Presidential Speech II

Marco: Hello, English learners. Welcome back to EnglishPod. My name is Marco.

大家好，英语学习者们。欢迎回到 EnglishPod。我是 Marco。

Erika: And I'm Erika.

我是 Erika。

Marco: And today we're bringing you part two of the presidential farewell speech of President Eisenhower.

今天我们要为大家带来艾森豪威尔总统告别演说的第二部分。

Erika: That's right. So, we saw in a previous lesson the beginning of this speech. Now we're going to look towards the end of the speech.

没错。在上一课中我们学习了这篇演说的开头。现在我们要来看看演说的结尾部分。

Marco: Now, we must tell you as well that we did change the speech a little bit, right? We changed it a little bit to make it a little bit more comprehensible and also we did shorten it. We didn't make it this short. We did take out a lot of stuff.

另外，我们得告诉大家，我们对这篇演说做了一点微调，对吧？我们稍微改动了一点，让它更容易理解，同时也做了一些精简。我们删减了不少内容。

Erika: All right. So, again, Marco, why are we looking at this speech? What are we learning from it?

好的。那么，Marco，我们为什么要学习这篇演说呢？能从中学到什么？

Marco: Well, in this last part of the presidential farewell speech, there are a lot of great words that are more difficult and very poetic. So you can use them in different formal circumstances or just to sound a little bit more well-spoken.

嗯，在这篇总统告别演说的最后一部分中，有很多难度较高且非常富有诗意的高级词汇。你可以在不同的正式场合使用它们，或者只是为了让自己的表达听起来更有涵养。

Erika: Yeah. And we also, again, are going to look at some really quite difficult and challenging structures that we hope you can use maybe when you're giving a formal talk or even in your writing if you want to sound quite professional.

是的。此外，我们还将再次学习一些相当有难度和挑战性的句型结构，希望大家可以在作正式演讲时，甚至在想要让书面表达显得非常专业时派上用场。

Marco: Okay. Very good. So, why don't we listen to the dialogue for the first time? Let's listen how President Eisenhower says goodbye and then we'll come back and look at the words.

好的，非常好。那么，我们先来听一遍这段演讲录音吧？听听艾森豪威尔总统是如何致辞告别的，然后再回来详细研读这些词汇。

Eisenhower: We now stand ten years past the midpoint of a century that has witnessed four major wars among great nations. Three of these involved our own country. Despite the carnage of these conflicts, America is today the strongest, the most influential, and the most productive nation in the world. We are understandably proud of this preeminence, yet we realize that America's leadership and prestige depend not merely upon our unmatched material progress, riches, and military strength, but on how we use our power in the interests of world peace and human betterment. Throughout America's adventure in free government, such basic purposes have been to keep the peace, to foster progress and human achievement, and to enhance liberty, dignity, and integrity among peoples and among nations. We pray that peoples of all faiths, all races, all nations may have their great human needs satisfied, that those now denied opportunity shall come to enjoy it to the full, that all who yearn for freedom may experience its spiritual blessings, that those who have freedom will understand also its heavy responsibilities, that all who are insensitive to the needs of others will learn charity, that the scourges of poverty, disease, and ignorance will be made to disappear from the earth, and that in the goodness of time, all peoples will come to live together in a peace guaranteed by the binding force of mutual respect and love. Now, on Friday noon, I am to become a private citizen. I am proud to do so. I look forward to it. Thank you and good night.

我们现在正站在跨越了见证大国间四场重大战争的半个世纪之后的第十年。其中三场战争涉及我国。尽管这些冲突带来了惨重的流血牺牲，但今天的美国依然是世界上最强大、最有影响力、最具生产力的国家。我们对这种卓越地位感到自豪是可以理解的，然而我们认识到，美国的领导地位和声望不仅仅取决于我们无与伦比的物质进步、财富和军事实力，更取决于我们如何为了世界和平和人类福祉而使用我们的力量。纵观美国在自由政府探索中的历程，这些基本宗旨始终是维护和平、促进进步和人类成就，以及增强民族与国家之间的自由、尊严和完整。我们祈祷，所有信仰、所有种族、所有国家的人民，其伟大的人类需求都能得到满足；那些如今被剥夺机会的人将能够充分享有机会；所有渴望自由的人都能体验到自由带来的精神赐福；那些拥有自由的人也能理解其沉重的责任；所有对他人需求冷漠的人都能学会仁爱；贫困、疾病和无知这些祸害将从地球上消失；并在美好的时光里，所有人都能共同生活在由相互尊重与爱的纽带所保证的和平之中。现在，到了周五中午，我将成为一名普通公民。我为此感到自豪。我期待着这一时刻。谢谢大家，晚安。

Erika: Well, that certainly was a very moving speech, hey?

