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Franklin was deeply, deeply distressed by what he saw. In Ireland he saw how England had put a stranglehold on Irish trade, how absentee English landlords exploited Irish tenant farmers and how those farmers in Franklin's words "lived in wretched hovels of mud and straw, were clothed in rags and subsisted chiefly on potatoes." Not exactly the American dream...
富兰克林对自己的所见所闻深感忧虑。在爱尔兰，他看到了英格兰如何控制爱尔兰贸易，英格兰的地主如何剥削爱尔兰的佃农，以及那些农夫，用富兰克林的话说，“住在令人作呕的泥草棚里，衣衫褴褛，以土豆维持生计”。这绝不是美国梦……
So instead of Ireland becoming a model for America, America became a model for Ireland in our own struggle for independence. And when the potatoes ran out, millions of Irish men, women and children packed their bags, got on a boat and showed up right here. And we're still doing it. We're not even starving anymore, loads of potatoes. In fact if there's any Irish out there, I've--I've breaking news from Dublin, the potato famine is over you can come home now. Sorry. But why are we still showing up? Because we love the idea of America.
所以，爱尔兰没有成为美国的榜样，反而在我们争取独立的斗争中，美国成了爱尔兰的榜样。当出现土豆饥荒时，成千上万的爱尔兰男女老少收拾起行囊，乘船来到美国。如今，仍有爱尔兰人涌入美国，虽然我们已经不再挨饿，我们有了大量的土豆。事实上，如果这里有爱尔兰的人，我要带给你们来自都柏林的新闻，土豆饥荒已经过去了，你们现在可以回家了。但是，我们为什么还会出现在这里呢？因为我们崇尚美国的信念。
We love the crackle and the hustle. We love the spirit that gives the finger to fate, the spirit that says there's no hurdle we can't clear and no problem we can't fix. (sound of helicopter) Uh, oh, here comes the Brits. Only joking. Yeah, no problem we can't fix. So what's the problem that we want to apply all this energy and intellect to?
我们热爱这里的人潮涌动，我们热爱挑战命运的精神，我们热爱这种没有不能逾越的障碍、没有不能解决的问题的精神。（直升机的声音响起）哦，英国人也来了。开个玩笑啊！没有问题我们不能解决。那么，我们应该把我们的精力和智慧用在哪里呢？
