U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the U.S. presidential election held on November 4 was an example for the world in how a nation can overcome internal differences. Rice spoke at the 15th anniversary of the James Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University in Houston Thursday.
美国国务卿赖斯星期四在休斯敦的赖斯大学詹姆斯·贝克公共政策学院成立15周年纪念日发表讲话。她说，11月4号的美国总统选举为世界树立了一个国家如何克服内部分歧的典范。
In her remarks, Secretary of State Rice addressed the importance of the recent U.S. presidential election for the world and for the United States. She noted that people in far away nations had followed the election campaign, even learning about the Iowa caucuses, which started the process in early January. She also spoke of the significance of Barack Obama becoming the first person of African descent to become president, saying that the United States had shown how democracy can help erase divisions between races and ethnic groups.
赖斯国务卿在讲话中谈到最近举行的美国总统选举对于世界和对于美国的重要性。她指出，在遥远的国家，民众一直在关注这次选举的竞选活动，甚至了解了一月初开启初选进程的爱奥瓦州党团会议的有关情况。她还谈到巴拉克·奥巴马成为第一位非洲裔美国总统的意义。她说，美国已经显示出民主是怎样帮助消弭种族和族群之间的裂痕的。
"[For] A girl like me who grew up in segregated Birmingham, Alabama to now elect an African-American president is an extraordinary matter," Rice noted, "and it says to the world that differences can be overcome and in a world in which different is still a license to kill, that is an awfully important message."
她说：“对于像我这样一个在实行种族隔离的阿拉巴马州伯明翰长大的女孩来说，现在选举一位非洲裔美国人总统是一件非同寻常的事。它向世界证明，分歧是能够克服的。而在一个分歧仍然被当作杀人的理由的世界，这是个非常重要的讯息。”
As she prepares to leave her position as secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice says there are two matters of unfinished business that concern her more than many of the foreign challenges facing the nation. The first, she said, is the need for comprehensive immigration reform so that, as she put it, "people living in the shadows can achieve legal status to live and work in this country." She said anti-immigrant attitudes could undermine one of the things that has made America great.
正在为离任做准备的赖斯国务卿说，还有两件尚未完成的工作比美国正面对的许多其他外部挑战更让她感到忧虑。首先是需要进行全面的移民改革，以便让生活在阴影里的人们获得在美国居住和工作的合法身份。赖斯说，反移民态度可能破坏美国之所以成为伟大国家的众多因素之一。
"Unless we can renew that spirit of wanting to be open to those who want to be part of us, we lose a part of who we are," Rice said.
“除非我们能重新发扬对于那些希望成为我们一部分的人保持开放的精神，否则就会失去我们自身的一部分特点。”
Rice said the other concern she has for the United States is the state of education. Noting her background as a college professor before becoming a government official, she said she has always believed education is the means for a person from a modest background to achieve great things. Rice said the nation's failure to provide a good education could limit its future.
赖斯表示，她对美国的另一个忧虑是教育状况。赖斯谈到她在成为政府官员之前曾是一名大学教授的背景时说，她一直认为教育是一个来自卑微背景的人取得伟大成就的途径。赖斯说，未能提供良好的教育，可能会限制美国的前程。
"It breaks my heart as an educator, but you know, as secretary of state, it terrifies me," she admitted. "Because if we are not able to educate our people, I can assure you we will turn inward, we will protect, we will be afraid of the world. And that will be a disaster for the world because America will not lead if we are not confident that our people are able to compete."
她说：“作为一名教师，这种情况让我心碎。可是，你们知道吗，作为国务卿，这种情况让我感到可怕。因为如果我们不能让我们的人民受教育，我可以向你们保证，我们就会内向，就会保守，就会害怕世界。那对世界来说将是一场灾难，因为如果我们对自己人民的竞争力没有信心的话，美国就不会发挥领导作用了。”
Secretary of State Rice said the world craves American leadership and looks to this country as a place of endless possibilities. She says that makes a domestic issue like education important as a foreign policy issue as well, because education is the key to fulfilling the American ideal that what matters most is not where someone comes from, but what they are able to achieve.
赖斯国务卿说，世界期望美国的领导，并且把美国看成一个具有无限的可能性的地方。她说，这就使得像教育这样的国内事务跟外交政策问题一样重要，因为教育是实现美国理想的关键，而美国的理想就是，重要的不是一个人来自何方，而是他能够取得什么成就。 |