奥巴马英语演讲稿(15篇)

第1篇 奥巴马发表讲话悼念南非国父曼德拉逝世英语演讲稿

at his trial in 1964, nelson mandela closed his statement from the dock saying, 'i have foughtagainst white domination, and i have fought against black domination. i have cherished theideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and withequal opportunities. it is an ideal which i hope to live for and to achieve. but if needs be, it isan ideal for which i am prepared to die.'

纳尔逊·曼德拉在1964年接受审判时在被告席上结束他的陈述时说：“我曾为反对白人统治而斗争，也曾为反对黑人统治而斗争。我一直珍藏着一个民主、自由的社会理想，让所有人都生活在一个和谐共处、机会均等的社会中。我希望为这个理想而生并将其付诸实现。但是，如果需要，我也愿为这样一个理想献出生命。”

and nelson mandela lived for that ideal, and he made it real. he achieved more than could bee_pected of any man. today, he has gone home. and we have lost one of the most influential,courageous, and profoundly good human beings that any of us will share time with on thisearth. he no longer belongs to us -- he belongs to the ages.

纳尔逊·曼德拉为这个理想而生，并将其变成现实。他的成就超出了我们能够寄望于任何一个人去取得的。今天，他安息了。而我们失去了一位我们任何一个人能在这个地球上与之共渡时光的人中，最有影响力、最有勇气、最无比善良的一位。他不再属于我们——他属于一个时代。

through his fierce dignity and unbending will to sacrifice his own freedom for the freedom ofothers, madiba transformed south africa -- and moved all of us. his journey from a prisonerto a president embodied the promise that human beings -- and countries -- can change for thebetter. his commitment to transfer power and reconcile with those who jailed him set ane_ample that all humanity should aspire to, whether in the lives of nations or our own personallives. and the fact that he did it all with grace and good humor, and an ability toacknowledge his own imperfections, only makes the man that much more remarkable. as heonce said, 'i am not a saint, unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying.'

曼德拉以其强烈的尊严和为了他人的自由不惜牺牲自己的自由的不折的意志，改变了南非的面貌，并感动了我们所有人。他从一名囚徒变成一位总统的历程体现了全人类——以及各个国家——都能变得更美好的希望。他移交权力并同那些关押他的人和解的承诺，树立了一个全人类都应当追求的典范，不论是在国家生活中，还是在我们的个人生活中。而他在做到这一切时还能保持风度和幽默，以及承认自己的不足的能力，这使他更加卓尔不群。他曾说过：“我不是一个圣人，除非你们认为圣人是一个不断努力的罪人。”

i am one of the countless millions who drew inspiration from nelson mandela's life. my veryfirst political action, the first thing i ever did that involved an issue or a policy or politics, was aprotest against apartheid. i studied his words and his writings. the day that he was releasedfrom prison gave me a sense of what human beings can do when they’re guided by their hopesand not by their fears. and like so many around the globe, i cannot fully imagine my own lifewithout the e_ample that nelson mandela set, and so long as i live i will do what i can to learnfrom him.

在被纳尔逊·曼德拉的经历所激励的亿万人中，我是其中一员。我的第一次政治行动——我所做的与一项议题或政策或政治有关的第一件事——就是抗议种族歧视。 我认真研读了他的话和他的著作。他走出监狱的那一天，我认识到人类能够在自己的希望——而不是恐惧——引领下所能成就的事业。正如全球各地许许多多的人一 样，我无法充分想象没有纳尔逊·曼德拉的榜样我的生活会是怎样。在我的有生之年，我将尽最大努力向他学习。

to graça machel and his family, michelle and i e_tend our deepest sympathy and gratitudefor sharing this e_traordinary man with us. his life’s work meant long days away from thosewho loved him the most. and i only hope that the time spent with him these last few weeksbrought peace and comfort to his family.

米歇尔和我谨向格拉萨·马歇尔和曼德拉的家人致以最深沉的慰唁，并感谢他们与我们分享这位不平凡的人。他的毕生努力意味着长年累月远离最爱他的人们。我真切地希望与他共同度过的最后这几个星期为他的家人带来了平静与安慰。

to the people of south africa, we draw strength from the e_ample of renewal,andreconciliation, and resilience that you made real. a free south africa at peace with itself --that’s an e_ample to the world, and that’s madiba’s legacy to the nation he loved.

对南非人民，我们要说，你们通过重生、和解与坚毅树立的榜样给了我们力量。一个自由、和平的南非——这是世界的榜样，这是“马迪巴”(曼德拉的家族名)为他所热爱的国家留下的遗产。

we will not likely see the likes of nelson mandela again. so it falls to us as best we can toforward the e_ample that he set: to make decisions guided not by hate, but by love; to neverdiscount the difference that one person can make; to strive for a future that is worthy of hissacrifice.

我们可能难以再见到像纳尔逊·曼德拉这样的伟人。因此，我们的责任是尽我们所能把他树立的榜样传承下去：基于爱——而不是恨——来作决定;永远不要低估一个人所能带来的变化;努力建设一个无愧于他的牺牲的未来。

for now, let us pause and give thanks for the fact that nelson mandela lived -- a man who tookhistory in his hands, and bent the arc of the moral universe toward justice. may god bless hismemory and keep him in peace.

现在，让我们停下来，为纳尔逊·曼德拉曾经活着而表达我们的感激之情——他用双手握住历史，把道德宇宙的长虹折向正义。愿上帝保佑他的记忆，使他安息。

第2篇 英语演讲稿——奥巴马就职演讲

barack obama’s inaugural address

my fellow citizens:

i stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. i thank president bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.

forty-four americans have now taken the presidential oath. the words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. at these moments, america has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because we the people have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.

so it has been. so it must be with this generation of americans.

that we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

these are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land - a nagging fear that america’s decline is inevitable, and that the ne_t generation must lower its sights.

today i say to you that the challenges we face are real. they are serious and they are many. they will not be met easily or in a short span of time. but know this, america - they will be met.

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第3篇 奥巴马总统在安赛乐米塔尔集团克利夫兰钢铁厂英语演讲稿

the president: hello, ohio! (applause.) it is good to be backin cleveland. the last timei was herewas about a year ago, in the final days of the campaign. i know how much you misshearing how iapprove this message every night on your tv. (laughter.) i will say it is niceto behere when the only real battle for ohio is the browns-bengals game thissunday. (applause.)he’s got the browns shirt right here, brownscap. (laughter.)

i want to thank scotty for thatterrific introduction. give him a biground of applause. (applause.) he is a natural. i want to thank your ceo, lakshmi mittal, forinvesting in americaand the cleveland area. we appreciate him. (applause.) and i want to thankall of you forhaving me here today.

along with me, there are a coupleof people i just want to acknowledge. first of all,america’s secretary of energy, ernie moniz, is here. right there. (applause.) andcongresswomanmarcy kaptur is here. give marcy a biground of applause. (applause.) fightingfor working people every day.

and earlier this afternoon i hada chance to see your mayor, frank jackson; your countye_ecutive, edfitzgerald. and even though they’re nothere, i want to thank them for the greatwork they’re doing on behalf ofworking people throughout the region. (applause.)

and then, finally, i want tothank mark and gary for showing me one of the biggest steelplants inamerica. and they told me that folks areproud to have been making steel right here fora century -- 100 years -- righthere. (applause.) and they e_plained that, today, the steelyoumake in cleveland is some of the strongest you’ll find anywhere in theworld. it’s one of themost productiveplants in the world. best workers in theworld. (applause.)

and what’s remarkable is, whenyou think about it, go back to where this plant was just afew years ago. the economy was in free fall, auto industryon the brink of collapse. and thatmeantdemand for steel had dried up. the blastfurnaces went quiet. about 1,200steelworkerspunched out for what might have been the last time. and that all came at the end of a decadewhenthe middle class was already working harder and harder just to get by, andnearly one inthree american manufacturing jobs had vanished -- a lot of themgoing overseas. and that couldhavedevastated this community for good.

but we rolled up our sleeves, wemade some tough choices. we rescued andretooled theamerican auto industry; it saved more than a million jobs. we bet on american ingenuity andamericanworkers. (applause.) and assembly lines started humming again, andautomakersstarted to make cars again. and just a few months after this plant shutdown, your plantmanager got the call: fire those furnaces back up, get those workers back on the job. and overthe last four years, you’ve madeyourselves one of the most productive steel mills not just inamerica, but inthe world. in the world. (applause.)

so you retooled to make thestronger steel that goes into newer, better american cars andtrucks. you created new partnerships with schools andcommunity colleges to make sure thatfolks who work here have the high-techskills they need for the high-tech jobs -- because i waslooking around thisfactory, and there’s a whole bunch of computer stuff going on.

one of your engineers -- and iwant to make sure i get margaret’s name right here --margaret krolikowski. did i get that right, margaret? (applause.) where’s margaret? whereisshe? there is she is, back there. so i’m going to quote you -- i’m going toquote you. here’swhat margaretsaid: “when we came back, we wanted tomake sure we were in a position wherewe never shut down again.” never shut down again. and that means making sure that workershereare constantly upgrading their skills and investments being made in thestate-of-the-arttechnology.

and it was interesting, when iwas meeting a number of the folks who were giving me thetour -- folks who havebeen here 30 years, 40 years -- but obviously the plant has changed, andsoduring that period they’ve had to upgrade their skills. and that’s what’s happened. and thestory of this plant is the story ofamerica over the last five years. wehaven’t just beenrecovering from a crisis. what we’ve been trying to do is rebuild a new foundation for growthandprosperity to protect ourselves from future crises. and because of the grit and resilienceandoptimism of the american people, we’re seeing comeback stories like yours allacrossamerica.

over the last 44 months, ourbusinesses have created 7.8 million new jobs. last month,another 200,000 americans went back to work. (applause.) and a lot of those jobs are inmanufacturing. so now we’ve got more work to do to get thoseengines of the economy churningeven faster. but because we’ve been willing to do some hard things, not just kick thecan downthe road, factories are reopening their doors, businesses are hiringnew workers, companies thatwere shipping jobs overseas, they’re starting totalk about bringing those jobs back to america.we’re starting to see that.

and let me give you an e_ample,because we were talking about this -- mr. mittal and otherswere talking aboutwhat’s different now. take a look atwhat we’ve done with american energy.for years, folks have talked about reducing our dependence on foreignoil -- but we didn’t reallydo it. andwe were just importing more and more oil, sending more and more moneyoverseas.gas prices keep on going upand up and up. we finally decided wewere going to do somethingabout it.

so we invested in new americantechnologies to reverse our addiction to foreign oil,double wind power, doublesolar power, produce more oil, produce more natural gas, and do itall in a waythat is actually bringing down some of our pollution, making our entireeconomymore energy-efficient. today, we generatemore renewable energy than ever.weproduce more natural gas than anybody in the world. just yesterday, we learned that for thefirsttime since 1995, the united states of america produces more of our own oil hereat homethan we buy from other countries. first time since 1995. (applause.) and that’s a big deal.that’s what america has done these past fiveyears.

and that is a huge competitiveadvantage for us. part of the reasoncompanies now want tomove -- we were just talking about it -- this plant, ifit’s located in germany, energy costs aredouble, maybe triple; same injapan. so this gives us a big edge. but this is also important: wereached the milestone not just because we’reproducing more energy, but also we’re wastingless energy. and this plant is a good e_ample of it. we set new fuel standards that doublethedistance our cars and trucks go on a gallon of gas by the middle of the ne_tdecade. thatsaves the average driver,everybody here, more than $8,000 at the pump over the life of a newcar. you like that? (applause.) we launched initiatives to put people to work upgrading ourhomes, andour businesses, and our factories so we’re wasting less energy. all that savesbusinesses money on theirenergy bills. your plant is one of thehundreds to answer that call.and if you’resaving money on energy costs, that means you can invest in equipment, investinworkers, hire more people, produce more products.

and here’s another thing: between more clean energy, less wastedenergy, the carbonpollution that’s helping to warm the planet, that actuallystarts going down. and that’s goodnewsfor anybody who cares about leaving a planet to our kids that is as beautifulas the one wegot from our parents and our grandparents. (applause.) so it’s a win-win. our economykeepsgrowing, creating new jobs, which means that strengthening our energysecurity and increasingenergy efficiency doesn’t have to be a choice betweenthe environment and the economy --we can do both.

so we’ve tackled the way we useenergy. that’s making america morecompetitive in order toattract good jobs. we’ve also tackled our deficits. a lot of people have been concerned aboutdeficits. since i took office, we cut them inhalf. that makes america more attractivewhen itcomes to business investment decisions.

and we’ve tackled a broken healthcare system. obviously, we’re not doneyet. (applause.)obviously, we’re not done yet. but over the last three years, health carecosts have grown at theslowest pace on record. and this is a great place to work thanks to a great steelworkersunionand cooperation between management and labor. (applause.) but just keep in mindthatif businesses’ health care costs are growing at about one-third the ratethat they were a decadeago, that makes america a more affordable place to dobusiness, and it also means that theinvestors here, if they’re putting lessmoney into health care costs, they can put more money interms of hiring moreworkers and making sure that they’re getting good pay.

so that’s what all these toughdecisions are about: reversing theforces that have hurt themiddle class for a long, long time, and building aneconomy where anybody, if you work hard,you can get ahead. that’s what plants like this have always beenabout. it’s not that it’seasywork. but it means if you work hard, you’vegot a chance to buy a home, you’ve got achance to retire, you’ve got a chanceto send your kids to school, you have a chance to maybetake a little vacationonce in a while. that’s what peoplestrive for. and that’s what will makethe21st century an american century, just like the last century was.

but i didn’t run for president togo back to where we were. i want us togo forward. i want usto go towards thefuture. (applause.) i want us to get us to where we need tobe. i want tosolve problems, not justput them off. i want to solveproblems. and we’ve got to do moretocreate more good, middle-class jobs like the ones folks have here.

that means we’ve got to doeverything we can to prepare our children and our workers forthe competitionthat they’re going to face. we should bedoing everything we can to help putsome sort of advanced education withinreach for more young people. noteverybody has got togo to a four-year college, but just looking at theequipment around here, you’ve got to have alittle bit of advancedtraining. it may come through acommunity college or it may come througha technical school, but we’ve got tomake sure you can get that education, your kids can getthat education withoutgoing broke -- without going broke, without going into debt. (applause.)so we’re working on that.

another thing we should beworking on: fi_ing a broken immigrationsystem. (applause.)when you think about this whole region, a lotof folks forget, but almost everybody who workedin that plant 100 years agocame from someplace else. and so we’vegot now a new generation ofhopeful, striving immigrants; we’ve got to makesure that they come legally and that we dowhat we need to secure our borders,but we’ve also got to make sure that we’re providing themopportunity just likeyour parents, grandparents, great-grandparents received when theyarrived atthis plant. and that’s important. (applause.) and, by the way, it will help oureconomy grow because then they’repaying ta_es and helping to invest and build here inamerica.

we should do everything we can torevitalize american manufacturing. manufacturing is --that’s the hub of our economy. when our manufacturing base is strong, theentire economy isstrong. a lot ofservice jobs depend on servicing manufacturing jobs. and, typically,manufacturing jobs pay alittle bit better. so that’s been apath, a ticket to the middle class.sowhen we make steel and cars, make them here in america, that helps. like i said, the workmay be hard but itgives you enough money to buy a home and raise a kid, retire and send yourkidsto school.

and those kinds of jobs also tellus something else. it’s not just howmuch you get in yourpaycheck, it’s also a sense of, “i’m making something andi’m helping to build this country.”ithelps establish a sense of -- that we’re invested in this country. (applause.) it tells us whatwe’re worth as a community. one of your coworkers, mike longa -- where’smike?

audience member: back here.

the president: is he back here? that’s mike right there. mike grew up here. his momand dad worked at this plant. this plant helped put mike and four brothersand/or sistersthrough college. and oncethis plant started growing again, mike got his chance to be asteelworker here,and provide for his own two young kids. so it’s a generational thing, and iwant to keep that going.

in my state of the union address,i talked about how we created america’s firstmanufacturing innovationinstitute right here in ohio. marcykaptur has been a big proponentof this, because she knows how importantmanufacturing is. i want to create moreof them --places where businesses are working with universities and they’repartnering to figure out whatare the new manufacturing techniques that keep usat the cutting edge so that china orgermany don’t get ahead of us in terms ofthe equipment that’s being invested. wewant to beat the cutting edge, so what we’re producing is always the beststeel, it’s always the best cars.butthat requires research and investment.

and your senator, sherrod brown,helped us to create that first manufacturing hub inyoungstown. and he’s now leading a bipartisan effort --(applause) -- he’s now leading abipartisan effort with senator blunt ofmissouri to move more of these manufacturinginnovation hubs all across thecountry. and congress should passsherrod’s bill. we should bedoingeverything we can to guarantee the ne_t revolution in manufacturing happensright herein cuyahoga, happens right here in ohio, happens right here inamerica. (applause.)

and let me make one lastpoint. we have to do everything we canto make sure everyamerican has access to quality, affordable health care,period. (applause.) you may have readwe had some problems lastmonth with websites. i’m not happy aboutthat. and then i had apress conferencetoday and i said, you know what, we fumbled the ball in terms of the rollout.

but we always knew this was goingto be hard. there’s a reason why folkshad tried to do itfor 100 years and hadn’t done it. and it’s complicated. there are a lot of players involved. thestatus quo is entrenched. and so, yes, there’s no question the rollouton the affordable careact was much tougher than we e_pected. but i want everybody here to understand, i amgoingto see this through. (applause.) i want millions of americans to make surethat they’re notgoing broke when they get sick and they can go to a doctorwhen their kids get sick. and we’renotapologizing for that. we are going toget this done. (applause.)

so we’re going to get the websiteworking the way it’s supposed to. theplans are already outthere that are affordable and people can get ta_credits. we’re going to help folks whoseoldplans have been canceled by the insurers -- many of them weren’t very good-- and we’re goingto make sure that they can get newer, better options.

but we’re not going to go back tothe old system, because the old system was broken. andevery year, thousands of americans wouldget dropped from coverage or denied their medicalhistory or e_posed tofinancial ruin. you guys are lucky thatyou work at a company with astrong union that gives you good healthbenefits. (applause.) but you know friends and familymembers whodon’t have it, and you know what it’s like when they get sick. you know how scaryit is for them when theyget sick. or some of them have healthinsurance -- they think they do --and they get sick, and suddenly theinsurance company says, oh, i’m sorry, you owe $50,000.that’s not covered. or they jack up your premium so you can’tafford it because you had somesort of pree_isting condition. that happens every day.

so we’re not going to let thathappen. we’re not going to let folks whopay their premiumson time get jerked around. and we’re not going to walk away from the 40 million americanswithouthealth insurance. (applause.) we are not going to gut this law. we will fi_ what needsto be fi_ed, but we’regoing to make the affordable care act work. and those who say they’reopposed to it and can’t offer a solution, we’llpush back. (applause.)

i got to give your governor alittle bit of credit. john kasich, alongwith a lot of statelegislators who are here today, they e_panded medicaidunder the affordable care act. andthinkabout that. just that one step means asmany as 275,000 ohioans are going to have healthinsurance. and it doesn’t depend on a website. that’s already happening because oftheaffordable care act. (applause.)

and i think it’s fair to say thatthe governor didn’t do it because he just loves me so much. (laughter.) we don’t agree on much, but he saw, well, this makes sense -- why wouldn’twe dothis? why wouldn’t we make surethat hundreds of thousands of people right here in ohio havesomesecurity? it was the right thing todo. and, by the way, if every republicangovernor didwhat kasich did here rather than play politics about it, you’dhave another 5.4 million americanswho could get access to health care ne_tyear, regardless of what happens with the website.that’s their decision not to do it. and it’s the wrong decision. they’ve got to go ahead andsign folks up.

so the bottom line is sometimeswe just have to set aside the politics and focus on what’sgood forpeople. what’s good to grow our middleclass? what’s going to help keep planslike thisgrowing? what’s going to makesure we’re putting more people back to work? what’s going toreally make a difference in terms of our kids getting agreat education?

and, look, we’ve done itbefore. that’s the good news. the good news is that america is --look, wemake mistakes. we have ourdifferences. our politics get screwed upsometimes.websites don’t worksometimes. (laughter.) but we just keep going. we didn’t become thegreatest nation on earthby accident. we did it because we didwhat it took to make sure ourfamilies could succeed, make sure our businessescould succeed, make sure our communitiescould succeed. and if you don’t believe me, listen to one ofyour coworkers.

so sherrod brown, earlier thisyear, brought a special guest along with him to the state ofthe union address-- one of your coworkers, cookie hall. where’s cookie? is cookie here?

audience member: no, she’s back at the hall.

the president: she’s back at the hall working. (laughter.) well, let me say somethingnice about her behind her back. (laughter.) so cookie said, one of -- let me make sure i canfind this. she said -- that night she said, “if i get achance to meet president obama, i’ll tellhim my greatest pride is in our 2022production record at cleveland works. we’rethe mostproductive steelworkers in the world.” (applause.) more than a ton ofsteel produced for everysingle one of the workers at this plant. that’s pretty good. that’s pretty good. (applause.)

so all of you are an e_ample ofwhat we do when we put our minds to it. this plant wasclosed for a while. we go through hard times. and alot of our friends are still going throughhard times. but when we work at it, we know we can get toa better place, and we can restoresome security to a middle class that wasforged in plants just like this one, and keep givingladders of opportunity forfolks who were willing to work hard to get into the middle class.that’s what i’m about. that’s what this plant is about. i’m proud to be with you.

and as long as i have the honorof being your president, i’m going to be waking up everysingle day thinkingabout how i can keep on helping folks like the ones who work in thisplant. (applause.)

god bless you. thank you. god bless you, and god bless the united states of america.thank you.

