1797年约翰·亚当斯总统就职演说

第一篇：1797年约翰·亚当斯总统就职演说

美国历届总统就职演讲辞

Inaugural Address of John Adams

INAUGURAL ADDRESS IN THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA

SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 1797

When it was first perceived, in early times, that no middle course for America remained between unlimited submission to a foreign legislature and a total independence of its claims, men of reflection were less apprehensive of danger from the formidable power of fleets and armies they must determine to resist than from those contests and dissensions which would certainly arise concerning the forms of government to be instituted over the whole and over the parts of this extensive country.Relying, however, on the purity of their intentions, the justice of their cause, and the integrity and intelligence of the people, under an overruling Providence which had so signally protected this country from the first, the representatives of this nation, then consisting of little more than half its present number, not only broke to pieces the chains which were forging and the rod of iron that was lifted up, but frankly cut asunder the ties which had bound them, and launched into an ocean of uncertainty.The zeal and ardor of the people during the Revolutionary war, supplying the place of government, commanded a degree of order sufficient at least for the temporary preservation of society.The Confederation which was early felt to be necessary was prepared from the models of the Batavian and Helvetic confederacies, the only examples which remain with any detail and precision in history, and certainly the only ones which the people at large had ever considered.But reflecting on the striking difference in so many particulars between this country and those where a courier may go from the seat of government to the frontier in a single day, it was then certainly foreseen by some who assisted in Congress at the formation of it that it could not be durable.Negligence of its regulations, inattention to its recommendations, if not disobedience to its authority, not only in individuals but in States, soon appeared with their melancholy consequences--universal languor, jealousies and rivalries of States, decline of navigation and commerce, discouragement of necessary manufactures, universal fall in the value of lands and their produce, contempt of public and private faith, loss of consideration and credit with foreign nations, and at length in discontents, animosities, combinations, partial conventions, and insurrection, threatening some great national calamity.In this dangerous crisis the people of America were not abandoned by their usual good sense, presence of mind, resolution, or integrity.Measures were pursued to concert a plan to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty.The public disquisitions, discussions, and deliberations issued in the present happy Constitution of Government.Employed in the service of my country abroad during the whole course of these transactions, I first saw the Constitution of the United States in a foreign country.Irritated by no literary altercation, animated by no public debate, heated by no party animosity, I read it with great satisfaction, as the result of good heads prompted by good hearts, as an experiment better adapted to the genius, character, situation, and relations of this nation and country than any which had ever been proposed or suggested.In its general principles and great outlines it was conformable to such a system of government as I had ever most esteemed, and in some States, my own native State in particular, had contributed to establish.Claiming a right of suffrage, in common with my fellow-citizens, in the adoption or rejection of a constitution which was to rule me and my

posterity, as well as them and theirs, I did not hesitate to express my approbation of it on all occasions, in public and in private.It was not then, nor has been since, any objection to it in my mind that the Executive and Senate were not more permanent.Nor have I ever entertained a thought of promoting any alteration in it but such as the people themselves, in the course of their experience, should see and feel to be necessary or expedient, and by their representatives in Congress and the State legislatures, according to the Constitution itself, adopt and ordain.Returning to the bosom of my country after a painful separation from it for ten years, I had the honor to be elected to a station under the new order of things, and I have repeatedly laid myself under the most serious obligations to support the Constitution.The operation of it has equaled the most sanguine expectations of its friends, and from an habitual attention to it, satisfaction in its administration, and delight in its effects upon the peace, order, prosperity, and happiness of the nation I have acquired an habitual attachment to it and veneration for it.What other form of government, indeed, can so well deserve our esteem and love?

There may be little solidity in an ancient idea that congregations of men into cities and nations are the most pleasing objects in the sight of superior intelligences, but this is very certain, that to a benevolent human mind there can be no spectacle presented by any nation more pleasing, more noble, majestic, or august, than an assembly like that which has so often been seen in this and the other Chamber of Congress, of a Government in which the Executive authority, as well as that of all the branches of the Legislature, are exercised by citizens selected at regular periods by their neighbors to make and execute laws for the general good.Can anything essential, anything more than mere ornament and decoration, be added to this by robes and diamonds? Can authority be more amiable and respectable when it descends from accidents or institutions established in remote antiquity than when it springs fresh from the hearts and judgments of an honest and enlightened people? For it is the people only that are represented.It is their power and majesty that is reflected, and only for their good, in every legitimate government, under whatever form it may appear.The existence of such a government as ours for any length of time is a full proof of a general dissemination of knowledge and virtue throughout the whole body of the people.And what object or consideration more pleasing than this can be presented to the human mind? If national pride is ever justifiable or excusable it is when it springs, not from power or riches, grandeur or glory, but from conviction of national innocence, information, and benevolence.In the midst of these pleasing ideas we should be unfaithful to ourselves if we should ever lose sight of the danger to our liberties if anything partial or extraneous should infect the purity of our free, fair, virtuous, and independent elections.If an election is to be determined by a majority of a single vote, and that can be procured by a party through artifice or corruption, the Government may be the choice of a party for its own ends, not of the nation for the national good.If that solitary suffrage can be obtained by foreign nations by flattery or menaces, by fraud or violence, by terror, intrigue, or venality, the Government may not be the choice of the American people, but of foreign nations.It may be foreign nations who govern us, and not we, the people, who govern ourselves;and candid men will acknowledge that in such cases choice would have little advantage to boast of over lot or chance.Such is the amiable and interesting system of government(and such are some of the abuses to which it may be exposed)which the people of America have exhibited to the admiration and anxiety of the wise and virtuous of all nations for eight years under the administration of a citizen who, by a long course of great actions, regulated by prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude,conducting a people inspired with the same virtues and animated with the same ardent patriotism and love of liberty to independence and peace, to increasing wealth and unexampled prosperity, has merited the gratitude of his fellow-citizens, commanded the highest praises of foreign nations, and secured immortal glory with posterity.In that retirement which is his voluntary choice may he long live to enjoy the delicious recollection of his services, the gratitude of mankind, the happy fruits of them to himself and the world, which are daily increasing, and that splendid prospect of the future fortunes of this country which is opening from year to year.His name may be still a rampart, and the knowledge that he lives a bulwark, against all open or secret enemies of his country's peace.This example has been recommended to the imitation of his successors by both Houses of Congress and by the voice of the legislatures and the people throughout the nation.On this subject it might become me better to be silent or to speak with diffidence;but as something may be expected, the occasion, I hope, will be admitted as an apology if I venture to say that if a preference, upon principle, of a free republican government, formed upon long and serious reflection, after a diligent and impartial inquiry after truth;if an attachment to the Constitution of the United States, and a conscientious determination to support it until it shall be altered by the judgments and wishes of the people, expressed in the mode prescribed in it;if a respectful attention to the constitutions of the individual States and a constant caution and delicacy toward the State governments;if an equal and impartial regard to the rights, interest, honor, and happiness of all the States in the Union, without preference or regard to a northern or southern, an eastern or western, position, their various political opinions on unessential points or their personal attachments;if a love of virtuous men of all parties and denominations;if a love of science and letters and a wish to patronize every rational effort to encourage schools, colleges, universities, academies, and every institution for propagating knowledge, virtue, and religion among all classes of the people, not only for their benign influence on the happiness of life in all its stages and classes, and of society in all its forms, but as the only means of preserving our Constitution from its natural enemies, the spirit of sophistry, the spirit of party, the spirit of intrigue, the profligacy of corruption, and the pestilence of foreign influence, which is the angel of destruction to elective governments;if a love of equal laws, of justice, and humanity in the interior administration;if an inclination to improve agriculture, commerce, and manufacturers for necessity, convenience, and defense;if a spirit of equity and humanity toward the aboriginal nations of America, and a disposition to meliorate their condition by inclining them to be more friendly to us, and our citizens to be more friendly to them;if an inflexible determination to maintain peace and inviolable faith with all nations, and that system of neutrality and impartiality among the belligerent powers of Europe which has been adopted by this Government and so solemnly sanctioned by both Houses of Congress and applauded by the legislatures of the States and the public opinion, until it shall be otherwise ordained by Congress;if a personal esteem for the French nation, formed in a residence of seven years chiefly among them, and a sincere desire to preserve the friendship which has been so much for the honor and interest of both nations;if, while the conscious honor and integrity of the people of America and the internal sentiment of their own power and energies must be preserved, an earnest endeavor to investigate every just cause and remove every colorable pretense of complaint;if an intention to pursue by amicable negotiation a reparation for the injuries that have been committed on the commerce of our fellow-citizens by whatever nation, and if success can not be obtained, to lay the facts before the

