马里奥·科莫政治演讲:双城记
8.Tale of Two Cities
8.双城记
Ten days ago , President Reagan admitted that although some people in this country seemed to be doing well nowadays, others were unhappy, even worried, about themselves, their families and their futures. The president said that he didn’t understand that fear. He said, “Why, this country is a shining city on a hill.” And the president is right. In many ways we are a shining city on a hill.
十天前，里根总统承认，虽然目前很多在美国居住的人民生活不错，但是也有一些人过得不开心，甚至担心他们自己、他们的家庭和他们的未来。总统说，他不理解为什么会有这种担心。他说：“为什么，这个国家明明是山巅闪光之城啊。”总统说的没错，在很多方面，我们的确非常辉煌。
But the hard truth is that not everyone is sharing in this city’s splendor and glory. A shining city is perhaps all the president sees from the portico of the White House and the veranda of his ranch, where everyone seems to be doing well. But there’s another city; there’s another part to the shining the city; the part where some people can’t pay their mortgages, and most young people can’t afford one, where students can’t afford the education they need, and middle-class parents watch the dreams they hold for their children evaporate.
但是，残酷的事实却是并不是所有人都能分享它的辉煌。闪耀的城市可能只是总统从白宫的门廊和农场的阳台上看到的景象，在那里每个人看起来都过得很好。但是紧挨着它还有另一个城市，在那里人们支付不起各种各样的抵押贷款，有些人甚至连一项贷款也付不起，在那里学生没钱读书，中产阶级的父母眼看着他们孩子的梦想蒸发消失。
In this part of the city there are more poor than ever, more families in trouble, more and more people who need help but can’t find it. Even worse: There are elderly people who tremble in the basements of the houses there. And there Aare people who sleep in the city streets, in the gutter, where the glitter doesn’t show. There are ghettos where thousands of young people, without a job or an education, give their lives away to drug dealers every day. There is despair, Mr. President, in the faces that you don’t see, in the places that you don’t visit in your shining city.
比起以前，那个城市有了更多穷人、更多困难家庭、更多需要帮助却得不到帮助的人。更糟糕的是：地下室里住着年迈的老人，他们冻得发抖。还有一些人，他们睡在街上，睡在昏暗无光的臭水沟旁。贫民区里住着成千上万的年轻人，他们没有工作，没受过教育，每天都有人因为吸毒而没了性命。总统啊，在你的闪光之城，你看不到他们脸上的绝望，更不曾去过他们住的地方。
In fact, Mr. President, this is a nation—Mr. President you ought to know that this nation is more a “Tale of Two Cities” than it is just a “Shining City on a Hill.”
事实上，总统先生，您应该知道，美国更是一个 “双城记”（寓意危机四伏的国家）而不仅仅是“山巅闪光之城”。