奥巴马总统每周电台演讲:总统强调华尔街进行改革的重要性

For the past three and a half years, we’ve been fighting our way back from an historic economic crisis – one caused by breathtaking irresponsibility on the part of some on Wall Street who treated our financial system like a casino. 在过去的三年半中,我们一直在与一场历史性的经济危机战斗——而其原因之一就是一部分人惊人的不负责任致使我们的金融系统华尔街像一家赌场。

Not only did that behavior nearly destroy the financial system – it cost our economy millions of jobs, hurt middle-class families, and left taxpayers² holding the bag. 这样的行为不仅几乎摧毁整个金融体系——这是我们的经济数以百万工作岗位的成本,还伤害了中产阶级家庭,而且让纳税人自掏腰包。

Since then, we’ve recovered taxpayer¹ dollars that were used to stabilize³ troubled banks. 从那时起,我们已经恢复了纳税人的被用来稳定陷入困境中银行的钱。

And we’ve put in place Wall Street reform with smarter, tougher, commonsense⁴ rules that serve one primary purpose: 而且我们将华尔街进行改革，使其更睿智、更严谨，常识性规则提供的服务是为了一个主要目的: to prevent a crisis like that from ever happening again. 防止这样的危机再度发生。

And yet, for the past two years, too many Republicans in Congress and an army of financial industry lobbyists have actually been waging an all-out battle to delay, defund, and dismantle⁵ Wall Street reform. 然而,在过去的两年里, 国会中有太多的共和党人和一大批金融行业的说客们实际上已经开始全面的行动以延迟,撤资及拆除华尔街改革。

Recently, we’ve seen why we can’t let that happen. 最近,我们已经看到了为什么我们不会让这种事情发生。


We found out that a big mistake at one of our biggest banks resulted in a two billion dollar loss. 我们在我们的一家最大的银行之一发现一个造成二十亿美元重大损失的错误。

While that bank can handle a loss of that size, other banks may not have been able to. 同时,这家银行可以处理这种规模的亏损,而其他银行可能不行。

And without Wall Street reform, we could have found ourselves with the taxpayers once again on the hook for Wall Street’s mistakes. 没有华尔街改革,我们发现自己与纳税人会再次重蹈华尔街错误的覆辙。

That’s why it’s so important that Members of Congress stand on the side of reform, not against it; 这就是为什么它是如此重要,国会成员站在改革的一边,而不是反对它, because we can’t afford to go back to an era of weak regulation and little oversight⁶; 因为我们不能回到一个监管软弱和缺乏监管的的时代; where excessive risk-taking on Wall Street and a lack of basic oversight in Washington nearly destroyed our economy. 那里在华盛顿华尔街过度冒险的行为和缺乏基本的监督几乎毁了我们的经济。

We can’t afford to go back to that brand of ‘you’re-on-your-own’ economics. 我们不能回到那个“你就是你自己”的经济中去。

Not after the American people have worked so hard to come back from this crisis. 美国人民不能再次吞下辛辛苦苦再次从这次危机中恢复的苦果。

We’ve got to keep moving forward. 我们必须继续前进。

We’ve got to finish the job of implementing⁷ this reform and putting these rules in place. 我们必须完成实施这一改革并使这些法规到位的工作。

These new rules say that, if you’re a big bank or financial institution, you now have to hold more cash on hand so that if you make a bad decision you pay for it, not the taxpayers. 这些新规则称,如果你是一家大银行或金融机构,你现在必须持有更多的现金,所以,如果你做的是一个糟糕的决定,你就必须为自己买单,而不是纳税人。

You have to write out a “living will” that details how you’ll be wound down if you do fail. 你需要写出一份“生前遗嘱”,详细说明如果你失败了，你会平静了下来。

The new law takes away big bonuses and paydays from failed CEOs, 新的法律从失败的CEO们身上撤除巨额红利和发薪日, while giving shareholders⁸ a say on executive salaries. 而给予股东们一个管理人员工资的说法。

And for the first time in our nation’s history, 而且首次在我国历史上, we have in place a consumer watchdog whose sole job is to look out for working families by protecting them from deceptive⁹ and unfair practices. 我们已经有了消费者权益保护人，他唯一的工作是为家庭排忧解难，使其免受欺诈和不公平待遇。

So unless you run a financial institution whose business model is built on cheating consumers, or making risky¹⁰ bets that could damage the whole economy, you have nothing to fear from Wall Street reform. 所以除非你运行的是一个金融机构，而其商业模式就是建立在欺骗消费者的基础上,或进行可能会损害整个经济的高风险投资,否则你就没必要害怕华尔街改革。

