PRESIDENT OBAMA: It's good to see ya! 奥巴马总统：见到你们真好！
INTERN QUESTION: So, we've heard a lot in the past Speaker Series that we've had with all the amazing staff about your relentless optimism. 实习生提问：在之前的演讲者系列活动中，我们从所有出色的工作人员那里听到了很多关于您坚持不懈的乐观精神的故事。
PRESIDENT OBAMA: I am...relentlessly optimistic [imitating in good humor]. 奥巴马总统：我啊……确实坚持不懈地乐观（风趣地模仿道）。
INTERN QUESTION: I was wondering if you could talk a little bit more about that -- how you remain optimistic; or maybe you're not, but people still think that you are. 实习生提问：我想请问您能不能多谈谈这个话题——您是如何保持乐观的；或者也许您并不乐观，但大家仍然认为您很乐观。
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Ahhh. Some of this is temperamental. People just have different temperaments. I -- I tend to be a pretty happy guy. I'm pretty sure this is because I was born in Hawaii. And so I spent most of my early years in really pleasant weather all the time, splashing in waves and things. That helped. 奥巴马总统：啊哈。这其中一部分是性格使然。人的性格各不相同。我——我本来就是个挺快乐的人。我敢肯定这是因为我出生在夏威夷。所以我童年的大部分时光都是在宜人的天气里度过的，在海浪里嬉戏什么的。这很有帮助。
As I get older, and certainly in this job, what -- what helps me a lot is taking the long view on things. I -- I think so much pessimism and so much stress arises out of looking at things in this very narrow here and now. But the day-to-day sort of ups and downs and swings, it's like the weather. I mean, you know, okay, get an umbrella sometimes. Sometimes you take off your jacket. But if you can keep your eye on the long view...not only does that relieve stress, but it also allows you to make better decisions. 随着年龄的增长，尤其是在这份工作中，对我帮助很大的一点就是用长远的眼光看待事物。我——我觉得那么多悲观情绪和压力，都源于把目光局限在当下这个狭窄的范围里。但日常的起起落落、浮浮沉沉，就像天气一样。我的意思是，你懂的，好吧，有时候带把伞，有时候脱掉外套。但如果你能始终着眼长远……不仅能缓解压力，还能让你做出更好的决定。
The things that last, the things that are important usually have to do with, how did you behave? How did you -- How'd you treat other people? Did you work as hard as you could have? Did you do your best? The things that you have control over. When I'm on my deathbed, the things I will remember will be, you know, walking a four-year-old Malia to the park. I'm not going to remember some headline. I think that's helpful. But that's just me. It's mostly the Hawaii thing. 那些持久的东西，那些重要的东西，通常都和这些有关：你表现如何？你——你如何对待他人？你是否尽了最大努力？你是否做到了最好？这些都是你能掌控的事情。当我临终之际，我会记得的事情将会是，你知道的，牵着四岁的玛丽亚去公园散步。我不会记得什么头条新闻。我觉得这样想很有帮助。不过这只是我的情况，主要还是夏威夷的功劳。
INTERN QUESTION: What kind of legacy would you like to leave in the African-American community? 实习生提问：您希望在非裔美国人社区留下什么样的遗产？
PRESIDENT OBAMA: It's hard for me to say what I've meant to the African-American community -- I -- I can say what Michelle's meant to the African-American community. Michelle's the bomb. What concretely I can say is that the work this Administration's done has made a difference in the lives of people who are struggling. And those folks are disproportionately people of color. 奥巴马总统：我很难说自己对非裔美国人社区意味着什么——我——我可以说米歇尔对非裔美国人社区意味着什么。米歇尔太棒了。我能具体说的是，本届政府所做的工作确实改变了那些处境艰难的人们的生活。而那些人当中，有色人种占了不成比例的大多数。
So, whether it's the Affordable Care Act and making sure people have health care, or it's, you know, expanding Pell Grants, or it's, you know, programs to deal with low-income communities to help them rebuild and provide better job training, you know, in each of those areas, there are lot of people who are better off than they otherwise would have been because of the concrete actions that we took. 所以，无论是平价医疗法案确保人们获得医疗保障，还是，你知道的，扩大佩尔助学金，又或者是，你知道的，帮助低收入社区重建、提供更好职业培训的项目，在每一个领域，都有很多人因为我们采取的具体行动而生活得比以前更好。
