奥巴马总统每周电台演讲：与枪支暴力受害者一起推动控枪法案

Hi. As you've probably noticed, I'm not the President.

大家好，你们应该注意到了，我并不是总统。

I'm just a citizen.

我只是一介平民。

And as a citizen, I'm here at the White House today because I want to make a difference and I hope you will join me.

而作为一名公民，我今天之所以能够来到白宫，是因为我想让大家跟我一起寻求改变。

My name is Francine Wheeler.

我叫弗朗西恩·威勒。

My husband David is with me.

我的丈夫戴维也跟我在一起。

We live in Sandy Hook, Connecticut.

我们来自康涅狄克州的桑迪胡克镇。

David and I have two sons.

我和戴维有两个儿子。

Our older son Nate, soon to be 10 years old, is a fourth grader at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

大儿子内特马上就要10岁了，在桑迪胡克小学就读四年级。

Our younger son, Ben, age six, was murdered in his first-grade classroom on December 14th, exactly 4 months ago this weekend.

6岁的小儿子本，12月14日在他所在的一年级教室被杀害，距离今天正好4个月。

David and I lost our beloved son, but Nate lost his best friend.

戴维和我失去了我们深爱的儿子，而内特失去了他最好的伙伴。

On what turned out to be the last morning of his life, Ben told me, quite out of the blue, I still want to be an architect,

在他生命中最后一天的早上，本非常意外的告诉我，我还是想当一名建筑师，

Mama, but I also want to be a paleontologist, because that's what Nate is going to be and I want to do everything Nate does.

妈妈，但我也想当一名古生物学家，因为内特想当，而内特想做的所有事情我都想做。

Ben's love of fun and his excitement at the wonders of life were unmatched His boundless² energy kept him running across the soccer field long after the game was over.

本爱玩的天性和对人生美好的急切向往让他浑身有使不完的劲儿，橄榄球赛结束很久了他还在满场飞奔。

He couldn't't wait to get to school every morning.

他每天早上都等不及要去学校。

He sang with perfect pitch and had just played at his third piano recital³.

他唱歌高音唱的很棒，而且演出过三次钢琴独奏了。

Irrepressibly bright and spirited, Ben experienced life at full tilt⁴.

本全力以赴的体验他生命中的每一天，什么都抑制不住他愉悦而充满激情的天性。

Until that morning. 20 of our children, and 6 of our educators—gone.

直到那天早上，20个孩子和6位老师离开了我们。

Out of the blue.

没有人能预料到。

I've heard people say that the tidal wave of anguish⁵ our country felt on 12/14 has receded⁶.

我曾听人说12月14号袭击我们镇的海啸已经消退了。

But not for us.

但对我们而言不是这样。

To us, it feels as if it happened just yesterday.

对我们而言，它就像昨天才发生一样。

And in the four months since we lost our loved ones, thousands of other Americans have died at the end of a gun.

从我们四个当妈妈的失去我们的孩子之后，又有数千名美国人死在了枪口之下。

Thousands of other families across the United States are also drowning in our grief.

美国又有数千个家庭陷入悲痛之中。

Please help us do something before our tragedy becomes your tragedy.

请帮帮我们，在我们的悲剧变成你们的悲剧之前做些什么吧。

Sometimes, I close my eyes and all I can remember is that awful day waiting at the Sandy Hook Volunteer Firehouse for the boy who would never come home—the same firehouse that was home to Ben's Tiger Scout⁷ Den¹ 6.

时不时的，每当我闭上眼睛，就想起可怕的那一天，我站在桑迪胡克志愿消防站等待永远不能回家的孩子的那一天，那里也是本参加童子军老虎夏令营的聚会点。

But other times, I feel Ben's presence filling me with courage for what I have to do—for him and all the others taken from us so violently and too soon.

但转念一想，我就感到本的灵魂在鼓励我去做我必须做的事情，为了他和其他被暴力所害英年早逝的人。

We have to convince the Senate to come together and pass commonsense⁸ gun responsibility reforms that will make our communities safer and prevent more tragedies like the one we never thought would happen to us.

我们要说服参议院团结起来，通过普遍的持枪责任改革，让我们的社会更加安宁，避免我们从来没有预料到会发生在我们身上的惨剧再次发生。

When I packed for Washington on Monday, it looked like the Senate might not act at all.

当星期一我收拾行李准备来华盛顿的时候，参议院看起来好像不想做什么努力。

Then, after the President spoke⁹ in Hartford, and a dozen of us met with Senators to share our stories, more than two-thirds of the Senate voted to move forward.

但总统在哈特福德发表演讲之后，我们一大群人与参议员们讲述了我们的经历，有超过2/3的参议员投票表示要推进此事。

But that's only the start.

但这仅仅是一个开始。

They haven't yet passed any bills that will help keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people.

他们至今还没有通过任何法案，来避免危险人员搞到枪支。

And a lot of people are fighting to make sure they never do.

而且还有一大批人在奋力确保他们永远不通过类似的法案。

Now is the time to act.

现在是行动的时候了。

Please join us.

请大家与我们一起。

You can talk to your Senator, too.

你也能与你的参议员沟通。

Or visit WhiteHouse.gov to find out how you can join the President and get involved.

或者访问WhiteHouse.gov网站，在这里可以找到与总统一道参与此事的方式。

Help this be the moment when real change begins.

为此做出的努力将带来真正的变革。

From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

我从心底感谢大家，谢谢！

1 den   

n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室

参考例句：

• There is a big fox den on the back hill.后山有一个很大的狐狸窝。
• The only way to catch tiger cubs is to go into tiger's den.不入虎穴焉得虎子。

2 boundless   

adj.无限的；无边无际的；巨大的

参考例句：

• The boundless woods were sleeping in the deep repose of nature.无边无际的森林在大自然静寂的怀抱中酣睡着。
• His gratitude and devotion to the Party was boundless.他对党无限感激、无限忠诚。

3 recital   

n.朗诵，独奏会，独唱会

参考例句：

• She is going to give a piano recital.她即将举行钢琴独奏会。
• I had their total attention during the thirty-five minutes that my recital took.在我叙述的35分钟内，他们完全被我吸引了。

4 tilt   

v.(使)倾侧；(使)倾斜；n.倾侧；倾斜

参考例句：

• She wore her hat at a tilt over her left eye.她歪戴着帽子遮住左眼。
• The table is at a slight tilt.这张桌子没放平，有点儿歪.

5 anguish   

n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼

参考例句：

• She cried out for anguish at parting.分手时，她由于痛苦而失声大哭。
• The unspeakable anguish wrung his heart.难言的痛苦折磨着他的心。

6 receded   

v.逐渐远离( recede的过去式和过去分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题

参考例句：

• The floodwaters have now receded. 洪水现已消退。
• The sound of the truck receded into the distance. 卡车的声音渐渐在远处消失了。

7 scout   

n.童子军，侦察员；v.侦察，搜索

参考例句：

• He was mistaken for an enemy scout and badly wounded.他被误认为是敌人的侦察兵，受了重伤。
• The scout made a stealthy approach to the enemy position.侦察兵偷偷地靠近敌军阵地。

8 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。

9 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。