偶像勵志英語演講 第123期:直面恐懼(10)

Fear will get the worst of the best of us and peddlers of influence count on that. Throughtoutour nation's constant struggle to create a more perfect union, establish justice and ensure ourdomestic tranquility, we battle fear from outside our borders and from within our own heartsevery day of our history.
恐懼能造成最糟糕的后果，而那些好生事的人就賴這個活著。我們不斷奮斗抗爭，就是為了締造一個更加完美的聯(lián)邦，建立公平，保障我們國家內部的安寧，我們每天都要對抗外來與心理內在的各種恐懼。
Our nation came to be despite the fear of retribution from the king across the sea. Americawas made strong because people here could live free from the fears that made up their dailylives in whatever land they called the "Old Country". Our history books tell of conflicts taken upto free people from fear-those kept in slavery-in our own states, and to liberate whole nationsunder the rule of tyrants and theologies rooted in fear. The American course, at its best, asbeing the cultivation of a faith, that declares we will always live in peace when we are all free toworship as we choose, when we are free to express our hearts, and when we all seek a placefree from fear. But we live in a world where too many of us are too ready to believe in thingsthat do not exist-conspiracies abound, divisons are constructed and the differences betweenus are not celebrated for making us stronger but are calculated and programmed to set usagainst each other. Our faith is tested by unpredictable providence, and threatened whencommon sense is corrupted by specific interests.
我們的國家不顧對面海岸國王的懲罰，逐漸建立了起來。美國越來越強大，因為國民不用再生活在恐懼下，而這曾是他們在被其稱為“舊國家”的那片土地上日常生活的全部。我們的歷史書上記載了我們國家所展開的斗爭，為了人們——那些身陷奴隸制度中的人們——不再恐懼，為了把整個國家從暴君和神學可怕的統(tǒng)治下解放出來。美國的事業(yè)和追求，在于一種信念的培養(yǎng)：當我們能夠自由選擇宗教信仰、自由表達內心想法，而且居住在沒有恐懼的地方時，就是我們找到和平的時候。然而，到了今天，卻有太多人愿意相信許多毫無根據(jù)的虛構說法。各種陰謀論盛行，分化對立嚴重，族群間的差異，并沒有讓我們融合壯大，反而被用來挑撥離間。我們的信念正遭受未知天命的考驗，并且在常識被一些特定利益所腐蝕時受到了威脅。
重點講解：
1. count on
指望;依靠;依賴;
eg. Don't count on other people to help you out of trouble.
別指望他人能幫你擺脫困境。
eg. They decided not to count on foreign aid to relieve the famine.
他們決定不依靠外援來救災。
2. make up
組成;構成;
eg. Parents and children make up a family in the strict sense of the word.
父母和小孩組成狹義上的家庭。
eg. The scientists said extremely small life forms make up ninety percent of the ocean's totalliving material, also known as biomass.
科學家說極其微小的生命形式組成了海洋中90%的生命物質，這種生命形式被稱為生物量。
3. be ready to do sth.
愿意的;樂意的;情愿的;甘愿做某事;
eg. She was always ready to give interviews.
她一向樂意接受采訪。
eg. She has a very open mind and is always ready to consider new ideas.
她頭腦很開放，總是愿意考慮新觀點。
4. be programmed to do sth.
按特定的方式行事;
eg. We are all genetically programmed to develop certain illnesses.
基因決定了我們都會患上某些疾病。
eg. The evidence suggests that our sense of touch is programmed to diminish with age.
有證據(jù)表明，我們的觸覺會隨著年齡的增長而減損。
5. set against
使…與…對立(或作對、競爭);
eg. The case has set neighbour against neighbour in the village.
這件事使得村里鄰里間反目成仇。
eg. The problematic situation set the interests of environmentalists against those ofcorporations and of individuals who stood to lose jobs.
這種未可預料的形勢把環(huán)境保護者的利益與公司的利益以及要承受失業(yè)的個人的利益對立起來。