Each time we gather to inaugurate a President we bear witness to the enduring strength of our Constitution. We affirm the promise of our democracy. We recall that what binds this nation together is not the colors of our skin or the tenets of our faith or the origins of our names. What makes us exceptional -- what makes us American -- is our allegiance to an idea articulated in a declaration made more than two centuries ago:

每一次举行总统就职典礼，我们都共同见证了我国宪法经久不衰的力量。我们重申我们的民主制度的承诺。回顾历史，这个国家的团结不是源于我们的肤色、我们的宗教信仰或我们家族的来源地。我们卓尔不凡——我们美国人独具特色——的根本原因是我们对两个多世纪以前的一份宣言中所阐明的思想忠诚不渝：

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

“我们认为以下真理是不言而喻的：人人生而平等，造物主赋予他们某些不可剥夺的权利，其中包括生存、自由和追求幸福的权利。”

Today we continue a never-ending journey to bridge the meaning of those words with the realities of our time. For history tells us that while these truths may be self-evident, they’ve never been self-executing; that while freedom is a gift from God, it must be secured by His people here on Earth. (Applause.) The patriots of 1776 did not fight to replace the tyranny of a king with the privileges of a few or the rule of a mob. They gave to us a republic, a government of, and by, and for the people, entrusting each generation to keep safe our founding creed.

今天，我们仍在继续着这一永无终点的旅程——努力把这些话的含义化作我们时代的现实。历史告诉我们，这些真理虽然不言而喻，却从未自动降临；自由虽然是上帝的恩赐，却须上帝在普天之下的子民们加以捍卫（掌声）。1776年爱国者们的奋斗不是为了用少数人的特权或是一群暴民的统治来取代一个君王的专制。他们给予我们的是一个共和国——一个民有、民治、民享的政府——并托付每一代人去捍卫我们的立国之本。

And for more than two hundred years, we have.

两百多年以来，我们做到了。

Through blood drawn by lash and blood drawn by sword, we learned that no union founded on the principles of liberty and equality could survive half-slave and half-free. We made ourselves anew, and vowed to move forward together.

从皮鞭和刀剑留下的血迹中，我们认识到，建立在自由和平等原则基础上的任何联盟都不可能以半奴隶制、半自由的方式持续下去。我们浴火重生，并誓言一起向前迈进。

Together, we determined that a modern economy requires railroads and highways to speed travel and commerce, schools and colleges to train our workers.

我们共同决定，一个现代经济体需要铁路和公路来加速旅行和商业活动，需要学校和学院培养我们的劳动者。

Together, we discovered that a free market only thrives when there are rules to ensure competition and fair play.

我们共同发现，只有在确立了能够确保竞争和公平活动的规则时，自由市场才会蓬勃发展。

Together, we resolved that a great nation must care for the vulnerable, and protect its people from life’s worst hazards and misfortune.

我们共同认定，一个伟大的国家必须照顾弱势群体，保护其人民免受生灵涂炭及种种不幸。

Through it all, we have never relinquished our skepticism of central authority, nor have we succumbed to the fiction that all society’s ills can be cured through government alone. Our celebration of initiative and enterprise, our insistence on hard work and personal responsibility, these are constants in our character.

在所有这些经历中，我们从未放弃对中央权威的怀疑，也没有屈从于社会的一切弊端仅通过政府便能解决的幻想。我们颂扬主动性和创业精神，我们坚持勤奋工作与个人责任——这些品质是我们的性格中始终存在的要素。

But we have always understood that when times change, so must we; that fidelity to our founding principles requires new responses to new challenges; that preserving our individual freedoms ultimately requires collective action. For the American people can no more meet the demands of today’s world by acting alone than American soldiers could have met the forces of fascism or communism with muskets and militias. No single person can train all the math and science teachers we’ll need to equip our children for the future, or build the roads and networks and research labs that will bring new jobs and businesses to our shores. Now, more than ever, we must do these things together, as one nation and one people. (Applause.)

但我们一向知道，随着时代更替，我们也当改变；忠实于我们的建国原则要求我们对新的挑战采取新的应对措施；保护我们的个人自由最终需要集体行动，因为美国人民不能再像昔日美国士兵用步枪和民兵来对付法西斯主义或共产主义的力量那样单独行动来应对今日世界的要求。没有哪一个人能够培训出我们所需的所有数学和科学老师，以帮助我们的下一代为未来做好准备；也没有哪一个人能够建造道路、网络和研究实验室，为我们的国家带来新的就业机会和商机。现在比以往任何时候都更加需要我们作为同一个国家和民族齐心合力地去做这些事情（掌声）。

This generation of Americans has been tested by crises that steeled our resolve and proved our resilience. A decade of war is now ending. (Applause.) An economic recovery has begun. (Applause.) America’s possibilities are limitless, for we possess all the qualities that this world without boundaries demands: youth and drive; diversity and openness; an endless capacity for risk and a gift for reinvention. My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment, and we will seize it -- so long as we seize it together. (Applause.)

这一代美国人经历了危机的考验，练就了我们的钢铁意志,证明了我们的坚韧不拔。长达十年的战争逐步结束（掌声）。经济已经开始复苏（掌声）。美国的未来无可限量，因为我们具有这个无限的世界所需要的一切特质：青春和动力；多样性与开放性；永无止境的履险能力与自我重塑的天赋。美国同胞们，我们生逢其时，我们一定会抓住这个机会——只要我们齐心协力（掌声）。

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