President Obama: Thank you. On behalf of Michelle and myself, welcome to the White House. 奥巴马总统：谢谢。我代表米歇尔和我本人，欢迎大家来到白宫。
Little Child: Thank you. 小朋友：谢谢。
President Obama: Thank you. This a season of joy, tradition and celebration. 奥巴马总统：谢谢。这是一个充满欢乐、传统与庆祝的季节。
Little Child: Yea! 小朋友：耶！
President Obama: Yes! And today, it is our great joy to continue a White House holiday tradition -- a celebration of performers who have transformed the arts in America, our extraordinary Kennedy Center Honorees. 奥巴马总统：是的！今天，我们怀着极大的喜悦延续一项白宫节日传统——致敬那些改变了美国艺术事业的表演者，我们卓越的肯尼迪中心荣誉获奖者。
We are joined by Speaker Nancy Pelosi -- members of Congress and members of the Kennedy family. I see sprinkled through the crowd some pretty fancy company, as well -- you've got the Queen of Soul. You've got Martin Scorsese -- he knows a little bit about film-making. And my spectacular First Lady is here, as well. 与我们同场的有佩洛西议长——国会议员以及肯尼迪家族的成员。我看到人群中也点缀着一些相当显赫的贵宾——你们这里有"灵魂乐女王"，还有马丁·斯科塞斯——他对电影制作可略知一二。我那位出色的第一夫人今天也在场。
I especially want to thank the man who created these Honors more than three decades ago and who has produced them ever since -- and whom I was proud to name as co-chair of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities -- George Stevens, Jr. George. 我特别要感谢那位在三十多年前创办这些荣誉奖项、并自此一直担任制作人的先生——我很荣幸任命他为总统艺术与人文委员会联合主席——乔治·斯蒂文斯二世。乔治，谢谢你。
And I want to also thank Stephen Schwarzman and the Kennedy Center trustees. As well as president Michael Kaiser and all those who sustain President Kennedy's vision of a "great stage" celebrating "the best coming from this country and abroad." 我还要感谢斯蒂芬·施瓦茨曼以及肯尼迪中心的理事们。同样要感谢迈克尔·凯泽总裁以及所有维系肯尼迪总统关于"伟大舞台"愿景的人，这个舞台颂扬"来自本国及海外的最优秀之作"。
These performers are indeed the best. They are also living reminders of a simple truth -- and I'm going to steal a line from Michelle here -- the arts are not somehow apart from our national life, the arts are at the heart of our national life. 这些表演者确实是最优秀的。他们也是一种朴素真理的活生生提醒——这里我要借用米歇尔的一句话——艺术并非游离于我们国家生活之外，艺术正处于我们国家生活的核心。
In times of war and sacrifice, the arts -- and these artists -- remind us to sing and to laugh and to live. In times of plenty, they challenge our conscience and implore us to remember the least among us. In moments of division or doubt, they compel us to see the common values that we share; the ideals to which we aspire, even if we sometimes fall short. In days of hardship, they renew our hope that brighter days are still ahead. 在战争与牺牲的岁月里，艺术——以及这些艺术家——提醒我们要歌唱、要欢笑、要生活。在富足的时光里，他们叩问我们的良知，恳请我们铭记最弱势的群体。在分歧或疑虑的时刻，他们促使我们看到彼此共同的价值观、我们追求的理想——即便我们有时未能达到。在艰难的日子里，他们让我们重新怀抱希望：更美好的日子仍在前方。
So let's never forget that art strengthens America. And that's why we're making sure that America strengthens its arts. It's why we're reenergizing the National Endowment of the Arts. That's why we're helping to sustain jobs in arts communities across the country. It's why we're supporting arts education in our schools, and why Michelle and I have hosted students here at the White House to experience the best of American poetry and music. 所以让我们永远不要忘记，艺术使美国更强大。正因如此，我们正在确保美国也强化其艺术事业。这就是为什么我们正在重振国家艺术基金会。这就是为什么我们正在帮助维持全国各艺术社区的就业。这就是为什么我们在学校支持艺术教育，也是为什么米歇尔和我邀请学生们来到白宫，亲身体验美国最优秀的诗歌与音乐。
And it's why we're honored to celebrate these five remarkable performers, who for decades have helped to sustain and strengthen the American spirit. 也正是因此，我们荣幸地庆祝这五位杰出的表演者，他们数十年来一直帮助维系并强化着美国精神。
