Remarks by the President in Address to the Nation on Syria.doc

Remarks by the President in Address to the Nation on Syria奥巴马总统就叙利亚问题向全国发表讲话 East Room, Washington, D.C.东厅，华盛顿哥伦比亚特区 September 10,9月10日 My fellow Americans, tonight I want to talk to you about Syria -- why it matters, and where we go from here.我的美国同胞们，今晚我想对你们谈谈叙利亚问题 -- 为什么此事很重要，从现在开始我们将做些什么。 Over the past two years, what began as a series of peaceful protests against the repressive regime of Bashar al-Assad has turned into a brutal civil war. Over 100,000 people have been killed. Millions have fled the country. In that time, America has worked with allies to provide humanitarian support, to help the moderate opposition, and to shape a political settlement. But I have resisted calls for military action, because we cannot resolve someone else’s civil war through force, particularly after a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.过去两年来，最初为反对巴沙尔阿萨德专制政权举行的一系列和平示威演变成一场残酷的内战。有100,000多人被杀害。数百万人逃离这个国家。在此期间，美国与各盟国一起提供人道主义援助，帮助温和的反对派，并努力促成政治解决。但是我拒绝了关于采取军事行动的要求，因为我们无法通过武力解决别国的内战问题，特别是在伊拉克和阿富汗经过了10年战争之后。 The situation profoundly changed, though, on August 21st, when Assad’s government gassed to death over a thousand people, including hundreds of children. The images from this massacre are sickening: Men, women, children lying in rows, killed by poison gas. Others foaming at the mouth, gasping for breath. A father clutching his dead children, imploring them to get up and walk. On that terrible night, the world saw in gruesome detail the terrible nature of chemical weapons, and why the overwhelming majority of humanity has declared them off-limits -- a crime against humanity, and a violation of the laws of war.8月21日，局势出现了巨大的变化。当时，阿萨德政府使用毒气杀害了一千多民众，其中包括数百名儿童。这场大屠杀的情景令人惨不忍睹：男子、妇女、儿童横尸遍地，都是因为中毒身亡。另一些人口吐白沫，呼吸窒息。一位父亲搂着死去的孩子们，还在哀求他们站起来走走。在那个可怕的夜晚，全世界通过惨绝人寰的详尽画面亲眼目睹化学武器的恐怖性质。这也说明为什么人类绝大多数宣布禁止使用这类武器——使用这类武器属于反人类的罪行，也违反了战争法。 This was not always the case. In World War I, American GIs were among the many thousands killed by deadly gas in the trenches of Europe. In World War II, the