第一篇:美国总统罗纳德-里根就职演讲稿(下)
美国总统罗纳德-里根就职演讲稿(下)我们听到许多关于特殊利益集团的谈论,然而。我们必须关心一个被忽视了大久的特殊利益集团。这个集团没有区域之分,没有人种之分,没有民族之分,没有政党之分,这个集团由许许多多的男人与女人组成,他们生产粮食,巡逻街头,管理厂矿,教育儿童,照料家务和治疗疾病。他们是专业人员、实业家、店主、职 员、出租汽车司机和货车驾驶员,总而言之,他们就是“我们人民”——这个称之为美国人的民族。
本届政府的日标是必须建立一种健全的、生气勃勃的和不断发展的经济,为全体美国人民提供一种不因偏执或歧视而造成障碍的均等机会,让美国重新工作起 来,意味着让全体美国人重新工作起来。制止通货膨胀,意味着让全体美国人从失控的生活费用所造成的恐惧中解脱出来。人人都应分担“新开端”的富有成效的工 作,人人都应分享经济复苏的硕果。我国制度和力量的核心是理想主义和公正态度,有了这些,我们就能建立起强大、繁荣、国内稳定并同全世界和平相处的美国。因此,在我们开始之际,让我们看看实际情况。我们是一个拥有政府的国家——而不是一个拥有国家的政府。这一点使我们在世界合国中独树一帜,我们的政府 除了人民授予的权力,没有任何别的权力。目前,政府权力的膨胀已显示出超过被统治者同意的迹象,制止并扭转这种状况的时候到了。
我打算压缩联邦机构的规模和权力,并要求大家承认联邦政府被授予的权力同各州或人民保留的权利这两者之间的区别。我们大家都需要提醒:不是联邦政府创 立了各州,而是各州创立了联邦政府。因此,请不要误会,我的意思不是要取消政府,而是要它发挥作用——同我们一起合作,而不是凌驾于我们之上;同我们并肩 而立,而不是骑在我们的背上。政府能够而且必须提供机会,而不是扼杀机会,它能够而且必须促进生产力,而不是抑制生产力。
如果我们要探究这么多年来我们为什么能取得这么大成就,并获得了世界上任何一个民族未曾获得的繁荣昌盛,其原因是在这片土地上,我们使人类的能力和个 人的才智得到了前所未有的发挥。在这里,个人所享有并得以确保的自由和尊严超过了世界上任何其他地方。为这种自由所付出的代价有时相当高昂,但我们从来没 有不愿意付出这代价。
我们目前的困难,与政府机构因为不必要的过度膨胀而干预、侵扰我们的生活同步增加,这决不是偶然的巧合。我们是一个泱泱大国,不能自囿于小小的梦想,现在正是认识到这一点的时候。我们并非注定走向衰落,尽管有些人想让我们相信这一点。我不相信,无论我们做些什么,我们都将命该如此,但我相信,如果我们什么也不做,我们将的确命该如此。为此,让我们以掌握的一切创造力来开创一个国家复兴的时代吧。让我们重新拿出决心、勇气和力量,让我们重新建立起我们的信念和希望吧。我们完全有权去做英雄梦。
有人告诉我们在他的身上发现一本日记。扉页上写着这样的标题:“我的誓言”。他写下了这样的话语:“美国必须赢得这场战争。为此,我会奋斗,我会拯救,我会牺牲,我会忍受,我会并将尽我最大的努力英勇奋战,就好比所有的战争问题都将由我一个人来肩负。”
第二篇:美国总统罗纳德-里根就职演讲稿(上)
美国总统罗纳德-里根就职演讲稿(上)议员海特菲尔德先生、法官先生、总统先生、副总统布什、蒙代尔先生、议员贝克先生、发言人奥尼尔先生、尊敬的摩麦先生,以及广大支持我的美国同胞们: 今天对于我们中间的一些人来说,是一个非常庄严隆重的时刻。当然,对于这个国家的历史来说,却是一件普通的事情。按照宪法要求,政府权利正在有序地移交,我们已经如此“例行公事”了两个世纪,很少有人觉得这有什么特别的。但在世界上更多人看来,这个我们已经习以为常的四年一次的仪式,却实在是一个奇迹。总统先生,我希望我们的同胞们都能知道你为了这个传承而付出的努力。通过移交程序中的通力合作,你向观察者展示了这么一个事实:我们是发誓要团结起来维护这样一个政治体制的团体,这样的体制保证了我们能够得到比其他政体更为广泛的个人自由。同时我也要感谢你和你的伙伴们的帮助,因为你们坚持了这样的传承,而这恰恰是我们共和国的根基。
我们国家的事业在继续前进。合众国正面临巨大的经济困难。我们遭遇到我国历史上历时最长、最严重之一的通货膨胀,它扰乱着我们的经济决策,打击着节俭的风气,压迫着正在挣扎谋生的青年人和收入固定的中年人,威胁着要摧毁我国千百万人民的生计。
停滞的工业使工人失业、蒙受痛苦并失去了个人尊严。即使那些有工作的人,也因税收制度的缘故而得不到公正的劳动报酬,因为这种税收制度使我们无法在事业上取得成就,使我们无法保持充分的生产力。
尽管我们的纳税负担相当沉重,但还是跟不上公共开支的增长。数十年来,我们的赤字额屡屡上升,我们为图目前暂时的方便,把自己的前途和子孙的前途抵押出去了。这一趋势如果长此以往,必然引起社会、文化、政治和经济等方面的大动荡。