You can't understand America without understanding jazz. And you can't understand jazz, without understanding Dave Brubeck. His mother was a classical pianist with high hopes for her son. And by the time he was four, he was playing himself. But by the time he was a teenager, he was tearing up local honky-tonks. Even his mother had to admit: "There is some hope for David after all." 不了解爵士乐，就无法理解美国。而不了解戴夫·布鲁贝克，就无法理解爵士乐。他的母亲是一位古典钢琴家，对儿子寄予厚望。到他四岁时，他已能自己弹奏。但到了青少年时期，他已在当地的廉价酒馆里把场子闹得天翻地覆。就连他母亲也不得不承认："大卫毕竟还是有指望的。"
And perhaps it was World War II -- his service in Patton's Army -- that changed his sound, forcing him, as he said, to work the war out of his system by playing some "pretty vicious piano." Whatever it was, his sound -- the distinctive harmonies and improvisations of the Dave Brubeck Quartet -- would change jazz forever, prompting Time magazine to put him on the cover as the leader of a new jazz age. 或许是二战——他在巴顿将军麾下服役的经历——改变了他的音乐风格，迫使他用自己的话说，通过弹奏一些"相当猛烈的钢琴"把战争从体内排解出去。无论原因是什么，他的声音——戴夫·布鲁贝克四重奏独特的和声与即兴演奏——永远地改变了爵士乐，促使《时代》周刊将他作为新爵士乐时代的领军人物登上封面。
Having brought jazz into the mainstream, he then transformed it, with innovative new rhythms on albums like Time Out -- the first jazz album to ever sell more than a million copies and still one of the best-selling jazz albums of all time. 他将爵士乐带入主流之后，又对其进行了变革，在《Time Out》等专辑中运用了创新的新节奏——这是有史以来第一张销量超过百万的爵士专辑，至今仍是最畅销的爵士专辑之一。
Dave Brubeck has never stopped reaching new audiences: Performing for Presidents from Johnson to Reagan; composing orchestral tributes to Martin Luther King and Pope John Paul II; and even in his 80s, dazzling jazz festivals across America. 戴夫·布鲁贝克从未停止触达新的听众：从约翰逊到里根，他为多位总统演出；为马丁·路德·金和教皇约翰·保罗二世创作管弦乐致敬之作；甚至在八十多岁高龄，仍在美国各地的爵士音乐节上大放异彩。
And I know personally how powerful his performances can be. I mentioned this to Dave backstage. In the few weeks that I spent with my father as a child -- he came to visit me for about a month when I was young -- one of the things he did was to take me to my first jazz concert, in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1971, and it was a Dave Brubeck concert. And I've been a jazz fan ever since. The world that he opened up for a 10-year-old boy was spectacular. 我个人深知他的演出有多么震撼。我在后台和戴夫提起过。小时候我和父亲相处的几个星期里——他来看我大约一个月——他做的事情之一就是带我去听了我的第一场爵士音乐会，那是在1971年，夏威夷火奴鲁鲁，是一场戴夫·布鲁贝克音乐会。从那以后我就一直是爵士乐迷。他为一个十岁男孩打开的那个世界，真是壮观。
And, Dave, for the joy that you've given millions of jazz lovers like me, for your six decades of revolutionary rhythms, you are rightly honored -- especially today, on your 89th birthday. 戴夫，为了你带给像我这样的数百万爵士乐迷的欢乐，为了你六十年革命性的节奏，你理应受到这份致敬——尤其是在今天，你89岁生日之际。
He was born Melvin Kaminsky -- 他出生时名叫梅尔文·卡明斯基——
Mel Brooks: He never understood 4/4 time -- 梅尔·布鲁克斯：他就是搞不懂4/4拍——
President Obama: He's still messing it up, Mel. Mel, I'm trying to say something nice about you, now. Please don't upstage me. 奥巴马总统：他到现在还把它搞砸呢，梅尔。梅尔，我正想说点你的好话呢，拜托别抢我的戏。
As you can tell, he was born to entertain. Or, as Mel Brooks explains it: "Look at Jewish history -- unrelieved lamenting would be intolerable. So every 10 Jews, God designed one to be crazy and amuse the others." According to Mel, "By the time I was five I knew I was that one." 大家看得出来，他天生就是搞娱乐的。或者用梅尔·布鲁克斯自己的解释："看看犹太人的历史——无尽的哀伤会让人无法承受。所以每十个犹太人，上帝就设计一个疯子来逗乐其他人。"据梅尔说，"到我五岁时我就知道我就是那一个。"
