Distinguished guests and my fellow citizens, the peaceful transfer of authority is rare in history, yet common in our country. With a simple oath, we affirm old tradition and make new beginnings.
I am honored and humbled to stand here, where so many of America's leaders have come before me, and so many will follow.
尊敬的來賓們，同胞們，政權(quán)的和平移交雖在歷史上實屬罕見，但在我國卻不足為奇。我們以簡單的誓言肯定老傳統(tǒng)，開創(chuàng)新未來。我站在這里感到榮幸和謙卑，許多美國領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人曾在我前面走過，還會有許多人相繼而來。
We have a place, all of us, in a long story - a story we continue, but whose end we will not see. 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 to possess, to defend but not to conquer.
It is the American story - a story of flawed and fallible people, united across the generations by grand and enduring ideals.
在我們國家漫長的傳奇歷程中我們有自己的位置，我們所有人都有自己的位置，我們將延續(xù)這個歷程，然而我們將看不到這個歷程的盡頭。這是一個新世界的繼往開來的歷程，一個由擁有奴隸的社會轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)槌缟凶杂傻纳鐣臍v程，一個強(qiáng)國保護(hù)世界而非占有世界、捍衛(wèi)世界而非征服世界的歷程。
這就是美國的傳奇歷程，一個并非完美無缺的民族的傳奇歷程，一個世世代代因偉大而永恒的理想團(tuán)結(jié)在一起的民族的傳奇歷程。
The grandest of these ideals is an unfolding American promise that everyone belongs to, that everyone deserves a
chance, that no insignificant person was ever born. Americans are called to enact this promise in our lives and in our laws. And though our nation has sometimes halted, and sometimes delayed, we must follow no other course.
While many of our citizens prosper, others doubt the promise, even the justice, of our own country. The ambitions of some Americans are limited by failing schools and hidden prejudice and the circumstances of their birth. And sometimes our differences run so deep that it seems we share a continent, but not a country.
We do not accept this, and we will not allow it. Our unity, our union, is the serious work of leaders and citizens in every generation.
這些理想中最偉大的理想是展現(xiàn)在世人面前的美國諾言，即人人都有位置，人人都有機(jī)會，沒有誰是微不足道之輩。美國人有責(zé)任在生活和法律中實踐這一諾言。雖然我們國家有時會停滯不前，有時彷徨遲延，但是我們決不選擇其他的道路。
在許多國人獲得成功的同時，也有一些人對我們國家的這個諾言，甚至對我們國家本身的公正，表示懷疑。衰退的學(xué)校教育、潛在的偏見以及出生的環(huán)境限制了一些美國人的進(jìn)取抱負(fù)。有時候我們之間分歧大得好象我們屬于一個大陸但不屬于一個國家。
上一篇：口譯例文——第二文化/Acquiring a Second Culture
下一篇：口譯例文——大學(xué)精神/The Ulniversity Spirit
微信公眾號搜索“譯員”關(guān)注我們，每天為您推送翻譯理論和技巧，外語學(xué)習(xí)及翻譯招聘信息。