Let me begin by thanking George Mason University for their extraordinary hospitality and to thank all the great friends, the governors, the mayors who are in attendance here today. 首先，我要感谢乔治梅森大学的盛情款待，也要感谢今天出席的所有好朋友、州长和市长们。
Throughout America's history, there have been some years that simply rolled into the next without much notice or fanfare. And then there are the years that come along once in a generation, the kind that mark a clean break from a troubled past and set a new course for our nation. This is one of those years. 纵观美国历史，有些年份悄无声息地汇入下一年，并未引起太多关注或喧哗。然而也有一代人才出现一次的年份，这种年份标志着与多舛过去的彻底决裂，并为我们的国家开辟新的航向。今年正是这样的年份。
We start 2009 in the midst of a crisis unlike any we have seen in our lifetime, a crisis that has only deepened over the last few weeks. Nearly two million jobs have been now lost. And on Friday, we're likely to learn that we lost more jobs last year than at any time since World War II. Just in the past year, another 2.8 million Americans who want and need full-time work have had to settle for part-time jobs. Manufacturing has hit a 28-year low. Many businesses cannot borrow or make payroll. Many families cannot pay their bills or their mortgage. 我们步入2009年之际，正身处一场我们有生以来从未见过的危机之中，这场危机在过去几周内只是愈发严重。目前已失去近两百万个就业岗位。而到周五，我们可能会获悉，去年失去的就业岗位比二战以来的任何一年都多。仅在过去一年里，又有280万渴望并需要全职工作的美国人不得不屈就于兼职岗位。制造业跌至28年来的最低点。许多企业无法借贷或支付员工工资。许多家庭无法支付账单或抵押贷款。
Many workers are watching their life savings disappear. And many, many Americans are both anxious and uncertain of what the future will hold. 许多劳动者眼睁睁看着自己一生的积蓄消失殆尽。许许多多美国人对未来既焦虑又充满不确定感。
Now, I don't believe it's too late to change course, but it will be if we don't take dramatic action as soon as possible. If nothing is done, this recession could linger for years. The unemployment rate could reach double digits. Our economy could fall 1 trillion dollars short of its full capacity, which translates into more than 12,000 dollars in lost income for a family of four. We could lose a generation of potential and promise as more young Americans are forced to forego dreams of college or the chance to train for the jobs of the future. 我并不认为现在改变航向已经太迟，但如果我们不尽速采取重大行动，那就真的为时已晚。如果不采取任何措施，这场衰退可能持续数年。失业率可能达到两位数。我国经济可能比其全部产能少1万亿美元，这相当于一个四口之家损失超过12000美元的收入。我们可能会失去整整一代人的潜力与前景，因为越来越多的美国年轻人被迫放弃上大学的梦想，或失去为未来就业接受培训的机会。
And our nation could lose the competitive edge that has served as a foundation for our strength and our standing in the world. In short, a bad situation could become dramatically worse. 而我们的国家可能失去那一直作为我们实力与国际地位基石的竞争优势。简言之，糟糕的局势可能急剧恶化。
This crisis did not happen solely by some accident of history or normal turn of the business cycle. And we won't get out of it by simply waiting for a better day to come or relying on the worn-out dogmas of the past. We arrived at this point due to an era of profound irresponsibility that stretched from corporate board rooms to the halls of power in Washington, D.C. 这场危机并非纯粹由历史的偶然或商业周期的正常轮转所致。我们也无法仅靠等待美好时光到来或依赖过去那些陈腐的教条来走出困境。我们之所以走到今天这一步，是由于一段深重失责的时期，它从企业董事会蔓延至华盛顿特区的权力殿堂。
For years, too many Wall Street executives made imprudent and dangerous decisions, seeking profits with too little regard for risk, too little regulatory scrutiny, and too little accountability. Banks made loans without concern for whether borrowers could repay them, and some borrowers took advantage of cheap credit to take on debt they couldn't afford. Politicians spent taxpayer money without wisdom or discipline and too often focused on scoring political points instead of problems they were sent here to solve. 多年来，太多华尔街高管作出了轻率而危险的决策，追逐利润时几乎不顾风险、缺乏监管审查、缺乏问责。银行发放贷款时毫不关心借款人是否有能力偿还，而一些借款人则利用廉价信贷承担起自己无力偿还的债务。政客们在花纳税人的钱时既无智慧也无节制，且往往专注于博取政治分数，而非解决他们被送到这里来应对的问题。
