里根总统是个非常擅长演讲的人，他的演讲从头至尾一气呵成.他不看讲稿，完全是即席演讲。他的语速和声音的节奏控制得非常好，听他的演讲本身就是在欣赏一场伟大的演出。
Senator Hatfield, Mr. Chief Justice, Mr. President, Vice President Bush, Vice President Mondale, Senator Baker, Speaker O'Neill, Reverend Moomaw, and my fellow citizens: To a few of us here today, this is a solemn and most momentous occasion; and yet, in the history of our Nation, it is a commonplace occurrence. The orderly transfer of authority as called for in the Constitution routinely takes place as it has for almost two centuries and few of us stop to think how unique we really are. In the eyes of many in the world, this every-4-year ceremony we accept as normal is nothing less than a miracle.
尊敬的海特菲尔德议员、法官先生、总统先生、副总统布什、蒙代尔、贝克议员、发言人奥尼尔、摩麦以及广大支持我的美国同胞们：今天对于我们中间的一些人来说，是一个非常庄严隆重的时刻。对于这个国家的历史却是一件普通的事情。按照宪法要求，政府权利正在有序地移交，我们已经如此“例行公事”了两个世纪，很少有人觉得这有什么特别。但在世界上更多人看来，我们这个已经习以为常的四年一次的仪式却是一个奇迹。
Mr. President, I want our fellow citizens to know how much you did to carry on this tradition. By your gracious cooperation in the transition process, you have shown a watching world that we are a united people pledged to maintaining a political system which guarantees individual liberty to a greater degree than any other, and I thank you and your people for all your help in maintaining the continuity which is the bulwark of our Republic.
总统先生，我希望我们的同胞们都能知道你为了这个传承而付出的努力。通过移交程序中的通力合作，展示了这样一个事实：我们是一个团结一致的民族，这个民族决心捍卫一种比任何其他体制更能充分确保个人民主自由的政治制度。我要感谢你和你的伙伴们的帮助，因为你们坚持了这样的传承，这种传承的连续性恰是我们共和国的支柱。
The business of our nation goes forward. These United States are confronted with an economic affliction of great proportions. We suffer from the longest and one of the worst sustained inflations in our national history. It distorts our economic decisions, penalizes thrift, and crushes the struggling young and the fixed- income elderly alike. It threatens to shatter the lives of millions of our people.
我们国家的事业在继续前进。合众国正面临巨大的经济困难。我们遭遇到我国历史上历时长、严重之一的通货膨胀，它扰乱着我们的经济决策，使储蓄的人反而受到惩罚，压迫着正在挣扎谋生的青年人和收入固定的中年人，威胁着要摧毁我国千百万人民的生计。
Idle industries have cast workers into unemployment, causing human misery and personal indignity. Those who do work are denied a fair return for their labor by a tax system which penalizes successful achievement and keeps us from maintaining full productivity.
停滞的工业使工人失业、蒙受痛苦并失去了个人尊严。即使那些有工作的人，也因沉重的税负而得不到公正的劳动报酬，因为这种税收制度使我们无法在事业上取得成就，使我们无法保持充分的生产力。
But great as our tax burden is, it has not kept pace with public spending. For decades, we have piled deficit upon deficit, mortgaging our future and our children's future for the temporary convenience of the present. To continue this long trend is to guarantee tremendous social, cultural, political, and economic upheavals.
尽管我们的纳税负担相当沉重，但还是跟不上公共开支的增长。数十年来，我们的赤字额屡屡上升，我们为图目前暂时的方便，已把自己和子孙的前途都抵押出去。这一趋势如果长此以往，必然引起社会、文化、政治和经济等方面的大动荡。
You and I, as individuals, can, by borrowing, live beyond our means, but for only a limited period of time. Why, then, should we think that collectively, as a nation, we are not bound by that same limitation?
We must act today in order to preserve tomorrow. And let there be no misunderstanding——we are going to begin to act, beginning today.
作为个人，你们和我可以靠借贷过一种入不敷出的生活，然而只能维持一段有限的时期，我们怎么可以认为，作为一个国家整体，我们就不应受到同样的约束呢？为了明天，我们今天就必须行动起来。大家都要明白无误地懂得--我们从今天起就要采取行动。
The economic ills we suffer have come upon us over several decades. They will not go away in days, weeks, or months, but they will go away. They will go away because we, as Americans, have the capacity now, as we have had in the past, to do whatever needs to be done to preserve this last and greatest bastion of freedom.
