2007年，隨著“村村通”項目的實施，中國絕大多數的村莊實現了通電，很多人第一次用上了電燈。中國有一半的農民看不起病，現在農村合作醫療保障制度覆蓋了90%的農村人口。雖然每人只有區區的50元錢，后來長到100元錢，但這卻足以讓不少農民病有所醫。

In 2007, the program of extending power supply to every village, many people saw electric light for the first time in their lives. About half of the rural

population in China never went into the hospital for economic reasons. A cooperative medical care scheme now covered 90% of rural China. Albeit small, 50 yuan per person to start with and it has grown to 100 yuan now, but it has enabled many farmers to be cared of in sickness.

盡管中國的發展還不很平衡，一些農村地區仍然存在貧困的現象，但我們相信，中國走向繁榮的步伐不會停止，老百姓的日子會一年比一年好。

Although the prosperity is not evenly shared and there is still poverty in the countryside, we are confident that the trend of prosperity is going to continue and the people will be better off with each passing year.

講到中國，就不能不提到中國的民主政治建設。世界往往高估中國的經濟成就，而低估中國在政治改革和發展社會主義民主上取得的顯著進步。

I can’t talk about China without mentioning the political and democratic development. The world tends to over-estimate the economic progress in China and overlook China’s progress in political reform and socialist democratic development.

來這里演講前，我在百度上搜索“中國民主政治改革”，不到一秒鐘就找到139萬個搜索結果。不少人對這個問題提出各種各樣的意見，有許多很有意思的分析和建議。

Before coming here, I searched through Baidu, a Chinese search engine “China’s democratic political reform”, I got 1.39 million results in less than a second. There are very different opinions on this subject and some interesting analysis and suggestions.

我本人經歷過上世紀60年代文化大革命期間的無政府狀態，也見證了改革開放帶來的進步，深深體會到中國在加強民主決策、推行法治建設上取得了很大的進步。

For me, having seen the anarchy of the Cultural Revolution of the 60s and having witnessed the progress of the reform, I can see China has come a long way in the development of democratic decision making and the rule of law.

比如，全國人民代表大會在中國的政治生活中發揮著越來越重要的作用。中國231部法律中，223部是在過去30年制定的。全國人大在短短30年里完成的立法，是很多國家耗時幾百年才制定出來的。

Take the role of the National People’s Congress for example, it has assumed very important role in China’s political life. Of the 231 pieces of laws in China, 223 were promulgated in the past 30 years. The National People’s Congress is covering huge legislative work that in many countries was done in a span of hundreds of years.

《物權法》發布前在全國范圍內進行了創紀錄的長達7年的討論。在《勞動法》的審議過程中，全國人大收到了20萬條建議，其中65%來自社會基層。