Last week, during a five-day trip through Latin America and the Caribbean, I visited a cut-flower farm outside Bogota, Colombia, an hour's drive from downtown that would have been impossibly dangerous 10 years ago. Along the way I passed office parks, movie theaters and subdivisions, interspersed with small ranches and family businesses. At the flower farm, one-quarter of the workers are female heads of households. The carnations and roses they were clipping would arrive in U.S. stores within days, duty free.

上周，在对拉丁美洲和加勒比海地区进行为期五天的访问行程中，我走访了哥伦比亚首都波哥大的一个插花农场。这里距离波哥大市中心有一个小时的车程，要是10年前来到这里还是非常地危险。一路上我经过了写字楼群、电影院和被分割成很多区域的地块，这中间还穿插着小型牧场和家族企业。在这个插花农场，四分之一的工人是家里的女主人。他们正在剪枝的康乃馨和玫瑰几天之内就能运抵美国的花店，而且还免税。

What I saw on the flower farm was just one sign of the economic blossoming in the year since a U.S. free-trade agreement with Colombia went into force. Over that period, American exports to the country are up 20%.

我在这一鲜花农场看到的景象只是美国同哥伦比亚的自由贸易协定生效以来该国经济繁荣的迹象之一。两国贸易协定生效的这段时间以来，美国对哥伦比亚的出口上升了20%。

The U.S. experience with Colombia reflects a larger economic boom across the Western Hemisphere that offers many exciting partnership opportunities for American business. In Rio de Janeiro, I met with Brazilian and American business leaders─representing the aerospace, energy, construction and manufacturing sectors─who laid out a remarkable vision for prosperity that spans the Americas. As these business leaders made clear, Latin America today is a region transformed. Elections that once were exceptions are now largely the norm. In a growing number of places, conflicts between left and right have given way to peaceful, practical governance. And in the process, Latin America's middle class has grown 50% in the past decade alone. By some estimates, it is nearly the size of China's.

美国与哥伦比亚之间的交往历程反映出整个西半球呈现出的经济繁荣，这为美国企业提供了很多令人兴奋的合作机会。在里约热内卢，我遇到了多位巴西和美国的企业领导人，他们来自航空航天、能源、建筑和制造等行业。这些人展现出了非凡的愿景，相信整个美洲都会呈现繁荣。正如这些企业领导人明确指出的那样，如今的拉丁美洲已经是一个被改变的地区。曾经只是在个别国家出现的民主选举如今已成了大多数国家的政权组织形式。在越来越多的地方，左与右的冲突已经让位给和平、务实的治理。在这一过程当中，拉丁美洲的中产阶级的数量仅在过去10年中就增长了50%。按照一些人的估计，总人数已经同中国中产阶级的人数差不多。

There is enormous potential─economically, politically and socially─for the U.S. in its relations with countries of the Western Hemisphere. And so the Obama administration has launched the most sustained period of U.S. engagement with the Americas in a long, long time─including the president's travel to Mexico and Costa Rica last month; my own recent trip to Colombia, Trinidad, and Brazil; Secretary of State Kerry's participation in the Organization of American States' annual meeting in Guatemala; the president of Chile's visit to Washington this week and a planned visit to Washington by the president of Peru. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff arrives in Washington in October for the first state visit of the second term.

对美国而言，发展同西半球国家的关系有着巨大的潜力，不管是在经济方面、政治方面还是在社会组织方面。因此，奥巴马政府已经在与美洲国家进行接触，这是在很长、很长时间以来美国与美洲国家接触过程中最具持续性的一段时期，包括总统上个月访问了墨西哥和哥斯达黎加；我自己也访问了哥伦比亚、特立尼达和多巴哥以及巴西；国务卿克里参加了美洲国家组织(Organization of American States)在危地马拉举办的年会；智利总统访问华盛顿；秘鲁总统也在计划访问华盛顿。巴西总统罗塞夫(Dilma Rousseff)将于10月到访华盛顿，这是奥巴马第二任期内，罗塞夫对美国的首次国事访问。

As leaders across the region work to lift their citizens out of poverty and to diversify their economies from commodity-led growth, the U.S. believes that the greatest promise─for Americans and for our neighbors─lies in deeper economic integration and openness.

全美洲的领导人都在努力让本国民众免受贫困之苦，努力实现经济多元化，避免单一依赖大宗商品带来的增长，当此之际，美国认为，最重大的承诺──不管是对美洲人而言，还是对我们的邻居而言──在于更深度的经济一体化、更大的开放力度。

The process is further along than you might think. Not only is the U.S. deepening what is already a trillion-dollar trading relationship with Mexico and Canada─we also have free-trade agreements that stretch nearly continuously from Canada to Chile.

