Thank you so much, Strobe, for your extraordinary leadership here at Brookings, and thanks to all of you in attendance. 非常感谢你，斯特罗布，感谢你在布鲁金斯学会展现的卓越领导力，也感谢在座各位的出席。
Almost exactly one year ago, on a frigid winter's day, I met with my new economic team at the headquarters of my presidential transition offices in Chicago. And over the course of four hours, my advisors presented an analysis of where the economy at that time stood, accompanied by a chilling set of charts and graphs, predicting where we might end up. It was an unforgettable series of presentations. 差不多正好一年前，在一个寒冷的冬日，我在芝加哥总统过渡办公室总部会见了我新的经济团队。在四个小时里，我的顾问们呈现了对当时经济状况的分析，伴随一系列令人不寒而栗的图表，预测我们可能走向的结局。那是一系列令人难忘的陈述。
Christy Romer -- who's here today -- tapped to head the Council of Economic Advisers, as well as Larry Summers, who I'd chosen to head the National Economic Council, described an imminent downturn comparable in its severity to almost nothing since the 1930s. Tim Geithner, my incoming Treasury Secretary, reported that the financial system, shaken by the subprime crisis, had halted almost all lending, which in turn threatened to pull the broader economy in a downward spiral. 克里斯蒂·罗默——她今天也在场——被任命为经济顾问委员会主席，而拉里·萨默斯——我选他出任国家经济委员会主席——则描述了一场迫在眉睫的衰退，其严重程度几乎自上世纪三十年代以来前所未见。蒂姆·盖特纳，我即将就任的财政部长，报告称受次贷危机冲击的金融体系几乎停止了所有放贷，这反过来又威胁将更广泛的经济拖入下行螺旋。
Peter Orszag, my incoming Budget Director, closed out the proceedings with an entirely dismal report on the fiscal health of the country, with growing deficits and debt stretching to the horizon. Having concluded that it was too late for me to request a recount -- I tasked my team with mapping out a plan to tackle the crisis on all fronts. 彼得·奥尔扎格，我即将就任的预算局长，以一份对国家财政状况完全悲观的报告为会议收尾，不断扩大的赤字和债务一直延伸到视野尽头。意识到现在要求重新计票已经太迟了——我责成我的团队制定一套全方位应对危机的方案。
It wasn't long after that meeting, as we shaped this economic plan, that we began to see some of these forecasts materialize. Over the previous year, it was obvious that folks were facing hard times. As I traveled across the country during the long campaign, I would meet men and women bearing the brunt of not only a deepening recession, but also years -- even decades -- of growing strains on middle class families. But now the country was experiencing something far worse. 那次会议后不久，正当我们制定这项经济计划时，我们开始看到其中一些预测成为现实。在过去一年里，民众显然正面临艰难时刻。在漫长的竞选期间我走遍全国，遇到承受重压的男男女女——他们不仅承受着日益加深的衰退，还承受着中产家庭多年来甚至几十年来不断累积的压力。但此时国家正在经历更糟糕的事情。
Our gross domestic product -- the sum total of all that our economy produces -- fell at the fastest rate in a quarter century. Five trillion dollars of Americans' household wealth evaporated in just 12 weeks as stocks, pensions, and home values plummeted. We were losing an average of 700,000 jobs each month, equivalent to the population of the state of Vermont. That was true in December, January, February, March. The fear among economists across the political spectrum that was -- was that we were rapidly plummeting towards a second Great Depression. 我们的国内生产总值——即我们经济生产的全部总和——以四分之一个世纪以来最快的速度下滑。随着股票、养老金和房价暴跌，美国人的家庭财富在短短十二周内蒸发了五万亿美元。我们平均每月失去七十万个就业岗位，相当于佛蒙特州的人口。十二月、一月、二月、三月都是如此。各派经济学家都担心——我们正迅速坠向第二次大萧条。
So, in the weeks and months that followed, we undertook a series of difficult steps to prevent that outcome. And we were forced to take those steps largely without the help of an opposition party, which, unfortunately, after having presided over the decision-making that had led to the crisis, decided to hand it over to others to solve. 因此，在随后的几周和几个月里，我们采取了一系列艰难措施来阻止那种结局。而我们被迫在几乎没有反对党协助的情况下采取这些步骤——不幸的是，该党在主导了导致危机的决策之后，决定把烂摊子交给别人来解决。
We acted to get lending flowing again so businesses could get loans to buy equipment, and ordinary Americans could get financing to buy homes and cars, to go to college, and to start or run businesses. We enacted measures to stem the tide of foreclosures in our housing market, helping responsible homeowners stay in their homes and helping to stop the broader decline in home values which was eating away at what tends to be a family's largest asset. 我们采取行动让信贷重新流动，使企业能够获得贷款购买设备，普通美国人能够获得融资购房、买车、上大学、创办或经营企业。我们颁布措施遏制住房市场止赎潮，帮助负责任的房主保住自己的房子，并帮助阻止房价更广泛的下跌——这种下跌正在侵蚀一个家庭通常最大的资产。