作为个人,你们和我可以靠借贷过一种人不敷出的生活,然而只能维持一段有限的时期,我们怎么可以认为,作为一个国家整体,我们就不应受到同样的约束呢?为了保住明天,我们今天就必须行动起来。大家都要明白无误地懂得——我们从今天起就要采取行动。
我们深受其害的经济弊病,几十年来一直袭击着我们。这些弊病不会在几天、几星期或几个月内消失,但它们终将消失。它们之所以终将消失,是因为我们作为现在的美国人,一如既往地有能力去完成需要完成的事情,以保存这个最后而又最伟大的自由堡垒。
在当前这场危机中,政府的管理不能解决我们面临的问题。政府的管理就是问题所在。
我们时常误以为,社会已经越来越复杂,已经不可能凭借自治方式加以管理,而一个由杰出人物组成的政府要比民享、民治、民有的政府高明。可是,假如我们之中谁也管理不了自己,那么,我们之中谁还能去管理他人呢。
我们大家——不论政府官员还是平民百姓——必须共同肩负起这个责任,我们谋求的解决办法必须是公平的,不要使任何一个群体付出较高的代价。
第三篇:美国总统演讲稿之里根2
Ronald Reagan: Address from the Brandenburg Gate(Berlin
Wall)
Delivered 12 June 1987 Thank you very much.Chancellor Kohl, Governing Mayor Diepgen, ladies and gentlemen: Twenty four years ago, President John F.Kennedy visited Berlin, speaking to the people of this city and the world at the city hall.Well, since then two other presidents have come, each in his turn, to Berlin.And today I, myself, make my second visit to your city.We come to Berlin, we American Presidents, because it's our duty to speak, in this place, of freedom.But I must confess, we're drawn here by other things as well: by the feeling of history in this city, more than 500 years older than our own nation;by the beauty of the Grunewald and the Tiergarten;most of all, by your courage and determination.Perhaps the composer, Paul Lincke, understood something about American Presidents.You see, like so many Presidents before me, I come here today because wherever I go, whatever I do: “Ich hab noch einen koffer in Berlin.“ [I still have a suitcase in Berlin.] Our gathering today is being broadcast throughout Western Europe and North America.I understand that it is being seen and heard as well in the East.To those listening throughout Eastern Europe, I extend my warmest greetings and the good will of the American people.To those listening in East Berlin, a special word: Although I cannot be with you, I address my remarks to you just as surely as to those standing here before me.For I join you, as I join your fellow countrymen in the West, in this firm, this unalterable belief: Es gibt nur ein Berlin.[There is only one Berlin.]
