奥巴马每周电视讲话：总统在华盛顿儿童医疗中心看望儿童

Hi, everybody.

大家好！

I'm here at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., visiting with some kids being treated here all the time for asthma 1 and other breathing problems.

此刻，我在华盛顿特区的国家儿童医疗中心，看望在这里接受治疗的哮喘和其它呼吸系统疾病的患儿。

Often, these illnesses are aggravated 2 by air pollution-pollution from the same sources that release carbon and contribute to climate change.

通常，这些疾病都因空气污染而恶化，这些污染同样来源于碳排放并引起了气候变化。

And for the sake of all our kids, we've got to do more to reduce it.

为了我们子孙后代的利益，我们必须努力减少碳排放。

Earlier this month, hundreds of scientists declared that climate change is no longer a distant threat-it “has moved firmly into the present.”

本月早些时候，数百名科学家联合声明，气候变化再也不是什么遥远的威胁，它“已经实实在在影响到当下人们的生活”。

Its costs can be measured in lost lives and livelihoods 3, lost homes and businesses; and higher prices for food, insurance, and rebuilding.

这一代价可以从人的死亡、失去生计、流离失所，食物价格、保险费用、重建成本高涨等现象中得以呈现。

That's why, last year, I put forward America's first climate action plan.

因此，去年，我首先提出美国气候应对计划。

This plan cuts carbon pollution by building a clean energy economy-using more clean energy, less dirty energy, and wasting less energy throughout our economy.

该计划通过减少碳排放建设清洁能源经济—更多使用清洁能源，减少使用污染能源，减少我们整个经济活动中的能源浪费。

One of the best things we can do for our economy, our health, and our environment is to lead the world in producing cleaner, safer energy-and we're already generating more clean energy than ever before.

我们可以做的对我们的经济、健康和环境最好的事情就是引领世界生产更清洁、更安全的能源，而且我们已经生产出了比以往更多的清洁能源。

Thanks in part to the investments we made in the Recovery Act, the electricity America generates from wind has tripled.

经济复苏法案》提供的投资是一个原因，有了它，我们的风力发电增长的3倍。

And from the sun, it's increased more than tenfold.

太阳能方面，更是增长了10倍多。

In fact, every four minutes, another American home or business goes solar-and every panel is pounded into place by a worker whose job cannot be shipped overseas.

事实上，每4分钟，就有一个美国家庭或企业用上太阳能，而且把每一块太阳能板安装到位的工人的工作都是不能被转移到海外的。

We're wasting less energy, too.

我们浪费的能源也在减少。

We've doubled how far our cars and trucks will go on a gallon of gas by the middle of the next decade, saving you money at the pump-and we're helping 4 families and businesses save billions with more efficient homes, buildings, and appliances.

我们已经将汽车使用一加仑汽油的行驶里程标准在未来5年里提高一倍，以节约大家的油费支出，我们还在帮助家庭和企业通过更节能的住宅、建筑和设施节约支出。

This strategy has created jobs, grown our economy, and helped make America more energy independent than we've been in decades-all while holding our carbon emissions 5 to levels not seen in about 20 years.

这一策略创造了就业、促进了经济增长，帮助美国比过去10多年取得了更大的能源自主力，所有当时遏制我们碳排放的标准在未来20年都不成问题了。

It's a good start.

这是一个很好的开始。

But for the sake of our children, we have to do more.

但为了孩子们的利益考虑，我们还需要更多努力。

This week, we will.

本周，我们就将开始。

Today, about 40% of America's carbon pollution comes from power plants.

当今，有大约40%的碳排放来自发电厂。

But right now, there are no national limits to the amount of carbon pollution that existing plants can pump into the air we breathe. None.

但现在，还没有对现有发电厂每年可以排放到我们呼吸的空气里的碳排放总量的全国性限制标准。一点都没有。

We limit the amount of toxic 6 chemicals like mercury, sulfur 7, and arsenic 8 that power plants put in our air and water.

我们限制发电厂向空气和水中排放汞、硫、砷等有毒化学物质的总量。

But they can dump unlimited 9 amounts of carbon pollution into the air.

但他们却可以无限制的向空气中排放碳污染物。

It's not smart, it's not safe, and it doesn't make sense.

这不明智，也不安全，更没有什么道理可言。

That's why, a year ago, I directed the Environmental Protection Agency to build on the efforts of many states, cities, and companies, and come up with commonsense 10 guidelines for reducing dangerous carbon pollution from our power plants.

因此，一年前，我指示环保署在多个州、市和众多公司努力的基础上，制定出降低发电厂排放碳污染物的基本指导意见。

This week, we're unveiling these proposed guidelines, which will cut down on the carbon pollution, smog, and soot 11 that threaten the health of the most vulnerable Americans, including children and the elderly.

