我通读过汉英论坛bilinguist点com 同声传译版块的所有帖子，深感前辈们是那么遥不可及。“创业难，守成难，知难不难。” 汉英是自我训练的“圣经”。 我也因受Jacky的启发而使用amazing slow downer来加速所有音频，浏览了@车企口译boydogs 推荐的欧盟会口培训资源orcit点eu，也聆听过@同传Gordon 的《我的同传我的梦想》讲座。感谢那么多在路上的人，你们给了我太多有形和无形的鼓励和鞭策。
二口分为综合和实务两部分：前者考听力，侧重时事；后者考交传，侧重政、经、科技等。综合，考察综合实力和时事了解。先制作了二口备战计划后，个人综合的备战方法是：
1. 变速1.5倍听写BBC的5分钟新闻：把播音员念的稿子一字不差的还原出来。过程很痛苦，结果对听力提高非常有帮助。当然，你还可再提速。
2. 坚持收看《新闻联播》，了解国内时事。
3. 晚上听着Economist的音频入眠。
再讲实务。我是老老实实地练习了教材，间或听一听TED talk，拿总理的政府工作报告（中英）做视译练习。个人方法：
1. 一篇课文分四步练习：1.原语复述（2分钟左右为一个节拍）；2.视译全文 3.有笔记交传 4.同传
2. 所有练习都要用嘴巴讲出来，用电脑的录音机（系统自带）录下来，对照教材，听自己的录音，找出可以优化的地方，持续改进。
3. 认真学习每个单元的口译指南内容。
4. 做练习笔记，摘录自己愿意掌握的单词、短语和句子。
5. 考前，根据前人的考经和自己的考试回顾总结，进行预测。
NOTE:
1. 将课文音频调至1.5或1.8倍以上速度，以适应考试时的变态语速。
2. 练习四步曲，非常耗时。上班族不加班，用60天，每天2小时，我只练了3单元的12篇文章。（中间有偷懒）所以，要做好计划，或者选择只练每单元的2篇课文，共计32篇。
3. 摆正心态。功到自然成；功夫不到，过了也是侥幸，仍需继续加油。
我很笨，虽侥幸通过二口，但也未真正进入口译之门。我很执着，一件事情，我可以做三年，总共五次。如果我可以，那么你为什么不可以？
国情咨文 The 2013 State of the Union Address
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, members of Congress, fellow citizens:
议长先生，副总统先生，国会议员们，美国人民：
Fifty-one years ago, John F. Kennedy declared to this chamber that ―the Constitution makes us not rivals for power but partners for progress.‖
(Applause.) ―It is my task,‖ he said, ―to report the State of the Union -- to improve it is the task of us all.‖
51年前，约翰-F-肯尼迪在这里宣布―宪法让我们成为进步的伙伴而不是权利的对手，‖(掌声)他说，―发表国情咨文是我的任务，但是完善国情却是我们所有人的任务。‖
Tonight, thanks to the grit and determination of the American people, there is much progress to report. After a decade of grinding war, our brave men and women in uniform are coming home. (Applause.) After years of grueling
recession, our businesses have created over six million new jobs. We buy more American cars than we have in five years, and less foreign oil than we have in 20. (Applause.) Our housing market is healing, our stock market is rebounding, and consumers, patients, and homeowners enjoy stronger protections than ever before. (Applause.)
今晚，感谢美国人民的勇气和决心，我有很多内容需要汇报。在十年的残酷战争之后，我们勇敢的穿军装的男人女人正在归来。(掌声)在多年的紧张的萧条期后，我们的商业已经创造了600万新的就业岗位。我们现在开始购入比过去5年还要多的汽车，但依赖的国外石油比过去20年总和都要少。我们的住宅市场正在复苏，我们的股票市场正在反弹。消费者、病人、房产所有者也享受比之前更有力的保护。(掌声)
So, together, we have cleared away the rubble of crisis, and we can say with renewed confidence that the State of our Union is stronger. (Applause.)
所以，在一起，我们清除了危机的废墟。而且，我们可以说，通过新的信心，我们国家的状态更强有力了。(掌声)
But we gather here knowing that there are millions of Americans whose hard work and dedication have not yet been rewarded. Our economy is adding jobs -- but too many people still can’t find full-time employment. Corporate profits have skyrocketed to all-time highs -- but for more than a decade, wages and incomes have barely budged.
但是我们来到这里，知道还有数百万的美国人，通过辛苦的工作和奉献，并没有得到回报。我们的经济正在创造就业岗位——但仍然有许多人不能找到全职工作。企业利润飙升到了新高度——但十多年来，薪资和收入几乎从未上升。
It is our generation’s task, then, to reignite the true engine of America’s economic growth -- a rising, thriving middle class. (Applause.)
我们这一代人的任务是——重燃美国经济增长的发动机——造就一个升起的、兴旺的中产阶级。(掌声)
It is our unfinished task to restore the basic bargain that built this country -- the idea that if you work hard and meet your responsibilities, you can get ahead, no matter where you come from, no matter what you look like, or who you love. 我们的未竟任务是——恢复我们国家的基本协议——如果你工作努力并且负责任，你将会领先于别人，不论你从哪里来，不论你长得怎样，或者爱的是谁。
It is our unfinished task to make sure that this government works on behalf of the many, and not just the few; that it encourages free enterprise, rewards
individual initiative, and opens the doors of opportunity to every child across this great nation. (Applause.)
我们的未竟任务是——政府为大多数人服务，而不是少数人；政府鼓励自由企业、奖励个人的主创性，并且给这个国家的每一个孩子都提供发展的机会。(掌声)
The American people don’t expect government to solve every problem. They don’t expect those of us in this chamber to agree on every issue. But they do expect us to put the nation’s interests before party. (Applause.) They do expect us to forge reasonable compromise where we can. For they know that America moves forward only when we do so together, and that the responsibility of improving this union remains the task of us all.
美国人并不期望政府解决所有的问题。他们不期望在这个议事厅里的我们在所有的事务上有一致的看法。但是他们期望我们把国家利益放在党派前面。(掌声)他们期望我们在我们能走做到的议题上形成合理的妥协。因为他们知道只有当我们一起做这些事的时候，美国才会前进。改善这个国家的责任是我们所共有的。
Our work must begin by making some basic decisions about our budget -- decisions that will have a huge impact on the strength of our recovery.
我们的工作必须从如何决定我们的预算开始——这些决定将对我们复苏的势头有巨大影响。 Over the last few years, both parties have worked together to reduce the deficit by more than $2.5 trillion -- mostly through spending cuts, but also by raising tax rates on the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans. As a result, we are more than halfway towards the goal of $4 trillion in deficit reduction that economists say we need to stabilize our finances.
过去几年，两党共同努力，削减了2.5万亿美元的赤字——大部分是通过削减支出进行的，当然我们也对最富有的1%的美国人提高了税率。结果就是，我们已经完成了经济学家认为的足以稳定财政的削减赤字4万亿美元任务的一半还要多。
Now we need to finish the job. And the question is, how?
现在我们需要完成这项任务。问题是，怎样完成？
In 2011, Congress passed a law saying that if both parties couldn’t agree on a plan to reach our deficit goal, about a trillion dollars’ worth of budget cuts would automatically go into effect this year. These sudden, harsh, arbitrary cuts would jeopardize our military readiness. They’d devastate priorities like education, and energy, and medical research. They would certainly slow our recovery, and cost us hundreds of thousands of jobs. That’s why Democrats, Republicans, business leaders, and economists have already said that these cuts, known here in Washington as the sequester, are a really bad idea.
2011年，国会通过了一个议案。议案称如果两党不能对削减赤字达成一致，那么价值约1万亿美元的预算削减将会自动生效。这些突然的、残酷的、武断的削减，将会使我们的军事准备陷入危险。这也将会使教育、能源及医疗科研等优先问题恶化。这将会毫无疑问地减缓我们的经济复苏，并且还会让我们付出成百上千个就业岗位的代价。这就是为什么民主党员们、共和党员们、商业领袖们以及经济学家们已经说过，在华盛顿被认为是一种扣押行为的这些削减措施，是一个确实无误的坏主意。
Now, some in Congress have proposed preventing only the defense cuts by making even bigger cuts to things like education and job training, Medicare and Social Security benefits. That idea is even worse. (Applause.)
现在，国会中的某些人已经开始提议防止通过更大幅度的削减教育、职业培训、老年保健医疗体系和社会保险津贴的经费以削减国防经费。(掌声)
Yes, the biggest driver of our long-term debt is the rising cost of health care for an aging population. And those of us who care deeply about programs like Medicare must embrace the need for modest reforms -- otherwise, our
retirement programs will crowd out the investments we need for our children, and jeopardize the promise of a secure retirement for future generations.
是的，目前推动我们长期债务最大的推手是，养老医疗保障费用的增加。那些非常关心我们老年保健医疗体系的人必须接受适度的改革——否则，我们退休项目将会比我们对孩子们的投入更庞大，而且会使得未来几代人的退休保障更加危险。
But we can’t ask senior citizens and working families to shoulder the entire burden of deficit reduction while asking nothing more from the wealthiest and the most powerful. (Applause.) We won’t grow the middle class simply by shifting the cost of health care or college onto families that are already
struggling, or by forcing communities to lay off more teachers and more cops and more firefighters. Most Americans -- Democrats, Republicans, and
independents -- understand that we can’t just cut our way to prosperity. They know that broad-based economic growth requires a balanced approach to deficit reduction, with spending cuts and revenue, and with everybody doing their fair share. And that’s the approach I offer tonight.
但是，我们不能让老人和工薪家庭承担削减赤字的重任的同时，不去向最富有的最有影响力的人征收更多的税收。(掌声)我们不会通过向那些已经在艰苦奋斗的家庭简单地提升医疗保险经费或者大学学费抑或是强迫社区裁掉更多的老师、警察、消防员的方法以扩充我们的中产阶级。大多数美国人——民主党员们、共和党员们、独立人士——理解我们并不能削减掉我们通往繁荣的道路。他们知道，我们基础广泛的经济增长，需要的是一个可以削减支出和税收的每一个人都各司其职的平衡的途径以抵达赤字削减的目标。这就是今晚我要提出的方案。
Statement by the President on Syria
Rose Garden
August 31, 2013
THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon, everybody. Ten days ago, the world watched in horror as men, women and children were massacred in Syria in the worst chemical weapons attack of the 21st century. Yesterday the United States presented a powerful case that the Syrian government was responsible for this attack on its own people.
Our intelligence shows the Assad regime and its forces preparing to use chemical weapons, launching rockets in the highly populated suburbs of Damascus, and acknowledging that a chemical weapons attack took place. And all of this corroborates what the world can plainly see -- hospitals overflowing with victims; terrible images of the dead. All told, well over 1,000 people were murdered. Several hundred of them were children -- young girls and boys gassed to death by their own government.
This attack is an assault on human dignity. It also presents a serious danger to our national security. It risks making a mockery of the global prohibition on the use of chemical weapons. It endangers our friends and our partners along Syria’s borders, including Israel, Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon and Iraq. It could lead to escalating use of chemical weapons, or their proliferation to terrorist groups who would do our people harm.
In a world with many dangers, this menace must be confronted.
Now, after careful deliberation, I have decided that the United States should take military action against Syrian regime targets. This would not be an open-ended intervention. We would not put boots on the ground. Instead, our action would be designed to be limited in duration and scope. But I’m confident we can hold the Assad regime accountable for their use of chemical weapons, deter this kind of behavior, and degrade their capacity to carry it out.
