奥巴马告别演讲（中英逐段对照精校版）2017

奥巴马告别演讲（中英逐段对照精校版）Its good to be home. My fellow Americans, Michelle and I have been so touched by all the well-wishes weve received over the past few weeks. But tonight its my turn to say thanks. Whether weve seen eye-to-eye or rarely agreed at all, my conversations with you, the American people in living rooms and schools; at farms and on factory floors; at diners and on distant outposts are what have kept me honest, kept me inspired, and kept me going. Every day, I learned from you. You made me a better President, and you made me a better man.很高兴回到家乡。我的朋友们，过去几周中我们收到了许多真诚的祝福，我和米歇尔深受感动。今晚，轮到我来对你们说声感谢。不论我们站在相同的政治立场上还是从未达成共识，不论我们是在房间还是学校、农场还是工厂车间、餐桌还是野外，我们之间的对话都让我更加诚实、更加奋进，也帮助我深受启发。每天，我都在向你们学习。你们帮助我成为一个更称职的总统，也帮助我成为一个更好的人。I first came to Chicago when I was in my early twenties, still trying to figure out who I was; still searching for a purpose to my life. It was in neighborhoods not far from here where I began working with church groups in the shadows of closed steel mills. It was on these streets where I witnessed the power of faith, and the quiet dignity of working people in the face of struggle and loss. This is where I learned that change only happens when ordinary people get involved, get engaged, and come together to demand it.我是在二十多岁的时候第一次来芝加哥，当时我仍然处于懵懵懂懂的阶段，仍然在寻求生活的意义。我开始与一些教会团体在已经关门的钢铁生产厂附近工作，当时那些小区离今天的会场不远。在那些街道中，我见证了信仰的力量，也在工人斗争中见证了工人阶级无声的尊严。这个时候，我明白了只有当普通人民团结起来、参与进来并致力于争取权力，社会变革才能发生。After eight years as your President, I still believe that. And its not just my belief. Its the beating heart of our American idea our bold experiment in self-government.在担任八年的美国总统后，我仍然相信这一条结论。这不仅仅是我个人的想法，也是根植在美国人心中的核心价值观，即寻求自主管理的大胆实验。Its the conviction that we are all created equal, endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.我们每个人相信，我们生来平等，享有造物主赋予我们的一些不可剥夺的权利，包括生命、自由和追求幸福的权利。Its the insistence that these rights, while self-evident, have never been self-executing; that We, the People, through the instrument of our democracy, can form a more perfect union.尽管这些权利看上去是显而易见，但是这些权利却从来不会自动实现。正是美国人民通过民主政治的渠道，坚持追求这些权利，我们才能够成为一个更加完美的联合体。This is the great gift our Founders gave us. The freedom to chase our individual dreams through our sweat, toil, and imagination and the imperative to strive together as well, to achieve a greater good.这是我们的先驱赋予我们的礼物，让我们有自由通过自己的辛勤劳动、梦想和努力来追求每个人不同的梦想。当然，每个美国人也应当同心协力，才能实现更加伟大的创举。For 240 years, our nations call to citizenship has given work and purpose to each new generation. Its what led patriots to choose republic over tyranny, pioneers to trek west, slaves to brave that makeshift railroad to freedom. Its what pulled immigrants and refugees across oceans and the Rio Grande, pushed women to reach for the ballot, powered workers to organize. Its why GIs gave their lives at Omaha Beach and Iwo Jima; Iraq and Afghanistan and why men and women from Selma to Stonewall were prepared to give theirs as well.在过去240年中，美国精神一直鼓励每个美国公民积极行使公民权利，这给每一代美国人赋予了努力的方向。这也是鼓舞美国人推翻集权选择共和制度、探索开发西部地区以及修筑铁路的奴隶奋起反抗要求自由的动力。这种美国精神将漂洋过海和来自格兰德河的移民和难民凝聚在一起，鼓励美国女性走向投票站，也促使工人团结形成工会。这也是鼓舞美国士兵在奥巴马海滩、硫磺岛、伊拉克和阿富汗等战场抛头颅洒热血的精神。这更是鼓励塞尔玛小镇上黑人民权斗士和石墙中同性恋运动人士捍卫自身权利的精神。So thats what we mean when we say America is exceptional. Not that our nation has been flawless from the start, but that we have shown the capacity to change, and make life better for those who follow.这也是为什么美国如此特别。美国的独特之处不在于我们从一开始就拥有完美的制度，而是我们有能力改变，并帮助那些寻求改变的人过上更好的生活。