奥巴马国情咨文演说（中英文对照）

We’ll invest in new capabilities, even as we reduce waste and wartime spending. We will ensure equal treatment for all servicemembers, and equal benefits for their families -- gay and straight. (Applause.) We will draw upon the courage and skills of our sisters and daughters and moms, because women have proven under fire that they are ready for combat.

尽管减少了浪费和战时支出，我们还是会加大能力建设方面的投入。我们将确保现役人员的同等待遇以及给予他们家庭的同等利益，不论同性恋或异性恋。(掌声)我们信赖姐妹、女儿和母亲们的勇气和技能，因为女性已经被证明做好了进入战场的准备。

We will keep faith with our veterans, investing in world-class care, including mental health care, for our wounded warriors -- (applause) -- supporting our military families; giving our veterans the benefits and education and job opportunities that they have earned. And I want to thank my wife, Michelle, and Dr. Jill Biden for their continued dedication to serving our military families as well as they have served us. Thank you, honey. Thank you, Jill. (Applause.)

我们将信守对退伍军人的承诺，为了经历创伤的战士提供世界级的医护，包括精神护理；(掌声)援助军人家庭；给予退伍军人赢得的福利，以及受教育和工作的机会。在此，我也要感谢我的妻子米歇尔，和吉尔·拜登(副总统乔·拜登的妻子——译者注)博士，感谢她们长期致力于为军人家庭提供服务，当然她们也为我们服务。谢谢你，亲爱的。谢谢你，吉尔。(掌声)

Defending our freedom, though, is not just the job of our military alone. We must all do our part to make sure our God-given rights are protected here at home. That includes one of the most fundamental right of a democracy: the right to vote. (Applause.) When any American, no matter where they live or what their party, are denied that right because they can’t afford to wait for five or six or seven hours just to cast their ballot, we are betraying our ideals. (Applause.)

然而，保卫我们自由并不仅仅是军队的职责。我们必须从我做起，在国内保卫我们的天赋权利。其中最重要的基本民主权利之一是：投票权。(掌声)如果任何美国人——无论住在何处或属于哪个政党——因为等不起5个、6个或7个小时来投票而舍弃了这项权利，那么我们就被判了自己的理想。(掌声)

So tonight, I’m announcing a nonpartisan commission to improve the voting experience in America. And it definitely needs improvement. I’m asking two long-time experts in the field -- who, by the way, recently served as the top attorneys for my campaign and for Governor Romney’s campaign -- to lead it. We can fix this, and we will. The American people demand it, and so does our democracy. (Applause.)

因此，今晚我将宣布一个无党派的委员会，来改进美国的投票体验。当然，这最终需要通过国会批准。这个委员会将由两位实践领域的资深专家来领导，他们分别是我与罗姆尼州长竞选期间的最高法律顾问。我们可以解决这个问题。美国人要求解决这个问题，我们的民主制度也要去解决这个问题。(掌声)

Of course, what I’ve said tonight matters little if we don’t come together to protect our most precious resource: our children. It has been two months since Newtown. I know this is not the first time this country has debated how to reduce gun violence. But this time is different. Overwhelming majorities of Americans -- Americans who believe in the Second Amendment -- have come together around common-sense reform, like background checks that will make it harder for criminals to get their hands on a gun. (Applause.) Senators of both parties are working together on tough new laws to prevent anyone from buying guns for resale to criminals. Police chiefs are asking our help to get weapons of war and massive ammunition magazines off our streets, because these police chiefs, they’re tired of seeing their guys and gals being outgunned.

当然，如果我们不齐心协力保护我们最珍贵的资源——我们的孩子们，我今晚所说的这些就都没有意义。纽镇校园枪击事件已经过去两个月了。我知道这不是美国第一次就缓解涉枪暴力展开辩论，但这次有所不同。数量庞大的美国人——他们信赖第二修正案——联合起来希望改变常识，诸如设立持枪者背景情况调查，以使犯罪分子难以获得枪支。(掌声)来自两党的参议员联合起来草拟新的严格法律，以防止枪支转售给犯罪分子。警方要求我们立法禁止战争武器和大容量弹匣枪支携带上街，因为他们再也受不了警察反被对方火力压制。

Each of these proposals deserves a vote in Congress. (Applause.) Now, if you want to vote no, that’s your choice. But these proposals deserve a vote. Because in the two months since Newtown, more than a thousand birthdays, graduations, anniversaries have been stolen from our lives by a bullet from a gun -- more than a thousand.

这些提案，每一个都都有理由交国会投票表决。(掌声)现在，如果你想投反对票，这是你的权利。但这些提案有理由提交表决。因为就在纽镇枪击事件两个月后，又有1000多个生日庆祝、毕业典礼、年度纪念被从我们的生活中偷走了，所用的是一支枪、一颗子弹。

One of those we lost was a young girl named Hadiya Pendleton. She was 15 years old. She loved Fig Newtons and lip gloss. She was a majorette. She was so good to her friends they all thought they were her best friend. Just three weeks ago, she was here, in Washington, with her classmates, performing for her country at my inauguration. And a week later, she was shot and killed in a Chicago park after school, just a mile away from my house.

其中有一个失去生命的叫海迪亚·潘德尔顿的小女孩。她才15岁。她喜欢无花果酥和唇膏。她是学校的乐队指挥。她对朋友们很好，他们都把她当最好的朋友。就在三周以前，她还在华盛顿，和同学们一起在我的就职典礼上演奏。一周以后放学时，她在芝加哥一个公园里遭枪击身亡，那里离我家不过一英里。

Hadiya’s parents, Nate and Cleo, are in this chamber tonight, along with more than two dozen Americans whose lives have been torn apart by gun violence. They deserve a vote. They deserve a vote. (Applause.) Gabby Giffords deserves a vote. (Applause.) The families of Newtown deserve a vote. (Applause.) The families of Aurora deserve a vote. (Applause.) The families of Oak Creek and Tucson and Blacksburg, and the countless other communities ripped open by gun violence –- they deserve a simple vote. (Applause.) They deserve a simple vote.

海迪亚的父母内特和克里欧今晚就在会场，同时在场还有20多名被涉枪暴力夺去亲人的美国人。他们有理由要求一个表决。他们有理由要求一个表决。(掌声)嘉比·吉福德有理由要求表决。(掌声)纽镇枪击案受害者家庭有理由要求表决。(掌声)奥罗拉电影院枪击案家庭有理由要求表决。(掌声)奥克里克、图森和布莱克斯堡的受害者家庭有理由要求表决。(掌声)无数被涉枪暴力摧毁的社区有理由要求表决——他们有理由要求一个简单的表决。(掌声)他们有理由要求一个简单的表决。

Our actions will not prevent every senseless act of violence in this country. In fact, no laws, no initiatives, no administrative acts will perfectly solve all the challenges I’ve outlined tonight. But we were never sent here to be perfect. We were sent here to make what difference we can, to secure this nation, expand opportunity, uphold our ideals through the hard, often frustrating, but absolutely necessary work of self-government.

我们的行动不可能防止这个国家所有无意义的暴力行为。事实上，没有哪个法律、倡议、行政行为能够完全完美地解决所有以上提到的挑战。但我们不是来寻求完美的。我们是来寻求力所能及的改变的，来保护国家、拓展机会，在困难且经常是令人沮丧的境况下坚持我们的理想，进行绝对必要的自我管理。