Our military has positioned assets in the region. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs has informed me that we are prepared to strike whenever we choose. Moreover, the Chairman has indicated to me that our capacity to execute this mission is not time-sensitive; it will be effective tomorrow, or next week, or one month from now. And I’m prepared to give that order.
But having made my decision as Commander-in-Chief based on what I am convinced is our national security interests, I’m also mindful that I’m the
President of the world’s oldest constitutional democracy. I’ve long believed that our power is rooted not just in our military might, but in our example as a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. And that’s why I’ve made a second decision: I will seek authorization for the use of force from the American people’s representatives in Congress.
Over the last several days, we’ve heard from members of Congress who want their voices to be heard. I absolutely agree. So this morning, I spoke with all four congressional leaders, and they’ve agreed to schedule a debate and then a vote as soon as Congress comes back into session.
In the coming days, my administration stands ready to provide every member with the information they need to understand what happened in Syria and why it has such profound implications for America’s national security. And all of us should be accountable as we move forward, and that can only be accomplished with a vote.
I’m confident in the case our government has made without waiting for U.N. inspectors. I’m comfortable going forward without the approval of a United Nations Security Council that, so far, has been completely paralyzed and unwilling to hold Assad accountable. As a consequence, many people have advised against taking this decision to Congress, and undoubtedly, they were impacted by what we saw happen in the United Kingdom this week when the Parliament of our closest ally failed to pass a resolution with a similar goal, even as the Prime Minister supported taking action.
Yet, while I believe I have the authority to carry out this military action without specific congressional authorization, I know that the country will be stronger if we take this course, and our actions will be even more effective. We should have this debate, because the issues are too big for business as usual. And this morning, John Boehner, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell agreed that this is the right thing to do for our democracy.
A country faces few decisions as grave as using military force, even when that force is limited. I respect the views of those who call for caution, particularly as our country emerges from a time of war that I was elected in part to end. But if we really do want to turn away from taking appropriate action in the face of such an unspeakable outrage, then we must acknowledge the costs of doing nothing.
Here’s my question for every member of Congress and every member of the global community: What message will we send if a dictator can gas hundreds of children to death in plain sight and pay no price? What’s the purpose of the international system that we’ve built if a prohibition on the use of chemical
weapons that has been agreed to by the governments of 98 percent of the world’s people and approved overwhelmingly by the Congress of the United States is not enforced?
Make no mistake -- this has implications beyond chemical warfare. If we won’t enforce accountability in the face of this heinous act, what does it say about our resolve to stand up to others who flout fundamental international rules? To governments who would choose to build nuclear arms? To terrorist who would spread biological weapons? To armies who carry out genocide?
We cannot raise our children in a world where we will not follow through on the things we say, the accords we sign, the values that define us.
So just as I will take this case to Congress, I will also deliver this message to the world. While the U.N. investigation has some time to report on its findings, we will insist that an atrocity committed with chemical weapons is not simply investigated, it must be confronted.
I don’t expect every nation to agree with the decision we have made. Privately we’ve heard many expressions of support from our friends. But I will ask those who care about the writ of the international community to stand publicly behind our action.
And finally, let me say this to the American people: I know well that we are weary of war. We’ve ended one war in Iraq. We’re ending another in Afghanistan. And the American people have the good sense to know we cannot resolve the underlying conflict in Syria with our military. In that part of the world, there are ancient sectarian differences, and the hopes of the Arab Spring have unleashed forces of change that are going to take many years to resolve. And that’s why we’re not contemplating putting our troops in the middle of someone else’s war.
Instead, we’ll continue to support the Syrian people through our pressure on the Assad regime, our commitment to the opposition, our care for the displaced, and our pursuit of a political resolution that achieves a government that respects the dignity of its people.
But we are the United States of America, and we cannot and must not turn a blind eye to what happened in Damascus. Out of the ashes of world war, we built an international order and enforced the rules that gave it meaning. And we did so because we believe that the rights of individuals to live in peace and dignity depends on the responsibilities of nations. We aren’t perfect, but this nation more than any other has been willing to meet those responsibilities.
So to all members of Congress of both parties, I ask you to take this vote for our national security. I am looking forward to the debate. And in doing so, I ask you, members of Congress, to consider that some things are more important than partisan differences or the politics of the moment.
Ultimately, this is not about who occupies this office at any given time; it’s about who we are as a country. I believe that the people’s representatives must be invested in what America does abroad, and now is the time to show the world that America keeps our commitments. We do what we say. And we lead with the belief that right makes might -- not the other way around.
We all know there are no easy options. But I wasn’t elected to avoid hard decisions. And neither were the members of the House and the Senate. I’ve told you what I believe, that our security and our values demand that we cannot turn away from the massacre of countless civilians with chemical weapons. And our democracy is stronger when the President and the people’s representatives stand together.
I’m ready to act in the face of this outrage. Today I’m asking Congress to send a message to the world that we are ready to move forward together as one nation.
Thanks very much.
欧巴马总统就叙利亚问题发表的声明
玫瑰园（Rose Garden）
2013年8月31日
总统：各位下午好。10天前，全世界看到了男女老幼在叙利亚发生的21世纪最残忍的化学武器袭击中惨遭屠杀的骇人场面。昨天，美国确凿地说明了叙利亚政府应为这次攻击本国人民的事件负责。
我们获取的情报表明，阿萨德（Assad）政权及其军队曾准备使用化学武器、向大马士革（Damascus）近郊人口稠密的地区发射火箭弹，并承认发生了一起化学武器袭击。所有这些都证实了全世界清楚地看到的情况——医院里满是受害者；死者的画面令人惊骇。总计有远远超过1,000人惨遭杀害。其中有数百名儿童——年幼的男孩和女孩被他们自己的政府用毒气害死。
这次袭击是对人类尊严的践踏。它还对我们的国家安全构成了严重威胁。它有可能令全球禁止使用化学武器的禁令受到嘲弄。它使与叙利亚相邻的我们的友邦和伙伴国处境危险，其中包括以色列、约旦、土耳其、黎巴嫩和伊拉克。它可能导致化学武器的使用升级，或导致化学武器在妄图伤害我们人民的恐怖主义团伙中扩散。
在一个存在多种危险的世界中，这种威胁必须得到遏制。
现在，在经过审慎斟酌之后，我已决定美国应当采取军事行动打击叙利亚政权目标。这不会是一场旷日持久的干预。我们不会派出地面部队。我们的行动将被制定为在时间和范围上都是有限度的。但我相信，我们能够追究阿萨德政权使用化学武器的罪责，遏制这类行径，并削弱他们采取这种行动的能力。
我们的军队已在该地区部署力量。参谋长联席会议主席（Chairman of the Joint Chiefs）已经向我报告，我们已准备好在我们选择的时间发起行动。此外，参谋长联席会议主席还告诉我，我们执行这项使命的能力不受时间限制；明天、下个星期或从现在开始一个月以后都将具备效力。我已准备好下达这项命令。
但是，在作为军队统帅基于我所确信的我国国家安全利益作出决定的同时，我也牢记我是全世界历史最悠久的宪政民主国家的总统。长久以来，我一直深信，我们的实力不仅源于我们的军事威力，更源于我们作为一个民有、民治、民享的政府的典范力量。正因为如此，我还作出了第二项决定：我将征求国会中美国人民的代表给予使用武力的授权。
近几天来，我们听到了想公开发表意见的国会议员的声音。我对此完全赞同。今天上午，我同全部4位国会领袖进行了交谈，他们同意在国会复会后立即制定举行辩论和投票的日程。
在今后几天中，本届政府随时准备向每一位议员提供他们所需的信息，以便了解在叙利亚发生的事件以及它对美国国家安全影响重大的原因。我们所有人在向前推进的过程中都应当接受问责，而投票是作到问责的唯一途径。
我确信我国政府不等联合国核查人员调查完毕便已得出的结论。我相信可以在没有联合国安理会（United Nations Security Council）批准的情况下采取行动，因为到目前为止，安理会已完全陷入瘫痪，不愿追究阿萨德的罪责。因此，很多人还提出反对将这个决定提交国会，毫无疑问，他们受到了我们这个星期所看到的在英国发生的情况的影响，我们最亲密的盟国的议会未能通过一项抱有类似目标的决议案，尽管英国首相支持采取行动。
不过，虽然我相信我有权在没有得到国会明确授权的情况下执行这项军事行动，但我知道如果我们采取这个步骤，我们的国家将更加强大，我们的行动将更有效力。我们应当展开这场辩论，因为此事事关重大，不可一如往常。今天上午，约翰∙博纳（John Boehner）、哈里·里德（Harry Reid）、南希·佩洛西（Nancy Pelosi）和米奇·麦康奈尔（Mitch McConnell）一致认为这是为我们的民主制度而采取的正确步骤。
国家派遣军队属于重大决策，很少有其他事务能与之相比，即使军队的数量很有限也是如此。有些人呼吁保持谨慎，特别是因为我国正逐步走出战争时期，我当选现职在某种程度上也是为了结束战争。我尊重这些人的看法。但是面临如此罄竹难书的罪恶暴行，我们如果的确想袖手旁观，不采取适当的行动，就必须承担不采取行动的代价。
我对国会每一位成员和全球社会每一位成员提出的问题是：如果独裁者可以在光天化日之下使数百名儿童被毒气夺取生命，但不付出任何代价，那么我们将发出什么样的信号？如果禁
止使用化学武器一事得到代表全世界98%人民的政府同意，也在美国国会以压倒多数批准，但得不到执行，那么我们已经建立的国际体系作用何在？
毫无疑问—这个问题的意义已经超出了化学战的范畴。面对这种罪大恶极的行为，如果我们不采取负责任的强制措施，我们还有没有决心抗击蔑视基本国际准则的人？还有没有决心抵制企图制造核武器的政府？还有没有决心打击扩散生物武器的恐怖主义分子？还有没有决心制止采取种族灭绝行动的军队？
我们如果不能言出必行，不能执行签署的协议，不能维护体现我们本色的价值观，就无法在这个世界上教导我们的子女。
所以，我将向国会提出这个问题，也将向全世界传递这个信息。此时，联合国调查人员还需要时间报告调查结果，但我们需要强调，对于使用化学武器犯下的滔天罪行，这不仅仅是调查的问题，而必须给于迎头痛击。
我并不认为每一个国家都会同意我们做出的决定。我们在不公开场合听到很多朋友们表示支持的声音。但是我要求那些关注国际社会相关法令的人公开支持我们的行动。
最后，请允许我对美国人民表示：我知道我们厌倦战争。我们已经结束在伊拉克的战争。我们正在结束在阿富汗的战争。美国人民都明智地认识到，我们不能以我们的军事力量解决叙利亚的根本问题。在世界的这个地区，存在着历史久远的宗派分歧，阿拉伯之春（Arab Spring）的希望释放了改革的力量，需要多年才能解决问题。正因为如此，我们不考虑派我们的军队投入其他人的战争漩涡。
然而，我们将继续支持叙利亚人民，为此需要对阿萨德政权施加压力，坚持我们对反对派的承诺，关心流离失所的民众，并争取政治解决方案，实现尊重本国人民尊严的政府。
但我们是美利坚合众国（United States of America），绝不能对大马士革发生的一切视而不见。我们在世界大战的废墟上建立了国际秩序，执行了使现行国际秩序行之有效的各种规则。我们这样做是因为，我们相信，个人享有和平、有尊严的生活的权利取决于各国承担的责任。我们并不完善，但这个国家比其他任何国家都更愿意承担这些责任。
为此，我要求国会两党的所有成员为我们的国家安全投下这一票。我期待对此进行辩论。与此同时，我要求诸位国会议员考虑到有些问题比党派分歧更重要，比现时政治更重要。
归根结底，这与谁在某一个时期在这个职位上任职视事无关；这关系到维护我们作为一个国家的本色。我认为民意代表必须为美国在海外从事的工作发挥作用。现在正应该向全世界表明美国恪守我们的承诺。我们言出必行。我们秉持我们的信念发挥领导作用，坚信正义就是力量—而不是相反。
众所周知，做出任何选择都不容易。但是我当选此职，不是为了回避艰难的抉择。参众两院的成员也是如此。我已经告诉诸位我秉持的信念，我们的安全和我们的价值观要求我们不能对使用化学武器残杀无数平民的行为袖手旁观。只要总统和民意代表齐心协力，我们的民主就更为强大。
我准备对这种暴行采取行动。今天，我请求国会告诉全世界，我们准备举国同心向前迈进。
多谢诸位。
Statement on Syria
Secretary of State John Kerry
Treaty Room, Washington, D.C.