Yes, our progress has been uneven. The work of democracy has always been hard, contentious and sometimes bloody. For every two steps forward, it often feels we take one step back. But the long sweep of America has been defined by forward motion, a constant widening of our founding creed to embrace all, and not just some.是的，我们一路走来并非一帆风顺。推动民主体制向来非常困难，有时甚至需要激烈争辩或流血冲突。每当我们向前走两步时，很多时候都感觉好像反而是退了一步。但是，美国历史一直是在进步，一直在扩大建国精神的范围，来包容美国各个阶层和社会群体。If I had told you eight years ago that America would reverse a great recession, reboot our auto industry, and unleash the longest stretch of job creation in our historyif I had told you that we would open up a new chapter with the Cuban people, shut down Irans nuclear weapons program without firing a shot, and take out the mastermind of 9/11if I had told you that we would win marriage equality, and secure the right to health insurance for another 20 million of our fellow citizens you might have said our sights were set a little too high.八年前，如果我告诉你美国能够从金融危机中走出来、重建汽车制造行业、并实现美国历史上就业岗位连续增长的最长记录，如果我告诉你我们能够与古巴重建外交关系并写下历史的新篇章、在不动用武力的前提下关闭伊朗核武器研究项目、并消灭911恐怖主义袭击事件的首脑，如果我告诉你我们能够实现婚姻平等、满足2000万美国人提供医疗保险的需求，当时的你或许会觉得我想得太远了。But thats what we did. Thats what you did. You were the change. You answered peoples hopes, and because of you, by almost every measure, America is a better, stronger place than it was when we started.但是，我们都做到了。这些都是你们取得的成就，你们就是实现这些变革的动力。你们满足了美国人民的愿望，也因为你们，美国在各个方面都变得更好，比我刚上任时更加强大。In ten days, the world will witness a hallmark of our democracy: the peaceful transfer of power from one freely-elected president to the next. I committed to President-Elect Trump that my administration would ensure the smoothest possible transition, just as President Bush did for me. Because its up to all of us to make sure our government can help us meet the many challenges we still face.在十天内，世界将目睹我们民主政治的一个标志：权力从一个被自由选举出的总统和平移交给下一任。 我向当选总统特朗普承诺，我的政府将像布什总统为我做的那样，确保最平滑的过渡。 因为我们所有人都要确保我们的政府能帮助我们继续应对纷至沓来的挑战。We have what we need to do so. After all, we remain the wealthiest, most powerful, and most respected nation on Earth. Our youth and drive, our diversity and openness, our boundless capacity for risk and reinvention mean that the future should be ours.我们有需要这样做的理由。毕竟，我们仍然是这个地球商最富裕，最强大以及最受尊敬的国家。我们的年轻和进取，我们多元性和开放精神，我们对冒险和革新的无限包容，都意味着未来依然非我们莫属。But that potential will be realized only if our democracy works. Only if our politics reflects the decency of the our people. Only if all of us, regardless of our party affiliation or particular interest, help restore the sense of common purpose that we so badly need right now.Thats what I want to focus on tonight the state of our democracy.但是只有我们的民主还在工作，只有当我们的政治反映人民的体面，只有当我们所有人，无论隶属于任何政党或有不同的利益，一起重建现在亟需达成的共识之时，这些潜力才能得以发挥。这是我今晚想要强调的我们的民主政治的现状。Understand, democracy does not require uniformity. Our founders quarreled and compromised, and expected us to do the same. But they knew that democracy does require a basic sense of solidarity the idea that for all our outward differences, we are all in this together; that we rise or fall as one.理解、民主不需要统一。开国先贤们有争吵，也有妥协，他们也希望我们如此。但是他们也知道民主需要一些基本的团结意识不管外在的我们有多么不同，我们是一个整体，我们共进退。There have been moments throughout our history that threatened to rupture that solidarity. The beginning of this century has been one of those times. A shrinking world, growing inequality; demographic change and the specter of terrorism these forces havent just tested our security and prosperity, but our democracy as well. And how we meet these challenges to our democracy will determine our ability to educate our kids, and create good jobs, and protect our homeland.历史上有一些威胁到这种团结的关头，本世纪初就是其中之一。 一个不断变小的世界，不断扩大的不平等; 人口变化和恐怖主义的幽灵这些威胁不仅考验了我们的安全和繁荣，也考验了我们的民主。