評論
打印
My fellow citizens: The world and we have passed the midway point of a century of continuing challenge.
同胞們：我們和全世界一樣，業已跨過了一個充滿持續挑戰的世紀的中線。
We sense with all our faculties that forces of good and evil are massed and armed and opposed as rarely before in history.
我們所有的官能都能感覺到，向善的力量與為惡的力量正在史所罕見地聚集和武裝起來，相互進行著對抗。
This fact defines the meaning of this day.
這個事實確定了今天聚會的意義。
We are summoned by this honored and historic ceremony to witness more than the act of one citizen swearing his oath of service,
這個光榮而具有歷史意義的典禮使我們聚集一堂，這并不僅僅是為了親眼觀看一個公民在上帝面前宣誓就職，
in the presence of God. We are called as a people to give testimony in the sight of the world to our faith that the future shall belong to the free.
而是作為一個民族響應召喚，在全世界的面前證明我們的信念：未來必將屬于自由的人民。
Since this century's beginning, a time of tempest has seemed to come upon the continents of the earth.
自本世紀初以來，世界各大洲看來都進入了暴風驟雨的年代。
Masses of Asia have awakened to strike off shackles of the past.
亞洲的大眾已經覺醒，力圖掙脫舊時的鐐銬。
Great nations of Europe have fought their bloodiest wars.
歐洲各個大國血戰疆場，
Thrones have toppled and their vast empires have disappeared. New nations have been born.
帝位已然傾覆，他們龐大的殖民帝國亦已風流云散。新的民族國家于是紛紛誕生。
For our own country, it has been a time of recurring trial. We have grown in power and in responsibility.
對我國來說，這是一個不斷經受考驗的時期。我們的力量大為增強，責任也更加重大。
We have passed through the anxieties of depression and of war to a summit unmatched in man's history.
我們在經濟蕭條和戰爭中飽經憂患，程度之烈在人類歷史上可謂無出其右者。
Seeking to secure peace in the world, we have had to fight through the forests of the Argonne, to the shores of Iwo Jima, and to the cold mountains of Korea.
為了在世界上贏得和平，我們只得進行戰斗，我們的足跡曾經穿過阿爾貢地區的森林，抵達硫磺島的岸邊，又到過朝鮮那些寒冷的山嶺。
In the swift rush of great events, we find ourselves groping to know the full sense and meaning of these times in which we live.
在這一連串突然接踵而至的重大事件中，我們發現自己正在探索，以求懂得我們 所處的遺些時代的全部意義。
In our quest of understanding,we beseech God's guidance.
我們在尋求理解的過程中，祈求上帝給我們以指引。
We summon all our knowledge of the past and we scan all signs of the future.
我們要調動我們在過去獲得的全部知識，我們要審視未來的一切跡象。
We bring all our wit and all our will to meet the question:
我們用我們的全部才智和意志來面對以下問題：
How far have we come in man's long pilgrimage from darkness toward light?
在人類從黑暗走向光明的漫長歷程中，我們已經走過了多少路程？
Are we nearing the light—a day of freedom and of peace for all mankind?
我們究竟是正在接近光明，接近全人類享有自由與和平的那一天，
Or are the shadows of another night closing in upon us?
還是另一個夜晚的陰影正向我們籠罩下來？
Great as are the preoccupations absorbing us at home, concerned as we are with matters that deeply affect our livelihood today and our vision of the future,
盡管我們全神貫注于國內重大問題，盡管我們關心那些深深影響我們今天生計和未來前景的問題，
each of these domestic problems is dwarfed by, and often even created by, this question that involves all humankind.
但是這些問題不僅因上述那個涉及全人類的問題而顯得相形見絀，而且甚至也是由它而產生的。
This trial comes at a moment when man's power to achieve good or to inflict evil surpasses the brightest hopes and the sharpest fears of all ages.
這一考驗到來之際，正值人類揚善抑惡的力量比歷代所熱切期望的都要強大，并且戰勝了歷代最為強烈的恐俱。