Legislature, that they may consider what further measures the honor and interest of the Government and its constituents demand;if a resolution to do justice as far as may depend upon me, at all times and to all nations, and maintain peace, friendship, and benevolence with all the world;if an unshaken confidence in the honor, spirit, and resources of the American people, on which I have so often hazarded my all and never been deceived;if elevated ideas of the high destinies of this country and of my own duties toward it, founded on a knowledge of the moral principles and intellectual improvements of the people deeply engraven on my mind in early life, and not obscured but exalted by experience and age;and, with humble reverence, I feel it to be my duty to add, if a veneration for the religion of a people who profess and call themselves Christians, and a fixed resolution to consider a decent respect for Christianity among the best recommendations for the public service, can enable me in any degree to comply with your wishes, it shall be my strenuous endeavor that this sagacious injunction of the two Houses shall not be without effect.With this great example before me, with the sense and spirit, the faith and honor, the duty and interest, of the same American people pledged to support the Constitution of the United States, I entertain no doubt of its continuance in all its energy, and my mind is prepared without hesitation to lay myself under the most solemn obligations to support it to the utmost of my power.And may that Being who is supreme over all, the Patron of Order, the Fountain of Justice, and the Protector in all ages of the world of virtuous liberty, continue His blessing upon this nation and its Government and give it all possible success and duration consistent with the ends of His providence.-John Adams

约翰•亚当斯

就职演讲

费城

星期六,1797年3月4日

美国的政体与乔治•华盛顿

确实，还有其他什么形式的政体，值得我们如此尊敬和热爱呢？

古代有一种很不严密的观念认为，人类聚集而形成城市和国家，是最令具有卓越见识的人感到愉悦的目标，但无可置疑的是，在善良的人们看来，任何国家所显示的情景，都比不上这里和另一议院所经常见到的集会更令人喜悦，更高尚庄严，或者说更令人敬畏；政府的行政权和国会各个机构的立法权，是由同胞们定期选出的公民来行使的，其目的是为公众利益而制定和执行法律。难道官袍和钻石能为此增添实质性的东西吗？难道它们不就是一些装饰品吗？难道因运而生或通过远古制反而继承的权力，会比诚实而卓识的人民按自己的意愿和判断而产生的权力更可亲可敬吗？因为这样的政府唯一代表的是人民。它的各个合法机构，无论表现为何种形式，反映的都是人民的权利和尊严，并且只为人民谋利益。像我们这样的政府，不论其将存在多久，都是对知识和美德在全人类传播的充分证明。难道还有比这更令人喜悦的目标或构想能奉献给人类观念吗？如果说民族自豪感历来无可非议和情有可原，那么，这种自豪感必定不是来自权势和财富，不是来自豪华和荣耀，而是来自坚信民族的纯真、识见和仁爱。

当我们沉浸在这些愉快的想法时，如果任何片面或无关紧要的因素影响到自由、公平、高尚和独立的选举，使选举失去了纯洁性，使我们忽视自由所面临的危险，我们就会自欺欺人。如果选举需由一人一票的多数票来决定胜负，而一个政党可以通过欺骗和腐蚀来达到目的，那么这个政府就有可能是政党为自身目的而作出的选择，而下是国家为全国利益而作出的选择；如果其他国家有可能通过奉承或胁迫，欺诈或暴力，通过恐怖、阴谋或收买等伎俩控制了这次选举，那么这个政府就可能不是美国人民作出的选择，而是其他国家作出的选择。那样，就可能是外国统治我们，而不是我们——人民——来管理自已，那样，公正的人士就会认识到，选择较之命运或机遇就未必更有优越性而下值得夸耀了。

这就是使人感到亲切和兴趣的政治体制（及其可能暴露的某些弊端）。8年来，美国人民在一位公民的领导下展现了这种政治体制，引起了各国贤达的赞赏或挂虑。这位公民为人谨慎、公正、节制、坚韧，长期以来，他以一系列伟大的行动，领导着一个为共同的美德所鼓舞、强烈的爱国心所激励的和热爱自由的民族，走向独立、和平、富强和空前鳖荣。他值得同胞们感恩戴德，他博得了世界各国的最高赞扬，他必将名垂千古。他自愿选择了隐退，愿他在隐退后长寿，愉快地回忆他供职时的情景，并享受人类对他的感激，享受他所作出的奉献给他本人和全世界带来的与日俱增的幸福果实，享受这个国家的未来命运决定的、正在逐年展开的光明前景。他的名字仍将是一道防线，他的长寿仍将是一座堡垒，抵御着一切危害国家安定的、公开的或暗藏的敌人。他的这一举动已得到国会两院、各州立法机构和全国人民的一致赞扬，并将成为继任者效法的榜样。

第二篇：1797年美国总统约翰·亚当斯就职演说

有识之士当年第一次认识到，美利坚在对某一外国立法机关完全俯首称臣和彻底独立之间，并无任何中间道路可走；那时他们并不怎么惧怕必须下决心加以抗击的令人生畏的强大舰船和军队，他们更为担心的是，在这个疆域辽阔的国家应当建立何种形式的全国和州政府之一问题，必然会引起种种斗争和分歧。然而无论怎样，这个国家当时人数仅为现在一半的代表们，凭藉自己出发点的纯洁和自己事业的正义，依靠人民的团结和智慧，在从一开始就格外庇佑这个国家的上帝的指引之下，不仅砸碎了正在锻造的镣铐和向他们举起的钢鞭，而且毅然斩断了曾把他们联结为一体的纽带，驶入一片起伏不定的海洋。

人民在革命战争期间所表现出来的热情和奋发赋予了政府一席之地，保持了一种至少使社会得以暂时维持的秩序。人民起初感到甚为必要的联邦，在筹建时参照了巴达维亚和海尔维希邦联模式，这是历史上具体而明确地保存至今的联邦制的唯一样板，也肯定是广大人民曾经加以考虑的唯一例子。但是美国幅员广大，而这些国家则地域狭小，邮差从政府所在地到达边陲仅需一天，两者之间有着无数具体的鲜明差异。有鉴于此，大陆会议中那些帮助建立联邦制的人，当时肯定即已预见到联邦是不能持久的。