本周，我们推出了这些指导意见，这将减少碳污染物、烟、尘的排放，降低其对美国人民尤其是孩子和老人身心健康的威胁。

In just the first year that these standards go into effect, up to 100,000 asthma attacks and 2,100 heart attacks will be avoided-and those numbers will go up from there.

在未来一年，这些标准实施后，将避免超过10万人的哮喘病和2100人的心脏病发作，而且这一数字还将随着时间的推移而上升。

These standards were created in an open and transparent 12 way, with input 13 from the business community.

这些标准的制定采取了公开透明的方式，充分融入企业和社会各界的观点。

States and local governments weighed in, too.

各州和地方政府的意见也得到了充分考虑。

In fact, nearly a dozen states are already implementing 14 their own market-based programs to reduce carbon pollution.

事实上，有超过12个州已经在实施各自的市场化的减少碳污染排放的计划。

And over 1,000 mayors have signed agreements to cut their cities' carbon pollution.

有1000多名市长已经签署意见同意减少其所在城市的碳排放。

So the idea of setting higher standards to cut pollution at our power plants is not new.

因此，为发电厂设置更高的减少碳排放标准的想法并不是新提出来的。

It's just time for Washington to catch up with the rest of the country.

只不过是华盛顿追赶其它地区步伐的体现。

Now, special interests and their allies in Congress will claim that these guidelines will kill jobs and crush the economy.

现在，国会的特殊利益集团和他们的盟友们宣布，这些指导意见将减少就业并冲击经济发展。

Let's face it, that's what they always say.

让我们面对现实，这是他们一贯的理由。

But every time America has set clear rules and better standards for our air, our water, and our children's health-the warnings of the cynics have been wrong.

每当美国设定关系我们的空气、水和儿童健康的明确规定和更好的标准时，这种所谓的警告都被证明是错误的。

They warned that doing something about the smog choking our cities, and acid rain poisoning our lakes, would kill business.

他们警告称治理城市的雾霾，污染湖泊的酸雨会扼杀企业发展。

It didn't. Our air got cleaner, acid rain was cut dramatically, and our economy kept growing.

但事实并不是这样。我们的空气更清新，酸雨也显著下降，而我们的经济依然保持了增长。

These excuses for inaction somehow suggest a lack of faith in American businesses and American ingenuity 15.

这些不作为的借口只是对美国企业和美国的创造能力缺乏信心的表现。

The truth is, when we ask our workers and businesses to innovate 16, they do.

事实是，当我们要求我们的员工和企业去创新时，他们做到了。

When we raise the bar, they meet it.

当我们提高标准时，他们达到了。

When we restricted cancer-causing chemicals in plastics and leaded fuel in our cars, American chemists came up with better substitutes.

当我们严格控制塑料制品中引发癌症的化学物质含量和引导汽车能效标准的时候，美国的化学家们紧跟着找到了更好的替代品。

When we phased out the gases that depleted 17 the ozone 18 layer, American workers built better refrigerators and air conditioners.

当我们要淘汰破坏臭氧层的气体使用时，美国的工人制造出了更好的冰箱和空调。

The fuel standards we put in place a few years ago didn't cripple automakers;the American auto 19 industry retooled 20, and today, they're selling the best cars in the world, with more hybrids 21, plug-in, and fuel-efficient models to choose from than ever before.

在美国，我们不能在经济健康发展和儿童健康发展之间做选择。老规矩说我们不能在保护环境的同时促进经济的增长，但在美国，我们总是能利用新的技术打破这些老规矩的限制。

In America, we don't have to choose between the health of our economy and the health of our children.

在美国，我们不必在经济健康和我们的孩子们的健康之间取舍。

The old rules may say we can't protect our environment and promote economic growth at the same time, but in America, we've always used new technology to break the old rules.

老规矩说我们无法同时保护我们的环境和发展我们的经济，但是在美国，我们一直应用新技术打破这个框框。

As President, and as a parent, I refuse to condemn 22 our children to a planet that's beyond fixing.

作为总统，同时作为一个父亲，我不允许我们的孩子生活在一个没有前景的星球上。

The shift to a cleaner energy economy won't happen overnight, and it will require tough choices along the way.

向清洁能源经济转型的过程不会一蹴而就，它需要我们一路做出艰难的选择。

But a low-carbon, clean energy economy can be an engine of growth for decades to come.

但低碳的、清洁能源的经济能成为未来数十年的增长引擎。

America will build that engine.

美国要着力打造这一引擎。

A future that's cleaner, more prosperous, and full of good jobs-a future where we can look our kids in the eye and tell them we did our part to leave them a safer, more stable world.

这是更清洁、更繁荣、充满优良就业岗位的未来，是我们可以看着孩子们的眼睛告诉他们，我们努力为他们留下了一个更安全更安稳的世界的未来。

Thanks, and have a great weekend.

谢谢大家，祝你们周末愉快。