America remains an opportunity society — a place to excel, a country of possibility and mobility where a brilliant idea hatched in a college dorm room or a product invented in a garage can find a global market and grow into a multibillion dollar company. Our workers are the world’s most productive. Our inventors hold the most patents. And today, we are reinvesting in our fundamentals — infrastructure, clean energy, health, and education. And we are doing the critical work of shoring up our financial system so that it protects investors and curbs excesses.
美国仍然是一个充满机会的社会——一个发挥特长的地方、一个事事都有可能、人人都有希望成功的国度,在这里,一个在大学宿舍里产生的创意或在车库里发明的一个产品能够找到一个全球市场,成长为价值数十亿美元的公司。我们的工人具有世界上最高的生产力。我们的发明家持有最多的专利。今天,我们正在对我们的基本面进行再投资——基础设施、清洁能源、保健和教育。我们正在落实重要措施以巩固我们的金融体系,保护投资者,减少过度冒险行为。
Now, as I have traveled around the region, a lot of people have asked me about how the United States is going to resolve our debt ceiling challenge. Well, let me assure you we understand the stakes. We know how important this is for us and how important it is for you. The political wrangling in Washington is intense right now. But these kinds of debates have been a constant in our political life throughout the history of our republic. And sometimes, they are messy. I well remember the government shutdown of the 1990s; I had a front row seat for that one. But this is how an open and democratic society ultimately comes together to reach the right solutions. So I am confident that Congress will do the right thing and secure a deal on the debt ceiling, and work with President Obama to take the steps necessary to improve our long-term fiscal outlook. Through more than a century of growth, the American economy has repeatedly shown its strength, its resilience, and its unrivaled capacity to adapt and reinvent itself. And it will keep doing so.
当我在本地区访问时,很多人都问我美国将怎样应对我们在债务上限方面的挑战。让我向你们保证,我们理解其中的利害。我们知道这件事对我们和你们都极为重要。目前华盛顿的政治角力很激烈。但这种争论在贯穿我们共和国历史的政治生活中一直存在。有时它会给人以乱糟糟的印象。我清楚地记得上世纪90年代政府被迫关闭;我有机会亲眼目睹了这一幕。但是,这正是一个开放和民主的社会最终达成共识制定正确的解决方案的过程。因此,我相信国会会作出正确的选择,就债务上限达成协议,并与奥巴马总统合作,采取必要步骤,改善我们长期的财政前景。在一个多世纪的增长中,美国经济一再表现出其实力、韧性以及无与伦比的适应和自我更新能力。这种情况会继续下去。
As we pursue recovery and growth, we are making economics a priority of our foreign policy. Because increasingly, economic progress depends on strong diplomatic ties and diplomatic progress depends on strong economic ties. And so the United States is working to harness all aspects of our relationships with other countries to support our mutual growth. This is an issue I recently addressed at the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, and will again in a larger speech about America’s strategic and economic choices this fall. But economic issues have been front and center in my travels during the past two weeks — to Greece, which is working to put itself back on the path to economic stability, and to four rising centers of economic growth: Turkey, India, Indonesia, and then China.
当我们寻求复苏和增长时,我们把经济因素作为我们外交政策的优先事务,因为经济的发展越来越多地依赖密切的外交关系,而外交发展取决于密切的经济关系。因此,美国正在努力利用我们与其他国家关系的所有方面支持我们的共同增长。我最近在美国全球领导力联盟探讨过这个问题,还将在今年秋天一次有关美国的战略和经济选择的内容更广泛的讲话中再次加以阐述。但是,经济问题在我过去两周的访问中始终是首要与核心问题——希腊正在努力走上经济稳定之路,行程中另外四个国家都是正在兴起的经济增长中心,即土耳其、印度、印度尼西亚和中国。
Now, naturally, much of our economic diplomacy is focused on East Asia and the Pacific. The American Chamber in Hong Kong represents 1,200 companies, and thousands more looking to this region for new customers and markets. Last year, American exports to Hong Kong totaled $26 billion — that's more than the Indonesian export amount of $20 billion — and our exports to the Pacific Rim were $320 billion, supporting 850,000 American jobs.
我们的经济外交自然而然地侧重于东亚和太平洋地区。在香港的美国商会代表着1,200多家公司,数以千计的其他公司也正在这个地区寻找新的客户和市场。去年,美国对香港的出口总额为260亿美元——这比印尼200亿美元的出口额还多——我们对环太平洋地区的出口为3,200亿美元,支持着85万个美国的就业岗位。
Now, numbers like these reflect how closely America’s future is linked to the future of this region. And the reverse is true as well. Because the future of the Asia-Pacific is linked to America’s. We are a resident power in Asia—not only a diplomatic or military power, but a resident economic power. And we are here to stay.
此类数字反映了美国的未来与这个地区的未来密切相连。反之亦然,因为亚太地区的未来也与美国的未来息息相关。我们是驻留亚洲的大国——不仅是一个外交或军事大国,而且是一个驻留亚洲的经济大国。我们在此落地生根。