We have a choice. We can continue the Bush status quo— as Senator McCain wants to do—and we will become a country in which few reap the benefits of the global economy, while a growing number work harder for less and depend upon an overburdened public sector. An America in which we run up deficits and expose ourselves to the whims of oil-rich dictators while the opportunities for our children and grandchildren shrink. That is one course we could take. 　　我们仍有选择的余地。我们可以延续布什政府的现状—正如麦凯恩参议员所希望的那样—我们将变成这样一个国家：很少有人能从全球经济中获益，而越来越多的人则劳多获少，并依赖于已经不堪重负的公有经济；赤字剧增，受制于石油大亨，而为我们后代子孙所提供的机遇却越来越少。这可以是我们的选择之一。 　　Or, we can rise together. If we choose to change, just imagine what we can do. The great manufacturers of the twentieth century can turn out cars that run on renewable energy in the twenty-first. Biotechnology labs can find new cures; new rail lines and roadways can connect our communities; goods made here in Michigan can be exported around the world. Our children can get a world-class education, and their dreams of tomorrow can eclipse even our greatest hopes of today.

　　或者，我们可以选择共同崛起。如果选择变革，试想我们能够做些什么。20世纪伟大的制造商们可以制造出21世纪的可再生能源汽车。生物技术实验室能发现新的疗法，新的铁路干线和公路让我们的社区相连，密歇根生产的商品能出口到全世界。我们的子女能够接受世界一流的教育，他们对未来的梦想甚至超过了我们今天最伟大的希望。 　　We can choose to rise together. But it won’t be easy. Every one of us will have to work at it by studying harder, training more rigorously, working smarter, and thinking anew. We’ll have to slough off bad habits, reform our institutions, and reengage the world. We can do that, because this is America—a country that has been defined by a determination to believe in, and work for, things unseen.

　　我们可以选择共同崛起。但这并非易事。我们每个人都将为此付出努力，更勤奋地学习、更严格地训练、更精明地工作以及用更新的方式去思考。我们将摒弃不良习惯、进行机构改革并重新融入世界。我们的目标可以实现，因为这是美国—一个决意变革的国家，一个为新生事物努力进取的国家。 　　Every so often, there are times when America must rise to meet a moment. So it has been for the generations that built the railroads and beat back the Depression; that worked on the first assembly line and that went to the moon. So it must be for us today. This is our moment. This is our time to unite in common purpose, to make this century the next American century. Because when Americans come together, there is no destiny too difficult or too distant for us to reach.

　　曾几何时，美国都需要奋起拼搏，迎接关键时刻的到来，我们的前辈们能够修筑铁路，能够战胜经济萧条，能够在第一条装配线上工作并登上月球。现在，考验我们的时刻到了。这是我们的关键时刻。我们现在应该为了共同目标团结一致，把21世纪变成又一个美国世纪。因为当美国人民戮力同心的时候，我们就能很容易地把握住自己的命运 。