人物訪談閱讀材料:第一篇 Passage 1

所屬教程:簡明英語口譯教程

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2020年07月10日

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第一篇 Passage 1

President Bush Answers Students’ Questions At Qinghua

(President W. Bush made a speech at Qinghua University during his visit in China. After the speech he answered the questions asked by the students. The following are some of the questions and answers.)

Q: Mr. President, yesterday I watched the press conference made by you and president Jiang Zemin. At the conference, you didn’t clearly answer a question, which is a concern by almost everybody. It’s why the TMD system will cover Taiwan. And what’s more, whenever you talk about the Taiwan issue, you always use a phrase just like, peaceful settlement. You never use the phrase, peaceful reunification. What’s the difference and why?

A: Thank you, very good question. First of all, I want to compliment you on your English. Very good. The first thing that is important on the Taiwan issue is that my government hopes there is a peaceful, as I said, dialogue, that there is a settlement to this issue. But it must be done in a peaceful way. That’s why I keep emphasizing peaceful. And, by the way, “peaceful” is a word intended for both parties, that neither party should provoke that.

I also, in your question about missile defenses, have made it clear that our nation will develop defenses to help our friends, our allies, and others around the world protect ourselves from rogue nations that are trying to develop weapons of mass destruction. To me, that’s essential for peace in the world. We have yet to develop a system, and therefore, that’s exactly what I said yesterday. And it’s the truth. But we are in the process of seeing if we can’t develop a system. And I think it will bring more stability to the world than less.

And let me just say one general comment that’s very important for you to know. And it’s also important for the people of my country to know-----that my administration is committed to peacefully resolving issues around the world. We want the issues resolved in a peaceful manner.

And we’ve got a lot of issues that we deal with. We are dealing in the Middle East. And if you follow the news, it’s a very dangerous period of time there. We are working hard to bring a peaceful resolution there. We are working hard to bring a peaceful resolution to Kashmir, which is important for China. And I recently went to Korea and I made it very clear that we want to resolve the issues on the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful way.

Another question, please?

Q: I’ll repeat my question in English.

A: Thank you.

Q: It’s a pity you still haven’t given us a clear question about whether you always use the peaceful settlement. You’ve never said “peaceful reunification”. It’s a pity.

A: We’re back on Taiwan again-----go ahead.

Q: This is a question our Chinese people are extremely concerned about.

A: Yes, I know.

Q: Three days ago, during your speech in the Japanese Parliament, you said, the United States will still remember its commitment to Taiwan.

A: Right.

Q: But my question is, does the U.S. still remember its commitment to 1.3 billion Chinese people? Abiding by the three Joint Communiqués and three notes. Thank you.

A: Thank you very much. As I said, this seems to be a topic on people’s mind, obviously. I can’t say it any more clearly, that I’m anxious that there be a peaceful resolution that’s going to require both parties to come to a solution. And that’s what I mean by peaceful dialogue. And I hope it happens in my lifetime and I hope it happens in yours. It will be an important milestone. And, secondly, when my country makes an agreement, we stick with it. And there is an act called the Taiwan Relations Act, and I honor that act, which says we will help Taiwan defend herself if provoked. But we’ve also sent the same message that there should be no provocation by either party for a peaceful dialogue.

Q: Thank you, Mr. Bush. Thank you, Mr. President, for giving me the last chance to ask you a question. I have read your autobiography, and in it you wrote about some social problem in the U.S. today, just like the violence in campus and juvenile delinquency, and such as the children in poverty. And we know-----a former schoolmate of our university, Tsinghua, and he studied in USA and was killed last year. And I feel so sad. And I know this kind of crime has become more and more serious in today U.S. As the president, do you have any good plan to improve the human rights today in the U.S.? Thank you.

A: Sure, well, first of all, I’m proud to report that violent crime actually is going down. But any crime is too much crime. I mean anytime somebody is violent towards their neighbor, it is too much violence. And there is no question, we’ve got people living in poverty. But as I mentioned, our government is very generous in the amounts of money we spend trying to help people help themselves. When we all campaigned for office, one of the big debates is how best to help people help themselves.

Foreign policy is an important part of our campaigns, of course-----at least for President. But the American voter really is more focused on domestic politics, what’s happening at home, as you can imagine. If the economy is soft, like ours is now, they want to know what’s going to happen-----what are you doing about the economy? If the economy is good, then they don’t talk much about the economy.

But always we talk about two key issues to address your problem. One is welfare; how do we structure a welfare system that helps people in need, and in my judgment, should not make them dependent upon their government. And the other big issue is education. It’s always not only an important part of campaigns, but it’s an important part of being-----once you are in office.

When I was the governor of Texas, I used to always say, an educated child is one less likely to commit a crime. As a governor, and now as President, I have spent a lot of time working with members of both political parties to develop an education plan that starts making sure children learn before they just get shuffled through the system.

One of the saddest facts about my country is that there are a significant number of fourth grade students who can’t read at grade level. Imagine a child who can’t read in the fourth grade is a child that is not going to be able to read in the eighth grade. And if a child can’t read in the eighth grade, it’s likely that child is going to be able to read sufficiently when they get out of high school, and therefore won’t be able to go to college. It’s a shame in America that that’s the case.

So as part of an education bill I managed to get through Congress last year, we’ve got a significant reading initiative, where we’ll work with the states and the local jurisdictions to focus on an education program that emphasizes reading. This I hope to work with my wife and others on an early childhood development program, so the youngsters get the building blocks to learn how to read.

I’m actually working my way to your question, I promise you, because education is the best anti-crime program. It’s important to enforce law. It’s important to hold people accountable for their actions. It’s important to have consistent policy that says if you harm somebody, there will be a punishment for that harm. But in the best interests for my country, the long-term solution is to make sure the education system works for everybody. And when that happens, there will be a more hopeful future for people, and there will be less poverty, less hopelessness, and less crime.

Thank you for letting me come. God bless you all.