嗯，这确实是一篇非常感人的演讲，对吧？

Marco: Very moving and to a certain point, a little bit religious, huh?

非常动人，而且在某种程度上，带有一点宗教色彩，对吧？

Erika: Yeah, I think we'll talk a little bit about that a little bit later, but let's concentrate on the language now. So we'll go to Language Takeaway.

是的，我想我们等会儿会稍微讨论一下这个，但现在我们先集中注意力在语言本身。让我们进入“语言要点解析”（Language Takeaway）。

Marco: Language Takeaway.

语言要点解析。

Erika: All right, on Language Takeaway today, we'll start with our first word and it's preeminence. All right, “we are understandably proud of this preeminence.” A preeminence. So preeminence, what is this?

好的，在今天的语言要点解析中，我们从第一个词开始，它是 preeminence（卓越、杰出）。好的，演说中说“我们对这种卓越地位感到自豪是可以理解的”。Preeminence。那么 preeminence 是什么意思呢？

Marco: Basically, it's the state of being the leader of something.

基本上，它指的是处于领袖或领先地位的状态。

Erika: Okay, so in this case, America was the preeminent nation.

好的，所以在这种情况下，美国是一个卓越领先的国家（preeminent nation）。

Marco: Right, so they were coming up, they were very prosperous, so they had a preeminence in the world.

对，当时他们正在崛起，非常繁荣，所以在世界上拥有至高无上的卓越地位。

Erika: All right, so I think we can see here, you can use this as an adjective, a preeminent nation, or as a noun, an uncountable noun, the preeminence of our state.

好的，我想大家在这里可以看到，你可以把它当作形容词使用，如“a preeminent nation”（一个卓绝的国家），或者当作不可数名词，如“the preeminence of our state”（我们国家的卓越地位）。

Marco: Very good. Since we can use this word as a noun and an adjective, why don't we listen to some more examples so we can get a better understanding of it?

非常好。既然这个词既能做名词又能做形容词，我们不如听几个例句，以便更好地理解它？

Man: Example one. Now, please welcome Dr. Frank Hicks, the world's most preeminent expert on nuclear biology.

例句一：现在，让我们欢迎弗兰克·希克斯博士，他是全球最顶尖的核生物学专家。

Woman: Example two. He's been a leader in his field for 25 years and his preeminence has never been questioned.

例句二：他在自己的领域担任领军人物已有 25 年，其卓越地位从未受到过质疑。

Man: Example three. Carol Dixon is one of the most preeminent experts in green technology.

例句三：卡罗尔·狄克逊是环保科技领域最出色的专家之一。

Erika: All right, well, Eisenhower was talking about all of the things that the American people had done since they became a free nation, and one of these things was to foster progress in human achievement. Foster progress in human achievement. Well, I like this verb a lot, to foster something. So if I say to foster progress or to foster something, what am I saying?

好的，艾森豪威尔当时谈到了美国人民成为自由国家以来所做的一切，其中之一就是 foster progress in human achievement（促进人类成就的进步）。我非常喜欢 foster 这个动词。如果我说 to foster progress 或 to foster something，我是什么意思呢？

Marco: To help something grow and develop. To take care of it, to nurse it.

意思是促进或帮助某事物的成长与发展。去呵护它、培养它。

Erika: Yeah. And we commonly hear this word associated with children, right? A foster child.

是的。我们经常听到这个词与儿童联系在一起，对吧？比如 foster child（寄养儿童）。

Marco: Yeah. So what's that?

对，那是什么意思呢？

Erika: If you have a foster child, you are basically taking care of a child because the parents can't look after them. It's not like adopting because you don't actually, it's not actually legal. It's just that you're helping somebody out by raising this child.

