奧巴馬“父親節”致辭,家庭最重要

Hi, everybody. This Sunday is Father’s Day, and so I wanted to take a moment to talk about the most important job many of us will ever have – and that’s being a dad.

大家好。本周日是父親節，所以我想花點時間談談我們很多人一生最重要的一項工作——做一名父親。

Today we’re blessed to live in a world where technology allows us to connect instantly with just about anyone on the planet. But no matter how advanced we get, there will never be a substitute for the love and support and, most importantly, the presence of a parent in a child’s life. And in many ways, that’s uniquely true for fathers.

今天，在我們生活的地球上，技術使我們能隨時與任何人交流，這是幸福的。但是不管我們取得多么大的進步，在孩子的一生中，愛和支持，特別是父母的存在，是最重要的，也是無可替代的。而且在很多方面，對父親們來說，這更是一個真理。

I never really knew my own father. I was raised by a single mom and two wonderful grandparents who made incredible sacrifices for me. And there are single parents all across the country who do a heroic job raising terrific kids. But I still wish I had a dad who was not only around, but involved; another role model to teach me what my mom did her best to instill – values like hard work and integrity; responsibility and delayed gratification – all the things that give a child the foundation to envision a brighter future for themselves.

我其實真的不怎么了解我的父親。單親的媽媽和慈祥的外祖母和外祖父養育了我，他們為我付出了巨大的犧牲。全國有很多單親父母承擔著撫養出色的孩子們的偉大工作。但是我始終希望我有個父親，不僅僅是陪伴著我，而是融入到我的生活之中；我媽媽嘔心瀝血地給我灌輸勤奮誠實的價值觀；責任感和之后的知足感—這些都是一個孩子自己更加光明前途的基礎。

That’ s why I try every day to be for Michelle and my girls what my father was not for my mother and me. And I’ve met plenty of other people – dads and uncles and men without a family connection –who are trying to break the cycle and give more of our young people a strong male role model.

正因如此，我每天都在為米歇爾和我的兩個女兒做一個好丈夫和好父親，而我的父親沒有為我和我的母親做到這些。我認識很多其他人，父親、叔伯和沒有血緣關系的人們正在努力打破常規給更多年輕人一個強大的男性榜樣作用。

Being a good parent – whether you’re gay or straight; a foster parent or a grandparent – isn’t easy. It demands your constant attention, frequent sacrifice, and a healthy dose of patience. And nobody’s perfect. To this day, I’m still figuring out how to be a better husband to my wife and father to my kids.

不管你是同性戀者還是異性戀者，養父母或是祖父母，當一名合格的家長都并不容易。這需要你一直付出關心，經常自我犧牲以及擁有適度的耐心。沒有人完美無缺。直至今天，我還在努力去做一名更好的丈夫和更好的父親。

And I want to do what I can as President to encourage marriage and strong families. We should reform our child support laws to get more men working and engaged with their children. And my Administration will continue to work with the faith and other community organizations, as well as businesses, on a campaign to encourage strong parenting and fatherhood.

作為總統，我想傾盡所能來鼓勵婚姻和穩固的家庭。我們應該改革我們的兒童撫養法，讓更多的父親們融入到他們孩子們的生活中。本屆政府將繼續與宗教和其他社區組織以及企業進行合作，發動一項鼓勵雙親責任和父親義務的運動。

Because if there’s one thing I’ve learned along the way, it’s that all our personal successes shine a little less brightly if we fail at family. That’s what matters most. When I look back on my life, I won’t be thinking about any particular legislation I passed or policy I promoted. I’ll be thinking about Michelle, and the journey we’ve been on together. I’ll be thinking about Sasha’s dance recitals and Malia’s tennis matches –about the conversations we’ve had and the quiet moments we’ve shared. I’ll be thinking about whether I did right by them, and whether they knew, every day, just how much they were loved.

因為如果說我在這條路上學到了一件事，那就是如果在家庭上我們沒有做好自己，那么我們所有人的成功都如同白璧微瑕。這一點至關重要。當我回顧我的一生，我不會想到我通過的任何法案或我提出的政策。我想到的會是米歇爾和我們共同走過的旅程。我想到的會是薩沙的個人舞蹈演出和瑪利亞的網球比賽。想到的會是我們有過的交流和我們共享的靜謐時光。我想到的會是我們為她們做的是否正確，她們是否懂得她們每天得到了多少愛。

That’s what I think being a father is all about. And if we can do our best to be a source of comfort and encouragement to our kids; if we can show them unconditional love and help them grow into the people they were meant to be; then we will have succeeded.

這就是我認為作為一個父親的全部內容。如果我們能成為我們的孩子們的滿足和鼓勵的最好的源泉；如果我們能獻給他們無條件的愛和幫助他們成長為他們希望的成年人；那么我們就成功了。

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there, and have a great weekend.

祝父親們節日快樂，周末愉快

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