Behind me stands a wall that encircles the free sectors of this city, part of a vast system of barriers that divides the entire continent of Europe.From the Baltic, south, those barriers cut across Germany in a gash of barbed wire, concrete, dog runs, and guard towers.Farther south, there may be no visible, no obvious wall.But there remain armed guards and checkpoints all the same--still a restriction on the right to travel, still an instrument to impose upon ordinary men and women the will of a totalitarian state.Yet it is here in Berlin where the wall emerges most clearly;here, cutting across your city, where the news photo and the television screen have imprinted this brutal division of a continent upon the mind of the world.Standing before the Brandenburg Gate, every man is a German, separated from his fellow men.Every man is a Berliner, forced to look upon a scar.President von Weizsacker has said: ”The German question is open as long as the Brandenburg Gate is closed.“ Today I say: As long as this gate is closed, as long as this scar of a wall is permitted to stand, it is not the German question alone that remains open, but the question of freedom for all mankind.Yet I do not come here to lament.For I find in Berlin a message of hope, even in the shadow of this wall, a message of triumph.In this season of spring in 1945, the people of Berlin emerged from their air raid shelters to find devastation.Thousands of miles away, the people of the United States reached out to help.And in 1947 Secretary of State--as you've been told-George Marshall announced the creation of what would become known as the Marshall plan.Speaking precisely 40 years ago this month, he said: ”Our policy is directed not against any country or doctrine, but against hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos.“
In the Reichstag a few moments ago, I saw a display commemorating this 40th anniversary of the Marshall plan.I was struck by the sign on a burnt-out, gutted structure that was being rebuilt.I understand that Berliners of my own generation can remember seeing signs like it dotted throughout the Western sectors of the city.The sign read simply: ”The Marshall plan is helping here to strengthen the free world.“ A strong, free world in the West, that dream became real.Japan rose from ruin to become an economic giant.Italy, France, Belgium--virtually every nation in Western Europe saw political and economic rebirth;the European Community was founded.In West Germany and here in Berlin, there took place an economic miracle, the Wirtschaftswunder.Adenauer, Erhard, Reuter, and other leaders understood the practical importance of liberty--that just as truth can flourish only when the journalist is given freedom of speech, so prosperity can come about only when the farmer and businessman enjoy economic freedom.The German leaders reduced tariffs, expanded free trade, lowered taxes.From 1950 to 1960 alone, the standard of living in West Germany and Berlin doubled.Where four decades ago there was rubble, today in West Berlin there is the greatest industrial output of any city in Germany-busy office blocks, fine homes and apartments, proud avenues, and the spreading lawns of park land.Where a city's culture seemed to have been destroyed, today there are two great universities, orchestras and an opera, countless theaters, and museums.Where there was want, today there's abundance--food, clothing, automobiles-the wonderful goods of the Ku'damm.From devastation, from utter ruin, you Berliners have, in freedom, rebuilt a city that once again ranks as one of the greatest on Earth.The Soviets may have had other plans.But, my friends, there were a few things the Soviets didn't count on Berliner herz, Berliner humor, ja, und Berliner schnauze.[Berliner heart, Berliner humor, yes, and a Berliner schnauze.] [Laughter]
In the 1950's, Khrushchev predicted: ”We will bury you.“ But in the West today, we see a free world that has achieved a level of prosperity and well-being unprecedented in all human history.In the Communist world, we see failure, technological backwardness, declining standards of health, even want of the most basic kind-too little food.Even today, the Soviet Union still cannot feed itself.After these four decades, then, there stands before the entire world one great and inescapable conclusion: Freedom leads to prosperity.Freedom replaces the ancient hatreds among the nations with comity and peace.Freedom is the victor.And now the Soviets themselves may, in a limited way, be coming to understand the importance of freedom.We hear much from Moscow about a new policy of reform and openness.Some political prisoners have been released.Certain foreign news broadcasts are no longer being jammed.Some economic enterprises have been permitted to operate with greater freedom from state control.Are these the beginnings of profound changes in the Soviet state? Or are they token gestures, intended to raise false hopes in the West, or to strengthen the Soviet system without changing it? We welcome change and openness;for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace.There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace.General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate!Mr.Gorbachev, open this gate!Mr.Gorbachev, tear down this wall!