如果你有一个寄养儿童，基本上是因为其亲生父母无法照料，由你来代为抚养。这不同于法定领养，你只是通过抚养这个孩子来帮别人一个忙。

Marco: Right. So we can see the connection there, a foster child, to foster something. But you know, this is really a great word and I think it would help to give a couple of examples of how we could use it.

对。所以我们可以看到心中的联系，foster child（寄养儿童）和 to foster something（培养/促进某事物）。不过你知道，这确实是一个很棒的词，我觉得举几个用法例句会很有帮助。

Erika: So for example, I can say, our company is looking to foster better creativity in the workplace.

例如，我可以说：“我们公司正致力于在工作场所培养更好的创新能力。”

Marco: Or we could say, here at Praxis Language, we foster the development of your English.

或者我们可以说：“在 Praxis Language，我们助力并促进你的英语水平提升。”

Erika: Very good. So the word foster. Now moving on, in his speech, he was talking about nations and faiths and different types of groups and he said, all who yearn for freedom.

非常好。这就是 foster 这个词。接下来，在他的演讲中，他谈到了不同的国家、信仰和群体，他说到“all who yearn for freedom”（所有渴望自由的人）。

Marco: All right. This is a great phrase. All who yearn for freedom. To yearn. So to yearn for something. Now if I yearn for freedom or I yearn for something, it's basically that I really want it in my heart.

好的。这是一个很棒的短语。All who yearn for freedom。To yearn。渴望某事（to yearn for something）。如果我说我渴望自由或者渴望某事物，基本上意味着我从内心深处迫切地想要它。

Erika: Yeah, you really wish for it in a way that's almost, almost painful. You know, you want it so badly.

是的，你极其渴望它，甚至到了近乎痛苦的地步。你知道的，就是梦寐以求。

Marco: Now you wouldn't say like, I'm yearning for ice cream, would you?

不过你总不会说“我无比渴望吃冰淇淋”吧？

Erika: No, unless you were locked up in prison and hadn't had ice cream for 55 years.

不会，除非你被关在监狱里，而且已经 55 年没吃过冰淇淋了。

Marco: Exactly. So it's usually related to something that's very difficult to get or something like freedom or yearning for. That's really important.

没错。所以它通常与极难获得的事物有关，或者是像自由这样极其崇高、极其重要的东西。

Erika: Exactly. Something very important. And now for our last word, President Eisenhower was talking about charity. He was talking about freedom and he mentioned the scourges of poverty.

确实是这样，非常崇高的事物。现在看我们的最后一个词，艾森豪威尔总统谈到了博爱与慈善，他谈到了自由，并提到了 the scourges of poverty（贫困的祸害）。

Marco: Okay. So scourges. The scourges of poverty. Scourges is a really difficult but interesting word. So why don't we hear a few more examples to help us understand it.

好的。Scourges（灾难、苦难的根源）。贫困的祸害。Scourge 是一个非常有难度但很有趣的词。不如我们听几个例句来帮助理解它。

Man: Example one. Malaria is a disease that continues to be a scourge to the developing world.

例句一：疟疾是一种持续给发展中国家带来深重灾难的疾病。

Woman: Example two. One day we hope to eliminate the scourge of cancer.

例句二：希望有朝一日我们能够消灭癌症这一人类祸患。

Man: Example three. NATO promises to wipe out the scourge of terrorism.

例句三：北约承诺彻底铲除恐怖主义这一顽疾祸害。

Erika: So as we can see, the scourges of something basically is the cause of pain or suffering. So now relating it back to the text, we see scourges of poverty.

所以正如大家所见，“the scourges of something”基本上是指造成痛苦或折磨的根源/祸害。回到原文中，我们看到了贫困的祸害（scourges of poverty）。

Marco: Yeah, scourges of poverty, scourges of disease, and scourges of ignorance.

是的，贫困的祸害、疾病的祸害以及无知的祸害。

Erika: All right. So we can see that poverty, ignorance, and disease cause a lot of really terrible things, right?

好的。我们可以看到贫困、无知和疾病会引发很多极其可怕的后果，对吧？

Marco: Exactly. So that's why we say they are scourges. Okay. So scourges. So that brings us to the end of our words for takeaway today. But as we talked about earlier, we've got some really difficult and interesting structures to look at now in Fluency Builder.