第4篇 奥巴马总统每周电台英语演讲稿

hi, everybody. this week, america came together tosalute our veterans – to e_press our appreciationto all who served so that we might live free. but ourgratitude should e_tend beyond what our veteranshave done for us in the past. it should remind us ofour responsibilities to serve them as well as theyhave served us. it should compel us to keep ourveterans central to the ongoing work of this nation.

in recent years, we've made historic investments toboost the va budget, e_pand veterans' benefits,and improve care for our wounded warriors. we've now slashed the disability claims backlog bynearly 90 percent from its peak. we're reducing the outrage of veterans' homelessness andwe've helped tens of thousands of veterans get off the streets. the veterans' unemploymentrate is down to 3.9 percent – even lower than the national average.

of course, we're not satisfied. we've still got more work to do – and i've directed myadministration to keep doing everything it can to fulfill our promise to our veterans. but thisisn't just a job for government alone. we all have a role to play. less than one percent ofamericans are serving in uniform. so it's true most americans don't always see andappreciate the incredible skills and assets that our veterans can offer. but every americanshould know that our veterans are some of the most talented, capable people in the world.they've mastered skills and technologies and leadership roles that are impossible to teach offthe battlefield. they know how to get stuff done.

and as our veterans will tell you themselves, they're not finished serving their country. they'reteachers and doctors, engineers and entrepreneurs, social workers and community leaders.they serve in statehouses across the country and in congress. as i tell small business ownersand ceos on a regular basis, if you want to get the job done, hire a vet. every sector, everyindustry, every community in this country can benefit from the incredible talents of ourveterans.

our troops and veterans give us their very best. that's what a soldier named captain florentgroberg proved. three years ago, on patrol in afghanistan, flo saw a suicide bomber comingtoward his unit. without hesitating, flo grabbed him by his vest and helped push him to theground. when the bomb went off, flo was badly injured, and four of his comrades were killed.but many more were saved because of flo's sacrifice. flo represents the very best of america –and this week, i was proud to present him with the medal of honor for his actions.

veterans like flo, they deserve our undying gratitude. they deserve the chance to keepserving the country they risked everything to defend. and so we must come together to keepgiving them that chance, not just on veterans day, but on every single day of the year. maygod bless all those who serve and all who have given their lives for our country. and may godbless the united states of america.

第5篇 奥巴马就通用汽车公司重组一事英语演讲稿

remarks by the president on general motors restructuring

grand foyer

june 1, 2022

just over two months ago, i spoke with you in this same spot about the challenges facing our auto industry, and i laid out what needed to be done to save two of america's most storied automakers ——general motors and chrysler. these companies were facing a crisis decades in the making, and having relied on loans from the previous administration, were asking for more。

from the beginning, i made it clear that i would not put any more ta_ dollars on the line if it meant perpetuating the bad business decisions that had led these companies to seek help in the first place. i refused to let these companies become permanent wards of the state, kept afloat on an endless supply of ta_payer money. in other words, i refused to kick the can down the road。

but i also recognized the importance of a viable auto industry to the well-being of families and communities across our industrial midwest and across the united states. in the midst of a deep recession and financial crisis, the collapse of these companies would have been devastating for countless americans, and done enormous damage to our economy —— beyond the auto industry. it was also clear that if gm and chrysler remade and retooled themselves for the 21st century, it would be good for american workers, good for american manufacturing, and good for america's economy。

i decided, then, that if gm and chrysler and their stakeholders were willing to sacrifice for their companies survival and success; if they were willing to take the difficult, but necessary steps to restructure, and make themselves stronger, leaner, and more competitive, then the united states government would stand behind them。

the original restructuring plans submitted by gm and chrysler earlier this year did not call for the sweeping changes these companies needed to survive —— and i couldn't in good conscience proceed on that basis. so we gave them a chance to develop a stronger plan that would put them on a path toward long-term viability. the 60 days gm had to submit its revised plans have now elapsed, and i want to say a few words about where we are and what steps will be taken going forward. but before i do, i want to give you an update on where things stand with chrysler。

when my administration took office and began going over chrysler's books, the future of this great american car company was uncertain. in fact, it was not clear whether it had any future at all. but after consulting with my auto task force, industry e_perts, and financial advisors, and after asking many tough questions, i became convinced that if chrysler were willing to undergo a restructuring and if it were able to form a partnership with a viable global car company, then chrysler could get a new lease on life。

well, that more promising scenario has now come to pass. today, after taking a number of painful steps, and moving through a quick, efficient, and fair bankruptcy process, a new, stronger chrysler is poised to complete its alliance with fiat. just 31 days after chrysler's chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, a court has approved the chrysler-fiat alliance, paving the way for a new chrysler to emerge from bankruptcy in the ne_t few days。

what happens ne_t is in the hands of their e_ecutives, managers, and workers ——as it is for any private company. but what the completion of this alliance means is that tens of thousands of jobs that would have been lost if chrysler had liquidated will now be saved, and that consumers have no reason at all to worry about a restructuring—— even one as painful as what chrysler underwent。

and keep in mind —— many e_perts said that a quick, surgical bankruptcy was impossible. they were wrong. others predicted that chrysler's decision to enter bankruptcy would lead to an immediate collapse in consumer confidence that would send car sales over a cliff. they were wrong, as well. in fact, chrysler sold more cars in may than it did in april, in part because consumers were comforted by our e_traordinary commitment to stand behind a quick bankruptcy process. all in all, it's a dramatic —— an outcome dramatically better than what appeared likely when this process began。

美国总统就通用汽车公司重组一事发表演讲

大会堂前厅

2022年6月1日

就在两个多月前，就在此处，我与诸位探讨了美国汽车业所面临的挑战，我列出了拯救美国两大著名汽车制造商——通用汽车公司和克莱斯勒公司所应采取的措施。这两家公司面临着过去几十年中孕育已久的危机，他们依赖往届政府的贷款，现在又要求政府提供更多帮助。

从一开始我就明确表示，我将不会投入更多的税收，否则就意味着将失败的经营决策继续下去，而这种经营决策已经导致上述两家公司首先提出援助要求。我不会任凭这些公司成为国家永久的负担，靠纳税人的源源不断提供血汗钱而生存。换言之，我不会再采用权宜之计了。

但我也承认，在以工业为主的中西部地区乃至全美，一个能独立生存的汽车企业关乎家庭及社会的福祉。在经济严重衰退和金融危机时期，这些公司的倒闭对无数美国人来说无疑是一种灾难，会对全国经济造成巨大影响——且远不止是汽车工业。如果通用汽车公司和克莱斯勒公司能在21世纪自行重组再造，毫无疑问，这将有益于美国的工人、制造业以及美国的整体经济。

因此，我决定，如果通用汽车公司和克莱斯勒公司及其利益相关者愿意为公司的生存和成功作出牺牲，愿意直面困难，通过采取必要的重组措施使公司变得更为强大、精悍、更富竞争力，那么，美国政府就会支持它们。

今年年初，通用汽车公司和克莱斯勒公司最初提交的重组计划中并未提出企业生存必需的全面改革计划，因此我不能愧对良心在这种条件下给予支持，我给了它们一个机会——制定一项更强有力的计划，并走上长期保持生存能力的道路。然而，通用汽车公司提交修改计划的60天期限已经过去，我要对我们的现状和未来采取的措施发表看法。但是在这之前，我想讲一下克莱斯勒的最新进展。

本届政府执政后就开始彻查克莱斯勒的账目，发现这个美国汽车业的巨头前途未卜。事实上，它是否还有前途都不得而知。但是经过咨询白宫汽车行动小组、行业专家和财政顾问，并就诸多难题进行探讨后，我开始相信如果克莱斯勒愿意重组，能与一家具备生存能力的全球化汽车企业建立伙伴关系，那么它将会重获新生。

更多充满希望的剧情正在上演。今天，在经历了一系列痛苦的环节以及快速、高效和公平的破产程序后，一个全新且更具实力的克莱斯勒完成了与菲亚特的结盟。仅在克莱斯勒依据《破产法》第11章规定申请破产的31天后，法院批准了克莱斯勒-菲亚特的结盟，为克莱斯勒在未来几年中重塑自我并从破产中崛起铺平了道路。

接下来，公司的命运就掌控在公司的高层、经理和员工的手中了，这和任何其他私营企业并无二致。但结盟的完成意味着因克莱斯勒公司清偿债务会失去的数万个工作岗位，将得以保留，消费者也无须对重组有丝毫担忧，即使这种重组和克莱斯勒所经历的一切同样令人痛苦。

值得关注的是，许多专家曾认为外科手术式的快速破产方式不可行，然而，他们错了。另一些人预计克莱斯勒公司的破产决定将会导致消费者信心会顷刻瓦解，使汽车销量一落千丈，他们也错了。事实上，克莱斯勒公司5月的销售业绩要好于4月，部分原因是由于我们对快速破产程序做出了特别承诺，安抚了消费者。总而言之，与程序启动时相比，效果极为明显。

第6篇 奥巴马总统、第一夫人米歇尔·奥巴马2022年圣诞节英语演讲稿

the president: hello everybody, and happy holidays.

the first lady: we know how busy this time of year is for everyone, so we’re not going totake much of your time.

but we did want to take a moment to wish you all a merry christmas, from our family to yours.

the president: this is a season for millions of americans to be together with family, tocontinue long-held holiday traditions, and to show our gratitude to those we love. and alongthe way, some of us might even watch a little basketball or eat some christmas cookies, too.

the first lady: here at the white house, over the past few weeks, we’ve had about 70,000people from all across the country come visit us and look at our holiday decorations.

this year’s theme was “gather around: stories of the season.”

and in every room of the house, we tried to tell a story about who we are as americans and howwe celebrate the holidays together.

and we made certain to highlight some of the most powerful stories we know—the stories ofour outstanding troops, veterans, and military families and their service and sacrifice for ourcountry.

the president: our e_traordinary men and women in uniform are serving so that therest of us can enjoy the blessings we cherish during the holidays. but that means many of ourtroops are far from home and far from family. they’re spending some e_tra time on the phonewith their loved ones back home. or they’re setting up video chats so they can watch as thepresents are opened. so today, we want all of our troops to know that you’re in our thoughtsand prayers this holiday season.

and here’s the good news: for many of our troops and newest veterans, this might be the firsttime in years that they’ve been with their families on christmas. in fact, with the iraq war overand the transition in afghanistan, fewer of our men and women in uniform are deployed inharm’s way than at any time in the last decade.

the first lady: and that’s something we all can be thankful for.

and with more and more of our troops back here at home, now it’s our turn to serve—it’s ourturn to step up and show our gratitude for the military families who have given us so much.

and that’s why jill biden and i started our joining forces initiative—to rally all americans tosupport our military families in ways large and small.

and again and again, we have been overwhelmed by the response we’ve gotten as folks fromacross the country have found new ways to give back to these families through their schools,businesses, and houses of worship.

the president: that’s the same spirit of giving that connects all of us during the holidays.so many people all across the country are helping out at soup kitchens, buying gifts for childrenin need, or organizing food or clothing drives for their neighbors. for families like ours, thatservice is a chance to celebrate the birth of christ and live out what he taught us – to love ourneighbors as we would ourselves; to feed the hungry and look after the sick; to be our brother’skeeper and our sister’s keeper. and for all of us as americans, regardless of our faith, those arevalues that can drive us to be better parents and friends, better neighbors and better citizens.

the first lady: so as we look to the new year, let’s pledge ourselves to living out thosevalues by reaching out and lifting up those in our communities who could use a hand up.

the president: so merry christmas, everyone. and from the two of us, as well as malia,sasha, grandma, bo…

the first lady: and sunny, the newest obama.

the president: we wish you all a blessed and safe holiday season.

the first lady: happy holidays everybody, and god bless.

第7篇 奥巴马总统在2022年《华尔街日报》ceo理事会年会英语演讲稿

the president: thank you so much. (applause.) everybody, please have a seat. thankyou.

well, it is wonderful to be here,and i always look forward to an opportunity to speak tosome of our topbusinesses across the country who are hiring people, investing inamerica,making the economy run. and many of youi’ve had a chance to interact with before. asyou know, oftentimes when i do something like this, i want to spendmore time answeringquestions and having a conversation than giving any formalremarks. let me just provide alittlebit of an introduction.

obviously, over the last coupleof months, most of the o_ygen in this town has beenconsumed with two things --one, the government shutdown and the possibility of default thatwas ultimatelyresolved; and the second has been the rollout of the affordable care act andthefact that my website is not working the way it’s supposed to. and it’s entirely legitimate thatthose havebeen issues of great concern.

the impact of the shutdown andthe threat of default i think not only did some significantdamage to theeconomy at a time when we didn’t need self-inflicted wounds, but it also spoketosome of the larger problems we’ve seen here in washington, and the sense ofdysfunction andthe seeming incapacity of both parties in congress to worktogether to advance an agendathat’s going to help us grow.

with respect to the affordablecare act, i think people are legitimately concerned becausewe have a majorproblem with health care in this country -- 41 million people withouthealthinsurance, a lot of people underinsured. and once again, how we fi_ a health care systemthat’s been broken fortoo many people for too long i think ends up speaking to how muchconfidence wehave in government and whether we still have the capacity, collectively, tobringabout changes that are going to be good for our economy, good for ourbusinesses, good for theamerican people.

i do want to say, though, thatbeyond the headlines, we have made real progress in theeconomy, and sometimesthat hasn’t gotten enough attention. some of the tough decisions thatwe made early on have paid off --decisions that helped us not only recover from a crisis, butbegin to lay astronger foundation for future growth.

we refocused on manufacturinge_ports, and today, our businesses sell more goods andservices made in americathan ever before around the world. aftera decade of shedding jobs,our manufacturing sector has now added about half amillion new jobs, and it’s led by anamerican auto industry that has comeroaring back after decades of decline.

we decided to reverse ourdependence on foreign oil, and today, we generate morerenewable energy thanever before and more natural gas than anybody in the world. and for thefirst time in nearly 20 years,america now produces more of our own oil than we buy from othercountries.

when i took office, we invested afraction of what other countries did in wirelessinfrastructure, and today, it’sup nearly 50 percent, helping companies unleash jobs,innovation and a boomingapp economy that’s created more than 500,000 jobs. when i tookoffice, only 5 percent of theworld’s smartphones ran on american operating systems. today,more than 80 percent do.

and it’s not just in thehigh-tech economy that we’re seeing progress. for e_ample,american farmers are on pace to have one of their bestyears in decades, and they haveconsistently been able to e_port more, makemore profits and help restore rural economiesthan when we came into office.

and, yes, we decided to take on abroken health care system. and even though the rollout ofthe new health caremarketplace has been rough, to say the least, about half a millionamericansare now poised to gain health care coverage beginning january 1st. that’s after onlya month of sign-up. we also have seen health care costs growingat the slowest rate in 50 years.employer-based health costs are growing at about one-third of the rateof a decade ago, andthat has an impact on your bottom line.

and after years oftrillion-dollar deficits, we reined in spending, wound down two wars, andbeganto change a ta_ code that i believe was too skewed towards the wealthiest amongus atthe e_pense of the middle class. and since i took office, we have now cut our deficits by morethan half.

add it all up, and businesseslike yours have created 7.8 million new jobs over the past 44months. we’ve gone farther and recovered faster thanmost other advanced nations. and so inalot of ways, america is poised for a breakout. we are in a good position to compete aroundthe world in the 21stcentury.

the question is, are we going torealize that potential? and that meansthat we’ve still gotsome more work to do. our stock markets and corporate profits are soaring, but we’ve gottomake sure that this remains a country where everyone who works hard can getahead. andthat means we’ve still got toaddress long-term unemployment. we stillhave to addressstagnant wages and stagnant incomes.

and frankly, we’ve got to stopgoverning by crisis here in this town. because if it weren’t forwashington’s dysfunction, i think all of usagree we’d be a lot further along. theshutdown andthe threat of default harmed our jobs market, they cost oureconomy about $5 billion, andeconomists predict it will slow our gdp growththis quarter -- and it didn’t need to happen. itwas self-inflicted. we shouldnot be injuring ourselves every few months. we should be investingin ourselves. and in a sensible world, that starts with a budget that cuts what we don’tneed,closes wasteful loopholes, and helps us afford to invest in the thingsthat we know will helpbusinesses like yours and the economy as a whole --education, infrastructure, basic researchand development.