And by the time he was nine, this boy from Brooklyn had seen his first musical and dreamed of becoming "the King of Broadway." But World War II meant service in the Army -- or, as he put it, "the European Theater of Operations" with "lots of operations" and "very little theater." Returning home, he found success cranking out quips for Sid Ceasar -- or as Mel described his reaction to success -- "panic, hysteria, insomnia and years of psychoanalysis." 到九岁时，这个来自布鲁克林的男孩已经看了他人生中第一部音乐剧，并梦想成为"百老汇之王"。但二战意味着要参军——或者按他的说法，是去"欧洲战区"，"作战很多"，"戏剧很少"。回到家乡后，他为西德·凯撒源源不断地炮制俏皮话并取得了成功——或者按梅尔对自己成功反应的描述——"恐慌、歇斯底里、失眠……以及多年的精神分析。"
That's right, we're reading back all your golden moments here, Mel. 没错，梅尔，我们这里在把你所有光辉时刻都念出来呢。
Unfortunately, many of the punch lines that have defined Mel Brooks' success cannot be repeated here. I was telling him that I went to see Blazing Saddles -- when I was 10. And he pointed out that I think, according to the ratings, I should not have been allowed in the theater. That's true. I think I had a fake ID. But the statute of limitations has passed. 不幸的是，许多定义了梅尔·布鲁克斯成功的笑点在这里无法复述。我跟他说过我十岁时去看了《灼热的马鞍》。他指出，按评级来说，我本不该被允许进影院。这是真的。我想我用的是假身份证。不过追诉期已经过了。
Suffice it to say, in his satires and parodies, no cow is sacred, no genre is safe. He mocked the musical -- and Hitler -- in The Producers, the western in Blazing Saddles, and the horror film in Young Frankenstein. But behind all the insanity and absurdity, there's been a method to Mel's madness. 可以这么说，在他的讽刺与戏仿中，没有哪头牛是神圣不可冒犯的，也没有哪种类型是安全的。他在《制片人》中嘲弄了音乐剧——以及希特勒，在《灼热的马鞍》中嘲弄了西部片，在《年轻的弗兰肯斯坦》中嘲弄了恐怖片。但在所有这些疯狂与荒诞背后，梅尔的疯狂自有其章法。
He's described his work as "unearthing the truth that is all around us." And by illuminating uncomfortable truths -- about racism and sexism and anti-Semitism -- he's been called "our jester, asking us to see ourselves as we really are, determined that we laugh ourselves sane." 他曾把自己的工作描述为"挖掘我们周围无处不在的真相"。通过照亮那些令人不安的真相——关于种族主义、性别歧视和反犹主义——他被称为"我们的弄臣，要求我们看清自己的本来面目，决心让我们笑到神志清醒。"
For this, he is one of the few people ever to receive an Emmy and a Grammy and an Oscar and a Tony. Writer, director, actor, producer, composer for his success -- and for his psychoanalysis -- we honor Mel Brooks. 正因如此，他是为数不多曾获得艾美奖、格莱美奖、奥斯卡奖和托尼奖的人之一。作家、导演、演员、制片人、作曲家……为他的成功——以及为他的精神分析——我们向梅尔·布鲁克斯致敬。
Reflecting on the challenge of finding one's voice, Grace Bumbry once said: "God has already planted that in your throat. It's your job to free it up, to allow that beautiful thing to shine through." 回顾寻找自己声音的挑战，格蕾丝·邦布莉曾说："上帝早已把它种在你的喉咙里。你的工作是释放它，让那美好的东西绽放出来。"
True to her name, Grace allowed her voice to shine through and touch all those within its range. Around her family's piano in St. Louis; on the talent show where, as a teenager, she moved the host to tears; and then, after being turned away from one music school because of the color of her skin -- her triumphant international debut at the Paris Opera, when she was just 23 years old. 人如其名，格蕾丝让自己的声音绽放出来，触动了所有听到她声音的人。在圣路易斯家中的钢琴旁；在选秀节目中，十几岁的她让主持人感动落泪；然后，在被一所音乐学校因肤色拒之门外之后——她在23岁时于巴黎歌剧院完成了凯旋的国际首演。
With a pitch and presence like no other, she became a global sensation, moving audiences at the great opera houses of the world. And performing here at the White House, it was said that she moved Jacqueline Kennedy to lean over and gently sing along the words to the President. 凭借无可匹敌的音准与气场，她成为全球轰动的人物，在世界各大歌剧院打动观众。在白宫演出时，据说她让杰奎琳·肯尼迪忍不住侧身轻声跟唱给总统听。