没错。这就是为什么我们称它们为 scourges（祸害/灾难）。好的。以上就是今天“语言要点解析”的全部词汇。但正如我们之前提到的，现在我们要进入“流利英语表达构建”（Fluency Builder），去学习一些非常硬核且有趣的句型结构。

Erika: Fluency Builder.

流利英语表达构建。

Marco: Okay. So in Fluency Builder, we'll start off with the very first sentence of the paragraph. When he said, “we now stand 10 years past the midpoint of a century.”

好的。在“流利英语表达构建”中，我们从该段落的第一句话开始。当时他说：“我们现在正站在跨越了半个世纪之后的第十年。”

Erika: Okay. So I love this phrase. “We now stand 10 years past the midpoint of the century.” Now it's interesting because he is making reference to the future in the present. And he's using a great phrase to do that. “We now stand.” Now we can change it a little bit and use the first part, “we now stand” in different circumstances. So why don't we listen to a couple of examples.

好的。我太喜欢这个表达了。“We now stand 10 years past the midpoint of the century.” 这很有意思，因为他在立足当下展望未来，并使用了一个非常棒的短语：“We now stand...”（我们如今正站在……的时刻）。我们可以稍微改动前半部分“we now stand”，用到不同的场景中。不如我们来听几个例句。

Man: Example one. We now stand before you to declare our love and be united in marriage.

例句一：我们如今站在大家面前，宣誓我们的爱，并结为夫妇。

Woman: Example two. I stand before this court and declare my innocence.

例句二：我站在法庭面前，申明我的无罪。

Man: Example three. Together we now stand before this great challenge and we will fight arm in arm to defeat poverty.

例句三：今天我们共同站在这项伟大挑战面前，我们将并肩作战以战胜贫困。

Marco: Right. So you can see that this is a wonderful phrase to use maybe in a formal speech, right?

对。所以大家可以看到，这是一个在正式演讲中非常出彩的短语，对吧？

Erika: Right. Or a wedding again or a formal ceremony.

是的，或者在婚礼、正式仪式上。

Marco: Yeah. So, and it gives you this idea, this sort of very poetic image of people sort of almost standing at the cliff, standing before the, you know, some big change that's about to take place.

是的。它能给你营造出一种非常富有诗意的画面感，仿佛人们正伫立在悬崖边，屹立在一场即将到来的重大变革面前。

Erika: Exactly. So 10 years past the midpoint of a century, the United States has witnessed four major wars, right? Okay. And well, he said, “despite the carnage of these conflicts, America is today the strongest, the most influential and most productive nation in the world.”

没错。在跨越半个世纪之后的第十年，美国见证了四场重大战争，对吧？接着他说：“尽管这些冲突带来了惨重的流血牺牲，但今天的美国依然是世界上最强大、最有影响力、最具生产力的国家。”

Marco: Okay. So a great, great, great structure here. “Despite the carnage of these conflicts, America today is the strongest...” Right. Now, let's look at that first word, “despite the carnage of these conflicts.”

好的。这里有一个极其惊艳的句型结构：“Despite the carnage of these conflicts, America today is...” 好的，我们来看看开头这个词：“despite the carnage of these conflicts”。

Erika: Okay. So, carnage, what's that?

好的，carnage 是什么意思？

Marco: Carnage is like a massacre, right? Where many people got hurt or killed.

Carnage 就像大屠杀、大屠戮，对吧？指有很多人受伤或丧命的血腥惨状。

Erika: Okay. So a pretty violent situation when a lot of people died. And now why does he use this word despite?

好的，指大量人员伤亡的极其暴力惨烈的局面。那他为什么使用 despite（尽管/虽然）这个词呢？

Marco: Okay. So he's basically saying even though we had all of this death and violence in this century, we're still the greatest nation...

好的。他基本上是在说：虽然在这个世纪里我们经历了这一切死亡和暴力，但我们依然是最伟大的国家……

Erika: Exactly. That's exactly it. I can say, for example, “despite the economic crisis the world is going through, our company has an enormous opportunity to grow and be more profitable.”

完全正确。就是这个意思。例如我可以说：“尽管全球正面临经济危机，我们公司仍有巨大的机会实现增长并提高盈利能力。”

Marco: Okay. Or if we want to take it and imagine we're at a wedding, we might say something like this.