we would have a grand bargain formiddle-class jobs that combines ta_ reform with afinancing mechanism that letsus create jobs, rebuilding infrastructure that your businessesdepend on, butwe haven’t gotten as much take-up from the other side as we’d like to see sofar.we have the opportunity forbipartisan authority to negotiate the best trade deals possible sobusinessesand workers can take advantage of new markets that are opening up aroundtheworld. we haven’t seen the kind oftake-up from the other side that we’d like to see so far.

we’ve got the opportunity to fi_a broken immigration system that strengthens oureconomy and our nationalsecurity. the good news here is thesenate has already passed abipartisan bill that economists say would grow oureconomy by $1.4 trillion and shrink ourdeficits by nearly a trillion over thene_t two decades. you wouldn’t turn downa deal that good,and congress shouldn’t either. so i’m hoping that speaker boehner and thehouse ofrepresentatives can still work with us to get that done.

and we need to be going all outto prepare our kids and our workers for the demands of a21st-centuryeconomy. i’ve proposed giving everychild an early start at success by making high-quality preschool available toevery four-year-old in america. we knowthat you get more bangfor the buck when it comes to early childhood educationthan just about anything else, andyou’ve got great e_amples around thecountry, oftentimes in red states, that are doing just that.we need to make that same investment.

we’re working to bring down thecosts of a college degree so more young people can get ahigher education. and one thing that i’m very e_cited about --and this has been a goode_ample of a public-private partnership -- is the ideaof redesigning our high schools to makesure that more young people gethands-on training and develop the skills that they need,particularly in math,science and engineering, that businesses are looking for. and in fact, todaywe’re announcing acompetitive grant program that will encourage more high schools topartner withcolleges and local businesses to better prepare our kids for college or acareer. andin december, i’ll bebringing together college presidents and other leaders to figure out waystohelp more low-income students attend and to succeed in college.

so just to sum up, my basicmessage is this: we know what thechallenges are. we knowwhat thesolutions are. some of them are tough,but what’s holding us back is not a lack of goodpolicy ideas or even what usedto be considered good bipartisan policy ideas. we just have tobreak through the stubborn cycle of crisis politics andstart working together. moreobstruction,more brinkmanship won’t help anybody. it doesn’t help folks politically. my understanding isnobody in this town isdoing particularly well at the moment when it comes to the opinions oftheamerican people, but it certainly doesn’t help anybody economically.

on many of the issues, i thinkyou and i would agree, and i want you to know that i’mrooting for yoursuccess, and i look forward to making sure that we are able in theremainingthree years that i’m president to work together to not only improve thebusinessclimate, but also improve the prospects for americans all across thecountry who have beentreading water, feel like they’re losing ground, arean_ious about the future and their children’sfutures, but i think are stillhopeful and still possess that fundamental american optimism. ifthey see leadership working across theboard on their behalf, then i’m confident that we canmake enormous progress.

so with that, why don’t we getjerry up here and i’ll start answering his questions. i hope headds some input. (laughter.) if he starts asking me about whathappened to the kansas citychiefs, i’m not sure i’ll have a good answer forthat one. (applause.)

well, thank you, mr. president. let me start by thanking you officially forjoining us today. ithink you probablysee a lot of familiar faces out there, most friendly, most of them. and i wouldalso note that you’re gettinghere a little late. congressman paulryan is coming later. he isgoing to gethere a little early. so if you guysoverlap a little bit, maybe we can just get someproblems solved righthere. what do you think?

the president: let’s do it. (laughter.) let’s do it.

it’s your chance. we have talked amongst ourselves or tried tosort of take the sense of theroom. so i’mgoing to try to reflect some of the conversations that have been going on hereinthe questions i’m going to ask you. you’ll not be stunned that i’m going to ask you abouthealth care first.

you indicated there and you’veindicated publicly quite clearly that the rollout has beendifficult. what do you think you’ve learned from thise_perience about the government’s abilityto do this sort of thing, about thelaw itself, or about your own administration?

the president: well, there are a couple of things. number one is that this has been abigproblem for a very long time and so it was always going to be challenging notjust to pass alaw, but also to implement it. there’s a reason why, despite a century of talking about it,nobody hadbeen able to successfully try to deal with some of the underlying problems inthehealth care system.

the good news is that many of theelements of the affordable care act are already in placeand are workinge_actly the way they’re supposed to. somaking sure that consumers who haveemployer-based health insurance are gettinga better deal and that are protected from some ofthe fine print that left themin the lurch when they actually got sick -- that’s in place. makingsure that young people under the ageof 26 can stay on their parents’ plan -- that’s helped 3million childrenalready. that’s making adifference. helping seniors to getbetter prescriptiondrug prices -- that’s already helped millions of seniorsand billions of dollars in savings. rebatesfor people who see insurance companies who are not spendingenough on actual care, more onadministrative costs or profits, they’re gettingrebates. they may not know it’s theaffordablecare act that’s giving them rebates, but it’s happening. so there were a number of things thatwerealready in place over the last three years that got implemented effectively.

the other thing that hasn’t beentalked about a lot is cost. there was a lot of skepticismwhen we passed theaffordable care act that we were going to be giving a lot of people care butweweren’t doing anything about the underlying costs. and, in fact, over the last three years,we’veseen health care costs grow at the slowest pace in 50 years. and that affects the bottomlines ofeverybody here.

and there are a lot of smartdelivery system reforms that slowly across the system are beingimplemented andthey’re making a big difference. andthat’s saving us money. that’s why, bytheway, some of the projections that in terms of what the affordable care actwould do to deficitshave actually proved even better than we had originallye_pected.

what i have learned, though, withrespect to setting up these marketplaces -- which areessentially mechanismswhere people who are currently in the individual market or don’t havehealthinsurance at all can join together, shop, and insurance companies will competefor theirbusiness -- setting those things up is very challenging justmechanically.

the good news is that choice andcompetition has actually worked and insurers came in withbids that were evenlower than people e_pected -- about 16 percent lower than had originallybeenprojected.

the challenge has been justmaking sure that consumers are actually able to get on awebsite, see thosechoices, and shop. and i think that weprobably underestimated thecomple_ities of building out a website that neededto work the way it should.

there is a larger problem that iprobably -- speak personally, but also as theadministration -- could haveidentified earlier, and that is the way the federal government doesprocurementand does it is just generally not very efficient. in fact, there’s probably no biggergapbetween the private sector and the public sector than it.

and we’ve seen that in, fore_ample, the va and the department of defense trying to dealwith electronicmedical records for our servicemen as they move into civilian life. most of thatstuff is still done on paper. we’ve spent billions of dollars -- i’m notsaying “we” as in myadministration, i mean we’ve now had about a decade ofe_perimentation, spent billions ofdollars and it’s still not working the wayit should.

so what we probably needed to doon the front end was to blow up how we procure for it,especially on a systemthis complicated. we did not do thatsuccessfully. now, we are gettingitfi_ed, but it would have been better to do it on the front end rather than theback end.

and the last point i’ll make isthat in terms of e_pectation setting, there’s no doubt that inan environmentin which we had to fight tooth and nail to get this passed, it ended upbeingpassed on a partisan basis -- not for lack of trying, because i met with anawful lot ofrepublicans to try to get them to go along -- but because therewas just ideological resistanceto the idea of dealing with the uninsured andpeople with pree_isting conditions. there was aprice to that, and it was that what was already going to behard was operating within a verydifficult political environment. and we should have anticipated that thatwould create arockier rollout than if democrats and republicans were bothinvested in success.

one of the problems we’ve had isone side of capitol hill is invested in failure, and thatmakes, i think, thekind of iterative process of fi_ing glitches as they come up and fine-tuningthe law more challenging. but i’moptimistic that we can get it fi_ed.

well, that’s the question i was going toask ne_t. is it possible you’ve lostenough time hereand enough potential customers in the e_changes that you’renot going to reach the criticalmass of signups that you need to make themarketplace work? is that a danger thatyou have toworry about right now?

the president: well, it’s something that we have to payattention to. but keep in mindthat thismodel of marketplaces was based on what was done in massachusetts, andthee_perience in massachusetts was that in the first month, 153 or 163 people signedup out ofan ultimate 36,000. it wasless than 1 percent signed up in that first month -- partly becausebuyinginsurance is a complicated process for a lot of people. when they have more choices, itmeans thatthey’re going to take more time.

there’s no doubt that we’ve lostsome time, but the website is getting better each week. bythe end of this month, it will befunctioning for the majority of people who are using it. they’llbe able to shop, see what theirchoices are. the prices are good. the prices are not changingduring the openenrollment period that goes out until march. and so i think that we’re going tohave time to catch up.

what’s also been e_pressed as aconcern is the mi_ of people that sign up. so we mightend up having millions of people sign up; they’re happy withtheir new coverage, but we’ve gotmore people who are older, more likely to getsick than younger and healthier. we’vegot tomonitor that carefully. we alwaysanticipated, though, that younger folks would be the last folksin, justbecause -- it’s been a while since you and i were young -- but as i recall, youdon’t thinkthat you’re going to get sick at that time.

so, look, i am confident that themodel that we’ve built, which works off of the e_istingprivate insurancesystem, is one that will succeed. we aregoing to have to, a, fi_ the website soeverybody feels confident aboutthat. we’re going to have to obviouslyre-market and re-brand,and that will be challenging in this politicalenvironment.

but keep in mind, in the firstmonth we also had 12 million people visit the site. thedemand is there. there are 41 million people who don’t havehealth insurance. the folks intheindividual market, many of them are going to get a much better deal in themarketplaces.and so we’ve just got tokeep on improving the customer e_perience and make sure that we’refending offefforts not to fi_ the problem -- because if somebody wants to help us fi_ it,i’m allgame, but fending off efforts to completely undermine it.

let me turn to the economy, the broadereconomy, probably the predominant concern ofpeople in this room. we seem to be stuck in an economic growthpattern of okay, but not greatgrowth. your friend, larry summers, was here earlier today and said essentiallythe problem orone of the problems is that the system can’t do two things atonce. it can’t cut deficits andspurgrowth. it needs to do one or the otherright now. it needs to spur growth,should not worryso much about deficits. do you agree? and if you doagree, how do you make that happen?

the president: actually, larry and i, and most of myeconomic team -- in fact, all of myeconomic team -- have consistentlymaintained that there is a way to reconcile the concernsabout debt anddeficits with the concerns about growth.

what we know is, is that ourfiscal problems are not short-term deficits. our discretionarybudget, that portion of the federal budget that isn’tdefense or social security or medicare ormedicaid, the entitlement programs,is at its smallest level in my lifetime, probably since dwighteisenhower. we are not lavishly spending on a whole bunchof social programs out there. andin many ways, a lot of these programs havebecome more efficient and pretty effective.

defense, we spent a lot from 2022to 2022, but generally we are stabilizing. and thepentagon, working with me, have come up with plans that allow usto meet our security needswhile still bringing down some of the costs ofdefense, particularly after having ended the war iniraq and on the brink ofending the war in afghanistan.

so when we talk about our deficitand debt problems, it is almost entirely health care costs.you eliminate the delta, the differencebetween what we spend on health care and what everyother country -- advancedindustrialized nation spends on health care, and that’s our long-termdebt. and if we’re able to bend the costcurve, we help solve the problem.

now, one way to do that is justto make health care cheaper overall. that’s i think the bestway to do it, and that’s what we’ve been doingthrough some of the measures in the affordablecare act. there are some other provisions that we couldtake that would maintain ourcommitment to seniors, medicare, social security,the disabled, and medicaid, while stillreducing very modestly the costs ofthose programs.

if we do those things, thatsolves our real fiscal problem, and we could take some of thatmoney, a verymodest portion on the front end, and invest in infrastructure that putspeopleback to work, improve our research and development.

so the idea would be do somethings in the short term that focus on growth; do some thingsin the long termthat deal with the long-term debt. that’swhat my budget reflects. that’s whatamultiple series of negotiations with john boehner talked about, the so-calledgrand bargain. wecouldn’t quite getthere in the end, mainly because republicans had a great deal of difficultywiththe idea of putting in more revenue to balance out some of the changesthat were made onentitlements.

i would guess a lot of people in this roomwould say another way to make some of thosethings happen would be to fi_ thecorporate ta_ code that everybody agrees is a mess. you’vegot some companies that pay way toomuch compared to their international competitors; somecompanies don’t pay atall. it’s not a good system. it’s not anefficient system, everybody agrees,but it doesn’t ever seem to change. can you make it change? and can you do something aboutrepatriationof u.s. assets overseas?

the president: well, here is the good news, is that both myadministration andrepublicans have talked about corporate ta_ reform. and paul ryan, who is going to becoming afterme, said he’s interested in corporate ta_ reform. and we’ve reached out to himand we’ve saidlet’s get to work. we put forward a veryspecific set of proposals that would lowerthe corporate ta_ rate, broaden thebase, close some loopholes. and in termsof internationalcompanies and competitiveness, what we’ve said is rather thana whole bunch of tangled lawsthat incentivize folks to keep money overseas,let’s have a modest but clear global minimumta_, get rid of some of the hugefluctuations that people e_perience. itwill save companiesmoney, make them more competitive and, in terms oftransitioning to that system, actuallyallow some people to bring back moneyand, in a one-time way, help us finance infrastructureand some other projectsthat need to get done.

i don’t e_pect republicans toadopt e_actly the proposal that we’ve put forward. butthere’s not that much separation betweenwhat democrats are talking about -- i know chairmanma_ baucus put outsomething today, the chairman of the finance committee -- what davecamp overin the house has talked about. thisshould be bridgeable.

the one thing i would caution is-- and i’ve said this to the business roundtable and othercorporate leaderswho i’ve talked to -- people like the idea of corporate ta_ reform intheory.in practice, if you want to makethe corporate ta_ reform deficit-neutral, then you actuallyhave to close someloopholes. and people like the idea of asimpler ta_ system until it’s theirparticular loophole that’s about to getclosed.

and what we can’t afford to do isto keep all the loopholes that are currently in place andlower the corporateta_ rate. we would then blow anotherhole in the deficit that would have tobe filled. and what i’m not willing to do is to havehigher rates on the middle class in order topay for that.

some of the ceos here had a working groupearlier today, the mission of which was toaddress the question of how do youstay competitive. interestingly, atleast to me, their firstpriority -- first priority -- was this: immigration reform. the u.s. needs immigration reformto retaintalented workers educated in the u.s. and attract talent to the u.s. immigrationreform could provide an instantjolt to the u.s. economy which we need.

i know you agree with thatstatement, but it’s hard to see that happening right now. you’vegot the senate off on one track -- it’spassed a comprehensive bill the house won’t even agreeto take up. democrats want to do comprehensivereform. republicans want to do step-by-stepreform. it’s a poisonous politicalatmosphere. can you make it happen?

the president: i am actually optimistic that we’re going toget this done. i am acongenitaloptimist. i would have to be -- i’m named barack obama and i ran forpresident. (laughter.)

and won.

the president: and won twice. (laughter.)

so, look, keep in mind, first ofall, that what the ceos here said is absolutely right. this isa boost to our economy. everywhere i go, i meet with entrepreneursand ceos who say, i’vegot these terrific folks, they just graduated fromcaltech or mit or stanford, they’re ready to dobusiness here, some of themhave these amazing new ideas that we think we can commercialize-- but they’rebeing dragged back to their home countries, not because they want to gobutbecause the immigration system doesn’t work.

the good news is that the senatebill was a bipartisan bill and we know what thecomponent parts of thisare. we’ve got to have strong bordersecurity. we’ve got to havebetterenforcement of e_isting laws. we’ve gotto make sure that we have a legal immigrationsystem that doesn’t cause peopleto sit in the queue for 5 years, 10 years, 15 years -- in somecases, 20years. we should want to immediately sayto young people who we’ve helped toeducate in this country, you want to stay,we want you here.

and we do have to deal with about11 million folks who are in this country, most of themjust seekingopportunity; they did break the law by coming here or overstaying their visa,andthey’ve got to earn their way out of the shadows -- pay a fine, learnenglish, get to the back ofthe line, pay their back ta_es -- but giving them amechanism whereby they can get right by oursociety. and that’s reflected in the senate bill.

now, i actually think that thereare a number of house republicans -- including paul ryan, ithink, if you askhim about it -- who agree with that. they’re suspicious of comprehensivebills, but if they want to chop thatthing up into five pieces, as long as all five pieces get done, idon’t carewhat it looks like as long as it’s actually delivering on those core valuesthat we talkabout.

but democrats have been pretty suspiciousthat all five pieces won’t get done.

the president: and that’s the problem. i mean, the key is -- what we don’t want todois simply carve out one piece of it -- let’s say agricultural jobs, which are important, but iseasier,frankly, or the high-skilled jobs that many in your audience here wouldimmediately wantto do -- but leave behind some of the tougher stuff that stillneeds to get done. we’re not goingtohave a situation in which 11 million people are still living in the shadows andpotentiallygetting deported on an ongoing basis.

so we’re going to have to do itall. in my conversations with therepublicans, i actually thinkthe divide is not that wide. so what we just have to do is find a pathwaywhere republicans inthe house, in particular, feel comfortable enough aboutprocess that they can go ahead andmeet us.

this, by the way, jerry, i thinkis a good e_ample of something that’s been striking meabout our politics for awhile. when you go to other countries, the political divisions are so muchmorestark and wider. here in america, thedifference between democrats and republicans, we’refighting inside the 40-yardline, maybe in --

you’ve fooled most people on that in thelast few months, i’d say. (laughter.)

the president: well, no, no. i would distinguish between the rhetoric and the tacticsversus theideological differences. i mean, in most countries you’ve got -- people call measocialist sometimes, but, no, you’ve got to meet real socialists.(laughter.) you’ll have a sense ofwhata socialist is. (laughter.)

i’m talking about lowering thecorporate ta_ rate. my health carereform is based on theprivate marketplace. the stock market is looking pretty good last time i checked. and it is truethat i’m concerned aboutgrowing inequality in our system, but nobody questions theefficacy of marketeconomies in terms of producing wealth and innovation and keepinguscompetitive.

on the flip side, mostrepublicans, even the tea party -- one of my favorite signs during thecampaignwas folks hoisting a sign, “government, keep your hands off my medicare.” (laughter.)think about that. (laughter.) i mean, ideologically, they did not like the idea of thefederalgovernment, and yet they felt very protective about the basic social safety netthat hadbeen structured.

so my simple point is this: if we can get beyond the tactical advantagesthat partiesperceive in painting folks as e_treme and trying to keep an eyealways on the ne_t election,and for a while at least, just focus on governing,then there is probably 70 percent overlap on awhole range of issues. a lot of republicans want to getinfrastructure done, just like i do. alot ofthem believe in basic research, just like i do. a lot of them want to reform entitlementstomake sure that they’re affordable for the ne_t generation; so do i. a lot of them say theywant to reform our ta_system; so do i.

there are going to be differenceson the details, and those details matter and i’ll fight veryhard forthem. but we shouldn’t think thatsomehow the reason we’ve got these problems isbecause our policy differencesare so great.

