-The Audacity of Hope（无畏的希望：重申美国梦）

It's been almost ten years since I first ran for political office.I was thirty-five at the time,four years out of law school,recently married,and generally impatient with life.A seat in the Illinois legislature had opened uo,and several friends suggested that I run ,thinking that my work as a civil rights lawyer,and contacts from my days as a commmunity organizer,would make me viable candidate.After discussing it with my wife, i entered the race and proceeded to do what every first-time candidate does:i talked to anyone who would listen.I went to block club meetings and church socials,beauty shops and barbershops.If two guys were standing on a corner,I would cross the street to hand them campaign literature.And everywhere I went,I'd get some version of the same two questions.

自我的政治生涯开启，已经十年了，当时的我三十五岁，刚结婚，已经从法学院毕业四年了，正是逐渐地对生活感到不耐烦的时候。正巧，伊利诺斯州立法机构有一个空出来的职位，我的好几个朋友建议我去参选，在他们看来，作为一个民政事物律师的我，每天接触的都是组织负责人，能够使我成为称职的参选者。在和我妻子讨论过后，我参与了这场竞选并且开始去做每个参选者都会做的事情：和任何可能会投我票的人聊天。我参加了大量的社区集会和教堂活动，进入美容店和理发店找人聊天。当我看到两个人站在街角时，我会穿过街道去给他们发竞选刊物。然后我发现，不管我去哪里，我总是会听到别人问我两个相同的问题。

"where 'd you get that funny name?"

谁给你起的这么好笑的名字？

And then:"You seem like a nice enough guy.Why do you want to go into something dirty and nasty like politics?"

然后他们还会问，你看起来像是个正直优秀的人，为什么你要去搅和那么肮脏恶心的政治场中呢？

I was familiar with the question, a variant on the questions asked of me years earlier,when i first arrived in Chicago to work in low-incomee neighborhoods.It signaled a cynicism nor simply with politices but with the very notion of a public life,a cynicism that--at least in the South Side neighborhoods.I sought to represent--hsd been nourished by a generation of broken promises.In response,I would usually smile and nod and say that I understand the skepticism,but that there was--and always had been--another tradition to politics,a tradition that stretched from the days of the country's founding to the glory of the civil rights movement,a tradition based on glory of the civil rights  movement,a tradition based on the simple idea that we have a stake in one on another,and that what binds us together is greater than what drives us apart,and that if enough people in the truth of that proposition and act on it,then we might nor solve every problem,but we can get something meaningful done.

对这样的问题，我一直感到很熟悉，在许多年前，就有人问过我大同小异的问题。在我初到芝加哥在低收入地区工作的时候，这不仅只是简简单单地显示了人民群众对政治的冷嘲热讽，而且表达了生活中人们对政治的见解，至少，在美国南方的地区的人们是这样认为的。而我，希望能够代表，这代被一堆破碎的诺言哄骗下长大的人，去改变这样的现状。作为回应，我一般会微笑点头说，我明白你们怀疑的态度，但是总是有好的政治传统，就是把公民的纳税钱全部用在推进公民权利的荣誉和建立在公民权利的运动上。而这样的好的传统必须建立在人民群众愿意把赌注放在一个又一个候选人身上，并且联结在一起去努力。假如足够的人相信这样的提议，并且为之付出行动的话，那么我们就能够解决每个问题，而不仅仅只是做点有意义的事情。

It was a pretty comvincing speech,i thought.And although I'm not sure that the people who heard me deliver it were similarly impressed,enough of them appreciated my earnestness and youthful swagger that I made it to the Illinois legislature.

我认为这是一个颇让人信服的演讲，尽管我并不确定那些听到我发表演讲的人们是否被我的演讲所惊艳到，但是他们当中，足够数量的人十分欣赏我对待政治的诚挚态度和年轻气盛，使得我能够加入伊利诺斯州立法机构。