Weekly Address: Making America Safer for Our Children
每周电视讲话：为子孙后代留下一个更安全的美国

WASHINGTON, DC — In this week's address, the President reflected on the progress of the past year, and looked forward to working on unfinished business in the coming year, particularly when it comes to the epidemic of gun violence. As he has many times before, the President reminded us that Congress has repeatedly failed to take action and pass laws that would reduce gun violence. That’s why the President a few months ago tasked his White House team with identifying new actions he can take to help reduce gun violence, and on Monday will meet with the Attorney General to discuss the options. In his address, the President called on everyone to join him in the fight to reduce gun violence, because it’s going to take all of us to make America safer for our children.
华盛顿：在本周的讲话中，奥巴马总统回顾了过去一年的成就，并展望了未来一年需要完成的事业，尤其是枪支暴力泛滥的问题。正如他以前多次提到的，总统提醒大家记住，国会再一次在立法减少枪支暴力事件上不作为。因此，几个月前，总统指示白宫的团队制定一些新的措施，帮助减少枪支暴力事件。下周一，总统将会见司法部长，与她讨论具体措施。在奥巴马总统的讲话中，他呼吁所有人都与他一起共同战斗，减少枪支暴力，因为这关系到我们每一个人，我们要给我们的孩子一个更安全的美国。

Happy New Year, everybody. I am fired up for the year that stretches out before us. That’s because of what we’ve accomplished together over the past seven.
大家新年快乐！我满怀期待的心情迎接我们共同的新年。因为过去七年里我们共同取得了巨大的成就。

Seven years ago, our businesses were losing 800,000 jobs a month. They’ve now created jobs for 69 straight months, driving the unemployment rate from a high of 10% down to 5%.
七年前，我们的企业一个月就有80万人失业。而今，他们已经连续69个月实现就业增长，将失业率从最高的10%降低到5%。

Seven years ago, too many Americans went without health insurance. We’ve now covered more than 17 million people, dropping the rate of the uninsured below 10% for the very first time.
七年前，大量的美国人没有医疗保险。而今，我们的保险覆盖了1700多万人，使得未参保率第一次下降到10%以下。

Seven years ago, we were addicted to foreign oil. Now our oil imports have plummeted, our clean energy industry is booming, and America is a global leader in the fight against climate change.
七年前，我们严重依赖海外石油。而今，我们的石油进口量直线下降，清洁能源产业欣欣向荣，美国已经成为全球抗击气候变化的领导者。

Seven years ago, there were only two states in America with marriage equality. And now there are 50.
七年前，全国只有两个州承认同性婚姻合法，而今50个州都认可了。

All of this progress is because of you. And we’ve got so much more to do. So my New Year’s resolution is to move forward on our unfinished business as much as I can. And I’ll be more frequently asking for your help. That’s what this American project is all about.
所有这些成绩的取得都离不开大家的付出。当然我们还有更多的事情要做。因此，我的新年愿景就是继续奋勇前行，尽我所能完成未竟的事业。我将经常性地寻求大家的帮助。因为这是关系到所有美国人民的事业。

That's especially true for one piece of unfinished business, that’s our epidemic of gun violence.
对于这样一件事而言尤为如此，那就是当前枪支暴力泛滥的问题。

Last month, we remembered the third anniversary of Newtown. This Friday, I’ll be thinking about my friend Gabby Giffords, five years into her recovery from the shooting in Tucson. And all across America, survivors of gun violence and those who lost a child, a parent, a spouse to gun violence are forced to mark such awful anniversaries every single day.
上个月，我们还举行了新城惨案三周年纪念活动。本周五，我也会去看望嘉碧·吉福兹，她度过了图森惨案后五年时间的漫长恢复期。全美各地的枪支暴力案件的幸存者以及那些在枪支暴力事件中失去孩子、父母、配偶的人们，每一天，都不得不面对这种持续的痛苦。

And yet Congress still hasn’t done anything to prevent what happened to them from happening to other families. Three years ago, a bipartisan, commonsense bill would have required background checks for virtually everyone who buys a gun. Keep in mind, this policy was supported by some 90% of the American people. It was supported by a majority of NRA households. But the gun lobby mobilized against it. And the Senate blocked it.
而现在国会却依然无动于衷，没有做出任何行动来防止此类事件发生在其他家庭身上。三年前，一份两党联合的基本法案本来要求对几乎所有枪支购买人员进行背景审查的。请大家记住，这份法案当时得到了90%的美国民众的支持，而且也得到了美国步枪协会大部分会员的支持。但是，枪支游说团体强烈反对。最后在参议院未获通过。

Since then, tens of thousands of our fellow Americans have been mowed down by gun violence. Tens of thousands. Each time, we’re told that commonsense reforms like background checks might not have stopped the last massacre, or the one before that, so we shouldn’t do anything.
自那时起，成千上万的美国同胞因枪支暴力惨遭杀害。成千上万的人啊。而每一次事件之后，他们总是会说，背景审查之类的普通改革并不一定能阻止这种屠杀事件的发生，也阻止不了以前的事件发生，因此，我们也不必要做任何事情。

We know that we can’t stop every act of violence. But what if we tried to stop even one? What if Congress did something – anything – to protect our kids from gun violence?
我们都知道，我们是不能阻止每一起暴力事件。但哪怕我们能成功阻止一件呢？哪怕国会做点什么，保护我们的孩子免受枪支暴力威胁，做什么都行。

A few months ago, I directed my team at the White House to look into any new actions I can take to help reduce gun violence. And on Monday, I’ll meet with our Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, to discuss our options. Because I get too many letters from parents, and teachers, and kids, to sit around and do nothing. I get letters from responsible gun owners who grieve with us every time these tragedies happen; who share my belief that the Second Amendment guarantees a right to bear arms; and who share my belief we can protect that right while keeping an irresponsible, dangerous few from inflicting harm on a massive scale.
几个月前，我指示白宫的团队去研究，看看可以采用什么新的策略来降低枪支暴力的威胁。下周一，我将会见司法部长洛丽塔·林奇，与她讨论我们的方案。因为，我收到了大量的来信，有父母写的，老师写的，孩子写的，我不能坐视不管。我还收到一些有责任心的拥有枪支的人们的来信，他们说每次的惨案发生他们都深感悲痛。他们有着与我同样的信念，《第二修正案》确保大家有权拥有武器，但同时他们也坚信，我们可以让不负责任、危险的极少数人不能再继续制造屠杀制造杀害，同时保护大家享有这一权利。