August 30, 2013
President Obama has spent many days now consulting with Congress and talking with leaders around the world about the situation in Syria. And last night, the President asked all of us on his national security team to consult with the leaders of Congress as well, including the leadership of the Congressional national security committees. And he asked us to consult about what we know regarding the horrific chemical weapons attack in the Damascus suburbs last week. I will tell you that as someone who has spent nearly three decades in the United States Congress, I know that that consultation is the right way for a president to approach a decision of when and how and if to use military force. And it’s important to ask the tough questions and get the tough answers before taking action, not just afterwards.
And I believe, as President Obama does, that it is also important to discuss this directly with the American people. That’s our responsibility, to talk with the citizens who have entrusted all of us in the Administration and the Congress with the responsibility for their security. That’s why this morning’s release of our government’s unclassified estimate of what took place in Syria is so important. Its findings are as clear as they are compelling. I’m not asking you to take my word for it. Read for yourself, everyone, those listening. All of you, read for yourselves the evidence from thousands of sources, evidence that is already publicly available, and read for yourselves the verdict reached by our intelligence community about the chemical weapons attack the Assad regime inflicted on the opposition and on opposition-controlled or contested neighborhoods in the Damascus suburbs on the early morning of August 21st.
Our intelligence community has carefully reviewed and re-reviewed information regarding this attack, and I will tell you it has done so more than mindful of the Iraq experience. We will not repeat that moment. Accordingly, we have taken unprecedented steps to declassify and make facts available to people who can judge for themselves. But still, in order to protect sources and methods, some of
what we know will only be released to members of Congress, the representatives of the American people. That means that some things we do know we can’t talk about publicly.
So what do we really know that we can talk about? Well, we know that the Assad regime has the largest chemical weapons program in the entire Middle East. We know that the regime has used those weapons multiple times this year and has used them on a smaller scale, but still it has used them against its own people, including not very far from where last Wednesday’s attack happened. We know that the regime was specifically determined to rid the Damascus suburbs of the opposition, and it was frustrated that it hadn’t succeeded in doing so.
We know that for three days before the attack the Syrian regime’s chemical weapons personnel were on the ground in the area making preparations. And we know that the Syrian regime elements were told to prepare for the attack by putting on gas masks and taking precautions associated with chemical weapons. We know that these were specific instructions. We know where the rockets were launched from and at what time. We know where they landed and when. We know rockets came only from regime-controlled areas and went only to opposition-controlled or contested neighborhoods.
And we know, as does the world, that just 90 minutes later all hell broke loose in the social media. With our own eyes we have seen the thousands of reports from 11 separate sites in the Damascus suburbs. All of them show and report victims with breathing difficulties, people twitching with spasms, coughing, rapid heartbeats, foaming at the mouth, unconsciousness and death.
And we know it was ordinary Syrian citizens who reported all of these horrors. And just as important, we know what the doctors and the nurses who treated them didn’t report – not a scratch, not a shrapnel wound, not a cut, not a gunshot wound. We saw rows of dead lined up in burial shrouds, the white linen unstained by a single drop of blood. Instead of being tucked safely in their beds at home, we saw rows of children lying side by side sprawled on a hospital floor, all of them dead from Assad’s gas and surrounded by parents and grandparents who had suffered the same fate.
The United States Government now knows that at least 1,429 Syrians were killed in this attack, including at least 426 children. Even the first responders, the doctors, nurses, and medics who tried to save them, they became victims themselves. We saw them gasping for air, terrified that their own lives were in danger.
This is the indiscriminate, inconceivable horror of chemical weapons. This is what Assad did to his own people.
We also know many disturbing details about the aftermath. We know that a senior regime official who knew about the attack confirmed that chemical weapons were used by the regime, reviewed the impact, and actually was afraid that they would be discovered. We know this.
And we know what they did next. I personally called the Foreign Minister of Syria and I said to him, ―If, as you say, your nation has nothing to hide, then let the United Nations in immediately and give the inspectors the unfettered access so they have the opportunity to tell your story.‖ Instead, for four days they shelled the neighborhood in order to destroy evidence, bombarding block after block at a rate four times higher than they had over the previous 10 days. And when the UN inspectors finally gained access, that access, as we now know, was restricted and controlled.
In all of these things that I have listed, in all of these things that we know, all of them, the American intelligence community has high confidence, high confidence. This is common sense. This is evidence. These are facts.
So the primary question is really no longer: What do we know? The question is: What are we – we collectively – what are we in the world going to do about it?
As previous storms in history have gathered, when unspeakable crimes were within our power to stop them, we have been warned against the temptations of looking the other way. History is full of leaders who have warned against inaction, indifference, and especially against silence when it mattered most. Our choices then in history had great consequences and our choice today has great consequences. It matters that nearly a hundred years ago, in direct response to the utter horror and inhumanity of World War I, that the civilized world agreed that chemical weapons should never be used again.
That was the world’s resolve then, and that began nearly a century of effort to create a clear redline for the international community. It matters today that we are working as an international community to rid the world of the worst weapons. That’s why we signed agreements like the START Treaty, the New START Treaty, the Chemical Weapons Convention, which more than 180 countries, including Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon, have signed on to.
It matters to our security and the security of our allies. It matters to Israel. It matters to our close friends Jordan, Turkey, and Lebanon – all of whom live just a stiff breeze away from Damascus. It matters to all of them where the Syrian chemical weapons are. And if unchecked, they can cause even greater death and destruction to those friends. And it matters deeply to the credibility and the future interests of the United States of America and our allies.
It matters because a lot of other countries, whose polices challenges these international norms, are watching. They are watching. They want to see whether the United States and our friends mean what we say. It is directly related to our credibility and whether countries still believe the United States when it says something. They are watching to see if Syria can get away with it, because then maybe they too can put the world at greater risk.
And make no mistake, in an increasingly complicated world of sectarian and religious extremist violence, what we choose to do or not do matters in real ways to our own security. Some cite the risk of doing things, but we need to ask, what is the risk of doing nothing?
It matters because if we choose to live in a world where a thug and a murderer like Bashar al-Assad can gas thousands of his own people with impunity, even after the United States and our allies said no, and then the world does nothing about it, there will be no end to the test of our resolve and the dangers that will flow from those others who believe that they can do as they will.
This matters also beyond the limits of Syria’s borders. It is about whether Iran, which itself has been a victim of chemical weapons attacks, will now feel emboldened, in the absence of action, to obtain nuclear weapons. It is about Hezbollah, and North Korea, and every other terrorist group or dictator that might ever again contemplate the use of weapons of mass destruction. Will they remember that the Assad regime was stopped from those weapons’ current or future use, or will they remember that the world stood aside and created impunity?
So our concern is not just about some far off land oceans away. That’s not what this is about. Our concern with the cause of the defenseless people of Syria is about choices that will directly affect our role in the world and our interests in the world. It is also profoundly about who we are. We are the United States of America. We are the country that has tried, not always successfully, but always tried to honor a set of universal values around which we have organized our lives and our aspirations. This crime against conscience, this crime against humanity, this crime against the most fundamental principles of international community, against the norm of the international community, this matters to us. And it matters to who we are. And it matters to leadership and to our credibility in the world. My friends, it matters here if nothing is done. It matters if the world speaks out in condemnation and then nothing happens.
America should feel confident and gratified that we are not alone in our condemnation, and we are not alone in our will to do something about it and to act. The world is speaking out, and many friends stand ready to respond. The
Arab League pledged, quote, ―to hold the Syrian regime fully responsible for this crime.‖ The Organization for Islamic Cooperation condemned the regime and said we needed, quote, ―to hold the Syrian Government legally and morally accountable for this heinous crime.‖ Turkey said there is no doubt that the regime is responsible. Our oldest ally, the French, said the regime, quote, ―committed this vile action, and it is an outrage to use weapons that the community has banned for the last 90 years in all international conventions.‖ The Australian Prime Minister said he didn’t want history to record that we were, quote, ―a party to turning such a blind eye.‖
So now that we know what we know, the question we must all be asking is: What will we do? Let me emphasize – President Obama, we in the United States, we believe in the United Nations. And we have great respect for the brave inspectors who endured regime gunfire and obstructions to their investigation. But as Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary General, has said again and again, the UN investigation will not affirm who used these chemical weapons. That is not the mandate of the UN investigation. They will only affirm whether such weapons were used. By the definition of their own mandate, the UN can’t tell us anything that we haven’t shared with you this afternoon or that we don’t already know. And because of the guaranteed Russian obstructionism of any action through the UN Security Council, the UN cannot galvanize the world to act as it should.
So let me be clear. We will continue talking to the Congress, talking to our allies, and most importantly, talking to the American people. President Obama will ensure that the United States of America makes our own decisions on our own timelines based on our values and our interests.
Now, we know that after a decade of conflict, the American people are tired of war. Believe me, I am, too. But fatigue does not absolve us of our responsibility. Just longing for peace does not necessarily bring it about. And history would judge us all extraordinarily harshly if we turned a blind eye to a dictator’s wanton use of weapons of mass destruction against all warnings, against all common understanding of decency. These things we do know.
We also know that we have a President who does what he says that he will do. And he has said very clearly that whatever decision he makes in Syria, it will bear no resemblance to Afghanistan, Iraq, or even Libya. It will not involve any boots on the ground. It will not be open-ended. And it will not assume responsibility for a civil war that is already well underway. The President has been clear: Any action that he might decide to take will be a limited and tailored response to ensure that a despot’s brutal and flagrant use of chemical weapons is held accountable. And ultimately, ultimately, we are committed – we remain committed, we believe it’s the primary objective – is to have a diplomatic process that can resolve this through negotiation, because we know there is no
ultimate military solution. It has to be political. It has to happen at the negotiating table, and we are deeply committed to getting there.
So that is what we know. That’s what the leaders of Congress now know. And that’s what the American people need to know. And that is at the core of the decisions that must now be made for the security of our country and for the promise of a planet where the world’s most heinous weapons must never again be used against the world’s most vulnerable people.
Thank you very much.