好的。或者如果我们套用这个结构，设想在婚礼上，我们可以这样说：

Erika: You could say, “despite the many difficulties this couple has faced, they have a very bright and happy future together.”

你可以说：“尽管这对新人历经重重艰难坎坷，但他们共同拥有一片无比光明幸福的未来。”

Marco: Very good. And now if we take a look at the last paragraph, it's very interesting because it's one sentence. It's a really long sentence.

非常好。现在如果我们看一下演说的最后一段，会发现非常有意思，因为全段其实就是一句话。一句话非常长。

Erika: It's a very long sentence. So even though it's not a phrase, let's take a look at the punctuation of this paragraph.

确实非常长。所以虽然它不是一个固定词组，但让我们来看看这一段的标点符号运用。

Marco: Okay. So Eisenhower starts out by saying, “we pray that peoples of all faiths, all races, all nations may have their great human needs satisfied.” And then we have a semicolon there, right?

好的。艾森豪威尔首先说道：“我们祈祷，所有信仰、所有种族、所有国家的人民，其伟大的人类需求都能得到满足。” 然后那里使用了一个分号（;），对吧？

Erika: Right. So why do we have a semicolon? Well, here's what he's doing. He's saying we pray for something. And then he's listing the many different things that he's praying for.

对。那为什么要用分号呢？他是这样处理的：他说“我们祈祷……”，然后列举了他所祈祷的许多不同事项。

Marco: Okay. So it's basically a list.

好的，所以这本质上是一个排比列举。

Erika: Yep. Okay. So we know that when you're writing a list, we commonly use commas between all the things that are in this list. But here, because they are long and complex ideas, a comma is not enough. You need a semicolon.

是的。我们知道在写作列举时，通常在各个列举项之间使用逗号。但在这里，因为每一个排比项都是长而复杂的完整意群，单用逗号是不够的，你需要使用分号。

Marco: Okay. So we can see here from the text that the semicolon is a great way to separate ideas, big ideas, complex ideas in a list.

好的。所以我们可以从原文看到，分号是在排比列举中分隔宏大、复杂句意和想法的好方法。

Erika: Exactly. So you can use it and not necessarily have to end your sentence or that each idea becomes one sentence. You can all just make it one big sentence.

完全正确。所以你可以使用分号，而不必强行打断句子让每个想法都变成独立的一句话。你可以把它们融合成一个宏大的长句。

Marco: Yep. You know, and actually I remember back to high school, Marco, my teacher told me, “hey, if you throw in a few semicolons into your writing and do it properly, you'll really impress people.”

是的。你知道吗，我回想起高中时，老师曾对我说：“嘿，如果你在文章里恰当地使用几个分号，绝对会让读者/考官大为惊艳。”

Erika: All right. So this is good advice that you can take and throw in a couple of semicolons, a little bit of commas here and there, and it'll look like you really know how to write.

好的。这是一个非常实用的建议，大家可以吸收采纳，在文章里灵活穿插分号和逗号，这会让你的英文写作看起来功底十足。

Marco: Yep. Okay. So with that in mind, why don't we listen to what Eisenhower wrote one last time.

好的。带着这些知识点，让我们最后再来重温一遍艾森豪威尔总统的演讲吧。

Eisenhower: We now stand ten years past the midpoint of a century that has witnessed four major wars among great nations. Three of these involved our own country. Despite the carnage of these conflicts, America is today the strongest, the most influential and the most productive nation in the world. We are understandably proud of this preeminence, yet we realize that America's leadership and prestige depend not merely upon our unmatched material progress, riches and military strength, but on how we use our power in the interests of world peace and human betterment. Throughout America's adventure in free government, such basic purposes have been to keep the peace, to foster progress and human achievement, and to enhance liberty, dignity, and integrity among peoples and among nations. We pray that peoples of all faiths, all races, all nations may have their great human needs satisfied, that those now denied opportunity shall come to enjoy it to the full, that all who yearn for freedom may experience its spiritual blessings, that those who have freedom will understand also its heavy responsibilities, that all who are insensitive to the needs of others will learn charity, that the scourges of poverty, disease, and ignorance will be made to disappear from the earth, and that in the goodness of time, all peoples will come to live together in a peace guaranteed by the binding force of mutual respect and love. Now, on Friday noon, I am to become a private citizen. I am proud to do so. I look forward to it. Thank you, and good night.

