克林頓1993年第一次就職演說

克林頓1993年第一次就職演說 英文版

January 20, 1993

My fellow citizens :

Today we celebrate the mystery of American renewal.

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. A spring reborn in the world's oldest democracy, that brings forth the vision and courage to reinvent America.

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. 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. Each generation of Americans must define what it means to be an American.

On behalf of our nation, I salute my predecessor, President Bush, for his half-century of service to America. And I thank the millions of men and women whose steadfastness and sacrifice triumphed over Depression and fascism.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

And so today, we pledge an end to the era of deadlock and drift; a new season of American renewal has begun. To renew America, we must be bold. 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. 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.

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. We must do what America does best: offer more opportunity to all and demand responsibility from all.

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. To renew America, we must revitalize our democracy.

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.

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. 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. Let us give this capital back to the people to whom it belongs.

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.

Today, as an old order passes, the new world is freer but less stable. Clearly America must continue to lead the world we did so much to make.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

An idea born in revolution and renewed through two 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.

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.”

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.

Thank you, and God bless you all.

克林頓1993年第一次就職演說 中文版

1993年1月20日

同胞們：

今天，我們在這里熱烈慶祝美國復興這件令人驚奇與興奮的事。

雖然現(xiàn)在仍是寒月隆冬，但在對世界發(fā)出的誓言和展示的姿態(tài)中，我們已經(jīng)讓春暖花開悄然降臨到了每個人的心里。春天重新降臨到這個世界上最古老的民主國家，它為重塑美國的中興帶來了一派欣欣向榮的新氣象和令人鼓舞的勇氣。

當美利堅合眾國的締造者向全世界宣告這個國家的獨立和我們的遠大目標時，他們已然知道美利堅合眾國必須在不斷地變革中才能得到長足的生存和發(fā)展。然而，我們并不是僅僅為了變革而變革，我們要變革是為了保持美國的理想、生活、自由和對幸福的追求!雖然我們伴隨著時代的進行曲抬頭挺進，但我們?nèi)匀恍枰c時俱進。每一個時代的美國人都必須清楚地了解自己作為一個美國公民的使命所在。

在這里請允許我代表國家，向我的前任布什總統(tǒng)致敬，他盡忠職守地為這個國家奉獻了半個世紀。同時，我還要感謝千百萬人民，他們在艱難困苦中堅定信念，犧牲奉獻，最終戰(zhàn)勝了大蕭條和法西斯主義。

今天，在冷戰(zhàn)陰影下成長的一代人已經(jīng)肩負起新的責任，雖然這個世界沐浴在自由的陽光下，但仍面臨著新仇與舊恨的威脅。

盡管我們在無與倫比的物質(zhì)繁華中成長，盡管我們?nèi)匀焕^承了世界上最為強大的經(jīng)濟大國，但實際上我們的社會企業(yè)破產(chǎn)，收入停滯不前，不平等現(xiàn)象不斷增加以及階層隔閡削弱了國家的經(jīng)濟。

在喬治·華盛頓第一次宣誓我剛才所宣誓過的誓詞時，消息是通過馬背和艦船緩慢地穿過陸地漂洋過海的。而此刻這個盛會現(xiàn)場的景象和聲音正在向全球億萬觀眾不間斷地直播。

現(xiàn)代社會通訊和商業(yè)開始全球化，投資具有流動性，技術(shù)的發(fā)展令人驚訝，同時讓生活更美好也成為了大家的愿望。我們在全球性的公平競爭中營造我們自己的生活。

各種根深蒂固而且強大的勢力正在動搖和重造我們的世界，能否讓變革成為我們的朋友而非敵人，成為了我們這個時代最為緊迫的問題。

盡管這個新世界已經(jīng)讓千百萬具有競爭力的美國人通過努力奮斗過上了富足的生活，但當大部分的人每天都在努力工作卻只能勉強維持生計，當還有人得不到工作，當醫(yī)療衛(wèi)生的支出正在讓許多的家庭支離破碎，當大大小小的企業(yè)正在面臨破產(chǎn)威脅的時候，當犯罪案件頻發(fā)給遵紀守法的人們帶來極大恐慌而無法正常享受生活的時候，當還有數(shù)以百萬計的貧苦兒童甚至還過著我們無法想象的生活的時候，我們還沒有讓變革成為我們的朋友。

