杰米·卡特就职典礼演讲January 20, 1977
Inaugural Address of Jimmy Carter
吉米·卡特就职演说
THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 1977
1977年1月20日，星期二
For myself and for our Nation, I want to thank my predecessor for all he has done to heal our land.
我谨以我个人和全国人民的名义，在此向我的前任表示感谢，感谢他为使我国恢复所做的一切。
In this outward and physical ceremony we attest once again to the inner and spiritual strength of our Nation.
此刻这一外在的和有形的庆典，再次验证了我们国家所具有的内在的精神力量。
As my high school teacher, Miss Julia Coleman, used to say: "We must adjust to changing times and still hold to unchanging principles."
诚如我高中时代的老师朱丽亚科尔曼小姐过去常说的：“我们既要适应变动的时代，同时又必须坚持各项不变的原则。”
Here before me is the Bible used in the inauguration of our first President, in 1789, and I have just taken the oath of office on the Bible my mother gave me a few years ago, opened to a timeless admonition from the ancient prophet Micah:
现在摆在面前的，是1789年我国首任总统就职时使用过的那本《圣经》。我刚才宣誓时用的则是几年前我母亲送给我的，一打开它就可看到古代先知弥迦留下的永恒训诫：
"He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God."
世人哪，耶和华已指示你何为善，他向你要的是什么呢？只要你行公义，好怜悯，存谦卑的心，与你的神同行。
This inauguration ceremony marks a new beginning, a new dedication within our Government, and a new spirit among us all.
这一次就职标志着一个新的开端，表明我们政府内的人准备进行新的奉献，也意味着我们大家当中形成了一种新的精神。
A President may sense and proclaim that new spirit, but only a people can provide it.
一位总统或许能体会并说出这种新精神，但唯有全体人民才能提供这种精神。
Two centuries ago our Nation's birth was a milestone in the long quest for freedom, but the bold and brilliant dream which excited the founders of this Nation still awaits its consummation.
两个世纪以前，我们国家的诞生乃是寻求自由的漫漫长路上的一个里程碑。然而，我国的缔造者们所珍视和怀抱的勇敢而辉煌的梦想，依然有待于实现。
I have no new dream to set forth today, but rather urge a fresh faith in the old dream.
我今天并不想提出新的梦想，而宁愿在原有的梦想中注入一种崭新的信念。
Ours was the first society openly to define itself in terms of both spirituality and of human liberty. It is that unique self- definition which has given us an exceptional appeal, but it also imposes on us a special obligation, to take on those moral duties which, when assumed, seem invariably to be in our own best interests.
我们的社会乃是第一个依据精神价值和人类自由来公开界定自己性质的社会。正是这种独一无二的自我定义，赋予了我们非同寻常的号召力，但同时也加之于我们一项特殊的义务，这就是承担那些一旦履行便似乎总是切合我们最大利益的道义责任。
You have given me a great responsibility--to stay close to you, to be worthy of you, and to exemplify what you are.
你们已经赋予我一项巨大的任务，要求我同你们紧密地站在一起，不辜负你们的信任，作为一名代表来展示你们的风貌。
Let us create together a new national spirit of unity and trust. Your strength can compensate for my weakness, and your wisdom can help to minimize my mistakes.
让我们协同创造一种团结和信任的新国民精神吧！你们的力量能够弥补我的弱点，你们的智慧能够帮助我少犯错误。
Let us learn together and laugh together and work together and pray together, confident that in the end we will triumph together in the right.
让我们一起学习，一起欢笑，一起工作，一起祈祷，对我们最终站在正义一方取得的胜利充满信心吧！
The American dream endures. We must once again have full faith in our country--and in one another. I believe America can be better. We can be even stronger than before.
美国梦经久不衰。我们应当对我们的国家重新充满信心，相互之间也要充满信心。我深信美国能够变得更加美好。我们能比以往任何时候都更为强大。
Let our recent mistakes bring a resurgent commitment to the basic principles of our Nation, for we know that if we despise our own government we have no future.