约翰·克里国务卿关于叙利亚的讲话
条约厅（Treaty Room），华盛顿特区（Washington, D.C.）
2013年8月30日
克里国务卿：欧巴马总统连日来在就叙利亚局势与国会磋商，并同世界各地领导人通了话。昨晚，总统要求国家安全班子的所有成员也与国会领袖交换意见，包括与国会负责国家安全事务的有关委员会领袖。他要我们就我们所了解的上星期在大马士革（Damascus）郊区发生的骇人听闻的化学武器攻击交换情况。我可以告诉各位，作为一个曾在美国国会供职近30年的人，我知道，磋商是总统决定何时、何种方式以及是否使用武力的正确途径。必须在采取行动之前，而不是之后，提出各种难题并作出相应回答。
我认为，欧巴马总统同样认为，也必须直接与美国人民讨论这个问题。与将安全托付给本政府和国会所有成员的公民进行沟通是我们的责任。正因为如此，我们今天早上必须将政府对叙利亚所发生的情况的非机密评估公布于众。这些结论清楚而有力。我不是要你们只听我说，请正在听讲的各位亲自去读。所有各位，请去读一读有数千个来源的证据，已经公开可见的证据，请去读一读我们的情报机构得出的关于 8月21日凌晨阿萨德（Assad）政权向反对派和反对派控制和争夺的大马士革郊外一些小区发动化学武器攻击的结论。
我们的情报机构对有关这次袭击的信息进行了仔细的审视、再审视，我可以说，在这点上伊拉克的经历令人极其小心。我们不会重蹈覆辙。因此，我们采取了前所未有的解密步骤，将事实摆出来，由人们自己作判断。但是，为了保护来源和所用方式，我们只能将有些已知情况告诉国会成员，即美国人民的代表。这意味着，我们无法公开地谈论我们确实掌握的有些情况。
那么，什么是我们能够谈论的我们确实知道的情况呢？ 我们知道，阿萨德政权拥有全中东地区最大的化学武器项目。我们知道，这个政权今年曾多次以较小规模使用过那些武器，但这仍是针对着自己的人民，其中包括发生在距离上星期三攻击不远的地方。我们知道，这个政权尤其执意要在大马士革郊区清除反对派，对始终未能如愿躁怒不安。
我们知道，在发生攻击的前三天，叙利亚政权的化学武器人员曾在当地进行准备。我们知道，叙利亚政权的一些成员被告知，要为预防攻击戴上防毒面具和采取与化学武器相关的防范措
施。我们知道，这些是具体的指示。我们知道，火箭从何地何时发射。我们知道，它们落在何地何时。我们知道，火箭只来自政府控制的地区，只发向反对派控制或争夺的小区。
我们知道，全世界也知道，仅仅在90分钟后，社交媒体一片鼎沸。我们亲眼看到来自大马士革11个地方的数以千计的报道。所有报道都显示和叙述遭攻击的人呼吸困难，抽搐痉挛，咳嗽，心跳加速，口吐白沫，丧失知觉，死亡。
而且我们知道，所有这些可怕的报道是来自普通的叙利亚公民。同样重要的是，我们知道， 救治这些人的医生护士没有提到某些状况——没有擦伤，没有弹片伤，没有破口，没有枪伤。我们看到一排排裹在尸布中的尸体，上面没有一点血迹。我们看到，本应安详睡在家中的儿童，一行行并排躺在医院的地上，被阿萨德的毒气夺走了生命，在他们四周是遭遇相同命运的爸爸妈妈、爷爷奶奶。
美国政府现在知道，这次攻击造成至少1429名叙利亚人死亡，其中至少有426名儿童。 就连那些一线急救人员——医生、护士和卫生员，也沦为遇难者。我们看到他们呼吸艰难，惊恐地意识到自己也生命危急。
这是化学武器的滥杀和令人难以置信的恐怖。这是阿萨德对待自己人民的行径。
我们也知道有关后果的许多令人不安的细节。我们知道，一位知晓此次攻击的政府高官证实该政权用了化学武器，审视了其影响，而且还担心情况会被发现。我们知道这点。
我们还知道他们下一步做了什么。我亲自打电话给叙利亚外长，我对他说：―如果像你所说，贵国没有任何东西需要隐藏，那么让联合国立即进入，让检查人员能够畅通无阻地准入，以便他们有机会替你们说话。‖然而，他们连续4天轰炸小区以销毁证据，一个街区一个街区地轰炸，频率是前10天的4倍。当联合国检查人员终于能够进入当地时，如我们现在所知，他们的行动受到了限制和控制。
美国情报界对我上述列举的这一切、我们所知道的这一切，对这一切，有高度信心，高度信心。这是常识。这是证据。这些是事实。
所以，主要的问题不再是：我们都知道什么？问题是：我们——我们一起——到底应当怎样作出反响？
如同过去历史风暴显示，当我们有能力制止不可言喻的罪行时，我们被警告，不要视而不见。历史上有无数领袖人物发出过警告，在最重要关头不得无所作为，无动于衷，尤其不能保持沉默。我们那时的历史抉择产生了重大后果，我们今天的抉择也会产生重大后果。将近100年前，作为对第一次世界大战的惨烈和非人道的直接回应，文明世界一致同意永远不得再使用化学武器。
那是世界当时的决心，并由此开始了近一个世纪的努力，在国际社会划出一条清晰的红线。今天，我们有必要作为一个整体国际社会，一道努力消除世界上最恶毒的武器。这就是为什么我们签署了《削减战略武器条约》（START Treaty），《削减战略武器新条约》（New START Treaty），《禁止化学武器公约》（Chemical Weapon Convention）等协议，
包括伊朗、伊拉克和黎巴嫩在内的180多个国家签署了《禁止化学武器公约》。
这对我们和我们盟友的安全至关重要。这对以色列至关重要。这对我们的亲密朋友——与大马士革近在咫尺的约旦、土耳其和黎巴嫩——至关重要。这对叙利亚化学武器所在地的所有人至关重要。如果放任不管，它们会对那些朋友造成更大的伤亡和损害。这对美国及其盟友的信誉和长远利益极其重要。
它之所以重要，还因为有其他不少以其政策挑战国际准则的国家正在观望。他们在观望。他们想知道美国和我们的朋友是否言出必行。这直接关系到我们的信誉，关系到美国是否仍在其他国家面前言而有信。他们在观望叙利亚是否能够逃脱，因为如果真能如此，那么他们或许也可以让世界陷入更大险境。
毋庸置疑，在一个充满教派和宗教极端主义暴力的日趋复杂的世界里，我们选择有所作为或是无所作为直接关系到我们自身的安全。有些人举出了有作为的风险，但我们要问，无作为的风险又是什么？
这一点之所以重要是因为，如果我们选择生活在这样一个世界中——巴沙尔•阿萨德（Bashar al-Assad）这样的无赖和刽子手即使在美国和我们的盟友警告之后，仍可以用毒气杀害自己数以千计的人民而不受惩罚，那么，对我们决心的挑战将没有底线，那些认为他们可以为所欲为的人会无止境地把世界置于危险之中。
这一点的重要性超出了叙利亚边界。它关系到面对这种无所作为，伊朗是否会更嚣张地获取核武器，尽管其本身曾经是化学武器攻击的受害者。它还关系到真主党（Hezbollah），北韩，以及所有其他恐怖主义组织或独裁者是否会再度企图使用大规模毁灭性武器。他们是将记得阿萨德政权现在和未来被制止了使用这些武器，还是记得世界曾袖手旁观，令其逍遥法外？
因此，我们所关切的绝不是远隔重洋的某一遥远国度。这不是实质所在。我们对手无寸铁的叙利亚人民的事业的关切，关系着那些将直接影响我们的国际作用和利益的选择。这也在根本上关系到我们的本色。我们是美利坚合众国。我们一直努力——虽然并非每次成功——但我们始终努力奉行一套普世价值， 我们是按照这样的普世价值来组织我们的生活和奋斗目标。这种违反良心的罪行，这种反人性的罪行，这种违反国际社会最根本的原则、违反国际社会规范的罪行，对我们非同小可。这关系到我们的本色。这关系到我们在这个世界的领导地位和信誉。朋友们，如果不采取任何行动，非同小可。如果全世界大声谴责而毫无行动，非同小可。
美国应该感到自信和欣慰的是，提出谴责的不仅是我们一国，愿意采取某种措施和行动的不仅是我们一国。全世界正在大声疾呼，许多盟友随时准备响应。阿拉伯联盟（Arab League）誓言要——用他们的话说——―追究叙利亚政权对此罪行的全部责任‖。伊斯兰合作组织（Organization for Islamic Cooperation）谴责该政权并表示我们必须——用他们的话——―从法律上和道德上追究叙利亚政府对这一令人发指的罪行的责任‖ 。土耳其说，毫无疑问叙利亚政权责任难逃。我们最悠久的盟国法国说，叙利亚政权——用他们的话说——―采取了这种卑鄙的行动。使用过去90年国际社会在所有国际公约中禁止的武器，令人愤慨‖。澳大利亚总理说，他不愿让历史留下这样的记录，说我们是―一群人视而不见的人‖。
现在，基于我们已经知道的情况，我们所有人必须问这样一个问题：我们该怎么办？我必须强调——欧巴马总统，我们美国人民——我们相信联合国。我们极为尊重那些勇敢的检查人员，他们冒着叙利亚政权的炮火，忍受了百般阻挠。但正如潘基文（Ban Ki-moon）秘书长反复说明的那样，联合国的调查将不是确定谁使用了这些化学武器。这不是联合国调查的使命。他们只将确定是否使用了这种武器。根据他们自身使命的定义，除了今天下午我们和你们谈的内容外，联合国不能告诉我们任何别的情况，也不能告诉我们任何我们所不知的情况。由于俄罗斯必定会通过联合国安理会（UN Security Council）阻碍任何行动，联合国无法调动全世界采取应有的行动。
因此请让我明确说明。我们将继续和国会磋商，和我们的盟友磋商，最重要的是，和美国人民磋商。欧巴马总统将确保，美利坚合众国会根据我们的价值观和我们的利益，按照我们自己的时间表作出决定。
我们知道，在10年的冲突后，美国人民厌倦了战争。请相信，我也一样。但是疲劳不能让我们开脱责任。仅渴望和平不一定能得到和平。如果某个独裁者无视各种警告，无视所有人对文明的共同理解，恣意妄为地使用大规模杀伤性武器，如果我们对其视而不见，那么历史将会极其严厉地评判我们。这些为我们所确知。
我们也知道，我们的总统言必信行必果。他已经非常明确地说过，无论他对叙利亚作出何种决定，它绝不会与对阿富汗、伊拉克或甚至利比亚的决定相同。它将不涉及派出地面部队。它不会旷日持久。它不会为早在进行的内战承担责任。总统已经很明确：他可能决定的任何行动都将是有限度和有针对性的反应，确保让残酷和公然使用化学武器的暴君承担后果。最终，最终，我们致力于——我们继续致力于，我们认为这是我们的主要目标——即使用外交程序，通过谈判予以解决，因为我们知道，不存在终极的军事解决方案。它必须是政治解决。它必须在谈判桌上产生，我们坚决致力于达成政治解决。
因此，这就是我们了解的情况。这是国会领导人现在了解的情况。这是全体美国人民需要了解的情况。这就是现在必须作出决定的核心——为了我国的安全，为了我们这个星球的承诺，即世界上最为令人发指的武器将绝不再用于屠杀最易受伤害的人民。
非常感谢大家。
我通读过汉英论坛bilinguist点com 同声传译版块的所有帖子，深感前辈们是那么遥不可及。“创业难，守成难，知难不难。” 汉英是自我训练的“圣经”。 我也因受Jacky的启发而使用amazing slow downer来加速所有音频，浏览了@车企口译boydogs 推荐的欧盟会口培训资源orcit点eu，也聆听过@同传Gordon 的《我的同传我的梦想》讲座。感谢那么多在路上的人，你们给了我太多有形和无形的鼓励和鞭策。
二口分为综合和实务两部分：前者考听力，侧重时事；后者考交传，侧重政、经、科技等。综合，考察综合实力和时事了解。先制作了二口备战计划后，个人综合的备战方法是：
1. 变速1.5倍听写BBC的5分钟新闻：把播音员念的稿子一字不差的还原出来。过程很痛苦，结果对听力提高非常有帮助。当然，你还可再提速。
2. 坚持收看《新闻联播》，了解国内时事。
3. 晚上听着Economist的音频入眠。
再讲实务。我是老老实实地练习了教材，间或听一听TED talk，拿总理的政府工作报告（中英）做视译练习。个人方法：
1. 一篇课文分四步练习：1.原语复述（2分钟左右为一个节拍）；2.视译全文 3.有笔记交传 4.同传
2. 所有练习都要用嘴巴讲出来，用电脑的录音机（系统自带）录下来，对照教材，听自己的录音，找出可以优化的地方，持续改进。
3. 认真学习每个单元的口译指南内容。
4. 做练习笔记，摘录自己愿意掌握的单词、短语和句子。
5. 考前，根据前人的考经和自己的考试回顾总结，进行预测。
NOTE:
1. 将课文音频调至1.5或1.8倍以上速度，以适应考试时的变态语速。
2. 练习四步曲，非常耗时。上班族不加班，用60天，每天2小时，我只练了3单元的12篇文章。（中间有偷懒）所以，要做好计划，或者选择只练每单元的2篇课文，共计32篇。
3. 摆正心态。功到自然成；功夫不到，过了也是侥幸，仍需继续加油。
我很笨，虽侥幸通过二口，但也未真正进入口译之门。我很执着，一件事情，我可以做三年，总共五次。如果我可以，那么你为什么不可以？
国情咨文 The 2013 State of the Union Address
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, members of Congress, fellow citizens:
议长先生，副总统先生，国会议员们，美国人民：
Fifty-one years ago, John F. Kennedy declared to this chamber that ―the Constitution makes us not rivals for power but partners for progress.‖
(Applause.) ―It is my task,‖ he said, ―to report the State of the Union -- to improve it is the task of us all.‖
51年前，约翰-F-肯尼迪在这里宣布―宪法让我们成为进步的伙伴而不是权利的对手，‖(掌声)他说，―发表国情咨文是我的任务，但是完善国情却是我们所有人的任务。‖
Tonight, thanks to the grit and determination of the American people, there is much progress to report. After a decade of grinding war, our brave men and women in uniform are coming home. (Applause.) After years of grueling
recession, our businesses have created over six million new jobs. We buy more American cars than we have in five years, and less foreign oil than we have in 20. (Applause.) Our housing market is healing, our stock market is rebounding, and consumers, patients, and homeowners enjoy stronger protections than ever before. (Applause.)
