美国总统奥巴马每周电台演讲2014.01.05

 
Hi, everybody, and Happy New Year.
 大家好，新年快乐。
 
This is a time when we look ahead to all the possibilities and opportunities of the year to come – when we resolve to better ourselves, and to better our relationships with one another.  And today, I want to talk about one place that Washington should start – a place where we can make a real and powerful difference in the lives of many of our fellow Americans right now.
 一元复始，万象更新。新的一年我们将成就更好的自己，也为自己打造更好的人际关系。今天，我想跟大家讨论一下华盛顿当下应该做好的事情，这件事情将为当下众多美国民众的生活带来切实有效的改变。
 
Just a few days after Christmas, more than one million of our fellow Americans lost a vital economic lifeline – the temporary insurance that helps folks make ends meet while they look for a job.  Republicans in Congress went home for the holidays and let that lifeline expire.  And for many of their constituents who are unemployed through no fault of their own, that decision will leave them with no income at all.
 刚过圣诞节，100多万美国同胞就失去了基本的生活保障——临时失业保险，这一帮助人们在寻找工作的时候实现收支平衡的福利政策。国会的共和党人回家过节去了，任由这一生命线一般的福利政策过期作废。大多数人的失业并不是由于本人原因造成的，而这一决定让让他们失去了唯一的收入。
 
We make this promise to one another because it makes a difference to a mother who needs help feeding her kids while she’s looking for work; to a father who needs help paying the rent while learning the skills to get a new and better job.  And denying families that security is just plain cruel.  We’re a better country than that.  We don’t abandon our fellow Americans when times get tough – we keep the faith with them until they start that new job.
 我们之所以提出这一提案，正是因为有了它，将给还在寻找工作的母亲抚育孩子们带来改变；给还在学习新技能适应新需求的父亲支付房租带来改变。拒绝为这些家庭提供基本保障带来的痛苦是残忍的。我们应该可以做的更好。我们不能看着我们的同胞经受困苦而遗弃他们，我们要始终与他们同心同德，直到他们找到新的工作。
 
What’s more, it actually slows down the economy for all of us.  If folks can’t pay their bills or buy the basics, like food and clothes, local businesses take a hit and hire fewer workers.  That’s why the independent Congressional Budget Office says that unless Congress restores this insurance, we’ll feel a drag on our economic growth this year.  And after our businesses created more than two million new jobs last year, that’s a self-inflicted wound we don’t need.
 更重要的是，失业已经拖累了整个经济的发展。如果人们不能应付日常的衣服食品之类的基本支出，本地企业将受到打击，雇佣员工人数也将下降。正因如此，独立的国会预算办公室称除非国会重新出台失业保险政策，否则我们今年的经济增长将受到明显拖累。去年企业创造了200多万就业岗位，我们不能承受这样的自我伤害。
 
So when Congress comes back to work this week, their first order of business should be making this right.  Right now, a bipartisan group in Congress is working on a three-month extension of unemployment insurance – and if they pass it, I will sign it.  For decades, Republicans and Democrats put partisanship and ideology aside to offer some security for job-seekers, even when the unemployment rate was lower than it is today.  Instead of punishing families who can least afford it, Republicans should make it their New Year’s resolution to do the right thing, and restore this vital economic security for their constituents right now.
 因此，这周国会议员们回来上班的第一件事就是在这方面做出正确选择。现在，国会的一个两党联合小组正在起草一项三个月的失业保险延期方案，如果该方案获得通过，我会立即签署。十多年来，共和党和民主党在为求职者提供保障问题上一直在进行合作，双方抛弃了党派和意识形态的差异，即便在失业率远比今天还低的时候也是如此。共和党不应该让众多家庭承受不可承受之重，而应该在新的一年妥善解决这一问题，为他们提供至关重要的基本生活保障。
 
After all, our focus as a country this year shouldn’t be shrinking our economy, but growing it; not narrowing opportunity, but expanding it; not fewer jobs, but doing everything we can to help our businesses create more of the good jobs that a growing middle class requires.
 总之，作为一个国家，新的一年，我们的重点工作不是让经济萎缩，而是促进其增长；不是减少机会，而是创造更多机会；不是减少就业岗位，而是尽一切可能帮助私营企业创造更多待遇优厚的就业岗位，满足持续增加的中产阶级的需求。
 
That’s my New Year’s resolution – to do everything I can, every single day, to help make 2014 a year in which more of our citizens can earn their own piece of the American Dream.
 这是我新的一年的施政取向，每一天尽我一切努力，在2014年里，让更多公民实现他们的美国梦。
 
After five years of working and sacrificing to recover and rebuild from crisis, we have it within our power, right now, to move this country forward.  It’s entirely up to us.  And I’m optimistic for the year that lies ahead.
 经济危机之后，我们经历了5年的艰辛努力和付出，终于从危急中复苏，我们依靠的是自己的力量，现在，我们要靠自己将国家继续推向前进。这要依靠我们所有人。我对新的一年充满了期望。
 
Thank you, and have a great weekend.
 谢谢大家，周末愉快！