The result has been a devastating loss of trust and confidence in our economy, our financial markets, and our government. 其结果就是对我们的经济、金融市场和政府的信任与信心遭受了毁灭性的丧失。
Now, the very fact that this crisis is largely of our own making means that it's not beyond our ability to solve. Our problems are rooted in past mistakes, not our capacity for future greatness. It will take time -- perhaps many years -- but we can rebuild that lost trust and confidence. We can restore opportunity and prosperity. 如今，这场危机在很大程度上是我们自己造成的，这恰恰意味着它并非超出了我们解决的能力。我们的问题根植于过去的错误，而非未来成就伟业的能力。这需要时间——也许需要许多年——但我们能够重建那份失去的信任与信心。我们能够恢复机遇与繁荣。
We should never forget that our workers are still more productive than any on Earth. Our universities are still the envy of the world. We are still home to the most brilliant minds, the most creative entrepreneurs, and the most advanced technology and innovation that history has ever known. And we are still the nation that has overcome great fears and improbable odds. If we act with the urgency and seriousness that this moment requires, I know that we can do it again. 我们永远不应忘记，我们的劳动者仍是地球上生产率最高的。我们的大学仍是全世界艳羡的对象。我们仍是最聪明的大脑、最具创造力的企业家以及历史上最先进的技术与创新的所在之地。我们仍是那个曾克服巨大恐惧和不可思议的艰难险阻的国家。如果我们以此时此刻所要求的紧迫感和严肃态度行动起来，我知道我们能够再次做到。
That is why I have moved quickly to work with my economic team and leaders of both parties on an American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan that will immediately jump-start job creation and long-term growth. It's a plan that represents not just new policy, but a whole new approach to meeting our most urgent challenges. For if we hope to end this crisis, we must end the culture of anything goes that helped create it, and this change must begin in Washington. It's time to trade old habits for a new spirit of responsibility. 正因如此，我已迅速行动，与我的经济团队及两党领导人共同制定一项美国复苏与再投资计划，以立即启动就业创造和长期增长。这项计划不仅代表新政策，更代表一种应对我们最紧迫挑战的全新方式。因为如果我们希望终结这场危机，就必须终结那种助长了危机的"什么都行"的文化，而这一改变必须从华盛顿开始。是时候以新的责任感取代旧习惯了。
It's time to finally change the ways of Washington so that we can set a new and better course for America. 是时候最终改变华盛顿的行事方式，以便我们为美国开辟一条新的、更美好的航向。
There is no doubt that the cost of this plan will be considerable. It will certainly add to the budget deficit in the short term. But equally certain are the consequences of doing too little or nothing at all, for that will lead to an even greater deficit of jobs, incomes, and confidence in our economy. 毫无疑问，这项计划的代价将相当可观。在短期内，它肯定会增加预算赤字。但同样确定的是，做得太少或无所作为的后果，因为那将导致就业、收入和对我们经济的信心出现更大的赤字。
It is true that we cannot depend on government alone to create jobs or long-term growth. But at this particular moment, only government can provide the short-term boost necessary to lift us from a recession this deep and severe. Only government can break the cycle that are [sic] crippling our economy, where a lack of spending leads to lost jobs, which leads to even less spending, where an inability to lend and borrow stops growth and leads to even less credit. That's why we need to act boldly and act now to reverse these cycles. 诚然，我们不能仅靠政府来创造就业或实现长期增长。但在这一特定时刻，只有政府能够提供必要的短期刺激，将我们从如此深重的衰退中拉出来。只有政府能够打破正在拖累我国经济的恶性循环——消费不足导致失业，失业又导致消费更加萎缩；借贷能力的丧失使增长停滞，又进而导致信贷更加枯竭。正因如此，我们必须大胆行动、立即行动，以逆转这些循环。