果不其然，很快就出现了个人和各州均无视联邦规定和不听联邦劝告的现象，这即便不算违背联邦权威，但也带来了令人忧郁的后果：人们普遍消沉懒散，各州之间妒忌倾轧，航运和商业衰落不堪，必需品的生产萎靡不振，土地和农产品的价值普遍下跌，个人和公共信念遭到蔑视，国外交往也有欠审慎以致信誉扫地，这一切终于招致人心不满、遍生仇隙、拉帮结派、偏激集会和骚乱蜂起，预示着一场全国性的灾难就要来临。

值此危难之际，美国人民惯有的良知、镇定、决断和正直诚实的品质并未消失。人们献计献策，努力建立一个更为完善的联盟，以匡扶正义，确保国内安宁，提供共同防御，增进公众幸福，争取自由的赐福。人们经过探索、讨论和深思熟虑，最终制定了目前这部令人满意的政府宪章。

在这一转折的整个过程中，我都在国外执行公务，因而我第一次见到宪法也是在国外。我满怀喜悦地读过这部宪法，既没有被围绕宪法措辞的争吵而弄得愤怒难当，也未为公开辩论而热血沸腾，更没有因为党派仇恨而情绪激昂。我认为，宪法出自心怀善良愿望的有志之士之手，较之人们提出或建议实行的其他任何实验，均更加切合美国及美国人民的智慧、特性、环境和各种关系。这部宪法就一般原则和大纲而言，与我曾经服膺的政体相一致，有一些州，尤其是我出生的州，曾为这种政体的建立作出了贡献，对于这部宪法，不仅我的同胞们及其子孙必须服从，我和我的后代也必须服从，因而我同样有权表示是否接受，在公开或私下各种场合，我都毫不含糊地表示拥护这部宪法。我当时对宪法就毫无异议，自此以后以后也是一样。我并不认为行政部门和参议院的存在不能较为持久。我也从未想到要提出修改宪法，除非人民从自身经验出发，认为确有必要或者时机相宜，从而通过自己在国会和各州议会的代表，根据宪法本身的规定，采取修改宪法的行动，并且制定有关的修正案。

我与祖国在痛苦分离达十年以后，又重新回来了它的怀抱，并有幸在一种新气象中当选副总统，因而我一直不断把拥护宪法作为自己至为庄严的职责，宪法得以很好地实施，满足了其拥护者的乐观愿望。我时常关注宪法，对它的执行情况感到满意，为它在国家的和平、秩序和繁荣、幸福方面所显示的成效感到高兴，并由此对它产生了一种习惯性的依恋和崇敬之情。的确，除此之外，世界上难道还有其他政府形式值得我们如此尊敬和热爱吗？

古代有人认为，用最超迈的智慧来看，人类聚居而形成众多城市和国家乃是令人至为欣悦的事情，这种观点或许不甚可靠；但有一点乃是确切无疑的：对人类善良宽厚的心灵来说，我们国会两院的政府经常举行的集会所展现的景象，不仅令人至为欣悦，而且显得十分崇高、庄严和堂皇，这是任何国家都无法比拟的，而且在我们的政府中，行政权力和立法机关各部门的权力一样，都由经过其同胞定期选举产生的公民来行使，他们或制定法律，或执行法律，全都是为了人民的普遍利益。官服和钻石除了纯粹装点门面之外，难道还能为此增添任何实质性的东西吗？那种由偶然继承所得或出自远古时代确立的制度的权威，难道会比这种从诚实而具有远见卓识的人民的内心和判断中生龙活虎般产生的权威更为可亲可敬吗？后一种权威所唯一代表的乃是人民，它的每一合法机构，无论以什么形式出现，都是人民力量和尊严的反映，都只是为了人民的利益。像我们这样一种政府，不论存在多久，都是知识和美德在全人类传播的鲜明标志。在人类的心灵中，难道还存在比这个令人更为欣喜的目标和想法吗？如果民族自豪感乃是合情合理的，那么只有当它源于对国民的纯真、知识和仁慈所抱的信心时才能如此，倘若源于诠释或财富、奢华或荣耀则不然。

但是，我们自由、公正、诚实和独立的选举的纯洁性，一旦为一些片面和无关宏旨的事情所玷污，我们的自由就会陷于危险之中；如果我们对此竟视而不见，一味耽溺于这些美妙的想法，那我们就未免沦为自欺欺人。一次选举如果竟以一票只差决定胜负，而一个政党又可能借助阴谋诡计和腐败行径来弄到这一张选票，因之这个政府就可能时某一政党为了一己之私，而不是全国人民为了全国的利益而作出的选择。如果外国政府可以通过诸如奉承或威胁、欺骗或暴力、阴谋或收买、以及恐怖之类的手段，来获取这张单独的选票，那么所选出的政府就不是美国人民的选择，而是其他国家的选择。那样就有可能导致外国人统治我们，而不是我们人民自己统治自己。因而坦率的人就会承认，在这种情况下，选择胜于命运和机会的优势，也就无可夸耀了。

这就是我们那亲切可爱而饶有趣味的政府体制，以及它可能遇到的一些流弊。八年来，美国人民在一位公民的领导下，向各国的明智仁德之士展示了这一体制，激起他们的赞赏和热望。这位公民在一系列伟大行动的过程中，表现出谨慎、公正、克制和坚定的品德，指引着一个为同样的美德所鼓舞、为同样的爱国热情和热爱自由的精神所激励的民族走向独立与和平，踏上增进财富与空前繁荣之路。他赢得了同胞们的感戴，博得了世界各国的高度赞扬，而且他的英名将传之后世而百代流芳！

他自愿选择了退休。祝愿他颐养天年，从对自己供职生涯的甜美追忆和人类对他的感激之中获得快乐，享受他来给全人类、也带给他自己的日渐增多的幸福之果，欣慰地展望这个国家逐年明朗的未来命运的光辉前景。他的名字仍将时一道防线，他的长寿仍将是一座堡垒，可以抗击一切危害美国和平的公开或隐蔽的敌人。他自愿引退的范例得到国会参众两院、各州立法机构以及全国人民的一致推崇，将为他的继任者所效法。

在下述问题上，我也许最好保持沉默，或者说话谨慎一些。但人总是抱有某种希望的，因而我希望在这个场合大胆发表我见解，而不致于冒天下之大不韪。我认为，人们经过长期而严肃的思考，经过对真理不懈而无私的追求，并且根据原则而作出选择，应对自由的共和政体产生热爱之情；人民根据自己的判断和意愿，按照宪法本身所规定的方式，可以对宪法作出变更，但在此之前，应对宪法抱有一种依恋，并自觉自愿地加以坚决拥护；应当尊重各