I understand the fear of war and the pain of division that afflict this continent--and I pledge to you my country's efforts to help overcome these burdens.To be sure, we in the West must resist Soviet expansion.So we must maintain defenses of unassailable strength.Yet we seek peace;so we must strive to reduce arms on both sides.Beginning 10 years ago, the Soviets challenged the Western alliance with a grave new threat, hundreds of new and more deadly SS-20 nuclear missiles, capable of-striking every capital in Europe.The Western alliance responded by committing itself to a counter deployment unless the Soviets agreed to negotiate a better solution;namely, the elimination of such weapons on both sides.For many months, the Soviets refused to bargain in earnestness.As the alliance, in turn, prepared to go forward with its counter deployment, there were difficult days--days of protests like those during my 1982 visit to this city--and the Soviets later walked away from the table.But through it all, the alliance held firm.And I invite those who protested then--I invite those who protest today--to mark this fact: Because we remained strong, the Soviets came back to the table.And because we remained strong, today we have within reach the possibility, not merely of limiting the growth of arms, but of eliminating, for the first time, an entire class of nuclear weapons from the face of the Earth.As I speak, NATO ministers are meeting in Iceland to review the progress of our proposals for eliminating these weapons.At the talks in Geneva, we have also proposed deep cuts in strategic offensive weapons.And the Western allies have likewise made far-reaching proposals to reduce the danger of conventional war and to place a total ban on chemical weapons.While we pursue these arms reductions, I pledge to you that we will maintain the capacity to deter Soviet aggression at any level at which it might occur.And in cooperation with many of our allies, the United States is pursuing the Strategic Defense Initiative-research to base deterrence not on the threat of offensive retaliation, but on defenses that truly defend;on systems, in short, that will not target populations, but shield them.By these means we seek to increase the safety of Europe and all the world.But we must remember a crucial fact: East and West do not mistrust each other because we are armed;we are armed because we mistrust each other.And our differences are not about weapons but about liberty.When President Kennedy spoke at the City Hall those 24 years ago, freedom was encircled, Berlin was under siege.And today, despite all the pressures upon this city, Berlin stands secure in its liberty.And freedom itself is transforming the globe.In the Philippines, in South and Central America, democracy has been given a rebirth.Throughout the Pacific, free markets are working miracle after miracle of economic growth.In the industrialized nations, a technological revolution is taking place--a revolution marked by rapid, dramatic advances in computers and telecommunications.In Europe, only one nation and those it controls refuse to join the community of freedom.Yet in this age of redoubled economic growth, of information and innovation, the Soviet Union faces a choice: It must make fundamental changes, or it will become obsolete.Today thus represents a moment of hope.We in the West stand ready to cooperate with the East to promote true openness, to break down barriers that separate people, to create a safer, freer world.And surely there is no better place than Berlin, the meeting place of East and West, to make a start.Free people of Berlin: Today, as in the past, the United States stands for the strict observance and full implementation of all parts of the Four Power Agreement of 1971.Let us use this occasion, the 750th anniversary of this city, to usher in a new era, to seek a still fuller, richer life for the Berlin of the future.Together, let us maintain and develop the ties between the Federal Republic and the Western sectors of Berlin, which is permitted by the 1971 agreement.And I invite Mr.Gorbachev: Let us work to bring the Eastern and Western parts of the city closer together, so that all the inhabitants of all Berlin can enjoy the benefits that come with life in one of the great cities of the world.To open Berlin still further to all Europe, East and West, let us expand the vital air access to this city, finding ways of making commercial air service to Berlin more convenient, more comfortable, and more economical.We look to the day when West Berlin can become one of the chief aviation hubs in all central Europe.With our French and British partners, the United States is prepared to help bring international meetings to Berlin.It would be only fitting for Berlin to serve as the site of United Nations meetings, or world conferences on human rights and arms control or other issues that call for international cooperation.There is no better way to establish hope for the future than to enlighten young minds, and we would be honored to sponsor summer youth exchanges, cultural events, and other programs for young Berliners from the East.Our French and British friends, I'm certain, will do the same.And it's my hope that an authority can be found in East Berlin to sponsor visits from young people of the Western sectors.One final proposal, one close to my heart: Sport represents a source of enjoyment and ennoblement, and you many have noted that the Republic of Korea--South Korea-has offered to permit certain events of the 1988 Olympics to take place in the North.International sports competitions of all kinds could take place in both parts of this city.And what better way to demonstrate to the world the openness of this city than to offer in some future year to hold the Olympic Games here in Berlin, East and West?
