公众人物毕业演讲第407期:拜登2013宾夕法尼亚大学(5)

 　　When you see the headlines in the Wall Street Journal of November this past year about "widespread fiscal¹ and economic uncertainty², "

　　去年11月华尔街日报的头条也说 "遍布全国的财政和经济不确定性"

　　I remember the headline in April of '68, the same publication that said "US in worst fiscal crisis since 1931"

　　我记得68年4月这份报纸也说 "美国自1931年以来正经历最严重的财政危机"

　　My generation heard the same voices of doom³ and despair that your generation hears today.

　　我那一代人也同样听到了这些悲观和绝望的声音 同你们这一代人现如今一样

　　"American decline" "America's lost its way"

　　"美国衰落" "美国迷失方向"

　　"withered⁴ America" What those voices do not and did not understand.

　　"没落的美国" 这些声音并不明白的是

　　Is that in both instances -- yours and mine -- we graduated into a world that had changed.

　　不管是你们现在 还是我们当时 我们毕业后正踏入一个变化的世界

　　The world of William Butler Yeats Writing about his Ireland in a poem called "Easter Sunday 1916, " He said,

　　一个威廉.巴特勒.叶芝所描述的世界 在关于爱尔兰的诗歌《1916年复活节》中

　　"All has changed, changed utterly⁵ A terrible beauty is born"

　　他写道 "一切都变了 彻底变了" "惊世之美正在诞生"

　　Old answers, the policies of the previous generation that has served my generation so well.

　　旧的答案 前一代人的政策 很好地服务了我这一代

　　Have little applicability to the world into which I was graduating On the eve of my graduation, Dr. King had been assassinated⁶.

　　却对我毕业后要前往的世界没有多少适用性 就在我毕业前夕 金牧师遇刺身亡

1 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

2 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

3 doom   

n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定

参考例句：

• The report on our economic situation is full of doom and gloom.这份关于我们经济状况的报告充满了令人绝望和沮丧的调子。
• The dictator met his doom after ten years of rule.独裁者统治了十年终于完蛋了。

4 withered   

adj. 枯萎的，干瘪的，（人身体的部分器官）因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• The grass had withered in the warm sun. 这些草在温暖的阳光下枯死了。
• The leaves of this tree have become dry and withered. 这棵树下的叶子干枯了。

5 utterly   

adv.完全地，绝对地

参考例句：

• Utterly devoted to the people,he gave his life in saving his patients.他忠于人民，把毕生精力用于挽救患者的生命。
• I was utterly ravished by the way she smiled.她的微笑使我完全陶醉了。

6 assassinated   

v.暗杀( assassinate的过去式和过去分词 )；中伤；诋毁；破坏

参考例句：

• The prime minister was assassinated by extremists. 首相遭极端分子暗杀。
• Then, just two days later, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. 跟着在两天以后，肯尼迪总统在达拉斯被人暗杀。 来自辞典例句