奥巴马就职演说全文
以下是奥巴马总统就职演说的中英文对照全文,中文由美国国务院国际信息局(IIP)根据演说记录稿翻译。
(巴拉克•奥巴马(Barack Obama)于2009年1月20日宣誓就职美国第44任总统)
My fellow citizens:
I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.
同胞们:
我今天站在这里,深感面前使命的重大,深谢你们赋予的信任,并铭记我们前辈所付的代价。我感谢布什总统对国家的贡献以及他在整个过渡阶段给予的大度合作。
Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because we the people have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebears, and true to our founding documents.
至此,有四十四个美国人发出总统誓言。这些字词曾在蒸蒸日上的繁荣时期和宁静安详的和平年代诵读。但是间或,它们也响彻在阴云密布、风暴降临的时刻。美国能够历经这些时刻而勇往直前,不仅因为当政者具有才干或远见,而且也因为“我们人民”始终坚信我们先辈的理想,对我们的建国理念忠贞不渝。
So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.
这是过来之路。这是这一代美国的必由之路。
That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.
我们处于危机之中,这一点已得到充分认识。我国在进行战争,打击分布广泛的暴力和仇恨势力。我们的经济严重衰弱,部分归咎于一些人的贪婪不轨,同时也因为我们作为一个整体,未能痛下决心,让国家作好面对新时代的准备。如今,住房不再,就业减少,商业破产。医疗保健费用过度昂贵;学校质量没有保障;而每一天都在不断显示,我们使用能源的方式在助长敌人的威风,威胁我们的星球。
These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land — a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.
这些是危机的迹象,数据统计将予以证明。不易于衡量然而同样严重的是全国各地受动摇的信心——一种挥之不去的恐惧感,认为美国将不可避免地走下坡路,下一代人不得不放低眼光。
Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America — they will be met.
今天,我告诉大家,我们面临的挑战真实存在,并且严重而多重。它们不可能在一个短时间内被轻易征服。但是,美国,请记住这句话——它们将被征服。
On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.
我们今天聚集在这里是因为我们选择希望而不是恐惧,选择齐心协力而不是冲突对立。
On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.
我们今天在这里宣告,让斤斤计较与虚假承诺就此结束,让窒息我国政治为时太久的相互指责和陈词滥调就此完结。
(亲爱的黑人兄弟在看就职典礼)
We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.
我们仍是一个年轻的国家,但用圣经的话说,现在是抛弃幼稚的时侯了。现在应是我们让永恒的精神发扬光大的时侯,应是选择创造更佳历史业绩的时侯,应是将代代相传的宝贵财富、崇高理想向前发展的时侯:上帝赋予所有人平等、所有人自由和所有人充分追求幸福的机会。
In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted — for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things — some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.
在重申我们国家伟大精神的同时,我们懂得,伟大从非天生,而是必须赢得。我们的历程从来不是走捷径或退而求其次的历程。它不是弱者的道路——它不属于好逸恶劳或只图名利享受的人;这条路属于冒险者,实干家,创造者——有些人享有盛名,但大多数是默默无闻耕耘劳作的男女志士,是他们带我们走向通往繁荣和自由的漫长崎岖之路。
For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.
为了我们,他们打点起贫寒的行装上路,远涉重洋,追求新生活。
For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.
为了我们,他们在血汗工厂劳作,在西部原野拓荒,忍着鞭笞之痛在坚硬的土地上耕耘。
For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sanh.
为了我们,他们奔赴疆场,英勇捐躯,长眠于康科德、葛底斯堡、诺曼底和溪山。
Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.
为了我们能够过上更好的生活,他们前赴后继,历尽艰辛,全力奉献,不辞劳苦,直至双手结起层层老茧。他们看到的美国超越了我们每一个人的雄心壮志,也超越了所有种族、财富或派系的差异。
This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions — that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.
今天,作为后来者,我们踏上了这一未竟的旅程。我们依然是地球上最繁荣、最强大的国家。我们的劳动者的创造力并没有因为眼前的这场危机而减弱。我们的头脑依然像以往那样善于发明创新。我们的产品与服务仍旧像上星期、上个月或去年一样受人欢迎。我们的能力丝毫无损。但是,维持现状、保护狭隘的利益集团、推迟困难的抉择的时代无疑已成为过去。从今天起,我们必须振作起来,扫除我们身上的尘土,重新开启再造美国的事业。
For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act — not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. All this we will do.
无论我们把目光投向何处,都有工作在等待着我们。经济形势要求我们果敢而迅速地行动,我们将不辱使命——不仅要创造新的就业机会,而且要打下新的增长基础。我们将建造道路和桥梁,架设电网,铺设承载我们的商务和把我们紧密相连的电子通讯网络。我们将恢复尊重科学的传统,利用高新技术的超常潜力提高医疗保健质量并降低成本。我们将利用太阳能、风力和地热为车辆和工厂提供能源。我们将改造我们的中小学和高等院校,以应对新时代的挑战。这一切我们都能做到。这一切我们必将做到。
Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions — who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.
现在,有人怀疑我们的雄心壮志——他们说我们的体制不能承受太多的宏伟规划。他们的记忆是短暂的,因为他们忘记了这个国家已经取得的成就,忘记了一旦共同的目标插上理想的翅膀、现实的要求鼓起勇气的风帆,自由的人民就会爆发出无穷的创造力。
What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them — that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works — whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. Those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account — to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day — because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.
那些冷眼旁观的人没有认识到他们脚下的大地已经移动——那些长期以来空耗我们的精力的陈腐政治观点已经过时。我们今天提出的问题不是我们的政府太大还是太小,而是它是否行之有效——它是否能够帮助人们找到报酬合理的就业机会,是否能够为他们提供费用适度的医疗保健服务,是否能够确保他们在退休后不失尊严。如果回答是肯定的,我们就要向前推进。如果回答是否定的,计划和项目必须终止。作为公共资金的管理者,我们必须承担责任——明智地使用资金,抛弃坏习惯,在阳光下履行职责——因为只有这样我们才能恢复人民对政府的至关重要的信任。
Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control — and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart — not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.
我们提出的问题也不在于市场力量是替天行道还是为虎作伥。市场在生成财富和传播自由方面具有无与伦比的力量,但这场危机提醒我们:没有严格的监督,市场就会失控——如果一个国家仅仅施惠于富裕者,其富裕便不能持久。我们的经济成功从来不是仅仅依赖国内总产值的规模,而是还依赖繁荣的普及,即为每一位愿意致富的人提供机会的能力——不是通过施舍——因为这才是最可靠的共同富裕之路。
(就职典礼)
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our founding fathers ... our found fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all the other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.
至于我们的共同防御,我们决不接受安全与理念不可两全的荒谬论点。建国先贤面对我们难以想见的险恶局面,起草了一部保障法治和人权的宪章,一部子孙后代以自己的鲜血使之更加完美的宪章。今天,这些理念仍然照耀着世界,我们不会为一时之利而弃之。因此,对于今天正在观看此情此景的其他各国人民和政府——从最繁华的首都到我父亲出生的小村庄——我们希望他们了解:凡追求和平与尊严的国家以及每一位男人、妇女和儿童,美国是你们的朋友。我们已经做好准备,再一次走在前面。
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