To achieve this, and to prevent economic collapse, we were forced to extend assistance to some of the very banks and financial institutions whose actions had helped precipitate the turmoil. We also took steps to prevent the rapid dissolution of the American auto industry -- which faced a crisis partly of its own making -- to prevent the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs during an already fragile, shaky time. These were not decisions that were popular or satisfying; these were decisions that were necessary. 为此，也为防止经济崩溃，我们被迫向一些正是其行为引发动荡的银行和金融机构伸出援手。我们还采取措施防止美国汽车工业迅速瓦解——它面临的危机部分是自身造成的——以避免在原本就脆弱动荡的时期失去数十万个就业岗位。这些决定并不讨喜，也不令人满意；但这些决定是必要的。
Now, even as we worked to address the crises in our banking sector, in our housing market, and in our auto industry, we also began attacking our economic crisis on a broader front. Less than one month after taking office we enacted the most sweeping economic recovery package in history: the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. 如今，就在我们努力应对银行业、住房和汽车工业危机的同时，我们也开始在更广泛的战线上反击经济危机。上任不到一个月，我们颁布了历史上最大规模的经济复苏方案：《美国复苏与再投资法案》。
The Recovery Act was divided into three parts. One-third went for tax relief for small businesses and 95 percent of working families. Another third was for emergency relief to help folks who've borne the brunt of this recession. We extended or increased unemployment benefits for more than 17 million Americans; made health insurance 65 percent cheaper for families relying on COBRA. 复苏法案分为三部分。三分之一用于为小企业和百分之九十五的工薪家庭减税。另三分之一用于紧急救济，帮助承受本次衰退冲击的民众。我们为超过一千七百万美国人延长或增加了失业救济金；为依赖COBRA的家庭将医疗保险费用降低了百分之六十五。
And for state and local governments facing historic budget shortfalls as demand for services went up and revenues went down, we provided assistance that has saved the jobs of hundreds of thousands of teachers and public school workers, firefighters and police officers. 对于面临历史性预算缺口——服务需求上升而收入下降——的州和地方政府，我们提供了援助，保住了数十万名教师和公立学校工作人员、消防员和警察的岗位。
The last third of the Recovery Act is for investments to put Americans to work doing the work that America needs done: doubling our capacity in renewable energy like wind and solar; computerizing medical records to save money and lives; providing the largest boost to medical research in history; renovating classrooms and school laboratories; and upgrading roads and railways as part of the largest investment in infrastructure since the creation of the Interstate Highway System half a century ago. 复苏法案最后的三分之一用于投资，让美国人去做美国需要完成的工作：将风能和太阳能等可再生能源的产能翻倍；实现病历电子化以节省资金、拯救生命；为医学研究提供有史以来最大力度的推动；翻新教室和学校实验室；并作为半个世纪前州际公路系统建立以来最大规模基础设施投资的一部分，升级道路和铁路。
And even as the Recovery Act has created jobs and spurred growth, we have not let up in our efforts to take every responsible action to get the economy growing and America working. 即便复苏法案已经创造了就业、刺激了增长，我们仍未放松努力，继续采取一切负责任的行动让经济增长、让美国人工作。
This fall, I signed into law more than $30 billion in tax cuts for struggling businesses, extended an effective tax credit for homebuyers, and provided additional unemployment insurance for one million Americans. And the Treasury is continuing to adapt our financial stability plan, helping to facilitate the flow of small credit to small businesses and families. In addition, we're working to break down barriers and open overseas markets so our companies can better compete globally, creating jobs in America by exporting our products around the world. 今年秋天，我签署了逾三百亿美元针对困境企业的减税法案，延长了行之有效的购房者税收抵免，并为一百万美国人提供了额外的失业保险。财政部也在继续调整我们的金融稳定计划，帮助促进向小企业和家庭的小额信贷流动。此外，我们正努力打破壁垒、开拓海外市场，让我们的企业能在全球更好地竞争，通过向世界各地出口产品在美国创造就业。