well, the details are obviously importantenough to shut down the government just a coupleof weeks ago. and everybody knows we’re headed back towardshowdowns again -- january,budget; february, debt ceiling. jack lew was here earlier, your treasurysecretary, and said hethought maybe the system crossed a threshold in octoberand has realized it doesn’t want to goback and do that again. are you confident it’s not going to go backand do that again? and bythe way, theoecd, the organization of economic cooperation and development, suggestedtodaythat the u.s. just get rid of the debt ceiling entirely. would you be in favor of that?

the president: i think that the way our system is set up islike a loaded gun, and oncepeople thought we can get leverage on policydisputes by threatening default, that was ane_traordinarily dangerousprecedent. and that’s a principle that ihad to adhere to, not just forme but for the ne_t president -- that you’re notgoing to be able to threaten the entire u.s. orworld economy simply becauseyou disagree with me about a health care bill.

i’d like to believe that therepublicans recognize that was not a good strategy, and we’reprobably betteroff with a system in which that threat is not there on a perpetual basis. i donot foresee what we saw in october beingrepeated in january. but the broaderpoint is one thati think all of us have to take to heart. we have to be able to disagree on policyissues withoutresorting to the kinds of e_treme tactics that end up hurtingall of us.

and that’s been my maindisagreement with a lot of my republican friends. and frankly, theamerican people agree withthat. they don’t e_pect us to march inlockstep. there’s a reasonwhy we’ve gottwo parties in this country. they doe_pect that we are constantly thinking abouthow are we making sure they canfind a job that pays well, that their kids can go to college andafford it,that we are growing and competitive, that we are dealing with our fiscalposition in asensible way. and if wekeep them in mind consistently, then i think we’re going to besuccessful.

one thing -- you’ve got someinternational ceos here, and i think they’ll confirm this --when i travel, what’sstriking to me is people around the world think we’ve got a really goodhand.you just take the e_ample of energy. they say america is poised to change ourgeopolitics entirely because ofthe advances we’ve made in oil production and natural gasproduction. it means manufacturing here is much moreattractive than it used to be. that’sahuge competitive advantage.

we’ve got the most productiveworkers just about in the world, and our workers havebecome more and moreproductive, and a lot of companies look at that and say we wish we hadworkerswho were able to operate the way these folks do.

our university systems, ourresearch infrastructure -- all those things are the envy of theworld. and one of the great things about america --sometimes we get worried that we’re losingtraction and the sky is falling, andback in the ‘80s, japan was about to take over, and thenchina, and obviouslybefore that, the soviet union -- and we usually come out okay because wechangeand we adapt. i just want everybody toremember that we’re in a very strong position tocompete as long as ourpolitical system functions. it doesn’thave to be outstanding. this issort oflike winston churchill, two cheers for democracy. and it’s always going to be messy. butit’s got to function better than it has.

i’m in the red zone on the clock here, butlet me -- i do want to ask a question aboutinternational affairs. you’ve mentioned the world and the u.s.position in it. there’s thepossibilitythis week of an agreement with iran, a preliminary, limited agreement in whichtheywould free some of their nuclear activities in return for some relief onsanctions. your israelifriends havebeen arguing, along with some of your friends as well as your foes in congress,thatif you give the iranian regime any relief on sanctions, the sanctionsregime will fall apart;countries that don’t want to be there in the firstplace will head for the e_its; it will all comeapart -- and that’s the dangerof what you’re negotiating right now.

i know you talked to somesenators about this very topic today. isthere going to be a deal?and why canyou ease sanctions without having them fall apart?

the president: well, just by way of background, when i cameinto office, we had a tradeembargo; the u.s. had done some thingsunilaterally. we did not have a strong,enforceableinternational mechanism to really put the squeeze on iran aroundits nuclear program, despitethe fact that it had violated a range of u.n. andnonproliferation treaty requirements.

so we built, we constructed, withthe help of congress, the strongest sanctions regimeever. and it has put a bite on the iranianeconomy. they have seen a 5 percentcontraction thelast year in their economy. it’s projected to be another contraction this year. and in partbecause the sanctions have beenso effective, we were able to get iran to seriously come to thetable and lookat how are they going to give assurances to the international communitythatthey are, in fact, not pursuing a nuclear weapons program.

i don’t know if we’ll be able toclose a deal this week or ne_t week. wehave been very firmwith the iranians even on the interim deal about what wee_pect. and some of the reportingoutthere has been somewhat inaccurate, understandably, because the p5-plus-1, themembersof the -- permanent members of the security council in addition to --and germany as well --have kept the negotiations fairly tight.

but the essence of the deal wouldbe that they would halt advances on their nuclearprogram; they would roll backsome elements that get them closer to what we call breakoutcapacity, wherethey can run for -- a weapon before the international community has a chancetoreact; that they would subject themselves to more vigorous inspections eventhan the onesthat are currently there, in some cases, daily inspections.

in return, what we would do wouldbe to open up the spigot a little bit for a very modestamount of relief thatis entirely subject to reinstatement if, in fact, they violated any part ofthisearly agreement. and it wouldpurchase a period of time -- let’s say, si_ months -- during whichwe could seeif they could get to the end state of a position where we, the israelis,theinternational community could say with confidence iran is not pursuing anuclear weapon.

now, part of the reason i haveconfidence that the sanctions don’t fall apart is because we’renot doinganything around the most powerful sanctions. the oil sanctions, the bankingsanctions, the financial servicessanctions -- those are the ones that have really taken a bigchunk out of theiranian economy. so oil production andoil sales out of iran have dropped bymore than half since these sanctions wereput in place. they’ve got over $100billion of oilrevenue that is sitting outside of their country. the rial, their currency, hasdroppedprecipitously. and all those sanctionsand the architecture for them don’t go anywhere.

essentially, what we do is weallow them to access a small portion of these assets that arefrozen. keep in mind, though, that because the oiland banking sanctions stay in place, they willactually still be losing moneyeven during this si_-month period relative to the amount of oilsales they hadback in 2022.

so what we are suggesting both tothe israelis, to members of congress here, to theinternational community, butalso to the iranians, is, let’s look, let’s test the proposition thatover thene_t si_ months we can resolve this in a diplomatic fashion, while maintainingtheessential sanctions architecture, and, as president of the united states,me maintaining alloptions to prevent them from getting nuclear weapons. i think that is a test that isworthconducting.

and my hope and e_pectation isnot that we’re going to solve all of this just this week inthis interim phase,but rather that we’re purchasing ourselves some time to see how serioustheiranian regime might be in re-entering membership in the world community andtakingthe yoke of these sanctions off the backs of their economy.

well, mr. president, with that, let me justthank you again for joining us. iappreciate it verymuch. (applause.)

the president: i enjoyed it. thank you very much. (applause)

第8篇 奥巴马总统在白宫玫瑰园就《平价医疗法案》英语演讲稿

the president: everybody, have a seat.

ms. baker: hello. my name is janice baker. i havethe privilege to say that i'm the firstperson in the state of delaware to enrollfor health insurance through the new marketplace. (applause.) like many consumers out there, it took me a number of frustratingattempts beforei could apply for and select my plan. i kept trying because i needed access to thenew healthcare options.

i had applied to three privateinsurance companies only to be rejected due to pree_istinghealthconditions. i am too young for medicare,but i'm too old not to have some health issues. iwas able to find a policy i am thrilled with, saving $150 a month, andmuch lower deductiblesthan my previous policy that i held through my smallbusiness.

i'm here today to encourage otherpeople like me who needs access to quality, affordableinsurance, and to tellthem to have patience with such a new system. without this ability toget this insurance, iknow that a single hospital stay could have bankrupted me and mybusiness.

thank you all. and i am now honored to introduce thepresident of the united states. (applause.)

the president: great job.

ms. baker: thank you. thank you.

the president: thank you. (applause.) thank you,everybody. well, thank you, janice.and thanks to everybody here for coming onthis beautiful day. welcome to the whitehouse.

about three weeks ago, as thefederal government shut down, the affordable care act'shealth insurancemarketplaces opened for business across the country. well, we've now gottenthe government backopen for the american people, and today i want to talk about how we'regoing toget the marketplaces running at full steam, as well. and i'm joined today by folks whohave eitherbenefited from the affordable care act already, or who are helping theirfellowcitizens learn about what this law means for them and how they can get covered.

of course, you've probably heardthat healthcare.gov –- the new website where people canapply for healthinsurance, and browse and buy affordable plans in most states –- hasn'tworkedas smoothly as it was supposed to work. and the number of people who have visitedthe site has beenoverwhelming, which has aggravated some of these underlying problems.

despite all that, thousands ofpeople are signing up and saving money as we speak. manyamericans with a pree_isting condition,like janice, are discovering that they can finally gethealth insurance likeeverybody else.

so today, i want to speak toevery american who's looking to get affordable healthinsurance. i want you to know what's available to youand why it may be a good deal for you.and for those who've had some problems with the website, i want to tellyou what we're doingto make it work better and how you can sign up to getcovered in other ways.

but before i do that, let meremind everybody that the affordable care act is not just awebsite. it's much more. for the vast majority of americans -- for 85percent of americanswho already have health insurance through your employer ormedicare or medicaid -– you don'tneed to sign up for coverage through awebsite at all. you've already gotcoverage. what theaffordable care actdoes for you is to provide you with new benefits and protections that havebeenin place for some time. you may not knowit, but you're already benefiting from theseprovisions in the law.

for e_ample, because of theaffordable care act, young people like jasmine jennings, andjessica ugalde,and ezra salop, all of whom are here today, they've been able to stay ontheirparents' plans until they're 26. millions of other young people are currently benefiting fromthat part ofthe law. (applause.) another part of the affordable care act isproviding seniors withdeeper discounts on their prescription medicine. billions of dollars have been saved byseniorsalready. that's part of thelaw. it's already in place. it's happening right now.

already, because of theaffordable care act, preventive care like mammograms and birthcontrol are freethrough your employers. that's part ofthis law. (applause.) so there are a widerange of consumerprotections and benefits that you already have if you've got healthinsurance.you may not have noticedthem, but you've got them, and they're not going anywhere. andthey're not dependent on a website.

here's another thing that theaffordable care act does. in stateswhere governors andlegislatures have wisely allowed it, the affordable careact provides the opportunity for manyamericans to get covered under medicaidfor the first time. so in oregon, fore_ample, that'shelped cut the number of uninsured people by 10 percent just inthe last three weeks. thinkaboutthat. that's 56,000 more americans whonow have health care. (applause.) that doesn'tdepend on a website.

now, if you're one of the 15percent of americans who don't have health insurance -- eitherbecause you can'tafford it or because your employer doesn't offer it, or because you're asmallbusinessperson and you have to go out on the individual market and buy it onyour ownand it's just too e_pensive -- october 1st was an important date. that's when we opened thenew marketplaceswhere people without health insurance, or who can't afford healthinsurance, orwho aren't part of a group plan, can finally start getting affordable coverage.

and the idea is simple. by enrolling in what we're calling thesemarketplaces, you becomepart of a big group plan -- as if you were working fora big employer -- a statewide group planthat spreads risk between sick peopleand healthy people, between young and old, and thenbargains on your behalf forthe best deal on health care. what we'vedone is essentially create acompetition where there wasn't competitionbefore. we created these big groupplans, and nowinsurers are really interested in getting your business. and so insurers have created new healthcareplans with more choices to be made available through these marketplaces.

and as a result of this choiceand this competition, prices have come down. when you addthe new ta_ credits that many people are eligible forthrough the law, then the prices comedown even further. so one study shows that through new optionscreated by the affordable careact, nearly 6 in 10 uninsured americans willfind that they can get covered for less than $100 amonth. think about that. (applause.)

through the marketplaces, you canget health insurance for what may be the equivalentof your cell phone bill oryour cable bill, and that's a good deal.

so the fact is the product of theaffordable care act for people without health insurance isquality healthinsurance that's affordable. and thatproduct is working. it's reallygood. and itturns out there's a massivedemand for it. so far, the nationalwebsite, healthcare.gov, has beenvisited nearly 20 million times. twenty million times. (applause.) and there's great demand atthe state level as well, because there are abunch of states that are running their ownmarketplaces.

we know that nearly one-third ofthe people applying in connecticut and maryland, fore_ample, are under 35years old. they understand that they canget a good deal at low costs,have the security of health care, and this is notjust for old folks like me -- that everybodyneeds good quality healthinsurance. and all told, more than halfa million consumers across thecountry have successfully submitted applicationsthrough federal and state marketplaces. andmany of those applications aren't just for individuals, it's fortheir entire families. so evenmorepeople are already looking to potentially take advantage of the high quality,affordableinsurance that is provided through the affordable care act.

so let me just recap here. the product is good. the health insurance that's being providedisgood. it's high quality and it'saffordable. people can save money,significant money, bygetting insurance that's being provided through thesemarketplaces. and we know thatthedemand is there. people are rushing tosee what's available. and those who havealready hada chance to enroll are thrilled with the result. every day, people who were stuck withsky-highpremiums because of pree_isting conditions are getting affordableinsurance for the first time, orfinding, like janice did, that they're savinga lot of money. every day, women arefinally buyingcoverage that doesn't charge them higher premiums than men forthe same care. (applause.)every day, people are discovering that newhealth insurance plans have to cover maternitycare, mental health care, freepreventive care.

so you just heard janice's story-- she owns her own small business. sherecently became thefirst woman to enroll in coverage through delaware'se_change. and it's true, it took her afewtries, but it was worth it after being turned down for insurance threetimes due to minorpree_isting conditions. so now she'll be covered, she'll save 150 bucks a month, and shewon'thave to worry that one illness or accident will cost her her business that she'sworked sohard to build.

and janice is not alone. i recently received a letter from a womannamed jessica sanford inwashington state. and here's what she wrote: “i ama single mom, no child support, self-employed, and i haven't had insurance for15 years because it's too e_pensive. myson hasadhd and requires regular doctor visits and his meds alone cost $250per month. i have had anongoingtendinitis problem due to my line of work that i haven't had treated. now, finally, weget to have coverage becauseof the aca for $169 per month. i wascrying the other day when isigned up. somuch stress lifted.”

now, that is not untypical for alot of folks like jessica who have been struggling withouthealthinsurance. that's what the affordablecare act is all about. the point is, theessence of thelaw -- the health insurance that's available to people -- isworking just fine. in somecases,actually, it's e_ceeding e_pectations -- the prices are lower than we e_pected,the choice isgreater than we e_pected.

but the problem has been that the website that'ssupposed to make it easy to apply for andpurchase the insurance is not workingthe way it should for everybody. andthere's nosugarcoating it. the websitehas been too slow, people have been getting stuck during theapplicationprocess. and i think it's fair to saythat nobody is more frustrated by that than i am -- precisely because theproduct is good, i want the cash registers to work. i want the checkoutlines to be smooth. so i want people to be able to get this greatproduct. and there's no e_cusefor theproblems, and these problems are getting fi_ed.

but while we're working out the kinks in thesystem, i want everybody to understand thenature of the problem. first of all, even with all the problems athealthcare.gov, the website isstill working for a lot of people -- just not asquick or efficient or consistent as we want. andalthough many of these folks have found that they had to wait longerthan they wanted, oncethey complete the process they're very happy with thedeal that's available to them, just likejanice's.

second, i want everybody toremember that we're only three weeks into a si_-month openenrollment period,when you can buy these new plans. (applause.) keep in mind theinsurancedoesn't start until january 1st; that's the earliest that theinsurance can kick in. no one whodecidesto purchase a plan has to pay their first premium until december 15th. and unlike theday after thanksgiving salesfor the latest playstation or flat-screen tvs, the insurance plansdon't runout. they're not going to sell out. they'll be available through the marketplace-- (applause) -- throughout the open enrollment period. the prices that insurers have set willnotchange. so everybody who wants insurancethrough the marketplace will get insurance,period. (applause.) everybody who wants insurance through the marketplace will getinsurance.

third, we are doing everything wecan possibly do to get the websites working better, faster,sooner. we've got people working overtime, 24/7, toboost capacity and address the problems.e_perts from some of america's top private-sector tech companies who, bythe way, have seenthings like this happen before, they want it to work. they're reaching out. they're offering tosend help. we've had some of the best it talent in theentire country join the team. andwe'rewell into a “tech surge” to fi_ the problem. and we are confident that we will get all theproblems fi_ed.

number four -- while the websitewill ultimately be the easiest way to buy insurancethrough the marketplace, itisn't the only way. and i want toemphasize this. even as weredouble ourefforts to get the site working as well as it's supposed to, we're alsoredoubling ourefforts to make sure you can still buy the same quality,affordable insurance plans availableon the marketplace the old-fashioned way-- offline, either over the phone or in person.

and, by the way, there are a lotof people who want to take advantage of this who are morecomfortable workingon the phone anyway or in person. so letme go through the specifics as tohow you can do that if you're having problemswith the website or you just prefer dealing witha person.

yesterday, we updated the website'shome page to offer more information about the otheravenues to enroll inaffordable health care until the online option works for everybody. so you'llfind information about how to talkto a specialist who can help you apply over the phone or toreceive adownloadable application you can fill out yourself and mail in.

we've also added more staff tothe call centers where you can apply for insurance over thephone. those are already -- they've beenworking. but a lot of people havedecided first to go tothe website. butkeep in mind, these call centers are already up and running. and you can getyour questions answered byreal people, 24 hours a day, in 150 different languages. the phonenumber for these call centers is1-800-318-2596. i want to repeat that --1-800-318-2596. waittimes have averagedless than one minute so far on the call centers, although i admit that thewaittimes probably might go up a little bit now that i've read the number out loudon nationaltelevision. (laughter.)

but the point is the call centersare available. you can talk to somebodydirectly and theycan walk you through the application process. and i guarantee you, if one thing is worththewait, it's the safety and security of health care that you can afford, orthe amount of moneythat you can save by buying health insurance through themarketplaces. (applause.)

once you get on the phone with atrained representative, it usually takes about 25minutes for an individual toapply for coverage, about 45 minutes for a family. once you applyfor coverage, you will becontacted by email or postal mail about your coverage status.

but you don't have to just gothrough the phone. you can also apply inperson with the helpof local navigators -– these are people specially trainedto help you sign up for health care, andthey e_ist all across the country, oryou can go to community health centers and hospitals. justvisit localhelp.healthcare.gov to findout where in your area you can get help and apply forinsurance in person.

and finally, if you've alreadytried to apply through the website and you've been stucksomewhere along theway, do not worry. in the coming weeks,we will contact you directly,personally, with a concrete recommendation forhow you can complete your application,shop for coverage, pick a plan thatmeets your needs, and get covered once and for all.

so here's the bottom line. the product, the health insurance isgood. the prices are good.it is a good deal. people don't just want it; they're showing upto buy it. nobody is madder thanmeabout the fact that the website isn't working as well as it should, which meansit's going toget fi_ed. (laughter andapplause.)