我们深受其害的经济弊病，几十年来一直袭击着我们。这些弊病不会在几天、几星期或几个月内消失，但它们终将消失。它们之所以终将消失，是因为我们作为现在的美国人，一如既往地有能力去完成需要完成的事情，以保存这个后而又伟大的自由堡垒。
In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem.
在当前这场危机中，政府的
管理不能解决我们面临的问题。政府的管理就是问题所在。
From time to time, we have been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. But if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? All of us together, in and out of government, must bear the burden. The solutions we seek must be equitable, with no one group singled out to pay a higher price.
我们时常误以为，社会已经越来越复杂，已经不可能凭借自治方式加以管理，而一个由杰出人物组成的政府要比民享、民治、民有的政府高明。可是，假如我们之中谁也管理不了自己，那么，我们之中谁还能去管理他人呢。我们大家--不论政府官员还是平民百姓--必须共同肩负起这个责任，我们谋求的解决办法必须是公平的，不要使任何一个群体付出较高的代价。
We hear much of special interest groups. Our concern must be for a special interest group that has been too long neglected. It knows no sectional boundaries or ethnic and racial divisions, and it crosses political party lines. It is made up of men and women who raise our food, patrol our streets, man our mines and our factories, teach our children, keep our homes, and heal us when we are sick——professionals, industrialists, shopkeepers, clerks, cabbies, and truckdrivers. They are, in short, "We the people," this breed called Americans.
我们听到许多关于特殊利益集团的谈论，然而。我们必须关心一个被忽视了大久的特殊利益集团。这个集团没有区域之分，没有人种之分，没有民族之分，没有政党之分，这个集团由许许多多的男人与女人组成，他们生产粮食，巡逻街头，管理厂矿，教育儿童，照料家务和治疗疾病。他们是专业人员、实业家、店主、职员、出租汽车司机和货车驾驶员，总而言之，他们就是"我们的人民"—就是美国人民。
Well, this administration's objective will be a healthy, vigorous, growing economy that provides equal opportunity for all Americans, with no barriers born of bigotry or discrimination. Putting America back to work means putting all Americans back to work. Ending inflation means freeing all Americans from the terror of runaway living costs. All must share in the productive work of this "new beginning" and all must share in the bounty of a revived economy. With the idealism and fair play which are the core of our system and our strength, we can have a strong and prosperous America at peace with itself and the world.
本届政府的目标是必须建立一种健全的、生气勃勃的和日益发展的经济，为全体美国人民提供一种不因偏执或歧视而造成障碍的均等机会。使美国复兴，意味着使全体美国人都有工作；制止通货膨胀，意味着使全体美国人免除对势如脱缰之马的生活费用的恐惧。人人都应分担"新开端"的富有成效的工作，人人都应分享经济复苏的硕果。我们力量的核心是理想主义和公正对待的精神，有了这些，我们就能建立一个强大繁荣的美国，在国内和全世界都相安无事。
So, as we begin, let us take inventory. We are a nation that has a government——not the other way around. And this makes us special among the nations of the Earth. Our Government has no power except that granted it by the people. It is time to check and reverse the growth of government which shows signs of having grown beyond the consent of the governed.
在我们向复兴美国开始迈步之际，先让我们看看我们的实际情况。我们是一个拥有政府的国家--而不是一个拥有国家的政府。这一点使我们在世界合国中独树一帜，我们的政府除了人民授予的权力，没有任何别的权力。现在是制止并扭转政府机构和权力膨胀的时候了，因为种种迹象表明，这种膨胀已超过人民的意愿。
It is my intention to curb the size and influence of the Federal establishment and to demand recognition of the distinction between the powers granted to the Federal Government and those reserved to the States or to the people. All of us need to be reminded that the Federal Government did not create the States; the States created the Federal Government.
我想要做的是限制联邦政府的规模和权力，并要求大家承认联邦政府被授予的权力同各州或人民保留的权利这两者之间的区别。必须提醒我们大家注意：不是联邦政府创立了各州，而是各州创立了联邦政府。
Now, so there will be no misunderstanding, it is not my intention to do away with government. It is, rather, to make it work-work with us, not over us; to stand by our side, not ride on our back. Government can and must provide opportunity, not smother it; foster productivity, not stifle it.
因此，请不要误解，我不是要取消政府，而是要它发挥作用--同我们一起合作，而不是凌驾于我们之上；同我们并肩而立，而不是骑在我们的身上。政府能够而且必须提供而不是扼杀机会，能够而且必须促进而不是抑制生产力。
If we look to the answer as to why, for so many years, we achieved so much, prospered as no other people on Earth, it was because here, in this land, we unleashed the energy and individual genius of man to a greater extent than has ever been done before. Freedom and the dignity of the individual have been more available and assured here than in any other place on Earth. The price for this freedom at times has been high, but we have never been unwilling to pay that price.
