美国经典英文演讲100篇:The Great Society(5)

Aristotle said: "Men come together in cities in order to live, but they remain together in order to live the good life." It is harder and harder to live the good life in American cities today. The catalog of ills is long: there is the decay of the centers and the despoiling of the suburbs. There is not enough housing for our people or transportation for our traffic. Open land is vanishing and old landmarks are violated. Worst of all expansion is eroding these precious and time honored values of community with neighbors and communion with nature. The loss of these values breeds loneliness and boredom and indifference.

And our society will never be great until our cities are great. Today the frontierof imagination and innovation is inside those cities and not beyond their borders. New experiments are already going on. It will be the task of your generation to make the American city a place where future generations will come, not only to live, but to live the good life. And I understand that if I stayed here tonight I would see that Michigan students are really doing their best to live the good life.

亚里士多德说过:“为了生存,人们一起来到城市;为了过好生活,他们又一起留在城市。”今天,在美国城市过好生活越来越难,因为那里有众多的弊端:城市贫民区的衰败,对郊区的侵蚀,没有足够的住房和交通设施,空地逐渐消失,过去的地界被侵犯。更为糟糕的是,城市的扩张损害了那些永远值得尊重的与邻居交往和与自然和谐相处的价值,失去了这些价值,人们就会产生孤独,厌倦和对社会的冷漠。

只有我们的城市伟大了,我们的社会才会伟大。今天,想象和创新的潮流来自城市内部,而不是来自城市外部。那里的各种实验也正如火如荼地进行着。让美国城市成为后来人们来这里不但是为了生存,而是为了过好生活的地方,这里是历史赋予你们这一代人的重任。我知道,如果今天晚上留在这里,我将看到密歇根的学生们为了过好生活,正在尽自己最大的努力。

1. catalog n. 目录

The store sent us a new catalog of its merchandise.

商店寄给我们一份新的商品目录。

2. decay v. 腐朽,腐烂

Our powers decay in old age.

我们的精力在年老时衰退。

3. transportation n. 交通运输

The American simply regards a car as a means of transportation.

美国人把汽车纯粹看成是一种运输工具。

4. vanish v. 突然不见;消失

He seemed to vanish into thin air.

他不留痕迹地消失了。

5. frontier n. 前线

Frontier life could be lonely and empty.

边疆生活不用说是空虚寂寞的。

6. innovation n. 革新,改革,创新

Continuous innovation is also necessary for success.

不断的技术革新也是成功的必要条件。


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