闲聊美国大选（7）乔·拜登接受民主党总统候选人提名时的演讲全文中
近来我在公众号开始写美国大选闲聊（1-6我有时间再从公众号搬过来），发现维持起来还是不方便，又回到《简书》，可能的话就同时发吧。
我听了拜登的演讲，今天花了大半天翻译，也让我小孩们听了。不得不说，他的演讲无论是内容还是声音的力度和传递的身体语言，都大大超出了我的预期。难怪共和党人都为特朗普害怕了。
特朗普一直把拜登描述成一个瞌睡虫，一个早期老年痴呆患者。但是他在这场演讲中表现的就是一个我希望看到的领袖的样子。先不讲政治观点，那是很复杂的话题，我相信他的政策承诺很多都会受到挑战而难以全部实现。但是他在这场演讲中表现出来的就是一个充满同情心，充满智慧，充满善良的正派的人的样子。虽然和我女儿一样，我的心中依然也还有一些问号，且听未来解说吧。我也问了一下曾经喜欢过川普的儿子对拜登怎么看。儿子说他看上去脑子比川普清醒。
我很喜欢拜登演讲的结尾，因篇幅太长，分两次发。
乔·拜登接受民主党总统候选人提名时的演讲全文（1/2）
艾拉·贝克，一个民权运动的巨人，给我们留下了这样一条智慧：给人光明，他们就会找到出路。
给人光明！
这真是此时应景的话语。
现任总统已经让美国蒙在鼓里太久了。太多的怨恨。太多的恐惧。太多的分裂。
此时此刻，我向您承诺：如果您把总统的职位托付于我，我将汲取我们中的精华而不是糟粕。我将与光明而不是黑暗为友。
是我们，我们人民，走到一起的时候了。
因为，别搞错：团结起来，我们能够，也定将战胜美国所处的这个黑暗的季节。
我们将选择希望而不是恐惧，选择事实而不是虚构，选择公平而不是特权。
我是一个自豪的民主党人，我将自豪地高举我们党的旗帜参加大选。因此，我怀着极大的荣誉和谦卑接受美利坚合众国总统的提名。
但是，尽管我将是一名民主党候选人，我将成为的是一名美国的总统。我将为那些没有支持我的人努力工作，就像为那些支持我的人一样。
那就是总统的工作。代表我们所有人，而不仅仅是我们的底盘或我们的党派。这不是党派相争的时候。这必须是一个（全体）美国人的时刻。
这是一个呼唤希望、光明和爱的时刻。对我们的未来的希望，照亮前路的光明，以及对彼此的爱。
美国不仅仅是一个各个红州或蓝州利益冲突的集合。
我们比那伟大得多。
我们比那美好得多。
将近一个世纪前，富兰克林·罗斯福在巨大的高失业率、不确定性和恐惧重重的时代承诺推出一项新政。
疾病缠身，病毒侵袭的罗斯福坚持说他会康复并获胜，他相信美国也可以。
他做到了。
我们也可以做到。
这次竞选不仅仅是为了赢得选票。
这是为了赢得美国的心，而且是的，美国的灵魂。
为我们中慷慨的人而不是自私的人赢得胜利。为那些让这个国家继续前进的工人们而不仅仅是上面那几个位于特权阶层的人赢得胜利。为那些知道“膝盖压在脖子上”的味道的饱受不公的社区赢得胜利。为所有只知道一个不平等正在加剧、机会正在减少的美国的年轻人赢得胜利。
他们应该体验到美国之承诺的全部。
没有任何一代人会知道历史将对它提出什么要求。任何时候我们能知道的一切就是当那一刻到来时我们是否已做好准备。
而此时，历史已经将我们带到了美国有史以来曾经面对的最困难的时刻之一。
四个历史性危机。都聚在同一时间。一场完美的风暴。
100多年来最严重的大瘟疫。大萧条以来最严重的经济危机。60年代以来最强烈的对种族公正的呼吁。以及气候变化所带来的不可否认的现实和日益加剧的威胁。
所以，给我们的问题很简单：我们准备好了吗？
我相信我们准备好了。
我们必须要。
所有选举都很重要。但我们从我们的骨髓里都知道这一次的选举将产生更加深远的结果。
美国正处于一个转折点。这是一个真正危险的时期，却又带着非同寻常的各种可能性。
我们可以选择一条变得更加愤怒、更少希望、更加分裂的道路。
一条阴暗和猜疑的道路。
或者我们可以选择一条不同的道路，一起，抓住这个机会治愈，重生，团结。一条希望与光明之路。
这是一场改变人生的选举，它将决定美国之未来的很长一段时间。
（候选人的）性格写在这一次的选票上。同情心写在选票上。正派、科学、民主。
它们都在这次的选票上由你决定。
做为一个国家，我们是谁。我们代表什么。最重要的是，我们想成为谁。
这些都在选票上。而选择再清楚不过。
不需要修辞。就凭事实来判断这个总统。
500万美国人感染了COVID-19。
超过17万美国人已经死亡。
世界上表现远远最糟糕的国家。
今年已有超过5000万人申请失业。
今年将有1000多万人失去医疗保险。
今年，近六分之一的小企业倒闭。
如果这位总统再次当选，我们知道会发生什么。
病例和死亡人数仍将居高不下。
更多的夫妻小店将永远关门歇业。
工薪家庭将艰难度日，然而，最富有的百分之一的人将获得成百上千亿美元的新的减税。
对平价医疗法案的攻击将持续直到它被摧毁，已经夺走了2000多万人的保险，其中包括超过1500万人的医疗补助金，并取消了奥巴马总统和我为那些有先前症状的人通过的保护政策。
说到奥巴马总统，我很荣幸能与他并肩担任副总统8年。让我借此机会说几句我们说得远远不够的话。
“谢谢您，总统先生。您曾是个伟大的总统。一位我们的孩子可以仰望而且他们确实仰望的总统。”
没有人会这么说现在那位占用了那个办公室的人。
我们对这位总统的了解是，如果再给他四年的时间，他依然会是他过去四年的样子。
一个不承担责任、拒绝引领、指责他人、讨好独裁者、煽动仇恨和分裂的总统。
他每天醒来都会相信这个工作的一切都是关于他自己。从来都不是关于你。
那就是那个你，你的家人，你的孩子想要的美国吗？
