奥巴马每日发言Serious about energy independence(2009-2-5)

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REMARKS OF PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA
PROMOTING THE RECOVERY PLAN WITH SECRETARY CHU
Department of Energy
February 5, 2009
 
Thank you, Secretary Chu, for bringing your experience and expertise¹ to this new role. And thank you all so much for your service each and every day here at the Department. Your mission is so important and will only grow as we seek to transform the ways we produce and use energy for the sake of our environment, our security – and our economy.

As we are meeting, in the halls of Congress just down the street from here, there’s a debate going on about the plan I’ve proposed, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan.

This isn’t some abstract debate.  Last week, we learned that many of America’s largest corporations are planning to layoff² tens off tens of thousands of workers. Today we learned that last week, the number of new unemployment claims jumped to 626,000.  And tomorrow, we’re expecting another dismal³ jobs report on top of the 2.6 million jobs we lost last year. 

Now, I believe that legislation of such magnitude deserves the scrutiny⁴ that’s it received over the last month.  But these numbers that we’re seeing are sending an unmistakable message – and so are the American people.  The time for talk is over.  The time for action is now.  Because we know that if we don’t act, a bad situation will become dramatically worse.  Crisis could turn into catastrophe⁵ for families and businesses across our country. 

I refuse to let that happen.  We can’t delay and we can’t go back to the same worn ideas that led us here in the first place.  In the last few days, we’ve seen proposals arise from some in Congress that you may not have read, but would be very familiar to you.  They’re rooted in the idea that tax cuts alone can solve our problems.  That half-measures and tinkering are somehow enough.  That we can afford to ignore our most fundamental economic challenges – the crushing cost of health care, the inadequate⁶ state of so many schools, and our dangerous dependence⁷ on foreign oil. 

Let me be perfectly⁸ clear:  those ideas have been tested, and they have failed.  They have taken us from surpluses to an annual deficit⁹ of over a trillion dollars, and they have brought our economy to a halt.  And that’s precisely¹⁰ what the election we just had was all about.  The American people have rendered their judgment¹¹.  Now is the time to move forward, not back.  Now is the time for action.

Just as past generations of Americans have done in trying times, we can and must turn this moment of challenge into one of opportunity.  The plan I’ve proposed has at its core a simple idea:  let’s put Americans to work doing the work that America needs done. 

This plan will save or create over three million jobs – almost all of them in the private sector¹². 

This plan will put people to work rebuilding our crumbling¹³ roads and bridges; our dangerous deficient¹⁴ dams and levees. 

This plan will put people to work modernizing¹⁵ our health care system, not only saving us billions of dollars, but countless¹⁶ lives.

This plan will put people to work renovating¹⁷ more than 10,000 schools, giving millions of children the chance to learn in 21st century classrooms, libraries, and labs – and to all the scientists in the room today, you know what that means for America’s future. 

This plan will provide sensible tax relief for the struggling middle-class, unemployment insurance and continued health care coverage¹⁸ for those who’ve lost their jobs, and it will help prevent our states and local communities from laying off firefighters, teachers, and police.

Finally, this plan will begin to end the tyranny of oil in our time. 

After decades of dragging our feet, this plan will finally spark the creation of a clean energy industry that will create hundreds of thousands of jobs over the next few years, manufacturing wind turbines and solar cells for example, and millions more after that.  These jobs and these investments will double our capacity to generate renewable energy over the next few years.

We’ll fund a better, smarter electricity grid¹⁹ and train workers to build it – a grid that will help us ship wind and solar power from one end of this country to another.  Think about it. The grid that powers the tools of modern life – computers, appliances, even blackberries - looks largely the same as it did half a century ago. Just these first steps toward modernizing the way we distribute electricity could reduce consumption by 2 to 4 percent.

We’ll also lead a revolution in energy efficiency, modernizing more than 75 percent of federal buildings and improving the efficiency of more than 2 million American homes. This will not only create jobs, it will cut the federal energy bill by a third and save taxpayers²⁰ $2 billion each year and save Americans billions of dollars more on their utility bills.

In fact, as part of this effort, today I've signed a presidential memorandum²¹ requesting that the Department of Energy set new efficiency standards for common household appliances. This will save consumers money. This will spur innovation. And this will conserve²² tremendous amounts energy. We’ll save through these simple steps over the next thirty years the amount of energy produced over a two-year period by all the coal-fired power plants in America. 