今晚，感谢美国人民的勇气和决心，我有很多内容需要汇报。在十年的残酷战争之后，我们勇敢的穿军装的男人女人正在归来。(掌声)在多年的紧张的萧条期后，我们的商业已经创造了600万新的就业岗位。我们现在开始购入比过去5年还要多的汽车，但依赖的国外石油比过去20年总和都要少。我们的住宅市场正在复苏，我们的股票市场正在反弹。消费者、病人、房产所有者也享受比之前更有力的保护。(掌声)
So, together, we have cleared away the rubble of crisis, and we can say with renewed confidence that the State of our Union is stronger. (Applause.)
所以，在一起，我们清除了危机的废墟。而且，我们可以说，通过新的信心，我们国家的状态更强有力了。(掌声)
But we gather here knowing that there are millions of Americans whose hard work and dedication have not yet been rewarded. Our economy is adding jobs -- but too many people still can’t find full-time employment. Corporate profits have skyrocketed to all-time highs -- but for more than a decade, wages and incomes have barely budged.
但是我们来到这里，知道还有数百万的美国人，通过辛苦的工作和奉献，并没有得到回报。我们的经济正在创造就业岗位——但仍然有许多人不能找到全职工作。企业利润飙升到了新高度——但十多年来，薪资和收入几乎从未上升。
It is our generation’s task, then, to reignite the true engine of America’s economic growth -- a rising, thriving middle class. (Applause.)
我们这一代人的任务是——重燃美国经济增长的发动机——造就一个升起的、兴旺的中产阶级。(掌声)
It is our unfinished task to restore the basic bargain that built this country -- the idea that if you work hard and meet your responsibilities, you can get ahead, no matter where you come from, no matter what you look like, or who you love. 我们的未竟任务是——恢复我们国家的基本协议——如果你工作努力并且负责任，你将会领先于别人，不论你从哪里来，不论你长得怎样，或者爱的是谁。
It is our unfinished task to make sure that this government works on behalf of the many, and not just the few; that it encourages free enterprise, rewards
individual initiative, and opens the doors of opportunity to every child across this great nation. (Applause.)
我们的未竟任务是——政府为大多数人服务，而不是少数人；政府鼓励自由企业、奖励个人的主创性，并且给这个国家的每一个孩子都提供发展的机会。(掌声)
The American people don’t expect government to solve every problem. They don’t expect those of us in this chamber to agree on every issue. But they do expect us to put the nation’s interests before party. (Applause.) They do expect us to forge reasonable compromise where we can. For they know that America moves forward only when we do so together, and that the responsibility of improving this union remains the task of us all.
美国人并不期望政府解决所有的问题。他们不期望在这个议事厅里的我们在所有的事务上有一致的看法。但是他们期望我们把国家利益放在党派前面。(掌声)他们期望我们在我们能走做到的议题上形成合理的妥协。因为他们知道只有当我们一起做这些事的时候，美国才会前进。改善这个国家的责任是我们所共有的。
Our work must begin by making some basic decisions about our budget -- decisions that will have a huge impact on the strength of our recovery.
我们的工作必须从如何决定我们的预算开始——这些决定将对我们复苏的势头有巨大影响。 Over the last few years, both parties have worked together to reduce the deficit by more than $2.5 trillion -- mostly through spending cuts, but also by raising tax rates on the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans. As a result, we are more than halfway towards the goal of $4 trillion in deficit reduction that economists say we need to stabilize our finances.
过去几年，两党共同努力，削减了2.5万亿美元的赤字——大部分是通过削减支出进行的，当然我们也对最富有的1%的美国人提高了税率。结果就是，我们已经完成了经济学家认为的足以稳定财政的削减赤字4万亿美元任务的一半还要多。
Now we need to finish the job. And the question is, how?
现在我们需要完成这项任务。问题是，怎样完成？
In 2011, Congress passed a law saying that if both parties couldn’t agree on a plan to reach our deficit goal, about a trillion dollars’ worth of budget cuts would automatically go into effect this year. These sudden, harsh, arbitrary cuts would jeopardize our military readiness. They’d devastate priorities like education, and energy, and medical research. They would certainly slow our recovery, and cost us hundreds of thousands of jobs. That’s why Democrats, Republicans, business leaders, and economists have already said that these cuts, known here in Washington as the sequester, are a really bad idea.
2011年，国会通过了一个议案。议案称如果两党不能对削减赤字达成一致，那么价值约1万亿美元的预算削减将会自动生效。这些突然的、残酷的、武断的削减，将会使我们的军事准备陷入危险。这也将会使教育、能源及医疗科研等优先问题恶化。这将会毫无疑问地减缓我们的经济复苏，并且还会让我们付出成百上千个就业岗位的代价。这就是为什么民主党员们、共和党员们、商业领袖们以及经济学家们已经说过，在华盛顿被认为是一种扣押行为的这些削减措施，是一个确实无误的坏主意。
Now, some in Congress have proposed preventing only the defense cuts by making even bigger cuts to things like education and job training, Medicare and Social Security benefits. That idea is even worse. (Applause.)
现在，国会中的某些人已经开始提议防止通过更大幅度的削减教育、职业培训、老年保健医疗体系和社会保险津贴的经费以削减国防经费。(掌声)
Yes, the biggest driver of our long-term debt is the rising cost of health care for an aging population. And those of us who care deeply about programs like Medicare must embrace the need for modest reforms -- otherwise, our
retirement programs will crowd out the investments we need for our children, and jeopardize the promise of a secure retirement for future generations.
是的，目前推动我们长期债务最大的推手是，养老医疗保障费用的增加。那些非常关心我们老年保健医疗体系的人必须接受适度的改革——否则，我们退休项目将会比我们对孩子们的投入更庞大，而且会使得未来几代人的退休保障更加危险。
But we can’t ask senior citizens and working families to shoulder the entire burden of deficit reduction while asking nothing more from the wealthiest and the most powerful. (Applause.) We won’t grow the middle class simply by shifting the cost of health care or college onto families that are already
struggling, or by forcing communities to lay off more teachers and more cops and more firefighters. Most Americans -- Democrats, Republicans, and
independents -- understand that we can’t just cut our way to prosperity. They know that broad-based economic growth requires a balanced approach to deficit reduction, with spending cuts and revenue, and with everybody doing their fair share. And that’s the approach I offer tonight.
但是，我们不能让老人和工薪家庭承担削减赤字的重任的同时，不去向最富有的最有影响力的人征收更多的税收。(掌声)我们不会通过向那些已经在艰苦奋斗的家庭简单地提升医疗保险经费或者大学学费抑或是强迫社区裁掉更多的老师、警察、消防员的方法以扩充我们的中产阶级。大多数美国人——民主党员们、共和党员们、独立人士——理解我们并不能削减掉我们通往繁荣的道路。他们知道，我们基础广泛的经济增长，需要的是一个可以削减支出和税收的每一个人都各司其职的平衡的途径以抵达赤字削减的目标。这就是今晚我要提出的方案。
Statement by the President on Syria
Rose Garden
August 31, 2013
THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon, everybody. Ten days ago, the world watched in horror as men, women and children were massacred in Syria in the worst chemical weapons attack of the 21st century. Yesterday the United States presented a powerful case that the Syrian government was responsible for this attack on its own people.
Our intelligence shows the Assad regime and its forces preparing to use chemical weapons, launching rockets in the highly populated suburbs of Damascus, and acknowledging that a chemical weapons attack took place. And all of this corroborates what the world can plainly see -- hospitals overflowing with victims; terrible images of the dead. All told, well over 1,000 people were murdered. Several hundred of them were children -- young girls and boys gassed to death by their own government.
This attack is an assault on human dignity. It also presents a serious danger to our national security. It risks making a mockery of the global prohibition on the use of chemical weapons. It endangers our friends and our partners along Syria’s borders, including Israel, Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon and Iraq. It could lead to escalating use of chemical weapons, or their proliferation to terrorist groups who would do our people harm.
In a world with many dangers, this menace must be confronted.
Now, after careful deliberation, I have decided that the United States should take military action against Syrian regime targets. This would not be an open-ended intervention. We would not put boots on the ground. Instead, our action would be designed to be limited in duration and scope. But I’m confident we can hold the Assad regime accountable for their use of chemical weapons, deter this kind of behavior, and degrade their capacity to carry it out.