我們知道我們必須面對殘酷的現(xiàn)實和采取有力的措施，但是我們還沒有付諸實際行動，而是聽天由命隨波逐流。恰恰是這種聽之任之的不作為正在腐蝕我們的根基，削弱我們的經(jīng)濟，動搖我們的信心。

盡管我們面臨的挑戰(zhàn)令人畏懼，但是我們的力量也同樣不容忽視。美國人民從來就不甘于現(xiàn)狀，我們一直都在不斷探索進取，樂觀向上。我們肩膀上的使命體現(xiàn)著美利堅的先驅(qū)們賦予的美好愿望和堅強意志。

從我們的革命開始，到南北戰(zhàn)爭到大蕭條再到民權(quán)運動，我們的人民一次又一次的從危機中，萬眾一心、眾志成城地書寫著歷史的豐碑。

托馬斯·杰弗遜堅信要保持我們國家的根基，必須與時俱進義無返顧地進行變革?，F(xiàn)在親愛的同胞們，我們改革的時刻到來了，讓我們一起緊密地擁抱它吧。

我們的民主制度不僅是全世界所向往的楷模，同時更是我們自我復興的強勁動力，美國完全有能力解救自己。

今天，我們要在這里宣告僵持和隨波逐流時代的結(jié)束，一個振興美國的全新時代已經(jīng)到來。為了振興美國，除了披荊斬棘勇往向前我們別無選擇。我們必須排除萬難做一些前人從未做過的創(chuàng)舉。我們必須為國民投入更多，對他們的未來和工作加大投資，同時還要削減我們巨額的債務(wù)。我們還要建立一個公平競爭的社會，這不是一件容易的事情，這需要我們做出犧牲，但一定會實現(xiàn)，我們不是為了犧牲而犧牲，而是為了實現(xiàn)我們的目標才選擇犧牲，我們要像一個家庭對待自己的孩子一樣對待我們的國家。

我們的先輩們從建國伊始就一直從子孫萬代的長遠利益出發(fā)考慮國家的發(fā)展規(guī)劃。我們需要考慮更多。每一個注視過在夢想中熟睡的孩子眼睛的人都明白子孫后代意味著什么。孩子就意味著未來的世界，一個我們堅持自己的理想，從子孫后代手里借來的世界，一個讓我們對子孫后代肩負神圣感的世界。我們必須傾盡我們所有讓這個國家至善完美，那就是賦予所有國民更多機會以及責任!

現(xiàn)在到了打破只管索取而不付出這一壞習慣的時候了，不管是我們的政府還是任何一方。讓我們承擔起更多的責任，不僅僅是為了我們的家庭，而是為了我們的社會和國家。要重振美國，我們就必須重建我們的民主制度。

這個美麗的首都就像每一個文明初生的首都一樣，往往是一個充滿陰謀與算計的地方。權(quán)貴們?yōu)榱烁吖俸竦摱M盡心思地盤算著誰進誰出，誰上誰下，卻忘記了那些為了我們今天的生活付出了艱辛汗水和磨難的先輩們。

美國人本該生活得更好，就在這座城市，就在今天，還有很多的人向往著那些更令人憧憬的美好生活。在這里我要跟所有的人說，同胞們，讓我們下定決心改革我們的政治，讓人民的呼聲不再被權(quán)利和特權(quán)所壓倒，讓我們拋開個人利益，這樣我們才能看到美國的痛苦，才能看到希望。讓我們下定決心，把政府變成富蘭克林·羅斯福稱之為一個“大膽而持久實驗”的地方，一個著眼于未來，而不是留戀過去的地方。讓我們把這個美麗的首都歸還給到她本來的主人手中。

