【失业人口调查】罗斯福第11次炉边谈话 1937年11月14日
1937年11月14日，美国总统罗斯福发表了本篇炉边谈话，主要谈及美国的失业问题，并宣布对失业群体进行人口调查，以方便政府更好地解决问题，同时呼吁全国人民同心协力战胜困难。
I am appealing to the people of America tonight to help in carrying out a task that is important to them and to their government.
今晚，我想寻求全体美国人民的帮助，来完成一项对人民、对政府都至关重要的任务。
It is a part, but an essential part, of the greater task of finding jobs for willing workers who are idle through no fault of their own; of finding more work for those who are insufficiently employed and of surveying the needs of workers and industry to see if we can find the basis of a better long-range plan of re-employment than we have now.
这一任务是我们为愿意工作的工人创造工作岗位总章程的一环，且是必不可少的一环；为只能打零工的人找到稳定工作，调查工人和企业的需求，然后看看我们能否改进现有的就业计划，为其持续效益打下基础。
Enforced idleness, embracing any considerable portion of our people, in a nation of such wealth and natural opportunity, is a paradox that challenges our ingenuity. Unemployment is one of the bitter and galling problems that now afflicts man-kind. It has been with us, in a measure, since the beginning of our industrial era. It has been increased by the complexity of business and industry, and it has been made more acute by the depression. It has made necessary the expenditure of billions of dollars for relief and for publicly created work; it has delayed the balancing of our national budget, and increased the tax burden of all our people. In addition to the problem faced by the national government our states and local governments have been sorely pressed to meet the increased load resulting from unemployment.
我国坐拥大量财富财产和丰富自然资源，国内却有大量人民被迫闲置失业，这一自相矛盾的现象需要我们动用智慧去应对。失业这一令人恼火不快的问题，一直困扰着人类。自工业时代以来，这个问题就多多少少一直存在。而商业和工业的发展，则加剧了这一问题，经济大萧条更是使之雪上加霜。大萧条迫使我们拨款几十上百亿美元用以救济和开展公共工程；使得我国财政迟迟无法收支平衡，还加重了人民的赋税负担。除联邦政府之外，各州地方政府也面临着严峻失业问题所带来的巨大压力。
It is a problem of every civilized nation—not ours alone. It has been solved in some countries by starting huge armament programs but we Americans do not want to solve it that way.
这不仅是我们面临的困境——世界各国都面临着这一困境。一些国家通过大规模扩军解决了危机，但是我们美国人不打算采用这种方法。
Nevertheless, as a nation we adopted the policy that no unemployed man or woman can be permitted to starve for lack of aid. That is still our policy. But the situation calls for a permanent cure and not just a temporary one.
我国当时采取政策是为失业的男女发放救济，免于饥饿。我们今天的政策依旧如此。但我们不能仅用这种临时救济，而是要找到办法根治问题。
Unemployment relief is, of course, not the permanent cure. The permanent cure lies in finding suitable jobs in industry and agriculture for all willing workers. It involves cooperative effort and planning which will lead to the absorption of this unused man-power in private industry. Such planning calls for facts which we do not now possess.
失业救济金当然只是治标不治本。只要我们为所有愿意工作的工业、农业工人找到了适合他们的工作岗位，才能从根本上解决问题。完成这一任务需要我们齐心协力，让私企得以将闲置的人力资源吸纳入岗位。我们尚不具备完成该计划的客观条件。
Such planning applies not only to workers but to the employers in industry because it involves trying to get rid of what we call the peaks and valleys of employment and unemployment—trying with the help of industry to plan against producing more goods one year than people can or will consume, and cutting production drastically the following year with the resulting lay-off of hundreds of thousands of workers.
That is a long and difficult problem to find the answer to and it may take many efforts in the coming years to find the right answer. But in the meantime, we need more facts.
这一计划不仅有利于于工人，也利于企业家，因为它可以防止我们常说的过山车式的就业失业问题——我们在第一年生产的商品供过于求，第二年又大幅减产，导致数十万工人失业，现在我们要联合企业，一起解决这种问题。想要找到这一问题的解决方法并非易事，这可能要我们花上几年的时间，投入巨大的精力才能找到正解。但同时，我们需要了解失业问题的真实情况。
For several years varying estimates of the extent of unemployment have been made. Valuable as some of these estimates have been in providing us an approximation of the extent of unemployment, they have not provided us with sufficient factual data on which to base a comprehensive re-employment program. During this coming week we are going to strive to get such facts. We are going to conduct a nation-wide census of the unemployed and the partly unemployed and we are going to conduct it in the genuinely democratic American way.
这几年来，各种机构统计的失业数据都不一样。虽然其中一部分数据可以为政府大致估计失业群体规模作参考，但仅依靠这些客观数据规划全方面再就业计划的基础，是远远不够的。在接下来的一周里，政府会努力调查失业群体的真实数据。我们会在全国范围内对失业者和半失业者进行人口调查，我们会用真正民主的、符合美国特色的方式的进行普查。
This is to be a wholly voluntary census. We are going to hold the mirror up to ourselves and try to get, not only a true and honest reflection of our present unemployment conditions, but facts which will help us to plan constructively for the future.