And through investments in our mass transit²³ systems to boost capacity, in our roads to reduce congestion²⁴, and in technologies that will accelerate the development of innovations like plug-in hybrid²⁵ vehicles, we’ll be making a significant down payment on a cleaner and more independent energy future.

Now, I read the other day that the critics of this plan ridiculed²⁶ our notion that we should use part of the money to modernize²⁷ the entire fleet of federal vehicles to take advantage of state of the art fuel-efficiency.  They call it pork.  You know the truth.  It will not only save the government significant money over time, it will not only create jobs manufacturing those vehicles, it will set a standard for private industry to match.  And so when you hear these attacks deriding²⁸ something of such obvious importance as this, you have to ask yourself – is it any wonder we haven’t had a real energy policy in this country? 

For the last few years, I’ve talked about these issues with Americans from one end of this country to another.  Washington may not be ready to get serious about energy independence, but I am.  And so are you.  And so are the American people. 

Inaction is not an option that is acceptable to me and it’s certainly not acceptable to the American people – not on energy, not on the economy, and not at this critical moment.

So I call on the members of Congress – Democrats²⁹ and Republicans – to rise to this moment.  No plan is perfect, and there have been constructive³⁰ changes made to this one over the last month.  There may be more today.  But the scale and scope of this plan is right.  It’s what America needs right now, and we need to move forward today.  I thank you all for being here, and I’m eager to work with Secretary Chu and all of you as we stand up to meet the challenges of this new century. 

Thank you very much.
感谢朱部长，感谢你带着自己独特的经历和经验就任新的职位。同时感谢能源部门所有人日日夜夜的服务。你们的任务非常重要，为了保护环境，保卫国家安全，促进经济增长，我们会逐渐改变生产和利用能源的方式，你们的任务将更加艰巨。

在我们会议期间，附近的国会大厅里正在对我提出的美国经济复兴和重投资计划进行辩论。

这不是什么抽象的辩论。上周，我们获悉许多美国最大的公司准备裁员数万人。今天我们得知，上周又有626，000人失业。明天，我们将会迎来另一个凄凉的失业率报告，远远超过去年的2，600，000。

现在，我相信如此大规模的经济计划的确立确实需要经过长时间的推敲。但是我们看到的状况传达了一个明确无误的信息。现在已经不是讨论的时候了，现在到了采取行动的时间。因为我们知道，如果我们不采取措施，情况会更加恶化。在整个国家范围内，危机将要转变成家庭和企业的大灾难。

我坚决不会让这种情况发生。我们不能推迟也不能回到起初的状况。在过去的几天里，我们看到国会一些成员提出的议案，可能你们没有读过，但是你们一定非常熟悉，他们的建议源于减免税收可以解决我们的问题的想法。我们可以忽略最基本的经济挑战——健康体系遭受冲击，许多学校资源不足，能源方面过度依靠国外进口。

我们必须非常清楚：这些主意都经过测试，而且失败了。本来我们每年的财政收入都有盈余，但是这些措施让我们陷入每年超过1兆美元的财政赤字，而且使我们的经济遭到撞击，而且这也成为我们此次大选的中心问题。美国人相信他们的判断。现在必须向前，而不能后退。现在必须采取行动。

1 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

2 layoff   

n.临时解雇，操作停止，活动停止期间，失业期

参考例句：

• Finally, prepare an explanation about what led to your layoff.最后，要准备好一套说辞来解释你被解雇的原因。
• Workers were re-employed after the layoff.在暂时解雇不久后工人们又被再度雇用了。

3 dismal   

adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的

参考例句：

• That is a rather dismal melody.那是一支相当忧郁的歌曲。
• My prospects of returning to a suitable job are dismal.我重新找到一个合适的工作岗位的希望很渺茫。

4 scrutiny   

n.详细检查，仔细观察

参考例句：

• His work looks all right,but it will not bear scrutiny.他的工作似乎很好，但是经不起仔细检查。
• Few wives in their forties can weather such a scrutiny.很少年过四十的妻子经得起这么仔细的观察。

5 catastrophe   

n.大灾难，大祸

参考例句：

• I owe it to you that I survived the catastrophe.亏得你我才大难不死。
• This is a catastrophe beyond human control.这是一场人类无法控制的灾难。