In these four decades, as I have said, you Berliners have built a great city.You've done so in spite of threats--the Soviet attempts to impose the East-mark, the blockade.Today the city thrives in spite of the challenges implicit in the very presence of this wall.What keeps you here? Certainly there's a great deal to be said for your fortitude, for your defiant courage.But I believe there's something deeper, something that involves Berlin’s whole look and feel and way of life--not mere sentiment.No one could live long in Berlin without being completely disabused of illusions.Something instead, that has seen the difficulties of life in Berlin but chose to accept them, that continues to build this good and proud city in contrast to a surrounding totalitarian presence that refuses to release human energies or aspirations.Something that speaks with a powerful voice of affirmation, that says yes to this city, yes to the future, yes to freedom.In a word, I would submit that what keeps you in Berlin is love--love both profound and abiding.Perhaps this gets to the root of the matter, to the most fundamental distinction of all between East and West.The totalitarian world produces backwardness because it does such violence to the spirit, thwarting the human impulse to create, to enjoy, to worship.The totalitarian world finds even symbols of love and of worship an affront.Years ago, before the East Germans began rebuilding their churches, they erected a secular structure: the television tower at Alexander Platz.Virtually ever since, the authorities have been working to correct what they view as the tower's one major flaw, treating the glass sphere at the top with paints and chemicals of every kind.Yet even today when the Sun strikes that sphere--that sphere that towers over all Berlin--the light makes the sign of the cross.There in Berlin, like the city itself, symbols of love, symbols of worship, cannot be suppressed.As I looked out a moment ago from the Reichstag, that embodiment of German unity, I noticed words crudely spray-painted upon the wall, perhaps by a young Berliner, ”This wall will fall.Beliefs become reality." Yes, across Europe, this wall will fall.For it cannot withstand faith;it cannot withstand truth.The wall cannot withstand freedom.And I would like, before I close, to say one word.I have read, and I have been questioned since I've been here about certain demonstrations against my coming.And I would like to say just one thing, and to those who demonstrate so.I wonder if they have ever asked themselves that if they should have the kind of government they apparently seek, no one would ever be able to do what they're doing again.Thank you and God bless you all.☼注释☼:
♫ unalterable ♫ totalitarian ♫ shelter ♫ doctrine []
adj.不能变更的 adj.极权主义的 [] [] [] []
n.掩蔽处, 身避处, 庇护所 n.教条, 学说
n.管弦乐队, 乐队演奏处 ♫ orchestra ♫ unprecedented ♫ liberalization ♫ conventional ♫ retaliation ♫ implementation ♫ aviation [] adj.空前的
[] n.自由主义化, 使宽大 [] []
adj.惯例的, 常规的 n.报复, 报仇 n.执行 n.飞行, 航空 [] [] []
♫ distinction ♫ embodiment
n.区别, 差别
n.体现, 具体化, 化身
[]
第四篇:美国总统演讲稿之里根1
Ronald Reagan: First Inaugural Address
Delivered 20 January 1981
Senator Hatfield, Mr.Chief Justice, Mr.President, Vice President Bush, Vice President Mondale, Senator Baker, Speaker O'Neill, Reverend Moomaw, and my fellow citizens: To a few of us here today this is a solemn and most momentous occasion, and yet in the history of our nation it is a commonplace occurrence.The orderly transfer of authority as called for in the Constitution routinely takes place, as it has for almost two centuries, and few of us stop to think how unique we really are.In the eyes of ma in the world, this every-4-year ceremony we accept as normal is nothing less than a miracle.Mr.President, I want our fellow citizens to know how much you did to carry on this tradition.By your gracious cooperation in the transition process, you have shown a watching world that we are a united people pledged to maintaining a political system which guarantees individual liberty to a greater degree than any other, and I thank you and your people for all your help in maintaining the continuity which is the bulwark of our Republic.The business of our nation goes forward.These United States are confronted with an economic affliction of great proportions.We suffer from the longest and one of the worst sustained inflations in our national history.It distorts our economic decisions, penalizes thrift, and crushes the struggling young and the fixed-income elderly alike.It threatens to shatter the lives of millions of our people.Idle industries have cast workers into unemployment, human misery, and personal indignity.Those who do work are denied a fair return for their labor by a tax system which penalizes successful achievement and keeps us from maintaining full productivity.But great as our tax burden is, it has not kept pace with public spending.For decades we have piled deficit upon deficit, mortgaging our future and our children's future for the temporary convenience of the present.To continue this long trend is to guarantee tremendous social, cultural, political, and economic upheavals.You and I, as individuals, can, by borrowing, live beyond our means, but for only a