Now, partly as a result of these and other steps, we are in a very different place today than we were one year ago. We may forget, but we're in a very different place. We can safely say that we are no longer facing the potential collapse of our financial system and we've avoided the depression many feared. Our economy is growing for the first time in a year, and the swing from contraction to expansion since the beginning of the year is the largest in nearly three decades. 如今，部分由于这些及其他举措，我们今天的处境与一年前已大不相同。我们或许会忘记，但我们的确处在截然不同的境地。我们可以肯定地说，我们不再面临金融体系可能崩溃的局面，也避免了许多人曾担忧的萧条。一年来我们的经济首次出现增长，而自年初以来从收缩到扩张的转折幅度是近三十年来最大的。
Finally, we're no longer seeing the severe deterioration in the job market that we once were. In fact we learned on Friday that the unemployment rate fell slightly last month. This is welcome news, and news made possible in part by the up to 1.6 million jobs that the Recovery Act has already created and saved according to the Congressional Budget Office. 最后，我们不再看到就业市场曾经那种严重恶化的局面。事实上我们周五得知上月失业率略有下降。这是令人欣慰的消息，根据国会预算办公室的数据，复苏法案已创造和保住了多达一百六十万个就业岗位，这一好消息部分正是由此而来。
But I'm here today because our work is far from done. For even though we've reduced the deluge of job losses to a relative trickle, we are not yet creating jobs at a pace to help all those families who've been swept up in the flood. There are more than 7 million fewer Americans with jobs today than when this recession began. That's a staggering figure, and one that reflects not only the depths of the hole from which we must ascend, but also a continuing human tragedy. 但我今天来到这里，是因为我们的工作还远未完成。尽管我们已把求职洪流般的失业缩减为相对的涓流，但我们创造就业的速度仍不足以帮助所有被洪流卷走的家庭。如今美国的就业人数比衰退开始时少了七百多万。这是一个惊人的数字，它不仅反映出我们必须攀爬的深渊之深，也反映出一场持续的人间悲剧。
It was mentioned that I was in Allentown, Pennsylvania, this past weekend, and went to a job center where people were engaged in job search. And it ran the spectrum -- blacks, whites, Hispanics, young people who were just starting their careers, individuals 50, 60 years old, looking for a job. And they were putting a brave face on it, confident that eventually things would work out, but you could also see the sense of anxiety, the fear that perhaps this time it was different. 刚才提到我上周末去了宾夕法尼亚州阿伦敦，到一个就业中心看望正在求职的人们。那里的人形形色色——黑人、白人、拉美裔、刚刚开始职业生涯的年轻人，也有五六十岁正在找工作的人。他们强作镇定，相信事情最终会好转，但你也能看到他们眼中的焦虑，担心也许这一次真的不同了。
Sometimes it's hard to break out of the bubble here in Washington and remind ourselves that behind these statistics are people's lives, their capacity to do right by their families. It speaks to an urgent need to accelerate job growth in the short term while laying a new foundation for lasting economic growth. 有时我们很难走出华盛顿这座泡泡，提醒自己这些统计数字背后是人们的生活，是他们养家糊口的能力。这正说明我们迫切需要在短期内加速就业增长，同时为持久的经济增长奠定新的基础。
My economic team has been considering a full range of additional ideas to help accelerate the pace of private sector hiring. We held a jobs forum at the White House that brought together small business owners, CEOs, union members, economists, folks from non-profits, and state and local officials to talk about job creation. And I've asked people to lead forums in their own communities -- sending the results to me -- so we are hearing as many voices as possible as we refine our proposals. We've already heard a number of good ideas, and I know we'll learn of many more. 我的经济团队一直在考虑一系列额外方案，以帮助加速私营部门的雇佣步伐。我们在白宫举办了一场就业论坛，把小企业主、首席执行官、工会成员、经济学家、非营利组织人士以及州和地方官员召集到一起讨论就业创造。我还请人们在自己的社区主办论坛——把结果反馈给我——以便在完善提案时听到尽可能多的声音。我们已经听到了不少好主意，我知道还会听到更多。
So today, I want to outline some of the broader steps that I believe should be at the heart of our effort to accelerate job growth -- those areas that will generate the greatest number of jobs while generating the greatest value for our economy. 因此今天，我想概述一些我认为应当作为加速就业增长努力核心的更广泛举措——那些能创造最多就业岗位、同时为我们的经济创造最大价值的领域。
First, we're proposing a series of steps to help small businesses grow and hire new staff. Over the past 15 years, small businesses have created roughly 65 percent of all new jobs in America. These are companies formed around kitchen tables in family meetings, formed when an entrepreneur takes a chance on a dream, formed when a worker decides it's time she became her own boss. These are also companies that drive innovation, producing 13 times more patents per employee than large companies. 第一，我们正提出一系列措施，帮助小企业成长并雇佣新员工。过去十五年里，小企业创造了美国大约百分之六十五的新增就业岗位。这些公司诞生于家庭聚会时的餐桌旁，诞生于创业者对梦想放手一搏的时刻，诞生于一名工人决定是时候自己当老板的时刻。这些公司也推动着创新，每位员工产出的专利数量是大公司的十三倍。