第9篇 米歇尔·奥巴马在2022年大学机会峰会英语演讲稿

thank you. (applause.) thank you all so much. thank you. well, you guys rest yourselves. you’ve been very busy. (laughter.) you’re being spoken to a lot. i hear my husband was here. (laughter.) but it is truly a pleasure to be here with all of you today, and i want to thank you so much for joining us for this year’s college opportunity day of action. you should be proud. we’re already proud of you, and this day has just already been a tremendous success.

of course i want to start by thanking homero. i mean, he’s just an amazing story, an amazingperson, and i’m grateful for that wonderful introduction. we have to give him another round ofapplause. (applause.) a clear reminder of why we’re here today and what we’re working for.

i also want to recognize the jack kent cooke foundation, as well as the lumina foundation, forhelping to make this event possible. let’s give them a round of applause as well. (applause.)

and of course, as we come together to talk about the importance of college counseling, iespecially want to recognize all of the school counselors here today. yes! (applause.) you canraise the roof for yourselves. a little raising the roof. (laughter.) but i think we can all agreethat all of our counselors, all of you have one of the hardest, but most important jobs in oureducation system, yet too often you don’t get the resources, the support or the appreciationthat you need and deserve. and that has serious consequences not just for our kids, but forour country.

i mean, let’s be honest with ourselves – when it comes to college counseling in our nation’sschools, there are two worlds. as many of you know, while the american school counselorassociation recommends no more than 250 students per counselor, the national average is onecounselor for every 471 students. so too many of our kids go through high school with little, ifany, real guidance on how to get into college.

they don’t know what classes to take, or how to prepare for the sat or the act. no one helpsthem decide which colleges to apply to. no one reviews their applications. and plenty of kidshave no idea that they’re eligible for financial aid, so they assume they just can’t afford college,and they don’t even bother to apply.

now, that’s one world. the other world is much smaller – it’s a world of schools where thequestion isn’t where students are going to college, but – or whether they’re going to college,but where. kids in this world start preparing for college long before they even start high school.and from the first day of freshman year, they’ve been shepherded through every step of theprocess. they’ve got sat and act prep courses, they take those tests again and again toimprove their scores. counselors have much smaller caseloads, and they walk kids throughevery deadline, they edit every draft of their essays. honestly, when barack and i talk aboutthis, we look at the kind of college counseling many of the kids are getting today and we wonderhow we ever managed to get ourselves into college.

so the fact is that right now, a small number of students are getting every advantage in thecollege admissions race, while millions of other students who are just as talented can’t evenbegin to compete. (applause.) and as the college presidents here all know, the result is thatcolleges aren’t always getting all of the very best students. they’re getting the students whocan best afford to succeed in this system. and we are leaving behind so many bright, hungry,promise-filled kids. we are depriving ourselves of so much human potential in this country –from the scientific discoveries these kids might make, to the businesses that they might build,to the leadership that they might one day show in our communities.

we’re missing all of that. we’re also losing all of that simply because we aren’t making the basicinvestment in their future today, and that’s a tragedy. it’s a tragedy for our country. it’s atragedy for those kids and for their families, because we all know – we know – that if you wantto secure a decent-paying job in today’s economy, a high school diploma simply isn’t enough.

so unlike 40 or 50 years ago, higher education is no longer just for kids in the top quarter orthe top half of the class, it has to be for everyone. so we are going to need a college-counselingsystem that reflects this new reality. (applause.)

now, that’s easier said than done. we know that this isn’t going to happen overnight. we knowthat states and school systems are facing all kinds of budget challenges. but one of my coremessages to students through my reach higher initiative is that no matter what is going on attheir school or in their family, i’ve been trying to tell kids that no matter what resources theymay have or not have, that they still need to take responsibility for their education. i tell themthat they need to do the work to reach out to teachers who can help them. they need toresearch schools in their communities on their own. they need to find that fafsa form onlineand fill it out.

so my message to all of you is the same: we all need to step up and do what we can with theresources we have, especially when it comes to supporting our school counselors. and that ise_actly what so many of you have done through the commitments you’ve made as part of thissummit.

universities across the country have pledged to create college and career-readiness courses intheir masters programs for school counselors. school districts are partnering with nonprofits andcolleges to provide training for counselors once they’re in our schools. nonprofits are steppingup to improve student-and-counselor ratios and bringing recent graduates into schools toserve as role models and mentors.

and these are just the highlights. altogether, these commitments represent tens of millions ofdollars that will impact hundreds of schools and countless students. these are outstandingcommitments, and we need more efforts like these all across this country. every one of us has arole to play.

so for the superintendents here today, i know you all are struggling with so many demandsunder such tight budgets, but can you do more to support your counselors? can you find waysto – (applause) – yes – shift some of that e_tra burden that falls in their lap, like substituteteaching, case management, e_am proctoring? can you give them more time to actuallycounsel students?

to the college presidents here, can you do even more to make college counseling part of yourmission to get the very best students to your schools? and can the foundations and nonprofitorganizations help in that work? can you rethink the college admissions process to find more ofthose students who’ve got what it takes to succeed but haven’t had the chance to develop theirpotential? can you create college prep centers in your communities and ensure that test-prepclasses are affordable for all of our kids?

and for those of you who are concerned that perhaps this type of involvement might falselyraise hopes of admission to your school – because i’ve heard that as well – just consider the factthat while many of the kids you help might not be the right fit for your college or university,but they will be the right fit for another school, and maybe that other school will help preparestudents for admission to your school. (applause.)

so this is really a collective effort, and everyone can benefit. and as you all step up to take onthese issues, really, i really want to hear about what you’re doing. and that’s one of the reasonswhy i recently announced two new reach higher commencement challenges. i’m askingcolleges to create videos showcasing your work to bring low-income and first-generationstudents to your campuses for peer mentoring, college immersion e_periences and all kind ofwonderful opportunities.

and for the high schools, i want to see videos about what you’re doing to increase your fafsacompletion rates to help more students afford college. and for those schools with the winningvideos, i just might pay a visit around commencement time, if you know what i mean – (laughter) – to let you know how impressed i am.

so i hope that you all will go to reachhigher.gov and get more information, because i’m eagerto see what you all are doing. i know you’re going to do some great things. you see, i know thatthe smallest, most local efforts can make such a difference in the lives of our young people.

and i’m thinking today of a school called la cueva high school in albuquerque, new me_ico. afew years ago, the college counseling staff at that school met with a young woman namedroberta gutierrez during her sophomore year. roberta was an e_cellent student, so they urgedher to take the psat and come up with a list of colleges that she wanted to apply to. now, whileroberta took the test, she never came up with that list – and i’m sure you know why.

but then, at the beginning of roberta’s school year, her counselors learned that she had beennamed a national merit semi-finalist with a psat score in the top 1 percent of the entire state.so the counselors – yes, good stuff – (applause) – the counselors immediately informedroberta that she would be eligible for thousands of dollars in scholarships. and roberta, ofcourse, she was shocked. she told them that she never made the list of colleges because herfamily lived from paycheck to paycheck, so she didn’t think she could afford tuition. she toldthem that just to pay the $15 fee to take the psat, she had to skip lunch for a week.

and after meeting with roberta, the counseling staff decided that no student at their schoolwould ever again have to choose between eating and taking a test that opens the doors tocollege. so they now hold fundraisers – yes. (applause.) they hold fundraisers throughout theschool year to ensure that low-income students can take the psat for free. and they go out oftheir way to tell every family about the financial aid resources that are available for college.

and as for roberta, she is now in her junior year on a full scholarship at the university of newme_ico, and she’s planning to get a phd in psychology – yes. (applause.)

you all know these stories. there are so many kids just like roberta all across this country, andthey’re bright. these kids are determined. these are the kids who have everything it takes tosucceed if we would just give them that chance. and that’s what the counselors and leaders atla cueva high school did for roberta – they gave her a shot at the future she deserved.

and just think about the ripple effect that those counselors will have in transforming just onestudent’s life. think about the difference roberta can make when she gets that phd. think of allthe patients she might treat, all the groundbreaking research she might do. think of the rolemodel that she will be – she already is – inspiring countless young people just like her topursue their dreams.

there are millions of young people like roberta all across this country, and they are counting onus to step up for them. they’re counting on us to give them opportunities worthy of theirpromise. and that is e_actly what all of you are doing every single day. that is the purpose ofthe commitments that you’ve made as part of this summit. that’s why i’m proud and honoredto be here.

and i want to close today simply by saying thank you, truly. thank you. thank you for yourpassion. thank you for your dedication. thank you for your tremendous contributions to thiscountry. i look forward to continuing our work together. we got a lot more stuff to do. and icannot wait to see all that you are going to achieve in the months and years ahead.

so thank you so much. keep it up. and let’s bring more people to the table. you all take care.thanks so much. (applause.)

第10篇 奥巴马纪念911十周年英语演讲稿

in just two weeks, we’ll come together, as a nation, to mark the 10th anniversary of the september 11th attacks. we’ll remember the innocent lives we lost. we’ll stand with the families who loved them. we’ll honor the heroic first responders who rushed to the scene and saved so many. and we’ll pay tribute to our troops and military families, and all those who have served over the past ten years, to keep us safe and strong.

we’ll also recall how the worst terrorist attack in american history brought out the best in the american people. how americans lined up to give blood. how volunteers drove across the country to lend a hand. how schoolchildren donated their savings. how communities, faith groups and businesses collected food and clothing.

we were united, and the outpouring(流露) of generosity and compassion reminded us that in times of challenge, we americans move forward together, as one people.

this september 11th, michelle and i will join the commemorations at ground zero, in shanksville, and at the pentagon. but even if you can’t be in new york, pennsylvania or virginia, every american can be part of this anniversary. once again, 9/11 will be a national day of service and remembrance. and in the days and weeks ahead, folks across the country—in all 50 states—will come together, in their communities and neighborhoods, to honor the victims of 9/11 and to reaffirm the strength of our nation with acts of service and charity.

in minneapolis, volunteers will help restore a community center. in winston-salem, north carolina, they’ll hammer shingles and lay floors to give families a new home. in tallahassee, florida, they’ll assemble care packages for our troops overseas and their families here at home. in orange county, california, they’ll renovate homes for our veterans. and once again, michelle and i look forward to joining a local service project as well.

there are so many ways to get involved, and every american can do something. to learn more about the opportunities where you live, just go online and visit serve.gov. even the smallest act of service, the simplest act of kindness, is a way to honor those we lost; a way to reclaim that spirit of unity that followed 9/11.

on this 10th anniversary, we still face great challenges as a nation. we’re emerging from the worst economic crisis in our lifetimes. we’re taking the fight to al qaeda, ending the war in iraq and starting to bring our troops home from afghanistan. and we’re working to rebuild the foundation of our national strength here at home.

none of this will be easy. and it can’t be the work of government alone. as we saw after 9/11, the strength of america has always been the character and compassion of our people. so as we mark this solemn anniversary, let’s summon that spirit once more. and let’s show that the sense of common purpose that we need in america doesn’t have to be a fleeting(飞逝的) moment; it can be a lasting virtue—not just on one day, but every day.

第11篇 奥巴马的英语演讲稿

想不想要知道那些名人的英语演讲稿?小编特地为大家收集了几位名人的经典演讲稿，下面分享给大家。

刘慈欣英语演讲稿

ladies and gentleman,

good evening!

it’s my great honor to receive the clarke award for imagination in service to society. thank you.

this award is a reward for imagination. imagination is a capability that should have e_clusive belonged to god but we, as human beings, luckily have this too. it is far beyond our imagination to grasp the meaning of the e_istence of imagination. a historian used to say that the main reason why human beings have been able to surpass other species on earth and to build civilizations is that we are able to create something in our heads that does not e_ist in reality. in the future, when artificial intelligence becomes smarter than us, imagination may be the only advantage we have over ai.

science fiction is a literary genre based on imagination. and the first sci-fi works that impressed me were those by arthur c. clarke. together with jules verne and george wells, arthur clarke was among the first western modern sci-fi writers to enter china. in the early 1980s, the two novels 20__: a space odyssey and rendezvous with rama were published in my country. at that time, the cultural revolution just ended. while the old life and faith had collapsed, the new ones had not yet been established. like other young people, i felt lost during that period. these two books, for the first time, however, brought my imagination to life. my mind opened up like it has never before. i felt like a narrow stream finally embracing the sea.

at midnight when i finished reading 20__: a space odyssey, i walked out of the house and stared at the starry sky. i was able to see the gala_y, thanks to the unpolluted sky of china back then. that night, i noticed that the starry sky looked nothing like before. for the first time in my life, i was awed by the magnitude and mystery of our universe, the feeling which you only get facing religion. later on, the novel rendezvous with rama stunned me by showing how imagination could build a lifelike, fantastic world. it was arthur clarke who opened up this world of feelings to me, and who paved my way to become a sci-fi writer.

today, more than 30 years later, it gradually dawns on me that people like me, who were born in the 1960s in china, are probably the luckiest people in human history. no generation is like us, no generation has been able to witness such tremendous changes in the world around us. the world we are living in today is completely different from that of our childhood. and such changes are taking place with even greater speed.

china is a highly futuristic country. it is true that the future of china may be full of challenges and risks, but never has this country been so attractive like today. this reality provides fertile soil for the growth of science fiction, and it is enjoying unprecedented attention in the country. as a chinese sci-fi author, who was born in the 1960s, i’m the luckiest from the luckiest generation.

i started writing sci-fi because i looked for a way to escape the dull life, and to reach out, with imagination, to the mysterious time and space that i could never truly reach. but then i realized that the world around me became more and more like science fiction, and this process is speeding up. future is like pouring rain. it reaches us even before we have time to open the umbrella. meanwhile, when sci-fi becomes reality, it loses all its magic, and that frustrates me. sci-fi will soon become part of our lives. the only thing i can do, is to push my imagination further to even more distant time and space to hunt for the mysteries of sci-fi. as a sci-fi author, i think my job is to write things down before they get really boring.

this being said, the world is moving in the direction opposite to clarke’s predictions. in 20__: a space odyssey, in the year of 20__, which has already passed, human beings have built magnificent cities in space, and established permanent colonies on the moon, and huge nuclear-powered spacecraft have sailed to saturn. however, today, in 20__, the walk on the moon has become a distant memory. and the furthest reach of our manned space flights is just as long as the two-hour mileage of a high-speed train passing through my city.

at the same time, information technology is developing at an unimaginable speed. the entire world is connected via the internet and people have gradually lost their interest in space, as they find themselves increasingly comfortable in the space created by it. instead of an e_ploration of the real space, which is full of difficulties, people now just prefer to e_periencing virtual space through vr. just like someone said, “you promised me an ocean of stars, but you actually gave me facebook.”

this reality is also reflected in science fiction. arthur clarke’s magnificent imagination about space has gradually faded away. people stopped looking at starry skies. in the sci-fi works today, there are more imagination about how we live in cyber utopia or dystopia. writers focus more on various problems we encounter in reality. the imagination of science fiction is abandoning the vastness and profoundness that arthur clarke once opened up, instead people are now embracing the narrowness and introversion of cyberpunk.

as a sci-fi writer, i have been striving to continue arthur clarke’s imagination. i believe that the boundless space is still the best direction and destination for human imagination. i have always written about the magnitude and mysteries of the universe, interstellar e_peditions, and the lives and civilizations happening in distant worlds. this remains today, although this may seem childish or even outdated. it says on arthur clarke’s epitaph, “he never grew up, but he never stopped growing.”

many people misunderstand sci-fi as trying to predict the future, but this is not true. it just makes a list of possibilities of what may happen in the future, like displaying a pile of cobblestones for people to see and play with. science fiction can never tell which scenario of the future will actually become the real future. this is not its job. it’s also beyond its capabilities.

but one thing is certain: in the long run, for all these countless possible futures, any future without space travel is gloomy, no matter how prosperous our own planet becomes.

sci-fi was writing about the age of digital information and it eventually became true. i now look forward to the time when space travel finally becomes the ordinary. by then, mars and the asteroid belts will be boring places and countless people are building a home over there. jupiter and its many satellites will be tourist attractions. the only obstacle preventing people from going there for good, will be the crazy price.

but even at that time, the universe is still unimaginably big that even our wildest imagination fails to catch its edge. and even the closest star remains out of reach. the vast ocean of stars can always carry our infinite imagination.

thank you all.

马云的全英文演讲稿

good evening everyone!

大家晚上好!

dear chancellor merkel,deputy prime minister makai,ladies and gentlemen,it’s my great honor to speak in the cebit.

尊敬的默克尔总理，马凯副总理，女士们先生们，非常荣幸能够在cebit上进行演讲!

i remember 14 years ago,when i first came to hannover,i try to rent a small booth to sell the chinese products to the west and to the europe ,that’s been a long time to looking for the booth,and at that time hannover was not that prosperious,but the fair was very successful.

厩得20__年以前，我第一次来到汉诺威时，我们试着租了一个小小的展位来出售中国产品到西方，到欧洲。当时花了很长时间找展位，而汉诺威也远不如现在这么繁荣。

its difficult to find the booth ,finally,we got a small booth,but very few people found us.

找展位的整个过程很艰难，最后我们终于找到一个很小的位置，但是很少人光顾。

eight years ago,we came back again,we try to help off the booth to move them online ,help them to sell on the alibaba ,it didnt work,it goes that time ,people think ,the trade fair and online are conflict to each other.

8年前，我们又回来了。我们希望帮助所有的参展者，把他们迁移到网上，帮助他们在阿里巴巴上卖东西——但这也没有成功。因为当时人们觉得在线交易和贸易展会是互相冲突的。

today i come back again ,the reason that i come back again,is trying to find the important missing part of the internet business,internet in the past 20 years,was pretty successful,but one thing that is very strange that i found that very few internet companies can survive peacefully and healthily for more than 3 years.

狂天我又回来了。我回来的原因，是要找到互联网经济缺失的那重要一部分。过去20__年，互联网非常成功，但是我发现一个非常奇怪的事情，很少有互联网公司能健康的、平静的活过3年。

that means most of the internet companies can only have honey days,honey weeks;they don’t even have honey months,what is the problem?where is the missing part?i strongly believe that the missing part is in europe.

这意味着大部分互联网公司只有“蜜日”，“蜜周”，他们甚至没有蜜月。问题在哪里?缺了什么?我坚定的相信，缺的那部分，能够在欧洲找到。

what is that ?whether we like it or not,in the past 20 years,the internet has larged a huge impact to the human lives,everybody believe that internet has done great things to the work,and also lot of the traditional business hate the internet,because they destroyed their business.

那是什么?无论你是否喜欢，过去20__年，互联网对人类社会产生了巨大的影响，每个人都相信互联网为世界做出了伟大的贡献。而许多传统企业讨厌互联网，因为互联网毁掉了他们的生意。

but what the rest is why internet companies always worry 、worry?you see whether google,facebook,amazon,ebay and alibaba,all of us worry everyday. so we think that there must be a problem ,and the problem is that we have to find a solution,that how we can be a company can live long and healthy like mercedes-benze,siemens.

但是为什么互联网公司担忧?你看到谷歌，facebook，亚马逊，ebay和阿里巴巴，我们所有的人天天担心。我们觉得这里面一定有问题。我们必须找到一个解决方案，让我们的公司能够像奔驰，西门子一样，活得长久而健康。

if any industry cant live more than 3 years,if all the companies cannot live happily for 3years,this industry will never become the mainstream,this industry can never become the deep economy,so,what we want to do is that how we can find the solution.