limited period of time.Why, then, should we think that collectively, as a nation, we're not bound by that same limitation? We must act today in order to preserve tomorrow.And let there be no misunderstanding: We are going to begin to act, beginning today.The economic ills we suffer have come upon us over several decades.They will not go away in days, weeks, or months, but they will go away.They will go away because we as Americans have the capacity now, as we've had in the past, to do whatever needs to be done to preserve this last and greatest bastion of freedom.In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem.From time to time we've been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people.Well, if no one among us is capable of governing
himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? All of us together, in and out of government, must bear the burden.The solutions we seek must be equitable, with no one group singled out to pay a higher price.We hear much of special interest groups.Well, our concern must be for a special interest group that has been too long neglected.It knows no sectional boundaries or ethnic and racial divisions, and it crosses political party lines.It is made up of men and women who raise our food, patrol our streets, man our mines and factories, teach our children, keep our homes, and heal us when we're sick--professionals, industrialists, shopkeepers, clerks, cabbies, and truck drivers.They are, in short, ”We the people,” this breed called Americans.Well, this administration's objective will be a healthy, vigorous, growing economy that provides equal opportunities for all Americans with no barriers born of bigotry or
discrimination.Putting America back to work means putting all Americans back to work.Ending inflation means freeing all Americans from the terror of runaway living costs.All must share in the productive work of this ``new beginning,'' and all must share in the bounty of a revived economy.With the idealism and fair play which are the core of our system and our strength, we can have a strong and prosperous America, at peace with itself and the world.So, as we begin, let us take inventory.We are a nation that has a government--not the other way around.And this makes us special among the nations of the Earth.Our government has no power except that granted it by the people.It is time to check and reverse the growth of government, which shows signs of having grown beyond the consent of the governed.It is my intention to curb the size and influence of the Federal establishment and to demand recognition of the distinction between the powers granted to the Federal Government and those reserved to the States or to the people.All of us need to be
reminded that the Federal Government did not create the States;the States created the Federal Government.Now, so there will be no misunderstanding, it's not my intention to do away with
government.It is rather to make it work--work with us, not over us;to stand by our side, not ride on our back.Government can and must provide opportunity, not smother it;foster productivity, not stifle it.If we look to the answer as to why for so many years we achieved so much, prospered as no other people on Earth, it was because here in this land we unleashed the energy and individual genius of man to a greater extent than has ever been done before.Freedom and the dignity of the individual have been more available and assured here than in any other place on Earth.The price for this freedom at times has been high, but we have never been unwilling to pay that price.It is no coincidence that our present troubles parallel and are proportionate to the
intervention and intrusion in our lives that result from unnecessary and excessive growth of government.It is time for us to realize that we're too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams.We're not, as some would have us believe, doomed to an inevitable
decline.I do not believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter what we do.I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing.So, with all the creative energy at our
command, let us begin an era of national renewal.Let us renew our determination, our
courage, and our strength.And let us renew our faith and our hope.We have every right to dream heroic dreams.Those who say that we're in a time when there are not heroes, they just don't know where to look.You can see heroes every day going in and out of factory gates.Others, a handful in number, produce enough food to feed all of us and then the world beyond.You meet heroes across a counter, and they're on both sides of that counter.There are entrepreneurs with faith in themselves and faith in an idea who create new jobs, new wealth and opportunity.They're individuals and families whose taxes support the government and whose voluntary gifts support church, charity, culture, art, and education.Their patriotism is quiet, but deep.Their values sustain our national life.Now, I have used the words ``they'' and ``their'' in speaking of these heroes.I could say ``you'' and ``your,'' because I'm addressing the heroes of whom I speak--you, the citizens of this blessed land.Your dreams, your hopes, your goals are going to be the dreams, the hopes, and the goals of this administration, so help me God.We shall reflect the compassion that is so much a part of your makeup.How can we love our country and not love our countrymen;and loving them, reach out a hand when they fall, heal them when they're sick, and provide opportunity to make them
self-sufficient so they will be equal in fact and not just in theory?
