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The peaceful transfer of authority is rare in history, yet common in our country.
这次权利的和平过渡在历史上是罕见的，但在美国是平常的。
With a simple oath, we affirm old traditions and make new beginnings.
我们以朴素的宣誓庄严地维护了古老的传统，同时开始了新的历程。
As I begin, I thank President Clinton for his service to our nation.
首先，我要感谢克林顿总统为这个国家作出的贡献。
And I thank Vice President Gore for a contest conducted with spirit and ended with grace.
也感谢副总统戈尔在竞选过程中的热情与风度。
I am honored and humbled to stand here, where so many of America's leaders have come before me, and so many will follow.
站在这里，我很荣幸，也有点受宠若惊。在我之前，许多美国领导人从这里起步；在我之后，也会有许多领导人从这里继续前进。
We have a place, all of us, in a long story a story we continue, but whose end we will not see.
在美国悠久的历史中，我们每个人都有自己的位置；我们还在继续推动着历史前进，但是我们不可能看到它的尽头。
It is the story of a new world that became a friend and liberator of the old, a story of a slave-holding society that became a servant of freedom, the story of a power that went into the world to protect but not possess, to defend but not to conquer.
这是一部新世界的发展史，是一部后浪推前浪的历史，这是一部美国由奴隶制社会发展成为崇尚自由的社会的历史，这是一个强国保护而不是占有世界的历史，是捍卫而不是征服世界的历史。
It is the American story a story of flawed and fallible people, united across the generations by grand and enduring ideals.
这就是美国史。它不是一部十全十美的民族发展史，但它是一部在伟大和永恒理想指导下几代人团结奋斗的历史。
The grandest of these ideals is an unfolding American promise that everyone belongs, that everyone deserves a chance, that no insignificant person was ever born.
这些理想中最伟大的是正在慢慢实现的美国的承诺，这就是：每个人都有自身的价值，每个人都有成功的机会，每个人天生都会有所作为的。
Americans are called to enact this promise in our lives and in our laws.
美国人民肩负着一种使命，那就是要竭力将这个诺言变成生活中和法律上的现实。
And though our nation has sometimes halted, and sometimes delayed, we must follow no other course.
虽然我们的国家过去在追求实现这个承诺的途中停滞不前甚至倒退，但我们仍将坚定不移地完成这一使命。
Through much of the last century, America's faith in freedom and democracy was a rock in a raging sea.
在上个世纪的大部分时间里，美国自由民主的信念犹如汹涌大海中的岩石。
Now it is a seed upon the wind, taking root in many nations.
现在它更像风中的种子，把自由带给每个民族。
Our democratic faith is more than the creed of our country, it is the inborn hope of our humanity, an ideal we carry but do not own, a trust we bear and pass along.
在我们的国家，民主不仅仅是一种信念，而是全人类的希望，民主，我们不会独占，而会竭力让大家分享。民主，我们将铭记于心并且不断传播。
