Good morning. 早上好。
Earlier this week, we learned that the number of Americans filing their first claim for unemployment insurance rose to a nearly 30-year high. This news reflects the pain that's been rippling across this entire economy. Jobs are being cut. Wages are being slashed. Credit is tight and people can't get loans. In cities and towns all across this country, families enter a holiday season with unease and uncertainty. 本周早些时候，我们了解到，首次申请失业救济保险的美国人人数已升至近三十年来的最高点。这一消息反映出正在整个经济领域蔓延的痛苦。工作岗位正在被裁减。工资正在被削减。信贷紧张，人们无法获得贷款。在全国各地的城市与乡镇，家庭们带着不安与不确定走进了这一假日季节。
To end this economic crisis, we must end the mortgage crisis where it began. This all started when Americans took out mortgages they couldn't afford. Some were reckless, aware of the risks they were accepting. But many were innocent, tricked by lenders out to make a quick buck. With banks creating securities they could not value and regulators looking the other way, the problem began infecting the whole economy, leading to the crisis we're now facing. 要终结这场经济危机，我们必须从其源头终结抵押贷款危机。这一切始于美国人借下了他们无力偿还的抵押贷款。有些人行事鲁莽，明知所承担的风险。但许多人是无辜的，被急于赚快钱的放贷方所欺骗。随着银行创造出他们自己都无法估值的证券，监管者又视而不见，这一问题开始侵蚀整个经济，最终导致了我们眼下正在面对的危机。
One in ten families who owns a home is now in some form of distress, the most ever recorded. This is deeply troubling. It not only shakes the foundation of our economy, but the foundation of the American Dream. There's nothing more fundamental than having a home to call your own. It's not just a place to live or raise your kids or return after a hard day's work; it's the cornerstone of a family's financial security. 每十个拥有住房的家庭中就有一个正陷入某种形式的困境，这是有记录以来最高的比例。这令人深感忧虑。它不仅动摇了我们经济的根基，也动摇了美国梦的根基。没有什么比拥有一处可以称之为自己的家更根本的事情了。它不仅是一个居住、抚养孩子或辛苦一天之后归来的地方；它更是一个家庭财务安全的基石。
To stem the rising tide of foreclosures and strengthen our economy, I've asked my economic team to develop a bold plan that will dramatically increase the number of families who can stay in their homes. But this plan will only work with a comprehensive, coordinated federal effort to make it a reality. We need every part of our government working together -- from the Treasury Department to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the agency that protects the money you've put in the bank. And few will be more essential to this effort than the Department of Housing and Urban Development. 为了遏制止赎潮的不断高涨并增强我们的经济，我已要求我的经济团队制定一项大胆的计划，以大幅增加能够留在自己家中生活的家庭数量。但这项计划只有在联邦政府全面、协调一致的努力下才能成为现实。我们需要政府的每一个部分协同合作——从财政部到联邦存款保险公司，也就是保护你存入银行资金的那个机构。而在这一努力中，几乎没有什么比住房和城市发展部更为关键的了。
From providing shelter to those displaced by Katrina to giving help to those facing the loss of a home to revitalizing our cities and communities, HUD's role has never been more important. Since its founding, HUD has been dedicated to tearing down barriers in access to affordable housing -- in an effort to make America more equal and more just. Too often, these efforts have had mixed results. 从为卡特里娜飓风的流离失所者提供庇护，到向面临失去住房的人给予帮助，再到振兴我们的城市与社区，HUD的角色从未如此重要。自成立以来，HUD一直致力于打破获得可负担住房的障碍——以使美国变得更加平等、更加公正。然而，这些努力的结果往往是成败参半。
And that's why we can't keep doing things the old Washington way. We can't keep throwing money at the problem, hoping for a different result. We need to approach the old challenge of affordable housing with new energy, new ideas, and a new, efficient style of leadership. We need to understand that the old ways of looking at our cities just won't do. 正因如此，我们不能再沿用老一套的华盛顿方式做事。我们不能继续往问题上砸钱，指望出现不同的结果。我们需要以新的活力、新的理念和一种全新的、高效的领导方式来应对可负担住房这一老问题。我们需要认识到，用老眼光看待我们的城市已经行不通了。
That means promoting cities as the backbone of regional growth by not only solving the problems in our cities, but seizing the opportunities in our growing suburbs, exurbs, and metropolitan areas. No one knows this better than the outstanding public servant I am announcing today as our next Secretary of Housing and Urban Development -- Shaun Donovan. 这意味着要将城市作为区域增长的脊梁加以推动，不仅要解决城市中的问题，还要抓住我们不断发展的郊区、远郊和大都市地区所蕴含的机遇。在这一点上，没有人比我今天宣布的下任住房和城市发展部部长——肖恩·多诺万——更清楚。
As Commissioner of Housing Preservation and Development in New York City, Shaun has led the effort to create the largest housing plan in the nation, helping hundreds of thousands of our citizens buy or rent their homes. Prior to joining Mayor Bloomberg's administration, Shaun worked both in business, where he was responsible for affordable housing investments, and at one of our nation's top universities, where he researched and wrote about housing issues. 作为纽约市住房保护与发展局的局长，肖恩主导制定了全美规模最大的住房计划，帮助数十万市民购买或租赁了自己的住房。在加入彭博市长政府之前，肖恩既有在商界负责可负担住房投资的经历，也曾在美国顶尖学府中研究并撰写住房问题的论著。
This appointment represents something of a homecoming for Shaun, who worked at HUD in the Clinton Administration, leading an effort to help make housing affordable for nearly two million Americans. Trained as an architect, Shaun understands housing down to how homes are designed, built, and wired. 这次任命对肖恩而言颇有"回家"的意味——他曾在克林顿政府的HUD任职，主导了一项帮助近两百万美国人获得可负担住房的工作。作为受过专业训练的建筑师，肖恩对住房的理解深入到房屋如何设计、建造和布线的层面。
With experience that stretches from the public sector to the private sector to academia, Shaun will bring to this important post fresh thinking, unencumbered by old ideology and outdated ideas. He understands that we need to move past the stale arguments that say, "Low-income Americans shouldn't even try to own a home" or that "Our mortgage crisis is due solely to a few greedy lenders." 凭借横跨公共部门、私营部门和学术界的丰富经验，肖恩将为这一重要职位带来不受旧有意识形态和过时观念束缚的新鲜思维。他深知，我们必须超越那些陈腐的论调，比如"低收入美国人甚至不应该尝试拥有自己的住房"，又或者"我们的抵押贷款危机仅仅归咎于少数贪婪的放贷方"。
He knows that we can put the dream of owning a home within reach for more families, so long as we're making loans in the right way, and so long as those who buy a home are prepared for the responsibilities of homeownership. 他知道，只要我们以正确的方式发放贷款，只要购房者做好承担住房所有权的责任准备，我们就能让更多家庭触碰到拥有住房的梦想。
In the end, expanding access to affordable housing isn't just about caring for the least fortunate among us and strengthening our middle class. It's about ending our housing mess, climbing out of our financial crisis, and putting our economy on the path to long-term growth and prosperity. And that is what Shaun and I will work to do together when I am President of the United States. 归根结底，扩大可负担住房的覆盖面，不仅是关乎关怀我们中最不幸的群体、壮大我们的中产阶级。它更关乎终结我们的住房乱象、走出我们的金融危机，并使我们的经济走上长期增长与繁荣的道路。而这正是当我成为美国总统之后，肖恩和我将共同努力去做的事情。
Thank you. 谢谢。