That's why we need to put money in the pockets of the American people, create new jobs, and invest in our future. That's why we need to restart the flow of credit and restore the rules of the road that will ensure a crisis like this never happens again. 正因如此，我们需要把钱放进美国人民的口袋，创造新的就业机会，并投资于我们的未来。正因如此，我们需要重启信贷流动，恢复那些能确保此类危机不再重演的运行规则。
Now this plan begins with -- this plan must begin today, a plan I am confident will save or create at least three million jobs over the next few years. It's not just another public works program. It's a plan that recognizes both the paradox and promise of this moment: the fact that there are millions of Americans trying to find work, even as all around the country there's so much work to be done. And that's why we'll invest in priorities like energy and education, health care and a new infrastructure that are necessary to keep us strong and competitive in the 21st century. 这项计划始于——这项计划必须从今天开始，我有信心这项计划将在未来几年内保住或创造至少三百万个就业岗位。这不仅仅是又一个公共工程计划。这是一项既认识到当下悖论也看到其希望所在的计划：数以百万计的美国人正在努力寻找工作，而与此同时全国各地却有大量工作亟待完成。正因如此，我们将投资于能源和教育、医疗保健以及新的基础设施等优先领域，这些都是保持我们在21世纪强大和竞争力所必需的。
That's why the overwhelming majority of the jobs created will be in the private sector, while our plan will save the public sector jobs of teachers, police officers, firefighters, and others who provide vital services. 正因如此，所创造的就业岗位中绝大多数将来自私营部门，同时我们的计划将保住教师、警察、消防员以及其他提供重要服务的公共部门岗位。
To finally spark the creation of a clean energy economy, we will double the production of alternative energy in the next three years. We will modernize more than 75 percent of federal buildings and improve the energy efficiency of 2 million American homes, saving consumers and taxpayers billions on our energy bills. 为最终激发清洁能源经济的创建，我们将在未来三年内将替代能源的产量翻一番。我们将对超过75%的联邦建筑进行现代化改造，并改善200万户美国家庭的能源效率，为消费者和纳税人在能源账单上节省数十亿美元。
In the process, we will put Americans to work in new jobs that pay well and can't be outsourced, jobs building solar panels and wind turbines, constructing fuel-efficient cars and buildings, and developing the new energy technologies that will lead to even more jobs, more savings, and a cleaner, safer planet in the bargain. 在此过程中，我们将让美国人从事薪酬优厚且无法外包的新工作——制造太阳能电池板和风力涡轮机、建造燃油效率高的汽车和建筑，以及开发新能源技术，进而带来更多就业、更多节省，并附赠一个更清洁、更安全的地球。
To improve the quality of our health care while lowering its cost, we will make the immediate investments necessary to ensure that, within five years, all of America's medical records are computerized. This will cut waste, eliminate red tape and reduce the need to repeat expensive medical tests. But it just won't save billions of dollars and thousands of jobs; it will save lives by reducing the deadly but preventable medical errors that pervade our health care system. 为在降低成本的同时提高医疗保健质量，我们将进行必要的即时投资，以确保在五年内全美国的医疗记录实现电子化。这将减少浪费、消除繁琐手续，并降低重复进行昂贵医疗检查的需要。但它不仅能节省数十亿美元和数千个工作岗位；还将通过减少我们医疗体系中普遍存在的致命却可预防的医疗差错来拯救生命。
To give our children the chance to live out their dreams in a world that's never been more competitive, we will equip tens of thousands of schools, community colleges, and public universities with 21st century classrooms, labs, and libraries. We'll provide new computers, new technology, and new training for teachers so that students in Chicago and Boston can compete with children in Beijing for the high-tech, high-wage jobs of the future. 为了让我们的孩子在这个竞争空前激烈的世界里有机会实现自己的梦想，我们将为数以万计的学校、社区大学和公立大学配备21世纪的教室、实验室和图书馆。我们将为教师提供新的计算机、新技术和新培训，使芝加哥和波士顿的学生能够与北京的孩子竞争未来的高科技、高薪酬工作。