本次人口调查完全自愿参与。我们会举起镜子，不仅要照出我们当前失业群体的真实情况，还要从中了解到有助于我们未来解决问题的真实信息。
Only in a nation whose people are alert to their own self-interest, and alive to their responsibilities of citizenship, could such a voluntary plan succeed. I am confident that this great American undertaking will succeed. Every effort is being put forth to make all of our people understand and appreciate its significance and I am sure you will all give it your helpful aid as you have in previous efforts aimed at national improvement, and through which our people have shown their capacity for self-government.
只有人民关心自己的利益，并甚至自己作为公民的义务，国家才能完成本次自愿调研。我相信，美国人民一定会完成这一艰巨任务。我们正在尽一切努力使我国全体人民理解这一任务的重要性，我相信大家为改善国家状况，会一如既往地支持这一任务，以此展现我国人民拥有自治能力。
On Tuesday next, November 16, the Post Office Department, through its far-flung and highly efficient organization, will undertake to deliver to every abode in the United States an Unemployment Report Card containing 14 simple questions.
下周二，也就是11月16日，邮政部会有效组织行动，然后向美国的每一个家庭都邮寄一张失业登记单，登记单上有14个简单问题。
The Report Card which the postman will leave at your door on Tuesday is a double post-card, larger than the customary card. It is addressed especially to those who are unemployed or partly unemployed, and who are able to work and are seeking work. This card contains a message to you from me carrying the assurance that if you will give me all the facts, it will help us in planning for the benefit of those who need and want work and do not now have it. This message calls upon the unemployed and everyone else in this land to help make this census complete, honest and accurate.
周二，邮递员会将登记单放到你家门口，登记单是一个比普通纸单略大的双明信片。这一登记单专门为失业或半失业群体，以及有工作能力正在寻找工作的人而制作。报告单上会有我想对你们说的话，以及我的保证，只要你们如实告诉我所有信息，我们就能开展规划，帮助那些想要工作却没有工作的人。我呼吁全体失业者，以及我国全体国民配合完成此次人口普查，做到真实准确。
If all unemployed and partly unemployed persons, who are able to work and who are seeking work, will conscientiously fill out these cards and mail them just as they are, without stamp or envelope, by or before midnight November 20, our nation will have real facts upon which to base a sound re-employment program.
如果所有可以工作、且想要工作的失业人员和半失业人员能在11月20日结束之前，填写完这些报告单并原样寄回，寄送时不需要邮票或信封，那么国家就能以这些真实信息为基础，开始全面规划再就业任务。
It is important for every unemployed person to understand that this report card is not an application for relief, nor registration for a job. This is purely and simply a fact-seeking census. When you receive this card you will note that the 14 questions are designed to give this nation a wider basis of knowledge of its unemployment conditions than it has heretofore had.
全体失业者都要明白，这张登记单不是救济申请，也不是工作登记。这只是一次想要了解我国人民真实信息的简单人口调查。等你收到报告单，看到这14个问题时，你就会发现，国家只是想比以前尽可能多地了解人民的失业情况。
If our unemployed and partly unemployed wholeheartedly give the information sought in these 14 questions, we will know not only the extent of unemployment and partial unemployment, but we will know the geographical location of unemployment by states and communities. We will likewise be able to tell what age groups are most severely affected. But most important of all, we will know the work qualifications of the unemployed; we will know in what industries they are suited to function, and we will be equipped to determine what future industrial trends are most likely to absorb these idle workers.
如果失业者和半失业者愿意诚实回答这14个问题，将你们的信息告诉我们，我们就不仅能了解到你们的群体规模，还有你们在各州各地的位置。同时，我们还能看出哪个年龄段失业最为严重。最重要的是，我们可以了解到失业者可以承担什么工作；知道失业者适合哪些企业，并知道未来哪些行业可能会需要这些闲置工人。
I think it is necessary to emphasize that only those unemployed, or partly unemployed, who are able to work, and who are seeking work, should fill out these cards. All others may disregard them.
我认为我必须强调一下，只要失业者和半失业者，且有工作能力也愿意工作的人，才需要填写登记单。其他人请直接无视。
But I appeal to all of you who are employed today to enlist as good neighbors to those who are unemployed in your communities and who may need help in filling out their cards properly and promptly. They may need the stimulus of your cooperation, to recognize the importance of this national effort to help them.
但是我想要呼吁全体有工作的人，帮助社区内有需要的人正确及时填写登记表，成为他们的好邻里。他们可能需要你们帮助，否则的话，他们可能不知道国家正在帮助他们，或意识不到事情的重要性。
I think this neighborly cooperation will be very helpful in dispelling from the minds of the unemployed all fear that the information sought in this census is to be used for any purpose other than helpfulness. I repeat the assurance to the unemployed that the information which you give on these report cards will in no sense be used against you, but so far as lies within my power will be employed for your own good and for the welfare of the nation.