And it's worth remembering, every once in a while a small business becomes a big business -- and changes the world. 也值得记住，偶尔会有那么一家小企业成长为一家大企业——并改变了世界。
That's why it's so important that we help small business struggling to stay open, or struggling to open in the first place, during these difficult times. Building on the tax cuts in the Recovery Act, we're proposing a complete elimination of capital gains taxes on small business investment along with an extension of write-offs to encourage small businesses to expand in the coming year. And I believe it's worthwhile to create a tax incentive to encourage small businesses to add and keep employees, and I'm going to work with Congress to pass one. 正因如此，在这些艰难时刻帮助那些苦苦维持营业、或一开始就难以开业的小企业显得尤为重要。在复苏法案减税措施的基础上，我们提议完全取消小企业投资的资本利得税，并延长资产折旧扣除以鼓励小企业在来年扩张。我也认为设立一项税收激励以鼓励小企业增加和留住员工是值得的，我将与国会合作推动通过。
Now, these steps will help, but we also have to address the continuing struggle of small businesses to get loans that they need to start up and grow. To that end, we're proposing to waive fees and increase the guarantees for SBA-backed loans. And I'm asking my Treasury Secretary to continue mobilizing the remaining TARP funds to facilitate lending to small businesses. 这些措施会有所帮助，但我们也必须解决小企业在获取创业和扩张所需贷款方面的持续困境。为此，我们提议免除SBA担保贷款的手续费并提高其担保额度。我也请财政部长继续动用剩余的TARP资金，促进对小企业的放贷。
Second, we're proposing a boost in investment in the nation's infrastructure beyond what was included in the Recovery Act, to continue modernizing our transportation and communications networks. These are needed public works that engage private sector companies, spurring hiring all across the country. 第二，我们提议在复苏法案所含内容之外加大对国家基础设施的投资，以继续推进交通和通信网络的现代化。这些都是所需的公共工程，能带动私营企业参与，在全国各地刺激就业。
Already, more than 10,000 of these projects have been funded through the Recovery Act. And by design, Recovery Act work on roads, bridges, water systems, Superfund sites, broadband networks, and clean energy projects will all be ramping up in the months ahead. It was planned this way for two reasons: so the impact would be felt over a two-year period; and, more importantly, because we wanted to do this right. 已有超过一万个此类项目通过复苏法案获得资金。按照设计，复苏法案中涉及道路、桥梁、供水系统、超级基金污染场地、宽带网络和清洁能源项目的工作都将在未来几个月加速推进。这样安排有两个原因：一是让影响能在两年内逐步显现；更重要的，是我们希望把事情做对。
The potential for abuse in a program of this magnitude, while operating at such a fast pace, was enormous. So I asked Vice President Biden and others to make sure to the extent humanly possible that the investments were sound, the projects worthy, and the execution efficient. What this means is that we're going to see even more work -- and workers -- on recovery projects in the next six months than we saw in the last six months. 如此规模、又以如此快节奏推进的项目，被滥用的潜在风险是巨大的。因此我请副总统拜登等人尽人力所能确保投资稳健、项目值得、执行高效。这意味着在未来六个月里，我们将看到复苏项目上比过去六个月更多的工作和工人。
Even so, there are many more worthy projects than there were dollars to fund them. I recognize that by their nature these projects often take time, and will therefore create jobs over time. But the need for jobs will also last beyond next year and the benefits of these investments will last years beyond that. So adding to this initiative to rebuild America's infrastructure is the right thing to do. 即便如此，值得投资的项目远比可供资助的资金多得多。我认识到这些项目本身往往需要时间，因此会随着时间推移创造就业。但对就业的需求也将延续到明年之后，而这些投资的益处更会持续多年。因此，为重建美国基础设施的这项倡议追加投入是正确的做法。
Third, I'm calling on Congress to consider a new program to provide incentives for consumers who retrofit their homes to become more energy-efficient, which we know creates jobs, saves money for families, and reduces the pollution that threatens our environment. And I'm proposing that we expand select Recovery Act initiatives to promote energy efficiency and clean energy jobs which have been proven to be particularly popular and effective. 第三，我呼吁国会考虑一项新计划，为改造住宅以提高能效的消费者提供激励——我们知道这能创造就业、为家庭省钱，并减少威胁环境的污染。我还提议扩展复苏法案中部分已被证明特别受欢迎和有效的倡议，以促进节能和清洁能源就业。