多年来我们能取得巨大成就，获得世界上任何一个民族未曾获得的繁荣昌盛的原因是在这片土地上我们比以往任何时候都地发挥人的潜能和个人的天才；这里比任何其他任何地方更容易得到、更可以确保个人的自由和尊严。得到这种自由所付出的代价有时相当昂贵，但我们从没不愿意付出这种代价。
It is no coincidence that our present troubles parallel and are proportionate to the intervention and intrusion in our lives that result from unnecessary and excessive growth of government. It is time for us to realize that we are too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams. We are not, as some would have us believe, loomed to an inevitable decline. I do not believe in a fate that will all on us no matter what we do. I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing. So, with all the creative energy at our command, let us begin an era of national renewal. Let us renew our determination, our courage, and our strength. And let us renew; our faith and our hope.We have every right to dream heroic dreams.
我们目前困难的制造者是政府不必要和过度膨胀对我们生活的干预和侵扰，这不是偶然的巧合。我们应该真正认识到我们是一个伟大的国家，不能自囿于小小的梦想，我们不像有些人要我们相信的那样注定要不可避免地衰落，我不相信我们命该如此，无论我们做什么都不能改变那些人描绘的宿命，但我相信，如果我们什么也不做，我们将的确命该如此。为此，让我们以我们拥有的一切创造力来开创一个国家复兴的时代吧。让我们重新下定决心，拿出我们的勇气和力量，让我们重新满怀信心和希望，我们完全有权利塑造崇高的理想。
Those who say that we are in a time when there are no heroes just don't know where to look. You can see heroes every day going in and out of factory gates. Others, a handful in number, produce enough food to feed all of us and then the world beyond. You meet heroes across a counter——and they are on both sides of that counter. There are entrepreneurs with faith in themselves and faith in an idea who create new jobs, new wealth and opportunity. They are individuals and families whose taxes support the Government and whose voluntary gifts support church, charity, culture, art, and education. Their patriotism is quiet but deep. Their values sustain our national life.
当下那些不知道去哪发现英雄的人说我们正身处于一个没有英雄的时代。你们可以看到每天进出于工厂大门的英雄们；另外一些英雄人数虽少，但生产的粮食却足够养活我们大家和世界其他地区的人民；你们会在柜台前遇到英雄--在柜台的内外遇到英雄们，其中的一些人是对自己抱有信心的、有理想的企业家，他们创造新的职业、新的财富和机会，政府的维持就是靠这样一些个人和家族缴纳的捐税，教会、慈善事业、文化、艺术和教育事业也是靠他们的自愿捐献来维持的。他们的爱国主义精神含而不露，但却是强烈的，他们创造的价值支撑着我们的国民生活。
I have used the words "they" and "their" in speaking of these heroes. I could say "you" and "your" because I am addressing the heroes of whom I speak——you, the citizens of this blessed land. Your dreams, your hopes, your goals are going to be the dreams, the hopes, and the goals of this administration, so help me God.
我在说到这些英雄时，用了“他们”和“他们的”这两个字眼，但也可以说“你们”、“你们的”。因为我现在正给我提及的英雄们讲话--就是你们，这个上帝降福的国土上的公民们。你们的理想、希望、目标将是本届政府的理想、希望、目标，愿上帝保佑我做到这一点。
We shall reflect the compassion that is so much a part of your makeup. How can we love our country and not love our countrymen, and loving them, reach out a hand when they fall, heal them when they are sick, and provide opportunities to make them self- sufficient so they will be equal in fact and not just in theory?
我们将体现出在你们的禀性中占很大成分的同情心。怎么能爱我们的国家而不爱我们的同胞呢？我们要爱他们，在他们摔倒时伸出手去扶住他们，在他们患病时给他们治愈，并提供机会使他们自给自足，使他们获得实在而不是口头上的平等。
Can we solve the problems confronting us? Well, the answer is an unequivocal and emphatic "yes." To paraphrase Winston Churchill, I did not take the oath I have just taken with the intention of presiding over the dissolution of the world's strongest economy.