州宪法，对各州政府也要时时予以慎重对待和小心爱护；联邦内部各州的权利、利益、荣誉和幸福应当得到公正无私的待遇，不要因为它们在我国东西南北处于不同的位置，也不要因为各州人民在无关宏旨的问题上持有不同的政治见解和抱有不同的个人爱好，而给与偏袒或不同待遇；品德高尚的人士，无论属于何党何派，都应当受到人们的爱戴；我们要热爱科学和文艺，愿意赞助一切合理的努力，以扶持学校、学院、大学、研究院和向各阶层人民宣传知识、美德和宗教的所有机构，这样做的原因不仅在于，这些机构对不同年龄、不同阶层的人们的幸福和所有形式的社团的幸福有着良好的影响，而且这是维护我们宪法的唯一手段，可以使它免受诸如巧舌诡辩、党派精神、阴谋诡计、腐败堕落和外来影响的时疫这类天敌的侵害，而这些都是民选政府的灾星；我们在内政上要热爱平等的法律，崇尚公正和奉行人道；我们要推动农业、商业和制造业的发展，从而满足人们的生活所需，为人们提供便利，保障我们的国防；我们要公允而人道地对待美洲的土著部落，使他们对我们更为友好，也使我们的公民对我们更为友好，从而改善他们的处境；我们要坚定不移地与世界各国维持和平和严守信义，对于欧洲交战各方，我国政府向来奉行中立和不偏不倚的方针，这种方针获得国会两院的庄严批准，受到各州议会和舆论的一致拥护，除非国会另作规定，我们不得加以改变；我有七年时间主要生活在法国，因而对法国人民产生了一种个人敬意，我衷心希望维持与法国的友谊，这对两国人民的荣誉与利益一直有着极大的好处；美国人民强烈的荣誉感和诚实正直之心，以及他们有关自己的权力和力量的内在情感固然应当加以维护，但同时应当对每一正当的事业竭力进行认真审议，以杜绝各种刻意渲染的抱怨借口；我国公民在商务活动中不论受到哪一个国家的损害，我们应首先通过友好谈判寻求补偿，只有在谈判没有效果时，才将情况陈述于立法部门，由它根据政府和当事人的荣誉与利益要求，决定采取何种新的措施；只要我能做到，我就要下定决心，在任何时候对任何国家都力求公允，并且与世界各国保持和平、友好和仁爱的关系；应当对美国人民的荣誉、精神和力量抱有不可动摇的信心，我向来经常把自己的一切都寄托在这上面，而且从未失望；我要对祖国崇高命运以及我自己对此应尽何种义务的崇高观念加以深刻领会，这种领会乃是以我早年即已铭心镂骨的关于人民道德准则和智性改善的知识为基础的，并且非但不会因为阅历的丰富和年龄的增长而黯然失色，反而会不断升华；最后，我怀着谦卑而虔诚的心情，觉得由必要再补充一点，即一个宣称信仰上帝并自称为基督徒的民族，应当对宗教怀有一种崇敬的心情，在推荐最佳公职人选时，必须坚定不移地适当考虑其是否敬重基督教，这种对宗教的敬意将使我能够最大限度的满足诸位的愿望。如果上述条件均能达到，我当奋发努力，俾使国会两院做出的这一深谋远虑的决断，不至于毫无效果。

在我面前已经有了一位伟大的表率，而当初立誓要拥护美国宪法的美国人民，仍然抱有同样的思想和精神、同样的信念和荣誉、同样的责任和兴趣，因而我毫不怀疑宪法将永葆全部活力，而我则已做好思想准备，打算毫不犹豫地承担至为神圣的义务，竭尽全力拥护宪法。

上帝乃是至高无上的主宰，秩序的守护神，正义的源泉和所有时代里美好的自由世界的保护者，愿他继续赐福我国人民和他们的政府，按照它的神圣意旨，保佑这个政府诸事顺遂，永世长存！

第三篇：华盛顿总统就职演说

First Inaugural Address of George Washington

THE CITY OF NEW YORK

THURSDAY, APRIL 30, 1789

Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:

Among the vicissitudes incident to life no event could have filled me with greater anxieties than that of which the notification was transmitted by your order, and received on the 14th day of the present month.On the one hand, I was summoned by my Country, whose voice I can never hear but with veneration and love, from a retreat which I had chosen with the fondest predilection, and, in my flattering hopes, with an immutable decision, as the asylum of my declining years--a retreat which was rendered every day more necessary as well as more dear to me by the addition of habit to inclination, and of frequent interruptions in my health to the gradual waste committed on it by time.On the other hand, the magnitude and difficulty of the trust to which the voice of my country called me, being sufficient to awaken in the wisest and most experienced of her citizens a distrustful scrutiny into his qualifications, could not but overwhelm with despondence one who(inheriting inferior endowments from nature and unpracticed in the duties of civil administration)ought to be peculiarly conscious of his own deficiencies.In this conflict of emotions all I dare aver is that it has been my faithful study to collect my duty from a just appreciation of every circumstance by which it might be affected.All I dare hope is that if, in executing this task, I have been too much swayed by a grateful remembrance of former instances, or by an affectionate sensibility to this transcendent proof of the confidence of my fellow-citizens, and have thence too little consulted my incapacity as well as disinclination for the weighty and untried cares before me, my error will be palliated by the motives which mislead me, and its consequences be judged by my country with some share of the partiality in which they originated.Such being the impressions under which I have, in obedience to the public summons, repaired to the present station, it would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official act my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States a Government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes, and may enable every instrument employed in its administration to execute with success the functions allotted to his charge.In tendering this homage to the Great Author of every public and private good, I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not less than my own, nor those of my fellow-citizens at large less than either.No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States.Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency;and in the important revolution just accomplished in the system of their united government the tranquil

deliberations and voluntary consent of so many distinct communities from which the event has resulted can not be compared with the means by which most governments have been established without some return of pious gratitude, along with an humble anticipation of the future blessings which the past seem to presage.These reflections, arising out of the present crisis, have forced themselves too strongly on my mind to be suppressed.You will join with me, I trust, in thinking that there are none under the influence of which the proceedings of a new and free government can more auspiciously commence.By the article establishing the executive department it is made the duty of the President “to recommend to your consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.” The circumstances under which I now meet you will acquit me from entering into that subject further than to refer to the great constitutional charter under which you are assembled, and which, in defining your powers, designates the objects to which your attention is to be given.It will be more consistent with those circumstances, and far more congenial with the feelings which actuate me, to substitute, in place of a recommendation of particular measures, the tribute that is due to the talents, the rectitude, and the patriotism which adorn the characters selected to devise and adopt them.In these honorable qualifications I behold the surest pledges that as on one side no local prejudices or attachments, no separate views nor party animosities, will misdirect the comprehensive and equal eye which ought to watch over this great assemblage of communities and interests, so, on another, that the foundation of our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private morality, and the preeminence of free government be exemplified by all the attributes which can win the affections of its citizens and command the respect of the world.I dwell on this prospect with every satisfaction which an ardent love for my country can inspire, since there is no truth more thoroughly established than that there exists in the economy and course of nature an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness;between duty and advantage;between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity;since we ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained;and since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered, perhaps, as deeply, as finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.Besides the ordinary objects submitted to your care, it will remain with your judgment to decide how far an exercise of the occasional power delegated by the fifth article of the Constitution is rendered expedient at the present juncture by the nature of objections which have been urged against the system, or by the degree of inquietude which has given birth to them.Instead of undertaking particular recommendations on this subject, in which I could be guided by no lights derived from official opportunities, I shall again give way to my entire confidence in your discernment and pursuit of the public good;for I assure myself that whilst you carefully avoid every alteration which might endanger the benefits of an united and effective government, or which ought to await the future lessons of experience, a reverence for the characteristic rights of freemen and a regard for the public harmony will sufficiently influence your deliberations on the question how far the former can be impregnably fortified