It's a positive sign that many of these programs drew so many applicants for funding that a lot of strong proposals -- proposals that will leverage private capital and create jobs quickly -- did not make the cut. With additional resources, in areas like advanced manufacturing of wind turbines and solar panels, for instance, we can help turn good ideas into good private sector jobs. 一个积极的信号是，许多此类计划吸引了大量资金申请者，以至于不少强有力的提案——那些能撬动私人资本并迅速创造就业的提案——未能入选。借助额外资源，比如在风力涡轮机和太阳能电池板的先进制造等领域，我们可以帮助把好主意转化为优质的私营部门就业岗位。
Finally, as we are moving forward in these areas, we should also extend the relief in the Recovery Act, including emergency assistance to seniors, unemployment insurance benefits, COBRA, and relief to states and localities to prevent layoffs. This will help folks weathering these storms, while boosting consumer spending and promoting job growth. 最后，随着我们在这些领域向前推进，我们也应延长复苏法案中的救济措施，包括对老年人的紧急援助、失业保险金、COBRA以及为防止裁员而向州和地方提供的救济。这将帮助正在经历风雨的人们，同时提振消费支出并促进就业增长。
Of course, there's only so much government can do. Job creation will ultimately depend on the real job creators: businesses across America. We were encouraged today to hear from the Business Roundtable that their survey showed greater confidence and greater potential investment coming out of the business community. 当然，政府能做的有限。就业创造最终取决于真正的就业创造者：遍布美国的企业。今天我们受到鼓舞地从商业圆桌会议获悉，他们的调查显示企业界信心增强、潜在投资增加。
Government can help lay the groundwork on which the private sector can better generate jobs, growth, and innovation. After all, small business tax relief is not a substitute for ingenuity and industriousness by our entrepreneurs -- but it can help those with good ideas to grow and expand. Incentives to promote energy efficiency and clean energy manufacturing don't automatically create jobs or lower carbon emissions -- but these steps provide a framework in which companies can compete and innovate to create those jobs and reduce energy consumption. 政府能帮助奠定基础，让私营部门在此基础上更好地创造就业、增长和创新。毕竟，小企业减税并不能替代我们企业家的创造力和勤勉——但它能帮助有好点子的人成长壮大。促进节能和清洁能源制造的激励不会自动创造就业或降低碳排放——但这些举措提供了一个框架，让企业能在其中竞争、创新，从而创造就业、降低能耗。
And while modernizing the physical and virtual networks that connect us will create private-sector jobs, they'll do so while making it possible for companies to more easily and effectively move their products across this country and around the world, and that will create more jobs. 而现代化连接我们的实体与虚拟网络将创造私营部门就业岗位，同时让企业能更轻松、更高效地把产品运往全国各地和世界各地，这又将创造更多就业。
And given the challenges of accelerating the pace of hiring in the private sector, these targeted initiatives are right and they are needed. But with a fiscal crisis to match our economic crisis, we also must be prudent about how we fund it. So to help support these efforts, we are going to wind down the Troubled Asset Relief Program -- or TARP -- the fund created to stabilize the financial system so banks would lend again. 鉴于加速私营部门雇佣所面临的挑战，这些有针对性的举措是正确的，也是必要的。但在与经济危机并存的财政危机面前，我们也必须在资金来源上保持审慎。因此，为支持这些努力，我们将逐步终止问题资产救助计划——即TARP——这一为稳定金融体系、让银行重新放贷而设立的基金。
I don't think I have to tell you there has rarely been a less loved or more necessary emergency program than TARP, which -- as galling as the assistance to banks may have been -- indisputably helped prevent a collapse of the entire financial system. Launched hastily -- understandably, but hastily -- under the last administration, the TARP program was flawed, and we have worked hard to correct those flaws and manage it properly. And today, TARP has served its original purpose and at much lower cost than we expected. 我想不必我多说，很少有哪个紧急计划比TARP更不受欢迎却更不可或缺——尽管对银行的援助令人愤慨——但它无可争辩地帮助防止了整个金融体系的崩溃。TARP在上届政府时期仓促推出——可以理解，但确实仓促——存在缺陷，而我们一直努力纠正这些缺陷并妥善管理。如今，TARP已实现其初衷，且成本远低于预期。
