名人励志英语演讲 第88期:让我们选举巴拉克·奥巴马为美利坚合众国总统(1)

 　　As--As you might imagine, for--for Barack, running for President is nothing compared to that first game of basketball with my brother Craig.

　　你们可以想象，同和我大哥克雷格的第一次篮球比赛相比，巴拉克竞选美国总统（对我而言）就算不上什么。

　　I--I can't tell you how much it means to have Craig and my mom here tonight. Like--Like Craig, I can feel my dad looking down on us, just as I've felt his presence in every grace-filled moment of my life.

　　我真不知该如何向你们表达今晚克雷格和我母亲来这里的意义是多么重大。和克雷格一样，我能够感到我的父亲此刻正在天堂俯视着我们，如同在我的每次人生辉煌时刻我都能感到他亲临现场一样。

　　And at six-foot-six, I've often felt like Craig was looking down on me, too--literally. But the truth is, both when we were kids and today, Craig wasn't looking down on me; he was watching over me. And he has been there for me every step of the way since that clear day, February, 19 months ago, when, with little more than our faith in each other and a hunger for change, we joined my husband, Barack Obama, on the improbable journey that has led us to this moment.

　　尽管我身高一米八，可是我感觉到克雷格过去常常也在俯视我。事实是，无论是我们小时候还是现在，克雷格都没有小看我，而是呵护着我。一年零七个月之前的二月，在一个晴朗之日，怀着对变革的渴望和对彼此更多一点的信任，我们和我丈夫巴拉克·奥巴马一道踏上了竞选总统的梦幻之旅。从那以来，直到今天，每走一步克雷格都陪伴着我。

　　But each of us comes here also by way of our own improbable journey. I come here tonight as a sister, blessed with a brother who is my mentor¹, my protector, and my lifelong friend. And I come here as a wife who loves my husband and believes he will be an extraordinary President.

　　但我们每个人都开始自己的梦幻之旅来到这里。今晚我作为妹妹带着哥哥的祝福来到了这里，我的哥哥是我的良师，是我的守护神，是我终生的朋友。我作为一名妻子来到了这里，我深爱着我的丈夫，并相信他将会成为一位了不起的总统。

　　And I come here as a mom--as a mom whose girls are the heart of my heart and the center of my world. They're the first things I think about when I wake up in the morning and the last thing I think about before I go to bed at night. Their future--and all our children's future--is my stake in this election.

　　我作为一位母亲来到了这里，女儿们是我的心肝宝贝，我的世界以她们为中心。每当清晨醒来我最先想到的是她们，每当夜晚进入梦乡前我最后想到的还是她们。她们的未来——我们所有孩子的未来——是我本次选举的支柱所在。

　　重点讲解：

　　1. look down on/upon

　　俯视；蔑视；轻视；小看

　　eg. I wasn't successful, so they looked down on me.

　　我一无所成，所以他们瞧不起我。

　　eg. Some visitors go inside the statue and climb as high as the crown to look down on the harbor.

　　有些游客来到雕像内部,并爬到雕像冠顶俯瞰海港。

　　eg. They shared all that they had, they did not look down upon anyone.

　　他们分享着自己拥有的一切，他们从不看低任何人。

　　2. watch over

　　照看；照料

　　eg. The guards were originally hired to watch over the houses as they were being built.

　　最初雇门卫是为了看护正在修建的房子。

　　eg. She stayed up to watch over her sick child.

　　她整夜未眠照看她生病的孩子。

　　3. hunger for

　　渴望；渴求

　　eg. But Jules was not eager for classroom learning, he hungered for adventure.

　　但朱尔斯对坐在课堂里学习并不热心，他渴望冒险。

　　eg. The student has a hunger for learning.

　　这个学生有强烈的求知欲。

　　hunger作为名词时，可用have a hunger for来表达相同的意思；

　　eg. Geffen has a hunger for success that seems bottomless.

　　格芬的成功欲望似乎永无止境。

　　背景资料：

　　本篇演讲是2008年8月25日米歇尔·奥巴马在民主党全国代表大会（DNC）上的主题发言。演讲从自己的身世、背景，讲到和奥巴马的共通的价值观，再谈到两人为社区共同奋斗的历史，谈到了美国梦，然后又谈到奥巴马的竞选承诺，最后又回到对家庭对未来的美好憧憬。米歇尔出色的表现为奥巴马成功竞选美国总统增色不少，功不可没。

1 mentor   

n.指导者，良师益友；v.指导

参考例句：

• He fed on the great ideas of his mentor.他以他导师的伟大思想为支撑。
• He had mentored scores of younger doctors.他指导过许多更年轻的医生。