Can we solve the problems confronting us? Well, the answer is an unequivocal and emphatic ``yes.'' To paraphrase Winston Churchill, I did not take the oath I've just taken with the intention of presiding over the dissolution of the world's strongest economy.In the days ahead I will propose removing the roadblocks that have slowed our economy and reduced productivity.Steps will be taken aimed at restoring the balance between the various levels of government.Progress may be slow, measured in inches and feet, not miles, but we will progress.It is time to reawaken this industrial giant, to get government back within its means, and to lighten our punitive tax burden.And these will be our first priorities, and on these principles there will be no compromise.On the eve of our struggle for independence a man who might have been one of the greatest among the Founding Fathers, Dr.Joseph Warren, president of the
Massachusetts Congress, said to his fellow Americans, “Our country is in danger, but not to be despaired of....On you depend the fortunes of America.You are to decide the important questions upon which rests the happiness and the liberty of millions yet unborn.Act worthy of yourselves.”
Well, I believe we, the Americans of today, are ready to act worthy of ourselves, ready to do what must be done to ensure happiness and liberty for ourselves, our children, and our children's children.And as we renew ourselves here in our own land, we will be seen as having greater strength throughout the world.We will again be the exemplar of freedom and a beacon of hope for those who do not now have freedom.To those neighbors and allies who share our freedom, we will strengthen our historic ties and assure them of our support and firm commitment.We will match loyalty with loyalty.We will strive for mutually beneficial relations.We will not use our friendship to impose on their sovereignty, for our own sovereignty is not for sale.As for the enemies of freedom, those who are potential adversaries, they will be
reminded that peace is the highest aspiration of the American people.We will negotiate
for it, sacrifice for it;we will not surrender for it, now or ever.Our forbearance should never be misunderstood.Our reluctance for conflict should not be misjudged as a failure of will.When action is required to preserve our national
security, we will act.We will maintain sufficient strength to prevail if need be, knowing that if we do so we have the best chance of never having to use that strength.Above all, we must realize that no arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have.It is a weapon that we as Americans do have.Let that be understood by those who practice terrorism and prey upon their neighbors.I'm told that tens of thousands of prayer meetings are being held on this day, and for that I'm deeply grateful.We are a nation under God, and I believe God intended for us to be free.It would be fitting and good, I think, if on each Inaugural Day in future years it should be declared a day of prayer.This is the first time in our history that this ceremony has been held, as you've been told, on this West Front of the Capitol.Standing here, one faces a magnificent vista, opening up on this city's special beauty and history.At the end of this open mall are those shrines to the giants on whose shoulders we stand.Directly in front of me, the monument to a monumental man, George Washington, father of our country.A man of humility who came to greatness reluctantly.He led America out of revolutionary victory into infant nationhood.Off to one side, the stately memorial to Thomas Jefferson.The Declaration of Independence flames with his eloquence.And then, beyond the Reflecting Pool, the dignified columns of the Lincoln Memorial.Whoever would understand in his heart the meaning of America will find it in the life of Abraham Lincoln.Beyond those monuments to heroism is the Potomac River, and on the far shore the sloping hills of Arlington National Cemetery, with its row upon row of simple white markers bearing crosses or Stars of David.They add up to only a tiny fraction of the price that has been paid for our freedom.Each one of those markers is a monument to the kind of hero I spoke of earlier.Their lives ended in places called Belleau Wood, The Argonne, Omaha Beach, Salerno, and halfway around the world on Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Pork Chop Hill, the Chosin Reservoir, and in a hundred rice paddies and jungles of a place called Vietnam.Under one such marker lies a young man, Martin Treptow, who left his job in a small
town barbershop in 1917 to go to France with the famed Rainbow Division.There, on the western front, he was killed trying to carry a message between battalions under heavy artillery fire.We're told that on his body was found a diary.On the flyleaf under the heading, ``My Pledge,'' he had written these words: ``America must win this war.Therefore I will work, I will save, I will sacrifice, I will endure, I will fight cheerfully and do my utmost, as if the issue of the whole struggle depended on me alone.''
