評論
打印
Among the vicissitudes incident to life no event could have filled with greater anxieties than that of which the notification was transmitted by your order, and received on the 14th day of the present month.
在人生沉浮中，沒有一件事能比本月14號收到根據(jù)你們的命令送達(dá)的通知更使我焦慮不安。
On the one hand, I was summoned by my country , whose voice I can never hear but with veneration and love.
一方面，國家召喚我出任此職，對于她的召喚，我永遠(yuǎn)只能肅然敬從。
from a retreat which I had chosen with the fondest predilection , and , in my flattering hopes, with an immutable decision, as the asylum of my declining years.
而我十分偏愛、并曾選擇了隱退，我還滿懷奢望，矢志不移，誓愿以此為暮年歸宿。
a retreat which was rendered every day more necessary as well as more dear to me by the addition of habit to inclination,and of frequent interruptions in my health to the gradual waste committed on it by time.
斗轉(zhuǎn)星移，我越來越感到隱退的必要和親切，因為喜愛之余，我已經(jīng)習(xí)慣，還因為歲月催人漸老，身體常感不適。
On the other hand , the magnitude and difficulty of the trust to which the voice of my country called me , being sufficient to awaken in the wisest and most experienced of her citizens a distrustful scrutiny into his qualifications.
另一方面，國家召喚我擔(dān)任的責(zé)任如此重大和艱巨，足以使國內(nèi)最有才華的智和經(jīng)驗的人度德量力;
could not but overwhelm with despondence one who (inheriting inferior endowments from nature and unpracticed in the duties of civil administration) ought to be peculiarly conscious of his own deficiencies.
而我天生愚鈍，有無民政管理的實踐，應(yīng)該倍覺自己能力之不足，因此必然感到難以荷此重任。
In this conflict of emotions all I dare aver is that it has been my faithful study to collect my duty from a just appreciation of every circumstance by which it might be affected.
懷著這種矛盾的心情，我唯一敢斷言的是，通過正確的理解可能產(chǎn)生影響的各種情況來恪盡職守，乃是我忠貞不渝的努力目標(biāo)。
All I dare hope is that if,in executing this task,I have been too much swayed by a grateful remembrance of former instances, or by an affectionate sensibility to this transcendent proof of the confidence of my fellow citizens,
我唯一敢祈望的是，如果我在執(zhí)行這項任務(wù)時因陶醉于往事，或因由衷感激公民們對我的高度信賴，
and have thence too little consulted my incapacity as well as disinclination for the weighty and untried cares before me,
因而受到過多影響，以致在處理從未經(jīng)歷過的大事時，忽視了自己的無能和消極。
my error will be palliated by the motives which mislead me,
我的錯誤將會由于使我誤人歧途的各種動機而減輕，
and its consequences be judged by my country with some share of the partiality in which they originated.
而大家在評判錯誤的后果時，也會適當(dāng)包涵產(chǎn)生這些動機的偏見。
Such being the impressions under which I have,in obedience to the public summons,repaired to the present station, it would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official act my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations,and whose providential aids supply every human defect,
既然這就是我在遵奉公眾召喚就任現(xiàn)職時的感想，那么，在此宣誓就職之際，如不熱忱地祈求全能的上帝就極其失當(dāng)。因為上帝統(tǒng)治著宇宙。主宰著各國政府，它的神助能彌補人類的任何不足。
that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States a Government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes, and may enable every instrument employed in its administration to execute with success the functions allotted to his charge.
愿上帝賜福，保佑一個為美國人民的自由和幸福而組成的政府，保佑它為這些基本目標(biāo)而作出奉獻(xiàn)。保佑政府的各項行政措施在我負(fù)責(zé)之下都能成功地發(fā)揮作用。
In tendering this homage to the Great Author of every public and private good, I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not less than my own, nor those of my fellow citizens at large less than either.
在向公眾利益和私人利益的偉大締造者獻(xiàn)上這份崇敬時，我保證這不僅表達(dá)了我自己的情感，這些話也同樣表達(dá)了各位和廣大公民的心意。
No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States.
沒有人能比美國更堅定不移地承認(rèn)和崇拜掌管人間事務(wù)的上帝。
Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency;
他們在邁向獨立國家的進(jìn)程中，似乎每走一步都有某種天佑的跡象；
