奧巴馬寫給女兒的信

        And I want them to get good jobs: jobs that pay well and give thembenefits like health care, jobs that let them spend time with theirown kids and retire with dignity.

　　而且我要他們能找到好的工作：薪酬高還附帶健康保險的工作，讓他們有時間陪孩子、并且能帶著尊嚴(yán)退休的工作。

　　I want us to push the boundaries of discovery so that you'll live to see new technologies and inventions that improve our lives and make our planet cleaner and safer.

　　我要大家向發(fā)現(xiàn)的極限挑戰(zhàn)，讓你在有生之年能夠看見改善我們生活、使這個行星更干凈、更安全的新科技和發(fā)明。

　　And I want us to push our own human boundaries to reach beyond the divides of race and region,gender and religion that keep us from seeing the best in each other.

　　我也要大家向自己的人際界限挑戰(zhàn)，跨越使我們看不到對方長處的種族、地域、性別和宗教樊籬。

　　Sometimes we have to send our young men and women into war and other dangerous situations to protect our country—but when we do, I want to make sure that it is only for a very good reason,that we try our best to settle our differences with others peacefully, and that we do everything possible to keep our servicemen and women safe.  　

　　有時候為了保護(hù)我們的國家，我們不得不把青年男女派到戰(zhàn)場或其它危險的地方，然而當(dāng)我們這么做的時候，我要確保師出有名，我們盡了全力以和平方 式化解與他人的爭執(zhí)，也想盡了一切辦法保障男女官兵的安全。

　　And I want every child to understand that the blessings these brave Americans fight for are not free—that with the great privilege of being a citizen of this nation comes great responsibility.

　　我要每個孩子都明白，這些勇敢的美國人在戰(zhàn)場上捍衛(wèi)的福祉是無法平白得到的：在享有作為這個國 家公民的偉大特權(quán)之際，重責(zé)大任也隨之而來。

　　That was the lesson your grandmother tried to teach me when I was your age, reading me the opening lines of the Declaration of Independence and telling me about the men and women who marched forequality because they believed those words put to paper two centuries ago should mean something.

　　告訴我有一些男女為了爭取平等挺身而出游行抗議，因為他們認(rèn)為兩個世紀(jì)前白紙黑字寫下來的這些句子，不應(yīng)只是空話。這正是我在你們這年紀(jì)時，外婆想要教我的功課，她把獨立宣言開頭幾行念給我聽，

　　She helped me understand that America is great not because it is perfect but because it can always be made better—and that the unfinished work of perfecting our union falls to each of us.

　　她讓我了解到，美國所以偉大，不是因為它完美，而是因為我們可以不斷讓它變得更好。