凡人也能铸就宏图伟业（节选） Ordinary People Can Do Extraordinary Things
美式发音 适合背诵
从来没有一个美国总统候选人像奥巴马那样在参选之初就在国内引起如此轰动。很快,有人发现奥巴马是一个优秀的演讲者,于是,一大批粉丝应运而生,奥巴马的每一次演讲都在国内报刊、网上论坛引起热议。在谷歌上,“奥巴马演讲”的搜索结果多达一千一百多万条。关于奥巴马演讲的书籍早已出版了多种。即使到了今天,奥巴马热已经降温,但他的演讲依然受到极大的关注。我们选用的这篇早期竞选演讲从内容到演讲风格都是奥巴马演讲特色的一个典型体现。
本文选自中信出版社出版的《跟奥巴马学英语》一书。该书选取了奥巴马从宣布参选到就职演说的九篇演讲,并附有简要背景介绍与语言难点解释。
Thank you, Iowa.
You know, they said…they said this day would never come.
They said our sights were set too high.
They said this country was too divided; too 1)disillusioned to ever come together around a common purpose.
But on this January night—at this defining moment in history—you have done what the 2)cynics said we couldn’t do. You have done what the state of New Hampshire can do in five days. You have done what America can do in this new year, 2008. In lines that stretched around schools and churches; in small towns and in big cities; you came together as Democrats, Republicans, and Independents to stand up and say that we are one nation; we are one people; and our time for change has come.
You said the time has come to move beyond the 3)bitterness and 4)pettiness and anger that’s 5)consumed Washington; to end the political strategy that’s been all about division and instead make it about addition—to build a 6)coalition for change that stretches through red states and blue states. Because that’s how we’ll win in November, and that’s how we’ll finally meet the challenges that we face as a nation.
We are choosing hope over fear. We’re choosing unity over division and sending a powerful message that change is coming to America.
You said the time has come to tell the 7)lobbyists, who think their money and their influence speak louder than our voices, that they don’t own this government, we do; and we are here to take it back.
The time has come for a President who will be honest about the choices and the challenges we face; who will listen to you and learn from you even when we disagree; who won’t just tell you what you want to hear, but what you need to know. And in New Hampshire, if you give me the same chance that Iowa did tonight, I will be that President for America.
Years from now, you’ll look back and you’ll say that this was the moment—this was the place—where America remembered what it means to hope.
For many months, we’ve been 8)teased, even 9)derided, for talking about hope.
But we always knew that hope is not blind optimism. It’s not ignoring the 10)enormity of the task ahead or the roadblocks that stand in our path. It’s not 11)sitting on the sidelines or shirking. Hope is that thing inside us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it, and to work for it, and to fight for it.
Hope is the bedrock of this nation; the belief that our destiny will not be written for us, but by us; by all those men and women who are not content to settle for the world as it is; who have the courage to remake the world as it should be.
That is what we started here in Iowa, and that is the message we can now carry to New Hampshire and beyond; the same message we had when we were up and when we were down; the one that can change this country brick by brick, block by block, 12)calloused hand by calloused hand—that, together, ordinary people can do extraordinary things; because we are not a collection of red states and blue states, we are the United States of America; and in this moment, in this election, we are ready to believe again.
Thank you, Iowa.
感谢衣阿华(又译艾奥瓦、爱荷华)的选民们!
你们也知道,有人说……有人说这一天永远不会到来。
有人说我们好高骛远。
有人说人民异见纷呈、失望透顶,不可能再为了一个共同的目标而众志成城。
然而,在这个1月的夜晚——在这个决定性的历史时刻——你们完成了那些愤世嫉俗者断言我们无法完成的使命,以及5天后新罕布什尔州也将完成的同样的壮举。你们已经完成了美国在新的一年——2008年——可以完成的任务。在学校和教堂周围蜿蜒排起的长龙中,在小城镇和大城市,你们——民主党人、共和党人和独立派人士——走到一起,振臂高呼:我们是一个国家,我们是一个民族,变革的时代已经到来。
你们说过,是时候超越早已将华盛顿的能量消耗殆尽的各种怨恨、狭隘和愤怒,是时候结束一切旨在分裂的政治决策,并以联合取而代之——不分“红州”、“蓝州”,建立一个旨在变革的联盟。因为只有这样,我们才能在11月赢得大选,才能作为一个团结一致的民族应对挑战。
我们选择希望,拒绝恐惧。我们选择团结,拒绝分裂。我们传达着一个强有力的信息:变革即将到来!
你们说过,因为政治说客自以为他们的金钱和影响力比民众声音的威力更强大,是时候告诉他们政府不是他们的,而是我们大家的;我们现在要把它夺回来。
此刻,人民需要这样的总统:对于我们面对的机遇与挑战,他会开诚布公;即使跟民众意见相左,也会倾听并了解人民的想法;他不仅会说人民愿意听到的话,更会告知人民需要了解的信息。如果新罕布什尔州也给我与今晚在衣阿华州一样的机会,我将成为那样的一位美国总统。
数年后,遥想往事,你们会说正是此刻此地,美国人民又想起希望意味着什么。
几个月以来,我们因为谈论希望而遭到挖苦,甚至嘲弄。
但我们一直都清楚,希望并非盲目的乐观主义;希望并不意味着忽视未来任务的艰巨性或挡在我们前进道路上的障碍;希望不是置身事外或逃避。希望是我们心底坚守的一种信念:相信不管遭遇多少艰难险阻,只要我们有勇气去争取、去奋斗、去拼搏,更美好的明天就会等着我们。
希望是美利坚民族的基石,我们相信我们的命运不是注定的,而是由我们自己去书写,由那些不满于现状的人们去书写,因为他们有勇气将这个世界重塑成一个理想的家园。
这就是我们在衣阿华州开始的行动,这也是我们现在要向新罕布什尔州和其他各州传达的信息。无论顺利还是失意,我们都不曾将其忘却。这个信息可以帮助我们一砖一瓦、不辞艰辛地去改变这个国家——团结起来,凡人也能铸就宏图伟业;因为我们并不只是由对立的“红州”和“蓝州”组成的集合体,我们是美利坚合众国。此刻,在这次选举中,我们再次将信念点燃。
谢谢,衣阿华。
(译文参照中信出版社的版本)
小编点评
这是奥巴马参选以来取得第一次胜利后的演讲。此时，他既不能表现得洋洋得意，又要为以后漫长的竞选之路作准备/这篇演讲包含了很多内容：感谢、激励、重申竞选方针(change和hope)及竞选承诺、鼓舞士气。演讲层次分明，目标明确；用词简单易懂，贴近选民，再加上奥巴马出色的演讲技巧，使这成为他的又一篇优秀演讲。
排比句：这是演讲中最常用的修辞方式之一，它富有节奏感，既能很好地表达演讲者的意向，又可以调动现场情绪/这篇的例子有：you have done...(第五段)、time has come（第六段到九段）、（hope）is not（倒数第四段）等。
长短句：人们都说政客喜欢说长句来蒙人、卖弄自己，但太多的长句在演讲现场会分散听众的注意力。因此，恰当地把长短句结合起来，有助于始终吸引听众，并有效调整演讲节奏，做到收放自如。
涵盖最大的听众群：此时奥巴马是在争取民主党的党内选票，但他并不短视。他在演讲爱中很好地把他的目标听众扩大到全国的选民，如提到11月的全国大选以及把红兰州团结起来等。