奧巴馬:女兒已完全適應白宮生活
President Barack Obama had a big pat on the back for his young daughters on Tuesday, saying they have taken swimmingly to life in the White House.
After more than a year at the US presidential mansion, Malia Obama, 11, and Sasha Obama, 8, have made their dad proud with their ability to balance their private life with life in the public eye, he told NBC television.
"The happiest thing about the past year and a half has been the girls' adjustment. They have just been terrific. They're doing well in school," Obama said.
"They're not as constrained. They can wander around. Their Secret Service protection is a lot more low key," he explained. "So they've got soccer, they've got basketball, they go sleep over at their friend's houses.
"Sometimes I've got 12 little girls screaming on the third floor of the White House. And they made a great adjustment."
The president also admitted he was concerned about how his daughters would cope with his public life as they get a bit older.
"Now I get a little worried about them when they're teenagers because I think that's the time when you're already embarrassed about your parents, and then imagine if your dad's in the newspaper every day and people are calling him an idiot. I feel a little worried about that."
But "on the other hand, Malia and Sasha have just turned out to be unbelievably well adjusted kids," Obama said.
"The thing that's most important to me is that they are so respectful of everybody and haven't gotten on any airs. I attribute that directly to Michelle because she wouldn't put up with any of that stuff."
本週二，美國總統貝拉克•奧巴馬（在接受一個採訪時）對兩個女兒大加讚賞，稱她們已經順利適應了白宮生活。
當天，奧巴馬在接受美國國家廣播公司採訪時表示，在搬入白宮一年多後，11歲的瑪麗亞和8歲的薩莎已經知道如何平衡私人生活和公共生活，這令他十分自豪。
奧巴馬說：“在過去一年半中，我最高興的事情就是女兒們已經適應了白宮生活。她們真的很棒，在學校的表現也很好。”
奧巴馬解釋說：“她們沒有受到多少約束，可以到處走動。她們的安保要低調得多。所以她們可以去踢足球，打籃球，或者在朋友家留宿。”
“有時候，在白宮的三層會有12個小女孩一起玩耍嬉鬧。她們已經完全適應了。”
奧巴馬還坦稱自己有點擔心女兒們再大一些後將如何應對他的公衆生活。
“我有些擔心她們步入青春期後的情況，因爲我覺得這個時期的孩子已經有了羞恥心，想象一下如何你的爸爸天天都上報紙，而且還被人稱作白癡，那會是怎樣的感受。我有點擔心這個。”
奧巴馬說，但“在另一方面，瑪麗亞和薩莎已經表現出了非凡的適應能力。”
“對我來說最重要的是，她們對每個人都很尊敬，從不擺架子。我認爲這要歸功於米歇爾，因爲她不會容忍這種行爲。”
Vocabulary:
a pat on the back：a word of praise, congratulations, or encouragement（表揚，讚許）
swimmingly：without difficulty; with great success; effortlessly（順暢地，輕易地）
low key：of reduced intensity; restrained; understated（低調的，不招搖的）
airs：affected or unnatural manner; manifestation of pride or vanity; assumed haughtiness（擺架子，裝腔作勢）
