比尔·克林顿第一次就职演讲
First Inaugural Address of William Jefferson ClintonMy fellow citizens: Today we celebrate the mystery of A
同胞们:今天，我们庆祝的是神秘的美利坚合众国
My fellow citizens:
我的同胞们:
Today we celebrate the mystery of American renewal.
今天，我们庆祝美国复兴的奥秘。
This ceremony is held in the depth of winter. But, by the words we speak and the faces we show the world, we force the spring.
这个仪式是在隆冬时节举行的。但是，通过我们所说的话和我们向世界展示的面孔，我们推动了春天。
A spring reborn in the world's oldest democracy, that brings forth the vision and courage to reinvent America.
春天在这个世界上最古老的民主国家重生，带来了重塑美国的远见和勇气。
When our founders boldly declared America's independence to the world and our purposes to the Almighty, they knew that America, to endure, would have to change.
当我们的缔造者勇敢地向世界宣布美国独立，向上帝宣布我们的目标时，他们知道，美国要想持久，就必须变革。
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.
不是为了改变而改变，而是为了维护美国的理想而改变——生命、自由、追求幸福。虽然我们随着时代的音乐前进，但我们的使命是永恒的。
Each generation of Americans must define what it means to be an American.
每一代美国人都必须定义什么是美国人。
On behalf of our nation, I salute my predecessor, President Bush, for his half-century of service to America.
我代表我们的国家，向我的前任布什总统致敬，感谢他半个世纪以来为美国所做的贡献。
And I thank the millions of men and women whose steadfastness and sacrifice triumphed over Depression, fascism and Communism.
我还要感谢千百万的男男女女，他们的坚定和牺牲战胜了大萧条、法西斯主义和共产主义。
Today, a generation raised in the shadows of the Cold War assumes new responsibilities in a world warmed by the sunshine of freedom but threatened still by ancient hatreds and new plagues.
今天，在冷战阴影中成长起来的一代人承担了新的责任，这个世界虽然沐浴着自由的阳光，但仍受到古老的仇恨和新的灾难的威胁。
Raised in unrivaled prosperity, we inherit an economy that is still the world's strongest, but is weakened by business failures, stagnant wages, increasing inequality, and deep divisions among our people.
我们在无与伦比的繁荣中长大，继承了一个仍然是世界上最强大的经济体，但却被企业倒闭、工资停滞不前、不平等加剧和人民之间的深刻分歧削弱了。
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·华盛顿第一次宣读我刚才宣读的誓词时，消息在马背上慢慢地传遍大地，在小船上慢慢地漂洋过海。现在，这个仪式的景象和声音瞬间向全世界数十亿人播放。
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.
通讯和商业是全球性的;投资是移动;技术几乎是神奇的;对美好生活的渴望如今已成为普遍现象。我们在与全世界人民的和平竞争中谋生。
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.
深刻而强大的力量正在动摇和重塑我们的世界，我们这个时代的紧迫问题是，我们能否使变革成为我们的朋友，而不是敌人。
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.
这个新世界已经丰富了数百万能够在竞争中取胜的美国人的生活。但当大多数人工作更努力，得到的却更少;当别人根本不能工作的时候;当医疗保健的费用使家庭陷入绝望，并使我们大大小小的许多企业面临破产的威胁时;当对犯罪的恐惧剥夺了守法公民的自由时;当数以百万计的贫困儿童甚至无法想象我们召唤他们过的生活时，我们并没有把改变当作朋友。
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事实，并采取强有力的措施。但我们没有这样做。相反，我们在漂流，这种漂流侵蚀了我们的资源，破坏了我们的经济，动摇了我们的信心。
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.
虽然我们面临着可怕的挑战，但我们的力量也不容小觑。美国人从来都是一个不安分、不断探索、充满希望的民族。我们今天必须把前人的远见和意志带到我们的任务中来。
From our revolution, 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、内战、大萧条到民权运动，我们的人民始终下定决心，从这些危机中建设我们历史的支柱。
Thomas Jefferson believed that to preserve the very foundations of our nation, we would need dramatic change from time to time. Well, my fellow citizens, this is our time. Let us embrace it.
托马斯·杰斐逊认为，为了维护我们国家的根本基础，我们需要不时地进行巨大的变革。同胞们，这是我们的时代。让我们拥抱它。
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.
我们的民主制度不仅要成为全世界羡慕的对象，而且要成为我们复兴的动力。美国没有什么错误是不能被美国的正确所治愈的。
And so today, we pledge an end to the era of deadlock and drift—a new season of American renewal has begun.
因此，今天，我们保证结束僵局和飘泊的时代，美国复兴的新季节已经开始。
To renew America, we must be bold.