我们能解决摆在我们面前的这些问题吗？回答是毫不含糊和断然的两个字“能够”，借用温斯顿丘吉尔的话说，我刚才宣誓并不是想要在我的领导下使这个世界强大的经济瓦解。
In the days ahead I will propose removing the roadblocks that have slowed our economy and reduced productivity. Steps will be taken aimed at restoring the balance between the various levels of government. Progress may be slow——measured in inches and feet, not miles——but we will progress. Is it time to reawaken this industrial giant, to get government back within its means, and to lighten our punitive tax burden. And these will be our first priorities, and on these principles, there will be no compromise.
在今后的一段时间，我将建议消除一些使得我们经济发展缓慢和生产力下降的障碍，将要采取一些旨在恢复各级政府之间保持平衡的步骤，进展也许是缓慢的，用英寸和英尺而不是用英里来衡量，但我们会前进。现在应当是唤醒这个工业巨人的时候，使政府能够重新量入为出，减轻我们惩罚性的赋税负担，这将是我们首要的任务，在这些原则上绝不会妥协。
On the eve of our struggle for independence a man who might have been one of the greatest among the Founding Fathers, Dr. Joseph Warren, President of the Massachusetts Congress, said to his fellow Americans, "Our country is in danger, but not to be despaired of…… On you depend the fortunes of America. You are to decide the important questions upon which rests the happiness and the liberty of millions yet unborn. Act worthy of yourselves."
在我国为独立而斗争的前夕，有一个人曾对他的美国同胞说：“我们现在处于危险之中，但并没有绝望…美国的命运取决与你们。关系到尚未出生的千百万人的幸福和自由的一个重要问题是由你们来决定，你们的行动要无愧与你自己。”这个人就是马萨诸塞议会主席约瑟夫沃伦博士，如果他当初没有在邦克山牺牲，他也许成为我国建国的先人中伟大的任务之一。
Well, I believe we, the Americans of today, are ready to act worthy of ourselves, ready to do what must be done to ensure happiness and liberty for ourselves, our children and our children's children.
我相信，我们当代美国人已做好无愧于我们自己行动的准备，做好为确保我们自己、孩子和子孙后代的幸福和自由必须进行工作的准备。
And as we renew ourselves here in our own land, we will be seen as having greater strength throughout the world. We will again be the exemplar of freedom and a beacon of hope for those who do not now have freedom.
当我们在这块土地上时代相传时，全世界将看到，我们所具有的力量更加强大，我们将再度成为自由的典范，成为现在还没有获得自由的那些人的希望之光。
To those neighbors and allies who share our freedom, we will strengthen our historic ties and assure them of our support and firm commitment. We will match loyalty with loyalty. We will strive for mutually beneficial relations. We will not use our friendship to impose on their sovereignty, for or own sovereignty is not for sale.
对于与我们怀有同样自由理想的那些邻国和盟国，我们将加强我们之间传统性的
沟通，确保对他们予以支持，对他们履行应尽的义务，忠诚地报答他们的忠诚，努力争取建立互利的关系，决不利用这种友谊去影响他们的主权，因为我们自己的主权也是不能出卖的。
As for the enemies of freedom, those who are potential adversaries, they will be reminded thatpeace is the highest aspiration of the American people. We will negotiate for it, sacrifice for it; we will not surrender for it——now or ever.
对于那些自由的敌人和潜在的对手，我们要提醒他们，和平是美国人民的高愿望。我们将为和平而谈判，为和平而牺牲，但我们绝不为和平而投降，现在不会，将来也永远不会。
Our forbearance should never be misunderstood. Our reluctance for conflict should not bemisjudged as a failure of will. When action is required to preserve our national security, we will act.We will maintain sufficient strength to prevail if need be, knowing that if we do so we have the best chance of never having to use that strength.
对我们的忍让绝不应误解。不要把我们对冲突采取的克制态度误认为是意志不坚强。一旦需要采取行动保卫我们国家的安全，我们就采取行动。我们将保持足以在必要时取胜的力量，这样我们才有可能不必动用这种力量。
Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have. It is a weapon that we as Americans do have. Let that be understood by those who practice terrorism and prey upon their neighbors.
所以，我们必须认识到，世界各地军火库中的任何武器没有自由人们的意志和维护道义的勇气强大，这是当今世界上我们美国独有而我们对手所没有的武器。要让那些采取恐怖行动和掠夺自己邻国的人懂得这一点。
I am told that tens of thousands of prayer meetings are being held on this day, and for that I am deeply grateful. We are a nation under God, and I believe God intended for us to be free. It would be fitting and good, I think, if on each Inauguration Day in future years it should be declared a day of prayer.
