VOA常速英语2017--美国务卿面向民主共同体发表讲话（在线收听）

Across the globe, democratic nations and peoples are under threat, said U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in a speech to the Community of Democracies.

全球的民主国家及其人民都正在受到威胁，美国国务卿蒂勒森在面向民主共同体讲话时说道。

In East Asia, an increasingly aggressive and isolated regime in North Korea threatens democracies in South Korea, Japan, and has expanded those threats to the United States.

东亚的朝鲜政府愈发激进孤立，威胁着韩国、日本等民主国家，并将威胁的矛头扩张到了美国。

In the Middle East, Iran exports terrorism and violence, threatening democracies from Israel to Europe and other regions.

中东的伊朗对外输出恐怖主义与暴力，威胁着从以色列到欧洲甚至其他地区的多个民主国家。

Elsewhere, once-thriving democracies are under attack by regimes which conduct themselves as authoritarian dictatorships, such as in Venezuela.

而环顾其他地方，曾经盛极一时的许多民主国家都受到了一些自诩独裁的政权的袭击，比如委内瑞拉。

Mr. Tillerson also expressed the necessity of, supporting emerging democracies in the struggle to become nations that respect human rights regardless of ethnicity, such as the case in Burma.

蒂勒森还表示，有必要支持新兴民主国家克服困难成为尊重所有种族人权的国家，比如缅甸。

The democratic ideal deserves to be vigorously defended. We know that democracy is the form of governance that produces peace, stability, and prosperity at home and abroad, said Secretary Tillerson. We know that governments that uphold democratic principles and practices are safer, healthier, more secure, more prosperous societies, and are more inclined to respect the human rights of their citizens.

民主理想应该得到坚决的捍卫。蒂勒森表示，我们都知道，民主治理能够催生国内外的和平、稳定与繁荣。我们也知道，坚持民主原则，进行民主实践的政府更为安全、健康、繁荣，也更倾向于尊重公民的人权。

Moreover, democratic governments are accountable to the people, and as a result, are less susceptible to corruption, more likely to support an independent and fair judicial system, and more likely to sustain a diverse society.

此外，民主政府因为要对人民负责，所以更不容易出现腐败的现象，也更容易支持独立公正的司法体系，更有可能保障社会的多样性。

Successful democracies require hard choices, hard work, and vigilance, said Secretary Tillerson. But democracy is the only political system that contains an institutional capacity for self-correction, one that grants its citizens the right to participate in how and by whom they are governed. And that is why we support the expansion of freedom and democracy throughout the world, he said.

国务卿蒂勒森表示，成功的民主社会需要做许多艰难的选择，要努力工作，也要保持警觉。但民主的政体具有自我修正的能力，让公民有权利决定自己以何种方式受到什么样的人的管制。蒂勒森表示，而这也是我们在全球范围内支持自由民主扩张的原因。

Now is not the time to step back from our democratic commitments. Now is the time to strengthen and sustain them. As President Donald Trump reaffirmed in his speech in Poland, Above all, we value the dignity of every human life, protect the rights of every person, and share the hope of every soul to live in freedom. That is who we are.

现在不是我们在民主承诺面前退却的时候，而是我们加强并维护民主政体的时候。正如特朗普总统在波兰演讲中一再重申的那样，最重要的是，我们珍视每个人的自尊，保障每个人的权利，与所有在自由中生活的人分享希望。这才是民主政府该做的。