奥巴马写给女儿的信

        And I want them to get good jobs: jobs that pay well and give thembenefits like health care, jobs that let them spend time with theirown kids and retire with dignity.

　　而且我要他们能找到好的工作：薪酬高还附带健康保险的工作，让他们有时间陪孩子、并且能带着尊严退休的工作。

　　I want us to push the boundaries of discovery so that you'll live to see new technologies and inventions that improve our lives and make our planet cleaner and safer.

　　我要大家向发现的极限挑战，让你在有生之年能够看见改善我们生活、使这个行星更干净、更安全的新科技和发明。

　　And I want us to push our own human boundaries to reach beyond the divides of race and region,gender and religion that keep us from seeing the best in each other.

　　我也要大家向自己的人际界限挑战，跨越使我们看不到对方长处的种族、地域、性别和宗教樊篱。

　　Sometimes we have to send our young men and women into war and other dangerous situations to protect our country—but when we do, I want to make sure that it is only for a very good reason,that we try our best to settle our differences with others peacefully, and that we do everything possible to keep our servicemen and women safe.  　

　　有时候为了保护我们的国家，我们不得不把青年男女派到战场或其它危险的地方，然而当我们这么做的时候，我要确保师出有名，我们尽了全力以和平方 式化解与他人的争执，也想尽了一切办法保障男女官兵的安全。

　　And I want every child to understand that the blessings these brave Americans fight for are not free—that with the great privilege of being a citizen of this nation comes great responsibility.

　　我要每个孩子都明白，这些勇敢的美国人在战场上捍卫的福祉是无法平白得到的：在享有作为这个国 家公民的伟大特权之际，重责大任也随之而来。

　　That was the lesson your grandmother tried to teach me when I was your age, reading me the opening lines of the Declaration of Independence and telling me about the men and women who marched forequality because they believed those words put to paper two centuries ago should mean something.

　　告诉我有一些男女为了争取平等挺身而出游行抗议，因为他们认为两个世纪前白纸黑字写下来的这些句子，不应只是空话。这正是我在你们这年纪时，外婆想要教我的功课，她把独立宣言开头几行念给我听，

　　She helped me understand that America is great not because it is perfect but because it can always be made better—and that the unfinished work of perfecting our union falls to each of us.

　　她让我了解到，美国所以伟大，不是因为它完美，而是因为我们可以不断让它变得更好。