For all his flourish, President Barack Obama sure falls back on a few familiar phrases.

盡管美國總統巴拉克·奧巴馬在發表演講時總是風光無限，不過他總離不開他那幾句口頭禪。

Make no mistake. Change isn’t easy. It won’t happen overnight. There will be setbacks and false starts.

如，“不要犯錯”、“變革并非易事”、“這不會在一夜之間發生”以及“挫折和失敗難以避免”等。

Those who routinely listen to the president have come to expect some of those expressions to pop up in almost every speech.

常聽總統演講的人幾乎在他的每一次演講中都能聽到其中的一些表達。

Yet in the portfolio of presidential phrases, none is more pervasive than Obama’s four-word favorite: Let me be clear.

不過，在總統的眾多口頭禪中，使用頻率最高的莫過于他最愛的四字表達：我要說明(Let me be clear.)。

It is his emphatic windup for, well, everything.

無論講話的內容是什么，奧巴馬在最后表示強調時，都會用到這句話。

"Let me be clear," he said in describing his surprise at winning the Nobel Peace Prize(speech). "I do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments, but rather as an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations."

奧巴馬在發表諾貝爾獎獲獎感言時是這樣表達自己的驚訝之情的：“我要說明，我不認為這個獎項是對我個人成就的認可，而是對美國為實現各國人民愿望所發揮的領導作用的一種肯定。”

"Let me be clear," he said in one of his dozens of pitches for a health insurance overhaul. "If you like your doctor or health care provider, you can keep them."

在醫療改革問題的一次游說中，奧巴馬說：“我要說明，如果你喜歡你的醫生或保健服務提供者，你可以繼續留著他們。”

Presidents talk so much in public that it is not surprising to find rhetorical patterns. Although Obama is known for aflair with the written and spoken word, his hardest mission is often to make complicated matters relevant to the masses.

奧巴馬所發表的公共演講不計其數，所以在其中發現一些相同的用語也不足為奇。盡管奧巴馬能說會寫，但他最艱巨的任務常常是要把復雜的事情向大眾說清。

So clarity, it seems, is of the highest order.

因此，清楚明白似乎就成了頭等要事。

Terrorists? "Now let me be clear: We are indeed at war with Al-Qaida and its affiliates."

恐怖分子?“現在讓我把話說明白：我們確實是在和‘基地’組織及其同黨作戰?！?/p>

Student testing? "Let me be clear: Success should be judged by results, and data is a powerful tool to determine results."

學生測驗?“我要說明：成功應該通過成績來衡量，而數據則是決定成績的強有力的工具?！?/p>

Iran? "Let me be clear: Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile activity poses a real threat, not just to the United States, but to Iran’s neighbors and our allies."

伊朗?“讓我把話說明白：伊朗的核武器和導彈活動確實是一個實質性的威脅，這不僅對于美國而言如此，對于伊朗的鄰國和我們的盟國都是如此?！?/p>

Auto bailouts? "Let me be clear: The United States government has no interest in running GM."

汽車業救助?“我要說清楚：美國政府對于經營‘通用’沒有興趣?！?/p>