经过一年多的竞选、无休止的政治广告、两次全国代表大会和四场辩论后，美国总统选举已接近尾声。2012年的重大决策将很快由选民们做出。美国民众做出的选择将带来重大影响，重大的历史影响，进而将决定对每一个美国人和每一个美国家庭来说最重要且最密切的方方面面。每次总统选举都很重要。这次则至关重要。  

It matters to the senior who needs medical care but, thanks to ObamaCare, can't find a doctor who is taking new Medicare patients. It matters to the men and women who once had good-paying jobs with benefits but now work part-time with no benefits just to put food on the table. It matters to the college student graduating this spring with a heavy load of debt and few opportunities to pay it back. It matters to the single mother who lives in fear of foreclosure as her employment prospects dwindle.  

此次选举对需要医疗服务的老年人很重要，但由于奥巴马提出的医改法案，老年人找不到愿意新接收美国联邦医疗保险(Medicare)病人的医生。此次选举对曾经拥有优厚工作和福利、如今却要为养家糊口而做无福利兼职的男男女女很重要。此次选举对将于明年春季毕业的大学生很重要，他们背着沉重的债务，却几乎找不到工作机会偿还贷款。此次选举对因就业前景每况愈下而时刻担心房屋止赎的单亲妈妈很重要。  

This election is about them. It is about all of us.  

此次选举关乎他们，关乎我们所有人。  

It is about the education of our children, the value of our homes, the take-home pay from our jobs, the price of the gasoline we buy, the choices we have in our health care. It is also about broader forces伟the growth of the economy, the strength of our military, our dependence on foreign oil, our leadership role in the world.  

此次选举关乎我们孩子的教育、我们房屋的价值、我们能拿回家的薪水、我们买的汽油的价格，以及我们在医疗方面所拥有的选择。它还关乎更广泛的方面──经济的增长、军队的实力、我们对外国石油的依赖，以及我们在世界上的领导地位。  

After four years of disappointments, fixing America's problems requires a new direction. The path we're on hasn't led us where we need to go. In so many ways, it seems that things have gotten even worse. We can make excuses for what has gone wrong, and many have tried. But excuses won't turn this country around. Only leadership can do that.

经过了令人失望的四年后，解决美国的问题需要一个新的方向。我们现在走的道路并没有将我们引领到我们需要去的地方。在很多方面，情况似乎反而变得更加糟糕。我们可以为出现的问题找借口，很多人也已经试着找过借口了。但借口并不会使这个国家好转。只有领导力才能够扭转我们国家的局面。  

I know something about leadership because I have led before. I have reformed businesses that were on the verge of collapse. I have helped to save an Olympics that was plagued by scandal. I have worked with men and women on both sides of the aisle in Massachusetts to achieve real change and real reform.  

我了解领导力，因为我过去曾领导过。我改革了处于破产边缘的企业。我帮助拯救了一届丑闻缠身的奥运会。我在马萨诸塞州与共和党和民主党两党议员携手，以实现真正的变革和真正的改革。  

I can do it again in Washington. Republicans and Democrats in Congress may seem to share very little these days, but they share responsibility for the problems we now face. Just as it took both parties to bring us to where we stand, it will take both parties to get us moving again in the right direction.  

我可以在华盛顿再创辉煌。眼下，国会共和党和民主党议员可能看起来分歧很大，但他们对我们目前面临的问题都负有责任。正如两党携手使我们取得了今天的地位，眼下需要两党让我们朝着正确的方向再次前进。  

That is something we can only accomplish if we work tirelessly to bridge the divide between the political parties. I will meet with Democratic and Republican leadership regularly. I will look for common ground and shared principles. And I will put the interests of the American people above the interests of the politicians and the bureaucrats.  

只有不知疲倦地努力消除政党之间的分歧，我们才能实现这一目标。我将定期与民主党和共和党领袖会面。我将寻求共同的立场和共同的原则。我将把美国人民的利益放在政客和官僚的利益之上

Together, we will overcome our difficulties and usher in a new age of prosperity.  