我们现在正站在跨越了见证大国间四场重大战争的半个世纪之后的第十年。其中三场战争涉及我国。尽管这些冲突带来了惨重的流血牺牲，但今天的美国依然是世界上最强大、最有影响力、最具生产力的国家。我们对这种卓越地位感到自豪是可以理解的，然而我们认识到，美国的领导地位和声望不仅仅取决于我们无与伦比的物质进步、财富和军事实力，更取决于我们如何为了世界和平和人类福祉而使用我们的力量。纵观美国在自由政府探索中的历程，这些基本宗旨始终是维护和平、促进进步和人类成就，以及增强民族与国家之间的自由、尊严和完整。我们祈祷，所有信仰、所有种族、所有国家的人民，其伟大的人类需求都能得到满足；那些如今被剥夺机会的人将能够充分享有机会；所有渴望自由的人都能体验到自由带来的精神赐福；那些拥有自由的人也能理解其沉重的责任；所有对他人需求冷漠的人都能学会仁爱；贫困、疾病和无知这些祸害将从地球上消失；并在美好的时光里，所有人都能共同生活在由相互尊重与爱的纽带所保证的和平之中。现在，到了周五中午，我将成为一名普通公民。我为此感到自豪。我期待着这一时刻。谢谢大家，晚安。

Marco: All right, we're back, and we're here again with Pete, our voice actor for the second part of the dialogue. And Pete, we have a couple more questions for you today.

好的，我们回来了。今天我们再次邀请到了第二部分对话的配音演员 Pete。Pete，我们今天还有几个问题想请教你。

Pete: Cool.

酷。

Erika: So I hear in Eisenhower's speech that he keeps referencing God. Like he keeps saying, “I pray, blah, blah, blah...” He said “Godspeed, blah, blah, blah...” So what's up with that? Why is he talking about God?

我在艾森豪威尔的演讲里听到他一直在提及上帝。比如他不断说“我祈祷……”，他说“上帝保佑（Godspeed）……”。这到底是怎么回事呢？他为什么总是在谈论上帝？

Pete: Well, this is a very interesting question. Traditionally, America has had a really clear boundary between church and state. And you'll hear a lot of rhetoric these days that says, you know, “we're a Christian nation, and we were founded as a Christian nation.” Well, that's baloney.

嗯，这是一个非常有意思的问题。传统意义上，美国政教分离的界限是非常清晰的。但如今你经常会听到很多言论声称：“我们是一个基督教国家，我们建国时就是基督教国家。” 额，那纯属瞎扯（baloney）。

Marco: Baloney, so it's not true.

鬼话（Baloney），所以这不是事实。

Pete: At the time when the country was founded 200 years ago, it was overwhelmingly Christian. If the founding fathers, as we call them, like George Washington and them, if they had wanted a Christian nation, they could have had it. They explicitly did not. And a lot of people since then have gotten that confused. And now when we have a very large Muslim population, we have Buddhists, we have, you know, people in all various different kinds of, you know, Mormonism and everything, it's even less possible now. So I'm kind of baffled when I hear people say that America is a Christian nation.

两百年前建国时期，大部分国民确实信奉基督教。如果我们的“建国先贤”们（比如乔治·华盛顿他们）当时真想建立一个基督教国家，他们完全可以做到。但他们明确拒绝了这一点。自那以后很多人就把这个概念搞混了。如今我们有庞大的穆斯林群体、有佛教徒、有摩门教徒等各种信仰的人，就更不可能是什么单纯的基督教国家了。所以当我听到有人说美国是个基督教国家时，我感到挺困惑的。

Erika: But you even have it now in the coins, like, or on the money, right? It says “In God We Trust.”

但现在连硬币或纸币上都有印，对吧？上面写着“我们信仰上帝”（In God We Trust）。

Pete: Right. That started in the early 20th century. I think that was Teddy Roosevelt era. He opposed that. Roosevelt was really opposed to that, but...

对，那是 20 世纪初开始印上去的。我想大概是在老罗斯福总统时期。但他当时是反对的。罗斯福非常反对这件事，但是……

Marco: And then what happened?

