評論
打印
The peaceful transfer of authority is rare in history, yet common in our country.
這次權利的和平過渡在歷史上是罕見的，但在美國是平常的。
With a simple oath, we affirm old traditions and make new beginnings.
我們以樸素的宣誓莊嚴地維護了古老的傳統，同時開始了新的歷程。
As I begin, I thank President Clinton for his service to our nation.
首先，我要感謝克林頓總統為這個國家作出的貢獻。
And I thank Vice President Gore for a contest conducted with spirit and ended with grace.
也感謝副總統戈爾在競選過程中的熱情與風度。
I am honored and humbled to stand here, where so many of America's leaders have come before me, and so many will follow.
站在這里，我很榮幸，也有點受寵若驚。在我之前，許多美國領導人從這里起步；在我之后，也會有許多領導人從這里繼續前進。
We have a place, all of us, in a long story a story we continue, but whose end we will not see.
在美國悠久的歷史中，我們每個人都有自己的位置；我們還在繼續推動著歷史前進，但是我們不可能看到它的盡頭。
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.
這是一部新世界的發展史，是一部后浪推前浪的歷史，這是一部美國由奴隸制社會發展成為崇尚自由的社會的歷史，這是一個強國保護而不是占有世界的歷史，是捍衛而不是征服世界的歷史。
It is the American story a story of flawed and fallible people, united across the generations by grand and enduring ideals.
這就是美國史。它不是一部十全十美的民族發展史，但它是一部在偉大和永恒理想指導下幾代人團結奮斗的歷史。
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.
這些理想中最偉大的是正在慢慢實現的美國的承諾，這就是：每個人都有自身的價值，每個人都有成功的機會，每個人天生都會有所作為的。
Americans are called to enact this promise in our lives and in our laws.
美國人民肩負著一種使命，那就是要竭力將這個諾言變成生活中和法律上的現實。
And though our nation has sometimes halted, and sometimes delayed, we must follow no other course.
雖然我們的國家過去在追求實現這個承諾的途中停滯不前甚至倒退，但我們仍將堅定不移地完成這一使命。
Through much of the last century, America's faith in freedom and democracy was a rock in a raging sea.
在上個世紀的大部分時間里，美國自由民主的信念猶如洶涌大海中的巖石。
Now it is a seed upon the wind, taking root in many nations.
現在它更像風中的種子，把自由帶給每個民族。
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.
在我們的國家，民主不僅僅是一種信念，而是全人類的希望，民主，我們不會獨占，而會竭力讓大家分享。民主，我們將銘記于心并且不斷傳播。