携手努力，我们将克服面临的困难，为美国带来一个新的繁荣时代。  

America is ready for that kind of leadership. Paul Ryan and I will provide it. Our plan for a stronger middle class will create jobs, stop the decline in take-home pay, and put America back on the path of possibility and opportunity.  

美国已经为迎接这样一种领导力做好了准备。保罗•莱恩(Paul Ryan)和我将提供这种领导力。我们旨在让中产阶级更加强大的计划将创造就业，遏止就业者收入下滑的趋势，让美国回到充满各种可能和各种机遇的道路上。  

This, in turn, will enable us to fulfill our responsibilities to promote the principles of peace as leader of the Free World. We will help the Muslim world combat the spread of extremism. We will dissuade Iran from building a nuclear bomb. We will build enduring relationships throughout Latin America. And we will partner with China and other great nations to build a more stable and peaceful world.  

相应地，这将使我们能够履行美国作为自由世界的领导者所负有的推广和平原则的责任。我们将帮助穆斯林世界与极端主义的蔓延作斗争。我们将劝阻伊朗生产核武器。我们将与整个拉美地区建立持久的关系。我们将与中国和其他大国合作，建立一个更加稳定、更加和平的世界。  

We face big challenges, but we also have big opportunities. New doors are open for us to sell our ideas and our products to the entire world. New technologies offer the promise of unbounded information and limitless innovation. New ideas are changing lives and hearts in diverse nations and among diverse peoples. If we seize the moment and rise to the occasion, the century ahead will be an American Century.  

我们面临巨大挑战，但我们也拥有巨大的机会。新的大门已向我们打开，我们可以通过这里向整个世界出售我们的想法和产品。新技术提供了获得不受限制的信息和进行无止境创新的希望。新的观念正改变着各种各样的国家和各种各样人民的生活和内心。如果我们抓住这一机遇乘势而上，未来的这个世纪将成为美国的世纪。  

Our children will graduate into exciting careers that are worthy of their qualifications. Our seniors will be confident that their retirement is secure. Our men and women will have good jobs and good pay and good benefits. Our veterans will come home to a bright future. We will have every confidence that our lives are safe, and that our livelihoods are secure.  

我们的子女在毕业后将能获得与他们学历相匹配的良好职业，我们的老年人将相信他们的退休生活有保障。我们的男人和女人们将拥有良好的工作、良好的收入和良好的福利。我们的退伍军人在重返家园后将有光明的未来。我们将确信，我们的生活是安全的，我们的生计是有保障的。  

This requires a different direction, a change from the course of the past four years. It requires that we put aside the small and the petty, and demand the scale of change that we deserve: real change, big change. I pledge that my presidency will bring about that kind of change伟confronting the problems that politicians have avoided for over a decade, revitalizing our competitive economy, modernizing our education system, restoring our founding principles.  

要做到这些美国需要放弃过去四年的老路，改变自己的方向。我们需要抛开那些琐屑和不重要的东西，要求实施那种应有规模的改变：真正的改变，巨大的改变。我保证在我的总统任期内会实施这种改变──直面那些政界人士10年来一直回避的问题，使我们有竞争力的经济重新恢复活力，让我们的教育体系实现现代化，恢复我们的立国原则。

If you are ready for that kind of change, if you want this to be a turning point in America's course, join us and vote Tuesday for the kind of leadership that these times demand.  

如果你已经为迎接这种改变做好了准备，如果你想让这些改变成为美国历史进程中的转折点，那就请加入我们的行列，周二投票支持实施这些改变所需要的领导力。  

I am running for president because I believe in America. I believe in the America that never gives up, never stops striving, never ceases believing in itself. That is what I have been campaigning for, and that is what I will fight for as president of the United States.  

我之所以出来竞选总统是因为我对美国有信心。我对那个永不放弃、永不停止努力、永远对自己有信心的美国抱有信心。这正是我出来参选的理由，也是我成为美国总统后将为之奋斗的理念。