为了振兴美国，我们必须勇敢。
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.
我们必须做前人未曾做过的事。我们必须更多地投资于我们的人民，投资于他们的工作，投资于他们的未来，同时削减我们的巨额债务。我们必须在一个我们必须为每一个机会而竞争的世界中这样做。
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.
这并不容易;这需要牺牲。但这是可以做到的，而且是公平的，不是为了牺牲而牺牲，而是为了我们自己。我们必须像家庭供养子女那样供养我们的国家。
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 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.
我们的建国先贤们用子孙后代的眼光来看待自己。我们不能让步。凡是看过孩子的眼睛迷迷糊糊地睡着的人都知道后代是什么。子孙后代是我们的世界——我们为他们坚守理想，我们向他们借用我们的星球，我们对他们负有神圣的责任。
We must do what America does best: offer more opportunity to all and demand responsibility from all.
我们必须做美国最擅长的事情:为所有人提供更多的机会，要求所有人承担责任。
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.
现在是打破不劳而获的坏习惯的时候了，无论是从我们的政府还是从彼此那里。让我们所有人承担更多的责任，不仅是对我们自己和我们的家庭，而且是对我们的社区和我们的国家。
To renew America, we must revitalize our democracy.
为了振兴美国，我们必须重振我们的民主。
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，就像自文明诞生以来的每一个首都一样，常常是一个充满阴谋和算计的地方。有权有势的人为了地位而不择手段，没完没了地担心谁进谁出，谁上谁下，而忘记了那些用辛勤的汗水把我们送到这里并为我们付出代价的人。
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.
美国人应该得到更好的待遇，在这个城市里，今天有很多人想做得更好。因此，我要对这里的所有人说，让我们下定决心改革我们的政治，使权力和特权不再压倒人民的呼声。让我们把个人利益放在一边，这样我们才能感受到痛苦，才能看到美国的希望。
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.
让我们下定决心，让我们的政府成为富兰克林·罗斯福所说的“大胆而持久的实验”之地，成为一个面向未来、而非过去的政府。
Let us give this capital back to the people to whom it belongs.
让我们把这个首都归还给它所属的人民。
To renew America, we must meet challenges abroad as well 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.
为了振兴美国，我们必须应对国内外的挑战。国外的和国内的不再有区别——世界经济、世界环境、世界艾滋病危机、世界军备竞赛——它们影响着我们所有人。
Today, as an old order passes, the new world is more free but less stable. Communism's collapse has called forth old animosities and new dangers. Clearly America must continue to lead the world we did so much to make.
今天，随着旧秩序的过去，新世界更加自由，但更加不稳定。共产主义的崩溃唤起了旧的仇恨和新的危险。显然，美国必须继续领导我们为之付出巨大努力的世界。
While America rebuilds at home, we will not shrink from the challenges, nor fail to seize the opportunities, of this new world. Together with our friends and allies, we will work to shape change, lest it engulf us.
在美国国内重建的同时，我们不会在这个新世界的挑战面前退缩，也不会坐失良机。我们将与我们的朋友和盟友一道，努力促成变革，以免它吞噬我们。
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.
当我们的重大利益受到挑战，或国际社会的意志和良知受到挑战时，我们将采取行动——在可能的时候采取和平外交，在必要的时候采取武力。今天，勇敢的美国人在波斯湾、索马里和其他任何地方为我们的国家服务，这证明了我们的决心。
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.
但是，我们最大的力量是我们思想的力量，这些思想在许多国家仍然是新的。在世界各地，我们看到他们受到拥抱，我们感到欢欣鼓舞。我们的希望、我们的心、我们的手与每一个大陆上正在建设民主和自由的人们在一起。他们的事业就是美国的事业。
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.
美国人民召唤了我们今天所庆祝的变革。你们已经发出了明确无误的一致声音。你们已经投下了历史性的一票。你们改变了国会、总统和政治进程本身的面貌。是的，是你们，我的美国同胞们，迫使春天到来。现在，我们必须做季节要求的工作。
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.
现在，我将以我的职权来处理这项工作。我请求国会与我一道。但是，没有任何总统、国会、政府能够独自承担这一使命。我的美国同胞们，你们也必须在我们的复兴中发挥自己的作用。我向新一代的美国年轻人发出挑战，要求他们在这个服务的季节里，按照你们的理想主义行动起来，帮助有困难的儿童，与有需要的人为伴，让我们破碎的社区重新联系起来。要做的事情太多了——确实够多的，让数百万精神上还很年轻的人也为国家服务。
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.
