2007年，随着“村村通”项目的实施，中国绝大多数的村庄实现了通电，很多人第一次用上了电灯。中国有一半的农民看不起病，现在农村合作医疗保障制度覆盖了90%的农村人口。虽然每人只有区区的50元钱，后来长到100元钱，但这却足以让不少农民病有所医。

In 2007, the program of extending power supply to every village, many people saw electric light for the first time in their lives. About half of the rural

population in China never went into the hospital for economic reasons. A cooperative medical care scheme now covered 90% of rural China. Albeit small, 50 yuan per person to start with and it has grown to 100 yuan now, but it has enabled many farmers to be cared of in sickness.

尽管中国的发展还不很平衡，一些农村地区仍然存在贫困的现象，但我们相信，中国走向繁荣的步伐不会停止，老百姓的日子会一年比一年好。

Although the prosperity is not evenly shared and there is still poverty in the countryside, we are confident that the trend of prosperity is going to continue and the people will be better off with each passing year.

讲到中国，就不能不提到中国的民主政治建设。世界往往高估中国的经济成就，而低估中国在政治改革和发展社会主义民主上取得的显著进步。

I can’t talk about China without mentioning the political and democratic development. The world tends to over-estimate the economic progress in China and overlook China’s progress in political reform and socialist democratic development.

来这里演讲前，我在百度上搜索“中国民主政治改革”，不到一秒钟就找到139万个搜索结果。不少人对这个问题提出各种各样的意见，有许多很有意思的分析和建议。

Before coming here, I searched through Baidu, a Chinese search engine “China’s democratic political reform”, I got 1.39 million results in less than a second. There are very different opinions on this subject and some interesting analysis and suggestions.

我本人经历过上世纪60年代文化大革命期间的无政府状态，也见证了改革开放带来的进步，深深体会到中国在加强民主决策、推行法治建设上取得了很大的进步。

For me, having seen the anarchy of the Cultural Revolution of the 60s and having witnessed the progress of the reform, I can see China has come a long way in the development of democratic decision making and the rule of law.

比如，全国人民代表大会在中国的政治生活中发挥着越来越重要的作用。中国231部法律中，223部是在过去30年制定的。全国人大在短短30年里完成的立法，是很多国家耗时几百年才制定出来的。

Take the role of the National People’s Congress for example, it has assumed very important role in China’s political life. Of the 231 pieces of laws in China, 223 were promulgated in the past 30 years. The National People’s Congress is covering huge legislative work that in many countries was done in a span of hundreds of years.

《物权法》发布前在全国范围内进行了创纪录的长达7年的讨论。在《劳动法》的审议过程中，全国人大收到了20万条建议，其中65%来自社会基层。