克林顿讲述与希拉里的恋爱史

最近的美国大选，让希拉里成为举世瞩目的女性，而作为希拉里的另一半，美国前总统比尔•克林顿说不定要成为该国the first “First Gentleman”了。

不过要当好这个角色须有一项必备技能，演讲!

In the spring of 1971 I met a girl.

1971年的春天，我遇到了一个女孩。

The first time I saw her we were, appropriately enough, in a class on political and civil rights. She had thick blond hair, big glasses, wore no makeup, and she had a sense of strength and self-possession that I found magnetic.

我第一次见到她，是在政治与公民权利的课堂上，真应景。她金发浓密，戴着一副大眼镜，素面朝天，自带一种坚毅和沉着的气场，我被她深深地吸引了。

年轻时的希拉里。

After the class I followed her out, intending to introduce myself. I got close enough to touch her back, but I couldn’t do it. Somehow I knew this would not be just another tap on the shoulder, that I might be starting something I couldn’t stop.

课后，我尾随她出了教室，想要自我介绍。我走得离她那么近，近到能伸手碰到她的背，但还是不敢。不知怎么地，我意识到，这不会是拍拍肩膀那么简单，这可能会是一件一旦开始就停不下来的事情。

And I saw her several more times in the next few days, but I still didn’t speak to her. Then one night I was in the law library talking to a classmate who wanted me to join the Yale Law Journal. He said it would guarantee me a job in a big firm or a clerkship with a federal judge. I really wasn’t interested, I just wanted to go home to Arkansas.

接下来几天，我又见到她好几次，但一直没有开口和她说话。之后，有个晚上我正在法学图书馆里和一个同学聊天，那人想劝我加入《耶鲁法律期刊》，他说这份经历将能保我拿到好工作，比如在大公司任职或者成为联邦法官的书记员。但我实在不感兴趣，那时我只想回阿肯色州的老家。

Then I saw the girl again, standing at the opposite end of that long room. Finally she was staring back at me, so I watched her. She closed her book, put it down and started walking toward me. She walked the whole length of the library, came up to me and said, “Look, if you’re going to keep staring at me, –and now I’m staring back – we at least ought to know each other’s name. I’m Hillary Rodham, who are you?”

就在这时，我又看到了那个女孩，她就站在那间长长的屋子的另一头。终于她也看向了我，我呢，就一直盯着她看。她把手里的书合上，放下，然后向我走来。她穿过长长的图书馆，走到我跟前，对我说:“好吧，如果你打算继续这么盯着我看——没错我也在看你——我们起码应该知道彼此的名字。我叫希拉里•罗德哈姆，你呢?”

I was so impressed and surprised that, whether you believe it or not, momentarily I was speechless.

这实在是太震惊了，你们相信吗，那一瞬间我竟然一句话也说不出来。

Finally, I sort of blurted out my name and we exchanged a few words and then she went away.

终于，我恍惚着脱口报上自己的名字。我们简短地交谈了几句，她就走了。

两人1970年在耶鲁图书馆相识，当时克林顿还是大学新生，希拉里高他一届。

Well, I didn’t join the Law Review, but I did leave that library with a whole new goal in mind.

结果是，我没有加入那份期刊，但当我离开图书馆时，一个全新的目标已经出现在我的脑中。

A couple of days later, I saw her again. I remember, she was wearing a long, white, flowery skirt. And I went up to her and she said she was going to register for classes for the next term. And I said I’d go, too. And we stood in line and talked — you had to do that to register back then — and I thought I was doing pretty well until we got to the front of the line and the registrar looked up and said, “Bill, what are you doing here, you registered morning?”

几天后，我再次遇见她。我还记得，她穿的是一件长长的白色印花裙。我走过去，她告诉我，她正准备去登记注册下学期要上的课程。我说，真巧我也要去。然后我们就排着队聊着天(是的，那时候注册课程就是要现场排队)，我还想着自己真是太机智了，谁知当我们排到队伍最前头的时候，工作人员抬头看看我，然后问：“比尔，你来做什么?你不是上午就注册过了吗?”

I turned red and she laughed that big laugh of hers. And I thought, well, heck, since my cover’s been blown I just went ahead and asked her to take a walk down to the art museum.

我的脸唰地一下红了，而她当场大笑——就像你们后来所见过那种大笑。我那时想，好吧，见鬼，既然被戳穿了，那我干脆直接邀请她和我散步到艺术博物馆去吧。

克林顿和希拉里在耶鲁校园的旧照，嬉皮士模样的两人当时刚刚在耶鲁艺术博物馆看完马克·罗斯科的展。

We’ve been walking and talking and laughing together ever since. And we’ve done it in good times and bad, through joy and heartbreak. We cried together this morning on the news that our good friend and a lot of your good friend, Mark Weiner, passed away early this morning.

