英国新闻听力 对奥巴马国情咨文演讲的思考（在线收听）

It's always a difficult speech, with time running out to propose a legislative agenda... Instead, as well as delivering a robust defence of his legacy, he returned to the language of his presidential campaign, with a speech focused around hope.

Political rhetoric often swings between two poles, two defining elements of human experience: hope and fear.

Sadly, fear is the one that usually comes more easily, both in life and politics. And so despite the President’s efforts, the current political landscape in the U.S. is evolving into a competition to see who can paint the most apocalyptic vision of the future.

Neither side is immune from using the politics of fear, painting a picture of horrors to come - that only they are qualified to deliver the nation from.

Conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks recently raised serious concerns about this trend, calling on the Republican presidential candidates to back off from what he calls a “fear-driven brutalism” and adopt a more hopeful approach.

The trouble is, hope is hard, and not just politically. It feels naive and dangerous. Many people listening to the President will feel sceptical. I certainly did. Surely all this ‘Hopey changey” stuff just leaves us open to disappointment and mockery. In the ancient biblical book of Proverbs, it says "hope deferred makes the heart sick". The hard-headed, grown up thing to do often seems to involve taking Camus' advice to "think clearly and not hope any more".

I spend quite a lot of time thinking about what Christians might be able to offer a society, in which a significant number will longer calls itself Christian. What we could give, as those who feel we've been given much. And maybe it's partly this: acting as cheerleaders for the gritty work of hope. Pulitzer Prize winning novelist Marilynne Robinson has written repeatedly on this. She makes two points: “first, contemporary America (and I would argue the UK too) is full of fear. And second, fear is not a Christian habit of mind”.

Christians believe a hopeful habit of mind is worth cultivating. Not because hope is easy, or that there is nothing to be afraid of, but because there is something to hope in. And because, as behavioural psychologists would agree, our habits of mind become habits in our lives, and habits affect outcomes.

Choosing to hope draws us out beyond ourselves, while fear drives us inward. Hope gives us courage to face the very real pain and horror of the world, and not to cower in fear, but to set about doing what we can to make a dent in it.

昨天一大早，奥巴马总统做了最后的国情咨文演讲。

这样的演讲总是不容易做，因为已经没有足够的时间来提出立法议案了。除了为自己的政治遗产做有力的维护外，他回到总统竞选时使用的语言来，将演讲的重点放在希望上。

政治辞令总是游走在两个极之间，那就是人类体验的两大因素：希望和恐惧。

不幸的是，恐惧总是很容易出现的，无论是生活中还是政治中。所以尽管总统很努力，美国目前的政治局面陷入了这样的竞争，那就是看谁能描绘出未来最具灾难性的图景。

两党都没有避免使用恐惧政治，描述出未来的可怕景象，然后只有自己才有资格来将这个国家解救出来。

保守的《纽约时报》专栏作者戴维·布鲁克斯最近表示对这一趋势的担忧，他呼吁共和党候选人不要使用所谓的“恐惧驱动的野蛮主义”，采用更有希望的途径。

问题在于，希望是艰难的，不仅仅是政治方面，它让人感到天真和危险。很多聆听总统演讲的人都感到怀疑，我当然也是，所有这些“希望的变革”之类的东西只会让我们失望和嘲讽。《旧约》的〈箴言〉说，“希望迟迟未实现令人心烦。”头脑冷静者通常似乎听取了加缪的建议，“思考清楚，然后不再抱任何希望”。

我花了大量时间来思考基督徒可能建造一个什么样的社会，这个社会的大多数人不自称是基督徒。正如那些认为我们已经得到太多的人那样，我们所能做的，就是为创造希望这样艰难的工作鼓劲。普利策奖得主、小说家玛丽琳·罗宾逊写过很多这类文章。她指出两点：“首先，当代美国人满怀恐惧（我敢说英国人也是如此）；第二，恐惧并不是基督徒的思维习惯。”

基督徒认为，充满希望的思维方式是值得培养的，不仅因为希望很简单，也不是因为无可恐惧，而是因为我们需要对有些东西心怀希望。因为正如行为心理学家都认为的那样，我们的思维习惯变成我们的生活习惯，然后生活习惯会影响最后的结果。

选择希望让我们走出自我，而恐惧只会让我们做缩头乌龟。希望给我们以勇气，让我们敢于面对真实的伤痛与对这个世界的恐惧，不是退缩到恐惧中，而是做自己所能做的事并取得进步。