Our military has positioned assets in the region. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs has informed me that we are prepared to strike whenever we choose. Moreover, the Chairman has indicated to me that our capacity to execute this mission is not time-sensitive; it will be effective tomorrow, or next week, or one month from now. And I’m prepared to give that order.
But having made my decision as Commander-in-Chief based on what I am convinced is our national security interests, I’m also mindful that I’m the
President of the world’s oldest constitutional democracy. I’ve long believed that our power is rooted not just in our military might, but in our example as a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. And that’s why I’ve made a second decision: I will seek authorization for the use of force from the American people’s representatives in Congress.
Over the last several days, we’ve heard from members of Congress who want their voices to be heard. I absolutely agree. So this morning, I spoke with all four congressional leaders, and they’ve agreed to schedule a debate and then a vote as soon as Congress comes back into session.
In the coming days, my administration stands ready to provide every member with the information they need to understand what happened in Syria and why it has such profound implications for America’s national security. And all of us should be accountable as we move forward, and that can only be accomplished with a vote.
I’m confident in the case our government has made without waiting for U.N. inspectors. I’m comfortable going forward without the approval of a United Nations Security Council that, so far, has been completely paralyzed and unwilling to hold Assad accountable. As a consequence, many people have advised against taking this decision to Congress, and undoubtedly, they were impacted by what we saw happen in the United Kingdom this week when the Parliament of our closest ally failed to pass a resolution with a similar goal, even as the Prime Minister supported taking action.
Yet, while I believe I have the authority to carry out this military action without specific congressional authorization, I know that the country will be stronger if we take this course, and our actions will be even more effective. We should have this debate, because the issues are too big for business as usual. And this morning, John Boehner, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell agreed that this is the right thing to do for our democracy.
A country faces few decisions as grave as using military force, even when that force is limited. I respect the views of those who call for caution, particularly as our country emerges from a time of war that I was elected in part to end. But if we really do want to turn away from taking appropriate action in the face of such an unspeakable outrage, then we must acknowledge the costs of doing nothing.
Here’s my question for every member of Congress and every member of the global community: What message will we send if a dictator can gas hundreds of children to death in plain sight and pay no price? What’s the purpose of the international system that we’ve built if a prohibition on the use of chemical
weapons that has been agreed to by the governments of 98 percent of the world’s people and approved overwhelmingly by the Congress of the United States is not enforced?
Make no mistake -- this has implications beyond chemical warfare. If we won’t enforce accountability in the face of this heinous act, what does it say about our resolve to stand up to others who flout fundamental international rules? To governments who would choose to build nuclear arms? To terrorist who would spread biological weapons? To armies who carry out genocide?
We cannot raise our children in a world where we will not follow through on the things we say, the accords we sign, the values that define us.
So just as I will take this case to Congress, I will also deliver this message to the world. While the U.N. investigation has some time to report on its findings, we will insist that an atrocity committed with chemical weapons is not simply investigated, it must be confronted.
I don’t expect every nation to agree with the decision we have made. Privately we’ve heard many expressions of support from our friends. But I will ask those who care about the writ of the international community to stand publicly behind our action.
And finally, let me say this to the American people: I know well that we are weary of war. We’ve ended one war in Iraq. We’re ending another in Afghanistan. And the American people have the good sense to know we cannot resolve the underlying conflict in Syria with our military. In that part of the world, there are ancient sectarian differences, and the hopes of the Arab Spring have unleashed forces of change that are going to take many years to resolve. And that’s why we’re not contemplating putting our troops in the middle of someone else’s war.
Instead, we’ll continue to support the Syrian people through our pressure on the Assad regime, our commitment to the opposition, our care for the displaced, and our pursuit of a political resolution that achieves a government that respects the dignity of its people.
But we are the United States of America, and we cannot and must not turn a blind eye to what happened in Damascus. Out of the ashes of world war, we built an international order and enforced the rules that gave it meaning. And we did so because we believe that the rights of individuals to live in peace and dignity depends on the responsibilities of nations. We aren’t perfect, but this nation more than any other has been willing to meet those responsibilities.
So to all members of Congress of both parties, I ask you to take this vote for our national security. I am looking forward to the debate. And in doing so, I ask you, members of Congress, to consider that some things are more important than partisan differences or the politics of the moment.
Ultimately, this is not about who occupies this office at any given time; it’s about who we are as a country. I believe that the people’s representatives must be invested in what America does abroad, and now is the time to show the world that America keeps our commitments. We do what we say. And we lead with the belief that right makes might -- not the other way around.
We all know there are no easy options. But I wasn’t elected to avoid hard decisions. And neither were the members of the House and the Senate. I’ve told you what I believe, that our security and our values demand that we cannot turn away from the massacre of countless civilians with chemical weapons. And our democracy is stronger when the President and the people’s representatives stand together.
I’m ready to act in the face of this outrage. Today I’m asking Congress to send a message to the world that we are ready to move forward together as one nation.
Thanks very much.
欧巴马总统就叙利亚问题发表的声明
玫瑰园（Rose Garden）
2013年8月31日
总统：各位下午好。10天前，全世界看到了男女老幼在叙利亚发生的21世纪最残忍的化学武器袭击中惨遭屠杀的骇人场面。昨天，美国确凿地说明了叙利亚政府应为这次攻击本国人民的事件负责。
我们获取的情报表明，阿萨德（Assad）政权及其军队曾准备使用化学武器、向大马士革（Damascus）近郊人口稠密的地区发射火箭弹，并承认发生了一起化学武器袭击。所有这些都证实了全世界清楚地看到的情况——医院里满是受害者；死者的画面令人惊骇。总计有远远超过1,000人惨遭杀害。其中有数百名儿童——年幼的男孩和女孩被他们自己的政府用毒气害死。
这次袭击是对人类尊严的践踏。它还对我们的国家安全构成了严重威胁。它有可能令全球禁止使用化学武器的禁令受到嘲弄。它使与叙利亚相邻的我们的友邦和伙伴国处境危险，其中包括以色列、约旦、土耳其、黎巴嫩和伊拉克。它可能导致化学武器的使用升级，或导致化学武器在妄图伤害我们人民的恐怖主义团伙中扩散。
在一个存在多种危险的世界中，这种威胁必须得到遏制。
现在，在经过审慎斟酌之后，我已决定美国应当采取军事行动打击叙利亚政权目标。这不会是一场旷日持久的干预。我们不会派出地面部队。我们的行动将被制定为在时间和范围上都是有限度的。但我相信，我们能够追究阿萨德政权使用化学武器的罪责，遏制这类行径，并削弱他们采取这种行动的能力。
我们的军队已在该地区部署力量。参谋长联席会议主席（Chairman of the Joint Chiefs）已经向我报告，我们已准备好在我们选择的时间发起行动。此外，参谋长联席会议主席还告诉我，我们执行这项使命的能力不受时间限制；明天、下个星期或从现在开始一个月以后都将具备效力。我已准备好下达这项命令。
但是，在作为军队统帅基于我所确信的我国国家安全利益作出决定的同时，我也牢记我是全世界历史最悠久的宪政民主国家的总统。长久以来，我一直深信，我们的实力不仅源于我们的军事威力，更源于我们作为一个民有、民治、民享的政府的典范力量。正因为如此，我还作出了第二项决定：我将征求国会中美国人民的代表给予使用武力的授权。
近几天来，我们听到了想公开发表意见的国会议员的声音。我对此完全赞同。今天上午，我同全部4位国会领袖进行了交谈，他们同意在国会复会后立即制定举行辩论和投票的日程。
在今后几天中，本届政府随时准备向每一位议员提供他们所需的信息，以便了解在叙利亚发生的事件以及它对美国国家安全影响重大的原因。我们所有人在向前推进的过程中都应当接受问责，而投票是作到问责的唯一途径。
我确信我国政府不等联合国核查人员调查完毕便已得出的结论。我相信可以在没有联合国安理会（United Nations Security Council）批准的情况下采取行动，因为到目前为止，安理会已完全陷入瘫痪，不愿追究阿萨德的罪责。因此，很多人还提出反对将这个决定提交国会，毫无疑问，他们受到了我们这个星期所看到的在英国发生的情况的影响，我们最亲密的盟国的议会未能通过一项抱有类似目标的决议案，尽管英国首相支持采取行动。
不过，虽然我相信我有权在没有得到国会明确授权的情况下执行这项军事行动，但我知道如果我们采取这个步骤，我们的国家将更加强大，我们的行动将更有效力。我们应当展开这场辩论，因为此事事关重大，不可一如往常。今天上午，约翰∙博纳（John Boehner）、哈里·里德（Harry Reid）、南希·佩洛西（Nancy Pelosi）和米奇·麦康奈尔（Mitch McConnell）一致认为这是为我们的民主制度而采取的正确步骤。
国家派遣军队属于重大决策，很少有其他事务能与之相比，即使军队的数量很有限也是如此。有些人呼吁保持谨慎，特别是因为我国正逐步走出战争时期，我当选现职在某种程度上也是为了结束战争。我尊重这些人的看法。但是面临如此罄竹难书的罪恶暴行，我们如果的确想袖手旁观，不采取适当的行动，就必须承担不采取行动的代价。
我对国会每一位成员和全球社会每一位成员提出的问题是：如果独裁者可以在光天化日之下使数百名儿童被毒气夺取生命，但不付出任何代价，那么我们将发出什么样的信号？如果禁
止使用化学武器一事得到代表全世界98%人民的政府同意，也在美国国会以压倒多数批准，但得不到执行，那么我们已经建立的国际体系作用何在？
毫无疑问—这个问题的意义已经超出了化学战的范畴。面对这种罪大恶极的行为，如果我们不采取负责任的强制措施，我们还有没有决心抗击蔑视基本国际准则的人？还有没有决心抵制企图制造核武器的政府？还有没有决心打击扩散生物武器的恐怖主义分子？还有没有决心制止采取种族灭绝行动的军队？
我们如果不能言出必行，不能执行签署的协议，不能维护体现我们本色的价值观，就无法在这个世界上教导我们的子女。
所以，我将向国会提出这个问题，也将向全世界传递这个信息。此时，联合国调查人员还需要时间报告调查结果，但我们需要强调，对于使用化学武器犯下的滔天罪行，这不仅仅是调查的问题，而必须给于迎头痛击。
我并不认为每一个国家都会同意我们做出的决定。我们在不公开场合听到很多朋友们表示支持的声音。但是我要求那些关注国际社会相关法令的人公开支持我们的行动。
最后，请允许我对美国人民表示：我知道我们厌倦战争。我们已经结束在伊拉克的战争。我们正在结束在阿富汗的战争。美国人民都明智地认识到，我们不能以我们的军事力量解决叙利亚的根本问题。在世界的这个地区，存在着历史久远的宗派分歧，阿拉伯之春（Arab Spring）的希望释放了改革的力量，需要多年才能解决问题。正因为如此，我们不考虑派我们的军队投入其他人的战争漩涡。
然而，我们将继续支持叙利亚人民，为此需要对阿萨德政权施加压力，坚持我们对反对派的承诺，关心流离失所的民众，并争取政治解决方案，实现尊重本国人民尊严的政府。
但我们是美利坚合众国（United States of America），绝不能对大马士革发生的一切视而不见。我们在世界大战的废墟上建立了国际秩序，执行了使现行国际秩序行之有效的各种规则。我们这样做是因为，我们相信，个人享有和平、有尊严的生活的权利取决于各国承担的责任。我们并不完善，但这个国家比其他任何国家都更愿意承担这些责任。
为此，我要求国会两党的所有成员为我们的国家安全投下这一票。我期待对此进行辩论。与此同时，我要求诸位国会议员考虑到有些问题比党派分歧更重要，比现时政治更重要。
归根结底，这与谁在某一个时期在这个职位上任职视事无关；这关系到维护我们作为一个国家的本色。我认为民意代表必须为美国在海外从事的工作发挥作用。现在正应该向全世界表明美国恪守我们的承诺。我们言出必行。我们秉持我们的信念发挥领导作用，坚信正义就是力量—而不是相反。
众所周知，做出任何选择都不容易。但是我当选此职，不是为了回避艰难的抉择。参众两院的成员也是如此。我已经告诉诸位我秉持的信念，我们的安全和我们的价值观要求我们不能对使用化学武器残杀无数平民的行为袖手旁观。只要总统和民意代表齐心协力，我们的民主就更为强大。
我准备对这种暴行采取行动。今天，我请求国会告诉全世界，我们准备举国同心向前迈进。
多谢诸位。
Statement on Syria
Secretary of State John Kerry
Treaty Room, Washington, D.C.
