奥巴马演讲 教育是我们时代的经济问题1
文章来源:未知 文章作者:meng 发布时间:2010-08-23 01:10 字体: [ ]  进入论坛
(单词翻译:双击或拖选)

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  Thank you.  (Applause.)  Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you, everybody.  Hello, Austin!  (Applause.)  Hello, Longhorns!  (Applause.)  It is good to be back.  It is good to be back.

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  I love you, Obama!

THE PRESIDENT:  I love you back.  (Applause.)  I love Austin.  Love Austin.  I remember -- by the way, anybody who’s got a seat, feel free to take a seat.  (Laughter.)  I remember paying you a visit during the campaign.  (Applause.)  Mack Brown gave me a tour of the stadium, along with Colt and a couple other guys.  And I got a photo with the Heisman.  (Laughter.)  I rubbed the locker1 room’s Longhorns(音乐探测器,长角牛) for good luck.  (Applause.)  And I'm just saying, it might have had something to do with how the election turned out.  (Applause.)  There might be a connection there.

I also remember the first time that I came to Austin on the campaign.  And there are a number of friends who are here who have been great supporters; I want to make mention of them.  Representative Lloyd Doggett is here, a great friend.  (Applause.)  Senator Kirk Watson is here.  (Applause.)  Congressman2 Sheila Jackson Lee is here.  (Applause.)  Mayor Leffingwell is here.  (Applause.)  And your own president, Bill Powers, is in the house.  (Applause.)

But this is back in 2007, February 2007.  It was just two weeks after I had announced my candidacy(候选资格) .  I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s true -- my hair was not gray back then.  (Laughter.)  Not many people thought I had much of a shot at the White House.  (Applause.)  Let me put it this way(这样说) , a lot of folks in Washington didn't think I had a shot at the White House.  (Laughter.)  A lot of people couldn’t pronounce my name.  (Laughter.)  They were still calling me Alabama or Yo’ Mama -- that was -- (laughter.)

So then I come to Austin, this was back in February of 2007. And it was a drizzly3(下毛毛雨的) day, and that usually tamps4 down turnout. But when I got to the rally over at Auditorium5 Shores there was a crowd of over 20,000 people –- 20,000 people.  (Applause.)  It was people of all ages and all races and all walks of life(各行各业) .

And I said that day, all these people, they hadn’t gathered just for me.  You were there because you were hungry to see some fundamental change in America -- (applause) -- because you believed in an America where all of us -- not just some of us, but all of us -- no matter what we look like, no matter where we come from, all of us can reach for our dreams.  All of us can make of our lives what we will; that we can determine our own destiny.  And that’s what we’ve been fighting for over the past 18 months.

I said then that we’d end the Iraq war as swiftly and as responsibly as possible –- and that is a promise that we are keeping.  This month we will end combat operations in Iraq.  (Applause.)

I said we’d make health insurance more affordable6 and give you more control over your health care -– and that’s a promise we’re keeping.  And by the way, young people are going to be able to stay on their parents’ health insurance until they’re 26 because of the law that we passed. (Applause.) 

I said we’d build an economy that can compete in the 21st century -- because the economy that we had even before the recession, even before the financial crisis, wasn’t working for too many Americans.  Too many Americans had seen their wages flat-line, their incomes flat-line.  We were falling behind and unable to compete internationally.  And I said we need an economy that puts Americans back to work, an economy that’s built around three simple words -- Made in America.  (Applause.)  Because we are not playing for second place.  We are the United States of America, and like the Texas Longhorns, you play for first -- we play for first.  (Applause.) 

Now, when it comes to the economy, I said that in today’s world we're being pushed as never before.  From Beijing to Bangalore, from Seoul to San Paolo, new industries and innovations are flourishing.  Our competition is growing fiercer. And while our ultimate success has and always will depend on the incredible industriousness7(勤奋,勤勉) of the American worker and the ingenuity8(心灵手巧,独创性) of American businesses and the power of our free market system, we also know that as a nation, we've got to pull together and do some fundamental shifts in how we've been operating to make sure America remains9 number one.#p#分页标题#e#

So that’s why I’ve set some ambitious goals for this country. I’ve called for doubling our exports within the next five years, so that we're not just buying from other countries, I want us to sell to other countries.  (Applause.)  We've talked about doubling our nation’s capacity to generate renewable energy by 2012, because I'm actually convinced that if we control the clean energy future, then our economic future will be bright -- building solar panels and wind turbines and biodiesel(生物柴油) and -- (applause.)

And I want us to produce 8 million more college graduates by 2020, because -- (applause) -- because America has to have the highest share of graduates compared to every other nation.

But, Texas, I want you to know we have been slipping.  In a single generation, we’ve fallen from first place to 12th place in college graduation rates for young adults.  Think about that.  In one generation we went from number one to number 12.

Now, that’s unacceptable, but it’s not irreversible(不可逆的) .  We can retake the lead.  If we’re serious about making sure America’s workers -- and America itself -- succeeds in the 21st century, the single most important step we can take is make -- is to make sure that every one of our young people -- here in Austin, here in Texas, here in the United States of America -- has the best education that the world has to offer.  That’s the number one thing we can do.  (Applause.) 

Now, when I talk about education, people say, well, you know what, right now we’re going through this tough time.  We’ve emerged from the worst recession since the Great Depression.  So, Mr. President, you should only focus on jobs, on economic issues. And what I’ve tried to explain to people -- I said this at the National Urban League the other week -- education is an economic issue.  Education is the economic issue of our time.  (Applause.)