or the latter be safely and advantageously promoted.To the foregoing observations I have one to add, which will be most properly addressed to the House of Representatives.It concerns myself, and will therefore be as brief as possible.When I was first honored with a call into the service of my country, then on the eve of an arduous struggle for its liberties, the light in which I contemplated my duty required that I should renounce every pecuniary compensation.From this resolution I have in no instance departed;and being still under the impressions which produced it, I must decline as inapplicable to myself any share in the personal emoluments which may be indispensably included in a permanent provision for the executive department, and must accordingly pray that the pecuniary estimates for the station in which I am placed may during my continuance in it be limited to such actual expenditures as the public good may be thought to require.Having thus imparted to you my sentiments as they have been awakened by the occasion which brings us together, I shall take my present leave;but not without resorting once more to the benign Parent of the Human Race in humble supplication that, since He has been pleased to favor the American people with opportunities for deliberating in perfect tranquillity, and dispositions for deciding with unparalleled unanimity on a form of government for the security of their union and the advancement of their happiness, so His divine blessing may be equally conspicuous in the enlarged views, the temperate consultations, and the wise measures on which the success of this Government must depend.【中文译文】：

美国人民的实验

乔治-华盛顿

第一次就职演讲

纽约 星期四,1789年4月30日

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。

既然这就是我在遵奉公众召唤就任现职时的感想，那么，在此宣誓就职之际，如不热忱地祈求全能的上帝就极其失当，因为上帝统治着宇宙，主宰着各国政府，它的神助能弥补人类的任何不足，愿上帝赐福，侃佑一个为美国人民的自由和幸福而组成的政府，保佑它为这些基本目的而作出奉献，保佑政府的各项行政措施在我负责之下都能成功地发挥作用。我相信，在向公众利益和私人利益的伟大缔造者献上这份崇敬时，这些活也同样表达了各位和广大公民的心意。没有人能比美国人更坚定不移地承认和崇拜掌管人间事务的上帝。他们在迈向独立国家的进程中，似乎每走一步都有某种天佑的迹象；他们在刚刚完成的联邦政府体制的重大改革中，如果不是因虔诚的感恩而得到某种回报，如果不是谦卑地期待着过去有所预示的赐福的到来，那么，通过众多截然不同的集团的平静思考和自愿赞同来完成改革，这种方式是不能与大多数政府的组建方式同日而语的。在目前转折关头，我产生这些想法确实是深有所感而不能自已，我相信大家会和我怀有同感，即除了仰仗上帝的力量，一个新生的自由政府别无他法能一开始就事事顺利。根据设立行政部门的条款，总统有责任“将他认为必要而妥善的措施提请国会审议”。但在目前与各位见面的这个场合，恕我不进一步讨论这个问题，而只提一下伟大的宪法，它使各位今天聚集一堂，它规定了各位的权限，指出了各位应该注意的目标。在这样的场合，更恰当、也更能反映我内心激情的做法是不提出具体措施，而是称颂将要规划和采纳这些措施的当选者的才能、正直和爱国心。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。

第四篇：老布什总统就职演说

FRIDAY, JANUARY 20, 1989

Mr.Chief Justice, Mr.President, Vice President Quayle, Senator Mitchell, Speaker Wright, Senator Dole, Congressman Michel, and fellow citizens, neighbors, and friends:

There is a man here who has earned a lasting place in our hearts and in our history.President Reagan, on behalf of our Nation, I thank you for the wonderful things that you have done for America.I have just repeated word for word the oath taken by George Washington 200 years ago, and the Bible on which I placed my hand is the Bible on which he placed his.It is right that the memory of Washington be with us today, not only because this is our Bicentennial Inauguration, but because Washington remains the Father of our Country.And he would, I think, be gladdened by this day;for today is the concrete expression of a stunning fact: our continuity these 200 years since our government began.We meet on democracy's front porch, a good place to talk as neighbors and as friends.For this is a day when our nation is made whole, when our differences, for a moment, are suspended.And my first act as President is a prayer.I ask you to bow your heads:

Heavenly Father, we bow our heads and thank You for Your love.Accept our thanks for the peace that yields this day and the shared faith that makes its continuance likely.Make us strong to do Your work, willing to heed and hear Your will, and write on our hearts these words: “Use power to help people.” For we are given power not to advance our own purposes, nor to make a great show in the world, nor a name.There is but one just use of power, and it is to serve people.Help us to remember it, Lord.Amen.I come before you and assume the Presidency at a moment rich with promise.We live in a peaceful, prosperous time, but we can make it better.For a new breeze is blowing, and a world refreshed by freedom seems reborn;for in man's heart, if not in fact, the day of the dictator is over.The totalitarian era is passing, its old ideas blown away like leaves from an ancient, lifeless tree.A new breeze is blowing, and a nation refreshed by freedom stands ready to push on.There is new ground to be broken, and new action to be taken.There are times when the future seems thick as a fog;you sit and wait, hoping the mists will lift and reveal the right path.But this is a time when the future seems a door you can walk right through into a room called tomorrow.Great nations of the world are moving toward democracy through the door to freedom.Men and women of the world move toward free markets through the door to prosperity.The people of the world agitate for free expression and free thought through the door to the moral and intellectual satisfactions that only liberty allows.We know what works: Freedom works.We know what's right: Freedom is right.We know how to secure a more just and prosperous life for man on Earth: through free markets, free speech, free elections, and the exercise of free will unhampered by the state.For the first time in this century, for the first time in perhaps all history, man does not have to invent a system by which to live.We don't have to talk late into the night about which form of government is better.We don't have to wrest justice from the kings.We only have to summon it from within ourselves.We must act on what we know.I take as my guide the hope of a saint: In crucial things, unity;in important things, diversity;in all things, generosity.America today is a proud, free nation, decent and civil, a place we cannot help but love.We know in our hearts, not loudly and proudly, but as a simple fact, that this country has meaning beyond what we see, and that our strength is a force for good.But have we changed as a nation even in our time? Are we enthralled with material things, less appreciative of the nobility of work and sacrifice?

My friends, we are not the sum of our possessions.They are not the measure of our lives.In our hearts we know what matters.We cannot hope only to leave our children a bigger car, a bigger bank account.We must hope to give them a sense of what it means to be a loyal friend, a loving parent, a citizen who leaves his home, his neighborhood and town better than he found it.What do we want the men and women who work with us to say when we are no longer there? That we were more driven to succeed than anyone around us? Or that we stopped to ask if a sick child had gotten better, and stayed a moment there to trade a word of friendship?