To build an economy that can lead this future, we will begin to rebuild America. Yes, we'll put people to work repairing crumbling roads, bridges, and schools by eliminating the backlog of well-planned, worthy, and needed infrastructure projects. But we'll also do more to retrofit America for a global economy. 为建设一个能够引领这一未来的经济，我们将开始重建美国。是的，我们将通过推进那些规划完善、有价值且必需的积压基础设施项目，让人们投入工作，修缮破败的道路、桥梁和学校。但我们还将做更多工作，使美国为全球经济进行升级改造。
That means updating the way we get our electricity by starting to build a new smart grid that will save us money, protect our power sources from blackout or attack, and deliver clean, alternative forms of energy to every corner of our nation. It means expanding broadband lines across America, so that a small business in a rural town can connect and compete with their counterparts anywhere in the world. It means investing in the science, research, and technology that will lead to new medical breakthroughs, new discoveries, and entire new industries. 这意味着更新我们获取电力的方式，开始建设一个新的智能电网，它将为我们节省开支、保护我们的电力来源免受停电或攻击的影响，并将清洁的替代能源输送到我国的每一个角落。这意味着在全美扩展宽带线路，使乡村小镇的小企业也能与世界各地的同行连接并竞争。这意味着投资于科学、研究和技术，从而带来新的医学突破、新发现以及全新的产业。
And finally, this recovery and reinvestment plan will provide immediate relief to states, workers, and families who are bearing the brunt of this recession. To get people spending again, 95% of working families will receive a thousand dollar tax cut -- the first stage of a middle-class tax cut that I promised during the campaign and will include in our next budget. 最后，这项复苏与再投资计划将向那些首当其冲承受这场衰退冲击的各州、劳动者和家庭提供即时救济。为了让人们重新开始消费，95%的工薪家庭将获得一千美元的减税——这是我在竞选期间承诺并将在下一年度预算中纳入的中产阶级减税计划的第一阶段。
To help Americans who have lost their jobs and can't find new ones, we'll continue the bipartisan extension of unemployment insurance and health care coverage to help them through this crisis. Government at every level will have to tighten its belt, but we'll help struggling states avoid harmful budget cuts, as long as they take responsibility and use the money to maintain essential services like police, fire, education, and health care. 为帮助那些失去工作又找不到新工作的美国人，我们将继续两党合作延长失业保险和医疗保险覆盖，帮助他们度过这场危机。各级政府都必须勒紧裤腰带，但我们将帮助困难中的各州避免有害的预算削减，前提是它们承担责任并将资金用于维持警察、消防、教育和医疗保健等基本服务。
Now I understand that some might be skeptical of this plan. Our government has already spent a good deal of money, but we haven't yet seen that translate into more jobs or higher incomes or renewed confidence in our economy. And that's why the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan won't just throw money at our problems; we'll invest in what works. 我理解有些人可能对这项计划持怀疑态度。我们的政府已经投入了大量资金，但我们尚未看到这转化为更多的就业机会、更高的收入或对我们经济重拾的信心。正因如此，美国复苏与再投资计划不会只是把钱砸到问题上；我们将投资于行之有效的方案。
The true test of policies we'll pursue won't be whether they're Democratic or Republican ideas, whether they're conservative or liberal ideas, but whether they create jobs, grow our economy, and put the American Dream within the reach of the American people. 我们将推行的政策的真正考验，不在于它们是民主党的还是共和党的主意，不在于它们是保守派的还是自由派的主意，而在于它们能否创造就业、促进经济增长，并让美国梦重新触手可及。