如果一个行业不能活的超过3年，如果不是所有的公司能够快乐的生存超过3年，那这个行业永远无法成为主流，这个行业永远不可能深深根植于经济——所以，我们要做什么才能找到解决方案?

the world is changing so fast,most people dont realize what is it,what is internet,we’re moving very very fast today to technology.

世界正在快速改变，我们今天的科技发展非常非常迅速，大部分人不知道it是什么，互联网是什么。

it technology and digital technology,is not the technology difference,is the differences of the way people think,the way people due with the world.

it科技和数字科技，这不仅仅是不同的技术，而是人们思考方式的不同，人们对待这个世界方式的不同。

we dont know the world will look like in 30 years,and we dont know what the data will look like ,but we are sure that the whole world in ne_t30 years will be changed.

我们不知道世界30年后会变成什么样，我们不知道数据在30年后会长成什么样——但是我们相信，整个世界在30年后会大大改变。

if the first and the second innovation and technology revolution releaf all liberatethe human strength,the physical strength,this revolution release a liberate the strength of human brain,the brain in innovation.

如果第一次和第二次技术革命释放了人的体力，那这次技术革命释放了人的脑力，脑力在革新。

the future world,we believe we’ll be connected not by oil,notby other things,but by datas. the future world,the business will be c2b notb2c,c2b is consumer to business not business to consumer. because we willhave a large amount of data,manufacturer must do customerlized things,otherwise manufacturer will be very difficult.

未来的世界，我们将不再由石油驱动，而是由数据驱动;未来的世界，生意将是c2b而不是b2c，用户改变企业，而不是企业向用户出售——因为我们将有大量的数据。制造商必须个性化，否则他们将非常困难。

in the future ,all the manufacturers,they make machine,the machines can not only produce products,the machine must talk,the machine must think ,the machine will not be driven by oil and by electricity,the machine is going to be supported by datas. the future world,the business will no longer focus on the size,business will no longer focus on standardization and power,they will focus on thefle_ibility,nimbleness(agility),personalized and user friendly.

未来的世界，所有的制造商他们生产的机器，这些机器不仅会生产产品，它们必须说话，它们必须思考。机器不会再由石油和电力驱动，机器由数据来支撑。未来的世界，企业将不再会关注于规模，企业不再会关注于标准化和权力，他们会关注于灵活性，敏捷性，个性化和用户友好。

and i also strongly believe the future world,we are going to have a lot of women leaders ,because in the future people will not only focus on muscle strength,and they focus on wisdom,they focus on careless and responsibility.

而且我强烈相信，在未来的世界，我们会有很多女性领袖——因为在未来人们将不会只关注在肌肉力量，而会更加重视智慧，重视关怀和责任。

and i think internet must find the missing part. this missing part is how the clicker and motors can work together,and how we can make sure in the ne_t 30 years the mouse and cement can work together,find a way to make the internet economy and the real economy to combine ,the internet company will survive happily for ne_t 30 years.

我认为，互联网必须找到那个缺失的部分。这个缺失的部分就是鼠标和水泥携手合作，找到一个方法让互联网经济和实体经济能够结合。只有当鼠标和水泥结合时，互联网公司才能活下来，才能开心的活30年。

if that income ,that is what we called d-economy,is not just the digital economy,which i called data economy,and everthing is going to be changed.

如果这个结合实现，那才能被称作d!economy，不仅仅是数字经济，我叫它数据经济，所有的东西都会被改变。

and i also believe that the world will become very beautiful,but also very challenging.

并且我相信这个世界将会因此变得非常美丽，同时也非常富有挑战性。

apple may not be the future,but apple tells us what the futurewill look like ,that is something in the machine is moving,that is data.

像苹果这样的公司告诉我们未来的样子是什么样的。有一种东西将会在机器中流动，那就是数据。

we are at a great time of innovation,inspiration,invention and creativity,andi think everyone is working hard,try to realize their dreams.

我们在一个创新，雄心，发明和创意的伟大时代，我相信每个人都在非常努力的工作，实现他们的梦想。

today you see here ,a real world of workers,truck drivers and game players,and also all these senior people,everybody in the ancient time,nobody can use technology torealize their dreams ,but today,because of datas ,everything becomes true.

狂天我们看到了真实世界的工人，卡车司机和游戏玩家……所有这些人在过去，是不可能利用科技实现他们的梦想的。但今天，数据让一切成真。

but i strongly believe ,it’s not the technology changed the world,it’s the dreams behind the technology that changed the world. if the technology changed the world,ill never be here,i’m not be trained to be a science and technology e_perts,i know nothing about computer,and i know very little about the internet,but i have a strong dream that we want to help small business.

但我强烈的相信，不是科技改变了世界，是科技背后的梦想改变了世界。如果是科技改变了世界，我不会在这儿，我没有被训练成一个科技专家，我对电脑一无所知，我对互联网也了解的不多。但是我有一个强大的梦想，我要帮助中小企业。

so,14 years ago so we come here to sell chinese products toeurope,that didn’t work.

14 years later ,we try to help the european small businessto china ,to the world by using the internet,it’s the dreams that drives theworld ,it’s not only the technology.

所以20__年前我来这里想向欧洲出售中国产品，没有成功。20__年后我想帮助欧洲企业向中国向世界，通过互联网出售产品。是梦想在驱动这个世界，不仅仅是科技。

so ladies and gentlemen,lets work hard together,it is a fantasticworld,it is a world belongs to young people,it is a world belongs to the future.

女士们，先生们，让我们共同努力，这是一个精彩的世界，这是一个属于年轻人的世界，这是一个属于未来的世界。

and thank you very very much for listening!

非常感谢各位的聆听。

英文演讲稿 | 奥巴马最后一次国情咨文

mr. speaker, 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 to get back to iowa.

i also understand that because it’s an election season, e_pectations 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 ta_ cuts permanent for working families. so i hope we can work together this year on bipartisan priorities like criminal justice reform, and helping people who are battling prescription drug abuse. we just might surprise the cynics 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, from helping students learn to write computer code to personalizing medical treatments for patients. and i’ll keep pushing for progress on the work that still needs doing. fi_ing a broken immigration system. protecting our kids from gun violence. equal pay for equal work, paid leave, raising the minimum wage. 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, i don’t want to talk just about the ne_t year. i want to focus on the ne_t five years, ten years, and beyond.

i want to focus on our future.

we live in a time of e_traordinary change – change that’s reshaping the way we live, the way we work, our planet and our place in the world. it’s change that promises amazing medical breakthroughs, but also economic disruptions that strain working families. it promises 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. 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 influ_ of immigrants, workers fighting for a fair deal, and movements to e_pand civil rights. each time, there have been those who told us to fear the future; who claimed we could slam the brakes on change, promising to restore past glory 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.” instead we thought anew, and acted anew. we made change work for us, always e_tending america’s promise outward, to the ne_t frontier, to more and more people. and because we did – because we saw opportunity where others saw only peril – we emerged stronger and better than before.

what was true then can be true now. our unique strengths as a nation – our optimism and work ethic, 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 in generations. it’s how we reformed our health care system, and reinvented our energy sector; how we delivered more care and benefits to our troops and veterans, and how we secured the freedom in every state to marry the person we love.

but such progress is not inevitable. 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 ne_t president is, or who controls the ne_t 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 economy in the world. we’re in the middle of the longest streak 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. our auto industry just had its best year ever. manufacturing has created nearly 900,000 new jobs in the past si_ years. and we’ve done all this while cutting our deficits by almost three-quarters.

anyone claiming that america’s economy is in decline is peddling fiction. what is true – and the reason that a lot of americans feel an_ious – is that the economy has been changing in profound ways, changes that started long before the great recession hit and haven’t let up. today, technology doesn’t just replace jobs on the assembly line, 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 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 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 reform of no child left behind 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 for all, offering every student the hands-on 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 be stuck in the red. 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 at no 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 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. 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 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, 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.

i also know speaker ryan has talked about his interest in tackling poverty. america is about giving everybody willing to work a hand up, and i’d welcome a serious discussion about strategies we can all support, like e_panding ta_ cuts for low-income workers without kids.

but there are other areas where it’s been more difficult to find agreement over the last seven years – namely what role the government should play in making sure the system’s not rigged in favor of the wealthiest and biggest corporations. and here, the american people have a choice to make.

i believe a thriving private sector is the lifeblood of our economy. i think there are outdated regulations that need to be changed, and there’s red tape that needs to be cut. but after years of record corporate profits, working families won’t get more opportunity or bigger paychecks by letting big banks or big oil or hedge funds make their own rules at the e_pense of everyone else; or by allowing attacks on collective bargaining to go unanswered. food stamp recipients didn’t cause the financial crisis; recklessness on wall street did. immigrants aren’t the reason wages haven’t gone up enough; those decisions are made in the boardrooms that too often put quarterly earnings over long-term returns. it’s sure not the average family watching tonight that avoids paying ta_es through offshore accounts. in this new economy, workers and start-ups and small businesses need more of a voice, not less. the rules should work for them. and this year i plan to lift up the many businesses who’ve figured out that doing right by their workers ends up being good for their shareholders, their customers, and their communities, so that we can spread those best practices across america.

in fact, many of our best corporate citizens are also our most creative. this brings me to the second big question we have to answer as a country: how do we reignite that spirit of innovation to meet our biggest challenges?

si_ty years ago, when the russians beat us into space, we didn’t deny sputnik was up there. we didn’t argue about the science, or shrink our research and development budget. we built a space program almost overnight, and twelve years later, we were walking on the moon.

that spirit of discovery is in our dna. we’re thomas edison and the wright brothers and george washington carver. we’re grace hopper and katherine johnson and sally ride. we’re every immigrant and entrepreneur from boston to austin to silicon valley racing to shape a better world. and over the past seven years, we’ve nurtured that spirit.

we’ve protected an open internet, and taken bold new steps to get more students and low-income americans online. we’ve launched ne_t-generation manufacturing hubs, and online tools that give an entrepreneur everything he or she needs to start a business in a single day.

but we can do so much more. last year, vice president biden said that with a new moonshot, america can cure cancer. last month, he worked with this congress to give scientists at the national institutes of health the strongest resources they’ve had in over a decade. tonight, i’m announcing a new national effort to get it done. and because he’s gone to the mat for all of us, on so many issues over the past forty years, i’m putting joe in charge of mission control. for the loved ones we’ve all lost, for the family we can still save, let’s make america the country that cures cancer once and for all.

medical research is critical. we need the same level of commitment when it comes to developing clean energy sources.

look, if anybody still wants to dispute the science around climate change, have at it. you’ll be pretty lonely, because you’ll be debating our military, most of america’s business leaders, the majority of the american people, almost the entire scientific community, and 200 nations around the world who agree it’s a problem and intend to solve it.

but even if the planet wasn’t at stake; even if 20__ wasn’t the warmest year on record – until 20__ turned out even hotter – why would we want to pass up the chance for american businesses to produce and sell the energy of the future?

seven years ago, we made the single biggest investment in clean energy in our history. here are the results. in fields from iowa to te_as, wind power is now cheaper than dirtier, conventional power. on rooftops from arizona to new york, solar is saving americans tens of millions of dollars a year on their energy bills, and employs more americans than coal – in jobs that pay better than average. we’re taking steps to give homeowners the freedom to generate and store their own energy – something environmentalists and tea partiers have teamed up to support. meanwhile, we’ve cut our imports of foreign oil by nearly si_ty percent, and cut carbon pollution more than any other country on earth.

gas under two bucks a gallon ain’t bad, either.

now we’ve got to accelerate the transition away from dirty energy. rather than subsidize the past, we should invest in the future – especially in communities that rely on fossil fuels. that’s why i’m going to push to change the way we manage our oil and coal resources, so that they better reflect the costs they impose on ta_payers and our planet. that way, we put money back into those communities and put tens of thousands of americans to work building a 21st century transportation system.

none of this will happen overnight, and yes, there are plenty of entrenched interests who want to protect the status quo. but the jobs we’ll create, the money we’ll save, and the planet we’ll preserve – that’s the kind of future our kids and grandkids deserve.

climate change is just one of many issues where our security is linked to the rest of the world. and that’s why the third big question we have to answer is how to keep america safe and strong without either isolating ourselves or trying to nation-build everywhere there’s a problem.

i told you earlier all the talk of america’s economic decline is political hot air. well, so is all the rhetoric you hear about our enemies getting stronger and america getting weaker. the united states of america is the most powerful nation on earth. period. it’s not even close. we spend more on our military than the ne_t eight nations combined. our troops are the finest fighting force in the history of the world. no nation dares to attack us or our allies because they know that’s the path to ruin. surveys show our standing around the world is higher than when i was elected to this office, and when it comes to every important international issue, people of the world do not look to beijing or moscow to lead – they call us.

as someone who begins every day with an intelligence briefing, i know this is a dangerous time. but that’s not because of diminished american strength or some looming superpower. in today’s world, we’re threatened less by evil empires and more by failing states. the middle east is going through a transformation that will play out for a generation, rooted in conflicts that date back millennia. economic headwinds blow from a chinese economy in transition. even as their economy contracts, russia is pouring resources to prop up ukraine and syria – states they see slipping away from their orbit. and the international system we built after world war ii is now struggling to keep pace with this new reality.

it’s up to us to help remake that system. and that means we have to set priorities.

priority number one is protecting the american people and going after terrorist networks. both al qaeda and now isil pose a direct threat to our people, because in today’s world, even a handful of terrorists who place no value on human life, including their own, can do a lot of damage. they use the internet to poison the minds of individuals inside our country; they undermine our allies.

but as we focus on destroying isil, over-the-top claims that this is world war iii just play into their hands. masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks and twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages pose an enormous danger to civilians and must be stopped. but they do not threaten our national e_istence. that’s the story isil wants to tell; that’s the kind of propaganda they use to recruit. we don’t need to build them up to show that we’re serious, nor do we need to push away vital allies in this fight by echoing the lie that isil is representative of one of the world’s largest religions. we just need to call them what they are – killers and fanatics who have to be rooted out, hunted down, and destroyed.

that’s e_actly what we are doing. for more than a year, america has led a coalition of more than 60 countries to cut off isil’s financing, disrupt their plots, stop the flow of terrorist fighters, and stamp out their vicious ideology. with nearly 10,000 air strikes, we are taking out their leadership, their oil, their training camps, and their weapons. we are training, arming, and supporting forces who are steadily reclaiming territory in iraq and syria.

if this congress is serious about winning this war, and wants to send a message to our troops and the world, you should finally authorize the use of military force against isil. take a vote. but the american people should know that with or without congressional action, isil will learn the same lessons as terrorists before them. if you doubt america’s commitment – or mine – to see that justice is done, ask osama bin laden. ask the leader of al qaeda in yemen, who was taken out last year, or the perpetrator of the benghazi attacks, who sits in a prison cell. when you come after americans, we go after you. it may take time, but we have long memories, and our reach has no limit.

第12篇 奥巴马在菲尼克斯市发表关于美国住房融资体系改革英语演讲稿

the president: hey! hello, phoeni_! (applause.) hello, arizona! (applause.) it is --

audience member: we love you, obama!

the president: i love you back. it is good to be here. (applause.)

i want to say thank you to the thunder for hosting us here today. (applause.) well, we are soglad to be here. i want you to give it up for somebody who's been fighting for homeowners andworking families every single day, who's with me today -- secretary shaun donovan, secretaryof hud. there he is right there. give him a big round of applause. (applause.) we've gotcongressman ed pastor who's here as well. (applause.) we've got your mayor, greg stanton,here. (applause.) doing an outstanding job. and to all the mayors and state legislators andtribal leaders who are here today, thank you. (applause.)

give jorge a big round of applause for his introduction. (applause.) to your superintendent,dr. kenneth baca. (applause.) your principal, dr. anna battle. (applause.) and i appreciateeverybody at desert vista for having me here today. (applause.) it is good to see the studentsare pretty enthusiastic about being back in school. (laughter.) i'm not sure i would have beenthat enthusiastic starting on the 6th. (laughter.)

and i know this isn't your typical school -- second day of school. so i want to give a specialshout-out to the new seniors, class of 2022. (applause.) you are aware that you're not finishedyet. (laughter.) senior year, that's sometimes tempting. i want you all to stay focused.

over the past couple weeks, i have been --

audience member: happy birthday, mr. president!

the president: thank you very much. thank you. (applause.) it was my birthday two daysago. (laughter.) got some singers here.

audience: happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday, mr. president. (applause.)

the president: thank you. thank you. thank you. (applause.) i am now 52, and michellesays that i don't look a day over 51. (laughter.)

so over the last few weeks, i've been visiting towns all across the country, talking about whatwe need to do to secure a better bargain for the middle class -- a national strategy to makesure that everybody who works hard has a chance to succeed in the 21st century economy.

and i think people in arizona especially understand the challenges that are out there, becausefor the past four and a half years, together, we fought our way back from a devastatingrecession that cost millions of jobs for americans. a lot of folks lost their homes; a lot of folkslost their savings. and what the recession showed was the long erosion of middle-classsecurity that had been taking place for decades.

but we fought back. we took on a broken health care system. we took on a housing market thatwas in free fall. we invested in new technologies to reverse our addiction to foreign oil. wechanged a ta_ code that had become tilted a little bit too much in favor of the wealthiestamericans at the e_pense of working families. (applause.) we saved the auto industry. we'venow got gm that plans to hire a thousand new workers right ne_t door in chandler to make surewe're building some of the best cars in the world right here in the united states of america. (applause.)

our businesses have created 7.3 million new jobs over the past 41 months. we now sell moreproducts made in america to the rest of the world than ever before. our e_ports are way up. weproduce more renewable energy than ever before, more natural gas than anybody else. healthcare costs have been growing at the slowest rate in 50 years. and our deficits are coming downat the fastest rate in 60 years. so we're making progress. (applause.)

so thanks to the efforts of a lot of people like you, we've cleared away the rubble of the financialcrisis. we're starting to lay the foundation for more stable, more durable economic growth.but as any middle-class family will tell you, we're not yet where we need to be. because evenbefore the crisis hit, we had lived through a decade where a few at the top were doing betterand better, but most families were working harder and harder just to get by.

and reversing this trend should be -- must be -- washington's highest priority. it's myhighest priority. (applause.) i want to make sure that in america, it doesn't matter what youlook like, where you come from, who you love -- you should be able to make it when you try.you should be able to make it. (applause.)

now, unfortunately, for the last year or so, we've had an endless parade of distractions andpolitical posturing and phony scandals that shift focus away from what do we need to do toshore up middle-class families and create ladders of opportunity for folks to get into themiddle class. and as washington heads towards another budget debate, the stakes could notbe higher.

and that's why i'm traveling around, laying out my ideas for how we have to build thecornerstones of what it means to be middle class: a good job with good wages; a home to callyour own; a good education; affordable health care that's there for you when you get sick; asecure retirement even if you're not rich; the opportunity -- the ladders of opportunity forpeople to earn their way into the middle class, to work their way out of poverty. those are theelements that i think all of us believe in, but right now we're not delivering as much as weshould on those promises.

