信心不更，絕處逢生

戈登·布朗(Gordon Brown)是英國現任首相。他在1997年5月至2007年6月連續10年擔任英國財政大臣一職，創下連任財政大臣的紀錄，對英國經濟做出了杰出貢獻。今年2月16日美國總統奧巴馬簽署包含“購買美國貨”條款在內的巨額經濟刺激計劃。這被普遍認為是一個危險的訊號:國際貿易環境很可能會因為貿易保護主義的迅速抬頭而急劇惡化。布朗此次訪美，重點放在討論如何攜手應對金融危機上。該選段是布朗在美國國會發表的演說，旨在呼吁美國放棄保護主義。與前任首相布萊爾相比，英國首相布朗一度被批乏味，但4日在美國國會的演講卻大獲成功，國會議員19次起立鼓掌，和六年前布萊爾在國會演講時獲得的次數相同。布朗離場時，在場議員再次鼓掌，時間長達近2分鐘。

An economic 1)hurricane has swept the world， creating a crisis of credit and a crisis of confidence. History has brought us now to a point where change is essential. And we are summoned not just to manage our times but to transform them. And our task is to rebuild prosperity and security in a wholly different economic world， where competition is no longer just local but it’s global， and where banks are no longer national but they’re international. And we need to understand， therefore， what went wrong in this crisis， that the very financial instruments that were designed to diversify risk across the banking system， instead， spread 2)contagion right across the globe. And today’s financial institutions， they are so 3)interwoven that a bad bank anywhere is a threat to good banks everywhere.

But should we 4)succumb to a 5)race to the bottom and to a protectionism that history tells us that， in the end， protects no one? No， we should have the confidence， America and Britain most of all， that we can seize the global opportunities ahead and make the future work for us.

And America and Britain will succeed and lead if we tap into the talents of our people，6)unleash the genius of our scientists， set free the drive of our 7)entrepreneurs. We will win the race to the top if we can develop the new high-value added products and services and the new green goods that the rising number of hardworking families across our globe will want to buy.

So in these8)unprecedented times， we must educate our way out of the downturn， we must invest and invent our way out of the downturn， we must retool and reskill our way out of the downturn.

And this is not blind optimism or9)synthetic confidence to console people.It’s the practical affirmation for our times of our faith in a better future. Every time we rebuild a school we demonstrate our faith in the future. Every time we send more people to university， every time we invest more in our new digital 10)infrastructure， every time we increase support for our scientists， we demonstrate our faith in the future.

And so I say to this Congress and this country， something that runs deep in your character and is woven in your history: we conquer our fear of the future through our faith in the future.

And it is this faith in the future that we means we must commit to protecting the planet for generations that will come long after us. The Greek proverb， what does it say? Why does anybody plant the seeds of a tree whose shade they will never see?

The answer is because they look to the future.

And I believe you， the nation， that had the vision to put a man on the moon， are also the nation with the vision to protect and preserve our planet earth.

一場經濟颶風席卷全球，造成了信貸危機和信任危機。現在歷史已把我們帶到一個關鍵的時刻，變革勢在必行。歷史召喚我們，并不只是要我們去管理這個時代，還要去改革這個時代。我們的任務就是要在一個全然不同的經濟世界中重建繁榮與安全。在這個時代，競爭不再只局限于本土，而是全球化的;銀行不再局限于一國，而是跨國的。因此，我們需要明白在這場危機中是什么出現了問題;要明白原來旨在分散銀行系統中的風險的金融工具卻成了傳播風險的媒介。如今的金融機構都是那么的緊密相連，因此一旦某地出現一家經營不善的銀行便會對世界各地運營良好的銀行帶來威脅。……