【正文】 sons and daughters, husbands and wives, friends and neighbors, who won’t be returning to their hometowns. I thought of families I had met who were struggling to get by without a loved one39。s full ine, or whose loved ones had returned with a limb missing or with nerves shattered, but who still lacked longterm health benefits because they were reservists. When we send our young men and women into harm39。s way, we have a solemn obligation not to fudge the numbers or shade the truth about why they39。re going, to care for their families while they39。re gone, to tend to the soldiers upon their return, and to never ever go to war without enough troops to win the war, secure the peace, 4 and earn the respect of the world. Now let me be clear. We have real enemies in the world. These enemies must be found. They must be pursued and they must be defeated. John Kerry knows this. And just as Lieutenant Kerry did not hesitate to risk his life to protect the men who served with him in Vietnam, President Kerry will not hesitate one moment to use our military might to keep America safe and secure. John Kerry believes in America. And he knows it39。s not enough for just some of us to prosper. For alongside our famous individualism, there39。s another ingredient in the American saga. A belief that we are connected as one people. If there39。s a child on the south side of Chicago who can39。t read, that matters to me, even if it39。s not my child. If there39。s a senior citizen somewhere who can39。t pay for her prescription and has to choose between medicine and the rent, that makes my life poorer, even if it39。s not my grandmother. If there39。s an Arab American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties. It39。s that fundamental belief I am my brother39。s keeper, I am my sister39。s keeper that makes this country work. It39。s what allows us to pursue our individual dreams, yet still e together as a single American family. E pluribus unum. Out of many, one. Yet even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters and negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes. Well, I say to them tonight, there39。s not a liberal America and a conservative America there39。s the United States of America. There39。s not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America。 there39。s the United States of America. The pundits like to sliceanddice our country into Red States and Blue States。 Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. But I39。ve got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don39。t like federal agents poking around our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and have gay friends in the Red States. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and patriots who supported 5 it. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America. In the end, that39。s what this election is about. Do we participate in a politics of cynicism or a politics of hope? I39。m not talking about blind optimism here the almost willful ignorance that thinks unemployment will go away if we just don39。