No President, no government, can teach us to remember what is best in what we are.But if the man you have chosen to lead this government can help make a difference;if he can celebrate the quieter, deeper successes that are made not of gold and silk, but of better hearts and finer souls;if he can do these things, then he must.America is never wholly herself unless she is engaged in high moral principle.We as a people have such a purpose today.It is to make kinder the face of the Nation and gentler the face of the world.My friends, we have work to do.There are the homeless, lost and roaming.There are the children who have nothing, no love, no normalcy.There are those who cannot free themselves of enslavement to whatever addiction——drugs, welfare, the demoralization that rules the slums.There is crime to be conquered, the rough crime of the streets.There are young women to be helped who are about to become mothers of children they can't care for and might not love.They need our care, our guidance, and our education, though we bless them for choosing life.The old solution, the old way, was to think that public money alone could end these problems.But we have learned that is not so.And in any case, our funds are low.We have a deficit to bring down.We have more will than wallet;but will is what we need.We will make the hard choices, looking at what we have and perhaps allocating it differently, making our decisions based on honest need and prudent safety.And then we will do the wisest thing of all: We will turn to the only resource we have that in times of need always grows——the goodness and the courage of the American people.I am speaking of a new engagement in the lives of others, a new activism, hands-on and involved, that gets the job done.We must bring in the generations, harnessing the unused talent of the elderly and the unfocused energy of the young.For not only leadership is passed from generation to generation, but so is stewardship.And the generation born after the Second World War has come of age.I have spoken of a thousand points of light, of all the community organizations that are spread like stars throughout the Nation, doing good.We will work hand in hand, encouraging, sometimes leading, sometimes being led, rewarding.We will work on this in the White House, in the Cabinet agencies.I will go to the people and the programs that are the brighter points of light, and I will ask every member of my government to become involved.The old ideas are new again because they are not old, they are timeless: duty, sacrifice, commitment, and a patriotism that finds its expression in taking part and pitching in.We need a new engagement, too, between the Executive and the Congress.The challenges before us will be thrashed out with the House and the Senate.We must bring the Federal budget into balance.And we must ensure that America stands before the world united, strong, at peace, and fiscally sound.But, of course, things may be difficult.We need compromise;we have had dissension.We need harmony;we have had a chorus of discordant voices.For Congress, too, has changed in our time.There has grown a certain divisiveness.We have seen the hard looks and heard the statements in which not each other's ideas are challenged, but each other's motives.And our great parties have too often been far apart and untrusting of each other.It has been this way since Vietnam.That war cleaves us still.But, friends, that war began in earnest a quarter of a century ago;and surely the statute of limitations has been reached.This is a fact: The final lesson of Vietnam is that no great nation can long afford to be sundered by a memory.A new breeze is blowing, and the old bipartisanship must be made new again.To my friends——and yes, I do mean friends——in the loyal opposition——and yes, I mean loyal: I put out my hand.I am putting out my hand to you, Mr.Speaker.I am putting out my hand to you Mr.Majority Leader.For this is the thing: This is the age of the offered hand.We can't turn back clocks, and I don't want to.But when our fathers were young, Mr.Speaker, our differences ended at the water's edge.And we don't wish to turn back time, but when our mothers were young, Mr.Majority Leader, the Congress and the Executive were capable of working together to produce a budget on which this nation could live.Let us negotiate soon and hard.But in the end, let us produce.The American people await action.They didn't send us here to bicker.They ask us to rise above the merely partisan.“In crucial things, unity”——and this, my friends, is crucial.To the world, too, we offer new engagement and a renewed vow: We will stay strong to protect the peace.The “offered hand” is a reluctant fist;but once made, strong, and can be used with great effect.There are today Americans who are held against their will in foreign lands, and Americans who are unaccounted for.Assistance can be shown here, and will be long remembered.Good will begets good will.Good faith can be a spiral that endlessly moves on.Great nations like great men must keep their word.When America says something, America means it, whether a treaty or an agreement or a vow made on marble steps.We will always try to speak clearly, for candor is a compliment, but subtlety, too, is good and has its place.While keeping our alliances and friendships around the world strong, ever strong, we will continue the new closeness with the Soviet Union, consistent both with our security and with progress.One might say that our new relationship in part reflects the triumph of hope and strength over experience.But hope is good, and so are strength and vigilance.Here today are tens of thousands of our citizens who feel the understandable satisfaction of those who have taken part in democracy and seen their hopes fulfilled.But my thoughts have been turning the past few days to those who would be watching at home to an older fellow who will throw a salute by himself when the flag goes by, and the women who will tell her sons the words of the battle hymns.I don't mean this to be sentimental.I mean that on days like this, we remember that we are all part of a continuum, inescapably connected by the ties that bind.Our children are watching in schools throughout our great land.And to them I say, thank you for watching democracy's big day.For democracy belongs to us all, and freedom is like a beautiful kite that can go higher and higher with the breeze.And to all I say: No matter what your circumstances or where you are, you are part of this day, you are part of the life of our great nation.A President is neither prince nor pope, and I don't seek a window on men's souls.In fact, I yearn for a greater tolerance, an easy-goingness about each other's attitudes and way of life.There are few clear areas in which we as a society must rise up united and express our intolerance.The most obvious now is drugs.And when that first cocaine was smuggled in on a ship, it may as well have been a deadly bacteria, so much has it hurt the body, the soul of our country.And there is much to be done and to be said, but take my word for it: This scourge will stop.And so, there is much to do;and tomorrow the work begins.I do not mistrust the future;I do not fear what is ahead.For our problems are large, but our heart is larger.Our challenges are great, but our will is greater.And if our flaws are endless, God's love is truly boundless.Some see leadership as high drama, and the sound of trumpets calling, and sometimes it is that.But I see history as a book with many pages, and each day we fill a page with acts of hopefulness and meaning.The new breeze blows, a page turns, the story unfolds.And so today a chapter begins, a small and stately story of unity, diversity, and generosity——shared, and written, together.Thank you.God bless you and God bless the United States of America.

第五篇：克林顿总统就职演说

My fellow citizens:

Today we celebrate the mystery of American renewal.同胞们，今天，我们在这里隆重集会来庆祝复兴美国伟大时刻的到来。

This ceremony is held in the depth of winter.But by the words we speak and faces we show the world.We force the spring.A spring reborn in the world's oldest democracy, that brings forth the vision and courage to reinvent American.现在虽然仍是寒月隆冬，但在对世界发出的誓言和展示的姿态中，我们已经让春暖花开悄然降临到了每个人的心里。春天已经来到了世界上最古老的民主国家，它为美利坚的中兴带来了一派欣欣向荣的新气象和令人鼓舞的勇气。

When our founder boldly declared America's independence to the world and our purposes to the almighty,they knew that America, would have to change.，to endure,Not change for change's sake,but change to preserve America's ideals, life,liberty ,the pursuit of happiness.Though we march to the music of our time,our mission is timeless.Each generation of Americans must define what if means to be an American.当美利坚合众国的缔造者向全世界宣告这个国家的独立和我们的远大目标的时候，他们已然知道，美利坚合众国必须在不断的变革中才能得到长足的生存和发展。然而，我们并不是仅仅为了改变而改变，我们要变革是为了保持美利坚尊重生命，尊重国家公民自由和追求幸福的权利的立国思想万代千秋永垂不朽！此刻，虽然我们已经伴随着时代的行进曲抬头挺进，但我们仍然需要与时俱进。每一个时代的美国人都必须清楚的了解自己作为一个美国公民的使命所在。

