“We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial”

Washington, D.C.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

译文出处：译言

I want to thank all the speakers and performers for reminding us, through song and through words, just what it is that we love about America. And I want to thank all of you for braving the cold and the crowds and traveling in some cases thousands of miles to join us here today. Welcome to Washington, and welcome to this celebration of American renewal.
我要感谢所有用歌声和语言提醒我们有多么热爱美国的发言者和表演者。我要感谢冒着严寒千里迢迢赶来的人们。欢迎来到华盛顿，欢迎来到这次庆典。

In the course of our history, only a handful of generations have been asked to confront challenges as serious as the ones we face right now. Our nation is at war. Our economy is in crisis. Millions of Americans are losing their jobs and their homes; they're worried about how they'll afford college for their kids or pay the stack of bills on their kitchen table. And most of all, they are anxious and uncertain about the future -- about whether this generation of Americans will be able to pass on what's best about this country to our children and their children.
在我们的历史上，只有少数几代人被要求面对如此前所未有的严重挑战。我们的国家在战争。我们的经济正处于危机。成千上万的美国人失去了他们的工作和家庭；他们担心无法供自己的孩子上大学，他们担心付不起餐桌上一堆的账单。更重要的是，他们对于未来充满了焦虑和不确定-美国的这一代人能否将这个国家最优秀的本质传承和发扬下去。

I won't pretend that meeting any one of these challenges will be easy. It will take more than a month or a year, and it will likely take many. Along the way there will be setbacks and false starts and days that test our fundamental resolve as a nation.
我不会假装说以上的任何一个挑战可以轻松应付过去。这可能会花去超过一个月，或者一年甚至许多年的时间。沿途会有挫折，会走弯路，也会经受解决国家基本问题的考验。

But despite all of this -- despite the enormity of the task that lies ahead -- I stand here today as hopeful as ever that the United States of America will endure, that it will prevail, that the dream of our founders will live on in our time.
即使那样，即使挡在我们面前的考验是如此的艰巨。我今天仍然是比任何时候都更满怀希望地站在这里，相信着美利坚合众国能够排除万难，重新崛起，开国先驱的梦想在我们心中永不磨灭。

What gives me hope is what I see when I look out across this mall. For in these monuments are chiseled those unlikely stories that affirm our unyielding faith -- a faith that anything is possible in America. Rising before us stands a memorial to a man who led a small band of farmers and shopkeepers in revolution against the army of an Empire, all for the sake of an idea.
是我穿过这个广场所看到的给予了我希望。凿在这些纪念碑里面那些难以置信的故事申明了我们不屈的信念。一个在美国一切皆有可能的信念。我们面前所纪念的那个伟人，正是全凭心中这股信念，领导一小队农民和商人发起了抵抗帝国统治强大军队的革命。

On the ground below is a tribute to a generation that withstood war and depression -- men and women like my grandparents who toiled on bomber assembly lines and marched across Europe to free the world from tyranny's grasp. Directly in front of us is a pool that still reflects the dream of a King, and the glory of a people who marched and bled so that their children might be judged by their character's content. And behind me, watching over the union he saved, sits the man who in so many ways made this day possible.
下面的那块地是对饱受战争与忧伤的那一代人的赞颂。那些与我祖父母并无二样的男人和女人们长途跋涉向欧洲行军，把世界从专制统治中解放出来。正对着我们的那个水池，倒映着一代君主的梦想，以及为了下一代能够获得平等而拼杀在前线的人们流下的鲜血与荣耀。而在我身后坐着那个俯视他所拯救的国家的男人，是他使今天的一切成为了可能。

And yet, as I stand here today, what gives me the greatest hope of all is not the stone and marble that surrounds us today, but what fills the spaces in between. It is you -- Americans of every race and region and station who came here because you believe in what this country can be and because you want to help us get there.
然而今天，我站在这里，给予我最大鼓舞的不是四周的这些大理石像，而是被它们围绕在当中的人们。是你们，不同种族不同信仰不同身份的你们，聚集在这里相信着这个国家的可能性并愿意为此而付出努力的你们。

It is the same thing that gave me hope from the day we began this campaign for the presidency nearly two years ago; a belief that if we could just recognize ourselves in one another and bring everyone together -- Democrats, Republicans, independents; Latino, Asian and Native American; black and white, gay and straight, disabled and not -- then not only would we restore hope and opportunity in places that yearned for both, but maybe, just maybe, we might perfect our union in the process.
从两年前我开始角逐这场竞选，一直都是同一样东西给予我希望；直到今天我仍然相信，只要我们彼此尊重彼此承认并团结起来-民主党人，共和党人，自由人士;拉丁人，亚洲人，美洲土着人；黑人和白人，同性恋者和异性恋者，残疾人和健康的人-那么我们不但能重拾失去的信心与机会，或者，只是或者，我们能使我们的国家变得更加美好。

This is what I believed, but you made this belief real. You proved once more that people who love this country can change it. And as I prepare to assume the presidency, yours are the voices I will take with me every day when I walk into that Oval Office -- the voices of men and women who have different stories but hold common hopes; who ask only for what was promised us as Americans -- that we might make of our lives what we will and see our children climb higher than we did.
这就是我所相信的，是你们使我梦想成真。你们再一次证明了只要爱这个国家就能改变她。我即将就任，我会把你们的呼声一同带入总统办公室。那些有着不同经历却怀着同样希望的人们的声音，那些保留着使我们成为一个美国人的最本质部分的人们的声音。我们会尽力改变我们的生活，并看着我们的孩子取得更大的成就。

It is this thread that binds us together in common effort; that runs through every memorial on this mall; that connects us to all those who struggled and sacrificed and stood here before.
是这场危机使我们团结到一起共同努力，在这个广场留下值得纪念的此刻，把我们和之前为这个国家抗争与牺牲的人们联系到了一起。

It is how this nation has overcome the greatest differences and the longest odds -- because there is no obstacle that can stand in the way of millions of voices calling for change.
这就是这个国家如何得以跨越最大的差别与最远的距离，因为没有任何障碍，可以阻挡得了数以万计要求改变的呼声。

That is the belief with which we began this campaign, and that is how we will overcome what ails us now. There is no doubt that our road will be long, that our climb will be steep. But never forget that the true character of our nation is revealed not during times of comfort and ease, but by the right we do when the moment is hard. I ask you to help reveal that character once more, and together, we can carry forward as one nation, and one people, the legacy of our forefathers that we celebrate today.
这就是这次竞选一开始的信念，也是使得我们克服面前困难的方法。毫无疑问，道路将会艰险而曲折，攀登的历程将会崎岖而陡峭。但永远不要忘记显示国家本质的魅力不会是在一帆风顺的时候，而正正是在排除万难之后。我请求你们再次共同使这个国家彰显出她本质的魅力，连同我们祖先遗留下来的精神，作为一个国家，一个整体，一起庆祝。

Thank you, America. God bless you.
谢谢你，美国，上帝保佑你！