从那时起，我们就一直这样，一起走着聊着笑着，不论生活顺与不顺，不论我们是喜悦或伤悲。就在今天早上，我俩还因为共同的好朋友Mark Weiner去世的消息而一起落泪。

We’ve built up a lifetime of memories. After the first month and that first walk, I actually drove her home to Park Ridge, Illinois, to meet her family and see the town where she grew up, a perfect example of post World War II middle-class America, street after street of nice houses, great schools, good parks, a big public swimming pool, and almost all white.

我们共同创造了一辈子的记忆。就在那个月和那次散步之后，我开车送她回到位于伊利诺伊州帕克里奇的家中，见到了她的家人，也看到了她从小长大的城镇。那是一个典型的后二战中产美国城镇。一条街连着一条街林立着漂亮的房子、学校、公园，还有一个很大的公共游泳池，几乎清一色的白色。

...

I was trying to convince her to marry me.

之后，我努力说服她嫁给我。

I first proposed to her on a trip to Great Britain, the first time she had been overseas. And we were on the shoreline of this wonderful little lake, Lake Ennerdale. I asked her to marry me and she said I can’t do it.

第一次求婚是在我们去英国的旅途中，在那之前她没有出过国。那时我们在一个名为恩纳代尔的美丽的小湖边，我请求希拉里嫁给我，她说，不行。

希拉里说，克林顿是第一个不怕她的男人。

So in 1974 I went home to teach in the law school and Hillary moved to Massachusetts… to keep working on children’s issues.

于是1974年，我回到家乡，在一所法学院任教。希拉里则搬到了马萨诸塞州，继续忙着为儿童争取权益。

Meanwhile, I was still trying to get her to marry me.

但我没有放弃，还想着要把她娶回家。

So the second time I tried a different tack. I said I really want you to marry me, but you shouldn’t do it.

所以，第二次求婚时我换了一个套路。我对她说：“我真的很希望你能嫁给我，但你不该这样做。”

And she smiled and looked at me, like, what is this boy up to? She said that is not a very good sales pitch. I said I know, but it’s true. And I meant it, it was true.

她微笑地看着我，那表情就像在问，这孩子在干嘛呢?她说道，这可不是一句很好的求婚台词。我说我知道，但我说的是实话，我也确实是这么想的。

I said I know most of the young Democrats our age who want to go into politics, they mean well and they speak well, but none of them is as good as you are at actually doing things to make positive changes in people’s lives.

我跟她说，我知道，绝大部分像我们这样年轻的民主党人如果想要步入政坛，他们多半是怀着美好的愿望，说着漂亮的话，但没有哪个比得上你，用实际行动来改变人们的生活。

So I suggested she go home to Illinois or move to New York and look for a chance to run for office. She just laughed and said, “are you out of you mind, nobody would ever vote for me.” 于是，我建议她回到伊利诺伊州，或者到搬到纽约去，在那些地方寻找竞选参政的机会。她笑了，然后说，“你疯了吧，没有人会给我投票的。”

So I finally got her to visit me in Arkansas. And when she did, the people at the law school were so impressed they offered a teaching position. And she decided to take a huge chance. She moved to a strange place, more rural, more culturally conservative than any place she had ever been.

总之后来我成功邀请她来阿肯色州探访我了。她来了之后，法学院的人都对她印象太好了，甚至希望她留下来教书。而她也就此决定冒一个大险，搬到这个陌生的地方，而此处比她到过的任何地方都要更偏僻，在文化上都更为保守。

And one day I was driving her to the airport to fly back to Chicago. When we passed this little brick house that had a for sale sign on it, she said, “boy, that’s a pretty house.” It had 1,100 square feet, an atticfan and no air conditioner in hot Arkansas, and a screened-in porch.

后来有一天，我开车送她去机场搭乘飞回芝加哥的航班。我们经过一座贴着“出售”布告的小砖房时，她说：“嘿，这房子真漂亮。”那房子有1100平方英尺大(约102平方米)，坐落在炎热的阿肯色州却只有吊扇而没有空调，还带一个封闭式的门廊。

Hillary commented on what a uniquely designed and beautiful house it was. So I took a big chance. I bought the house. My mortgage was $175 a month.

希拉里夸它设计独特，相当漂亮。所以，我决定赌一把，买下了这座房子。当时我按揭付款，每个月是175美元。

When she came back, I picked up her up and I said, “you remember that house you liked” She said yeah. I said, “while you were gone I bought it, you have to marry me now.”

她回来的那天，我去接她，问她：“还记得你说你喜欢的那个房子吗?”她说记得呀。我说：“你走了以后我把它买下来了，现在你必须要嫁给我了。”

The third time was the charm.

嗯，凡事做到第三次总是会成功的。

两人1975年10月11日在阿肯色州的费耶特维尔举行了婚礼。

一秒毁掉小清新……

这篇演讲字里行间都透着克林顿对妻子的绵绵爱意，不过，广大吃瓜群众表示，我们还没有忘掉克林顿大叔那宗轰动一时的丑闻呢……