在服事的过程中，我们认识到一个简单却有力的真理:我们彼此需要。我们必须互相关心。今天，我们不只是庆祝美国;我们再次献身于美国的理想。
An idea born in revolution and renewed through 2 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.
这一理念诞生于革命，历经两个世纪的挑战而不断更新。这是一种认识，即如果不是命运的安排，我们——幸运的人和不幸的人——可能会成为彼此。这是一种崇高的理想，因为我们相信，我们的国家能够从纷繁的多样性中找到最深刻的团结。这是一种信念，即美国漫长而英勇的征途必须永远向上。
And so, my fellow Americans, 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."
因此，我的美国同胞们，在21世纪即将来临之际，让我们以活力和希望，以信念和纪律开始工作，直到我们的工作完成。圣经说:“我们行善，不可丧志。若不灰心，到了时候，就要收成。”
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.
在这个欢乐的山顶上，我们听到了山谷中传来的服务的召唤。我们听到了号角声。我们已经换岗了。现在，在上帝的帮助下，我们每个人都必须以自己的方式响应这一召唤。
Thank you and God bless you all.
谢谢大家，上帝保佑大家。
Second Inaugural Address of William Jefferson Clinton
威廉·杰斐逊·克林顿的第二次就职演说
My fellow citizens:
我的同胞们:
At this last presidential inauguration of the 20th century, let us lift our eyes toward the challenges that await us in the next century. It is our great good fortune that time and chance have put us not only at the edge of a new century, in a new millennium, but on the edge of a bright new prospect in human affairs—a moment that will define our course, and our character, for decades to come. We must keep our old democracy forever young. Guided by the ancient vision of a promised land, let us set our sights upon a land of new promise.
在20世纪最后一届总统就职典礼上，让我们展望下一个世纪等待我们的挑战。这是我们伟大的好运,时间和机会让我们不仅在新世纪的边缘,在新世纪,但边缘的一个崭新的前景在人间世事的瞬间,将定义我们的课程,和我们的性格,未来几十年。我们必须让我们的旧民主永葆青春。在“应许之地”这一古老愿景的指引下，让我们把目光投向“新应许之地”。
The promise of America was born in the 18th century out of the bold conviction that we are all created equal. It was extended and preserved in the 19th century, when our nation spread across the continent, saved the union, and abolished the awful scourge of slavery.
美国的希望诞生于18世纪，源于一个大胆的信念:人人生而平等。它在19世纪得到扩展和保留，当时我们的国家遍及整个大陆，拯救了联邦，废除了可怕的奴隶制灾难。
Then, in turmoil and triumph, that promise exploded onto the world stage to make this the American Century.
然后，在动荡和胜利中，这一承诺在世界舞台上爆炸，使这个世纪成为美国世纪。
And what a century it has been. America became the world’s mightiest industrial power; saved the world from tyranny in two world wars and a long cold war; and time and again, reached out across the globe to millions who, like us, longed for the blessings of liberty.
一个世纪过去了。美国成为世界上最强大的工业强国;将世界从两次世界大战和长期冷战的暴政中拯救出来;我们一次又一次地向全世界数百万像我们一样渴望自由之福的人们伸出援助之手。
Along the way, Americans produced a great middle class and security in old age; built unrivaled centers of learning and opened public schools to all; split the atom and explored the heavens; invented the computer and the microchip; and deepened the wellspring of justice by making a revolution in civil rights for African Americans and all minorities, and extending the circle of citizenship, opportunity and dignity to women.
在这一过程中，美国产生了一个庞大的中产阶级和晚年的安全感;建立了无与伦比的学习中心，并向所有人开放公立学校;分裂原子，探索天空;发明了计算机和微芯片;通过对非裔美国人和所有少数民族进行民权革命，扩大妇女的公民权、机会和尊严，加深了正义的源泉。
Now, for the third time, a new century is upon us, and another time to choose. We began the 19th century with a choice, to spread our nation from coast to coast. We began the 20th century with a choice, to harness the Industrial Revolution to our values of free enterprise, conservation, and human decency. Those choices made all the difference. At the dawn of the 21st century a free people must now choose to shape the forces of the Information Age and the global society, to unleash the limitless potential of all our people, and, yes, to form a more perfect union.
现在，第三次，一个新的世纪来到我们面前，又是一个选择的时刻。我们在19世纪初就有了一个选择，把我们的国家从一个海岸扩展到另一个海岸。在进入20世纪之初，我们面临一个选择，那就是将工业革命与我们的自由企业、环境保护和人类尊严的价值观结合起来。这些选择让一切变得不同。在21世纪的黎明，一个自由的人民现在必须选择塑造信息时代和全球社会的力量，释放我们所有人的无限潜力，是的，建立一个更完美的联邦。
When last we gathered, our march to this new future seemed less certain than it does today. We vowed then to set a clear course to renew our nation.
