美国总统奥巴马每周电台演讲2013.02.03

译文来自恒星网友: 刘浩男的日志

Hi, everybody. In the coming weeks, we face some important decisions about how to pay down our debt in a way that grows our economy and creates good jobs– decisions that will make a real difference in the strength and pace of our recovery.

大家好。在今后的几周里，我们面临一些重大的决定，这些决定关乎如何以发展我们的经济并且创造好工作的方式来偿还我们的债务—一些使我们的复兴脚步和力度有所改变的决定。

We began this year with economists and business leaders saying that we are poised to grow in 2013. And there are real signs of progress: Home prices are starting to climb again. Car sales are at a five-year high. Manufacturing is roaring back. Our businesses created 2.2 million jobs last year. And we just learned that our economy created more jobs over the last few months than economists originally thought.

新年伊始，经济学家们和企业领导人们都说我们在2013年蓄势待发。经济发展已经显露端倪：房价正在重新攀升。汽车销量处于五年来的最高点。制造业再次腾飞。我们的企业去年创造了二百二十万个就业岗位。我们得知我们的经济在过去的几个月里创造的就业机会超过了经济学家们先前的预测。

But this week, we also received the first estimate of America’s economic growth over the last few months. And it reminded us that bad decisions in Washington can get in the way of our economic progress.

但是本周，我们还得到了过去几个月来美国的经济增长的初步估计。这个估计表明华盛顿做出的拙劣决策会妨碍我们的经济增长。

We all agree that it’s critical to cut unnecessary spending. But we can’t just cut our way to prosperity. It hasn’t worked in the past, and it won’t work today. It could slow down our recovery. It could weaken our economy. And it could cost us jobs – now, and in the future.

我们都认为削减不必要的开支至关重要。但是我们绝不能斩断通往繁荣的道路。它在过去行不通，在今天同样行不通。它只能拖我们复兴的后腿。它只能削弱我们的经济。它只能减少我们的就业机会—现在如此，将来也如此。

What we need instead is a balanced approach; an approach that says let’s cut what we can’t afford but let’s make the investments we can’t afford to live without. Investments in education and infrastructure, research and development – the things that will help America compete for the best jobs and new industries.

我们需要的与此恰恰相反，我们选择了统筹兼顾的方式；这种方式要求我们削减无法承受的项目而投资于与我们的生活息息相关的项目。投资于教育和基本建设，研究和开发—投资于那些帮助美国在最好的工作和新行业的竞争中取胜的项目。

Already, Republicans and Democrats have worked together to reduce our deficits by $2.5 trillion. That’s a good start. But to get the rest of the way, we need a balanced set of reforms.

共和党人和民主党人已经同心协力使我们的赤字减少了二万五千亿美元。这是个良好的开端。但是要把其它的事办好，我们需要一系列统筹兼顾的改革。

For example, we need to lower the cost of health care in programs like Medicare that are the biggest drivers of our deficit, without just passing the burden off to seniors. And these reforms must go hand-in-hand with eliminating excess spending in our tax code, so that the wealthiest individuals and biggest corporations can’t take advantage of loopholes and deductions that aren’t available to most Americans.

例如，我们需要降低占我们的赤字的最大部分诸如医保的保健项目的成本，而且不能把这个负担甩给我们的老人们。这些改革必须与消除税法造成的过度开支，这样那些最富有的人们和最大的公司们就不能占法律漏洞和绝大多数美国人都没能享受的减税的便宜。

2013 can be a year of solid growth, more jobs, and higher wages. But that will only happen if we put a stop to self-inflicted wounds in Washington. Everyone in Washington needs to focus not on politics but on what’s right for the country; on what’s right for you and your families. That’s how we’ll get our economy growing faster. That’s how we’ll strengthen our middle class. And that’s how we’ll build a country that rewards the effort and determination of every single American.

2013年必定是一个稳步增长、就业增加和工资提高的一年。但是这只能在我们叫停华盛顿的自残行为的情况下才能发生。华盛顿的每个人都不应该醉心与政治而是应该致力于我们的国家；致力于有利于你们和你们的家庭的事。我们就是这样加速我们的经济发展。我们就是这样加强我们的中产阶级。我们就是这样打造一个鼓励每个人的决心和努力的国家。

Thanks. And have a great weekend.

多谢。周末愉快。