評論
打印
From the windows of the White House, where I live in Washington, D.C., the monument to our first President, George Washington, dominates the skyline. It is a very tall obelisk. But very near this large monument there is a small stone which contains these words: The United States neither established titles of nobility and royalty, nor created a hereditary system. State affairs are put to the vote of public opinion.
從我居住的華盛頓特區(qū)白宮的窗口向外眺望，我們第一任總統(tǒng)喬治．華盛頓的紀念碑俯視全城。那是一座高聳的方形尖塔。在這個龐大的紀念碑旁，有一塊很小的石碑，上面刻著的碑文是：美國決不設(shè)立貴族和皇室頭銜，也不建立世襲制度。國家事務(wù)由輿論公決。
This created a new political situation, unprecedented from ancient times to the present. How wonderful it is. Those words were not written by an American. They were written by Xu Jiyu, governor of Fujian Province, inscribed as a gift from the government of China to our nation in 1853.
美國就是這樣建立了一個從古至今史無前例的嶄新政治體系。這是最奇妙的事物。這些話不是美國人寫的，而出自福建省巡撫徐繼玉之手，并于1853年由中國政府刻成碑文，作為禮物送給美國。
I am very grateful for that gift from China. It goes to the heart of who we are as a people—the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, the freedom to debate, to dissent, to associate, to worship without interference from the state.
我很感激中國送的這份禮物。它道出了我們?nèi)w美國人民的心聲，即人人有生命和自由的權(quán)利、追求幸福的權(quán)利，有不受國家的干涉發(fā)表言論和持不同政見的自由、有結(jié)社的自由和宗教信仰的自由。