当我们最后一次聚会时，我们迈向这个新未来的步伐似乎不像今天这样确定。我们当时立誓要制定一个明确的方针来振兴我们的国家。
In these four years, we have been touched by tragedy, exhilarated by challenge, strengthened by achievement. America stands alone as the world’s indispensable nation. Once again, our economy is the strongest on Earth. Once again, we are building stronger families, thriving communities, better educational opportunities, a cleaner environment. Problems that once seemed destined to deepen now bend to our efforts: our streets are safer and record numbers of our fellow citizens have moved from welfare to work.
在这四年里，我们经历了悲剧，经历了挑战，获得了成就。美国作为世界上不可或缺的国家而独树一帜。再一次，我们的经济是地球上最强大的。我们再一次建设更强大的家庭，繁荣的社区，更好的教育机会，更清洁的环境。曾经似乎注定要深化的问题现在屈服于我们的努力:我们的街道更安全了，我们的同胞从福利转向工作的人数达到了创纪录的水平。
And once again, we have resolved for our time a great debate over the role of government. Today we can declare: Government is not the problem, and government is not the solution. We—the American people—we are the solution. Our founders understood that well and gave us a democracy strong enough to endure for centuries, flexible enough to face our common challenges and advance our common dreams in each new day.
我们再一次为我们的时代解决了关于政府作用的巨大争论。今天我们可以宣布:政府不是问题，政府也不是解决办法。我们——美国人民——我们是解决方案。我们的缔造者深知这一点，并赋予我们一个强大的民主制度，它足以承受几个世纪的考验，具有足够的灵活性，能够在每一个新的日子里应对我们共同的挑战，推进我们共同的梦想。
As times change, so government must change. We need a new government for a new century—humble enough not to try to solve all our problems for us, but strong enough to give us the tools to solve our problems for ourselves; a government that is smaller, lives within its means, and does more with less. Yet where it can stand up for our values and interests in the world, and where it can give Americans the power to make a real difference in their everyday lives, government should do more, not less. The preeminent mission of our new government is to give all Americans an opportunity—not a guarantee, but a real opportunity—to build better lives.
时代在变，政府也要变。我们需要一个新世纪的新政府，新政府要足够谦卑，不能试图为我们解决所有问题，但要足够强大，为我们提供工具，为我们自己解决问题;一个更小的政府，量入为出，用更少的钱做更多的事。然而，只要美国能够维护我们在世界上的价值观和利益，能够赋予美国人真正改变日常生活的力量，政府就应该做得更多，而不是更少。我们新政府的首要任务是给所有美国人一个机会——不是一个保证，而是一个真正的机会——来建设更好的生活。
Beyond that, my fellow citizens, the future is up to us. Our founders taught us that the preservation of our liberty and our union depends upon responsible citizenship. And we need a new sense of responsibility for a new century. There is work to do, work that government alone cannot do: teaching children to read; hiring people off welfare rolls; coming out from behind locked doors and shuttered windows to help reclaim our streets from drugs and gangs and crime; taking time out of our own lives to serve others.
除此之外，我的同胞们，未来取决于我们。我们的建国先贤们教导我们，维护我们的自由和我们的联邦有赖于负责任的公民身份。在新的世纪，我们需要一种新的责任感。有许多工作要做，这些工作单靠政府是做不到的:教孩子们读书;从福利名单中招聘人员;从紧闭的大门和紧闭的窗户后走出来，帮助我们从毒品、帮派和犯罪中拯救我们的街道;从自己的生活中抽出时间来服务他人。
Each and every one of us, in our own way, must assume personal responsibility—not only for ourselves and our families, but for our neighbors and our nation. Our greatest responsibility is to embrace a new spirit of community for a new century. For any one of us to succeed, we must succeed as one America.
我们每一个人都必须以自己的方式承担个人责任，不仅是为了我们自己和我们的家庭，而且是为了我们的邻居和我们的国家。我们最大的责任是在新世纪拥抱一种新的社区精神。为了我们中的任何一个人的成功，我们必须团结一致。
The challenge of our past remains the challenge of our future—will we be one nation, one people, with one common destiny, or not? Will we all come together, or come apart?
我们过去的挑战仍然是未来的挑战——我们会成为一个国家、一个民族、一个共同的命运吗?我们会团结一致，还是分崩离析?
The divide of race has been America’s constant curse. And each new wave of immigrants gives new targets to old prejudices. Prejudice and contempt, cloaked in the pretense of religious or political conviction are no different. These forces have nearly destroyed our nation in the past. They plague us still. They fuel the fanaticism of terror. And they torment the lives of millions in fractured nations all around the world.
