他的经济顾问说我们正经历心理衰退，我反对这种说法。在这次选举中我们 面临着严重的问题，也确实存在分歧。但是我不会花时间去攻击参议员麦凯恩的性 格。我不会将他比作是流行歌手，但是我会对比我们对未来经济发展的两种不同的 设想。
My opponent wants to keep giving tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas. I want to end them and start giving incentives to companies that create jobs here in the United States of America. I don’t think 463,000 lost jobs this year is economic progress.
我的对手想要继续给予那些把工作机会输出到国外的公司减免税款的优惠。我 想终止这项措施转而鼓励那些在美国本土能创造更多就业机会的公司。我不认为今 年我们失去的46.3万个工作机会是一种经济上的进步。
My opponent wants to give $300 billion worth of tax breaks to big corporations and the wealthiest Americans. Under his plan, more than 100 million middle class families won’t see a penny of direct tax relief. I want to put a tax cut of up to $1,000 into the pockets of 95% of working Americans to offset the struggles people have to pay gas and food and healthcare bills. If you’re a family making less than $250,000 a year, my plan won’t raise your taxes one penny~not your income taxes, not your payroll taxes, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes.
我的对手想为大型公司和最富有的美国人减免3000亿的税款。如果计划实行， 那么超过1亿中产阶级家庭都享受不到任何直接减免税款的优惠。我想为95%的美国 工人每人减少1000美元的税款，用这些钱作为他们支付汽油、食品和医疗保险的补 偿。而且如果你家庭的年收入少于25万美元，那么我所推行的政策不会让你们的税 收增加一分一毫——无论是你的所得税、工资税、资本利得税还是任何其他形式的 税收。
My opponent is opposed to regular increases in the minimum wage一I want to index it so that it rises with rising costs. My opponent thinks the Earned Income Tax Credit is fine as it is—I want to expand it. He has no plans to make childcare more affordable or help people get paid sick leave~while I do.
我的对手反对最低工资额的定期增长，但是我想指出的是，当花费提高时它 就应该增长。我的对手认为“劳务所得税减免”的政策很好，而这个政策本身就 不错，所以我想要推广它。在使儿童保育变得更便宜或者帮助人们获得带薪病假方 面，他没有制定什么计划，但是我有。
My opponent doesn’t have agenda to figure out how we are going to deal with critical issues, like our infrastructure, pulling people back to work, dealing with offends from who out of jobs. Those are all items that have to be addressed by the next president. Under my opponent’s proposals, if you’re doing well right now，you’ll doing spectacularly well, you will likely to keep doing really well. Otherwise, you'll likely be stuck running in place~or falling even further behind and I don’t think that’s good enough.
我的对手没有制订如何解决重大问题的指导性计划，比如基础设施建设、帮助 人们重返工作岗位、解决失业人群带来的危害，这些都是下一任总统应该着手应对 的事情。根据我的对手的提案，如果你做得特别好，那么你以后就会做得更好。否则，你可能只能在原地踏步或者被甩到更后面去，我认为这还不够好。
Those policies haven’t worked for the past eight years, they won5t work now, It’s time for something new. It’s time for policies that reflect the fundamental truth that we rise and fall as one nation. That’s the truth at the heart of your Opportunity Compact一that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street and a struggling Main Street. That does not work. When wages are flat, prices are rising, more and more Americans are mired in debt, our economy as a whole suffers. Our competitiveness as a nation suffers. Our children’s futures suffer.
那些在过去八年没有产生过什么的效果的政策在现在也不会产生多大的效果， 现在是制定一些新政策的时候了，现在是制定一些能够反映我们国家兴衰的基本原 则政策的时候了。这就是机遇协议的重点所在——我们不能在拥有繁荣的华尔街的 同时看着平民街上的人们在痛苦中挣扎。当工资维持现状，物价飞涨，越来越多的 美国人负债累累的时候，我们的经济备受折磨，我们的国家竞争力受挫，我们的孩 子前程黯淡。
So we all have a stake here. That’s why your opportunity agenda is a compact~ not a guarantee, not a promise—but a call to responsibility. Because we know that government can’t solve all our problems, and government can’t and shouldn’t do for us what we can do for ourselves: raising our children the right way, being good neighbors and being good citizens, becoming leaders in our industries and communities. We know that the American dream isn’t something that happens to you~it’s something you strive for and work for and seize with your own two hands. And we’ve got a responsibility as a nation to keep that dream alive for all of our people.
所以我们所有人都是利益攸关方。这就是为什么我们的机遇议程是一个协议不 是保证也不是承诺，而是对责任的号召。因为我们知道政府无法解决所有的问题， 政府不会也不应该替我们做我们自己该做的事情，那就是好好地养育我们的孩子， 做个好邻居和好市民，成为我们工厂或者社区的领导者。我们知道美国梦不是碰巧 发生在你们身上的，它是需要你们去争取、去努力，并用你们的双手去抓住的。作 为一个国家，我们有责任让所有人都能够拥有这样的美国梦。
本文地址：http://www.dioenglish.com/writing/speech/15968.html
