奥巴马演讲视频：We Have to Increase the Pace

Hi, this is Joe Biden. I'm speaking to you from the University of Pittsburgh, where I just spoke 1 to students here about what we've done to help ease the burden on them when it comes to the rising cost of tuition and the accumulating student debt and what we're going to do to help create jobs when they graduate.

Today we found out we've had the 20th month in a row where we've increased private sector 2 jobs -- 104,000 this month, 104,000 private sector jobs. And as all you know, that's not nearly enough. We have to increase the pace. We have to act now to do everything in our power to keep this economy moving and to grow jobs.

President Obama is on his way back from France where he just met with the leaders of the 20 largest economies in the world, where he urged our European friends to step up and stabilize 3 their own economies because if they fail, it will affect the whole world.

Too many Americans are still struggling. Too many college students here at the University of Pittsburgh and elsewhere are worrying about the rising cost of their tuition, and the increasing accumulation of debt. And too many of their parents are in stagnant 4 jobs or out of work, wondering if they're going to be able to send their child back to college next semester.

My dad used to have a saying. He said, a job is about a lot more than a paycheck. It's about dignity. It's about respect.

And too many Americans have been stripped of their dignity through no fault of their own. So we can't wait to help them. The President and I believe we have to act now. That's why we've introduced the jobs bill which independent validators said would create 2 million new jobs.

Although 51 senators voted for that jobs bill, our Republican colleagues in the Senate used a procedural requirement that requires it to have 60 votes, so it failed.

And since then we've taken every important piece of the jobs bill and demanded that we have a separate vote. But our Republican colleagues in the Senate have voted unanimously to vote down each and every part so far: to restore 400,000 jobs for teachers, police officers, firefighters, putting them back in classrooms, on the streets and in the fire houses.

And then on Thursday, they unanimously voted down the second part of our program: to rebuild our crumbling 5 roads and bridges, which would have created more than 400,000 good-paying jobs.

These are all programs that the Republicans in the past have supported, but once again, every Republican voted no -- blocking the majority will to put these folks back to work.

I think the assumption is that they're voting no because of the way we would pay for these jobs, and we do pay for them. We think everybody should pay their fair share, so that's why we put a small surtax on the first dollar after a person has already made $1 million. That seems fair to us, and it pays for the bill. It's a small price to pay to put hundreds of thousands of people back to work.

So, look, we can't wait. We can't wait for the Congress to start acting 6 responsibly, and that's why the President has used his executive power to announce that hundreds of thousands of people will be able to refinance their homes from 6 percent interest rates to 4 percent, saving them an average of $2,000 a year. That's why the President announced that beginning next year, no student will have to pay back more than 10 percent of their discretionary income toward their student debt. He also announced new regulations regarding prescription 7 drugs to prevent price gouging 8. And there's more to come.

If the Republican Congress won't join us, we're going to continue to act on our own to make the changes that we can to bring relief to middle-class families and those aspiring 9 to get in the middle class.

Look, it's simple: We refuse to take no for an answer. We know these steps taken alone are not going to solve all of our problems, but they will make a difference in the lives of millions of American families struggling to hold on. And you know and I know if the Republicans would just let the Congress do its job, let it step up and meet its responsibilities, we could do so much more, and we could do it immediately.

That's why the President and I need your help to tell your Republican congressmen and senators to step up. Tell them to stop worrying about their jobs and start worrying about yours because we're all in this together, and together is the way we're going to bring America back even stronger than it was before.

Thank you.

 

点击收听单词发音  






1
spoke

  
 


n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说


参考例句：





They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。












2
sector

  
 


n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形


参考例句：





The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。












3
stabilize

  
 


vt.（使）稳定，使稳固，使稳定平衡；vi.稳定


参考例句：





They are eager to stabilize currencies.他们急于稳定货币。
His blood pressure tended to stabilize.他的血压趋向稳定。












4
stagnant

  
 


adj.不流动的，停滞的，不景气的


参考例句：





Due to low investment,industrial output has remained stagnant.由于投资少，工业生产一直停滞不前。
Their national economy is stagnant.他们的国家经济停滞不前。












5
crumbling

  
 


adj.摇摇欲坠的


参考例句：





an old house with crumbling plaster and a leaking roof 一所灰泥剥落、屋顶漏水的老房子
The boat was tied up alongside a crumbling limestone jetty. 这条船停泊在一个摇摇欲坠的石灰岩码头边。












6
acting

  
 


n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的


参考例句：





Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。












7
prescription

  
 


n.处方，开药；指示，规定


参考例句：





The physician made a prescription against sea- sickness for him.医生给他开了个治晕船的药方。
The drug is available on prescription only.这种药只能凭处方购买。












8
gouging

  
 


n.刨削[槽]v.凿( gouge的现在分词 )；乱要价；（在…中）抠出…；挖出…


参考例句：





Banks and credit-card companies have been accused of gouging their customers. 银行和信用卡公司被指控欺诈顾客。 来自辞典例句
If back-gouging is applied, grinding to bright metal is required. 如果采用火焰气刨，则应将其打磨至可见光亮的金属表面。 来自互联网












9
aspiring

  
 


adj.有志气的；有抱负的；高耸的v.渴望；追求


参考例句：





Aspiring musicians need hours of practice every day. 想当音乐家就要每天练许多小时。
He came from an aspiring working-class background. 他出身于有抱负的工人阶级家庭。 来自辞典例句