种族分裂一直是美国的祸根。每一波新的移民潮都会给旧的偏见带来新的目标。披着宗教或政治信仰外衣的偏见和轻蔑也没有什么不同。这些力量在过去几乎摧毁了我们的国家。他们仍然折磨着我们。他们助长了恐怖主义的狂热。它们折磨着世界各地支离破碎的国家数百万人的生命。
These obsessions cripple both those who hate and, of course, those who are hated, robbing both of what they might become. We cannot, we will not, succumb to the dark impulses that lurk in the far regions of the soul everywhere. We shall overcome them. And we shall replace them with the generous spirit of a people who feel at home with one another.
这些执念削弱了那些憎恨的人，当然也削弱了那些被憎恨的人，剥夺了他们可能成为的人。我们不能，也不会屈服于潜藏在灵魂深处的黑暗冲动。我们将战胜他们。我们将用一个民族的慷慨精神来取代他们，这个民族与其他民族和睦相处。
Our rich texture of racial, religious and political diversity will be a Godsend in the 21st century. Great rewards will come to those who can live together, learn together, work together, forge new ties that bind together.
我们丰富的种族、宗教和政治多样性将是21世纪的天赐之物。那些能一起生活、一起学习、一起工作、建立新的联系的人将会得到巨大的回报。
As this new era approaches we can already see its broad outlines. Ten years ago, the Internet was the mystical province of physicists; today, it is a commonplace encyclopedia for millions of schoolchildren. Scientists now are decoding the blueprint of human life. Cures for our most feared illnesses seem close at hand.
随着这个新时代的到来，我们已经看到了它的轮廓。十年前，互联网是物理学家的神秘领域;今天，它是数百万学童的百科全书。科学家们正在破译人类生活的蓝图。治愈我们最害怕的疾病似乎近在咫尺。
The world is no longer divided into two hostile camps. Instead, now we are building bonds with nations that once were our adversaries. Growing connections of commerce and culture give us a chance to lift the fortunes and spirits of people the world over. And for the very first time in all of history, more people on this planet live under democracy than dictatorship.
世界不再被分成两个敌对的阵营。相反，我们现在正在与曾经是我们敌人的国家建立联系。商业和文化之间日益紧密的联系给了我们一个提升世界各地人民财富和精神的机会。有史以来第一次，这个星球上生活在民主制度下的人比生活在独裁制度下的人要多。
My fellow Americans, as we look back at this remarkable century, we may ask, can we hope not just to follow, but even to surpass the achievements of the 20th century in America and to avoid the awful bloodshed that stained its legacy? To that question, every American here and every American in our land today must answer a resounding “Yes.”
我的美国同胞们，当我们回顾这个非凡的世纪时，我们可能会问，我们能不能不仅希望追随，甚至希望超越美国20世纪的成就，避免玷污其遗产的可怕流血事件?对于这个问题，在座的每一位美国人，以及我们国土上的每一位美国人，都必须响亮地回答“是”。
This is the heart of our task. With a new vision of government, a new sense of responsibility, a new spirit of community, we will sustain America’s journey. The promise we sought in a new land we will find again in a land of new promise.
这是我们任务的核心。有了新的政府愿景，有了新的责任感，有了新的社区精神，我们将支持美国的征途。我们在新的土地上寻求的承诺，我们将在新的承诺的土地上再次找到。
In this new land, education will be every citizen’s most prized possession. Our schools will have the highest standards in the world, igniting the spark of possibility in the eyes of every girl and every boy. And the doors of higher education will be open to all. The knowledge and power of the Information Age will be within reach not just of the few, but of every classroom, every library, every child. Parents and children will have time not only to work, but to read and play together. And the plans they make at their kitchen table will be those of a better home, a better job, the certain chance to go to college.
在这片新的土地上，教育将是每个公民最宝贵的财富。我们的学校将拥有世界上最高的标准，在每个女孩和每个男孩的眼中点燃可能性的火花。高等教育的大门将向所有人敞开。信息时代的知识和力量不仅属于少数人，而且属于每一个教室、每一个图书馆、每一个孩子。父母和孩子不仅有时间工作，而且有时间一起阅读和玩耍。他们在餐桌上制定的计划将是一个更好的家，一份更好的工作，一个上大学的机会。
Our streets will echo again with the laughter of our children, because no one will try to shoot them or sell them drugs anymore. Everyone who can work, will work, with today’s permanent under class part of tomorrow’s growing middle class. New miracles of medicine at last will reach not only those who can claim care now, but the children and hardworking families too long denied.
