Al Gore（在线收听）

Al Gore

Interviewer: Are you or are you not going to run in 2004?

Gore: Well, I've decided not to run and I...

Interviewer: You've decided not to run?

Gore: I've decided that I will not be a candidate for President in 2004. My family all gathered here in New York City over the last few days and I found that... I've come to ¹⁾closure on this. I don't think it's the right thing for me to be a candidate in 2004.

Interviewer: Well, I think a lot of people are just going to be ²⁾bowled over. You're not a candidate. You've been looking like a candidate. Tell us how you have arrived at what, I think, is gonna be a ³⁾stunning, really surprising decision?

Gore: Well, I've run for President twice and there are many other exciting ways to serve. I intend to remain actively involved in politics. I want to help whoever the Democratic Party's nominee is in 2004 to win the election. I'm going to explore a lot of other opportunities.

Interviewer: The ambition to be the commander-in-chief, the ambition to sit in the ⁴⁾Oval Office -- that's gone?

Gore: Well, I personally have the energy and the drive and ambition to make another campaign, but I don't think it's the right thing for me to do. I think that a campaign that would be a ⁵⁾rematch between myself and President Bush would inevitably involve a focus on the past that would in some measure distract from the focus on the future that I think all campaigns have to be about.

Interviewer: You say you had the ambition; you still have it even you said...

Gore: Yeah.

Interviewer: Right?

Gore: Yeah.

Interviewer: Still have the dream?

Gore: Yeah. Well, you know, never say "never", but I... I make this decision in the full knowledge and awareness that if I don't run this time, which I am not going to run in 2004, that's probably the last opportunity I'll ever have to run for President. Don't know that for sure but probably it is.

Interviewer: You think you could beat the President?

Gore: Look, I think I could, but the truth is that anybody who tells you they know what's going to happen two years from now and what would happen is just unrealistic.

Interviewer: I'm still trying to understand why you're not gonna run?

Gore: The last campaign was an extremely difficult one and while I have the energy and drive to go out there and do it again, I think that there are a lot of people within the Democratic Party who felt exhausted by that, and who felt like "OK, I don't want to go through that again." And I'm frankly sensitive to that...to that feeling.

Interviewer: A Democrat, you believe, could beat President Bush?

Gore: I absolutely believe that. And think about what happened in 1991 when the first President Bush was just as high...well, higher in the public opinion polls, and....

Interviewer: But not sustained like this.

Gore: Well, that's true, but nevertheless he was at 91% or something. I felt then that the economy was bad and it could turn back toward Democrats. It ⁶⁾ultimately did and very few people thought that. I feel the same way now.

Interviewer: So which of the Democrats, do you think, has the best shot?

Gore: I don't know.

Interviewer: So you don't have a feeling of what.... Do you have a feeling of what it will take? What a democrat has to look like? What he has to ⁷⁾stand for to beat President Bush?

Gore: I think there has to be an unrelenting focus on the economy.

Interviewer: Why? Do you think the economy is just going to continue to ⁸⁾spiral downward? Is that what you're saying?

Gore: I think that the policies they're committed to do not work. And I think that if they don't change them, which I don't think they're likely to, that it's gonna be apparent to people.

Interviewer: So this is it? You were in the ⁹⁾House; you were in the ¹⁰⁾Senate for two terms...

Gore: Been in the House for 8 years, the Senate for 8 years and Vice President for 8 years.

Interviewer: Vice President of the United States for 8 years, and this is it?

Gore: I had another 8-year-plan in mind, but it didn't ¹¹⁾work out.

阿尔·戈尔

记者：2004年的总统竞选，你是参加还是不参加？

戈尔：我已经决定了不参加，而且……

记者：你已经决定了不参加？

戈尔：我决定了不成为2004总统大选的候选人。最近这些天我全家都在纽约，我发现……该是了结的时候了。我觉得我不想成为2004总统大选的候选人。

记者：我想这消息让很多人都感到震惊。你不当候选人了。可你却一直表现得像个候选人似的。跟我们说一说，你是怎么做出这样令人震惊、非常出乎意料的决定的？

戈尔：我两次竞选过总统，但服务人民的方式有很多种。我想继续在政界活动，帮助民主党候选人赢得2004年大选。我要发掘出许多其他的机会。

记者：那要叱咤风云、要坐入白宫的的万丈雄心呢--已经一去不复返了吗？

戈尔：我个人还有精力、斗志和雄心去再参加竞选，可我觉得那么做是不对的。我认为竞选会让人们再拿我和布什总统比较，那不可避免地就要翻算旧帐，就会多多少少地把该放在未来的注意力转移开，而我认为一切竞选都该是着眼于未来。

记者：你说过去的雄心仍在，甚至……

戈尔：对。

记者：对吗？

戈尔：对。

记者：梦想仍在吗？

戈尔：是的。你也知道，我是个永不言不的人，可我……我是基于自己全部的知识和良知做出此决定的，因为如果我这一次不参加2004年总统竞选的话，或许这是我最后一次竞选总统的机会了。不完全确定，但很有可能是最后一次机会。

记者：你认为你能击败布什总统吗？

戈尔：我想是可以的，但事实上，如果有谁向你预言，说他们知道两年后会发生什么事，那是毫不现实的。

记者：我还是想知道，你为什么不参加竞选？

戈尔：上次的竞选太痛苦了，虽然我还有精力与斗志再来一次，可民主党内有很多人已经是精疲力竭了，他们觉得：“算了吧，我才不想再来一次。”坦白地说，我对他们这种反应是相当敏感的。

记者：你认为民主党候选人能击败布什总统吗？

戈尔：我完全相信可以。想想看，1991年老布什虽然在民意调查中呼声高……比较高，可是……

记者：可是好景没能持续下去。

戈尔：对，尽管他的民意分高达大概有91%。我当时觉得经济不景气会使民心回归到民主党。后来果真如此，但当时很少有人想到这一点。现在我就有同样的感觉。

记者：那么你认为哪位民主党候选人会获胜呢？

戈尔：我不知道。

记者：你有没有感觉到什么……你觉得怎样才行？这位民主党人要怎么办才好？他要支持什么才会击败布什总统？

戈尔：我认为必须坚持走经济路线。

记者：为什么？你认为经济会继续滑坡？你是这么说的吧？

戈尔：我认为共和党的经济政策不行。如果他们再不改进--我想他们是不会改的--人民会清楚地看到这点的。

记者：那么就这样了？你当过众议员；也当过两任参议员……

戈尔：我在众议院待了八年，在参议院待了八年，担任了八年的副总统。

记者：当了八年的美国副总统，就这样算了？

戈尔：我脑子里本来还酝酿了另一个八年计划呢，只不过行不通。

注释:

1) closure [5klEuVE] n. 关闭，终止

2) bowl over 使大吃一惊

3) stunning [5stQniN] a. 足以使人晕倒的

4) the Oval Office 美国白宫的椭圆形办公室，总统办公室

5) rematch [5ri:5mAtF] v. 重赛

6) ultimately [5QltimEtli] adv. 最后，根本上

7) stand for 支持，代表

8) spiral [5spaiErEl] a. 不断加剧上升或下降的

9) the House 即the House of Representatives，美国众议院

10) the Senate 美国参议院

11) work out 进行，发展