没事时我喜欢在白宫网站上闲逛，经常收集一些非政治性的演讲稿和演讲视频。我越来越感觉到，多听多看多练英语演讲是学地道英语的最佳有效途径之一，也是训练语音语调最有效的辅助手段。
除此之外，通过演讲学英语还可以潜移默化地帮助自己提升对英文的驾驭能力，增强英语的语感和美感，因为一些名人的演讲稿通常是其专业写作班子字斟句酌精心完成的。你不用担心这些演讲是否有语法问题，也不用担心用词是否准确，表达是否到位。你所要做的就是精选一些自己喜欢的，地道纯正的内容和段落进行背诵。背下来以后再想办法把它们转化为自己的东西，然后灵活地移植到自己的口语和写作中。当然背的时候最好同时注意一下演讲者的语音和语调。
与其花大价钱参加各种培训班（我一直认为英语综合水平是很难短期培训出来的，学英语也没有所谓的捷径），花大量时间研究如何让自己的英语表达更地道，还不如随时随地多学习多背诵别人现成的好东西。地道实用的英语背得多了积累得多了，你就能很自然地表达出极为纯正的英语。演讲英语的特点就是你既可以用在书面语中，也可以用在口语表达中。
刚从白宫网站收集了一段小奥的演讲，内容通俗易懂，讲话时间也不长，再加上小奥说英语基本没什么口音，所以很适合广大英语爱好者练习和模仿：
Good morning, everybody. Before departing for Asia this morning, I’d like to make a brief statement about the economy.
Over the past 10 months, we’ve taken a number of bold steps to break the back of this recession. We’ve worked to stabilize the financial system, revive lending to small businesses and families, and prevent responsible homeowners from losing their homes. And through the Recovery Act, we’ve cut taxes for middle class families, extended and increased unemployment insurance, and created and saved more than a million jobs.
As a result, the economy is now growing again for the first time in more than a year -- and faster than at any time in the past two years. But even though we’ve slowed the loss of jobs -- and today’s report on the continued decline in unemployment claims is a hopeful sign -- the economic growth that we’ve seen has not yet led to the job growth that we desperately need. As I’ve said from the start of this crisis, hiring often takes time to catch up to economic growth. And given the magnitude of the economic turmoil that we’ve experienced, employers are reluctant to hire.
Small businesses and large firms are demanding more of their employees, their increasing their hours, and adding temporary workers -- but these companies have not yet been willing to take the steps necessary to hire again. Meanwhile, millions of Americans -- our friends, our neighbors, our family members -- are desperately searching for jobs. This is one of the great challenges that remains in our economy -- a challenge that my administration is absolutely determined to meet.
We all know that there are limits to what government can and should do, even during such difficult times. But we have an obligation to consider every additional, responsible step that we can [take] to encourage and accelerate job creation in this country. And that’s why, in December, we’ll be holding a forum at the White House on jobs and economic growth. We’ll gather CEOs and small business owners, economists and financial experts, as well as representatives from labor unions and nonprofit groups, to talk about how we can work together to create jobs and get this economy moving again.
It’s important that we don’t make any ill-considered decisions -- even with the best intentions -- particularly at a time when our resources are so limited. But it’s just as important that we are open to any demonstrably good idea to supplement the steps we’ve already taken to put America back to work. That’s what this forum is about.
In the coming days, I’ll also be meeting with leaders abroad to discuss a strategy for growth that is both balanced and broadly shared. It’s a strategy in which Asian and Pacific markets are open to our exports -- and one in which prosperity around the world is no longer as dependent on American consumption and borrowing, but rather more on American innovation and products.
It’s through these steps with our partners, in addition to the work we’re doing here at home, that we will not only revive our economy in the short term, but rebuild it stronger in the long term. That’s been the focus of our efforts these past 10 months -- it will continue to be our focus in the months ahead.
Thanks very much, everybody.
责任编辑：wangpeng6151