In fact, because of our stewardship of this program, and the transparency and accountability we put in place, TARP is expected to cost the taxpayers at least $200 billion less than what was anticipated just this past summer. And the assistance to banks, once thought to cost taxpayers untold billions, is on track to actually reap billions in profits for the taxpaying public. So this gives us a chance to pay down the deficit faster than we thought possible and to shift funds that would have gone to help the banks on Wall Street to help create jobs on Main Street. 事实上，由于我们对这一计划的妥善管理，以及我们建立的透明度和问责机制，TARP预计给纳税人带来的成本将比今年夏天预期的至少少两千亿美元。而对银行的援助——曾被认为会让纳税人付出无法估量的数十亿——正朝着实际上为纳税公众带来数十亿利润的方向发展。这让我们有机会比预想更快地偿还赤字，并把原本用于救助华尔街银行的资金转用于在主街创造就业。
Small business, infrastructure, clean energy -- these are areas in which we can put Americans to work while putting our nation on a sturdier economic footing. That foundation for sustained economic growth -- that must be our continuing focus and our ultimate goal. 小企业、基础设施、清洁能源——这些领域既能让我们让美国人就业，又能让我国经济立于更稳固的根基。那才是持续经济增长的基础——那必须是我们持续的关注和最终的目标。
I've said this before. Even before this particular crisis, much of our growth for a decade or more had been fueled by unsustainable consumer debt and reckless financial speculation, while we ignored the fundamental challenges that hold the key to our economic prosperity. We cannot simply go back to the way things used to be. We can't go back to an economy that yielded cycle after cycle of speculative booms and painful busts. 我以前说过。甚至在这场危机之前，我们十多年来的增长很大程度上由不可持续的消费者债务和鲁莽的金融投机所推动，而我们却忽视了决定经济繁荣的根本挑战。我们不能简单地回到过去的老路。我们不能回到一个周期性产生投机繁荣和痛苦萧条的经济模式。
We can't continue to accept an education system in which our students trail their peers in other countries, and a health care system in which exploding costs put our businesses at a competitive disadvantage. And we cannot continue to ignore the clean energy challenge or cede global leadership in the emerging industries of the 21st century. And that's why, even as we strive to meet the crisis of the moment, we have insisted on laying a new foundation for the future. 我们不能继续接受一个让学生落后于他国同龄人的教育体系，也不能继续接受一个因成本暴涨而使我国企业处于竞争劣势的医疗体系。我们也不能继续忽视清洁能源挑战，或在二十一世纪新兴产业中让出全球领导地位。正因如此，即便在我们努力应对眼前危机的同时，我们仍坚持为未来奠定新的基础。
Because an educated workforce is essential to a 21st century global economy, we've launched a competitive Race to the Top fund through the Recovery Act to reform our schools and raise achievement, especially in math and science. And we've made college more affordable, proposed a historic set of reforms and investments in community college, and set a goal of once again leading the world in producing college graduates by the year 2020. 由于受过良好教育的劳动力对二十一世纪的全球经济至关重要，我们通过复苏法案启动了竞争性的"力争上游"基金，以改革学校、提高学业成绩，尤其是在数学和科学领域。我们还让大学更可负担，提出了对社区学院历史性的改革和投资方案，并设定了到二〇二〇年再次在大学毕业生培养上领先世界的目标。
Because even the best-trained worker in the world can't compete if our businesses are saddled with rapidly increasing health care costs, we are fighting to do what we have discussed in this country for generations -- finally reforming our nation's broken health insurance system and relieving this unsustainable burden. 因为即便世界上训练最有素的工人，如果我们的企业背负着快速上涨的医疗成本，也无法竞争——我们正致力于完成这个国家几代人都在讨论的事情——最终改革我国破碎的医疗保险体系，解除这一不可持续的负担。
Because our economic future depends on a financial system that encourages sound investments, honest dealings, and long-term growth, we've proposed the most ambitious financial reforms since the Great Depression. We'll set and enforce clear rules of the road, close loopholes in oversight, charge a new agency with protecting consumers and address the dangerous, systemic risks that brought us to the brink of disaster. These reforms are moving through Congress, we're working to keep those reforms strong, and I'm looking forward to signing them into law. 由于我们的经济未来依赖于一个鼓励稳健投资、诚实交易和长期增长的金融体系，我们提出了自大萧条以来最雄心勃勃的金融改革。我们将制定并执行清晰的市场规则，堵住监管漏洞，设立新机构保护消费者，并应对将我们推向灾难边缘的危险系统性风险。这些改革正在国会推进，我们正努力让这些改革保持力度，我也期待将其签署成法。
