奥巴马每周电视讲话：总统走访多地探讨如何保中产

Hi, everybody.

大家好。

Over the past month, I've been visiting towns across America,

上个月我走访全国多个城市，

talking about what our country needs to do to secure a better bargain for the middle class.

与人们交流如何为中产阶级提供更好保障这一议题。

This week, I met with high school and college students in New York and Pennsylvania to discuss the surest path to the middle class-some form of higher education.

本周，我与纽约和宾夕法尼亚的高中生和大学生们一起探讨跻身中产阶级的必经之路，其中之一便是高等教育。

But at a moment when a higher education has never been more important, it's also never been more expensive.

但随着高等教育变得如此重要的同时价格也随之水涨船高。

That's why, over the past four years, we've helped make college more affordable¹ for millions of students and families with grants and loans that go farther from before.

这就是为什么在过去的4年里，我们利用奖学金、助学贷款等长久以来行之有效的方式，帮助数百万学子和家庭实现了上得起大学的目标。

But students and families and taxpayers³ cannot just keep subsidizing college costs that keep going up and up.

但学生，家庭以及纳税人不可能负担得起持续上涨的大学学费。

Not when the average student now graduates more than 26,000 in debt.

在当下的毕业生平均负债水平达到2.6万美元时。

We cannot price the middle class out of a college education.

离开高等教育我们无法估量中产阶级的价值。

That's why I proposed major new reforms to make college more affordable and make it easier for folks to pay for their education.

因此，我提出了全新的负担的起的大学教育改革方案，让人们可以承受得起教育支出。

First, we're going to start rating colleges based on opportunity-are they helping⁴ students from all kinds of backgrounds succeed, and on outcomes-their value to students and parents.

首先，我们将开始评级大学，基于其是否培养学生形成了取得成功的所需各类基本条件的机遇评价指标；以及其对于学生和家长们的价值体现的成果评价指标。

In time, we'll use those ratings to make sure that the colleges that keep their tuition down are the ones that will see their taxpayer² funding go up.

同时，我们还将利用这些评级确保真正降低学费的学校得到纳税人更多的资助。

Second, we're going to jumpstart competition between colleges over innovations that help more students graduate in less time, at less cost, while maintaining quality.

其次，我们将在大学之间引入让学生以更少的时间、更低的成本高水平毕业的创新竞争。

A number of schools are already testing new approaches, like putting more courses online or basing course credit on competence⁵, not just hours spent in the classroom.

很多学校已经准备好测试新的教学方式，比如进行更多的在线授课或基于学习能力而不是在课堂上花费的时间的学分获龋

And third, we're going to help more students responsibly manage their debt, by making more of them eligible⁶ for a loan repayment⁷ program called Pay-As-You-Earn, which caps your loan payments at 10 percent of what you make.

再其次，我们将帮助更多有责任心的学子规划其助学贷款，让他们有资格参加名为“挣多少还多少”的贷款还款计划，这样其每月的还款额上限不会超过其收入的10%。

And we'll reach out directly to students to make sure they know that this program exists.

我们将直接向学生伸出援手，让他们深入了解这项计划。

These reforms won't be popular with everybody.

这些改革肯定不会迎合所有人。

But the path we're on now is unsustainable for our students and our economy.

但我们现在前进的道路对我们的学生和经济而言是不可持续的。

Higher education shouldn't be a luxury, or a roll of the dice⁸; it's an economic imperative⁹ that every family in America should be able to afford.

高等教育不应该成为一项特权，或是掷骰子般的机遇，她应该成为每个美国家庭都能承担得起的必需品。

Thanks, and have a great weekend.

谢谢大家，祝你们周末愉快。

1 affordable   

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。

2 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。

3 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。

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

5 competence   

n.能力，胜任，称职

参考例句：

• This mess is a poor reflection on his competence.这种混乱情况说明他难当此任。
• These are matters within the competence of the court.这些是法院权限以内的事。

6 eligible   

adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的

参考例句：

• He is an eligible young man.他是一个合格的年轻人。
• Helen married an eligible bachelor.海伦嫁给了一个中意的单身汉。

7 repayment   

n.偿还，偿还款；报酬

参考例句：

• I am entitled to a repayment for the damaged goods.我有权利索取货物损坏赔偿金。
• The tax authorities have been harrying her for repayment.税务局一直在催她补交税款。

8 dice   

n.骰子；vt.把（食物）切成小方块，冒险

参考例句：

• They were playing dice.他们在玩掷骰子游戏。
• A dice is a cube.骰子是立方体。

9 imperative   

n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的

参考例句：

• He always speaks in an imperative tone of voice.他老是用命令的口吻讲话。
• The events of the past few days make it imperative for her to act.过去这几天发生的事迫使她不得不立即行动。