让我们从最近的种种错误中汲取教训，恢复我们对各项基本原则的崇奉，因为我们懂得，如果蔑视自己的政府，就毫无前途可言。
We recall in special times when we have stood briefly, but magnificently, united. In those times no prize was beyond our grasp.
回首往事，我们都记得一些特殊的时刻，那时我们团结一致，虽然为时短暂，但意义深远。在那样的时刻，我们真是无往不胜。
But we cannot dwell upon remembered glory.
但我们不可沉湎于记忆之中的荣耀。
We cannot afford to drift.
我们付不起随波逐流的代价。
We reject the prospect of failure or mediocrity or an inferior quality of life for any person.
对于失败、庸碌无为或让任何一个人过一种劣质生活这种前景，我们拒绝接受。
Our Government must at the same time be both competent and compassionate.
我们的政府必须同时兼备能力和同情心。
We have already found a high degree of personal liberty, and we are now struggling to enhance equality of opportunity.
我们已经实现了高度的个人自由，目前我们正在奋力促进机会均等。
Our commitment to human rights must be absolute, our laws fair, our natural beauty preserved; the powerful must not persecute the weak, and human dignity must be enhanced.
我们对于人权的崇奉绝无任何条件可言，我们的法律必须绝对公允，我们的自然景观必须加以保护；强者绝不可以欺凌弱者；人的尊严必须加强。
We have learned that "more" is not necessarily "better,"
我们已经懂得，“更多”未必就“更好”。
that even our great Nation has its recognized limits, and that we can neither answer all questions nor solve all problems.
即使我们这样的大国也有显而易见的局限。我们既无法回答所有问题，也不可能解决所有问题。
We cannot afford to do everything, nor can we afford to lack boldness as we meet the future.
我们没有能力包揽一切，但面对未来我们却不能缺乏勇气。
So, together, in a spirit of individual sacrifice for the common good, we must simply do our best.
所以，我们应当齐心协力，本着为了共同利益而作出个人牺牲的精神，义无反顾地全力以赴。
Our Nation can be strong abroad only if it is strong at home. And we know that the best way to enhance freedom in other lands is to demonstrate here that our democratic system is worthy of emulation.
我们的国家只有首先自强才能在国外显示强大。我们知道，在其他国家推进自由的最好方式，莫过于在本国证明我们的民主制度确实值得效仿。
To be true to ourselves, we must be true to others. We will not behave in foreign places so as to violate our rules and standards here at home, for we know that the trust which our Nation earns is essential to our strength.
我们若要坦诚面对自己，就必须以诚待人。我们在海外各地的行为，绝不会违反我们在国内奉行的规范和准则，因为我们懂得，我们国家赢得的这种信任，对于加强我们国家的力量是不可或缺的。
The world itself is now dominated by a new spirit. Peoples more numerous and more politically aware are craving and now demanding their place in the sun--not just for the benefit of their own physical condition, but for basic human rights.
当前，世界本身也受到一种新精神的驱动。日趋政治觉醒的人民数量越来越多，他们现在正渴望和要求在这个社会上争得一席之地，他们所要求的并非仅仅是改善自己的物质条件，还有基本的人权。
The passion for freedom is on the rise. Tapping this new spirit, there can be no nobler nor more ambitious task for America to undertake on this day of a new beginning than to help shape a just and peaceful world that is truly humane.
争取自由的热情日益高涨。美国既要提倡这种新的精神，那么在这个新开端的日子里所要担负的最为高尚和最为雄心勃勃的任务，就莫过于帮助建立一个公正、和平、真正符合人道的世界。
We are a strong nation, and we will maintain strength so sufficient that it need not be proven in combat--a quiet strength based not merely on the size of an arsenal, but on the nobility of ideas.
我们是一个强大的国家，我们将保持无需通过竞赛加以证明的强大实力。这是一种平静的实力，并不单纯取决于拥有多少武器储备，而是建立在崇高的信念之上。
We will be ever vigilant and never vulnerable, and we will fight our wars against poverty, ignorance, and injustice--for those are the enemies against which our forces can be honorably marshaled.
