(整理)奥巴马就职演讲中英文版本.

奥巴马就职演讲中英文版本

My fellow citizens:

我的同胞们：

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.

今天我站在这里，为眼前的重责大任感到谦卑，对各位的信任心怀感激，并将先贤的牺牲铭记于心。我要感谢布什总统对国家的贡献，也感谢他在政权过渡期间的宽厚和配合。

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.

迄今为止，已经有44位美国人发表过总统就职誓言。这些誓词或是在繁荣富强、和平宁静之际发表，或是在乌云密布、时局动荡之时。在艰困的时候，美国能箕裘相继，不仅因为居高位者有能力或有先见之明，也因为人民一直对先辈的抱负有信心，也忠于我国的开国法统。

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

因此，美国才能承继下来。也正因为此，这一代美国人也必须承继下去。

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.

现在大家都知道我们正身处危机，我国正在与四处蔓延的暴力和憎恨作战。我们的经济元气大伤——这既是某些人贪婪且不负责任的后果，也是大众未能做出艰难的选择，对国家进入新时期准备不足所致。许多人失去居所，丢了工作，生意萧条。我们的医疗太昂贵，教育让人失望。每天都有更多证据显示，我们利用能源的方式壮大我们的敌对力量，且威胁我们的星球。

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.

这些都是得自资料和统计数据的危机指标。较难评估但同样影响深远的，是举国信心尽失——无休止地担心美国将无可避免地衰退，也害怕下一代一定要放低眼界。

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

今天我要告诉各位，我们面临的挑战是真实的，是非常艰巨的，且不在少数。它们是不可以轻易，或在短时间内解决的。但是，大家要明确的是——这些挑战定会被解决。

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

今天，我们聚集在一起，因为我们选择了希望而非恐惧，选择了团结而非纷争。

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.

今天，我们宣告天下，那些无用的抱怨和虚伪的承诺已经终结，那些扭曲我们政治已久的相互指控和陈旧教条已不复存在。

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.

我们仍是个年轻的国家，但借用圣经的话，摆脱幼稚的时刻到来了，重申坚忍的精神，书写更好的历史，发扬那种代代传承的优良品质，那种高贵的信念：即应上帝的允诺，我们每个人都是平等的，每个人都是自由的，每个人都应该有机会追求全然幸福的时刻已经到来了！

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.

为了再次肯定我们国家的卓越和伟大，我们明白这种伟大绝非受人赐予，而必须通过努力达成。我们的旅程从来就不是抄捷径或很容易就固步自封。这条路从来都不是给哪些怯懦、好逸恶劳的，或者惟名利是举的人走的。恰恰相反，走这条路的始终是勇于冒险的人，实干的人，能成事的人——他们中有些人很出名，但更常见的是在各自岗位上的无名英雄，在这条漫长而崎岖的道路上扶持着我们，迈向繁荣与自由。

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.

为了我们，他们携带很少的家当，远涉重洋，追寻新生活。

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，他们胼手胝足，安身西部；历经万难，筚路蓝缕。

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe

为了我们，他们奋斗不懈，在康科德和盖茨堡，诺曼底和溪山等地长眠。

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.

先贤不断的奋斗与牺牲，直到双手伤痕累累，我们才能享有较好的生活。他们将美国视为大于所有个人抱负总和的整体，超越出身、财富或小圈子的差异。

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.

这就是我们今天需要延续的旅程。我们仍旧是全球最繁荣强盛的国家。这场危机爆发时，我们的劳工生产力并未减弱。我们的智慧一样富于创新，我们的产品和劳务和上周或上个月或去年相比同样受欢迎。我们的能力并未减损。但是我们墨守成规、维护狭隘利益、拒绝逆耳忠言的时期肯定已经过去。从今天起，我们必须重新出发，开展再造美国的工程。

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.

我们无论朝何处着眼，都有未尽的工作。经济情势需要大胆、迅速的行动。我们将行动起来，不光是创造新的就业机会，更要奠定成长的新基础。我们将造桥铺路，为企业兴建电网与数位线路，并将我们联系在一起。我们将让科学回归合适的用途，运用科技的奇迹来提高医疗品质并降低费用。我们将利用太阳能、风力和土壤作为汽车的燃料和工厂的能源。我们将让中小学及大专院校转型以应新时代的需要。这些我们可以做到，也必将会做到！

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，有人质疑我们的雄心，暗示我们的体系无法承受太多的大计划。这些人的记性不好，因为他们忘记了这个国家已经成就的事业。当创造力朝同一个目标发展，且被给予必要的激励下，自由的人民将完成何等大业。

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.

怀疑者无法理解的是他们的主张已经站不住脚，长期以来折磨我们的陈腐政治争议已经行不通。我们今天的问题不是政府的规模，而是政府的效用——能否帮助家庭找到薪水不错的工作，支付得起护理费用，以及退休后的保障。哪里能够提供积极的答复，我们就往哪里走。确认行不通的地方，计划就会停止。所有我们这些管理人民金钱的人都将负起责任，花钱要理智，改掉恶习，正大光明地做事情，只有这样我们才能重建政府与人民间最为重要的信任。

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.

