speech of president clinton
克林顿总统的演讲
first, i"d like to thank the commission and my opponents for participating in these debates and making them possible. i think the real winners of the debates were the american people. i was especially moved in richmond a few days ago, when 209 of our fellow citizens got to ask us questions. they went a long way toward reclaiming this election for the american people and taking their country back. i want to say, since this is the last time, i"ll be on platform with my opponents, that even though, i disagree with mr. perot on how fast we can reduce the deficit and how much we can increase taxes in the middle class, i really respect what he"s done in this campaign to bring the issue of deficit reduction to our attention. i"d like to say that mr. bush even though i have got profound differences with him, i do honor his service to our country. i appreciate his efforts and i wish him well. i just believe it"s time to change. i want a country where people, who work hard and play by the rules, are rewarded, not punished. i want a country where people are coming together across the lines of race and region and income. i know we can do better. it won"t take miracles and it won"t happen overnight, but we can do much, much better, if we have the courage to change.
thank you very much.
首先，我要感谢组委会，感谢参加这次论辩的同仁对手，有了这一切才使我们这次论辩有可能进行。我想我们这场论辩的真正赢者是美国人民。几天前，我在里士满时特别受感动，因为有209名市民向我发问。他们对美国人民开拓这次选举及重组国会是大有好处的。既然这是最后一次，我得说我决意与同仁对手们齐驱并进。尽管我不赞成皮尔特关于加快减少财政赤字，提高对中产阶级课税的做法，但我还是感谢他能把减少赤字的问题提出来，以引起人们的关注。尽管我与布什的见解相去甚远，我还是十分敬佩他为这个国家的效劳和努力。我感谢他的努力。我祝愿他身体健康。不过，我相信现在应该是改革的'时候了。 我要建立一个这样的国家，她的人民勤奋工作，按规则办事，能得到报酬，而不是得到惩罚。我也想建立这样一个国家，她的人民无论是什么种族、住在什么地区、收入多少都能和睦相处。我知道我们能搞得更好，那不需要奇迹，但那也不是一夜之间就可发生的事。只要我们有勇气改革，我们就能搞得更好。
我十分感谢各位！
