当前位置: Language Tips> 名人演讲

奥巴马2014国情咨文(视频)

2014-02-07 15:13

分享到

 

 
But Americans overwhelmingly agree that no one who works full time should ever have to raise a family in poverty.
但是大多数美国人认为全职工作养家糊口的人不应该处在贫穷中。
 

In the year since I asked this Congress to raise the minimum wage, five states have passed laws to raise theirs. Many businesses have done it on their own. Nick Chute is here tonight with his boss, John Soranno. John's an owner of Punch Pizza in Minneapolis, and Nick helps make the dough. Only now he makes more of it: John just gave his employees a raise, to ten bucks an hour - a decision that eased their financial stress and boosted their morale.

从我请求国会提高最低工资的那年起,五个州已经出台了提高当地最低工资法律规定。许多企业也实行了这项规定。今晚尼克•邱特和他的的老板约翰•索拉诺都在这里。约翰是明尼阿波里斯市一家匹萨店的老板,尼克帮他做面团。最近他做了些改善:约翰把员工的工资涨到了每小时10美元,这项决定不仅改善了员工的经济压力也提高了员工的士气。

Tonight, I ask more of America's business leaders to follow John's lead and do what you can to raise your employees' wages. To every mayor, governor and state legislator in America, I say, you don't have to wait for Congress to act; Americans will support you if you take this on. And as a chief executive, I intend to lead by example. Profitable corporations like Costco see higher wages as the smart way to boost productivity and reduce turnover. We should too. In the coming weeks, I will issue an executive order requiring federal contractors to pay their federally-funded employees a fair wage of at least $10.10 an hour - because if you cook our troops' meals or wash their dishes, you shouldn't have to live in poverty.

今晚,我希望能有更多的美国企业家能够效仿约翰,尽最大努力地提高员工的工资。对每一位市长、地方长官和州议员,我想说的是,你们不必等到国会的决策出台后再行动,如果你们能执行这项决定,全美国都会支持你们。作为美国总统,我希望能以身作则。像科斯科(美国连锁企业)以创造利润为目标的企业,都把提高员工工资看作是提高生产效率和降低员工离职率的方式。我们也应该采取这种办法。在接下来的几周,我将签发一项总统令,要求联邦承包商付给那些为联邦工作的雇员们的最低工资为10.10美元每小时——因为如果你在为我们的军队做饭或者是洗碗,你不该为维持生计发愁。

Of course, to reach millions more, Congress needs to get on board. Today, the federal minimum wage is worth about 20 percent less than it was when Ronald Reagan first stood here. Tom Harkin and George Miller have a bill to fix that by lifting the minimum wage to $10.10. This will help families. It will give businesses customers with more money to spend. It doesn't involve any new bureaucratic program. So join the rest of the country. Say yes. Give America a raise.

当然,要想达到几百万甚至更多公司提高最低工资,还得国会同意。现在的联邦最低工资比罗纳德•里根第一次站在这里时少20%。在最低工资提高到10.10美元后,汤姆•哈尔金和乔治•米勒将会有一笔账要算。这项总统令可以帮助很多家庭,让企业的客户们有更多的钱消费。而且它没有卷入任何具有官僚主义的政治项目里。所以希望国家的其它地方加入到这个计划进来,与美国一起进步。

There are other steps we can take to help families make ends meet, and few are more effective at reducing inequality and helping families pull themselves up through hard work than the earned income tax credit. Right now, it helps about half of all parents at some point. But I agree with Republicans like Sen. Rubio that it doesn't do enough for single workers who don't have kids. So let's work together to strengthen the credit, reward work, and help more Americans get ahead.

我们也可以采取其他措施实现各个家庭收支相抵。在减少不平等现象、帮助家庭改善现状方面,减免所得税额似乎更能达到该目的。现在它已在一定程度上帮助了大约半数的家庭。不过,我也同意共和党参议员鲁比奥先生的看法,这对尚无孩子的单身工人来说还远远不够。那就让我们一同协作,加强税收减免,奖励工作,让更多美国人实现富裕。

Let's do more to help Americans save for retirement. Today, most workers don't have a pension. A Social Security check often isn't enough on its own. And while the stock market has doubled over the last five years, that doesn't help folks who don't have 401ks. That's why, tomorrow, I will direct the Treasury to create a new way for working Americans to start their own retirement savings: MyRA. It's a new savings bond that encourages folks to build a nest egg. MyRA guarantees a decent return with no risk of losing what you put in. And if this Congress wants to help, work with me to fix an upside-down tax code that gives big tax breaks to help the wealthy save, but does little to nothing for middle-class Americans. Offer every American access to an automatic IRA on the job, so they can save at work just like everyone in this chamber can. And since the most important investment many families make is their home, send me legislation that protects taxpayers from footing the bill for a housing crisis ever again, and keeps the dream of homeownership alive for future generations of Americans.

