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主题：【原创】简评奥巴马就职演说（一） -- 厚积薄发

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复 【原创】简评奥巴马就职演说（一）
家园 【原创】简评奥巴马就职演说（二）

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America - they will be met.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

【大意】这几段文采很好，用中文翻译其实只有两句话：“困难面前，团结就是力量。团结我们的是这样一个世代相传的信念：人人生来平等，人人都有权追求最大限度的幸福。”

【评】后面一句话，我觉得中国的古文里也有相应的话，例如：“王侯将相，宁有种乎”。但是意思真正贴切的一时还真想不出来。我把奥巴马的话作如此翻译，只是想要传达一个信息：奥巴马是能够读懂人心的（人人生而平等，人人都有权追求世俗的幸福）。创业时期的中国共产党人能够获得大多数人（农民）的支持，能够在巨大的困难面前意识到团结的重要性；一个有智慧的美国政治家同样能够看到。

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted - for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things - some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

【大意】美国的伟大并非上天赐予的，它来自于辛勤的付出。这些付出的人有些成名致富了，但是更多的是千千万万默默耕耘的普通劳动者。美国的伟大从来不靠那些懒汉；我们美国人从来不走捷径！

【评】从美国最近几十年的表现来看，奥巴马的话有不实之处。但放在美国建国两百多年的尺度上看，大体是对的。我和河里不少人有类似的观点：美国人被这几十年的舒服日子惯坏了，尤其是计算机和房地产的泡沫造就了不少一夜富豪，使他们部分地失去了祖辈们吃苦耐劳的优秀品质。奥巴马的话其实暗合我们中国人耳熟能详的一句话：“劳动创造财富。”

我大哥最近回国探亲，谈到这样一件小事。家里有人开了一个店面，本着“肥水不留外人田”的原则，店里的员工请的是家里退休的叔叔阿姨，每月有一千多块（内陆地区）。但他们干了没几天就嫌累，原话是“退休金还有一千多块呢”。推广开来，我大哥注意到城市里有这样一个人群，他们年纪在四五十左右，国家发的退休金足以让他们衣食无忧。所以他们没有多挣钱的动力，每天喝喝茶，打打麻将就很惬意了。

我对此不作太多评论，我一向认为社会安全网很重要。但是我希望大家同时也看到，国家在职业教育上的空白导致现在一些学历不高的年轻人在社会上生存很艰难。家里人后来请的店员就是这样的年轻人，很认真，很努力，很上进。我觉得他们的这种精神才是一个社会的希望，这和学历无关。

扯远了，只想提醒大家，美国忽视“劳动创造财富”吃了苦头。先天条件远逊于美国的中国如果丢掉了吃苦耐劳的品质，栽的跟头只会更大。奥巴马已经清醒地认识到，要走出今天的困境，必须要让美国人丢掉“一夜致富”的幻想，重新唤醒他们身上那种坚韧不拔，艰苦创业的精神。

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.

Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

【大意】这几段就是煽情具体描述美国人的祖辈们是如何耕战结合，经过艰苦努力才造就了今天的美国。

【评】嘿嘿嘿，当然，从印第安土著那里抢地，借助两次世界大战抢夺市场和人才，奥巴马都没提。可以理解，“这事儿不好说得太细末。”

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions - that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

【大意】美国仍然是地球上最繁荣最强大的国家。美国的工人并没有因为这次危机而变得没有效率，美国的知识分子们仍然富于创造力，美国的产品和服务仍然受到欢迎。但是由于要保护一些狭隘的利益而推迟了一些让某些人不爽的决定，美国错失了一些良机，所以今天我们必须及时纠正，重建美国。

【评】这段话我看到河里已经有人讽刺了。我基本同意他们的观点，有自我吹嘘打鸡血的嫌疑。美国工人的效率至少在部分产业是很低下的，其中少不了工会的影响。所以我一直想知道奥巴马要大搞基建促进经济的话，准备怎么过“三个聊天，两个喝咖啡，一个干活”的建筑工人这一关。但是我对美国科学家的创造力是不否认的，因为它集中了全世界的人才，当然其中少不了俺们便宜又耐用的中国民工。

这一段，打鸡血只是虚晃一枪，重点是给美国人打预防针:“乱世用重典，那些有狭隘利益的人，到时候别怪老子下手狠。” 感叹一下，中央政府是不是也该给某些嚣张的利益集团发点狠话了？

作为美国专家教授不是“砖家叫兽”的佐证，请看：修复美国的金融体系--来自纽约大学Stern学院的独立观点。这是32位学界人士纂写的18篇文章的合集，是在美国危难关头为国家的献计献策。我希望中国的知识分子也能够具备这种踏踏实实的工作态度，做有技术含量的事情。

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act - not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.

【大意】奥巴马具体罗列了一些需要做的工作：道路桥梁，电力网络和数字网络（咳咳，投资美股的别急着投钱，看看再说），科学教育，医疗保险，新能源，等等。

【评】一句话，“前途是光明的，道路是曲折的”。老实说，这么多大计划，我也很怀疑他老人家能干成多少。

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions - who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them - that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works - whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account - to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day - because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control - and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart - not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

【大意】对于质疑“红旗还能打多久”（奥巴马的计划能实现多少）的同志，奥统领严正指出：“人有多大胆，地有多大产。我们光荣的过去（免煮石油产生的动力）预示着我们一定会继往开来，有一个光明的未来。”

【评】这几段有几句话颇引人深思。

The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works - whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end.

翻译：我们今天问的问题不是我们的政府是太大了还是太小了，而是它是否有效 -- 是否它帮助家庭们找到有体面工资的工作，能够负担得起医疗费用，能够体面退休。凡是答案为“是”的，我们就继续前进；凡是答案为“否”的，我们就停止。

再翻译：不管黑猫白猫，抓到老鼠就是好猫。抓老鼠要坚持“以人为本”。（老邓+小胡：血泪控诉美帝侵犯偶们的知识版权！）

老实说，翻译成这样，俺也被雷到了。这不就是传说中的“输出价值观”吗？胡紫薇姐姐泣血哭喊的东西，终于出现了！奥大统领也太不地道了，明明是“转贴”，愣搞得跟“原创”似的，欺负美国人民不看人民日报海外版么？

我所忧虑者，奥巴马真能像他说的那样，彻底摆脱意识形态的束缚，坚持实事求是，为美国的复兴走出一条独特的道路来。如此，则是我中华之忧也。

最后一段，我全文翻译，让美国大统领亲自给那些盲目照抄西方经济学，鼓吹市场万能的“砖家叫兽”一记响亮的耳光，也给那些垄断资源，吸老百姓血而恬不知耻的官僚商人提个醒：帝国主义的首脑也知道“水可载舟，也可覆舟”。

翻译：在我们面前的问题也不是市场的力量是好还是坏。它的力量在产生财富和扩展自由方面无可匹敌，但是这次危机也同时提醒了我们，如果不注意的话，市场也可以失控：一个国家的繁荣如果只能惠及那些“成功人士”的话，它的繁荣必然不能持久。我们经济的成功不但在于GDP有多大，还在于我们的繁荣能够惠及多少人，还在于我们是否有能力把机会延伸到每一颗上进的心面前--不是出于施舍，而是因为这是达到我们共同幸福的最有保证的路径。

多的话就不说了，请大家读一读【马前卒：原创】苗丽楠与经济危机，一个无产阶级家庭的生活简记。

（待续）

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