我看到了另一个美国。
一个慷慨和坚强的美国。
无私和谦逊。
这是一个我们可以一起重建的美国。
做为总统，我将采取的第一步将是控制这个已经摧毁了许多人生命的病毒。
因为我明白一些这个总统不懂的东西。
我们将永远无法使我们的经济回到正轨，我们将永远无法让我们的孩子安全地回到学校，我们将永远不会恢复我们的生活，直到我们对付好这个病毒。
我们今天的悲剧是它本来不必这么糟糕。
你四处看看。
在加拿大没这么糟。或者欧洲。或者日本。或者几乎世界上其它任何地方。
这个总统一直告诉我们病毒将会消失。他一直在等待奇迹。好吧，我有消息要告诉他，奇迹不会出现。
我们所有确诊病例处在世界领先。我们是世界上死亡人数最多的国家。
我们的经济已经破碎不堪，黑人、拉美人、亚裔美国人和美国原住民社区首当其冲。
经过这么长时间，这个总统仍然没有一个计划。
是的，我有。
如果我是总统，我们第一天就将执行我从三月份开始制定的国家战略。
我们将开发和部署快速测试，并立即提供结果。
我们将制造国家需要的医疗用品和防护设备。而且我们将在美国生产。这样我们决不会为了保护自己的人民而再受ZG和其它国家的摆布。
我们将确保我们的学校得到它们安全和有效重启所需要的资源。
我们将把政治问题放在一边，让专家们能够畅所欲言，这样公众就可以得到他们需要和应得的信息。诚实、不加修饰的事实。他们是可以应对事实的。
我们将颁发一项国家强制执行令，戴口罩不是负担，而是为了保护彼此。这是一项爱国的义务。
简而言之，我将执行我们本来从一开始就应该做的事。
我们的现任总统未能履行他对国家最基本的职责。
他没能保护我们。
他没能保护美国。
我的美国同胞们，这是不可原谅的。
做为总统，我会向你保证：我会保护美国。我会保护我们不受任何攻击。看见的。看不见的。永远。无一例外。每一次。
听着，我明白现在很难有希望。
在这个夏夜，让我花点时间和你们中损失最大的人说话。
我知道失去你爱的人是什么感觉。我知道那个在你胸口打开的又深又黑的洞。你感到你整个人都被它吸进去了。我知道生活有时会是多么的不善、残忍和不公。（译者注：拜登几次遭遇失去亲人的不幸，初为人父失去爱妻和女儿，晚年失去大儿子。后面会提到。）
但我学到了两件事。
首先，你所爱的人也许离开了这个地球，但他们永远不会离开你的心。他们将永远和你在一起。
第二，我发现度过痛苦、失去和悲伤的最好方法就是找到目标。
做为上帝的孩子，我们每个人都有自己的人生目标。
做为一个国家，我们有一个伟大的目标：
向所有美国人敞开机会之门。拯救我们的民主。再次成为世界之光。
最终不辜负并实现建立这个国家的神圣文件中所写的话：所有的男人和女人生而平等。被造物主赋予了某些不可剥夺的权利。其中包括生命、自由和对幸福的追求。
（未完再续）
伟小姑草译，2020年8月22日，上海
英文原文：
Joe Biden Acceptance Speech at DNC, 2020 (1/2)
Ella Baker, a giant of the civil rights movement, left us with this wisdom: Give people light and they will find a way.
Give people light.
Those are words for our time.
The current president has cloaked America in darkness for much too long. Too much anger. Too much fear. Too much division.
Here and now, I give you my word: If you entrust me with the presidency, I will draw on the best of us not the worst. I will be an ally of the light not of the darkness.
It's time for us, for We the People, to come together.
For make no mistake. United we can, and will, overcome this season of darkness in America.
We will choose hope over fear, facts over fiction, fairness over privilege.
I am a proud Democrat and I will be proud to carry the banner of our party into the general election. So, it is with great honor and humility that I accept this nomination for President of the United States of America.
But while I will be a Democratic candidate, I will be an American president. I will work as hard for those who didn't support me as I will for those who did.