我们要一如既往地保持警惕，永不陷于不堪一击的境地；而且我们还要向贫困、愚昧和不公平开战，因为这些都是我们能够光荣地调动力量加以攻击的敌人。
We are a purely idealistic Nation, but let no one confuse our idealism with weakness.
我们是一个以理想主义为荣的国家，但任何人都不能把我们的理想主义误认为软弱。
Because we are free we can never be indifferent to the fate of freedom elsewhere.
因为我们自己是自由的，所以绝不能对自由在其他地方的命运漠然置之。
Our moral sense dictates a clear cut preference for these societies which share with us an abiding respect for individual human rights.
我们的道义感驱使我们对那些与我们同样一贯尊重人权的社会抱有明确的好感。
We do not seek to intimidate, but it is clear that a world which others can dominate with impunity would be inhospitable to decency and a threat to the well-being of all people.
我们无意进行恫吓；但是，若有人可以肆无忌惮地作威作福，则显然不合情理，并且也威胁了世界各国人民的幸福。
The world is still engaged in a massive armaments race designed to ensure continuing equivalent strength among potential adversaries.
目前世界各国仍然耽溺于大规模的军备竞赛，目的在于确保自己在潜在的对手之间继续保持同等的实力。
We pledge perseverance and wisdom in our efforts to limit the world's armaments to those necessary for each nation's own domestic safety.
我们保证要坚韧不拔地作出明智努力，力争将世界军备限制在各个国家国内安全所需的范围内。
And we will move this year a step toward ultimate goal--the elimination of all nuclear weapons from this Earth. We urge all other people to join us, for success can mean life instead of death.
今年，我们还将向在地球上销毁一切核武器这一最终目标迈出一步。我们呼吁其他各国人民加入我们的行列，因为此举的成功意味着生存，而不是死亡。
Within us, the people of the United States, there is evident a serious and purposeful rekindling of confidence. And I join in the hope that when my time as your President has ended, people might say this about our Nation:
在我们美国人民中间，显然正在认真而有意识地重新振奋信心，而我也同样希望，在我的总统任期届满时，人们能这样谈及我们的国家：
- that we had remembered the words of Micah and renewed our search for humility, mercy, and justice;
-我们牢记了弥迦的话，在对博爱、怜悯和正义的寻求中注入了新的活力；
- that we had torn down the barriers that separated those of different race and region and religion, and where there had been mistrust, built unity, with a respect for diversity;
- 我们已经摧毁了将不同种族和不同宗教信仰的人们隔离开来的种种壁垒；我们通过对多样化的尊重，在缺乏信任的地方实现了团结一致；
- that we had found productive work for those able to perform it;
- 我们已经为具有工作能力的人们找到了生产性的工作；
- that we had strengthened the American family, which is the basis of our society;
- 我们已经强化了视为我们社会基石的美国人的家庭纽带；
- that we had ensured respect for the law, and equal treatment under the law, for the weak and the powerful, for the rich and the poor;
- 我们已经确保了对法律的尊重，所有人不分强弱贫富都能在法律面前得到平等待遇；
- and that we had enabled our people to be proud of their own Government once again.
- 我们已经使我们人民能够重新为自己的政府感到骄傲。
I would hope that the nations of the world might say that we had built a lasting peace, built not on weapons of war but on international policies which reflect our own most precious values.
我衷心希望世界各国都会这样认为：我们业已确立了一种持久的和平，这种和平的基础不是枪炮，而是体现着我们最珍视的价值观念的各项国际政策。
These are not just my goals, and they will not be my accomplishments, but the affirmation of our Nation's continuing moral strength and our belief in an undiminished, ever-expanding American dream.
所有这些并不仅仅是我个人的目标，而是我们大家共同的抱负；它们也不会是我个人的成就，而将是我们国家持续不衰的道德力量的明证，是我们从未消减和不断扩大的美国梦的明证。
Thank you very much.
非常感谢。