让我们一起帮助民众为退休储蓄。如今大多数员工都没有退休金。单靠一张社会保险金的支票是不够的。虽然过去五年里股票市场翻了一番,但这并没能帮到那些未加入401k退休计划的人。因此明天我会指示财政部创造一种新方式,确保工作人群可以开始为退休储蓄,它就是“我的退休账户(MyRA)”——一种鼓励人们创建新账户的新型储蓄债券,可确保人们存钱后无任何赔钱的风险,未来也会有一笔可观的收入。如果这一届国会想出一份力,那就和我一起修复原先那个糟糕的免税代码——它提供的税务减免有助于富人储蓄,对中产阶级的民众却无多大帮助。让每个工作的美国人都能自动拥有“个人退休金账户(IRA)”,这样他们就可以跟在场的各位一样为退休储蓄。由于很多家庭进行的最重要的投资就是他们的家,因此我们要通过立法,确保纳税人不再为住房危机埋单,让美国未来的世世代代保持着拥有住房的梦想。

One last point on financial security. For decades, few things exposed hard-working families to economic hardship more than a broken health care system. And in case you haven't heard, we're in the process of fixing that.

关于财政保障我再提最后一点。数十年来,没有什么会比一个失败的医保体制更能让勤劳努力的家庭陷入经济困难的境地。如果你们还不清楚情况的话,那么我告诉你们,我们正在修复这个体制。

A pre-existing condition used to mean that someone like Amanda Shelley, a physician assistant and single mom from Arizona, couldn't get health insurance. But on January 1st, she got covered. On January 3rd, she felt a sharp pain. On January 6th, she had emergency surgery. Just one week earlier, Amanda said, that surgery would've meant bankruptcy.

“已有疾病情况”指的就是像阿曼达•谢莉这一类人,她是亚利桑那州的一名医师助理,也是一位单亲妈妈,原先没有健康保险。但是1月1日,她有了医保。1月3日,她感觉到一阵疼痛。1月6日,她接受了紧急手术。一周前,她说如果没有保险,那次手术就会意味着破产。

That's what health insurance reform is all about - the peace of mind that if misfortune strikes, you don't have to lose everything.

所以这就是为什么要进行医保改革,这样不幸降临时你就能平常心面对,你也不用失去一切。

Already, because of the Affordable Care Act, more than 3 million Americans under age 26 have gained coverage under their parents' plans.

现在,由于平价医疗法案,300多万26岁以下的年轻人加入了父母的医疗保险计划。

 

分享到

中国日报网英语点津版权说明:凡注明来源为“中国日报网英语点津:XXX(署名)”的原创作品,除与中国日报网签署英语点津内容授权协议的网站外,其他任何网站或单位未经允许不得非法盗链、转载和使用,违者必究。如需使用,请与010-84883561联系;凡本网注明“来源:XXX(非英语点津)”的作品,均转载自其它媒体,目的在于传播更多信息,其他媒体如需转载,请与稿件来源方联系,如产生任何问题与本网无关;本网所发布的歌曲、电影片段,版权归原作者所有,仅供学习与研究,如果侵权,请提供版权证明,以便尽快删除。

中国日报网双语新闻

扫描左侧二维码

添加Chinadaily_Mobile
你想看的我们这儿都有!

中国日报双语手机报

点击左侧图标查看订阅方式

中国首份双语手机报
学英语看资讯一个都不能少!

关注和订阅

本文相关阅读
人气排行
搜热词
 
 
精华栏目
 

阅读

词汇

视听

翻译

口语

合作

 

关于我们 | 联系方式 | 招聘信息

Copyright by chinadaily.com.cn. All rights reserved. None of this material may be used for any commercial or public use. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. 版权声明:本网站所刊登的中国日报网英语点津内容,版权属中国日报网所有,未经协议授权,禁止下载使用。 欢迎愿意与本网站合作的单位或个人与我们联系。

电话:8610-84883645

传真:8610-84883500

Email: languagetips@chinadaily.com.cn