然后发生什么了？

Pete: They approved it. Yeah. And, you know, people said later, like Eisenhower talking about this stuff, you know, in America we have something called the Pledge of Allegiance, which I don't think you guys probably have.

最终国会还是通过了。是的。而且，你知道，后来人们像艾森豪威尔这样谈论这些，在美国我们有一个叫《效忠誓词》（Pledge of Allegiance）的东西，我觉得你们加拿大应该没有吧。

Erika: Not in Canada. Obviously, you wouldn't do it to America, but to your own. It's kind of...

加拿大没有。显然你不可能对美国宣誓效忠，而是对自己的国家。这有点像……

Marco: Like a salute to the flag, right?

就像是对国旗致敬，对吧？

Pete: Yeah, it's a little bit nationalist. I did it growing up. You put your hand over your heart and you face the flag and you say, “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” That part about “one nation under God,” that was added in the 50s as a kind of a way of showing that America is not, quote unquote, a “godless communist country.”

是的，带有一点民族主义色彩。我是从小宣誓长大的。你把手放在心口前，面向国旗说道：“我宣誓效忠美利坚合众国国旗及它所代表的共和国，上帝保佑下的统一国家，不可分割，人人享有自由与正义。” 其中“上帝保佑下的统一国家”（one nation under God）这句，是在 50 年代加进去的，用来表明美国绝非所谓“无神论的共产主义国家”。

Erika: Wow.

哇哦。

Pete: Yeah, because communism teaches, you know, no religion. And so they, make sure we're not communist.

是的，因为共产主义倡导无神论嘛。所以他们借此强调我们不是共产主义。

Marco: Okay, but we don't think that, right?

好吧，但我们可不这么想，对吧？

Pete: Yeah. I mean, I'm all about tolerance. So I think that's kind of absurd.

是的。我是非常包容的，所以我觉得那种做法有点荒谬。

Erika: Okay, so what I think is really interesting, though, is that every political speech, every time a political leader has to say something publicly, he'll always quote God, right?

好的，不过我觉得真正有意思的是，每一篇政治演讲、每次政治领袖作公开讲话时，总会引用上帝，对吧？

Pete: Right. And they'll often end a speech with, you know, “thank you and God bless America” or something.

没错。他们结尾通常都是“谢谢大家，上帝保佑美国”之类的。

Erika: Yeah, exactly. Which, you know what, for me as a Canadian is really strange. Like if a Canadian president said, “God bless Canada,” everyone would, no one would know what to do. Like, I don't know.

没错。你知道吗，这在我一个加拿大人看来真的非常怪异。如果加拿大的总理说“上帝保佑加拿大”，大家都会不知所措。额，我也不知道该怎么说。

Pete: Anyway, I had an ex-girlfriend who was British and she, like Tony Blair started with that a couple times. He said, you know, “and God bless us all” or something. And she was just put off by it. And she was like, the Brits will never take this. And they didn't. No one was impressed.

不管怎么说，我前女友是英国人，当时托尼·布莱尔有几次演讲也用了这套，他说“愿上帝保佑我们所有人”之类的。她对此非常反感，直接说：“英国人绝不吃这一套。” 事实也确实如此，根本没人买账。

Marco: All right. Well, an interesting feature of American history, politics and society. So thanks for that insight, Pete.

好的。嗯，这确实是美国历史、政治和社会的一个有趣特征。非常感谢你的独到见解，Pete。

Pete: Cool. My pleasure.

酷，我的荣幸。

Erika: Yeah. And if you guys have any comments or any suggestions about this lesson or any upcoming lessons, just let us know. Or American politics in general.

是的。如果大家对本课或未来的课程有任何意见或建议，请随时告诉我们。或者关于美国政治的任何话题都可以。

Pete: I'll try to stop in on the forum and see if I can answer a question or two.

我会抽空去论坛逛逛，看看能不能回答大家一两个问题。

Marco: That would be awesome. So visit us at EnglishPod.com and Marco, myself and Pete are around to answer your questions.

太棒了。欢迎大家访问 EnglishPod.com，我、Marco 以及 Pete 随时准备解答大家的问题。

Erika: All right. We'll see you guys there. Thanks for downloading and goodbye.

好的。我们论坛见。感谢下载，再见！

Marco: Stay Foreign.

保持国际范儿（Stay Foreign）。