介绍:
Mr. Speaker[议长先生], Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, my fellow Americans:
Tonight marks the eighth year I’ve come here to report on the State of the Union. And for this final one, I’m going to try to make it shorter. I know some of you are antsy[烦躁的;坐立不安的] to get back to Iowa[爱荷华州(两党党内预选进行地)].
I also understand that because it’s an election season, expectations for what we’ll achieve this year are low. Still, Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the constructive approach you and the other leaders took at the end of last year to pass a budget and make tax cuts[减税] permanent for working families[工薪家庭]. So I hope we can work together this year on bipartisan[ˌbaɪˈpɑ:rtɪzn][两党的; 代表两党的] priorities like criminal justice reform[刑事司法改革], and helping people who are battling prescription drug abuse[与处方药滥用抗争的人们]. We just might surprise the cynics[世嫉俗者;讽世者;质疑者] again.
But tonight, I want to go easy on the traditional list of proposals for the year ahead. Don’t worry, I’ve got plenty, fromhelping students learn to write computer codetopersonalizing medical treatments[个性化医疗] for patients. And I’ll keep pushing for progress on the work that still needs doing. Fixing a broken immigration system[有问题的/有漏洞的移民制度]. Protecting our kids from gun violence[枪支暴力].Equal pay for equal work[同工同酬],paid leave[带薪休假],raising the minimum wage[提高最低工资水平]. All these things still matter to hardworking families; they are still the right thing to do; and I will not let up until they get done.
But for my final address to this chamber[ˈtʃembɚ][议会;议院], I don’t want to talk just about the next year. I want to focus on the next five years, ten years, and beyond.
I want to focus on our future.
We live in a time of extraordinary change[巨大变化的时代] – change that’s reshaping[riˈʃep][重塑; 给…以新形态; 采取新形式; 打开新局面] the way we live, the way we work, our planet and our place in the world. It’s change that promises amazing medical breakthroughs[医学突破], but also economic disruptions[经济动荡] that strain[stren][使不堪承受;使紧张] working families[工薪家庭]. Itpromises education for girls in the most remote villages, but also connects terrorists plotting an ocean away. It’s change that can broaden opportunity, or widen inequality[这些变化可以带来机会，也可能扩大差距]. And whether we like it or not, the pace of this change will only accelerate.
America has been through big changes before – wars and depression, the influx[ˈɪnˌflʌks][流入;注入] of immigrants, workers fighting for a fair deal, and movements to expand civil rights[民事权利，公民权利]. Each time, there have been those who told us to fear the future; who claimed we could slam the brakes[急刹车] on change, promising to restore past glory[过去的荣耀] if we just got some group or idea that was threatening America under control. And each time, we overcame those fears. We did not, in the words of Lincoln, adhere to the “dogmas of the quiet past[平静的过去时代的那些信条].” Instead we thought anew[əˈnu:][再，重新], and acted anew[əˈnu:][再，重新].We made change work for us, always extending America’s promise outward, to the next frontier, to more and more people. And because we did – because we saw opportunity where others saw only peril[ˈpɛrəl][危险;冒险] – we emerged stronger and better than before.
What was true then can be true now. Our unique strengths[独特的优点/长处] as a nation – our optimism and work ethic[职业道德], our spirit of discovery and innovation, our diversity and commitment to the rule of law – these things give us everything we need to ensure prosperity and security for generations to come.
In fact, it’s that spirit that made the progress of these past seven years possible. It’s how we recovered from the worst economic crisis[经济危机] in generations. It’s how we reformed ourhealth care system[医疗体系], and reinvented ourenergy sector[能源部门]; how we delivered more care and benefits to our troops andveterans['vetərənz][老兵], andhow we secured the freedom in every state to marry the person we love.
But such progress is not inevitable[ɪnˈɛvɪtəbəl][不可避免的; 必然发生的]. It is the result of choices we make together. And we face such choices right now. Will we respond to the changes of our time with fear, turning inward as a nation, and turning against each other as a people? Or will we face the future with confidence in who we are, what we stand for, and the incredible things we can do together?
So let’s talk about the future, and four big questions that we as a country have to answer – regardless of who the next President is, or who controls the next Congress.
First, how do we give everyone a fair shot at opportunity and security in this new economy?
Second, how do we make technology work for us, and not against us – especially when it comes to solving urgent challenges like climate change?
Third, how do we keep America safe and lead the world without becoming its policeman?