now, last tuesday, i went to tennessee to talk about the first cornerstone, which is how do wemake sure that we're creating good middle-class jobs here in the united states of america.today i've come to phoeni_ to talk about the second component, which is the most tangiblecornerstone that lies at the heart of the american dream, at the heart of middle-class life -- andthat's the chance to own your own home. (applause.) the chance to own your own home.

we've got a lot of young people here who are thinking about college, they're going to get ahigher education, they're going to find a job, they're going to find somebody they love, they'regoing to want to own a home. and the reason they will is because a home is the ultimateevidence that here in america, hard work pays off, that responsibility is rewarded.

i think about my grandparents' generation. when my grandfather served in world war ii, hefought in patton's army -- when he got back, this country gave him a chance to go to college onthe g.i. bill, but it also gave him the chance to buy his first home with a loan from the fha. tohim, and to generations of americans before and since, a home was more than just a house. itwas a source of pride and a source of security. it was a place to raise kids, to put downroots; a place where you could build up savings for college, or to start a business, or to retirewith some security.

and buying a home required responsibility on everybody's part. you had to save up to buy ahome. and then banks were supposed to give you a fair deal, with terms you couldunderstand, and buyers were supposed to live within their means and make sure that theycould make their payments. so in that earlier generation, houses weren't for flipping around,they weren't for speculation -- houses were to live in, and to build a life with.

and unfortunately, over time, responsibility too often gave way to recklessness. you hadreckless lenders who sold loans to people they knew couldn't afford them. and let's face it, wealso had some reckless buyers who knew they couldn't afford them and still took out loans.and all this created a housing bubble. and especially in some places like arizona, it wasdevastating when that bubble finally burst -- triggered a recession. millions of americans whohad done everything right were hurt badly by the actions of other people. housing pricesplummeted.

by the time i took office, home values had fallen almost 20 percent from the year before. newhousing starts had fallen nearly 80 percent from their peak. hundreds of thousands ofconstruction workers had lost their jobs. a record number of people were behind on theirmortgage payments. and a lot of people here in phoeni_, they saw that devastation. this waspart of ground zero for the housing bubble bursting.

so less than a month after i took office, i came here to arizona and i laid out steps to stabilizethe housing market and help responsible homeowners get back on their feet. and the truth isit's been a long, slow process. the housing market is so big that it was going to take some timeto heal when it got hurt that badly. it's taken longer than any of us would like. but during thattime, we helped millions of americans save an average of $3,000 each year by refinancing atlower rates. we helped millions of responsible homeowners stay in their homes, which was goodfor their neighbors because you don't want a bunch of foreclosure signs in your neighborhood.

where congress wouldn't act, we went ahead and acted, so over the past few years, we had thedepartment of justice stand up for buyers who had been discriminated against or conned bypredatory lending. and we won a settlement that gave more money to victims ofdiscrimination in one year than in the previous 23 years combined. (applause.)

we worked with states to force big banks to repay more than $50 billion to more than 1.5million families -- largest lending settlement in history. (applause.) we e_tended the time thatfolks who had lost their jobs could delay their payment on their mortgages while they keptlooking for work. we cracked down on the bad practices that led to the crisis in the first place. imean, you had some loans back there in the bubble that were called “liar's loan.” now,something that's called a liar's loan is probably a bad idea. (laughter.)

so because of all these actions we've been taking, our housing market is beginning to heal.home prices are rising at the fastest pace in seven years. sales are up nearly 50 percent.construction is up nearly 75 percent. new foreclosures are down by nearly two-thirds. millions offamilies have been able to come up for air -- they're no longer underwater on their mortgages. (applause.)

and just like the crisis hit phoeni_ very hard, thanks to some great leadership here locally,phoeni_ has also led one of the biggest comebacks in the country. (applause.) so you should beproud of what you've done here. home prices in phoeni_ have risen by nearly 20 percent overthe last year. new home sales are up by more than 25 percent.

this morning, right before i came here, i visited erickson construction -- (applause.) we'vegot some erickson folks here. and they were e_plaining how right when the bubble hit,erickson shrank to less than a hundred workers. today they're employing 580 people -- andthey're hiring even more people -- (applause) -- because the housing market is bouncing back.

so that's one of the things about housing. it's not just important for the person who owns thehouse; our economy is so impacted by everything that happens in housing. consumers feelbetter when their home values are in a better place, so they're more willing to spend. a lot ofpeople who want to start a business, their savings may be locked up in their house.construction workers, contractors, suppliers, carpet makers, all these folks are impacted by thehousing industry.

so we've made progress, and that's helped to move the economy forward. but we've got tobuild on this progress. we're not where we need to be yet. we've got to give more hardworkingamericans the chance to buy their first home. (applause.) we have to help more responsiblehomeowners refinance their mortgages, because a lot of them still have a spread between therates they're paying right now on their mortgage and what they could be getting if they wereable to refinance.

and we've got to turn the page on this kind of bubble-and-bust mentality that helped tocreate this mess in the first place. (applause.) we got to build a housing system that isdurable and fair and rewards responsibility for generations to come. that's what we've got todo. (applause.)

so i've already put forward a bunch of ideas that will help accomplish that. and, look, the factof the matter is congress hasn't enacted all of them, so i'd like you to encourage members ofcongress to take some of these actions. (applause.)

but like the other actions that we've taken, these will not help the neighbors down the streetwho bought a house that they couldn't afford, and then walked away from it and left aforeclosed home behind. we don't want to help speculators who bought multiple homes just tomake a quick buck.

what we want to do is put forward ideas that will help millions of responsible, middle-classhomeowners who still need relief. and we want to help hardworking americans who dream ofowning their own home fair and square, have a down payment, are willing to make thosepayments, understand that owning a home requires responsibility. and there are someimmediate actions we could take right now that would help on that front, that would make adifference. so let me just list a couple of them.

number one: congress should pass a good, bipartisan idea to allow every homeowner thechance to save thousands of dollars a year by refinancing their mortgage at today's rates. (applause.) we need to get that done. we've been talking about it for a year and a half, twoyears, three years. there's no reason not to do it. (applause.)

step number two: now that we've made it harder for reckless buyers to buy homes that theycan't afford, let's make it a little bit easier for qualified buyers to buy the homes that they canafford. (applause.) so shaun donovan has been working with the finance industry to make surewe're simplifying overlapping regulations; we're cutting red tape for responsible families whowant to get a mortgage but keep getting rejected by the banks. we need to give well-qualified americans who lost their jobs during the crisis a fair chance to get a loan if they'veworked hard to repair their credit.

and step three is something that you don't always hear about when it comes to the housingmarket, and that is fi_ing our broken immigration system. it would actually help our housingmarket. (applause.)

it's pretty simple: when more people buy homes and play by the rules, home values go up foreverybody. and according to one recent study, the average homeowner has already seen thevalue of their home boosted by thousands of dollars just because of immigration. and the goodnews is, with the help of your senators, john mccain and jeff flake, the senate has alreadypassed a bipartisan immigration bill. it's got the support of ceos and labor and lawenforcement. (applause.) this could help homeownership here.

so i want you to encourage republicans in the house of representatives to stop draggingtheir feet. let's go ahead and get this done.

step number four: we should address the uneven recovery by rebuilding the communities hitthe hardest by the housing crisis, including many right here in arizona. let's put constructionback -- construction workers back to work repairing rundown homes, tearing down vacantproperties so that the value of homes in those surrounding areas start picking up. we can putpeople to work right now and improve the remaining housing stock that's out there. (applause.) places that are facing a longer road back from the crisis should have their country'shelp to get back on their feet.

step five: we should make sure families that don't want to buy a home or can't yet afford tobuy one still have a decent place to rent. (applause.) it's important for us to encouragehomeownership, but a lot of people rent and there's nothing wrong with renting. and we got tomake sure that we are creating affordable opportunities when it comes to rental properties.

in the run-up to the crisis, banks and governments too often made everybody feel like they hadto own a home, even if they weren't ready and didn't have the payments. that's a mistake weshould not repeat. instead, let's invest in affordable rental housing. let's bring together citiesand states to address local barriers that drive up rents for working families. (applause.)

so if we help more americans refinance their homes, if we help qualified families get amortgage, we reform our immigration system, we rebuild the hardest-hit communities, wemake sure that folks have a decent place to rent if they're not yet able to buy -- all these stepswill give more middle-class families the chance to either buy their own home now or eventuallybuy their own home. it's going to give more relief to responsible homeowners. it gives moreoptions to families who aren't yet ready to buy. all that is going to improve the housing marketand will improve the economy.

but -- and this is the last key point i want to make -- as home prices rise, we can't just re-inflate another housing bubble. i hope everybody here in arizona learned some hard lessonsfrom what happened. housing prices generally don't just keep on going up forever at the kindof pace it was going up. it was crazy. so what we want to do is something stable and steady.and that's why i want to lay a rock-solid foundation to make sure the kind of crisis we wentthrough never happens again. we've got to make sure it doesn't happen again. (applause.)

and one of the key things to make sure it doesn't happen again is to wind down thesecompanies that are not really government, but not really private sector -- they're known asfreddie mac and fannie mae. for too long, these companies were allowed to make huge profitsbuying mortgages, knowing that if their bets went bad, ta_payers would be left holding thebag. it was “heads we win, tails you lose.” and it was wrong. and along with what happened onwall street, it helped to inflate this bubble in a way that ultimately killed main street.

so the good news is, right now there's a bipartisan group of senators working to end fannie andfreddie as we know them. and i support these kinds of reform efforts. and they're followingfour core principles for what i believe this reform should look like.

first, private capital should take a bigger role in the mortgage market. i know that soundsconfusing to folks who call me a socialist -- i think i saw some posters there on the way in. (laughter.) but i actually believe in the free market. and just like the health care law that weput in place, obamacare -- (applause) -- which, by the way, if you don't have healthinsurance or you're buying it at e_orbitant rates on the individual market, starting on october1st, you can join a marketplace and be part of a pool that gives you much lower premiums,saves you a lot of money. (applause.)

but in the same way that what we did with health care was to set up clear rules for insurancecompanies to protect consumers, make it more affordable, but still built on the privatemarketplace, i believe that our housing system should operate where there's a limitedgovernment role and private lending should be the backbone of the housing market. and thatincludes, by the way, community-based lenders who view their borrowers not as a number, butas a neighbor. so that's one principle.

a second principle is we can't leave ta_payers on the hook for irresponsibility or baddecisions by some of these lenders or fannie mae or freddie mac. (applause.) we've got toencourage the pursuit of profit, but the era of e_pecting a bailout after you pursue your profitand you don't manage your risk well -- well, that puts the whole country at risk. and we'reending those days. we're not going to do that anymore. (applause.)

the third principle is we should preserve access to safe and simple mortgage products likethe 30-year, fi_ed-rate mortgage. that's something families should be able to rely on whenthey're making the most important purchase of their lives. (applause.)

number four, we've got to keep housing affordable for first-time homebuyers -- like all theseyoung people. when they're ready to buy a house, we've got to make sure it's affordable.families who are working to climb their way into the middle class, we've got to do what we canto make housing affordable. and that means we've got to strengthen the fha so it givestoday's families the same kind of chance it gave my grandparents to buy a home, and itpreserves those rungs on the ladder of opportunity.

and we've got to support, as i said, affordable rental housing. and, by the way, we've also gotto keep up our fight against homelessness. (applause.) the mayor of phoeni_ has been doing agreat job here in phoeni_ on that front. we've got to continue to improve it. (applause.)

since i took office, we helped bring one in four homeless veterans off the streets. (applause.)we should be proud of that. here in phoeni_, thanks to the hard work of everyone from mayorstanton to the local united way to us airways, you're on track to end chronic homelessnessfor veterans, period, by 2022. (applause.)

but we've got to keep going, because nobody in america, and certainly no veteran, should beleft to live on the streets. (applause.)

so here's the bottom line: put all these principles together, that's going to protect our entireeconomy and it will improve the housing market not just here in phoeni_, but throughout thestate and throughout the country.

we're also going to need to make sure, though, that we're protecting individual homeowners.we've got to give them the tools that they can protect themselves. so we've got a consumerfinance protection bureau that we created. (applause.) and it's laying down new rules of theroad that everybody can count on when they're shopping for a mortgage. they're designing anew, simple mortgage form that will be in plain english, so you can actually read it without alawyer -- (applause) -- although, you may still want a lawyer obviously. i'm not saying youdon't. i'm just saying you'll be able to read it. (laughter.) there won't be a lot of fine print.that way you know before you owe. (laughter and applause.)

and the senate finally confirmed richard cordray as the head of this -- head watchdog for thecfpb. (applause.) so he's out there aggressively protecting consumers and homeowners.

when it comes to some of the other leaders we need to look out for the american people, thesenate still has a job to do. months ago, i nominated a man named mel watt to be our nation'stop housing regulator. he is an outstanding member of congress. and during that time, hewas on the housing committee -- worked with banks, worked with borrowers to protectconsumers, to help responsible lenders provide credit. he is the right person for the job.congress and the senate should give his nomination an up or down vote without any moreobstruction or delay. we don't have time for those kinds of games. (applause.)

so i want to be honest with you. no program or policy is going to solve all the problems in amulti-trillion dollar housing market. the housing bubble went up so high, the heights itreached before it burst were so unsustainable, that we knew it was going to take some time forus to fully recover. but if we take the steps that i talked about today, then i know we willrestore not just our home values, but also our common values. we'll make owning a home asymbol of responsibility, not speculation -- a source of security for generations to come,just like it was for my grandparents. i want it to be just like that for all the young people whoare here today and their children and their grandchildren. (applause.)

and if we stay focused on middle-class security and opportunities to get into the middle class,if we take the strategy that i'm laying out for the entire economy -- for jobs and housing andeducation, health care, retirement, creating ladders of opportunity -- then we will secure thatbetter bargain for all americans, where hard work is once again rewarded with a shot at amiddle-class life, which means more americans will know the pride of that first paycheck. moreamericans will know the satisfaction of flipping the sign to “open” on their own business. moreamericans will know the joy of scratching the child's height on the door of their new home --with pencil, of course. (laughter.)

we can do all this if we work together. and it won't be easy. but if we take just a few boldsteps -- and if washington will just end the gridlock, set aside the slash-and-burn partisanship-- (applause) -- actually try to solve problems instead of scoring political points, our economywill grow stronger a year from now, five years from now, 10 years from now. (applause.)

and as long as i've got the privilege to serve as your president, that's what i'm going to befighting for.

thank you very much, everybody. god bless you. (applause.)

第13篇 奥巴马总统在联合国埃博拉疫情防控高级别会议英语演讲稿

mr. secretary-general, thank you for bringing us together today to address an urgent threatto the people of west africa, but also a potential threat to the world. dr. chan, heads of stateand government, especially our african partners, ladies and gentlemen: as we gather heretoday, the people of liberia and sierra leone and guinea are in crisis. as secretary-general banand dr. chan have already indicated, the ebola virus is spreading at alarming speed.thousands of men, women and children have died. thousands more are infected. ifunchecked, this epidemic could kill hundreds of thousands of people in the coming months.hundreds of thousands.

ebola is a horrific disease. it’s wiping out entire families. it has turned simple acts of love andcomfort and kindness -- like holding a sick friend’s hand, or embracing a dying child -- intopotentially fatal acts. if ever there were a public health emergency deserving an urgent,strong and coordinated international response, this is it.

but this is also more than a health crisis. this is a growing threat to regional and globalsecurity. in liberia, in guinea, in sierra leone, public health systems have collapsed. economicgrowth is slowing dramatically. if this epidemic is not stopped, this disease could cause ahumanitarian catastrophe across the region. and in an era where regional crises can quicklybecome global threats, stopping ebola is in the interest of all of us.

the courageous men and women fighting on the front lines of this disease have told us whatthey need. they need more beds, they need more supplies, they need more health workers, andthey need all of this as fast as possible. right now, patients are being left to die in the streetsbecause there’s nowhere to put them and there’s nobody to help them. one health worker insierra leone compared fighting this outbreak to “fighting a forest fire with spray bottles.” butwith our help, they can put out the blaze.

last week, i visited the centers for disease control and prevention, which is mounting thelargest international response in its history. i said that the world could count on america tolead, and that we will provide the capabilities that only we have, and mobilize the world the waywe have done in the past in crises of similar magnitude. and i announced that, in additionto the civilian response, the united states would establish a military command in liberia tosupport civilian efforts across the region.

today, that command is up and it is running. our commander is on the ground in monrovia,and our teams are working as fast as they can to move in personnel, equipment and supplies.we’re working with senegal to stand up an air bridge to get health workers and medicalsupplies into west africa faster. we’re setting up a field hospital, which will be staffed bypersonnel from the u.s. public health service, and a training facility, where we’re gettingready to train thousands of health workers from around the world. we’re distributing suppliesand information kits to hundreds of thousands of families so they can better protectthemselves. and together with our partners, we’ll quickly build new treatment units acrossliberia, guinea and sierra leone, where thousands will be able to receive care.

meanwhile, in just the past week, more countries and organizations have stepped up theirefforts -- and so has the united nations. mr. secretary-general, the new un mission for ebolaemergency response that you announced last week will bring all of the u.n.’s resources tobear in fighting the epidemic. we thank you for your leadership.

so this is all progress, and it is encouraging. but i want us to be clear: we are not moving fastenough. we are not doing enough. right now, everybody has the best of intentions, but peopleare not putting in the kinds of resources that are necessary to put a stop to this epidemic.there is still a significant gap between where we are and where we need to be. we know frome_perience that the response to an outbreak of this magnitude has to be fast and it has to besustained. it’s a marathon, but you have to run it like a sprint. and that’s only possible ifeverybody chips in, if every nation and every organization takes this seriously. everybody herehas to do more.

international organizations have to move faster, and cut through red tape and mobilize partnerson the ground as only they can. more nations need to contribute critical assets andcapabilities -- whether it is air transport, or medical evacuation, or health care workers, orequipment, or treatment. more foundations can tap into the networks of support that theyhave, to raise funds and awareness. more businesses, especially those who already have apresence in the region, can quickly provide their own e_pertise and resources, from access tocritical supply chains to telecommunications. and more citizens -- of all nations -- can educatethemselves on this crisis, contribute to relief efforts, and call on their leaders to act. soeverybody can do something. that’s why we’re here today.

and even as we meet the urgent threat of ebola, it’s clear that our nations have to do more toprevent, detect and respond to future biological threats -- before they erupt into full-blowncrises. tomorrow, in washington, i’ll host 44 nations to advance our global health securityagenda, and we are interested in working with any country that shares this commitment.

just to emphasize this issue of speed again. when i was down at the cdc -- and perhaps thishas already been discussed, but i want to emphasize this -- the outbreak is such where at thispoint more people will die. but the slope of the curve, how fast we can arrest the spread ofthis disease, how quickly we can contain it is within our control. and if we move fast, even ifimperfectly, then that could mean the difference between 10,000, 20,000, 30,000 deathsversus hundreds of thousands or even a million deaths. so this is not one where there should bea lot of wrangling and people waiting to see who else is doing what. everybody has got to movefast in order for us to make a difference. and if we do, we’ll save hundreds of thousands of lives.

stopping ebola is a priority for the united states. i’ve said that this is as important a nationalsecurity priority for my team as anything else that’s out there. we’ll do our part. we willcontinue to lead, but this has to be a priority for everybody else. we cannot do this alone. wedon’t have the capacity to do all of this by ourselves. we don’t have enough health workers byourselves. we can build the infrastructure and the architecture to get help in, but we’re goingto need others to contribute.

to my fellow leaders from liberia, sierra leone and guinea, to the people of west africa, to theheroic health workers who are on the ground as we speak, in some cases, putting themselvesat risk -- i want you to know that you are not alone. we’re working urgently to get you the helpyou need. and we will not stop, we will not relent until we halt this epidemic once and for all.

so i want to thank all of you for the efforts that are made. but i hope that i’m properlycommunicating a sense of urgency here. do not stand by, thinking that somehow, because ofwhat we’ve done, that it’s taken care of. it’s not. and if we don’t take care of this now we aregoing to see fallout effects and secondary effects from this that will have ramifications for a longtime, above and beyond the lives that will have been lost.

i urge all of you, particularly those who have direct access to your heads of state, to make surethat they are making this a top priority in the ne_t several weeks and months.

thank you very much.

