国情咨文（The State of the Union）是美国政府的施政纲领。依惯例，每年年初，总统都要在国会做年度报告，阐明面临国内外情况，政府将要采取的施政方针。2014年第三季度，美国GDP增长5%， 是十几年来最强劲的经济增速，奥巴马于元月20日发表2015国情咨文，底气十足。
这样一份重磅的报告，其实简洁易懂，还非常口语化，是学习英语的好材料。
在国情咨文中，奥巴马讲了个 Rebekah 小俩口的故事，反映美经济走出低迷。
Seven years ago, Rebekah and Ben Erler of Minneapolis were newlyweds. She waited tables. He worked construction. Their first child, Jack, was on the way.
They were young and in love in America, and it doesn’t get much better than that.
“If only we had known,” Rebekah wrote to me last spring, “what was about to happen to the housing and construction market.”
newlyweds 新婚夫妇
Minneapolis 明尼阿波利斯市
construction 建筑业
wait tables 做餐馆服务员，语法告诉我们，wait 和 work 是不及物动词，应该说 wait on tables 和 work on construction, 但这里可以省略介词，口语就是这么任性。
As the crisis worsened, Ben’s business dried up, so he took what jobs he could find, even if they kept him on the road for long stretches of time. Rebekah took out student loans, enrolled in community college, and retrained for a new career. They sacrificed for each other. And slowly, it paid off. They bought their first home. They had a second son, Henry. Rebekah got a better job, and then a raise. Ben is back in construction – and home for dinner every night.
“It is amazing,” Rebekah wrote, “what you can bounce back from when you have to…we are a strong, tight-knit family who has made it through some very, very hard times.”
dry up 枯竭, 干涸
take out student loans 获得助学贷款
enrol 登记, 注册
community college 社区学院
retrain for a new career 再就业培训
pay off 获得回报, 取得成功
raise 涨工资
bounce back 反弹, 复原, 恢复活力，
tight-knit 亲密的, 紧密的
make through 度过, 熬过
America, Rebekah and Ben’s story is our story. They represent the millions who have worked hard, and scrimped, and sacrificed, and retooled. You are the reason I ran for this office. You’re the people I was thinking of six years ago today, in the darkest months of the crisis, when I stood on the steps of this Capitol and promised we would rebuild our economy on a new foundation. And it’s been your effort and resilience that has made it possible for our country to emerge stronger.
scrimp 省钱, 精打细算, 吝啬
retool 充实自己
run for this office 竞争总统职位
Capitol 国会 (位于Capitol Hill, 称“国会山”)
resilience 坚韧, 复原力
Because families like Rebekah’s still need our help. She and Ben are working as hard as ever, but have to forego vacations and a new car so they can pay off student loans and save for retirement. Basic childcare for Jack and Henry costs more than their mortgage, and almost as much as a year at the University of Minnesota. Like millions of hardworking Americans, Rebekah isn’t asking for a handout, but she is asking that we look for more ways to help families get ahead.
forego 放弃
pay off 付清
Minnesota 明尼苏达州
handout 救济金, 不劳而获的钱