我觉得，这种邻里帮助的模式非常有助于驱散失业者心中的恐惧，部分失业者会害怕我们在这次人口普查中收集的个人信息除帮扶之外，会被用于其他目的。我再次向大家保证，你们在登记单上填的信息，绝不会用于对你们不利的事务，只要在我的权力范围内，我都会竭力确保这些信息用于造福人民和国家。
When we have ascertained the full facts of unemployment, we can extend the voluntary and neighborly character of this effort to the task of finding the solution to the perplexing problem. Its importance justifies a national approach, free from prejudice or partisanship and warrants the cooperative endeavors of business, of labor, of agriculture, and of government.
等我们了解到了所需的失业群体真实信息，我们就可以沿用本次人口调查中的自愿政策和睦邻政策，用以解决这一困扰我们的问题。这一政策证明了我们摆脱党派斗的模式效果拔群，也可以确保企业、工人、农民和政府相互配合，共同努力。
I am confident that this nation of ours has the genius to reorder its affairs, and possesses the physical resources to make it possible for everyone, young or old, to enjoy the opportunity to work and earn. There is neither logic nor necessity for one-third of our population to have less of the needs of modern life than make for decent living.
我相信，自我管理、重塑稳定是我国与生俱来的天赋，我国拥有海量物质资源，足以让每一个人，无论男女老少，都能得到工作赚钱的机会。我国现在有三分之一的人，仍旧无法得到所需所求，无法过上体面的现代生活，这既不应该，也无必要。
Our national purchasing power is the soil from which comes all our prosperity. The steady flow of wages to our millions of workers is essential if the products of our industry and of our farmers are to be consumed.
全国购买力是我国一切繁荣的土壤。如果我们想要把工业品和农产品卖出去，那么就必须让成百上千万工人拥有稳定的工资。
Our far-sighted industrial leaders now recognize that a very substantial share of corporate earnings must be paid out in wages, or the soil from which these industries grow will soon become impoverished. Our farmers recognize that their largest customers are the workers for wages, and that farm markets cannot be maintained except through widespread purchasing power.
现在，我国富有远见的行业巨头已经认识到，必须将自己企业收入的相当一部分以工资的形式发放出去，否则企业立足的土壤很快就会崩塌。我国农民也认识到了，他们的主要消费群体就是领企业工资的工人，如果工人普遍不具备足够的购买力，那么农业市场也无法维系。
This unemployment problem is, therefore, one in which every individual and every economic group has a direct interest. It is a problem whose discussion must be removed from the field of prejudice to the field of logic. We shall find the solution only when we have the facts, and having the facts, accept our mutual responsibilities.
所以失业问题是和每个人、每个经济团体都直接息息相关的。讨论这个问题时，我们必须摒弃偏见，用逻辑和理性思考。我们要先掌握真实信息，之后我们还要共同承担起责任，才能解决失业问题。
The inherent right to work is one of the elemental privileges of a free people. Continued failure to achieve that right and privilege by anyone who wants to work and needs work is a challenge to our civilization and to our security. Endowed, as our nation is, with abundant physical resources, and inspired as it should be with the high purpose to make those resources and opportunities available for the enjoyment of all, we approach this problem of reemployment with the real hope of finding a better answer than we have now.
对于自由民族来说，拥有工作是不可剥夺的基本权利。我们迟迟无法帮助想要、需要工作的人民捍卫这一权利，这撼动着我们的文明和安全。上天赋予了我国丰富的物质资源，因此我们也应该让全体人民都能享有这些资源和机遇，现在我们真诚希望，能找到某种比现有方案更好的措施来解决再就业问题。
The Unemployment Census, as a sensible first step to a constructive re-employment program ought to be a successful bit of national team-work from which will come again that feeling of national solidarity which is the strength and the glory of the American people.
本次失业人口调查，是我们以理性解决再就业规划迈出的第一步，全国人民互帮互助，举国上下齐心协力，我们一定可以成功，再向世人展现美利坚民族的力量与荣光。
声明：本人仅按照原文翻译内容，演讲内容不代表本人观点。此专栏仅供历史和英语交流学习使用，任何读者皆可引用本人的译本。
希望来学习英语的观众明白：我觉得这些专栏的主要精华在于英语原文，而并非我的译本，我的译本很大程度上只是供来学习历史的观众使用的。本人的英语水平一般，翻译得并不会多么精彩，只能在你看不懂时来帮助你了解这些演讲内容最基本的意思，而且翻译时难免会出现差错，切勿直接完全以我的译本为标准。如发现有翻译错误或者歧义内容，欢迎指正。
希望来学习历史的观众明白：任何历史人物都有一定的局限性，随着时代发展，很多观点看法可能已经不再适用今天的世界，西方的观点也不一定适用于我们。通过了解这些演讲，仅可给我们提供一个更全面了解过去和世界的渠道。我们可以从优秀的历史、当代人物身上学到很多，但是请保持独立思考，理性看待演讲内容，切勿全信或将其奉为真理。