And finally, how can we make our politics reflect what’s best in us, and not what’s worst?
Let me start with the economy, and a basic fact: the United States of America, right now, has the strongest, most durable[ˈdʊrəbl][耐久的; 持久的; 长期的] economy in the world. We’re in the middle of the longest streak[strik][(不断经历成功或失败的)一段时期] of private-sector job creation in history.More than 14 million new jobs; the strongest two years of job growth since the ‘90s; an unemployment rate cut in half. Ourauto industry[汽车行业]just had its best year ever. Manufacturing[ˌmænjəˈfæktʃərɪŋ][制造业]has created nearly 900,000 new jobs in the past six years.And we’ve done all this while cutting our deficits[ˈdɛfɪsɪt][赤字; 亏空; 亏损] by almost three-quarters.
Anyone claiming that America’s economy is in decline is peddling fiction[传播虚构事实]. What is true – and the reason that a lot of Americans feel anxious – is that the economy has been changing in profound ways, changes that started long before the Great Recession[经济大衰退] hit and haven’t let up.
Today, technology doesn’t just replace jobs on the assembly line[装配线; 流水线], but any job where work can be automated. Companies in a global economy can locate anywhere, and face tougher competition. As a result, workers have less leverage[ˈli:vərɪdʒ][优势，力量] for a raise. Companies have less loyalty to their communities. And more and more wealth and income is concentrated at the very top.
All these trends have squeezed[skwiz][受挤压的] workers, even when they have jobs; even when the economy is growing. It’s made it harder for a hardworking family to pull itself out of poverty, harder for young people to start on their careers, and tougher for workers to retire when they want to. And although none of these trends are unique to America, they do offend our uniquely American belief that everybody who works hard should get a fair shot.
For the past seven years, our goal has been a growing economy that works better for everybody. We’ve made progress. But we need to make more. And despite all the political arguments we’ve had these past few years, there are some areas where Americans broadly agree.
We agree that real opportunity requires every American to get the education and training they need to land a good-paying job. The bipartisan[ˌbaɪˈpɑ:rtɪzn][两党的; 代表两党的] reform of No Child Left Behind[一个孩子都不能掉队] was an important start, and together, we’ve increased early childhood education,lifted high school graduation rates to new highs, and boosted graduates in fields like engineering. In the coming years, we should build on that progress, by providing Pre-K[学前班] for all, offering every student the hands-on[亲自实践的; 实际动手操作的] computer science and math classes that make them job-ready on day one, and we should recruit and support more great teachers for our kids.
And we have to make college affordable for every American. Because no hardworking student should bestuckin the red[负债]. We’ve already reduced student loan payments to ten percent of a borrower’s income. Now, we’ve actually got to cut the cost of college. Providing two years of community college atno cost for every responsible student is one of the best ways to do that, and I’m going to keep fighting to get that started this year.
Of course, a great education isn’t all we need in this new economy. We also need benefits and protections that provide a basic measure of security. After all, it’s not much of a stretch[不牵强;不会太夸张] to say that some of the only people in America who are going to work the same job, in the same place, with a health and retirement package, for 30 years, are sitting in this chamber[ˈtʃembɚ][议会;议院]. For everyone else, especially folks in their forties and fifties, saving for retirement or bouncing back from job loss has gotten a lot tougher. Americans understand that at some point in their careers, they may have to retool and retrain. But they shouldn’t lose what they’ve already worked so hard to build.
That’s why Social Security and Medicare are more important than ever; we shouldn’t weaken them, we should strengthen them. And for Americans short of retirement, basic benefits should be just as mobile as everything else is today. That’s what the Affordable Care Act[平价医疗法案]is all about. It’s about filling the gaps in employer-based care so that when we lose a job, or go back to school, or start that new business, we’ll still have coverage. Nearly eighteen million have gained coverage so far. Health care inflation has slowed. And our businesses have created jobs every single month since it became law.
Now, I’m guessing we won’t agree on health care anytime soon. But there should be other ways both parties can improve economic security. Say a hardworking American loses his job – we shouldn’t just make sure he can get unemployment insurance; we should make sure that program encourages him to retrain for a business that’s ready to hire him. If that new job doesn’t pay as much, there should be a system of wage insurance in place so that he can still pay his bills. And even if he’s going from job to job[跳槽;更换工作], he should still be able to save for retirement and take his savings with him. That’s the way we make the new economy work better for everyone.
未完，待续。
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