That's the job of a president. To represent all of us, not just our base or our party. This is not a partisan moment. This must be an American moment.
It's a moment that calls for hope and light and love. Hope for our futures, light to see our way forward, and love for one another.
America isn't just a collection of clashing interests of Red States or Blue States.
We're so much bigger than that.
We're so much better than that.
Nearly a century ago, Franklin Roosevelt pledged a New Deal in a time of massive unemployment, uncertainty, and fear.
Stricken by disease, stricken by a virus, FDR insisted that he would recover and prevail and he believed America could as well.
And he did.
And so can we.
This campaign isn't just about winning votes.
It's about winning the heart, and yes, the soul of America.
Winning it for the generous among us, not the selfish. Winning it for the workers who keep this country going, not just the privileged few at the top. Winning it for those communities who have known the injustice of the "knee on the neck". For all the young people who have known only an America of rising inequity and shrinking opportunity.
They deserve to experience America's promise in full.
No generation ever knows what history will ask of it. All we can ever know is whether we'll be ready when that moment arrives.
And now history has delivered us to one of the most difficult moments America has ever faced.
Four historic crises. All at the same time. A perfect storm.
The worst pandemic in over 100 years. The worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. The most compelling call for racial justice since the 60's. And the undeniable realities and accelerating threats of climate change.
So, the question for us is simple: Are we ready?
I believe we are.
We must be.
All elections are important. But we know in our bones this one is more consequential.
America is at an inflection point. A time of real peril, but of extraordinary possibilities.
We can choose the path of becoming angrier, less hopeful, and more divided.
A path of shadow and suspicion.
Or we can choose a different path, and together, take this chance to heal, to be reborn, to unite. A path of hope and light.
This is a life-changing election that will determine America's future for a very long time.