我们的街道将再次回荡着孩子们的笑声，因为没有人会试图向他们开枪或向他们出售毒品。每个能工作的人都会工作，今天的下层阶级将成为明天不断壮大的中产阶级的一部分。新的医学奇迹最终将不仅惠及那些现在就可以得到治疗的人，也将惠及长期得不到治疗的儿童和工薪家庭。
We will stand mighty for peace and freedom, and maintain a strong defense against terror and destruction. Our children will sleep free from the threat of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons. Ports and airports, farms and factories will thrive with trade and innovation and ideas. And the world’s greatest democracy will lead a whole world of democracies.
我们将坚决捍卫和平与自由，坚决反对恐怖和破坏。我们的孩子将在没有核武器、化学武器或生物武器威胁的情况下安然入睡。港口、机场、农场和工厂将因贸易、创新和理念而蓬勃发展。世界上最伟大的民主国家将领导一个民主国家的世界。
Our land of new promise will be a nation that meets its obligations—a nation that balances its budget, but never loses the balance of its values. A nation where our grandparents have secure retirement and health care, and their grandchildren know we have made the reforms necessary to sustain those benefits for their time. A nation that fortifies the world’s most productive economy even as it protects the great natural bounty of our water, air, and majestic land.
我们的新希望之国将是一个履行其义务的国家，一个平衡其预算，但永远不会失去其价值平衡的国家。在这个国家里，我们的祖辈享有稳定的退休和医疗保障，他们的孙辈知道，我们已经进行了必要的改革，以便在他们的有生之年继续享有这些福利。这个国家在保护我们富饶的水源、空气和壮丽的土地的同时，也在强化世界上最具生产力的经济。
And in this land of new promise, we will have reformed our politics so that the voice of the people will always speak louder than the din of narrow interests—regaining the participation and deserving the trust of all Americans.
在这片充满希望的土地上，我们将改革我们的政治，让人民的声音永远比狭隘利益的喧嚣更响亮——重新获得所有美国人的参与和信任。
Fellow citizens, let us build that America, a nation ever moving forward toward realizing the full potential of all its citizens. Prosperity and power—yes, they are important, and we must maintain them. But let us never forget: The greatest progress we have made, and the greatest progress we have yet to make, is in the human heart. In the end, all the world’s wealth and a thousand armies are no match for the strength and decency of the human spirit.
同胞们，让我们建设这样的美国，一个不断前进，充分发挥全体公民潜力的国家。繁荣和权力——是的，它们很重要，我们必须维护它们。但是，让我们永远不要忘记:我们已经取得的最大进步，以及我们尚未取得的最大进步，是在人的心中。最终，世界上所有的财富和千军万马都无法与人类精神的力量和尊严相匹敌。
Thirty-four years ago, the man whose life we celebrate today spoke to us down there, at the other end of this Mall, in words that moved the conscience of a nation. Like a prophet of old, he told of his dream that one day America would rise up and treat all its citizens as equals before the law and in the heart. Martin Luther King’s dream was the American Dream. His quest is our quest: the ceaseless striving to live out our true creed. Our history has been built on such dreams and labors. And by our dreams and labors we will redeem the promise of America in the 21st century.
34年前，我们今天纪念的这个人的一生，就在这个广场的另一端，对我们发表了讲话，他的讲话触动了一个国家的良知。他像一个古老的先知一样，讲述了他的梦想:总有一天，美国将站起来，在法律面前和心中平等对待所有公民。马丁·路德·金的梦想就是美国梦。他的追求就是我们的追求:不懈地努力实现我们的真正信条。我们的历史就是建立在这样的梦想和努力之上的。通过我们的梦想和努力，我们将兑现美国在21世纪的承诺。
To that effort I pledge all my strength and every power of my office. I ask the members of Congress here to join in that pledge. The American people returned to office a President of one party and a Congress of another. Surely, they did not do this to advance the politics of petty bickering and extreme partisanship they plainly deplore. No, they call on us instead to be repairers of the breach, and to move on with America’s mission.
为了这一努力，我保证我的一切力量和职权。我请求在座的国会议员们加入这一承诺。美国人民重新选举了一个政党的总统和另一个政党的国会。当然，他们这样做并不是为了推进他们所痛惜的琐碎争吵和极端党派偏见的政治。不，他们呼吁我们修复裂痕，继续完成美国的使命。
America demands and deserves big things from us—and nothing big ever came from being small. Let us remember the timeless wisdom of Cardinal Bernardin, when facing the end of his own life. He said: “It is wrong to waste the precious gift of time, on acrimony and division.”