我们如何应对这些对民主的挑战，将决定我们能不能好好教育孩子，创造好的工作机会及保护我们的家园。In other words, it will determine our future.换言之，它将决定我们的未来。Our democracy wont work without a sense that everyone has economic opportunity. Today, the economy is growing again; wages, incomes, home values, and retirement accounts are rising again; poverty is falling again. The wealthy are paying a fairer share of taxes even as the stock market shatters records. The unemployment rate is near a ten-year low. The uninsured rate has never, ever been lower. Health care costs are rising at the slowest rate in fifty years. And if anyone can put together a plan that is demonstrably better than the improvements weve made to our health care system that covers as many people at less cost I will publicly support it.如果意识不到每个人都有经济机遇，我们的民主就会失灵。今天，经济又开始增长;工资、收入、家庭财产和退休金账户又开始增加;贫困又开始减少。富人们在交更合理的税的同时，股票市场也破了记录;失业率降至近十年来最低。未上保险的比率低到前所未有。医疗健康支出增长率是近五十年最低。如果有任何人能提出一个可供证实的、比我们对医疗健康体系的改进更好的计划以更少的支出覆盖更多的人民我都会公开支持。That, after all, is why we serve to make peoples lives better, not worse.总而言之，这是我们服务的目的为人民生活多造福，少贻祸。But for all the real progress weve made, we know its not enough. Our economy doesnt work as well or grow as fast when a few prosper at the expense of a growing middle class. But stark inequality is also corrosive to our democratic principles. While the top one percent has amassed a bigger share of wealth and income, too many families, in inner cities and rural counties, have been left behind the laid-off factory worker; the waitress and health care worker who struggle to pay the bills convinced that the game is fixed against them, that their government only serves the interests of the powerful a recipe for more cynicism and polarization in our politics.但检视我们取得的实际进步，我们明白这还不够。我们的经济运转并不健康，增长也不强劲。有时甚至以牺牲中产阶级的增长为代价换取一时繁荣。而赤裸裸的不平等也在侵蚀着我们的民主原则。排名前1%的群体攫取了更多的财富收入，太多普通家庭、内陆城市和县域城市都难望其项背。政治格局中的两极分化和愤世嫉俗并存，苦苦挣扎着还账的失业工人、服务生和医护人员，认为游戏规则是在针对自己，他们的政府只为有权势者效劳。There are no quick fixes to this long-term trend. I agree that our trade should be fair and not just free. But the next wave of economic dislocation wont come from overseas. It will come from the relentless pace of automation that makes many good, middle-class jobs obsolete.没有立竿见影的神药可以阻止这种长期趋势。我相信，贸易应当公平而非仅仅是免费。但下一轮经济转型并非来自海外，而注定来自令许多中产阶级失业的自动化浪潮。And so we must forge a new social compact to guarantee all our kids the education they need; to give workers the power to unionize for better wages; to update the social safety net to reflect the way we live now and make more reforms to the tax code so corporations and individuals who reap the most from the new economy dont avoid their obligations to the country thats made their success possible. We can argue about how to best achieve these goals. But we cant be complacent about the goals themselves. For if we dont create opportunity for all people, the disaffection and division that has stalled our progress will only sharpen in years to come.我们必须打造一种新型的社会契约保证孩子们都受到应得的教育;赋予工人们成立工会的权力，以争取更多工资;升级关乎当下生活方式的社会安全网络;要进行更多税改工作，保证在新经济模式中获利的公司法人和个人，都不能免除对国家的义务，因为国家保证了他们能获得成功。我们可以争辩如何最好地实现这些目标，但不能为目标本身而心满意足。因为我们如果不为全民创造机会，那么在未来几年，阻止我们前进的不满和分裂将更尖锐。Theres a second threat to our democracy one as old as our nation itself. After my election, there was talk of a post-racial America. Such a vision, however well-intended, was never realistic. For race remains a potent and often divisive force in our society. Ive lived long enough to know that race relations are better than they were ten, or twenty, or thirty years ago you can see it not just in statistics, but in the attitudes of young Americans across the political spectrum.