On behalf of our nation, I salute my predecessor, president Bush,for his half-century of service to America.And I thank the millions of men and women whose steadfastness and sacrifice triumphed over Depression, fascism and communism.在这里，请允许我代表国家，向我的前任——布什总统致敬，他尽忠职守的为这个国家奉献了半个世纪。同时，我还要感谢数以百万的美国人，他们在艰难困苦中坚定信念，牺牲奉献，最终战胜了大萧条，法西斯和共产主义。

Today, a generation raised in shadows of the Cold War assumes new responsibilities in a world warmed by the sunshine of freedom but threaten still by ancient hatreds and new plagues.今天，在冷战阴影下成长的一代在我们这个被自由阳光温暖的世界中肩负着新的责任，但是我们仍面临着新仇与旧恨的威胁。

Raised in unrivaled prosperity, we inherit an economy that is still the world's strongest, but is weakened by business failures, stagnant(停滞的)wages, increasing inequality, and deep divisions among our people.尽管我们在无与伦比的物质繁华中成长，尽管我们仍然继承了世界上最为强大的经济体，但实际上我们的社会同时也被商业萧条，收入停滞不前，不平等现象不断增加以及阶层隔阂加剧所削弱。

When George Washington first took the oath I have just sworn to uphold, news traveled slowly across the land by horseback and across the ocean by boat.Now, the sights and sounds of this ceremony are broadcast instantaneously to billions around the world.当乔治华盛顿在宣誓我刚才所宣誓过的誓词的时候，消息是通过马背和舰船缓慢的穿过陆地，跨过海洋的。而此刻，盛会现场的现场音频视频信号正在向全球的亿万观众不间断直播。

Communications and commerce are global;investment is mobile;technology is almost magical;and ambition for a better life is now universal.We earn our livelihood in peaceful competition with people all across the earth.现代社会，沟通和商业是全球化的，技术发展令人惊讶，同时让生活更美好也成为了大家的愿望。我们在全球性的公平竞争中营造我们自己的生活。

Profound and powerful forces are shaking and remaking our world, and the urgent question of our time is whether we can make change our friend and not our enemy.深厚和强大的力量正在动摇和改写我们的世界，而能否让变革成为我们的朋友而非敌人成为了我们这个时代最为紧迫的问题。

This new world has already enriched the lives of millions of Americans who are able to compete and win in it.But when most people are working harder for less;when others cannot work at all;when the cost of health care devastates families and threatens to bankrupt many of our enterprises, great and small;when fear of crime robs law-abiding citizens of their freedom;and when millions of poor children cannot even imagine the lives we are calling them to lead, we have not made change our friend.这个新世界已经让数以百万计的美国人通过努力奋斗过上了富足的生活，但当大部分的人每天都在努力工作却只能勉强维持生计，当还有人得不到工作，当医疗卫生的支出正在让许多的家庭支离破碎，当大大小小的企业正在面临破产威胁的时候，当犯罪案件频发给遵纪守法的人们带来极大恐慌而无法正常享受生活的时候，当还有数以百万计的贫苦儿童甚至还过着我们无法想象的生活的时候，我们还没有让变革成为我们的朋友。

We know we have to face hard truths and take strong steps.But we have not done so.Instead, we have drifted, and that drifting has eroded our resources, fractured our economy, and shaken our confidence.我们知道我们必须面对残酷的现实和采取更有力的措施。但是我们还没有付诸实际行动，而是听天由命随波逐流，而恰恰正是这种听之任之的不作为正在腐蚀我们的根基，削弱我们的经济，它正在动摇我们的信心。

Though our challenges are fearsome, so are our strengths.And Americans have ever been a restless, questing, hopeful people.We must bring to our task today the vision and will of those who came before us.尽管我们面临的挑战令人畏惧，但是我们的力量也同样不容忽视。美利坚的国民从来就不甘于现状，我们一直都在不断探索进取，乐观向上。我们肩膀上的使命带着美利坚的先驱们赋予的美好愿望和坚强意志。

From our revolution, to the Civil War, to the Great Depression to the civil rights movement, our people have always mustered the determination to construct from these crises the pillars of our history.从我们的革命开始，到南北战争到大萧条再到民权运动，我们的人民一次又一次的从危机中万众一心众志成城的书写着历史的丰碑。

Thomas Jefferson believed that to preserve the very foundations of our nation, we would need dramatic change from time to time.Well, my fellow Americans, this is our time.Let us embrace it.托马斯杰斐逊坚信为了维护我们国家的根基，我们必须与时俱进义无返顾的进行变革。现在，亲爱的同胞们，我们改革的时刻到来了，让我们一起紧密拥抱它吧。

Our democracy must be not only the envy of the world but the engine of our own renewal.There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America.我们的民主不单单是世界向往的楷模同时更是美利坚自我复兴的强劲动力，它将带领着伟大的美利坚这艘巨舰一如既往乘风破浪无往不前。

And so today, we pledge an end to the era of deadlock and drift;a new season of American renewal has begun.To renew America, we must be bold.We must do what no generation has had to do before.We must invest more in our own people, in their jobs, in their future, and at the same time cut our massive debt.And we must do so in a world in which we must compete for every opportunity.It will not be easy;it will require sacrifice.But it can be done, and done fairly, not choosing sacrifice for its own sake, but for our own sake.We must provide for our nation the way a family provides for its children.今天，我们要在这里宣告僵持和随波逐流时代的结束，一个美利坚复兴的全新时代已经开始。为了重振美利坚雄风，除了披荆斩棘勇往向前，我们别无选择。我们必须排除万难做一些前人从未做过的创举。我们的政策需要向美国本土的就业，未来倾斜，同时减缩巨额债务。我们还要建立一个公平竞争的社会，这不是一件容易的事情，它需要我们做出牺牲，但它一定会实现，牺牲并不是我们的目的，实现我们的目标才是我们的最终目的，我们要像一个家庭对待自己的孩子一样对待我们的国家。

Our Founders saw themselves in the light of posterity.We can do no less.Anyone who has ever watched a child's eyes wander into sleep knows what posterity is.Posterity(子孙，后裔)is the world to come;the world for whom we hold our ideals, from whom we have borrowed our planet, and to whom we bear sacred responsibility.We must do what America does best: offer more opportunity to all and demand responsibility from all.美利坚的开国元勋们从建国伊始就一直从子孙万代的长远利益出发考虑国家的发展规划。我们更需要考虑更多。每一个注视过在梦想中熟睡的孩子眼睛的的人都明白子孙后代意味着什么。孩子就意味着未来的世界，一个我们为之而努力捍卫美利坚普世价值观思想的世界，从他们那里我们借用了这一个星球，而为了他们我们承担了很多神圣的责任。我们必须倾尽我们所有让这个国家至善完美，那就是，赋予所有国民更多机会以及责任！

It is time to break the bad habit of expecting something for nothing, from our government or from each other.Let us all take more responsibility, not only for ourselves and our families but for our communities and our country.To renew America, we must revitalize our democracy.现在该是到了打破只管索取而不付出这一坏习惯的时候了，不管是我们的政府还是任何一方。让我们承担其更多的责任吧，不仅仅是为了我们的家庭，而是为了我们的社区和国家。要复兴美利坚，我们就必须重建我们的民主制度。

