因此,把你们的价值观、阅历和洞察力都融于政治中吧!你们不仅要敢于在政治上有所作为,而且还要敢于创造一个完全不同的政治体系。有人把你们这一代人称为有选择权利的一代。你们是在多项选择测验、多渠道、多网站及多重生活方式中长大的,你们是在不停的选择中长大的,但这些选项既不为前人所致,也未为前人所用。
You've been invested with far more personal power to customize your life, to make more free choices about how to live than was ever thought possible. And I think as I look at all the surveys and research that is done, your choices reflect not only freedom, but personal responsibility.
你们被赋予了很多力量,拥有规划自己人生的权利,能够比以往任何时候都更加自由地主宰自己的生活。当我看着你们完成的所有问卷调查和研究时,我认为你们的选择不仅反映了社会,也反映了你们的责任心。
The social indicators, not the headlines, the social indicators tell a positive story: drug use and cheating and arrests being down, been pregnancy and suicides, drunk driving deaths being down. Community service and religious involvement being up. But if you look at the area of voting among 18 to 29 year olds, the numbers tell a far more troubling tale. Many of you I know believe that service and community volunteerism is a better way of solving the issues facing our country than political engagement, because you believe-choose one of the following multiples or choose them all-government either can't understand or won't make the right choices because of political pressures, inefficiency, incompetence or big money influence.
是社会调查指标,而不是头版头条新闻,让我们感受到整个社会的进步:吸毒、诈骗以及在押人数均呈下降趋势;少女怀孕、自杀以及酒后驾车致死事件也在逐渐减少。同时,参加社区服务及宗教活动的人数呈上升趋势。但是,18岁到29岁人群的投票选举情况则令人担忧。我知道,你们中许多人都认为参加社区服务和志愿者活动比参与政治活动更能解决我们国家面临的问题,因为你们认为,政府往往趋于政治压力,缺乏效率或无能、甚至是受金钱驱使而不能领会或作出正确选择。你们这样做可能是因为上述原因的一种,也可能是因为所有这些原因。