August 30, 2013
President Obama has spent many days now consulting with Congress and talking with leaders around the world about the situation in Syria. And last night, the President asked all of us on his national security team to consult with the leaders of Congress as well, including the leadership of the Congressional national security committees. And he asked us to consult about what we know regarding the horrific chemical weapons attack in the Damascus suburbs last week. I will tell you that as someone who has spent nearly three decades in the United States Congress, I know that that consultation is the right way for a president to approach a decision of when and how and if to use military force. And it’s important to ask the tough questions and get the tough answers before taking action, not just afterwards.
And I believe, as President Obama does, that it is also important to discuss this directly with the American people. That’s our responsibility, to talk with the citizens who have entrusted all of us in the Administration and the Congress with the responsibility for their security. That’s why this morning’s release of our government’s unclassified estimate of what took place in Syria is so important. Its findings are as clear as they are compelling. I’m not asking you to take my word for it. Read for yourself, everyone, those listening. All of you, read for yourselves the evidence from thousands of sources, evidence that is already publicly available, and read for yourselves the verdict reached by our intelligence community about the chemical weapons attack the Assad regime inflicted on the opposition and on opposition-controlled or contested neighborhoods in the Damascus suburbs on the early morning of August 21st.
Our intelligence community has carefully reviewed and re-reviewed information regarding this attack, and I will tell you it has done so more than mindful of the Iraq experience. We will not repeat that moment. Accordingly, we have taken unprecedented steps to declassify and make facts available to people who can judge for themselves. But still, in order to protect sources and methods, some of
what we know will only be released to members of Congress, the representatives of the American people. That means that some things we do know we can’t talk about publicly.
So what do we really know that we can talk about? Well, we know that the Assad regime has the largest chemical weapons program in the entire Middle East. We know that the regime has used those weapons multiple times this year and has used them on a smaller scale, but still it has used them against its own people, including not very far from where last Wednesday’s attack happened. We know that the regime was specifically determined to rid the Damascus suburbs of the opposition, and it was frustrated that it hadn’t succeeded in doing so.
We know that for three days before the attack the Syrian regime’s chemical weapons personnel were on the ground in the area making preparations. And we know that the Syrian regime elements were told to prepare for the attack by putting on gas masks and taking precautions associated with chemical weapons. We know that these were specific instructions. We know where the rockets were launched from and at what time. We know where they landed and when. We know rockets came only from regime-controlled areas and went only to opposition-controlled or contested neighborhoods.
And we know, as does the world, that just 90 minutes later all hell broke loose in the social media. With our own eyes we have seen the thousands of reports from 11 separate sites in the Damascus suburbs. All of them show and report victims with breathing difficulties, people twitching with spasms, coughing, rapid heartbeats, foaming at the mouth, unconsciousness and death.
And we know it was ordinary Syrian citizens who reported all of these horrors. And just as important, we know what the doctors and the nurses who treated them didn’t report – not a scratch, not a shrapnel wound, not a cut, not a gunshot wound. We saw rows of dead lined up in burial shrouds, the white linen unstained by a single drop of blood. Instead of being tucked safely in their beds at home, we saw rows of children lying side by side sprawled on a hospital floor, all of them dead from Assad’s gas and surrounded by parents and grandparents who had suffered the same fate.
The United States Government now knows that at least 1,429 Syrians were killed in this attack, including at least 426 children. Even the first responders, the doctors, nurses, and medics who tried to save them, they became victims themselves. We saw them gasping for air, terrified that their own lives were in danger.
This is the indiscriminate, inconceivable horror of chemical weapons. This is what Assad did to his own people.
We also know many disturbing details about the aftermath. We know that a senior regime official who knew about the attack confirmed that chemical weapons were used by the regime, reviewed the impact, and actually was afraid that they would be discovered. We know this.
And we know what they did next. I personally called the Foreign Minister of Syria and I said to him, ―If, as you say, your nation has nothing to hide, then let the United Nations in immediately and give the inspectors the unfettered access so they have the opportunity to tell your story.‖ Instead, for four days they shelled the neighborhood in order to destroy evidence, bombarding block after block at a rate four times higher than they had over the previous 10 days. And when the UN inspectors finally gained access, that access, as we now know, was restricted and controlled.
In all of these things that I have listed, in all of these things that we know, all of them, the American intelligence community has high confidence, high confidence. This is common sense. This is evidence. These are facts.
So the primary question is really no longer: What do we know? The question is: What are we – we collectively – what are we in the world going to do about it?
As previous storms in history have gathered, when unspeakable crimes were within our power to stop them, we have been warned against the temptations of looking the other way. History is full of leaders who have warned against inaction, indifference, and especially against silence when it mattered most. Our choices then in history had great consequences and our choice today has great consequences. It matters that nearly a hundred years ago, in direct response to the utter horror and inhumanity of World War I, that the civilized world agreed that chemical weapons should never be used again.
That was the world’s resolve then, and that began nearly a century of effort to create a clear redline for the international community. It matters today that we are working as an international community to rid the world of the worst weapons. That’s why we signed agreements like the START Treaty, the New START Treaty, the Chemical Weapons Convention, which more than 180 countries, including Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon, have signed on to.
It matters to our security and the security of our allies. It matters to Israel. It matters to our close friends Jordan, Turkey, and Lebanon – all of whom live just a stiff breeze away from Damascus. It matters to all of them where the Syrian chemical weapons are. And if unchecked, they can cause even greater death and destruction to those friends. And it matters deeply to the credibility and the future interests of the United States of America and our allies.
It matters because a lot of other countries, whose polices challenges these international norms, are watching. They are watching. They want to see whether the United States and our friends mean what we say. It is directly related to our credibility and whether countries still believe the United States when it says something. They are watching to see if Syria can get away with it, because then maybe they too can put the world at greater risk.
And make no mistake, in an increasingly complicated world of sectarian and religious extremist violence, what we choose to do or not do matters in real ways to our own security. Some cite the risk of doing things, but we need to ask, what is the risk of doing nothing?
It matters because if we choose to live in a world where a thug and a murderer like Bashar al-Assad can gas thousands of his own people with impunity, even after the United States and our allies said no, and then the world does nothing about it, there will be no end to the test of our resolve and the dangers that will flow from those others who believe that they can do as they will.
This matters also beyond the limits of Syria’s borders. It is about whether Iran, which itself has been a victim of chemical weapons attacks, will now feel emboldened, in the absence of action, to obtain nuclear weapons. It is about Hezbollah, and North Korea, and every other terrorist group or dictator that might ever again contemplate the use of weapons of mass destruction. Will they remember that the Assad regime was stopped from those weapons’ current or future use, or will they remember that the world stood aside and created impunity?
So our concern is not just about some far off land oceans away. That’s not what this is about. Our concern with the cause of the defenseless people of Syria is about choices that will directly affect our role in the world and our interests in the world. It is also profoundly about who we are. We are the United States of America. We are the country that has tried, not always successfully, but always tried to honor a set of universal values around which we have organized our lives and our aspirations. This crime against conscience, this crime against humanity, this crime against the most fundamental principles of international community, against the norm of the international community, this matters to us. And it matters to who we are. And it matters to leadership and to our credibility in the world. My friends, it matters here if nothing is done. It matters if the world speaks out in condemnation and then nothing happens.
America should feel confident and gratified that we are not alone in our condemnation, and we are not alone in our will to do something about it and to act. The world is speaking out, and many friends stand ready to respond. The
Arab League pledged, quote, ―to hold the Syrian regime fully responsible for this crime.‖ The Organization for Islamic Cooperation condemned the regime and said we needed, quote, ―to hold the Syrian Government legally and morally accountable for this heinous crime.‖ Turkey said there is no doubt that the regime is responsible. Our oldest ally, the French, said the regime, quote, ―committed this vile action, and it is an outrage to use weapons that the community has banned for the last 90 years in all international conventions.‖ The Australian Prime Minister said he didn’t want history to record that we were, quote, ―a party to turning such a blind eye.‖
So now that we know what we know, the question we must all be asking is: What will we do? Let me emphasize – President Obama, we in the United States, we believe in the United Nations. And we have great respect for the brave inspectors who endured regime gunfire and obstructions to their investigation. But as Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary General, has said again and again, the UN investigation will not affirm who used these chemical weapons. That is not the mandate of the UN investigation. They will only affirm whether such weapons were used. By the definition of their own mandate, the UN can’t tell us anything that we haven’t shared with you this afternoon or that we don’t already know. And because of the guaranteed Russian obstructionism of any action through the UN Security Council, the UN cannot galvanize the world to act as it should.
So let me be clear. We will continue talking to the Congress, talking to our allies, and most importantly, talking to the American people. President Obama will ensure that the United States of America makes our own decisions on our own timelines based on our values and our interests.
Now, we know that after a decade of conflict, the American people are tired of war. Believe me, I am, too. But fatigue does not absolve us of our responsibility. Just longing for peace does not necessarily bring it about. And history would judge us all extraordinarily harshly if we turned a blind eye to a dictator’s wanton use of weapons of mass destruction against all warnings, against all common understanding of decency. These things we do know.
We also know that we have a President who does what he says that he will do. And he has said very clearly that whatever decision he makes in Syria, it will bear no resemblance to Afghanistan, Iraq, or even Libya. It will not involve any boots on the ground. It will not be open-ended. And it will not assume responsibility for a civil war that is already well underway. The President has been clear: Any action that he might decide to take will be a limited and tailored response to ensure that a despot’s brutal and flagrant use of chemical weapons is held accountable. And ultimately, ultimately, we are committed – we remain committed, we believe it’s the primary objective – is to have a diplomatic process that can resolve this through negotiation, because we know there is no
ultimate military solution. It has to be political. It has to happen at the negotiating table, and we are deeply committed to getting there.
So that is what we know. That’s what the leaders of Congress now know. And that’s what the American people need to know. And that is at the core of the decisions that must now be made for the security of our country and for the promise of a planet where the world’s most heinous weapons must never again be used against the world’s most vulnerable people.
Thank you very much.
