VOA常速英语2020--自由民主是人权的最佳保障（在线收听）

Next, an editorial reflecting the views of the United States government.

以下是一篇反映美国政府政策立场的社论。

Religious freedom is a fundamental right enshrined in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Peter Berkowitz, the Director of Policy Planning at the State Department, said there is a correlation between countries that protect religious freedom and those that respect other basic rights:

宗教自由是美国宪法第一修正案所载的一项基本权利：“国会不得制定确立一种宗教或禁止信仰自由的法律。”美国国务院政策规划办公室主任彼得·博尔考维茨表示，保护宗教自由的国家和那些尊重其它基本权利的国家之间存在关联性。

“We know as an empirical matter the high correlation between countries that protect religious liberty and countries that protect all the other freedoms that the United States has traditionally cared about. And this of course makes sense if you’re protecting the liberty to have a difference of opinion about one of the matters that human beings have fought over most. Differences of opinion about God.” The United States Declaration of Independence and the U.N Declaration of Human Rights, said Director Berkowitz, set forth a universal standard for judging all forms of government and is what all governments should aspire to. He also expressed his hope that “people come to an appreciation that . . .liberal democracy, is the form of government best suited to vindicating human rights.”

“我们通过经验得知，保护宗教自由的国家和保护美国过去一直关心的其它自由的国家之间存在高度的关联性。如果你是在保护在人类争斗最多的一件事情上持有不同意见的自由，这当然是可以理解的。也就是关于上帝的的不同看法。”博尔考维茨表示，《美国独立宣言》和《世界人权宣言》阐述了评判所有不同形态的政府的普遍标准，所有国家政府都应该渴望遵循这一标准。他还表示，希望“民众能够理解，自由民主是最适合维护人权的政府形态。”

That was an editorial reflecting the views of the United States government.

这是一篇反映美国政府政策立场的社论。