当得知今天举行的祈祷会成千上万时，我深为感激。我们是上帝保佑的国家，我们相信，上帝希望我们得到自由。如果每次就职典礼日都能成为祈祷日，那是恰如其逢的好事。
This is the first time in history that this ceremony has been held, as you have been told, on this West Front of the Capitol. Standing here, one faces a magnificent vista, opening up on this city's special beauty and history. At the end of this open mall are those shrines to the giants on whose shoulders we stand.
就职仪式在国会大厦西门举行是美国历史的第一次。站在这里，宏伟壮丽的景色尽收眼底，可以看到华盛顿这座城市独特的美丽和历史。在这条宽阔林荫大道尽头矗立着我国历史伟大的纪念物。
Directly in front of me, the monument to a monumental man: George Washington, Father of our country. A man of humility who came to greatness reluctantly. He led America out of revolutionary victory into infant nationhood. Off to one side, the stately memorial to Thomas Jefferson. The Declaration of Independence flames with his eloquence.
在我的正前方是一位不朽人物的纪念碑，他就是我们的国父乔治华盛顿。他禀性谦恭，处于时势所迫才做出伟大业绩，领导美国取得革命胜利，建立一个新国家。稍偏一点是庄严雄伟的托马斯杰斐逊纪念堂，独立宣言闪耀着他的雄辩才华。
And then beyond the Reflecting Pool the dignified columns of the Lincoln Memorial. Whoever would understand in his heart the meaning of America will find it in the life of Abraham Lincoln.
在映影池的那一边，矗立着由大圆柱组成的庄严肃穆的林肯纪念堂，任何想彻底了解美国真谛的人都会在亚伯拉罕林肯的一生中得到答案。
Beyond those monuments to heroism is the Potomac River, and on the far shore the sloping hills of Arlington National Cemetery with its row on row of simple white markers bearing crosses or Stars of David. They add up to only a tiny fraction of the price that has been paid for our freedom.
过了这些英雄纪念物就是波托马克河，河对岸就是阿灵顿国家公墓，坡地上排者一行行刻着十字架和大卫王之星的朴实无华的白色墓碑，他们仅仅是为了我们的自由所付出的代价的缩影。
Each one of those markers is a monument to the kinds of hero I spoke of earlier. Their lives ended in places called Belleau Wood, The Argonne, Omaha Beach, Salerno and halfway around the world on Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Pork Chop Hill, the Chosin Reservoir, and in a hundred rice paddies and jungles of a place called Vietnam.
这里的每一个墓碑都是对我所提及的那些英雄的纪念。他们在一些叫贝鲁伍德、阿尔贡、奥马哈滩、萨莱诺的地方，在相隔半个地球之遥的瓜达卡钠尔、塔拉瓦、独排山、长津水岸和一个叫越南--有着许许多多稻田和丛林的地方献出了他们的生命。
Under one such marker lies a young man——Martin Treptow——who left his job in a small town barber shop in 1917 to go to France with the famed Rainbow Division. There, on the western front, he was killed trying to carry a message between battalions under heavy artillery fire.
在这里的一块墓碑下躺着一位名叫马丁托雷普托的年轻人，他于1917年离开一座小镇的理发馆，随同知名的彩虹师来到法国。在那里的西部战场上，他在猛烈的炮火中为自己的部队传递信息时牺牲了。
We are told that on his body was found a diary. On the flyleaf under the heading, "My Pledge," he had written these words: "America must win this war. Therefore, I will work, I will save, I will sacrifice, I will endure, I will fight cheerfully and do my utmost, as if the issue of the whole struggle depended on me alone."
有人告诉我们在他的身上发现一本日记。扉页上写着这样的标题：“我的誓言”。 他写下了这样的话语：“美国必须赢得这场战争。为此，我会奋斗，我会拯救，我会牺牲，我会忍受，我会并将尽我努力英勇奋战，就好比所有的战争问题都将由我一个人来肩负。”
The crisis we are facing today does not require of us the kind of sacrifice that Martin Treptow and so many thousands of others were called upon to make. It does require, however, our best effort, and our willingness to believe in ourselves and to believe in our capacity to perform great deeds; to believe that together, with God's help, we can and will resolve the problems which now confront us.
我们今天面临的危机并不是要求我们作出像马丁托雷普托和其他数以千计人那样的牺牲，然而，它确实要求我们作出努力去工作，要求我们愿意相信自己，相信我们有能力干出伟大的事业：团结一致，在上帝的帮助下，能够并且一定会解决我们面临的种种问题。
And, after all, why shouldn't we believe that? We are Americans. God bless you, and thank you.
我们为什么不应该相信这一点呢？毕竟我们是美国人。愿上帝祝福你们。
