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

Washington, D.C.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

譯文出處：譯言

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.
我要感謝所有用歌聲和語言提醒我們有多么熱愛美國的發言者和表演者。我要感謝冒著嚴寒千里迢迢趕來的人們。歡迎來到華盛頓，歡迎來到這次慶典。

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.
在我們的歷史上，只有少數幾代人被要求面對如此前所未有的嚴重挑戰。我們的國家在戰爭。我們的經濟正處于危機。成千上萬的美國人失去了他們的工作和家庭；他們擔心無法供自己的孩子上大學，他們擔心付不起餐桌上一堆的賬單。更重要的是，他們對于未來充滿了焦慮和不確定-美國的這一代人能否將這個國家最優秀的本質傳承和發揚下去。

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.
我不會假裝說以上的任何一個挑戰可以輕松應付過去。這可能會花去超過一個月，或者一年甚至許多年的時間。沿途會有挫折，會走彎路，也會經受解決國家基本問題的考驗。

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.
即使那樣，即使擋在我們面前的考驗是如此的艱巨。我今天仍然是比任何時候都更滿懷希望地站在這里，相信著美利堅合眾國能夠排除萬難，重新崛起，開國先驅的夢想在我們心中永不磨滅。

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.
是我穿過這個廣場所看到的給予了我希望。鑿在這些紀念碑里面那些難以置信的故事申明了我們不屈的信念。一個在美國一切皆有可能的信念。我們面前所紀念的那個偉人，正是全憑心中這股信念，領導一小隊農民和商人發起了抵抗帝國統治強大軍隊的革命。

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.
下面的那塊地是對飽受戰爭與憂傷的那一代人的贊頌。那些與我祖父母并無二樣的男人和女人們長途跋涉向歐洲行軍，把世界從專制統治中解放出來。正對著我們的那個水池，倒映著一代君主的夢想，以及為了下一代能夠獲得平等而拼殺在前線的人們流下的鮮血與榮耀。而在我身后坐著那個俯視他所拯救的國家的男人，是他使今天的一切成為了可能。

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，我站在這里，給予我最大鼓舞的不是四周的這些大理石像，而是被它們圍繞在當中的人們。是你們，不同種族不同信仰不同身份的你們，聚集在這里相信著這個國家的可能性并愿意為此而付出努力的你們。

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.
從兩年前我開始角逐這場競選，一直都是同一樣東西給予我希望；直到今天我仍然相信，只要我們彼此尊重彼此承認并團結起來-民主黨人，共和黨人，自由人士;拉丁人，亞洲人，美洲土著人；黑人和白人，同性戀者和異性戀者，殘疾人和健康的人-那么我們不但能重拾失去的信心與機會，或者，只是或者，我們能使我們的國家變得更加美好。

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.
這就是我所相信的，是你們使我夢想成真。你們再一次證明了只要愛這個國家就能改變她。我即將就任，我會把你們的呼聲一同帶入總統辦公室。那些有著不同經歷卻懷著同樣希望的人們的聲音，那些保留著使我們成為一個美國人的最本質部分的人們的聲音。我們會盡力改變我們的生活，并看著我們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.
是這場危機使我們團結到一起共同努力，在這個廣場留下值得紀念的此刻，把我們和之前為這個國家抗爭與犧牲的人們聯系到了一起。

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.
這就是這個國家如何得以跨越最大的差別與最遠的距離，因為沒有任何障礙，可以阻擋得了數以萬計要求改變的呼聲。

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.
這就是這次競選一開始的信念，也是使得我們克服面前困難的方法。毫無疑問，道路將會艱險而曲折，攀登的歷程將會崎嶇而陡峭。但永遠不要忘記顯示國家本質的魅力不會是在一帆風順的時候，而正正是在排除萬難之后。我請求你們再次共同使這個國家彰顯出她本質的魅力，連同我們祖先遺留下來的精神，作為一個國家，一個整體，一起慶祝。

Thank you, America. God bless you.
謝謝你，美國，上帝保佑你！