Yes, it discourages big banks and financial institutions from making risky bets with taxpayer-insured money. 是的,它会阻止大型银行和金融机构用纳税人投保的钱进行高风险投资。

And it encourages them to do things that actually help the economy – like extending loans to entrepreneurs with good ideas, to middle-class families who want to buy a home, to students who want to pursue higher education. 而且它鼓励他们做实际上帮助经济的事情——像为有好创意的企业家,为想买房子的中产阶级家庭,为想要追求更高教育的学生延长贷款。

That’s what Wall Street reform is all about – making this economy stronger for you. 这就是华尔街改革的一切，使我们的经济更加强大，而这一切都是为了你。

And we’re going to keep working – to recover every job lost to the recession; to build an economy where hard work and responsibility are once again rewarded; to restore an America where everyone has a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same rules. 我们将继续工作——为了恢复每一份衰退的工作;为了建立一个努力工作和责任再次将得到回报的经济;为了恢复一个每个人都有公平的机会,每个人都做自己份额,每个人都遵守同样规则的美国而努力。

I believe the free market is one of the greatest forces for progress in human history; that businesses are the engine of growth; that risk-takers and innovators should be celebrated¹¹. But I also believe that at its best, the free market has never been a license¹² to take whatever you want, however you can get it. 我相信自由市场是人类历史进程中最伟大的的力量;商业是增长的引擎,风险承担者和创新者应该被庆祝。但我也确信,在其最好的状态,自由市场从来都不是一种授权，并不是无论你想要什么,无管怎样你都可以得到。

Alongside our entrepreneurial spirit and rugged¹³ individualism, America only prospers¹⁴ when we meet our obligations to one another; and to future generations. 只要有我们的创业精神和顽强的个人主义,美国才能发展,当我们履行一个接一个的义务;而且对未来的世世代代负责任，美国才能繁荣。

If you agree with me, let your Member of Congress know. 如果你同意我的观点,让你的国会成员知道。

Tell them to spend less time working to undermine rules that are there to protect the economy, and spend more time actually working to strengthen the economy. 告诉他们花更少的时间致力于破坏规则来保护经济,花更多的时间用于增强经济的实际工作。

Thanks and have a great weekend. 谢谢大家,周末愉快。

1 taxpayer   

n.纳税人

参考例句：

• The new scheme will run off with a lot of the taxpayer's money.这项新计划将用去纳税人许多钱。
• The taxpayer are unfavourably disposed towards the recent tax increase.纳税者对最近的增加税收十分反感。

2 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

3 stabilize   

vt.（使）稳定，使稳固，使稳定平衡；vi.稳定

参考例句：

• They are eager to stabilize currencies.他们急于稳定货币。
• His blood pressure tended to stabilize.他的血压趋向稳定。

4 commonsense   

adj.有常识的；明白事理的；注重实际的

参考例句：

• It is commonsense to carry an umbrella in this weather.这种天气带把伞是很自然的。
• These results are no more than a vindication of commonsense analysis.这些结果只不过是按常理分析得出的事实。

5 dismantle   

vt.拆开，拆卸；废除，取消

参考例句：

• He asked for immediate help from the United States to dismantle the warheads.他请求美国立即提供援助，拆除这批弹头。
• The mower firmly refused to mow,so I decided to dismantle it.修完后割草机还是纹丝不动，于是，我决定把它拆开。

6 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。

7 implementing   

v.实现( implement的现在分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• -- Implementing a comprehensive drug control strategy. ――实行综合治理的禁毒战略。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
• He was in no hurry about implementing his unshakable principle. 他并不急于实行他那不可动摇的原则。 来自辞典例句

8 shareholders   

n.股东( shareholder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The meeting was attended by 90% of shareholders. 90%的股东出席了会议。
• the company's fiduciary duty to its shareholders 公司对股东负有的受托责任

9 deceptive   

adj.骗人的，造成假象的，靠不住的

参考例句：

• His appearance was deceptive.他的外表带有欺骗性。
• The storyline is deceptively simple.故事情节看似简单，其实不然。

10 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。

11 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

12 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

13 rugged   

adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的

参考例句：

• Football players must be rugged.足球运动员必须健壮。
• The Rocky Mountains have rugged mountains and roads.落基山脉有崇山峻岭和崎岖不平的道路。

14 prospers   

v.成功，兴旺( prosper的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Whatever prospers my business is welcome. 凡使我生意兴隆者皆竭诚欢迎。 来自辞典例句
• Whatever prospers my business is good. 任何使我生意兴隆的都是好的。 来自辞典例句