Defying every expectation, Grace Bumbry then made the transition from mezzo to soprano. And over the decades that followed, she displayed a range like few others -- sometimes the middle ranges as a mezzo; sometimes the highs of a soprano; sometimes both in the same performance. Grace not only triumphed in different techniques, she transformed them. 格蕾丝·邦布莉打破了一切预期，从女中音转向了女高音。在随后的数十年里，她展现了极少数人才能企及的音域——有时是女中音的中音区；有时是女高音的高音区；有时在同一场演出中两者兼具。格蕾丝不仅在不同的技巧上取得胜利，她还变革了这些技巧。
And though she gave her final operatic performance in 1997, she appears in recitals to this day. After nearly 50 years, she remains the definition of a diva in the classical sense: a divine voice worthy of the heavens. And tonight -- 32 years after she performed at the first Kennedy Center Honors for her mentor Marian Anderson -- we honor Grace Bumbry. 尽管她在1997年进行了最后的歌剧演出，但至今仍出现在独唱音乐会上。近五十年过去，她依然是古典意义上"diva"一词的定义：一副值得天堂倾听的神圣嗓音。今晚——在她为导师玛丽安·安德森在首届肯尼迪中心荣誉奖上演出32年之后——我们向格蕾丝·邦布莉致敬。
Growing up in New York City's Little Italy, Bobby De Niro always knew what he wanted to be. Coming home from the movies, he'd act out the parts. At age 10, in his school play, he made a rather unlikely debut in The Wizard of Oz as the Cowardly Lion. 在纽约市小意大利区长大的博比·德尼罗，从小就清楚自己想成为什么。从电影院回家的路上，他就会模仿片中的角色。十岁时，他在学校戏剧中完成了不太可能的首次登台——在《绿野仙踪》中扮演胆小的狮子。
He has said: "my joy as an actor is to live different lives." And in more than 60 films spanning more than 40 years, Robert De Niro has lived some of the most iconic and intense characters ever portrayed on film. A dying baseball player in Bang The Drum Slowly. A young Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II. A deranged Taxi Driver. A troubled veteran in The Deer Hunter. A brutal boxer in Raging Bull. A vengeful ex-con in Cape Fear. 他曾说："作为演员，我的快乐在于活出不同的人生。"在跨越四十多年的六十多部电影中，罗伯特·德尼罗塑造了电影史上一些最具标志性和张力的角色。《慢慢敲响的鼓》中垂死的棒球手。《教父2》中年轻的维托·柯里昂。《出租车司机》中精神错乱的特拉维斯。《猎鹿人》中饱受创伤的退伍军人。《愤怒的公牛》中残暴的拳击手。《恐怖角》中复仇的前科犯。
Let's hope that Martin Scorsese was kidding when he said that Robert is "full of something that he wanted to express." Don't worry, we did a vet on him before he came in tonight. 希望马丁·斯科塞斯说罗伯特"浑身充满了想要表达的东西"只是在开玩笑。别担心，他今晚进场前我们做过背景审查了。
But alongside his Oscar-winning emotional audacity there's his versatility, from a coma patient in Awakenings, to an ever-possessive father in Meet The Parents. There's his legendary method -- not simply portraying characters, but becoming them, emotionally and physically. And there is his love for his city -- whether it's directing films like A Bronx Tale, or founding the film center and festival that has energized the arts in New York City. 除了他那获得奥斯卡奖的情感胆识之外，还有他的多才多艺——从《无语问苍天》中的昏迷病人，到《拜见岳父大人》中占有欲极强的父亲。还有他那传奇式的方法派表演——不仅是塑造角色，而是在情感和身体上都成为角色。还有他对自己城市的热爱——无论是执导《布朗克斯的故事》这样的电影，还是创办了为纽约市艺术注入活力的电影中心和电影节。
It is perhaps the great irony of his life -- one of America's greatest cinematic actors is a man, famously, of few words off the screen -- and I can attest to this. So I'll simply say, thank you, Robert De Niro. 他一生中也许最大的讽刺是——这位美国最伟大的电影演员之一，出了名地在银幕下寡言少语——这一点我可以作证。所以我只想简单地说一句：谢谢你，罗伯特·德尼罗。
Finally, we honor the quiet kid from Jersey -- who grew up to become the rock 'n' roll laureate of a generation. For in the life of our country only a handful of people have tapped the full power of music to tell the real American story -- with honesty; from the heart; and one of those people is Bruce Springsteen. 最后，我们要向那位来自泽西的安静男孩致敬——他长大成为了一代人的摇滚桂冠诗人。因为在我们国家的生活中，只有屈指可数的人充分运用了音乐的力量来讲述真实的美国故事——带着诚实，发自内心；布鲁斯·斯普林斯汀就是其中之一。