美国要求并值得我们做大事，但没有什么大事来自于我们的渺小。让我们记住红衣主教贝尔纳丁在面对自己生命终结时的永恒智慧。他说:“把宝贵的时间浪费在争吵和分裂上是错误的。”
Fellow citizens, we must not waste the precious gift of this time. For all of us are on that same journey of our lives, and our journey, too, will come to an end. But the journey of our America must go on.
同胞们，我们不能浪费宝贵的时间。因为我们所有人都在人生的同一旅程上，我们的旅程也将结束。但我们美国的旅程必须继续。
And so, my fellow Americans, we must be strong, for there is much to dare. The demands of our time are great and they are different. Let us meet them with faith and courage, with patience and a grateful and happy heart. Let us shape the hope of this day into the noblest chapter in our history. Yes, let us build our bridge. A bridge wide enough and strong enough for every American to cross over to a blessed land of new promise.
因此，我的美国同胞们，我们必须坚强，因为我们还有很多事情要做。我们时代的需求是巨大的，但它们是不同的。让我们以信心、勇气、耐心和一颗感恩和快乐的心来迎接他们。让我们把今天的希望塑造成我们历史上最辉煌的篇章。是的，让我们建造我们的桥。一座足够宽、足够坚固的桥，让每个美国人都能跨过它，到达一个充满新的希望的乐土。
May those generations whose faces we cannot yet see, whose names we may never know, say of us here that we led our beloved land into a new century with the American Dream alive for all her children; with the American promise of a more perfect union a reality for all her people; with America’s bright flame of freedom spreading throughout all the world.
愿那些我们还看不见他们的面孔，我们可能永远也不会知道他们的名字的几代人，在这里说到我们，我们带领我们挚爱的祖国进入了一个新世纪，我们的美国梦为她所有的孩子们而活;美国承诺建立一个更完美的联邦，这是所有美国人的现实;美国的自由之火正在全世界蔓延。
From the height of this place and the summit of this century, let us go forth. May God strengthen our hands for the good work ahead—and always, always bless our America.
让我们从这个地方的最高点和这个世纪的顶峰出发。愿上帝坚定我们的双手，让我们继续向前，并永远，永远保佑我们的美国。
比尔·克林顿
第一次就职演讲
星期三,1993年1月20日
美国复兴的新时代
同胞们：
今天，我们庆祝美国复兴的奇迹。这个仪式虽在隆冬举行，然而，我们通过自己的言语和向世界展示的面容、却促使春回大地--回到了世界上这个最古老的民主国家，并带来了重新创造美国的远见和勇气。
当我国的缔造者勇敢地向世界宣布美国独立，并向上帝表明自己的目的时，他们知道，美国若要永存，就必须变革。不是为变革而变革，而是为了维护美国的理想--为了生命、自由和追求幸福而变革。尽管我们随着当今时代的节拍前进，但我们的使命永恒不变。每一代美国人，部必须为作为一个美国人意味着什么下定义。今天，在冷战阴影下成长起来的一代人，在世界上负起了新的责任。这个世界虽然沐浴着自由的阳光，但仍受到旧仇宿怨和新的祸患的威胁。
我们在无与伦比的繁荣中长大，继承了仍然是世界上最强大的经济。但由于企业倒闭，工资增长停滞、不平等状况加剧，人民的分歧加深，我们的经济已经削弱。