There's a second category of issues that have to do with government action and are specifically related to civil rights, voting rights. We now have an outstanding Civil Rights Division in the Justice Department that is actively filing suits and winning lawsuits to make sure people have the right to vote, to make sure that discriminatory practices are rooted out. 第二类问题与政府行动有关，专门涉及民权和投票权。我们现在在司法部有一个出色的民权司，他们正在积极提起诉讼并赢得官司，以确保人民享有投票权，确保歧视性做法被根除。
You know, that's a -- that's another category. I'd -- I'd put in that same category the work we've been doing around criminal justice reform and reshaping how we do commutations and, you know, how we are working with law enforcement around best practices for policing. All right, so that's a whole category of issues. 你知道，这是——这是另一类工作。我会把我们一直在做的刑事司法改革、重塑减刑程序，以及，你知道的，我们如何与执法部门合作推广最佳警务实践，都归入同一类。好了，这就是一整类议题。
And then, you know, there's just the cultural and psychological issues. It's interesting. I...think the impact may be not just with, you know, black kids taking for granted -- that somebody who looks like them can be President, but their white peers taking for granted -- that somebody that doesn't look like them can be President. 然后呢，你知道的，还有文化和心理层面的影响。这很有意思。我……觉得这种影响可能不只是，你知道的，黑人孩子会理所当然地认为——长得像他们的人也能当总统；他们的白人同龄人也会理所当然地认为——长得不像他们的人也能当总统。
All of you are young enough that, in some ways, it's plausible to you maybe that race relations have gotten worse; but actually it's a testimony to how much better they've gotten that this shocks you; evidence that, you know, there may be racial bias in our criminal justice system, you're -- you're hurt; whereas 25, 30 years ago, that was a given. 你们都还年轻，从某种程度上说，你们可能觉得种族关系好像变差了；但实际上，这恰恰证明情况已经好了很多，所以才会让你们感到震惊；证据就是，你知道的，我们的刑事司法系统中可能存在种族偏见，你们——你们会感到受伤；而在25年、30年前，那是理所当然的事。
So -- So, sometimes progress involves improvement but then raising expectations. Things are a lot better but now our expectations are a lot higher. Look, we -- we, you know, we got -- we got a long way to go when it comes to -- to racial issues. You know, history can go backwards as well as forwards. But the overall trajectory, I think, is positive. 所以——所以，有时候进步意味着改善，但随之而来的是期望的提高。情况已经好了很多，但现在我们的期望也高了很多。听着，我们——你知道，在种族问题上，我们还有很长的路要走。历史可能前进，也可能倒退。但我认为，总体趋势是积极的。
And the -- the caution I have for this cohort, because, you know, there's probably some self-selection going on. You guys are -- if you're interning here with Obama, then you're probably -- you have certain -- you're more likely to have certain political views. So -- So, I just want to caution all of you to make sure that in wanting to improve race relations, you -- you don't become so rigid and sensitive in terms of your own views that instead of opening up dialogue, you sort of harden lines and divisions. 我对你们这群人有一个告诫，因为，你知道的，这里可能存在一些自我选择。你们——如果你们来给奥巴马做实习生，那么你们很可能——更有可能持有某种特定的政治观点。所以——所以，我只是想提醒你们所有人，在希望改善种族关系的同时，你们——你们不要在自己的观点上变得过于僵化和敏感，以至于不是开启对话，而是加固了界限和分歧。
All right. All right, guys' turn. Yes sir, right here. 好了。好了，该男生提问了。这位先生，就是你。
INTERN QUESTION: How do you deal with, you know, knowing when to compromise, and how do you learn how to compromise, and how to more or less stick to your guns? 实习生提问：您是如何处理，您知道的，知道何时该妥协，如何学会妥协，以及如何在某种程度上坚持自己的原则的？