第14篇 米歇尔·奥巴马在欧柏林学院毕业典礼英语演讲稿

hi! how are you all doing? are you sure?well, let me just tell you, it is beyond a pleasure and an honor to be here with all of you today.

i want to start by thanking president krislov for that very kind introduction, as well as all of thetrustees, the faculty, the staff here at oberlin. i also want to tell you how proud and how movedi am to receive this honorary degree from this particular school – the first college in americato officially embrace the admission of black students, and the first co-ed school to grantbachelor's degrees to women. (applause.)

i should be here today. oberlin is likely the only college in america that i could have attendednearly two centuries ago, and i am honored to be part of the e_traordinary legacy of thisgreat institution. (applause.)

i also want to take a moment on this memorial day to pay tribute to all of the brave men andwomen who have sacrificed their lives so that we could sit here today, at peace, with rights andfreedoms that others around the world can only dream of. i am so proud to honor theseamerican heroes today – and every day – for their e_traordinary service to our nation. (applause.)

and i'm also a little giddy to be joined on stage by another one of my heroes, marian wrightedelman. (applause.) her moral leadership on behalf of children in this country has inspiredme throughout my career, as well as my husband, the president of the united states. (applause.)

and, graduates, i think we should give another shout-out to your families, of course, all thefamilies. (applause.) these are the folks who pushed you and supported you. they answeredyour late-night phone calls even when you were just calling for money. (laughter.) so on behalfof your students, i just want to show you all some love today, as well. thank you for creatingthese fabulous individuals. well done. (applause.)

and finally, most of all, i want to congratulate the oberlin class of __! (applause.) look atyou! you made it! you're here! you're looking good! (applause.) and i know you worked hard tomake it to this moment, didn't you? (laughter.) staying up late writing those papers, studyingfor e_ams. spent hours practicing and performing. you went to countless happy hours, andhappy-happy hours at the feve i hear – (laughter) – i'm going to try one of those burgers forlunch today; that's all i'm going to have – (laughter) – where of course, parents, that's wherethey studied some more.

and on top of all of that, you spent thousands of hours giving back to this community –tutoring kids, playing music for seniors, serving food to folks in need, and of course, mentoringthe local young people back there – i see you all – through the ninde scholars program. soproud of you all back there.

and that's, as the president said, why i'm here today. (applause.) as he mentioned, my officedid this wonderful competition to highlight colleges that are helping underserved youngpeople graduate from high school and then go on to higher education. so by providing tutoringand act prep classes, financial aid workshops, and so much more, your ninde scholars programstood out as a shining e_ample of how schools like oberlin can lift first-generation students intocollege.

so i'm here today because i'm proud of you all. i really am. i'm inspired by yourcommitment to service and social justice. and i'm impressed by the community that youall have created here – a warm, supportive, inclusive community that embodies the valuesthat define this school.

and even amidst the joy and e_citement of graduation, i know that you may be feeling somereal sadness about leaving this community behind. you may also be feeling some real an_ietyabout venturing out into the world beyond these walls. and i'm not going to lie to you – formany of you, this is going to be a pretty big transition. in fact, i think dr. martin luther kingdescribed it well in his commencement address in '65 when he declared, “today you bidfarewell to the safe security of the academic environment. you prepare to continue yourjourney on the clamorous highways of life.”

and the truth is, graduates, after four years of thoughtful, respectful discussion and debatehere at oberlin – those seminars where you e_plored new ideas together, those late-nightconversations where you challenged each other and learned from each other – after all of that,you might find yourself a little dismayed by the clamor outside these walls – the name-calling,the negative ads, the folks yelling at each other on tv. after being surrounded by people whoare so dedicated to serving others and making the world a better place, you might feel a littlediscouraged by the polarization and gridlock that too often characterize our politics and civiclife.

and in the face of all of that clamor, you might have an overwhelming instinct to just runthe other way as fast as you can. you might be tempted to just recreate what you had here atoberlin – to find a community of like-minded folks and work with them on causes you careabout, and just tune out all of the noise. and that's completely understandable. in fact, isometimes have that instinct myself – run! (laughter.)

but today, graduates, i want to urge you to do just the opposite. today, i want to suggest thatif you truly wish to carry on the oberlin legacy of service and social justice, then you need torun to, and not away from, the noise. (applause.) today, i want to urge you to actively seekout the most contentious, polarized, gridlocked places you can find. because so often,throughout our history, those have been the places where progress really happens – the placeswhere minds are changed, lives transformed, where our great american story unfolds.

for e_ample, think back to the struggle for women's suffrage and the story of a leadingsuffragist and oberlin alum named lucy stone. (applause.) people screamed at her. they spaton her. they even threw prayer books at her as she tried to speak. her opponents declaredthat letting women vote was “unnatural,” would lead to child neglect and all kinds of social ills.so i'd say that debate was pretty polarized, wouldn't you?

and think about president roosevelt's struggle to pass the new deal a few decades later. fdr'splan for social security was called “socialist,” a “fraud on the workingman.” one opponenteven stated that it would “end the progress of a great country.” so that debate was prettycontentious, too.

and in the years before dr. king addressed those oberlin graduates in ‘65, he and hiscolleagues faced fire hoses and dogs in montgomery, beatings on a bridge in selma, insults andassaults as they sat quietly at lunch counters and marched peacefully down public streets.

and if you think today's gridlock is bad, let me remind you that it was a good century betweenthe signing of the emancipation proclamation and the passage of the civil rights legislation ofthe 1960s. and of all the women at the seneca falls women's suffrage convention in 1848,just one lived to see women cast their votes. just one.

but these folks didn't let the ugliness and the obstacles deter them. they didn't just give upand retreat to the comfortable company of like-minded folks, because they understood that thisis how democracy operates. it is loud and messy, and it's not particularly warm and fuzzy. andbelieve me, i know this from personal e_perience. (laughter.) over the years, i've occasionallyrun into the noise myself. but i've come to realize that most of that clamor is really comingfrom just a handful of very loud folks out on the fringes.

see, the truth is that the overwhelming majority of people in this country are open-mindedand big-hearted. they are smart enough to see through that noise, and they are so hungry forvoices that rise above it – smart, compassionate, thoughtful voices like yours.

now, the process of democracy might not always be as fast or as smooth as we'd like. but thefact is, it works. generation after generation, this country has become more equal, moreinclusive, more fair, more free. my life and so many of your lives are a testament of that truth.but that has only happened because folks like all of you left their comfort zones and madetheir voices heard.

just look at the story of oberlin college. the founders of this school didn't just decide to admitwomen and african american students and then pat themselves on the back and say “job welldone.” no, even in those early days, folks here at oberlin were attending anti-slavery meetings,shivering on rough wooden benches in unheated, unfinished buildings. they were joining theequal suffrage league and speaking out for women's right to vote.

they were leading civil rights marches and sit-ins, organizing e_change programs withhistorically black colleges and universities, and so much more. because they knew it wasn'tenough to welcome women and african american students to oberlin if they would onlygraduate in four years to be second-class citizens in their own country. they knew that ourpolicies matter. they knew that our laws matter. and i know, as president krislov understands,that electing the right folks matters – it matters a lot.

now, i don't know whether your president knows what i was going to say today, but i know thathe had some kind words for you all about this issue. but it's no coincidence that we're bothurging you to get involved in civic life. because we both know that you cannot fully achieveyour goals of service and social justice if you turn away from politics and public policy.

you see, it's wonderful to volunteer at your local homeless shelter – please do that – but youalso need to attend the city council meetings and make sure the zoning laws don't shut thatshelter down. (applause.) are you thinking of teaching in an under-served school? if so, i'mglad to hear that. so many kids need you. but you've also got to elect good people to yourschool board and state legislature, because they decide whether you have the resources youneed to inspire and empower your students. (applause.)

are you planning to rally for marriage equality on the steps of the supreme court? i certainlyhope so. (applause.) but i also hope you will knock on doors and make some calls to elect apresident who shares your values. because that president will ultimately choose the justiceswho decide those cases in the first place. (applause.)

and finally, while peaceful protest can be powerful, if we truly want to reform our criminaljustice system, then we need to come together and do the hard work of changing our laws andpolicies to reflect our values. (applause.)

now, will this be easy? no, of course not. it will be hard. it will be stressful and frustrating,and you'll probably have to make some painful compromises along the way. after all, lucystone spent years speaking out for partial suffrage – for allowing women to vote only onthings like school issues and local issues – because she realized that full suffrage was just toocontroversial.

and fdr? well, after facing all kinds of opposition, he eventually agreed to a social securityplan that covered only 60 percent of workers. was he thrilled about that? probably not. but inthe end, fdr realized that 60 percent was a whole lot better than zero percent.

now, did these compromises make these leaders sellouts? traitors to their cause? i don't thinkso. instead, i think they knew that if they could just get everyone to take that first step, thenfolks would keep on moving in the right direction. and they also understood that often, thebiggest, most dramatic change happens incrementally, little by little, through compromisesand adjustments over years and decades.

and i know that these days, that can seem counterintuitive, because we live in such aninstantaneous age. we want everything right away – whether it's an uber or your favorite tvshow – and we want it tailored to our e_act preferences and beliefs. we fill our twitter feed withvoices that confirm, rather than challenge, our views. if we dislike someone's facebook post,we just un-follow them, we un-friend them.

and even here at oberlin, most of the time you're probably surrounded by folks who share yourbeliefs. but out in the real world, there are plenty of people who think very differently than youdo, and they hold their opinions just as passionately. so if you want to change their minds, ifyou want to work with them to move this country forward, you can't just shut them out. youhave to persuade them, and you have to compromise with them. that is what so many of ourheroes of history have done.

folks like lucy stone and fdr, they didn't get caught up in their egos or their ideology. theydidn't say “it's my way or the highway.” instead, they knew where they wanted to go, and theywere strategic and pragmatic about getting there. because in the end, they understood, asthe political scientist joseph nye once said, that “the absolutist may avoid the problem of dirtyhands, but often at the cost of having no hands at all.”

and, graduates, with a degree from this amazing school, and all the status and connectionsthat degree confers, you don't get to have no hands. no, you don't get to be precious orcautious or cynical. no, not when the earth is warming and the oceans are rising. you don'tget to be cynical. not when too many young people still languish in communities ripped apartby violence and despair. not when women still make less than men for the same work. notwhen millions of girls across the globe never set foot inside a school. (applause.) no, not whenmany young people just like you – the men and women we honor this memorial day – havesacrificed their lives for your freedom to make your voice heard. you don't get to have no hands.

you see, in his speech to those oberlin graduates 50 years ago, dr. king urged them, as juliasaid, not to sleep through the civil rights revolution that was raging across this country. and,graduates, climate change, economic inequality, human rights, criminal justice – these arethe revolutions of your time. and you have as much responsibility and just as much power towake up and play your part in our great american story. because it is absolutely still possibleto make a difference. the great moments of our history are not decades in our past; they'rehappening right now, today, in our lifetimes.

just think about the folks who are winning those battles state by state, city by city to ensurethat everyone in this country can marry the person they love. (applause.) think about how just10 years ago, gay marriage was legal in just one state in this country – just one – and today, itis legal in 37 states and washington, d.c. (applause.)

think about those elections in __ and __ when idealistic young people like all of youworked long hours for little money and less sleep, pounding the pavement for months, talkingto folks about what was at stake. think about the millions of folks who got out to vote onelection day, waiting in the cold and rain in lines that stretched for hours, refusing to leaveuntil they made their voices heard.

and finally, think about how even with all the gridlock and polarization in washington, we havemade so much change these past si_ years: 12 million new jobs. si_teen million people whofinally have health insurance. historic agreements to fight climate change. epic increases incollege financial aid. more progress on lgbt rights than any time in our history. (applause.)and today, it is no longer remarkable to see two beautiful black girls walking their dogs on thesouth lawn of the white house lawn. that's just the way things are now. (applause.)

see, graduates, this is what happens when you turn your attention outward and decide to bravethe noise and engage yourself in the struggles of our time. and that's why, in his remarks 50years ago, dr. king urged the class of ‘65 to “stand up” and “be a concerned generation.” and,graduates, that call to action applies just as much to all of you today.

and i want to be very clear: every city ordinance, every ballot measure, every law on the booksin this country – that is your concern. what happens at every school board meeting, everylegislative session – that is your concern. every elected official who represents you, from dogcatcher all the way to president of the united states – they are your concern.

so get out there and volunteer on campaigns, and then hold the folks you elect accountable.follow what's happening in your city hall, your statehouse, washington, d.c. better yet, run foroffice yourself. get in there. shake things up. don't be afraid. (applause.) and get out and votein every election – not just the big national ones that get all the attention, but every singleelection. make sure the folks who represent you share your values and aspirations.

see, that is how you will rise above the noise and shape the revolutions of your time. that ishow you will have a meaningful journey on those clamorous highways of life. and, graduates,that is how you will carry on the proud legacy of this great institution for generations to come.

so, again, i'm proud of you all. i am confident in your ability to do amazing things. and i'mhonored to be here to share the beginning of the ne_t phase of that journey with you. we willbe there with you every step of the way. so go out there and make it happen.

thank you all. i wish you the best of luck. god bless. (applause.)

第15篇 奥巴马竞选美国总统英语演讲稿

if there is anyone out there who still doubts that america is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

it's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen; by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the very first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different; that their voice could be that difference.

it's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, democrat and republican, black, white, latino, asian, native american, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled - americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of red states and blue states: we are, and always will be, the united states of america.

it's the answer that led those who have been told for so long by so many to be cynical, and fearful, and doubtful of what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.

it's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to america.

i just received a very gracious call from senator mccain. he fought long and hard in this campaign, and he's fought even longer and harder for the country he loves. he has endured sacrifices for america that most of us cannot begin to imagine, and we are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader. i congratulate him and governor palin for all they have achieved, and i look forward to working with them to renew this nation's promise in the months ahead.

i want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned from his heart and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on the streets of scranton and rode with on that train home to delaware, the vice president-elect of the united states, joe biden.

i would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last si_teen years, the rock of our family and the love of my life, our nation's ne_t first lady, michelle obama. sasha and malia, i love you both so much, and you have earned the new puppy that's coming with us to the white house. and while she's no longer with us, i know my grandmother is watching, along with the family that made me who i am. i miss them tonight, and know that my debt to them is beyond measure.

to my campaign manager david plouffe, my chief strategist david a_elrod, and the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics - you made this happen, and i am forever grateful for what you've sacrificed to get it done. but above all, i will never forget who this victory truly belongs to - it belongs to you.

i was never the likeliest candidate for this office. we didn't start with much money or many endorsements. our campaign was not hatched in the halls of washington - it began in the backyards of des moines and the living rooms of concord and the front porches of charleston.

it was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give five dollars and ten dollars and twenty dollars to this cause. it grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation's apathy; who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep; from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on the doors of perfect strangers; from the millions of americans who volunteered, and organized, and proved that more than two centuries later, a government of the people, by the people and for the people has not perished from this earth. this is your victory.

i know you didn't do this just to win an election and i know you didn't do it for me. you did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. for even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime - two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century. even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave americans waking up in the deserts of iraq and the mountains of afghanistan to risk their lives for us. there are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after their children fall asleep and wonder how they'll make the mortgage, or pay their doctor's bills, or save enough for college. there is new energy to harness and new jobs to be created; new schools to build and threats to meet and alliances to repair.

the road ahead will be long. our climb will be steep. we may not get there in one year or even one term, but america - i have never been more hopeful than i am tonight that we will get there. i promise you - we as a people will get there.

there will be setbacks and false starts. there are many who won't agree with every decision or policy i make as president, and we know that government can't solve every problem. but i will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. i will listen to you, especially when we disagree. and above all, i will ask you join in the work of remaking this nation the only way it's been done in america for two-hundred and twenty-one years - block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand. what began twenty-one months ago in the depths of winter must not end on this autumn night. this victory alone is not the change we seek - it is only the chance for us to make that change. and that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. it cannot happen without you.

so let us summon a new spirit of patriotism; of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other. let us remember that if this financial crisis taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a thriving wall street while main street suffers - in this country, we rise or fall as one nation; as one people.

let us resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long. let us remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the republican party to the white house - a party founded on the values of self-reliance, individual liberty, and national unity. those are values we all share, and while the democratic party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress. as lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, “we are not enemies, but friends…though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection.” and to those americans whose support i have yet to earn - i may not have won your vote, but i hear your voices, i need your help, and i will be your president too.

and to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of our world - our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of american leadership is at hand. to those who would tear this world down - we will defeat you. to those who seek peace and security - we support you. and to all those who have wondered if america's beacon still burns as bright - tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from our the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope.

for that is the true genius of america - that america can change. our union can be perfected. and what we have already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

this election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. but one that's on my mind tonight is about a woman who cast her ballot in atlanta. she's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election e_cept for one thing - ann ni_on cooper is 106 years old. she was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons - because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.

and tonight, i think about all that she's seen throughout her century in america - the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that american creed: yes we can.

at a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. yes we can.

when there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a new deal, new jobs and a new sense of common purpose. yes we can.

when the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. yes we can.

she was there for the buses in montgomery, the hoses in birmingham, a bridge in selma, and a preacher from atlanta who told a people that “we shall overcome.” yes we can.

a man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination. and this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in america, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how america can change. yes we can.

america, we have come so far. we have seen so much. but there is so much more to do. so tonight, let us ask ourselves - if our children should live to see the ne_t century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as ann ni_on cooper, what change will they see? what progress will we have made?

this is our chance to answer that call. this is our moment. this is our time - to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the american dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth - that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people:

yes we can. thank you, god bless you, and may god bless the united states of america.