奧巴馬父親節致辭：家庭最重要

In this week’s address, President Obama reflected on Father’s Day and said that nothing substitutes for the love and support of the presence of a parent in a child’s life. The President knows that for many people like him, being a good parent is a critically important job, and that personal successes matter less than being a source of comfort and encouragement to our kids. President Obama wishes all dads a Happy Father’s Day and everyone a great weekend.
在6月15日發表的每週演講中，美國總統奧巴馬談到了父親節，表示沒有任何東西能代替父母在孩子生活中所代表的愛和支持。奧巴馬總統表示，他知道對於像他一樣的許多家長來說，做個好父母是非常重要的職責。而比起作爲孩子們的安慰和鼓勵的支柱，個人成就似乎沒那麼重要了。奧巴馬總統祝所有爸爸父親節快樂，祝大家週末愉快。

Remarks of President Barack Obama
The White House June 15, 2013

Hi, everybody. This Sunday is Father’s Day, and so I wanted to take a moment to talk about the most important job many of us will ever have – and that’s being a dad.
大家好，週日是父親節，所以我想花一點兒時間談談那許多我們都有的重要工作——當爸爸。

Today we’re blessed to live in a world where technology allows us to connect instantly with just about anyone on the planet. But no matter how advanced we get, there will never be a substitute for the love and support and, most importantly, the presence of a parent in a child’s life. And in many ways, that’s uniquely true for fathers.
今天，我們有幸生活在這樣一個世界，在這裏，科技讓我們可以和世界上任何人即時地保持聯絡。不管我們多麼地先進，都沒有什麼可以把孩子生命中的愛、支持、最重要的是父母的存在，進行替代。在許多情況下，對父親來說這尤爲正確。

I never really knew my own father. I was raised by a single mom and two wonderful grandparents who made incredible sacrifices for me. And there are single parents all across the country who do a heroic job raising terrific kids. But I still wish I had a dad who was not only around, but involved; another role model to teach me what my mom did her best to instill – values like hard work and integrity; responsibility and delayed gratification – all the things that give a child the foundation to envision a brighter future for themselves.
我從沒真正地瞭解我自己的父親，我由單親母親和兩位優秀的祖父母撫養成人，他們爲我做出了巨大的犧牲。全國各地都有單親父母，例如，只有媽媽，做着英勇偉大的工作，撫養着優秀的孩子。但我仍然希望，我有一個爸爸，他不僅在我的周圍，而是在我的生命中，以另一個角色來教導我媽媽也盡力灌輸給我的東西，努力工作和正直的價值觀，有責任心而不貪圖享受，所有給孩子預想自己光明未來基礎的東西。

That’s why I try every day to be for Michelle and my girls what my father was not for my mother and me. And I’ve met plenty of other people – dads and uncles and men without a family connection – who are trying to break the cycle and give more of our young people a strong male role model.
這也就是我每天盡力爲米歇爾和我的女兒們去做一些事情的原因，因爲我父親沒能爲我母親和我做的這些。我也遇見過大量其他的人，爸爸們，叔伯們和其他沒有完整家庭的男人們。他們也盡力去打破這個怪圈，給予我們更多的年輕人強大的男性的榜樣。

Being a good parent – whether you’re gay or straight; a foster parent or a grandparent – isn’t easy. It demands your constant attention, frequent sacrifice, and a healthy dose of patience. And nobody’s perfect. To this day, I’m still figuring out how to be a better husband to my wife and father to my kids.
作爲好的父母親——不管你是同性戀或是異性戀，養父母或是祖父母——都是不易的。這需要你持續地關注，頻繁地做出犧牲，很健康耐心的心態。沒有人是完美的，至今，我仍在努力想着如何去做一個妻子的好丈夫和孩子的好父親。

And I want to do what I can as President to encourage marriage and strong families. We should reform our child support laws to get more men working and engaged with their children. And my Administration will continue to work with the faith and other community organizations, as well as businesses, on a campaign to encourage strong parenting and fatherhood.
我想我可以去做作爲總統可以做的事情，去鼓勵穩定的婚姻和和諧的家庭。我們應該修訂我們的未成年人撫育法，讓更多的人獲得工作，爲他們的孩子而忙碌。我的政府也將繼續真誠地和其他社會組織，也包括企業，打贏更好地撫養孩子和傳遞父愛的戰役。

Because if there’s one thing I’ve learned along the way, it’s that all our personal successes shine a little less brightly if we fail at family. That’s what matters most. When I look back on my life, I won’t be thinking about any particular legislation I passed or policy I promoted. I’ll be thinking about Michelle, and the journey we’ve been on together. I’ll be thinking about Sasha’s dance recitals and Malia’s tennis matches – about the conversations we’ve had and the quiet moments we’ve shared. I’ll be thinking about whether I did right by them, and whether they knew, every day, just how much they were loved.
因爲如果說我成長中學到了什麼東西的話，這就是如果我們在家庭上失敗了，我們所有個人的成功都少了一點兒明亮的光澤，這纔是最重要的。當我回憶我的一生，我不會想到任何我通過的待定法案，或是我力促的政策，我將會想到的是米歇爾和我們一起走過的歲月，我將會想到的是薩沙的舞蹈演出和瑪麗亞的網球比賽，我們在一起的對話和我們一起共享的靜謐時光。我會想是否我做對了，是否他們知道每一天，我是如此的愛着她們。

That’s what I think being a father is all about. And if we can do our best to be a source of comfort and encouragement to our kids; if we can show them unconditional love and help them grow into the people they were meant to be; then we will have succeeded.
這就是我認爲作爲一個父親應該關心的，如果我們可以儘自己的全力來安慰和鼓勵我們的孩子。如果我們可以付出我們無條件地愛，幫助他們成爲應該成爲的人，那麼我們就都成功了。

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there, and have a great weekend.
因此祝所有爸爸們父親節快樂，週末快樂。