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That year, the country was coming out of civil war.
那年，哥斯達(dá)黎加剛從一場內(nèi)戰(zhàn)中解脫。
Thousands of Costa Ricans had died, and families were bitterly split.
成千上萬的哥斯達(dá)黎加人死于戰(zhàn)亂，一個個家庭支離破碎，人們流離失所。
And yet, a surprising idea won the hearts and minds:
然而，一個令人驚訝的想法得到了大家的支持：
we would reboot the country, and that Second Republic would have no army. So we abolished it.
我們要讓國家重新繁榮起來，而且第二共和國將不會有軍隊(duì)。所以我們廢除了軍隊(duì)。
And the president at the time, José Figueres,
當(dāng)時的總統(tǒng)，何塞·菲格雷斯，
found a powerful way by smashing the walls of an army base.
還通過敲碎軍隊(duì)基地的墻壁來表達(dá)堅毅與決心。
The following year, 1949, we made that decision permanent in the new constitution,
接下來的一年，1949年，我們把這個決定寫進(jìn)了我們的憲法里，將它永久地保留下來，
and that is why I can tell you that story nearly 70 years later. And I'm grateful.
這也是為什么我能在將近70年后跟你們講這段故事。我很感激。
I'm grateful they made that decision before I was born,
我很感激他們在我出生之前，做了這個決定，
because it allowed me and millions of others to live in a very stable country.
因?yàn)檫@個決定讓我和百萬名哥斯達(dá)黎加的百姓生活在一個非常安定的國家里。
And you might be thinking that it was good luck, but it wasn't.
你有可能覺得這只是好運(yùn)氣，但這并不是。
There was a pattern of deliberate choices.
這一切都是因?yàn)橐幌盗薪?jīng)過深思熟慮的決定。
In the '40s, Costa Ricans were given free education and free health care.
在上世紀(jì)40年代，哥斯達(dá)黎加人可以免費(fèi)上學(xué)，享受免費(fèi)醫(yī)療。
We called that social guarantees.
我們把這些叫做社會保障。
By abolishing the army, we were able to turn military spending into social spending,
廢除了軍隊(duì)，讓我們能夠把龐大的軍事消費(fèi)用在社會保障上，
and that was a driver of stability.
而這就是我們國家穩(wěn)定的基石。