当乔治·华盛顿第一次宣读我刚才宜读的誓言时，人们骑马把那个信息缓慢地传遍大地，继而又来船把它传过海洋。而现在，这个仪式的情景和声音即刻向全球几十亿人播放。通信和商务具有全球性，投资具有流动性；技术几乎具有魔力；改善生活的理想现在具有普遍性。今天，我们美国人通过同世界各地人民进行和平竞争来谋求生存。各种深远而强大的力量正在震撼和改造我们的世界，当今时代的当务之急是我们能否使变革成为我们的朋友，而不是成为我们的敌人。
我们面临惊人的挑战，但我们同样具有惊人的力量，美国人历来是不安现状、不断追求和充满希望的民族，今天，我们必须把前人的远见卓识和坚强意志带到我们的任务中去。从革命，内战，大萧条，直到民权运动，我国人民总是下定决心，从历次危机中构筑我国历史的支柱。
托马斯·杰斐逊认为，为了维护我国的根基，我们需要时常进行激动人心的变革。美国同胞们，我们的时代就是变革的时代，让我们拥抱这个时代吧！
我们的民主制度不仅要成为举世称羡的目标，而且要成为举国复兴的动力。美国没有任何错误的东西不能被正确的东西所纠正。因此，我们今天立下誓言，要结束这个僵持停顿、放任自流的时代，一个复兴美国的新时代已经开始。
我们要复兴美国，就必须鼓足勇气。我们必须做前人无需做的事情。我们必须更多地投资于人民，投资于他们的工作和未来，与此同时，我们必须减少巨额债务。而且，我们必须在一个需要为每个机会而竞争的世界上做到这一切。这样做并不容易：这样做要求作出牺牲。但是，这是做得到的，而且能做得公平合理。我们不是为牺牲而牺牲，我们必须像家庭供养子女那样供养自己的国家。
我国的缔造者是用子孙后代的眼光来审视自己的。我们也必须这样做。凡是注意过孩子蒙昽人睡的人，都知道后代意味着什么，后代就是将要到来的世界--我们为之坚持自己的理想，我们向之借用这个星球，我们对之负有神圣的责任。我们必须做美国最拿手的事情：为所有的人提供更多的机会，要所有的人负起更多的责任。
现在是破除只求向政府和别人免费索取的恶习的时候了。让我们大家不仅为自己和家庭，而且为社区和国家担负起更多的责任吧。
我们要复兴美国，就必须恢复我们民主制度的活力。这个美丽的首都，就像文明的曙光出现以来的每一个首都一样，常常是尔虞我诈、明争暗斗之地。大腕人物争权夺势，没完没了地为官员的更替升降而烦神，却忘记了那些用辛勤和汗水把我们送到这里来，并养活了我们的人。
美国人理应得到更好的回报。在这个城市里，今天有人想把事情办得更好一些。因此，我要时所有在场的人说：让我们下定决心改革政治，使权力和特权的喧嚣不再压倒人民的呼声。让我们撇开个人利益。这样我们就能觉察美国的病痛，并看到官的希望。让我们下定决心，使政府成为富兰克林·罗斯福所说的进行"大胆而持久试验"的地方，成为一个面向未来而不是留恋过去的政府。让我们把这个首都归还给它所属于的人民。
我们要复兴美国，就必须迎接国内外的种种挑战。国外和国内事务之间已不再有明确的界限--世界经济，世界环境，世界艾滋病危机，世界军备竞赛，这一切都在影响着我们大家。
我们在国内进行重建的同时，面对这个新世界的挑战不会退缩不前，也下会坐失良机。我们将同盟友一起努力进行变革，以免被变革所吞没。当我们的重要利益受到挑战，或者，当国际社会的意志和良知受到蔑视，我们将采取行动--可能时就采用和平外交手段，必要时就使用武力。
今天，在波斯湾、索马里和任何其他地方为国效力的勇敢的美国人，都证明了我们的决心。
但是，我们最伟大的力量是我们思想的威力。这些思想在许多国家仍然处于萌芽阶段。看到这些思想在世界各地被接受，我们感到欢欣鼓舞。我们的希望，我们的心，与每一个大陆正在建立民主和自由的人们是连在一起的。他们的事业也是美国的事业。
美国人民唤来了我们今天所庆祝的变革。你们毫不含糊地齐声疾呼。你们以前所未有的人数参加了投票。你们使国会、总统职务和政治进程本身全都面目一新。是的，是你们，我的美国同胞们，促使春回大地。
现在，我们必须做这个季节需要做的工作。现在，我就运用我的全部职权转向这项工作。我请求国会同我一道做这项工作。任何总统、任何国会、任何政府都不能单独完成这一使命。同胞们，在我国复兴的过程中，你们也必须发挥作用。
我向新一代美国年轻人挑战，要求你们投入这一奉献的季节--按照你们的理想主义行动起来，使不幸的儿童得到帮助，使贫困的人们得到关怀，使四分五裂的社区恢复联系。要做的事情很多--确实够多的，以至几百万在精神上仍然年轻的人也可作出奉献。
在奉献过程中，我们认识到相互需要这一简单而又强大的真理。我们必须相互关心．今天，我们不仅是在赞颂美国，我们再一次把自己奉献给美国的理想：这个理想在革命中诞生，在两个世纪的挑战中更新；这个理想经受了认识的考验，大家认识到，若不是命运的安排，幸运者或不幸者有可能互换位置；这个理想由于一种信念而变得崇高，即我国能够从纷繁的多佯性中实现最深刻的统一性，这个理想洋溢着一种信：美国漫长而英勇的旅程必将永远继续。同胞们，在我恻即将跨入21世纪之际，让我们以旺盛的精力和满腔的希望，以坚定的信心和严明的纪律开始工作，直到把工作完成。《圣经》说："我们行善，不可丧志，若不灰心，到了时候，就要收成。"
在这个欢乐的山巅，我们听见山谷里传来了要我们作出奉献的召唤。我们听到了号角声。我们已经换岗。现在，我们必须以各自的方式，在上帝的帮助下响应这一召唤。
