2016年奥巴马国情咨文演讲

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?
事实上，我们有许多优秀的企业公民都是极富创造力的。这也是美国要回答的第二个大问题：如何重燃创新精神，迎接重大挑战？

Sixty 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.
六十年前，俄罗斯人发射人造卫星，在太空领域领先于我们，这点我们并未否认。我们没有就科学水平进行争论，或缩减我们的研发预算。我们在很短的时间内制定了太空计划，十二年后，我们已经能在月球上行走。

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.
探索精神存在于我们的基因里。我们是托马斯•爱迪生、怀特兄弟、乔治•华盛顿•卡弗。我们是葛丽丝•霍普、凯瑟琳•约翰逊、莎莉・莱德。我们是从波士顿到奥斯丁再到硅谷的移民和企业家，我们力求建设更美好的世界。过去七年里，我们一直在培养这种精神。

We've protected an open internet, and taken bold new steps to get more students and low-income Americans online. We've launched next-generation manufacturing hubs, and online tools that give an entrepreneur everything he or she needs to start a business in a single day.
我们保护了开放的互联网，我们迈出了大胆的一大步，让更多学生和低收入者加入互联网这个大家庭。我们已经开始建设新一代制造业中心，我们的网络工具让企业家在一天内就能获得创立一个企业所需的一切。

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.
但是，我们能做的还不止这些。去年，副总统拜登曾说，要把治愈癌症作为一项新的登月计划去实现。上个月，他与国会通力合作，为国立卫生研究院的科学家们提供了大量资源，这是10多年来科学家们获得的最强有力的资源支持。今晚我宣布，我们将举全国之力促成这项新计划。在过去的40年里，乔为我们在众多问题上竭尽心力，因此，我任命他主管这一抗癌计划。为了我们已逝去的亲人，为了我们还能拯救的家庭，我们应该携手，让美国成为一个彻底攻克癌症的国家。

Medical research is critical. We need the same level of commitment when it comes to developing clean energy sources.
医学研究是重中之重。在发展清洁能源的问题上，我们同样需要全力以赴。

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.
如果你还要质疑我们针对气候变化进行的科学研究，你可以试试。你会发现自己孤立无援，因为站在你对面的是我们的军方、绝大多数美国商业领袖、大多数美国民众、几乎整个科学界，以及全世界200个国家，这些国家都意识到了问题的严重性，想要着手解决它。

But even if the planet wasn't at stake; even if 2014 wasn't the warmest year on record – until 2015 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?
就算我们的星球还没到岌岌可危的地步，2014年也并非史上最热的一年（因为2015年更热），我们为什么要放弃让美国企业生产并销售未来能源的大好机会呢？

Seven years ago, we made the single biggest investment in clean energy in our history. Here are the results. In fields from Iowa to Texas, 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 sixty percent, and cut carbon pollution more than any other country on Earth.
七年前，我们在清洁能源领域进行了美国历史上最大规模的一次投资。成果如下：从爱荷华州到德克萨斯州，现在风能比污染环境的传统能源价格低廉。从亚利桑那州到纽约州，每年太阳能为美国民众减少了上千万美元的能源支出，同时创造了多于煤炭行业的就业机会，并且这些就业的收入高于平均水平。我们正在逐步采取措施，让每家每户都可以生产并储存自己的能源——环保主义者和茶党人士正为此事通力合作，为家庭自产能源提供支持。同时，我们的石油进口量下降了近60%，减少的碳排放量居全球第一。

Gas under two bucks a gallon ain't bad, either.
2美元1加仑的油价也不算贵。

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 taxpayers 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.
现在我们不得不加速实现从污染能源向清洁能源的过渡。我们不应该补贴过去，而是应该投资未来——尤其是在依赖化石燃料的社区。这就是我为什么要敦促改变石油和煤炭资源管理方式的原因，只有这样才能更好地反映纳税人为此支付的税款以及地球为此付出的代价。通过这种方式，我们把钱重新投入到这些社区，让成千上万的美国人一起构建21世纪的交通运输系统。

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.
所有这一切都不是一蹴而就的。诚然，还有许多既得利益者想要维持现状。但是，改变现状能让我们创造新的就业，节省更多资金，我们的星球也得到了保护——这种未来才是我们应该留给后代子孙的。