YES, WE CAN和“我们不能”

And tonight, I think about all that she(Ann Nixon Cooper)’s seen throughout her century in America — the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can’t, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.

At a time when women’s voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.

When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs, a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.

When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.

She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that “We Shall Overcome.” Yes we can.

A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination.

And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change.

Yes we can.

不幸的是，在地球的另一侧，我们还生活在 the times we were told that we can’t。

根据《中华人民共和国宪法》制定的《中华人民共和国集会游行示威法》说，我们不能进行游行示威。我们没有申请，或者我们申请了，也得不到许可。我们只好集体散步。

我们到现在为止，还不存在一部《新闻出版法》。我们不能把自己写的文章发表成书，因为没有书号。我们不能出版自己的期刊杂志，因为没有刊号。我们只好私自出版，印刷地下刊物。

我们不能随便拥有自己的网页，需要申请什么备案号。我们不能在业界最好的wordpress.com, blogspot.com上开设博客。我们不能看“黄色网站，低俗内容，法轮功，六四”……。我们只能翻墙。

今天，我们不能访问业界最好的搜索引擎之一——Google，以及他开设的其他服务。

我们不能！