戈登·布朗(Gordon Brown)是英国前首相。他在1997年5月至2007年6月连续10年担任英国财政大臣一职,创下连任财政大臣的纪录,对英国经济做出了杰出贡献。2009年2月16日美国总统奥巴马签署包含“购买美国货”条款在内的巨额经济刺激计划。这被普遍认为是一个危险的讯号:国际贸易环境很可能会因为贸易保护主义的迅速抬头而急剧恶化。布朗此次访美,重点放在讨论如何携手应对金融危机上。该选段是布朗在美国国会发表的演说,旨在呼吁美国放弃保护主义。与前任首相布莱尔相比,英国首相布朗一度被批乏味,但在美国国会的演讲却大获成功,国会议员19次起立鼓掌,和六年前布莱尔在国会演讲时获得的次数相同。布朗离场时,在场议员再次鼓掌,时间长达近2分钟。
英式发音 适合背诵
英国前首相布朗在美国国会发表的反保护主义的演讲
An economic 1)hurricane has swept the world, creating a crisis of credit and a crisis of confidence. History has brought us now to a point where change is essential. And we are summoned not just to manage our times but to transform them. And our task is to rebuild prosperity and security in a wholly different economic world, where competition is no longer just local but it’s global, and where banks are no longer national but they’re international. And we need to understand, therefore, what went wrong in this crisis, that the very financial instruments that were designed to diversify risk across the banking system, instead, spread 2)contagion right across the globe. And today’s financial institutions, they are so 3)interwoven that a bad bank anywhere is a threat to good banks everywhere.
一场经济飓风席卷全球,造成了信贷危机和信任危机。现在历史已把我们带到一个关键的时刻,变革势在必行。历史召唤我们,并不只是要我们去管理这个时代,还要去改革这个时代。我们的任务就是要在一个全然不同的经济世界中重建繁荣与安全。在这个时代,竞争不再只局限于本土,而是全球化的;银行不再局限于一国,而是跨国的。因此,我们需要明白在这场危机中是什么出现了问题;要明白原来旨在分散银行系统中的风险的金融工具却成了传播风险的媒介。如今的金融机构都是那么的紧密相连,因此一旦某地出现一家经营不善的银行便会对世界各地运营良好的银行带来威胁。
But should we 4)succumb to a 5)race to the bottom and to a protectionism that history tells us that, in the end, protects no one? No, we should have the confidence, America and Britain most of all, that we can seize the global opportunities ahead and make the future work for us.
但我们应该屈服于竞次法则和历史告诉我们最终什么也保护不了的保护主义吗?不,我们应该要有信心,尤其是美国和英国,我们要对自己能够抓住前方的全球机遇、打造美好明天充满信心。
And America and Britain will succeed and lead if we tap into the talents of our people,6)unleash the genius of our scientists, set free the drive of our 7)entrepreneurs. We will win the race to the top if we can develop the new high-value added products and services and the new green goods that the rising number of hardworking families across our globe will want to buy.
如果我们能善于发掘人才,发挥科学家的聪明才智,释放企业家们的干劲,那么美英两国将会取得成功并引领世界。如果我们能发展新型高附加值产品与服务,以及新型绿色商品,让全球不断增多的工薪家庭都想购买这些产品,那么我们将会赢得这场逐高竞赛。
So in these8)unprecedented times, we must educate our way out of the downturn, we must invest and invent our way out of the downturn, we must retool and reskill our way out of the downturn.
因此,在这个史无前例的时代,我们必须通过教育走出经济衰退,我们必须依靠投入与发明走出经济衰退,我们必须通过改进工具与更新技术走出经济衰退。
And this is not blind optimism or9)synthetic confidence to console people.It’s the practical affirmation for our times of our faith in a better future. Every time we rebuild a school we demonstrate our faith in the future. Every time we send more people to university, every time we invest more in our new digital 10)infrastructure, every time we increase support for our scientists, we demonstrate our faith in the future.
这不是用来安抚人们的盲目乐观主义或是虚假的自信,这是对我们这个时代对美好将来持有信心的实事求是的肯定。每当我们重建学校,我们便彰显了自己对未来的信念。每当我们输送更多人才上大学,每当我们在新型的数字化基础设施上加大投入力度,每当我们给予科学家们更多的支持,我们便彰显了自己对未来的信念。
And so I say to this Congress and this country, something that runs deep in your character and is woven in your history: we conquer our fear of the future through our faith in the future.
因此我要向本届国会和贵国说,在你们的性格深处有某些东西与你们的历史相交织:我们通过我们对未来的信念来克服我们对未来的恐惧。
And it is this faith in the future that we means we must commit to protecting the planet for generations that will come long after us. The Greek proverb, what does it say? Why does anybody plant the seeds of a tree whose shade they will never see?
正是这份对未来的信念意味着我们必须承诺为了我们的子孙后代,好好保护这个星球。希腊谚语,怎么说着?为什么前人即便无法乘树荫之凉也心甘情愿去栽树呢?
The answer is because they look to the future.
答案便是因为他们都展望未来。
And I believe you, the nation, that had the vision to put a man on the moon, are also the nation with the vision to protect and preserve our planet earth.
我相信你们,这个有远见卓识,把人类送上月球的国家,也是一个对保护和维护我们这个星球有远见的国家。
翻译:乐宜
