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Remarks by President Obama to Parliament in London
奥巴马在英国议会发表讲话 [视频]

US President Barack Obama (L) and first lady Michelle Obama (R) talk to Britain's Prince William (2nd L) and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge at Buckingham Palace, in London May 24, 2011. [Photo/Agencies]
US President Barack Obama (L) and first lady Michelle Obama (R) talk to Britain's Prince William (2nd L) and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge at Buckingham Palace, in London May 24, 2011. [Photo/Agencies]


Now, this doesn't mean we can afford to stand still. The nature of our leadership will need to change with the times. As I said the first time I came to London as President, for the G20 summit, the days are gone when Roosevelt and Churchill could sit in a room and solve the world's problems over a glass of brandy -- although I'm sure that Prime Minister Cameron would agree that some days we could both use a stiff drink. (Laughter.) In this century, our joint leadership will require building new partnerships, adapting to new circumstances, and remaking ourselves to meet the demands of a new era. 这不意味着我们可以停步不前。我们的领导作用的性质需顺应时代的要求。如我首次作为总统前来伦敦出席20国集团峰会时所说,罗斯福和丘吉尔可以坐在房间里喝着白兰地解决世界上存在的问题,这个时代已经过去——尽管我想卡梅伦首相一定会同意,什么时候我们也可以来点烈性酒。在这个世纪,我们的共同领导作用将要求我们建立新的伙伴关系,适应新的情况,为符合新时代的要求调整我们自己。
That begins with our economic leadership. 首先谈谈我们在经济领域的领导作用。
Adam Smith's central insight remains true today: There is no greater generator of wealth and innovation than a system of free enterprise that unleashes the full potential of individual men and women. That's what led to the Industrial Revolution that began in the factories of Manchester. That is what led to the dawn of the Information Age that arose from the office parks of Silicon Valley. That's why countries like China, India and Brazil are growing so rapidly -- because in fits and starts, they are moving toward market-based principles that the United States and the United Kingdom have always embraced. 亚当·斯密的核心见解在今天仍然是正确的:一个能够全部发挥男性和女性的个人潜能的自由企业制度是带来财富和创新的最有力的引擎。正是它引发了在曼彻斯特的工厂中兴起的工业革命。正是它催发了从硅谷的办公园区开始的信息时代的黎明。中国、印度和巴西等国正在如此迅猛地发展的原因恰恰在于,他们时断时续地在向美国和英国一贯推行的以市场为导向的原则迈进。
In other words, we live in a global economy that is largely of our own making. And today, the competition for the best jobs and industries favors countries that are free-thinking and forward-looking; countries with the most creative and innovative and entrepreneurial citizens. 换言之,我们现在的全球经济基本上是由我们自己所为。今天,思想自由、向前看的国家在竞争最好的工作和产业时处于有利地位,这些国家拥有最具创造力、创新性和创业精神的公民。
That gives nations like the United States and the United Kingdom an inherent advantage. For from Newton and Darwin to Edison and Einstein, from Alan Turing to Steve Jobs, we have led the world in our commitment to science and cutting-edge research, the discovery of new medicines and technologies. We educate our citizens and train our workers in the best colleges and universities on Earth. But to maintain this advantage in a world that's more competitive than ever, we will have to redouble our investments in science and engineering, and renew our national commitments to educating our workforces. 这使美国和英国等国享有一种内在的优势。因为我们以我们对科学和尖端研究、对开发新药和新技术的全力投入引领世界:从牛顿和达尔文到爱迪生和爱因斯坦,从阿兰·图灵到史蒂夫·乔布斯。我们在地球上最好的高等院校中让我们的公民受到教育,让我们的劳动者得到培训。但要在一个竞争日益激烈的世界里保持这种优势,我们必须加倍投资于科学和工程领域,并重新推动国家培训劳动大军的努力。
We've also been reminded in the last few years that markets can sometimes fail. In the last century, both our nations put in place regulatory frameworks to deal with such market failures -- safeguards to protect the banking system after the Great Depression, for example; regulations that were established to prevent the pollution of our air and water during the 1970s. 我们也在最近几年中再次认识到,市场有时会失灵。上个世纪,我们两国都建立了应对这类市场失灵的框架——例如,在大萧条过后建立的保护银行系统的保障措施,以及1970年代确立的保护我们的空气和水不受污染的监管措施。
But in today's economy, such threats of market failure can no longer be contained within the borders of any one country. Market failures can go global, and go viral, and demand international responses. A financial crisis that began on Wall Street infected nearly every continent, which is why we must keep working through forums like the G20 to put in place global rules of the road to prevent future excesses and abuse. No country can hide from the dangers of carbon pollution, which is why we must build on what was achieved at Copenhagen and Cancun to leave our children a planet that is safer and cleaner. 但在当今的经济形势下,上述威胁已不可能被遏制在任何一国的国境之内。市场失灵的情况可能波及全球并迅速蔓延,必须采取国际性举措予以应对。从华尔街开始的金融危机波及几乎各大洲,因此,我们必须通过G20这样的论坛继续努力,确立全球性通行规则,以防今后再出现过度行为和滥用现象。没有任何一个国家能躲过碳污染之害,因此,我们必须巩固在哥本哈根和坎昆取得的成果,让我们的子孙拥有一个更安全、更清洁的星球。
Moreover, even when the free market works as it should, both our countries recognize that no matter how responsibly we live in our lives, hard times or bad luck, a crippling illness or a layoff may strike any one of us. And so part of our common tradition has expressed itself in a conviction that every citizen deserves a basic measure of security -- health care if you get sick, unemployment insurance if you lose your job, a dignified retirement after a lifetime of hard work. That commitment to our citizens has also been the reason for our leadership in the world. 此外,即使是在自由市场正常运转的时候,我们两国也都认识到,不论我们在生活中多么认真尽责,任何人都可能遇到困境或不幸,都可能被疾病缠身或遭到解雇。因此,我们的一个共同传统体现在这样一个信念之中:每位公民都应享有基本的安全保障——生病时有医疗服务,失业时有失业保险,在毕生辛勤工作后有体面的退休生活。我们对公民的这一承诺也是我们能在全世界发挥领导作用的原因之一。
And now, having come through a terrible recession, our challenge is to meet these obligations while ensuring that we're not consuming -- and hence consumed with -- a level of debt that could sap the strength and vitality of our economies. And that will require difficult choices and it will require different paths for both of our countries. But we have faced such challenges before, and have always been able to balance the need for fiscal responsibility with the responsibilities we have to one another. 现在,在经历了严重的经济衰退后,我们今天的挑战是履行这些义务,同时确保我们的消费不会导致债务缠身,以致可能削弱我们的经济力量与活力。这将需要我们做出艰难的抉择并要求我们两国都采取不同的路线。但是我们过去曾面对过这样的挑战,并始终能够兼顾财政责任的需要与我们相互承担的责任。


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