约翰·克里国务卿关于叙利亚的讲话
条约厅（Treaty Room），华盛顿特区（Washington, D.C.）
2013年8月30日
克里国务卿：欧巴马总统连日来在就叙利亚局势与国会磋商，并同世界各地领导人通了话。昨晚，总统要求国家安全班子的所有成员也与国会领袖交换意见，包括与国会负责国家安全事务的有关委员会领袖。他要我们就我们所了解的上星期在大马士革（Damascus）郊区发生的骇人听闻的化学武器攻击交换情况。我可以告诉各位，作为一个曾在美国国会供职近30年的人，我知道，磋商是总统决定何时、何种方式以及是否使用武力的正确途径。必须在采取行动之前，而不是之后，提出各种难题并作出相应回答。
我认为，欧巴马总统同样认为，也必须直接与美国人民讨论这个问题。与将安全托付给本政府和国会所有成员的公民进行沟通是我们的责任。正因为如此，我们今天早上必须将政府对叙利亚所发生的情况的非机密评估公布于众。这些结论清楚而有力。我不是要你们只听我说，请正在听讲的各位亲自去读。所有各位，请去读一读有数千个来源的证据，已经公开可见的证据，请去读一读我们的情报机构得出的关于 8月21日凌晨阿萨德（Assad）政权向反对派和反对派控制和争夺的大马士革郊外一些小区发动化学武器攻击的结论。
我们的情报机构对有关这次袭击的信息进行了仔细的审视、再审视，我可以说，在这点上伊拉克的经历令人极其小心。我们不会重蹈覆辙。因此，我们采取了前所未有的解密步骤，将事实摆出来，由人们自己作判断。但是，为了保护来源和所用方式，我们只能将有些已知情况告诉国会成员，即美国人民的代表。这意味着，我们无法公开地谈论我们确实掌握的有些情况。
那么，什么是我们能够谈论的我们确实知道的情况呢？ 我们知道，阿萨德政权拥有全中东地区最大的化学武器项目。我们知道，这个政权今年曾多次以较小规模使用过那些武器，但这仍是针对着自己的人民，其中包括发生在距离上星期三攻击不远的地方。我们知道，这个政权尤其执意要在大马士革郊区清除反对派，对始终未能如愿躁怒不安。
我们知道，在发生攻击的前三天，叙利亚政权的化学武器人员曾在当地进行准备。我们知道，叙利亚政权的一些成员被告知，要为预防攻击戴上防毒面具和采取与化学武器相关的防范措
施。我们知道，这些是具体的指示。我们知道，火箭从何地何时发射。我们知道，它们落在何地何时。我们知道，火箭只来自政府控制的地区，只发向反对派控制或争夺的小区。
我们知道，全世界也知道，仅仅在90分钟后，社交媒体一片鼎沸。我们亲眼看到来自大马士革11个地方的数以千计的报道。所有报道都显示和叙述遭攻击的人呼吸困难，抽搐痉挛，咳嗽，心跳加速，口吐白沫，丧失知觉，死亡。
而且我们知道，所有这些可怕的报道是来自普通的叙利亚公民。同样重要的是，我们知道， 救治这些人的医生护士没有提到某些状况——没有擦伤，没有弹片伤，没有破口，没有枪伤。我们看到一排排裹在尸布中的尸体，上面没有一点血迹。我们看到，本应安详睡在家中的儿童，一行行并排躺在医院的地上，被阿萨德的毒气夺走了生命，在他们四周是遭遇相同命运的爸爸妈妈、爷爷奶奶。
美国政府现在知道，这次攻击造成至少1429名叙利亚人死亡，其中至少有426名儿童。 就连那些一线急救人员——医生、护士和卫生员，也沦为遇难者。我们看到他们呼吸艰难，惊恐地意识到自己也生命危急。
这是化学武器的滥杀和令人难以置信的恐怖。这是阿萨德对待自己人民的行径。
我们也知道有关后果的许多令人不安的细节。我们知道，一位知晓此次攻击的政府高官证实该政权用了化学武器，审视了其影响，而且还担心情况会被发现。我们知道这点。
我们还知道他们下一步做了什么。我亲自打电话给叙利亚外长，我对他说：―如果像你所说，贵国没有任何东西需要隐藏，那么让联合国立即进入，让检查人员能够畅通无阻地准入，以便他们有机会替你们说话。‖然而，他们连续4天轰炸小区以销毁证据，一个街区一个街区地轰炸，频率是前10天的4倍。当联合国检查人员终于能够进入当地时，如我们现在所知，他们的行动受到了限制和控制。
美国情报界对我上述列举的这一切、我们所知道的这一切，对这一切，有高度信心，高度信心。这是常识。这是证据。这些是事实。
所以，主要的问题不再是：我们都知道什么？问题是：我们——我们一起——到底应当怎样作出反响？
如同过去历史风暴显示，当我们有能力制止不可言喻的罪行时，我们被警告，不要视而不见。历史上有无数领袖人物发出过警告，在最重要关头不得无所作为，无动于衷，尤其不能保持沉默。我们那时的历史抉择产生了重大后果，我们今天的抉择也会产生重大后果。将近100年前，作为对第一次世界大战的惨烈和非人道的直接回应，文明世界一致同意永远不得再使用化学武器。
那是世界当时的决心，并由此开始了近一个世纪的努力，在国际社会划出一条清晰的红线。今天，我们有必要作为一个整体国际社会，一道努力消除世界上最恶毒的武器。这就是为什么我们签署了《削减战略武器条约》（START Treaty），《削减战略武器新条约》（New START Treaty），《禁止化学武器公约》（Chemical Weapon Convention）等协议，
包括伊朗、伊拉克和黎巴嫩在内的180多个国家签署了《禁止化学武器公约》。
这对我们和我们盟友的安全至关重要。这对以色列至关重要。这对我们的亲密朋友——与大马士革近在咫尺的约旦、土耳其和黎巴嫩——至关重要。这对叙利亚化学武器所在地的所有人至关重要。如果放任不管，它们会对那些朋友造成更大的伤亡和损害。这对美国及其盟友的信誉和长远利益极其重要。
它之所以重要，还因为有其他不少以其政策挑战国际准则的国家正在观望。他们在观望。他们想知道美国和我们的朋友是否言出必行。这直接关系到我们的信誉，关系到美国是否仍在其他国家面前言而有信。他们在观望叙利亚是否能够逃脱，因为如果真能如此，那么他们或许也可以让世界陷入更大险境。
毋庸置疑，在一个充满教派和宗教极端主义暴力的日趋复杂的世界里，我们选择有所作为或是无所作为直接关系到我们自身的安全。有些人举出了有作为的风险，但我们要问，无作为的风险又是什么？
这一点之所以重要是因为，如果我们选择生活在这样一个世界中——巴沙尔•阿萨德（Bashar al-Assad）这样的无赖和刽子手即使在美国和我们的盟友警告之后，仍可以用毒气杀害自己数以千计的人民而不受惩罚，那么，对我们决心的挑战将没有底线，那些认为他们可以为所欲为的人会无止境地把世界置于危险之中。
这一点的重要性超出了叙利亚边界。它关系到面对这种无所作为，伊朗是否会更嚣张地获取核武器，尽管其本身曾经是化学武器攻击的受害者。它还关系到真主党（Hezbollah），北韩，以及所有其他恐怖主义组织或独裁者是否会再度企图使用大规模毁灭性武器。他们是将记得阿萨德政权现在和未来被制止了使用这些武器，还是记得世界曾袖手旁观，令其逍遥法外？
因此，我们所关切的绝不是远隔重洋的某一遥远国度。这不是实质所在。我们对手无寸铁的叙利亚人民的事业的关切，关系着那些将直接影响我们的国际作用和利益的选择。这也在根本上关系到我们的本色。我们是美利坚合众国。我们一直努力——虽然并非每次成功——但我们始终努力奉行一套普世价值， 我们是按照这样的普世价值来组织我们的生活和奋斗目标。这种违反良心的罪行，这种反人性的罪行，这种违反国际社会最根本的原则、违反国际社会规范的罪行，对我们非同小可。这关系到我们的本色。这关系到我们在这个世界的领导地位和信誉。朋友们，如果不采取任何行动，非同小可。如果全世界大声谴责而毫无行动，非同小可。
美国应该感到自信和欣慰的是，提出谴责的不仅是我们一国，愿意采取某种措施和行动的不仅是我们一国。全世界正在大声疾呼，许多盟友随时准备响应。阿拉伯联盟（Arab League）誓言要——用他们的话说——―追究叙利亚政权对此罪行的全部责任‖。伊斯兰合作组织（Organization for Islamic Cooperation）谴责该政权并表示我们必须——用他们的话——―从法律上和道德上追究叙利亚政府对这一令人发指的罪行的责任‖ 。土耳其说，毫无疑问叙利亚政权责任难逃。我们最悠久的盟国法国说，叙利亚政权——用他们的话说——―采取了这种卑鄙的行动。使用过去90年国际社会在所有国际公约中禁止的武器，令人愤慨‖。澳大利亚总理说，他不愿让历史留下这样的记录，说我们是―一群人视而不见的人‖。
现在，基于我们已经知道的情况，我们所有人必须问这样一个问题：我们该怎么办？我必须强调——欧巴马总统，我们美国人民——我们相信联合国。我们极为尊重那些勇敢的检查人员，他们冒着叙利亚政权的炮火，忍受了百般阻挠。但正如潘基文（Ban Ki-moon）秘书长反复说明的那样，联合国的调查将不是确定谁使用了这些化学武器。这不是联合国调查的使命。他们只将确定是否使用了这种武器。根据他们自身使命的定义，除了今天下午我们和你们谈的内容外，联合国不能告诉我们任何别的情况，也不能告诉我们任何我们所不知的情况。由于俄罗斯必定会通过联合国安理会（UN Security Council）阻碍任何行动，联合国无法调动全世界采取应有的行动。
因此请让我明确说明。我们将继续和国会磋商，和我们的盟友磋商，最重要的是，和美国人民磋商。欧巴马总统将确保，美利坚合众国会根据我们的价值观和我们的利益，按照我们自己的时间表作出决定。
我们知道，在10年的冲突后，美国人民厌倦了战争。请相信，我也一样。但是疲劳不能让我们开脱责任。仅渴望和平不一定能得到和平。如果某个独裁者无视各种警告，无视所有人对文明的共同理解，恣意妄为地使用大规模杀伤性武器，如果我们对其视而不见，那么历史将会极其严厉地评判我们。这些为我们所确知。
我们也知道，我们的总统言必信行必果。他已经非常明确地说过，无论他对叙利亚作出何种决定，它绝不会与对阿富汗、伊拉克或甚至利比亚的决定相同。它将不涉及派出地面部队。它不会旷日持久。它不会为早在进行的内战承担责任。总统已经很明确：他可能决定的任何行动都将是有限度和有针对性的反应，确保让残酷和公然使用化学武器的暴君承担后果。最终，最终，我们致力于——我们继续致力于，我们认为这是我们的主要目标——即使用外交程序，通过谈判予以解决，因为我们知道，不存在终极的军事解决方案。它必须是政治解决。它必须在谈判桌上产生，我们坚决致力于达成政治解决。
因此，这就是我们了解的情况。这是国会领导人现在了解的情况。这是全体美国人民需要了解的情况。这就是现在必须作出决定的核心——为了我国的安全，为了我们这个星球的承诺，即世界上最为令人发指的武器将绝不再用于屠杀最易受伤害的人民。
非常感谢大家。