这一过程比诸位想象的更为漫长。美国不仅正在深化与墨西哥和加拿大之间已达数万亿美元规模的贸易关系，我们还签订了自由贸易协定，几乎涵盖了从加拿大到智利的所有区域。

One of the most promising developments is the year-old Alliance of the Pacific among Chile, Colombia, Peru and Mexico. This pact, involving four of the region's fastest-growing countries, now has nations across the world seeking to participate or to play a positive supporting role. We're one of those nations. By committing to lowering trade barriers and integrating diplomatic and commercial interests, alliance members are showing that pragmatism, not ideology, is the secret to success. The effort also serves as a reminder of the deep connections between our enhanced engagement in this hemisphere and our Asia-Pacific rebalance.

这方面最有前途的一项进展是成立已有一年的、由智利、哥伦比亚、秘鲁和墨西哥四国组成的“太平洋联盟”。前述四国签署的《太平洋协定》涵盖了该地区增长最快的四个国家，现在世界各地都有国家寻求加入这一联盟或对联盟发挥某种积极的配合作用。美国就是这些国家中的一个。通过承诺降低贸易壁垒及整合外交和商业利益，太平洋联盟的成员国向世界展示，务实主义而非意识形态才是取得成功的秘密。美国在这方面的努力还提醒世人，美国对西半球事务更大程度的参与同美国亚太再平衡战略有深度关联。

For Brazil, as for the U.S., one of the most important frontiers is energy. From biofuels to deep-water oil reserves to shale gas to hydroelectric, Brazil is energy-rich, and that has tremendous implications globally. Brazil already is a leading expert in renewables and deep-water extraction, but both of our countries can advance further if we work together. I know from my meeting with President Rousseff that Brazil is equally committed to an energy partnership.

正如对美国一样，能源对巴西而言也是其最重要的领域之一。从生物燃料到深海石油储备，再到页岩气和水力发电，这些能源资源在巴西都有丰富的蕴藏，这一点具有深远的全球意义。巴西已经是可再生能源和深海油气资源的主要出口国之一，但如果美国和巴西能够携手合作，那么两国都将在能源领域取得更大进展。在与巴西总统罗塞夫的会谈中我了解到，巴西同样致力于与美国在能源领域结成合作伙伴。

Ultimately, all of these economic opportunities rest on democratic protections and citizen security. Through the Inter American Democratic Charter, the nations of the hemisphere committed to promote and defend representative democracy; this commitment remains as important as ever to the success of the Americas. And from Mexico to the Caribbean to Colombia, we remain invested in long-term security partnerships. The U.S. will continue to stand by Colombia as it seeks to bring an end to the longest-running conflict in the Americas and inspires other countries in the region to overcome their own challenges.

归根结蒂，所有这些经济方面的机遇，若要抓住都有赖于民主制度和公民安全的保障。通过签署《美洲国家民主宪章》(Inter American Democratic Charter)，美洲国家致力于促进并捍卫代议制民主。对于确保美洲国家的成功，这一承诺依然发挥着和以往任何时候一样重要的作用。从墨西哥到加勒比海国家再到哥伦比亚，美国仍然在对同这些国家结成的长期安全合作伙伴关系进行投资。在哥伦比亚试图结束美洲国家历史上持续时间最长的国内冲突、并激励该地区其它国家成功解决各自面临的挑战的同时，美国将继续支持哥伦比亚。

That's going to require some honest conversations, like the one that will take place next week at the OAS General Assembly on drug policy. Similarly, many countries have serious concerns about weapons coming from the U.S. and are angry about our criminal-deportation policy for its lack of transparency. We won't shy away from these kinds of difficult discussions.

这需要各国之间进行坦诚的对话，比如美洲国家组织大会下周将要举行的有关毒品政策的会议。同样地，许多国家对来自美国的武器表示严重关切，并因美国的罪犯驱逐出境政策缺乏透明而对此感到愤怒。美国不会回避探讨这类难题。

Here at home, we need to reform our immigration system because it is the right thing to do for our own country. But it also will strengthen our standing in the hemisphere. Success in international relations, like any relationship, comes down to respect. And fully realizing the potential of these new relationships requires treating people from other nations living inside our borders with respect.

在美国国内，我们需要改革移民制度，因为这对美国有利。这同时也会巩固我们在西半球的地位。与任何一种关系一样，国际关系的成功归根结底是对彼此的尊重。想要充分挖掘此类新型关系的潜能，我们必须尊重住在美国国内的他国民众。

The changes under way invite the U.S. to look at Latin America and the Caribbean in a very different way. The defining question for U.S. policy is no longer 'what can we do for the Americas?' It is 'what can we do together?'

正在发生的变化令美国以一种非常不同的视角看待拉丁美洲和加勒比海地区。对美国政策而言，具有决定意义的问题不再是“我们能为美洲做些什么”，而是“我们能够共同做些什么”。

In the 1990s, we imagined a Europe that is whole, free and at peace. Today, I believe we can credibly envision an Americas that is solidly middle-class, secure and democratic─from the Arctic Circle to the Tierra del Fuego and everywhere in between.

在20世纪90年代，我们曾设想欧洲融为一体，充满自由与和平。今天，我相信我们有充分理由设想美洲的前景：从北极圈到火地岛(Tierra del Fuego)，以及这之间的所有美洲国家都实现安全、民主，并且拥有稳固的中产阶级群体。