And because our economic future depends on our leadership in the industries of the future, we are investing in basic applied research, and working to create the incentives to build a new clean energy economy. For we know the nation that leads in clean energy will be the nation that leads the world. I want America to be that nation. I want America's prosperity to be powered by what we invent and pioneer -- not just what we borrow and what we consume. And I know that we can and will be that nation if we are willing to do what it takes to get there. 而由于我们的经济未来取决于我们在未来产业中的领导地位，我们正投资于基础应用研究，并努力创造激励以建设新的清洁能源经济。因为我们知道，在清洁能源领域领先的国家将是引领世界的国家。我希望美国成为那样的国家。我希望美国的繁荣建立在我们所发明和开创的事物之上，而不仅仅是我们所借贷和消费的。我知道，只要我们愿意付出必要的努力，我们能够也将成为那样的国家。
Now, there are those who claim we have to choose between paying down our deficits on the one hand, and investing in job creation and economic growth on the other. This is a false choice. Ensuring that economic growth and job creation are strong and sustained is critical to ensuring that we are increasing revenues and decreasing spending on things like unemployment insurance so that our deficits will start coming down. 如今，有人声称我们必须在削减赤字与投资于就业创造和经济增长之间做出选择。这是一个错误的两难。确保经济增长和就业创造强劲且可持续，对于确保我们增加收入、减少在失业保险等方面的支出至关重要，从而让赤字开始下降。
At the same time, instilling confidence in our commitment to being fiscally prudent gives the private sector the confidence to make long-term investments in our people and in America. 与此同时，让人们对我们审慎财政的承诺产生信心，能让私营部门有信心对我们的人民和对美国进行长期投资。
So one of the central goals of this administration is restoring fiscal responsibility. Even as we have had to spend our way out of this recession in the near term, we've begun to make the hard choices necessary to get our country on a more stable fiscal footing in the long run. So let me just be clear here. Despite what some have claimed, the cost of the Recovery Act is only a very small part of our current budget imbalance. In reality, the deficit had been building dramatically over the previous eight years. We have a structural gap between the money going out and the money coming in. 因此，本届政府的核心目标之一就是恢复财政责任。即便我们短期内不得不通过支出来走出衰退，我们也已开始做出艰难抉择，让我国长期处于更稳固的财政根基上。所以让我把话说明白。与一些人的说法相反，复苏法案的成本只占我们当前预算失衡的很小一部分。事实上，赤字在前八年里一直在急剧累积。我们存在支出与收入之间的结构性缺口。
Folks passed tax cuts and expansive entitlement programs without paying for any of it -- even as health care costs kept rising, year after year. As a result, the deficit had reached $1.3 trillion when we walked into the White House. And I'd note: These budget-busting tax cuts and spending programs were approved by many of the same people who are now waxing political about fiscal responsibility, while opposing our efforts to reduce deficits by getting health care costs under control. It's a sight to see. 那些人通过了减税和庞大的权利项目却根本没为之买单——哪怕医疗成本年复一年地上涨。结果，我们走进白宫时赤字已达一点三万亿美元。我还要指出：这些击穿预算的减税和支出计划，正是许多如今对财政责任高谈阔论的人所批准的——而与此同时他们却反对我们通过控制医疗成本削减赤字的努力。这实在令人叹为观止。
The fact is we have refused to go along with business as usual; we are taking responsibility for every dollar we spend. We've done what some said was impossible: preventing wasteful spending on outdated weapons systems that even the Pentagon said it didn't want. We've combed the budget, cutting waste and excess wherever we could. I'm still committed to halving the deficit we inherited by the end of my first term -- cutting it in half. 事实是我们拒绝照旧行事；我们对每一分支出负责。我们做到了一些人曾说不可能的事：阻止了连五角大楼自己都不要的过时武器系统的浪费性支出。我们梳理了预算，尽一切可能削减浪费和冗余。我仍承诺在我第一任期结束时将继承的赤字减半——把它砍掉一半。
And I made clear from day one that I would not sign a health insurance reform bill if it raised the deficit by one dime -- and neither the House, nor the Senate bill does. We've begun not only changing policies in Washington, we've also begun to change the culture in Washington. 我也从上任第一天起就明确表示，如果医保改革法案会让赤字增加一毛钱，我就不会签署——而众议院和参议院的版本都不会。我们不仅开始改变华盛顿的政策，也开始改变华盛顿的文化。
