Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama sought to defuse a brewing political controversy Tuesday when he condemned inflammatory statements made over the years by his former pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright of Chicago. Obama's remarks came during a speech on race in America delivered in Philadelphia.
角逐美国民主党总统候选人提名的巴拉克.奥巴马参议员星期二谴责他在芝加哥多年的赖特牧师所做的煽动性言论，寻求以此来减轻酝酿中的政治争议。奥巴马在费城发表的关于美国种族问题的讲话中做出了上述评论。
Senator Obama condemned racially charged comments made by Reverend Wright in some of his sermons, calling his view of the United States profoundly distorted.
奥巴马参议员谴责了赖特牧师在布道中所做的一些充满种族色彩的评论，说他对美国的看法严重地扭曲。
Over the years, Reverend Wright accused the U.S. government of being the source of the AIDS virus and said the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States were retribution for U.S. foreign policy.
多年以来，赖特牧师谴责美国政府是艾滋病的根源，并说2001年美国遭受的恐怖袭击是对美国外交政策的报复。
Obama is seeking to become the first African-American president and said Wright's comments offended both blacks and whites and have the potential to widen the racial divide in America.
奥巴马正在寻求成为美国的第一位非洲裔总统。他表示，赖特的评论既伤害了黑人，也伤害了白人，有可能会在美国进一步扩大种族分歧。
"Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course," Obama said. "Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely, just as I am sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed."
奥巴马说：“我是否知道他偶尔会强烈地批评美国国内和国际政策呢？当然知道。我在教堂里是不是曾经听到过他发表可以被认为是有争议的观点呢？听到过。我是否非常强烈地不同意他的很多政治观点呢？绝对是。就像我肯定你们当中有很多人听到自己的牧师、神父或者教士的观点也非常强烈地表示难以苟同是一样的。”
Wright retired recently and was known for fiery sermons, like this one in 2003 that focused on what he believed were U.S. government efforts to mistreat blacks.
赖特最近退休，他激烈的布道是出了名的，就像2003年他关注他所认为的美国政府虐待黑人那样。
"The government gives them drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing God Bless America," Wright said. "No, no, no, not God Bless America, God damn America! That is in the Bible for killing innocent people. God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human!"
赖特说：“政府给他们毒品，建造更大的监狱，通过了从严的惯犯法，然后还想让我们高唱上帝保佑美国。不，不，不。不是上帝保佑美国，是上帝谴责美国！圣经中有关于杀害无辜的记载，上帝谴责美国，因为它对待我们的公民不像对待人那样。”
Obama met Wright more than 20 years ago and described him as someone who helped introduce him to his Christian faith.
奥巴马20多年前就认识了赖特，他说是赖特把他引上了基督徒的道路。
Despite his criticism of Wright's racially-tinged comments over the years, Obama said he will not disown his former minister.
尽管他批评了赖特多年来富有种族色彩的评论，奥巴马说，他不会抛弃他过去的牧师。
"As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me," Obama said. "He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding and baptized my children. I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother."
奥巴马说：“尽管他可能不够完美，但他曾像我的家人一样。他加深了我的信仰，主持了我的婚礼，为我的孩子行洗礼。我无法脱离他，就像无法脱离我的黑人社区一样。我无法脱离他，就像我无法脱离我的白人祖母一样。”
Obama also attempted to spark a frank discussion of race as an issue in U.S. politics. Obama acknowledged that blacks and whites had different views of the state of the problem, but said the answer was openly confronting those differences to bring the country together.
奥巴马还试图要激发一次关于种族的坦诚讨论，种族问题是美国政治中的一个问题。奥巴马承认黑人和白人对问题的状态有不同的观点，但是他说，答案是，公开地面对这些分歧，把国家团结起来。
"I would not be running for president if I did not believe with all my heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for this country," Obama said. "This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected."
The controversy over Wright's comments has been a major distraction for the Obama campaign in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination with Senator Hillary Clinton.
有关赖特牧师言论的争议在奥巴马和克林顿参议员竞争民主党总统候选人提名的选战中成了对他的主要干扰。
Obama and Clinton next face off in the Pennsylvania primary on April 22. A new poll gives Clinton a 12 point lead in Pennsylvania as she tries to overcome Obama's continuing lead in the delegate count.
奥巴马和克林顿下一次的竞争是4月22号在宾夕法尼亚州的初选。新的民意调查显示，克林顿在努力克服奥巴马在党代表名额上持续领先的局面时，她目前在宾州领先12个百分点。 |