This beautiful capital, like every capital since the dawn of civilization, is often a place of intrigue and calculation.Powerful people maneuver for position and worry endlessly about who is in and who is out, who is up and who is down, forgetting those people whose toil and sweat sends us here and pays our way.这个美丽的首都，就像每一个文明初生的首都一样，常常是一个充满阴谋和较量的地方，权贵们为了高官厚禄而费尽心思盘算着谁进谁出，谁上谁下。他们也许早已忘记了那些为了我们今天的生而付出了艰辛汗水和多少磨难的先辈们。

Americans deserve better, and in this city today, there are people who want to do better.And so I say to all of us here, let us resolve to reform our politics, so that power and privilege no longer shout down the voice of the people.Let us put aside personal advantage so that we can feel the pain and see the promise of America.Let us resolve to make our government a place for what Franklin Roosevelt called “bold, persistent experimentation,” a government for our tomorrows, not our yesterdays.Let us give this capital back to the people to whom it belongs.美利坚的国民本该得到更好的生活，就在这城市，就在今天，还有很多的人向往着那些更令人憧憬的美好生活。在这里我要跟所有的人说，同胞们，让我们坚决地把我们的政治制度改革事业进行到底吧，那样那些权贵和利益集团从此往后再也不能覆盖来自人民的声音，让我们把我们的政府变成一个富兰克林罗斯福称之为持续进行大刀阔斧变革的试验场，变成一个给我们带来更美好的明天而不是让生活倒退的政府。让我们把这个美丽的首都归还给到她本来的主人——我们美利坚公民的手上！

To renew America, we must meet challenges abroad as well as at home.There is no longer division between what is foreign and what is domestic;the world economy, the world environment, the world AIDS crisis, the world arms race;they affect us all.要复兴美利坚，我们要面临来自国内外的挑战！这些挑战无法区分哪些是来自海外哪些来自本土，全球经济，世界环境，艾滋病危机，还有全球军备竞赛，这些问题无时不刻不在影响着我们。

Today, as an old order passes, the new world is more free but less stable.Communism's collapse has called forth old animosities（仇恨）and new dangers.Clearly America must continue to lead the world we did so much to make.时至今日，作为一个旧的秩序的过渡，新的世界获得了更多的自由同时也更加动荡。共产主义的垮台带来了新仇旧恨，我们清楚的认识到美国必须继续一如既往的领导世界向前开进。

While America rebuilds at home, we will not shrink from the challenges, nor fail to seize[i:] the opportunities, of this new world.Together with our friends and allies, we will work to shape change, lest it engulf us.当我们重建美国的时候，面对挑战我们不会退缩，不会放弃我们主导新世界的机会，我们将和我们的盟友一起重塑变革，让它顺应我们的意志。

When our vital interests are challenged, or the will and conscience of the international community is defied, we will act;with peaceful diplomacy when ever possible, with force when necessary.The brave Americans serving our nation today in the Persian Gulf, in Somalia, and wherever else they stand are testament to our resolve.当美国的重要利益受到挑战，或者国际社会的道德秩序受到公然挑衅的时候，我们不会袖手旁观，我们将采取和平的外交手段及一切可能的方法，必要的时候甚至诉诸武力解决问题。就在现在，骁勇善战的美军士兵正在波斯湾，在索马里以及其他任何需要他们去履行美国政府意志的地方实现美国的决心。

But our greatest strength is the power of our ideas, which are still new in many lands.Across the world, we see them embraced, and we rejoice.Our hopes, our hearts, our hands, are with those on every continent who are building democracy and freedom.Their cause is America's cause.实际上我们最强大的力量所在是我们的思想，在很多的领域都占据领先地位。纵观全球，我们看到这些思想为世人所接受，而我们也深感欣慰，我们的希望，我们的热心，我们的双手，靠着这些我们帮助了其他国家的人民在每一块大陆建立了民主和自由，他们的成就也是美国的成就。

The American people have summoned the change we celebrate today.You have raised your voices in an unmistakable chorus.You have cast your votes in historic numbers.And you have changed the face of Congress, the presidency and the political process itself.Yes, you, my fellow Americans have forced the spring.Now, we must do the work the season demands.美国人民一直在召唤着我们做出今天所提出的变革，你们已经发出圣歌的强音，你们已经投出了具有历史意义的一票，是你们，让国会旧貌换新颜，你们改变了美利坚的总统制度和政治进程。是的，亲爱的美国同胞们，是你们促使了美利坚春暖花开的早日到来。同胞们，现在，到了我们响应时代要求付诸实际行动的时候了。

To that work I now turn, with all the authority of my office.I ask the Congress to join with me.But no president, no Congress, no government, can undertake this mission alone.My fellow Americans, you, too, must play your part in our renewal.I challenge a new generation of young Americans to a season of service;to act on your idealism by helping troubled children, keeping company with those in need, reconnecting our torn communities.There is so much to be done;enough indeed for millions of others who are still young in spirit to give of themselves in service, too.我将和本届政府的所有职能部门来肩负这一重要使命，我也将请求国会和我们站在一起。但是，没有哪一个总统，哪一届国会哪一届政府能单独扛起这样的重任。亲爱的同胞们，你们，我们需要你们和我们一起参与到伟大的美利坚复兴运动中来。我呼吁美国的年青一代加入到报效国家的行列中来，去通过帮助贫困交加和需要帮助的儿童来实现你的理想，陪伴那些有需要的人们，重新连接我们撕裂的社区，这是一项浩瀚的工程，足以让成千上万有理想的年轻人投身其中。

In serving, we recognize a simple but powerful truth, we need each other.And we must care for one another.Today, we do more than celebrate America;we rededicate ourselves to the very idea of America.加入效力国家的行列，我们就会明白一个很简单但却很令人振奋的道理，我相互需要。所以我们需要关爱彼此。今天，我们来这里不是仅仅为了欢呼为了庆祝，我们更需要把自己奉献给最重要的美国思想。

An idea born in revolution and renewed through two centuries of challenge.An idea tempered by the knowledge that, but for fate we, the fortunate and the unfortunate, might have been each other.An idea ennobled by the faith that our nation can summon from its myriad diversity the deepest measure of unity.An idea infused with the conviction that America's long heroic journey must go forever upward.这是一种诞生于隆隆的革命洪潮并经受了两个世纪洗礼的理念。这是一种炼就于知识与智慧的理念，它在影响着我们的一生，不管幸与不幸的人们，我们都身处这种思想当中。

And so, my fellow Americans, as we stand at the edge of the 21st century, let us begin with energy and hope, with faith and discipline, and let us work until our work is done.The scripture says, “And let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season, we shall reap, if we faint not.”

所以，亲爱的同胞们，当我们已经站在二十一世纪的边缘，让我们带着希望和力量，带着信念和纪律，让我们把美利坚的复兴进行到底吧，正如圣经所说：不要厌于行善，在收获的季节，假如没有倒下，我们将得到收获。

From this joyful mountaintop of celebration, we hear a call to service in the valley.We have heard the trumpets.We have changed the guard.And now, each in our way, and with God's help, we must answer the call.在欢乐的庆祝巅峰之中，我听到了山谷中传来的召唤，我们听到了凯旋的号角声，我们已经换岗各就各位，现在，每一个和我们站在一起的人，在神的帮助之下，我们都必须响应国家的呼唤。

Thank you, and God bless you all.谢谢大家，愿上帝保佑你们！