《奥巴马连任就职演讲整理版.doc

Vice President Biden, Mr. Chief Justice, members of the United States Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow citizens: 副总统拜登、首席法官、美国国会议员、尊敬的客人和美国同胞们： 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: 每次聚在一起举行总统就职仪式时，我们总能见证到宪法经久不衰的力量。我们肯定民主的承诺。我们回忆起，团结这个国家的力量不是皮肤的颜色、所信奉的教条或名字的起源。让我们与众不同、成为美国人的是源自对一个理念的效忠，它早在2个多世纪前就在一份宣言中有过明确表述： 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.‖ 我们认为这一真理是不言自明的：人人生而平等，并由造物主赋予了某些不可转让的权利，其中包括生命、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’ve never been self-executing; that while freedom is a gift from God, it must be secured by His people here on Earth. (Applause.) 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，为了缩小这些文字意义与当今现实间的差距，我们将继续这场没有尽头的旅程。因为历史告诉我们，虽然这些真理也许不言自明，但它们从不会自动生效；虽然自由是来自上帝的礼物，但它必须由地球上的子民们去争取。1776年的爱国者们不是为了用少数人的特权或乌合之众的法则取代国王的暴政而战斗。他们给予我们的是一个共和国、一个民有、民治、民享的政府，并委托每一代人去捍卫我们的建国理念。 And for more than two hundred years, we have. 两百多年来，我们一直如此。 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