我们面临的问题也不是说市场的力量是善或恶。市场创造财富和拓展自由的力量无与伦比，但是这场危机提醒我们，当监督不力时，市场发展将失控；当市场只偏爱有钱人时，国家无法持续繁荣。我们经济成功的依据，不只是国内生产总值的规模，还有繁荣所覆盖的范围，以及我们将机会给予每个愿意奋斗的人的能力——这不是为了施舍，而是因为这就是达到我们共同利益最稳妥的途径。

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政策，那种让我们必须在自由和理想之间作一抉择的说法是错误的，我们拒绝接受。我们的开国元勋在我们难以想象的危难之中，拟具了确保法治和人权的宪章，一部被一代代人民用鲜血扩充的宪章。宪章中的理想依然照亮这个世界，我们不会为了方便行事而扬弃它们。同样的，今日在观看此情此景的其他民族和政府，从最宏伟的都城到家父出生的小村庄，我要说的是：无论国籍、无论性别、年龄，只要你在追求一个和平且有尊严的未来，美国就是你的朋友，我们已经准备好再次带领大家。

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus--and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of

civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

因为我们知道，我们五花八门的遗产是我们的长处，而非弱点。我们是由基督徒和穆斯林，犹太教徒和印度教徒，以及教外人士组成的国家。我们受来自世界各个角落的各种语言和文化的影响，而且由于我们曾尝过内战和种族隔离的苦果，并且在走出那段黑暗时期之后变得更坚强和团结，这让我们不得不相信旧日的仇恨终究会过去，部族之间的隔膜很快就会泯灭。随着世界越来越小，我们共通的人性也会彰显，而美国必须扮演引进新和平时代的角色。

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West--know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

对穆斯林世界，我们寻求以共同的利益和相互尊重为基础的一种新的发展方式。那些想播植冲突并把自己社会的问题怪罪于西方的领袖们，须知你的国民藉以判断你的，是你能建立什么，而非你能毁坏什么。那些靠着贪腐欺骗和箝制异己保住权势的人，须知你们站在和历史对立的一边，但只要你们愿意松手，我们就会帮忙。

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to the suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

那些经济欠发达国家的人民，我们保证会和你们合作，让你们的农场丰收，让河流涌动清泉，滋补养饥饿的身心。而对那些和我们一样比较富裕的国家，我要说，我们不能再对国界以外的苦痛视而不见，也不能再消耗资源而不计后果。因为世界已经变了，我们也要跟着改变。

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment--a moment that will define a generation--it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

此时此刻，在我们思索眼前道路的时候，我们以谦逊感激的心想到那些正在遥远的沙漠和山岭上巡逻的勇敢的美国同胞。今天他们有话要对我们说，就和躺在阿灵顿（公墓）的英雄们世世代代轻声诉说的一样。我们向他们致敬，不只因为他们捍卫我们的自由，更因为他们代表着服务的精神；愿意在超越个体的事物上找寻意义。而在此刻——能够界定一个时代的时刻——必须常驻你我心中的，正是这种精神。

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of

the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

即使政府能做和必须做，这个国家最终依靠的仍然是美国人民的信念与决心。在堤防决堤时，是人们的善心，让他们招待陌生人；是工作人员的无私，让他们宁可减工时，也不愿看到朋友失业，陪伴我们度过最黑暗的时期；是消防员的勇气，让他们冲进满是浓烟的楼梯间；是父母培育孩子的志愿，最终决定我们的命运。

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends--hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism-- these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility--a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

我们的挑战也许是新的，我们应对挑战的工具也许是新的，但我们赖以成功的价值观——辛勤工作与诚实、勇气与公平竞争、容忍与好奇心、忠实与爱国心——这些都是一脉相承的。这些观念是真实的，是我们历史上默默发展的力量。我们有必要找回这些观念。我们现在需要一个勇于担当的新时代，每一个美国人都认识到我们对自己、对国家、对世界负有责任，我们不是不情愿地接受这些责任，而是欣然接受，坚信没有什么比全力以赴完成艰难的工作，更能得到精神上的满足，更能找到自我。

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

这是公民的代价和承诺。

This is the source of our confidence--the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

这是我们信心的来源——认识到上帝召唤我们创造不确定的命运。

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed--why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent Mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

这是我们的自由和信条的真谛，为什么不同种族和信仰的男女老幼能在这个大草坪上共同庆祝，为什么一个人的父亲在不到六十年前也许还不能进当地的餐厅用餐，现在这个人却能站在你们面前做最神圣的宣誓。

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

让我们记住这一天，记住我们是谁，记住我们走了多远。在美国诞生那一年，在最寒冷的几个月，在结冰的河岸，一群爱国人士抱着垂死的同志。首都弃守，敌人进逼，血染雪地。在那时，我们革命的成果受到质疑，我们的国父下令向人民宣读这段话：

"Let it be told to the future world ... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet (it)."

“让这段话流传后世……在深冬，当幸存的只有希望和美德……这个面临共同的危险城市和这个国家，迈步向前迎向它。”

America, in the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

国民们，面对我们共同的危险，在这个艰困的冬天，让我们记得这些永恒的话语。怀着希望和美德，让我们再度冲破结冰的逆流，度过接下来可能来临的暴风雪。让我们孩子的孩子继续传承下去，说我们受到考验时，我们拒绝让旅程结束，我们不回头，也不踌躇；目眺远方，沐浴在上帝的恩典中，我们将把自由这个伟大的礼物，安全送达未来的世世代代。

Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the United States of America.

谢谢大家，愿上帝保佑你们！愿上帝保佑美国！