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Maybe -- Maybe my rule of thumb is...if the issue we're working on, I've got a particular objective, and the compromise thwarts that objective, then that's a bad compromise. If the compromise makes things better, but just not as good as I think they need to be, then my instinct is that's a good compromise. And probably the best example of this is the debate we had around healthcare. 奥巴马总统：也许——也许我的经验法则是……如果我们正在处理的问题，我有一个特定的目标，而妥协阻碍了那个目标，那就是糟糕的妥协。如果妥协能让事情变得更好，只是还没有达到我认为应该达到的程度，那么我的直觉是这就是好的妥协。最好的例子可能就是我们围绕医疗保健的那场辩论。
Once we get the -- the structure in place, it's like a starter home. And it would be nice if we had, you know, granite countertops in the kitchen, but we can't afford those yet. There's no porch. But it -- it beats sleeping outside. And I think I've been proven right on this -- because I've got 20 million people with health insurance who didn't have it before. 一旦我们把——把框架建立起来，它就像一栋入门级的房子。要是厨房里有花岗岩台面就好了，但我们还负担不起。也没有门廊。但这总比睡在外面强。我认为在这一点上事实证明我是对的——因为有两千万人获得了以前没有的医疗保险。
Now...it's -- it's far from our ideal, but every single step in...social progress in this country has started with a starter home. The political process in this country is incremental. Democracies of our sort require reform as a general proposition and not revolution. And that's okay. You know...there's nothing wrong with better. 现在……这还远——远未达到我们的理想，但这个国家社会进步的每一步都是从一栋入门级的房子开始的。这个国家的政治进程是渐进式的。我们这种民主制度通常需要的是改革，而不是革命。这没关系。你知道……"更好"没有什么错。
Because you -- you hold out for the best and that means that whoever was going to be helped by better, you know, doesn't have healthcare that year or isn't, you know, getting as much help on going to college as they otherwise would have. All right, well you guys -- you guys have been great. I always say this to all of you, so...even though it's boilerplate, I'm going to repeat it: Don't get bored. Don't get cynical. 因为你——你坚持要最好的，那就意味着那些本可以从"更好"中受益的人，你知道的，那一年就得不到医疗保障，或者，你知道的，上大学得到的帮助就会比原本能得到的少。好了，你们——你们都很棒。我总是对你们所有人说这些话，所以……尽管这是老生常谈，我还是要再说一遍：不要感到无聊，不要变得愤世嫉俗。
You guys are the most privileged people at the most prosperous, secure period in human history. And so, no griping and...no moping. The possibilities of -- of what you can do are...enormous. And that doesn't mean, you know -- becoming President involves a lot of luck. Becoming, you know, Steve Jobs or, you know, Quentin Tarantino, you know, that -- that requires a certain amount of breaks that you get. 你们是人类历史上最繁荣、最安全时期里最幸运的一群人。所以，不要抱怨，也……不要垂头丧气。你们能做到的事情的可能性……是巨大的。但这并不意味着，你知道的——成为总统需要很多运气。成为，你知道的，史蒂夫·乔布斯或者，你知道的，昆汀·塔伦蒂诺，那——那需要一定的机遇。
It's not because you're so much better than everybody else. Being Picasso is because you're better than everybody else. But...a lot of times it's just, you know, happenstance or things worked out. But being useful and having a satisfying life and making a contribution, that is entirely within your control. Orient yourself towards having an impact and making a difference, and you will. And...you'll be happy doing it. 不是因为你比其他人都优秀太多。成为毕加索是因为你确实比其他人都优秀。但是……很多时候只是，你知道的，机缘巧合或者时运使然。但做一个有用的人，拥有充实的生活，做出贡献，这些完全在你的掌控之中。以产生影响和做出改变为方向，你就一定能做到。而且……你会乐在其中的。
All right? What have I got here? You've just been waiting for this. Oh, this is so nice. Look at this. And, like, glitter on the sides. You got help, didn't you? Your parents helped you. It's just like the science projects. 对吧？我手里这是什么？你们一直等着这个呢吧。哦，真好看。看看这个。边上还有亮闪闪的东西。你们找人帮忙了吧？你们爸妈帮你们了吧。就像做科学项目一样。
INTERN COMMENT: Yeah, absolutely. 实习生发言：是的，没错。
PRESIDENT OBAMA: This is so nice. Well, thank you, everybody. 奥巴马总统：真好看。谢谢大家。
INTERN COMMENT: Yeah, happy birthday, almost. 实习生发言：是的，提前祝生日快乐。
PRESIDENT OBAMA: All right. Almost. Good luck, everybody. You're going do great. 奥巴马总统：好的。差不多了。祝大家好运，你们一定能行的。