t talk about it, or the health care crisis will solve itself if we just ignore it. No, I39。m talking about something more substantial. It39。s the hope of slaves sitting around a fire singing freedom songs。 the hope of immigrants setting out for distant shores。 the hope of a young naval lieutenant bravely patrolling the Mekong Delta。 the hope of a millworker39。s son who dares to defy the odds。 the hope of a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that America has a place for him, too. The audacity of hope! In the end, that is God39。s greatest gift to us, the bedrock of this nation。 the belief in things not seen。 the belief that there are better days ahead. I believe we can give our middle class relief and provide working families with a road to opportunity. I believe we can provide jobs to the jobless, homes to the homeless, and reclaim young people in cities across America from violence and despair. I believe that as we stand on the crossroads of history, we can make the right choices, and meet the challenges that face us. Thank you very much everybody and God bless you. 基調(diào)演講 摘自《巴拉克奧巴馬》。 偉大的伊利諾伊州既是全國的交通樞紐，也是林肯的故鄉(xiāng)，作為州代表，今天我將在大會(huì)致詞，并為自己能有幸獲此殊榮而倍感驕傲和自豪。今晚對我而言頗不尋常，我們得承認(rèn)，我能站在這里本身就已意義非凡。我父親是一個(gè)外國留學(xué)生，他原本生于肯尼亞的一個(gè)小村莊，并在那里長大成人。他小的時(shí)候還放過羊，上的學(xué)校簡陋不堪，屋頂上僅有塊鐵皮來遮風(fēng)擋雨。而他的父親，也就是我的祖父， 6 不過是個(gè)普通的廚子，還做過家傭。 但祖父對父親抱以厚望。憑借不懈的努力和堅(jiān)忍不拔的毅力，父親榮獲赴美留學(xué)的機(jī)會(huì)，而且還拿 到獎(jiǎng)學(xué)金。美國這片神奇的土地，對于很多踏上這片國土的人而言，意味著自由和機(jī)遇。還在留學(xué)期間，父親與母親不期而遇。母親來自完全不同的另一個(gè)世界，她生于堪薩斯的一個(gè)小鎮(zhèn)。大蕭條時(shí)期，外祖父為謀生計(jì)，曾在石油鉆井打工，還曾在農(nóng)場務(wù)農(nóng)。日軍偷襲珍珠港后的第二天，他就自愿應(yīng)征入伍，在巴頓將軍麾下，轉(zhuǎn)戰(zhàn)南北，橫掃歐洲。在后方的家中，外祖母含辛茹苦，撫養(yǎng)子女，并在轟炸機(jī)裝配線上找了份活計(jì)。戰(zhàn)后，依據(jù)士兵福利法案 , 他們通過聯(lián)邦住宅管理局購置了一套房子，并舉家西遷，謀求更大發(fā)展。 他們對自己的女兒也寄予厚望，兩家人雖然身 在不同的非洲和美洲大陸，卻有著共同的夢想。我的父母不僅不可思議地彼此相愛，而且還對這個(gè)國家有了不移的信念。他們賜予我一個(gè)非洲名字，巴拉克，意為“上天福佑” , 因?yàn)樗麄兿嘈?，在如此包容的國度中，這樣的名字不應(yīng)成為成功的羈絆。盡管他們生活并不寬裕，還是想方設(shè)法讓我接受當(dāng)?shù)刈詈玫慕逃?，因?yàn)樵谶@樣一個(gè)富足的國度中，無論貧富貴賤，都同樣有機(jī)會(huì)發(fā)展個(gè)人的潛力。現(xiàn)在他們都已不在人世，不過，我知道，他們的在天之靈，此時(shí)此刻正在驕傲地關(guān)注著我。 今天，我站在這里，對自己身上這種特殊的血統(tǒng)而心懷感激，而且我知道父母的夢想將在 我的寶貝女兒身上繼續(xù)延續(xù)；我站在這里，深知自己的經(jīng)歷只是千百萬美國故事中的滄海一粟，更深知自己無法忘卻那些更早踏上這片土地的先人，因?yàn)槿舨皇窃诿绹?，我的故事無論如何都不可能發(fā)生。今夜，我們聚集一堂，再次證明這個(gè)國度的偉大之處，而這一切并不在于鱗次櫛比的摩天大廈，也不在于傲視群雄的軍備實(shí)力，更不在于穩(wěn)健雄厚的經(jīng)濟(jì)實(shí)力。我們的自豪與榮耀來自一個(gè)非常簡單的前提，兩百多年前，它在一個(gè)著名的宣言中得以高度的概括：“我們認(rèn)為以下真理不言而喻，人生來平等，造物主賜與他們以下不可剝奪的權(quán)利：生命、自由和對幸福的追求。” 這才是真正的美國智慧，堅(jiān)信自己的國民有著樸素?zé)o華的夢想， 堅(jiān)信點(diǎn)滴的奇跡終會(huì)出現(xiàn)在身邊。入夜，當(dāng)我們?yōu)楹⒆右春眯”坏耐瑫r(shí)，相信他們不會(huì)為衣食所累，不會(huì)為安全擔(dān)憂。我們可以暢所欲言，無需擔(dān)心不速之客會(huì)不請自來。我們有靈感，有想法，可以去實(shí)現(xiàn)，去創(chuàng)業(yè)，無須行賄或雇傭某些人物的子女作為 7 籌碼和條件。我們可以參政議政，不必?fù)?dān)心打擊報(bào)復(fù)，我們的選票至關(guān)重要，至少多數(shù)情況下，都是如此。 在今年的選舉中，特別重申了我們主張的價(jià)值和肩負(fù)的責(zé)任，以此來應(yīng)對當(dāng)下的艱難現(xiàn)實(shí)：并希望了解怎樣才能更好秉承前輩的遺產(chǎn)，實(shí)現(xiàn)對子孫的承諾 。諸位美國國民，無論你是民主黨，還是共和黨，抑或是無黨派人士，今晚我想對大家說的是：我們需要作的事情還有很多很多，在伊利諾伊州蓋爾斯堡 (Gale□□ urg), 由于 Maytag 洗衣機(jī)廠要遷至墨西哥，很多工人將失去工作，而現(xiàn)在唯一的選擇就是和自己的子女一起競爭每小時(shí) 7 美