In the end, the economic crisis of the past year was not just the result of weaknesses in our economy. It was also the result of weaknesses in our political system, because for decades, too many in Washington put off the hard decisions. For decades, we've watched as efforts to solve tough problems have fallen prey to the bitterness of partisanship, to prosaic concerns of politics, to ever-quickening news cycles, to endless campaigns focused on scoring points instead of meeting our common challenges. 归根结底，过去一年的经济危机不仅是经济层面弱点的结果，也是我们政治体制弱点的结果——因为几十年来，华盛顿有太多人把艰难的决策一拖再拖。几十年来，我们眼看着解决棘手问题的努力沦为党派倾轧的牺牲品，沦为政治算计的牺牲品，沦为越来越快的新闻周期的牺牲品，沦为没完没了、只顾得分而非应对共同挑战的竞选的牺牲品。
We've seen the consequences of this failure of responsibility. The American people have paid a heavy price. And the question we'll have to answer now is if we're going to learn from our past, or if -- even in the aftermath of disaster -- we're going to repeat those same mistakes. As the alarm bells fade, the din of Washington rises, as the forces of the status quo marshal their resources, we can be sure that answering this question will be a fight to the finish. 我们已经看到了这种失责的后果。美国人民付出了沉重的代价。而我们现在必须回答的问题是：我们是要从过去中汲取教训，还是——即便在灾难过后——重蹈同样的覆辙。随着警报声渐息，华盛顿的喧嚣再起，现状的维护者集结资源，我们可以肯定，回答这个问题将是一场决战。
But I have every hope and expectation that we can rise to this moment, that we can transcend the failures of the past, that we can once again take responsibility for our future. 但我抱有充分的希望和期待，相信我们能挺身而出迎接这一时刻，相信我们能超越过去的失败，相信我们能再次为我们的未来承担责任。
Every night I read letters and e-mails sent to me from people across America -- ordinary folks, people who share their hopes and their hardships, their faith in this country, their frustration with what's happened in this economy. I hear from small business owners worried about making payroll, keeping their doors open. I hear from mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, who've seen one or two or more family members out of work. 每天晚上我都会读美国各地民众寄给我的信和电子邮件——都是普通人，他们倾诉自己的希望与困境，对这个国家的信念，对经济现状的沮丧。我听到小企业主担心发不出工资、维持不下去。我听到父母、子女诉说家中有一位、两位或更多亲人失业。
The toughest letters are in children's handwriting -- kids write to me, my dad just lost a job; my grandma is sick, she can't afford health insurance -- kids who can't just be kids because they're worried about mom having her hours cut or dad losing a job, or a family without health insurance. 最艰难的信是孩子们的笔迹——孩子们写信给我，我爸爸刚丢了工作；我奶奶病了，她买不起医疗保险——这些孩子没法安心做个孩子，因为他们担心妈妈被削减工时或爸爸失业，或担心家里没有医疗保险。
These folks aren't looking for a handout, they're not looking for a bailout -- just like those people I visited in Allentown -- all they're looking for is a chance to make their own way, to work, to succeed using their talents and skills. And they're looking for folks in Washington to have a seriousness of purpose that matches the reality of their struggle. 这些人不是在寻求施舍，也不是在寻求救助——就像我在阿伦敦探访的那些人一样——他们所求的只是一个自食其力的机会，去工作，用自己的才干和技能取得成功。他们也希望华盛顿的人能拿出与他们挣扎的现实相称的严肃使命感。
Everywhere I've gone, every stop I've made, there are people like this, men and women who have faced misfortune, but who stand ready to build a better future: students ready to learn, workers eager to work, scientists on the brink of discovery, entrepreneurs seeking the chance to open a small business. Everywhere I go, there are once-shuttered factories just waiting to whir back to life in burgeoning industries. There is a nation ready to meet the challenges of this new age and to lead the world in this new century. 我所到之处，每一站，都有这样的人——经历过不幸却随时准备建设更美好未来的男男女女：渴望学习的学生，渴望工作的工人，即将取得突破的科学家，寻求机会开小企业的创业者。我所到之处，都有一度关闭的工厂等待着在新兴产业中重新轰鸣启动。这是一个准备好迎接新时代挑战、在本世纪引领世界的国家。
And as we look back on the progress of the past year, and look forward to the work ahead, I have every confidence that we will do exactly that. 当我们回顾过去一年的进展、展望前方的工作时，我完全有信心我们将做到这一点。
These have been a tough two years. And there will no doubt be difficult months ahead. But the storms of the past are receding. The skies are brightening. And the horizon is beckoning once more. 这是艰难的两年。前方无疑还会有艰难的月份。但过去的风暴正在退去。天空正在放晴。地平线再次在召唤我们。
Thank you very much. 非常感谢。