您现在的位置: Language Tips> Audio & Video> Normal Speed News  
   
 





 
Obama calls on Americans to summon spirit of founding fathers
[ 2009-07-06 14:57 ]

Download

On U.S. Independence Day, President Barack Obama is calling on Americans to remember the spirit of the nation's founders, and to embrace his domestic initiatives. Republican Senator John McCain, meanwhile, wants stronger U.S. language against Iran's violent crackdown on protesters.

Obama calls on Americans to summon spirit of founding fathers

President Obama, in his weekly address, asks Americans to remember the sacrifices and achievements of the men who voted for independence 233 years ago.

"We are called to remember how unlikely it was that our American experiment would succeed at all; that a small band of patriots would declare independence from a powerful empire; and that they would form, in the new world, what the old world had never known - a government of, by and for the people," he said.

In July, 1776, the representatives of 13 British colonies in America, gathered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, voted to declare independence from Britain and formed a new nation. At the same time, colonists in hastily-organized and poorly-financed militias battled the British Army for several years, until London officially recognized U.S. independence.

Mr. Obama called on Americans to recall those patriots' spirit and support his plans to reform the U.S. education, health care and energy policies.

"We are not a people who fear the future. We are a people who make it. And on this July 4th, we need to summon that spirit once more. We need to summon the same spirit that inhabited Independence Hall 233 years ago today."

Obama calls on Americans to summon spirit of founding fathers

The president is celebrating Independence Day with a traditional barbecue and fireworks on the White House lawn, with 1,200 military families invited to attend. He is also celebrating his daughter Malia's 11th birthday. Mr. Obama leaves late Sunday for a week-long trip to Russia, Italy and Ghana.

In the weekly Republican Party message, Senator John McCain of Arizona is also paying tribute to the nation's founding fathers, who he says "stood up to a powerful oppressor and claimed their natural right to liberty."

McCain is also invoking the patriots' spirit as he calls on the Obama administration to speak out more forcefully in support of the anti-government protesters in Iran. "They did not ask us to arm them or come to their assistance with anything other than public declarations of solidarity and public denunciations of the tyrants who oppress them. We have a moral obligation to do so," he said.

Senator McCain is rejecting earlier White House claims that a more vocal response by Washington would have supported the Iranian government's claims of U.S. interference.

"Do they really believe Iranians do not know why they are protesting, and who is oppressing them? Do they think Iranians whose votes were discarded, whose voices have been ignored, whose lives have been threatened by the regime they wish to be rid of, will think America has put them in that position?" he said.

U.S. Independence Day is traditionally celebrated with picnics, parades, concerts, fireworks displays, and readings of the Declaration of Independence.

founding father: 开国者,创立人

Related stories:

More job losses cloud US employment picture

Obama signs anti-smoking law

Obama calls for US immigration reform

Obama announces medicare, medicaid savings proposals

(Source: VOA 英语点津编辑)

英语点津版权说明:凡注明来源为“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010-84883631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。
相关文章 Related Story
 
 
 
本频道最新推荐
 
Order restored in Urumqi after carnage
阿姆斯特丹将为红灯区妓女开设银行服务
人民币“跨境结算” cross-border settlement
全球幸福指数大调查 富国反而不快乐
Year-round residents & summer people
翻吧推荐
 
论坛热贴
 
索尼公司评"Michael Jackson"去世的译文
“无厘头”用英语如何表达?
迈克,突然好想你
给我的译文挑挑毛病
原来国家的名字如此浪漫