People often ask me whether being President has made it more difficult to spend time with Michelle and our girls. But the surprising truth is that being in the White House has made our family life more "normal" than it's ever been.
人們常常問我，當(dāng)總統(tǒng)是否讓我和米歇爾及我們女兒相聚成為了一件更難的事情。但現(xiàn)實(shí)卻令人驚訝，住進(jìn)白宮讓我們的家庭生活變得比以往任何時(shí)候都更加“正常”。

When Malia was born, Michelle and I were fortunate enough to spend a blissful three months mostly at home with our baby girl. But then Michelle went back to work part time, and I returned to my schedule of teaching at the University of Chicago law school and serving in the state legislature. This meant that I would often be away in Springfield for three days at a time. Even when I was home in Chicago, I had papers to grade and briefs to write and evening meetings to attend.
瑪利亞出生的時(shí)候，我和米歇爾非常幸運(yùn)，足足三個(gè)月的時(shí)間，我們與寶貝女兒一起待在家里，體驗(yàn)初為父母的喜悅之情。之后米歇爾回到她的兼職工作崗位上去，而我在芝加哥大學(xué)法學(xué)院的教學(xué)工作和我在州議會(huì)的工作也同時(shí)回到正軌。這就意味我得經(jīng)常去斯普林菲爾德，并且每次都要待上三天。即便我回到芝加哥的家里，我也得繼續(xù)工作：改試卷、寫案情提要，有時(shí)晚上還要開會(huì)。

Things didn't get any easier when I was elected to the Senate and had to commute back and forth to Washington every week. Then our lives were thrown completely out of balance during a presidential campaign that kept me on the road almost constantly -- leaving Michelle to carry an even heavier load for longer stretches of time.
我當(dāng)選為參議員后，工作變得更加復(fù)雜，我每周必須往返于芝加哥與華盛頓之間。總統(tǒng)大選之際，我?guī)缀鯐r(shí)時(shí)刻刻都在路上，這使得米歇爾不得不長(zhǎng)期承受更重的負(fù)擔(dān)，那時(shí)我們的生活完全失去了平衡。

That's why I call her the rock of our family -- because she is. She always has been.
這就是為什么我稱她為我們家庭的基石——因?yàn)樗_實(shí)是的，并且一直都是。