奥巴马就职演讲稿(中英文对照)

　　MR. OBAMA: Thank you. Thank you so much. Vice President Biden, Mr. Chief

　　Justice, Members of the United States Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow

　　citizens:

　　谢谢，非常感谢大家。拜登副总统、首席大法官先生、国会议员们、尊敬的各位嘉宾、亲爱的公民们。

　　Each time we gather to inaugurate a president, we bear witness to the

　　enduring strength of our Constitution. We affirm the promise of our democracy.

　　We recall that what binds this nation together is not the colors of our skin or

　　the tenets of our faith or the origins of our names. What makes us exceptional –

　　what makes us American – is our allegiance to an idea, articulated in a

　　declaration made more than two centuries ago:

　　每一次我们集会庆祝总统就职都是在见证美国宪法的持久力量。我们都是在肯定美国民主的承诺。我们重申，将这个国家紧密联系在一起的不是我们的肤色，也不是

　　我们信仰的教条，更不是我们名字的来源。让我们与众不同，让我们成为美国人的是我们对于一种理念的恪守。200多年前，这一理念在一篇宣言中被清晰阐述：

　　“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,

　　that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that

　　among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

　　“我们认为下述真理是不言而喻的，人人生而平等。造物主赋予他们若干不可剥夺的权利，包括生存、自由和追求幸福的权利。”

　　Today we continue a never-ending journey, to bridge the meaning of those

　　words with the realities of our time. For history tells us that while these

　　truths may be self-evident, they have never been self-executing; that while

　　freedom is a gift from God, it must be secured by His people here on Earth. The

　　patriots of 1776 did not fight to replace the tyranny of a king with the

　　privileges of a few or the rule of a mob. They gave to us a Republic, a

　　government of, and by, and for the people, entrusting each generation to keep

　　safe our founding creed.

　　今天，我们继续着这一未竟的征程，架起这些理念与我们时代现实之间的桥梁。因为历史告诉我们，即便这些真理是不言而喻的，它们也从来不会自动生效。因为虽然自由是上帝赋予的礼物，但仍需要世间的子民去捍卫。1776年，美国的爱国先驱们不是只为了推翻国王的暴政而战，也不是为赢得少数人的特权，建立暴民的统治。先驱们留给我们一个共和国，一个民有、民治、民享的政府。他们委托每一代美国人捍卫我们的建国信条。

　　For more than two hundred years, we have.

　　在过去的200多年里，我们做到了。

　　Through blood drawn by lash and blood drawn by sword, we learned that no

　　union founded on the principles of liberty and equality could survive half-slave

　　and half-free. We made ourselves anew, and vowed to move forward together.

　　从奴役的血腥枷锁和刀剑的血光厮杀中我们懂得了，建立在自由与平等原则之上的联邦不能永远维持半奴隶和半自由的状态。我们赢得了新生，誓言共同前进。

　　Together, we determined that a modern economy requires railroads and

　　highways to speed travel and commerce; schools and colleges to train our

　　workers。

　　我们共同努力，建立起现代的经济体系。架设铁路与高速公路，加速了旅行和商业交流。建立学校与大学，培训我们的工人。

　　Together, we discovered that a free market only thrives when there are

　　rules to ensure competition and fair play.

　　我们一起发现，自由市场的繁荣只能建立在保障竞争与公平竞争的原则之上。

　　Together, we resolved that a great nation must care for the vulnerable, and

　　protect its people from life’s worst hazards and misfortune.

　　我们共同决定让这个伟大的国家远离危险，保护她的人民不受生命威胁和不幸的侵扰。

　　Through it all, we have never relinquished our skepticism of central

　　authority, nor have we succumbed to the fiction that all society’s ills can be

　　cured through government alone. Our celebration of initiative and enterprise;

　　our insistence on hard work and personal responsibility, these are constants in

　　our character.

　　一路走来，我们从未放弃对集权的质疑。我们同样不屈服于这一谎言：一切的社会弊端都能够只靠政府来解决。我们对积极向上与奋发进取的赞扬，我们对努力工作与个人责任的坚持，这些都是美国精神的基本要义。

　　But we have always understood that when times change, so must we; that

　　fidelity to our founding principles requires new responses to new challenges;

　　that preserving our individual freedoms ultimately requires collective action.

　　For the American people can no more meet the demands of today’s world by acting

　　alone than American soldiers could have met the forces of fascism or communism

　　with muskets and militias. No single person can train all the math and science

　　teachers we’ll need to equip our children for the future, or build the roads and

　　networks and research labs that will bring new jobs and businesses to our

　　shores. Now, more than ever, we must do these things together, as one nation,

　　and one people.