Instead of politicians doling out money behind a veil of secrecy, decisions about where we invest will be made transparently, and informed by independent experts wherever possible. Every American will be able to hold Washington accountable for these decisions by going online to see how and where their taxpayer dollars are being spent. And as I announced yesterday, we will launch an unprecedented effort to eliminate unwise and unnecessary spending that has never been more unaffordable for our nation and our children's future than it is right now. 决策不会在秘密的面纱之下由政客们分发资金，关于投资去向的决策将以透明方式作出，并尽可能听取独立专家的意见。每个美国人都能通过上网查看纳税人的钱如何以及在哪里被使用，从而监督华盛顿对这些决策负责。而且正如我昨天所宣布的，我们将发起一项前所未有的努力，消除不明智和不必要的开支——这些开支对我国和我们孩子的未来而言，从未像现在这样难以承受。
We have to make tough choices and smart investments today so that as the economy recovers, the deficits start coming down. We cannot have a solid recovery if our people and our businesses don't have confidence that we're getting our fiscal house in order. And that's why our goal is not to create a slew of new government programs, but a foundation for long-term economic growth. 我们今天必须作出艰难的选择和明智的投资，以便随着经济复苏，赤字开始下降。如果我国人民和企业对我们整顿财政状况没有信心，我们就无法实现坚实的复苏。正因如此，我们的目标不是创建一堆新的政府项目，而是为长期经济增长奠定基础。
That also means an economic recovery plan that is free from earmarks and pet projects. I understand that every member of Congress has ideas about how to spend money. Many of these projects are worthy. They benefit local communities. But this emergency legislation must not be the vehicle for those aspirations. This must be a time when leaders in both parties put the urgent needs of our nation above our own narrow interests. 这也意味着经济复苏计划不应包含专项拨款和私人关照项目。我理解每位国会议员对如何花钱都有自己的主意。其中许多项目是值得的，能让当地社区受益。但这项紧急立法绝不能成为实现这些愿望的载体。这必须是一个两党领导人将国家的紧迫需要置于各自狭隘利益之上的时刻。
Now, this recovery plan alone will not solve all the problems that led us into this crisis. We must also work with the same sense of urgency to stabilize and repair the financial system we all depend on. That means using our full arsenal of tools to get credit flowing again to families and businesses, while restoring confidence in our markets. 当然，仅靠这项复苏计划无法解决导致我们陷入这场危机的所有问题。我们必须以同样的紧迫感来稳定和修复我们所有人都赖以生存的金融体系。这意味着动用我们全部的工具库，让信贷重新流向家庭和企业，同时重建对我们市场的信心。
It means launching a sweeping effort to address the foreclosure crisis so that we can keep responsible families in their homes. It means preventing the catastrophic failure of financial institutions whose collapse could endanger the entire economy, but only with maximum protections for taxpayers and a clear understanding that government support for any company is an extraordinary action that must come with significant restrictions on the firms that receive support. 这意味着发起一项全面行动以应对止赎危机，从而让负责任的家庭能够保住自己的住房。这意味着防止金融机构发生灾难性倒闭——它们的崩溃可能危及整个经济——但前提是要对纳税人提供最大限度的保护，并明确认识到政府对任何公司的支持都是一项非常举措，必须对接受支持的公司施加重大限制。
And it means reforming a weak and outdated regulatory system so that we can better withstand financial shocks and better protect consumers, investors, and businesses from the reckless greed and risk-taking that must never endanger our prosperity again. 这还意味着改革一个薄弱而过时的监管体系，以便我们能够更好地抵御金融冲击，并更好地保护消费者、投资者和企业免受那种鲁莽的贪婪和冒险行为的侵害——这种行为绝不能再危及我们的繁荣。