Character is on the ballot. Compassion is on the ballot. Decency, science, democracy. They are all on the ballot.
Who we are as a nation. What we stand for. And, most importantly, who we want to be. That's all on the ballot.
And the choice could not be clearer.
No rhetoric is needed.
Just judge this president on the facts.
5 million Americans infected with COVID-19.
More than 170,000 Americans have died.
By far the worst performance of any nation on Earth.
More than 50 million people have filed for unemployment this year.
More than 10 million people are going to lose their health insurance this year.
Nearly one in 6 small businesses have closed this year.
If this president is re-elected we know what will happen.
Cases and deaths will remain far too high.
More mom and pop businesses will close their doors for good.
Working families will struggle to get by, and yet, the wealthiest one percent will get tens of billions of dollars in new tax breaks.
And the assault on the Affordable Care Act will continue until it’s destroyed, taking insurance away from more than 20 million people – including more than 15 million people on Medicaid – and getting rid of the protections that President Obama and I passed for people who suffer from a pre-existing condition.
And speaking of President Obama, a man I was honored to serve alongside for 8 years as Vice President. Let me take this moment to say something we don't say nearly enough.
“Thank you, Mr. President. You were a great president. A president our children could – and did – look up to.”
No one will say that about the current occupant of the office.
What we know about this president is if he's given four more years he will be what he's been the last four years.
A president who takes no responsibility, refuses to lead, blames others, cozies up to dictators, and fans the flames of hate and division.
He will wake up every day believing the job is all about him. Never about you.
Is that the America you want for you, your family, your children?
I see a different America.
One that is generous and strong.
Selfless and humble.
It's an America we can rebuild together.
As president, the first step I will take will be to get control of the virus that's ruined so many lives.
Because I understand something this president doesn't.
We will never get our economy back on track, we will never get our kids safely back to school, we will never have our lives back, until we deal with this virus.
The tragedy of where we are today is it didn't have to be this bad.
Just look around.
It's not this bad in Canada. Or Europe. Or Japan. Or almost anywhere else in the world.
The President keeps telling us the virus is going to disappear. He keeps waiting for a miracle.
Well, I have news for him, no miracle is coming.
We lead the world in confirmed cases. We lead the world in deaths.
Our economy is in tatters, with Black, Latino, Asian American, and Native American communities bearing the brunt of it.
And after all this time, the president still does not have a plan.
Well, I do.
If I'm president, on day one we'll implement the national strategy I've been laying out since March.
We'll develop and deploy rapid tests with results available immediately.
We'll make the medical supplies and protective equipment our country needs. And we'll make them here in America. So we will never again be at the mercy of China and other foreign countries in order to protect our own people.
We'll make sure our schools have the resources they need to be open, safe, and effective.
We'll put the politics aside and take the muzzle off our experts so the public gets the information they need and deserve. The honest, unvarnished truth. They can deal with that.
We'll have a national mandate to wear a mask-not as a burden, but to protect each other.
It's a patriotic duty.
In short, I will do what we should have done from the very beginning.
Our current president has failed in his most basic duty to this nation.
He failed to protect us.
He failed to protect America.
And, my fellow Americans, that is unforgivable.
As president, I will make you this promise:
I will protect America. I will defend us from every attack. Seen. And unseen. Always. Without exception. Every time.
Look, I understand it's hard to have hope right now.
On this summer night, let me take a moment to speak to those of you who have lost the most.
I know how it feels to lose someone you love. I know that deep black hole that opens up in your chest. That you feel your whole being is sucked into it. I know how mean and cruel and unfair life can be sometimes.
But I've learned two things.
First, your loved ones may have left this Earth but they never leave your heart. They will always be with you.
And second, I found the best way through pain and loss and grief is to find purpose.
As God's children each of us have a purpose in our lives.
And we have a great purpose as a nation: To open the doors of opportunity to all Americans. To save our democracy. To be a light to the world once again.
To finally live up to and make real the words written in the sacred documents that founded this nation that all men and women are created equal. Endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. Among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
（To be continued）
8.20.2020. Biden at DNC 2020 (English version from CBS website)