It’s an economic issue when the unemployment rate for folks who’ve never gone to college is almost double what it is for those who have gone to college.  Education is an economic issue when nearly eight in 10 new jobs will require workforce10 training or a higher education by the end of this decade.  Education is an economic issue when we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that countries that out-educate us today, they will out-compete us tomorrow.

The single most important thing we can do is to make sure we’ve got a world-class education system for everybody.  That is a prerequisite11 for prosperity.  It is an obligation that we have for the next generation.   (Applause.)

And here is the interesting thing, Austin.  The fact is we know what to do to offer our children the best education possible.  We know what works.  It’s just we’re not doing it.  And so what I’ve said is, let’s get busy.  Let’s get started.  (Applause.)  We can’t wait another generation.  We can’t afford to let our young people waste their most formative years.  That's why we need to set up an early learning fund to challenge our states and make sure our young people, our children, are entering kindergarten ready for success.  (Applause.)  That's something we’ve got to do.  (Applause.)

We can’t accept anything but the best in America’s classrooms.  And that's why we’ve launched an initiative called Race to the Top, where we are challenging states to strengthen their commitment to excellence12, and hire outstanding teachers and train wonderful principals, and create superior schools with higher standards and better assessments13.  And we’re already seeing powerful results across the country.

But we also know that in the coming decades, a high school diploma is not going to be enough.  Folks need a college degree. They need workforce training.  They need a higher education.  And so today I want to talk about the higher education strategy that we’re pursuing not only to lead the world once more in college graduation rates, but to make sure our graduates are ready for a career; ready to meet the challenges of a 21st century economy.

Now, part one of our strategy is to make college more affordable.  I suspect that that's something you’re all interested in.  (Applause.)  I don’t have to tell you why this is so important.  Many of you are living each day with worries about how you’re going to pay off your student loans.  (Applause.)  And we all know why.  Even as family incomes have been essentially14 flat over the past 30 years, college costs have grown higher and higher and higher and higher.  They have gone up faster than housing, gone up faster than transportation.  They’ve even gone up faster than health care costs, and that’s saying something.  (Laughter.)#p#分页标题#e#



点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 locker 8pzzYm     
n.更衣箱,储物柜,冷藏室,上锁的人
参考例句:
  • At the swimming pool I put my clothes in a locker.在游泳池我把衣服锁在小柜里。
  • He moved into the locker room and began to slip out of his scrub suit.他走进更衣室把手术服脱下来。
2 Congressman TvMzt7     
n.(美)国会议员
参考例句:
  • He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
  • The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。
3 drizzly pruxm     
a.毛毛雨的(a drizzly day)
参考例句:
  • This section of the country is drizzly in the winter. 该国的这一地区在冬天经常细雨蒙蒙。
  • That region is drizzly in winter. 那个地区冬天常下小雨。
4 tamps 474c4cab62b63ef7cd2130cb5a0e2c6d     
v.捣固( tamp的第三人称单数 );填充;(用炮泥)封炮眼口;夯实
参考例句:
  • Garbage collector tamps compacts the managed heap. 垃圾收集器夯实(压缩)托管堆。 来自互联网
5 auditorium HO6yK     
n.观众席,听众席;会堂,礼堂
参考例句:
  • The teacher gathered all the pupils in the auditorium.老师把全体同学集合在礼堂内。
  • The stage is thrust forward into the auditorium.舞台向前突出,伸入观众席。
6 affordable kz6zfq     
adj.支付得起的,不太昂贵的
参考例句:
  • The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
  • There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。
7 industriousness OqVz40     
n.勤奋
参考例句:
  • Aunt Harriet could not find words to praise Bessie's industriousness and efficiency. 哈丽特不知该用什么言辞来赞扬贝西的勤奋与高效。 来自新概念英语第三册
  • They have brought to our country an industriousness that boosts our economy. 他们带来的勤奋精神促进了我们经济的发展。
8 ingenuity 77TxM     
n.别出心裁;善于发明创造
参考例句:
  • The boy showed ingenuity in making toys.那个小男孩做玩具很有创造力。
  • I admire your ingenuity and perseverance.我钦佩你的别出心裁和毅力。
9 remains 1kMzTy     
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹
参考例句:
  • He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
  • The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。
10 workforce workforce     
n.劳动大军,劳动力
参考例句:
  • A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
  • A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。
11 prerequisite yQCxu     
n.先决条件;adj.作为前提的,必备的
参考例句:
  • Stability and unity are a prerequisite to the four modernizations.安定团结是实现四个现代化的前提。
  • It is a prerequisite of entry to the profession that you pass the exams.做这一行的先决条件是要通过了有关的考试。
12 excellence ZnhxM     
n.优秀,杰出,(pl.)优点,美德
参考例句:
  • His art has reached a high degree of excellence.他的艺术已达到炉火纯青的地步。
  • My performance is far below excellence.我的表演离优秀还差得远呢。
13 assessments 7d0657785d6e5832f8576c61c78262ef     
n.评估( assessment的名词复数 );评价;(应偿付金额的)估定;(为征税对财产所作的)估价
参考例句:
  • He was shrewd in his personal assessments. 他总能对人作出精明的评价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Surveys show about two-thirds use such assessments, while half employ personality tests. 调查表明,约有三分之二的公司采用了这种测评;而一半的公司则采用工作人员个人品质测试。 来自百科语句
14 essentially nntxw     
adv.本质上,实质上,基本上
参考例句:
  • Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
  • She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。
TAG标签: economic education Obama
发表评论
请自觉遵守互联网相关的政策法规,严禁发布色情、暴力、反动的言论。
评价:
表情:
验证码:点击我更换图片