第二个对民主的威胁则与我们的民族一样久远。在我当选之后，还有关于美国“后种族歧视”时代的讨论。无论出于什么好意，这种境况都绝不现实。因为种族问题依然严重，而且常撕裂社会。长久以来，我已切身感受到，如今的种族关系已远胜十年前、二十年前乃至三十年前，这不仅体现在数字上，还体现在，纵观政治光谱，其中的美国年轻人态度也大有改观。But were not where we need to be. All of us have more work to do. After all, if every economic issue is framed as a struggle between a hardworking white middle class and undeserving minorities, then workers of all shades will be left fighting for scraps while the wealthy withdraw further into their private enclaves. If we decline to invest in the children of immigrants, just because they dont look like us, we diminish the prospects of our own children because those brown kids will represent a larger share of Americas workforce. And our economy doesnt have to be a zero-sum game. Last year, incomes rose for all races, all age groups, for men and for women.但如今我们并不应止于此，我们所有人都还有更多工作要做。毕竟，如果每个经济问题都在白人中产阶级和不值一提的少数族裔的争斗中闹腾，那么各行业工人们都会离开岗位大闹一番。如此一来，富人则会进一步龟缩入他们的私人领地。如果我们仅因移民们看起来非我族类，就削减对移民子弟的投入，那我们也是在缩减我们自己孩子的未来空间因为那些棕色人种的孩子将占据美国劳动力的更多份额。而我们的经济绝不能成为一场零和博弈。而去年，各族群、全年龄层的男女性都实现了收入增长。Going forward, we must uphold laws against discrimination in hiring, in housing, in education and the criminal justice system. Thats what our Constitution and highest ideals require. But laws alone wont be enough. Hearts must change. If our democracy is to work in this increasingly diverse nation, each one of us must try to heed the advice of one of the great characters in American fiction, Atticus Finch, who said “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of viewuntil you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”未来，我们必须在招聘、居住、教育和刑事司法体系等领域，全力支持反种族歧视法律。我们的宪法和最高理想所需要的正是这些。但仅有法律还不够，人心要变。如果我们的民主制度注定要在这种日益增长的分裂族群中运转，那么每个人都应该努力留意那本美国小说中的人物：阿提克斯芬奇(译注：即美国作家哈珀李于1960年发表的小说杀死一只知更鸟，涉及种族歧视和强暴等话题，叙述者的父亲阿提克斯芬奇在书中为道德端正的角色，亦是正直律师的典范)，他曾说过：“你永远不能真正了解一个人，除非你从他的角度去看问题，除非你披着他的皮囊行走世间。”For blacks and other minorities, it means tying our own struggles for justice to the challenges that a lot of people in this country face the refugee, the immigrant, the rural poor, the transgender American, and also the middle-aged white man who from the outside may seem like hes got all the advantages, but whos seen his world upended by economic, cultural, and technological change.对黑人和其他少数族裔来说，我们为公正而进行的斗争，将关乎这个国家的许多人所面临的挑战，这些人包括难民、移民、乡村贫困群体、跨性别美国人，和那些看起来条件得天独厚，事实上被经济、文化和技术彻底改变了境遇的中年美国白人。For white Americans, it means acknowledging that the effects of slavery and Jim Crow didnt suddenly vanish in the 60s; that when minority groups voice discontent, theyre not just engaging in reverse racism or practicing political correctness; that when they wage peaceful protest, theyre not demanding special treatment, but the equal treatment our Founders promised.对美国白人而言，这意味着承认奴隶制和黑人在1960年代并没有突然消失;承认在那个年代，发出不满呼声的少数族裔，并不仅是参加“种族反歧视”或践行政治正确;承认他们参加和平抗议并不意味着寻求特殊待遇，而是要求获得建国元勋们所允诺的公正待遇。For native-born Americans, it means reminding ourselves that the stereotypes about immigrants today were said, almost word for word, about the Irish, Italians, and Poles. America wasnt weakened by the presence of these newcomers; they embraced this nations creed, and it was strengthened.对美国土著们来说，这意味着时刻提醒我们自己，今天所有有关爱尔兰人、意大利人和波兰人等移民的成规都将被逐字重复。美利坚并不会因为后来者的出现而弱化，他们拥抱了这个民族的信条，美利坚将因此而坚挺。So regardless of the station we occupy; we have to try harder; to start with the premise that each of our fellow citizens loves this country just as much as we do; that they value hard work and family like we do; that their children are just as curious and hopeful and worthy of love as our own.