He has said: "I've always believed that people listen to your music not to find out about you, but to find out about themselves." And for more than three decades, in his songs -- of dreams and despair, of struggle and hope -- hardworking folks have seen themselves. 他曾说："我一直相信，人们听你的音乐不是为了了解你，而是为了了解他们自己。"三十多年来，在他的歌曲中——关于梦想与绝望、挣扎与希望——辛勤工作的人们看到了自己。
They've seen their great state of New Jersey. And they've seen their America -- in songs that become anthems. Restless kids who were "Born to Run." The struggles of workers in "My Hometown." The sacrifices of vets who were "Born in the U.S.A." Love and loss in "Streets of Philadelphia." A resilient nation in "The Rising." And, this year, a country "Working on a Dream." 他们看到了自己伟大的新泽西州。他们看到了自己的美国——在那些成为颂歌的歌曲中。是那些"生来奔逃"的不安少年。是"我的家乡"中工人的挣扎。是那些"生于美国"的老兵的牺牲。是"费城街头"中的爱与失落。是"崛起"中坚韧的民族。而今年，是一个"正在构筑梦想"的国家。
It's no wonder that his tours are not so much concerts, but communions. There's a place for everybody -- the sense that no matter who you are or what you do, everyone deserves their shot at the American Dream; everybody deserves a little bit of dignity; everybody deserves to be heard. 难怪他的巡演与其说是音乐会，不如说是某种共鸣仪式。每个人都有自己的位置——那种无论你是谁、做什么，每个人都应有机会追逐美国梦；每个人都应得到一点尊严；每个人都应被倾听的感觉。
I've seen it myself. Bruce was a great fan -- a great friend over the last year, and when I watched him on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial when he rocked the National Mall before my inauguration, I thought it captured as well as anything the spirit of what America should be about. On a day like that, and today, I remember: I'm the President, but he's The Boss. 我亲眼见过。布鲁斯是位了不起的支持者——过去一年里是位了不起的朋友，当我在林肯纪念堂台阶上看到他在我就职典礼前摇滚震撼国家广场时，我觉得那再好不过地诠释了美国应有的精神。在那样的一天，以及今天，我都会记起：我是总统，但他是"老大"。
And Bruce continues to inspire, along with his "house-rocking, earth-shaking" E Street Band. At 60 years old, he's still filling stadiums, still whipping fans into a frenzy, still surfing the crowd, still jumping off pianos, and still reaching new fans, and still being nominated for Grammys. 布鲁斯继续激励着人们，与他那"震撼房屋、震动大地"的E街乐队一同。60岁的他仍在填满体育场，仍能把歌迷煽动得如痴如醉，仍在人群上冲浪，仍从钢琴上跳下来，仍在吸引新的歌迷，仍获格莱美提名。
It's been a long road from that stage at Stone Pony in Asbury Park to this stage today, but this much we know -- after more than 30 years and 120 million albums sold, Bruce Springsteen is still one "cool rockin' Daddy." 从阿斯伯里公园"石马驹"酒吧的那个舞台到今天的这个舞台，这是一段漫长的路，但有一点我们清楚——三十多年来售出1.2亿张专辑之后，布鲁斯·斯普林斯汀仍是那个"酷酷的摇滚老爸"。
Dave Brubeck. Mel Brooks. Grace Bumbry. Robert De Niro. Bruce Springsteen. Their stories are their own. But the part that they play in the larger American story -- that's what we honor here tonight. What they say is that with respect for the past, we can keep strong the traditions and values that enrich us all; that with confidence in the present, and in ourselves, we can overcome whatever comes our way; and that with faith in the future, America's greatest "Glory Days" are still to come. 戴夫·布鲁贝克。梅尔·布鲁克斯。格蕾丝·邦布莉。罗伯特·德尼罗。布鲁斯·斯普林斯汀。他们的故事属于他们自己。但他们在美国宏大故事中所扮演的角色——这正是我们今晚要致敬的。他们所说的是：带着对过去的敬意，我们可以保持让我们所有人更加丰盈的传统与价值；带着对现在、对自己的信心，我们可以克服迎面而来的任何困难；带着对未来的信念，美国最辉煌的"光荣岁月"仍在前方。
So thank you to all of our honorees. Thank you all very much for the joy and the beauty that you've contributed to our lives. We are very grateful. Thank you. 所以，感谢我们所有的获奖者。非常感谢你们为我们的生活带来的欢乐与美好。我们深表感激。谢谢。