要想重振美國，我們必須勇敢地面對來自國內(nèi)外的種種挑戰(zhàn)!國內(nèi)和國外的挑戰(zhàn)已經(jīng)沒有了明顯的界線，全球經(jīng)濟，世界環(huán)境，艾滋病危機，還有全球軍備競賽，這些問題無時無刻不在影響著我們。

時至今日，隨著舊秩序的打破，新的世界更加自由，但卻更加不穩(wěn)定。我們清楚地認識到美國必須繼續(xù)一如既往地領(lǐng)導世界向前開進。

在美國人重建美國的時候，我們面對挑戰(zhàn)不會退縮，也不會坐失良機。我們將和朋友、盟友一起確定變革的方向，以免被變革吞沒。

在美國的重要利益受到挑戰(zhàn)，或者國際社會的道德秩序受到公然挑釁的時候，我們不會袖手旁觀，我們將會采取和平的外交手段及一切可能的方法，必要時也會訴諸武力解決問題。就在現(xiàn)在勇敢的美軍士兵正在波斯灣，在索馬里以及其他任何需要他們?yōu)閲ЯΦ牡胤綄崿F(xiàn)著美國的決心。

然而，我們最強大的力量就是我們的觀念，在許多國家這種觀念還是一種新生事物?？v觀世界我們看到這些思想為世人所接受，我們也因而深感欣慰。我們憑借我們的希望，我們的熱心，我們的雙手，幫助其他國家的人民在每一塊大陸上建立了民主和自由，他們的成就也是美國的成就。

美國人民一直在召喚著我們做出今天所提出的變革，你們異口同聲地提高了自己的呼聲，你們已經(jīng)投出了具有歷史意義的一票，是你們讓國會換了面貌，是你們改變了美國的總統(tǒng)制度和政治進程。是的，親愛的同胞們，你們促使了春暖花開的日子早日到來?，F(xiàn)在，到了我們響應(yīng)時代要求付諸實際行動的時候了。

為了達成這個目標，我會充分發(fā)揮我的職能，我也將請求國會支持我。但是任何一位總統(tǒng)，任何一屆國會，任何一屆政府都無法承擔這一重任。親愛的同胞們，你們也需要在重振美國的行動中發(fā)揮自己的作用。我號召美國的年輕一代加入到報效國家的行列中來，通過幫助貧困交加和需要幫助的兒童，陪伴那些需要幫助的人，把我們這個四分五裂的社會重新凝聚起來，這是一項浩瀚的工程，足以讓成千上萬有理想的年輕人投身其中。

在振興美國的行動中，我們明白了一個簡單而又強有力的真理：“我們不僅需要彼此，還需要為別人著想。”今天，我們來這里不僅僅是為了慶祝美國，而是把自己奉獻給最重要的美國觀念。

這是一種在美國革命中誕生，經(jīng)歷了兩個世紀的洗禮而重獲新生的思想。一種煉就于知識與智慧之間，影響著我們一生的幸與不幸，存在于我們周圍的信念。這種信念使我們的民族在無數(shù)的分歧中受到鼓舞，并且因為團結(jié)一致而變得崇高。同時這種信念夾雜著美國漫長而英勇的旅程勇往直前。

所以，親愛的同胞們，在21世紀來臨之際，讓我們滿懷希望，充滿精力，堅定信念，遵守紀律，把我們的事業(yè)進行到底?！妒ソ?jīng)》說：“不要厭于行善，只要我們堅持，在事宜的時節(jié)定有所獲。”

在這個歡樂的慶祝巔峰，我們聽到了山谷中傳來的召喚，我們聽到了號聲。我們已經(jīng)換崗各就各位，現(xiàn)在，我們每個人都必須以自己的方式在上帝的幫助下響應(yīng)這一號召。

謝謝大家，愿上帝保佑你們!