除了我们居住的国家，我们应该与每个爱国公民一起努力尝试。爱国公民与我们一样，珍视努力工作和家庭，他们的孩子也和我们自己的孩子一样有着求知欲和希望，并值得珍爱。None of this is easy. For too many of us, its become safer to retreat into our own bubbles, whether in our neighborhoods or college campuses or places of worship or our social media feeds, surrounded by people who look like us and share the same political outlook and never challenge our assumptions. The rise of naked partisanship, increasing economic and regional stratification, the splintering of our media into a channel for every taste all this makes this great sorting seem natural, even inevitable. And increasingly, we become so secure in our bubbles that we accept only information, whether true or not, that fits our opinions, instead of basing our opinions on the evidence thats out there.这些没一样是简单的。对大多数人来说，退居自己的幻境中以自保是上策，不论邻居、大学校园、宗教场所还是社交网络，都是与我们相似的的人，持有相同的政治观点，永不改变我们的愿景。日渐赤裸的党派之争、日渐增多的经济和宗教分层、为了迎合各种品位而日渐分裂的媒体所有这些都令站队排序站队排序看起来更合天理，乃至不可避免。我们日渐习惯于停留在舒适区享受安全，无论对错，我们只愿接受合乎己见的信息，而非接受客观信息。This trend represents a third threat to our democracy. Politics is a battle of ideas; in the course of a healthy debate, well prioritize different goals, and the different means of reaching them. But without some common baseline of facts; without a willingness to admit new information, and concede that your opponent is making a fair point, and that science and reason matter, well keep talking past each other, making common ground and compromise impossible.这是威胁我们民主制度的第三股趋势。政治活动即是理念之争。为了进行一场有益的辩论，我们将不同目标和通向目标的不同路径都做了排序。但在没有一些事实的公共底线，没有容纳新信息，没有承认你的对手说得好，没有承认科学和合乎逻辑的事实的勇气的话，我们将停留在相互谈论过去的状态，不可能达成共识和寻求妥协。Isnt that part of what makes politics so dispiriting? How can elected officials rage about deficits when we propose to spend money on preschool for kids, but not when were cutting taxes for corporations? How do we excuse ethical lapses in our own party, but pounce when the other party does the same thing? Its not just dishonest, this selective sorting of the facts; its self-defeating. Because as my mother used to tell me, reality has a way of catching up with you.这不正是政治让人如此沮丧之处吗?那些民选官员为什么会在我们试图为学前教育的孩子花钱时愤怒，但在为企业减税时就不会了?我们怎么可以为自己党派的道德瑕疵找借口，却对其他党派同样的行为大加抨击?这不仅不诚实，还是在掩耳盗铃，这是自掘坟墓。因为我的母亲曾告诉我，现实总有办法追上你。Take the challenge of climate change. In just eight years, weve halved our dependence on foreign oil, doubled our renewable energy, and led the world to an agreement that has the promise to save this planet. But without bolder action, our children wont have time to debate the existence of climate change; theyll be busy dealing with its effects: environmental disasters, economic disruptions, and waves of climate refugees seeking sanctuary.关于应对气候变化的挑战。仅仅八年时间，我们对国外石油的依赖减半，而且让新能源使用增长了一倍。我们引领世界达成了一项拯救地球的协定。但是如果没有更进一步的行动，我们的子孙后代将没有时间讨论气候变化是否存在。他们将忙于处理后果：越来越多的自然灾难，越来越多的经济混乱，以及一波又一波寻求庇护的环境难民。Now, we can and should argue about the best approach to the problem. But to simply deny the problem not only betrays future generations; it betrays the essential spirit of innovation and practical problem-solving that guided our Founders.现在，我们可以而且应该讨论解决问题的最好方法。简单地忽视这个问题不仅是背叛未来一代，还背叛了指导建国先贤们的创新和实用的解决问题的基本精神。Its that spirit, born of the Enlightenment, that made us an economic powerhouse the spirit that took flight at Kitty Hawk and Cape Canaveral; the spirit that that cures disease and put a computer in every pocket.正是这种精神，让我们成为了经济强国这种精神让莱特兄弟在 Kitty Hawk(译注：北卡州的一座小村庄)飞起第一架飞机，这精神治愈疾病，还将电脑放进每一个人的口袋。Its that spirit a faith in reason, and enterprise, and the primacy of right over might, that allowed us to resist the lure of fascism and tyranny dur