The crisis we are facing today does not require of us the kind of sacrifice that Martin Treptow and so many thousands of others were called upon to make.It does require, however, our best effort and our willingness to believe in ourselves and to believe in our
capacity to perform great deeds, to believe that together with God's help we can and will resolve the problems which now confront us.And after all, why shouldn't we believe that? We are Americans.God bless you, and thank you.☼注释☼:
♫ commonplace
♫ bulwark
♫ penalize
♫ upheaval
♫ boundary
♫ vigorous
壮的♫ bigotry
♫ stifle
♫ renewal
♫ compassion
♫ unequivocal
♫ compromise
♫ exemplar
♫ strive
♫ prevail
♫ formidable
难的♫ battalion
[]adj.平凡的 []n.壁垒, 防波堤 []v.处罚 []n.剧变 []n.边界, 分界线 []adj.精力旺盛的, 有力的, 健[]n.固执, 顽固[]vt.使窒息, 抑制[]n.复兴, 恢复[]n.同情,怜悯[]adj.不含糊的[]n.妥协, 折衷 []n.模范, 榜样, 标本 []v.努力, 奋斗, 力争, 斗争 []vi.获胜, 成功 []adj.强大的, 令人敬畏的, 艰[]n.军营, 军队
第五篇:美国总统就职演讲稿
美国总统就职演讲稿
参议院和众议院的同胞们:
在人生沉浮中,没有一件事能比本月14日收到根据你们的命令送达的通知更使我焦虑不安,一方面,国家召唤我出任此职,对于她的召唤,我永远只能肃然敬从;而隐退是我以挚爱心憎、满腔希望和坚定的决心选择的暮年归宿,由于爱好和习惯,且时光流逝,健康渐衰,时感体力不济,愈觉隐退之必要和可贵。另一方面,国家召唤我担负的责任如此重大和艰巨,足以使国内最有才智和经验的人度德量力,而我天资愚饨,又无民政管理的实践,理应倍觉自己能力之不足,因而必然感到难以肩此重任。怀着这种矛盾心情,我唯一敢断言的是,通过正确估计可能产生影响的各种情况来克尽厥职,乃是我忠贞不渝的努力目标。我唯一敢祈望的是,如果我在执行这项任务时因陶醉于往事,或因由衷感激公民们对我的高度信赖,因而受到过多影响,以致在处理从未经历过的大事时,忽视了自己的无能和消极,我的错误将会由于使我误人歧途的各种动机而减轻,而大家在评判错误的后果时;也会适当包涵产生这些动机的偏见。
我从这些高贵品格中看到了最可靠的保证:其一,任何地方偏见或地方感情,任何意见分歧或党派敌视,都不能使我们偏离全局观点和公平观点,即必须维护这个由不同地区和利益所组成的大联合;因此,其二,我国的政策将会以纯洁而坚定的个人道德原则为基础,而自由政府将会以那赢得民心和全世界尊敬的一切特点而显示其优越性。我对国家的一片热爱之心激励着我满怀喜悦地展望这幅远景,因为根据自然界的构成和发展趋势,在美德与幸福之间,责任与利益之间,恪守诚实宽厚的政策与获得社会繁荣幸福的硕果之间,有着密不可分的统一;因为我们应该同样相信,上帝亲自规定了水恒的秩序和权利法则,它决不可能对无视这些法则的国家慈祥地加以赞许;因为人们理所当然地、满怀深情地、也许是最后一次把维护神圣的自由之火和共和制政府的命运,系于美国人所遵命进行的实验上。
我已将有感于这一聚会场合的想法奉告各位,现在我就要向大家告辞;但在此以前,我要再一次以谦卑的心情祈求仁慈的上帝给予帮助。因为承蒙上帝的恩赐,美国人有了深思熟虑的机会,以及为确保联邦的安全和促进幸福,用前所未有的一致意见来决定政府体制的意向;因而,同样明显的是,上帝将保佑我们扩大眼界,心平气和地进行协商,并采取明智的措施,而这些都是本届政府取得成功所必不可少的依靠。