6 inadequate   

adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的

参考例句：

• The supply is inadequate to meet the demand.供不应求。
• She was inadequate to the demands that were made on her.她还无力满足对她提出的各项要求。

7 dependence   

n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属

参考例句：

• Doctors keep trying to break her dependence of the drug.医生们尽力使她戒除毒瘾。
• He was freed from financial dependence on his parents.他在经济上摆脱了对父母的依赖。

8 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

9 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

10 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

11 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

12 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

13 crumbling   

adj.摇摇欲坠的

参考例句：

• an old house with crumbling plaster and a leaking roof 一所灰泥剥落、屋顶漏水的老房子
• The boat was tied up alongside a crumbling limestone jetty. 这条船停泊在一个摇摇欲坠的石灰岩码头边。

14 deficient   

adj.不足的，不充份的，有缺陷的

参考例句：

• The crops are suffering from deficient rain.庄稼因雨量不足而遭受损害。
• I always have been deficient in selfconfidence and decision.我向来缺乏自信和果断。

15 modernizing   

使现代化，使适应现代需要( modernize的现在分词 )； 现代化，使用现代方法

参考例句：

• Modernizing a business to increase its profitability and competitiveness is a complicated affair. 使企业现代化，从而达到增加利润，增强竞争力的目的，是一件复杂的事情。
• The young engineer had a large share in modernizing the factory. 这位年轻工程师在工厂现代化的过程中尽了很大的“力”。

16 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

17 renovating   

翻新，修复，整修( renovate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The increased production was largely attained by renovating old orchards and vineyards. 通过更新老果园和葡萄园，使生产大大增加。
• Renovating that house will cost you a pretty penny. 为了整修那所房子，你得花很多钱。

18 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

19 grid   

n.高压输电线路网；地图坐标方格；格栅

参考例句：

• In this application,the carrier is used to encapsulate the grid.在这种情况下，要用载体把格栅密封起来。
• Modern gauges consist of metal foil in the form of a grid.现代应变仪则由网格形式的金属片组成。

20 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

21 memorandum   

n.备忘录，便笺

参考例句：

• The memorandum was dated 23 August,2008.备忘录上注明的日期是2008年8月23日。
• The Secretary notes down the date of the meeting in her memorandum book.秘书把会议日期都写在记事本上。

22 conserve   

vt.保存，保护，节约，节省，守恒，不灭

参考例句：

• He writes on both sides of the sheet to conserve paper.他在纸张的两面都写字以节省用纸。
• Conserve your energy,you'll need it!保存你的精力，你会用得着的！

23 transit   

n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过

参考例句：

• His luggage was lost in transit.他的行李在运送中丢失。
• The canal can transit a total of 50 ships daily.这条运河每天能通过50条船。

24 congestion   

n.阻塞，消化不良

参考例句：

• The congestion in the city gets even worse during the summer.夏天城市交通阻塞尤为严重。
• Parking near the school causes severe traffic congestion.在学校附近泊车会引起严重的交通堵塞。

25 hybrid   

n.(动，植）杂种，混合物

参考例句：

• That is a hybrid perpetual rose.那是一株杂交的四季开花的蔷薇。
• The hybrid was tall,handsome,and intelligent.那混血儿高大、英俊、又聪明。

26 ridiculed   

v.嘲笑，嘲弄，奚落( ridicule的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Biosphere 2 was ultimately ridiculed as a research debade, as exfravagant pseudoscience. 生物圈2号最终被讥讽为科研上的大失败，代价是昂贵的伪科学。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She ridiculed his insatiable greed. 她嘲笑他的贪得无厌。 来自《简明英汉词典》

27 modernize   

vt.使现代化，使适应现代的需要

参考例句：

• It was their manifest failure to modernize the country's industries.他们使国家进行工业现代化，明显失败了。
• There is a pressing need to modernise our electoral system.我们的选举制度迫切需要现代化。

28 deriding   

v.取笑，嘲笑( deride的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The girls are deriding that boy's foolishness. 姑娘们在嘲笑那个男孩的愚笨。 来自互联网

29 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

30 constructive   

adj.建设的，建设性的

参考例句：

• We welcome constructive criticism.我们乐意接受有建设性的批评。
• He is beginning to deal with his anger in a constructive way.他开始用建设性的方法处理自己的怒气。