No longer can we allow Wall Street wrongdoers to slip through regulatory cracks. No longer can we allow special interests to put their thumbs on the economic scales. No longer can we allow the unscrupulous lending and borrowing that leads only to destructive cycles of bubble and bust. It is time to set a new course for this economy, and that change must begin now. 我们再也不能容许华尔街的违法者从监管的缝隙中溜走。我们再也不能容许特殊利益集团在经济天平上做手脚。我们再也不能容许那种只导致泡沫与崩盘恶性循环的无良借贷行为。是时候为这个经济开辟新的航向了，而这一改变必须从现在开始。
We should have an open and honest discussion about this recovery plan in the days ahead, but I urge Congress to move as quickly as possible on behalf of the American people. For every day we wait or point fingers or drag our feet, more Americans will lose their jobs. More families will lose their savings. More dreams will be deferred and denied. And our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse. 在接下来的日子里，我们应该就这项复苏计划进行公开而坦诚的讨论，但我敦促国会代表美国人民尽快行动。因为我们每多等待一天、每多相互指责一天、每多拖延一天，就会有更多的美国人失去工作。会有更多的家庭失去积蓄。会有更多的梦想被推迟和落空。我们的国家将更深地陷入一场危机——而到了某个时刻，我们或许已无力回天。
That is not the country I know. It is not a future I accept as President of the United States. A world that depends on the strength of our economy is now watching and waiting for America to lead once more. And that is what we will do. 那不是我所认识的美国。那也不是我作为美利坚合众国总统所能接受的未来。一个依赖于我国经济实力的世界正在注视并等待美国再次发挥领导作用。而这正是我们将要做的。
It will not come easy or happen overnight, and it is altogether likely that things may get worse before they get better. But that is all the more reason for Congress to act without delay. I know the scale of this plan is unprecedented, but so is the severity of our situation. We have already tried the wait-and-see approach to our problems, and it is the same approach that helped lead us to this day of reckoning. 这一切不会轻易实现，也不会一夜之间发生，而且情况完全有可能在好转之前先进一步恶化。但这恰恰是国会不应拖延的更大理由。我知道这项计划的规模是史无前例的，但我们局势的严峻程度同样史无前例。我们早已尝试过对问题采取观望态度，而正是这种态度把我们引向了今日这个清算之日。
And that is why the time has come to build a 21st century economy in which hard work and responsibility are once again rewarded. That's why I'm asking Congress to work with me and my team day and night, on weekends if necessary, to get the plan passed in the next few weeks. 正因如此，建设一个让辛勤工作和责任感再次获得回报的21世纪经济的时机已经到来。正因如此，我请求国会与我及我的团队日以继夜地合作，必要时周末也加班，以在未来几周内通过这项计划。
That's why I'm calling on all Americans -- Democrats and Republicans and Independents -- to put -- to put good ideas ahead of the old ideological battles; a sense of common purpose above the same narrow partisanship; and insist that the first question each of us asks isn't, "What's good for me?" but "What's good for the country my children will inherit?" 正因如此，我呼吁所有美国人——民主党人、共和党人和无党派人士——把好主意置于陈旧的意识形态争斗之上；把共同使命感置于同样的狭隘党派之争之上；并坚持要求我们每个人首先问的问题不是"什么对我有利？"而是"什么对我孩子们将继承的这个国家有利？"
More than any program or policy, it is this spirit that will enable us to confront these challenges with the same spirit that has led previous generations to face down war, and depression, and fear itself. 胜过任何项目或政策的，正是这种精神——它将使我们能够以同样的精神面对这些挑战，而正是这种精神曾引领前人直面战争、萧条以及恐惧本身。
And if we do, if we are able to summon that spirit again, if we are able to look out for one another, and listen to one another, and do our part for our nation and for posterity, then I have no doubt that years from now, we will look back on 2009 as one of those years that marked another new and hopeful beginning for the United States of America. 如果我们做到了，如果我们能够再次唤起那种精神，如果我们能够彼此关怀、彼此倾听，并为我们的国家和子孙后代尽自己的一份力量，那么我毫不怀疑，多年以后，我们将回顾2009年，把它视为标志着美利坚合众国又一个崭新而充满希望的起点的一年。
Thank you, God Bless You, and may God Bless America. 谢谢大家，愿上帝保佑你们，愿上帝保佑美国。