凡人也能鑄就宏圖偉業（節選）

從來沒有一個美國總統候選人像奧巴馬那樣在參選之初就在國內引起如此轟動。很快，有人發現奧巴馬是一個優秀的演講者，于是，一大批粉絲應運而生，奧巴馬的每一次演講都在國內報刊、網上論壇引起熱議。在谷歌上，“奧巴馬演講”的搜索結果多達一千一百多萬條。關于奧巴馬演講的書籍早已出版了多種。即使到了今天，奧巴馬熱已經降溫，但他的演講依然受到極大的關注。我們選用的這篇早期競選演講從內容到演講風格都是奧巴馬演講特色的一個典型體現。

本文選自中信出版社出版的《跟奧巴馬學英語》一書。該書選取了奧巴馬從宣布參選到就職演說的九篇演講，并附有簡要背景介紹與語言難點解釋。

Thank you， Iowa.

You know， they said…they said this day would never come.

They said our sights were set too high.

They said this country was too divided; too 1)disillusioned to ever come together around a common purpose.

But on this January night—at this defining moment in history—you have done what the2)cynics said we couldn’t do. You have done what the state of New Hampshire can do in five days. You have done what America can do in this new year， 2008. In lines that stretched around schools and churches; in small towns and in big cities; you came together as Democrats， Republicans， and Independents to stand up and say that we are one nation; we are one people; and our time for change has come.

You said the time has come to move beyond the 3)bitterness and 4)pettiness and anger that’s 5)consumed Washington; to end the political strategy that’s been all about division and instead make it about addition—to build a 6)coalition for change that stretches through red states and blue states. Because that’s how we’ll win in November， and that’s how we’ll finally meet the challenges that we face as a nation.

We are choosing hope over fear. We’re choosing unity over division and sending a powerful message that change is coming to America.

You said the time has come to tell the 7)lobbyists， who think their money and their influence speak louder than our voices， that they don’t own this government， we do; and we are here to take it back.

The time has come for a President who will be honest about the choices and the challenges we face; who will listen to you and learn from you even when we disagree; who won’t just tell you what you want to hear， but what you need to know. And in New Hampshire， if you give me the same chance that Iowa did tonight， I will be that President for America.

Years from now， you’ll look back and you’ll say that this was the moment—this was the place—where America remembered what it means to hope.

For many months， we’ve been 8)teased， even9)derided， for talking about hope.

But we always knew that hope is not blind optimism. It’s not ignoring the 10)enormity of the task ahead or the roadblocks that stand in our path. It’s not 11)sitting on the sidelines or shirking. Hope is that thing inside us that insists， despite all the evidence to the contrary， that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it， and to work for it， and to fight for it.

Hope is the bedrock of this nation; the belief that our destiny will not be written for us， but by us; by all those men and women who are not content to settle for the world as it is; who have the courage to remake the world as it should be.

That is what we started here in Iowa， and that is the message we can now carry to New Hampshire and beyond; the same message we had when we were up and when we were down; the one that can change this country brick by brick， block by block， 12)calloused hand by calloused hand—that， together， ordinary people can do extraordinary things; because we are not a collection of red states and blue states， we are the United States of America; and in this moment， in this election， we are ready to believe again.

Thank you， Iowa.

感謝衣阿華(又譯艾奧瓦、愛荷華)的選民們!

你們也知道，有人說……有人說這一天永遠不會到來。

有人說我們好高騖遠。

有人說人民異見紛呈、失望透頂，不可能再為了一個共同的目標而眾志成城。

然而，在這個1月的夜晚——在這個決定性的歷史時刻——你們完成了那些憤世嫉俗者斷言我們無法完成的使命，以及5天后新罕布什爾州也將完成的同樣的壯舉。你們已經完成了美國在新的一年——2008年——可以完成的任務。在學校和教堂周圍蜿蜒排起的長龍中，在小城鎮和大城市，你們——民主黨人、共和黨人和獨立派人士——走到一起，振臂高呼:我們是一個國家，我們是一個民族，變革的時代已經到來。

你們說過，是時候超越早已將華盛頓的能量消耗殆盡的各種怨恨、狹隘和憤怒，是時候結束一切旨在分裂的政治決策，并以聯合取而代之——不分“紅州”、“藍州”，建立一個旨在變革的聯盟。