小布什就职演讲稿中英版(2)

　　我们的公共利益依赖于我们独立的个性;依赖于我们的公民义务，家庭纽带和基本的公正;依赖于我们无数的、默默无闻的体面行动，正是它们指引我们走向自由。

　　在生活中，有时我们被召唤着去做一些惊天动地的事情。但是，正如我们时代的一位圣人所言，每一天我们都被召唤带着挚爱去做一些小事情。一个民主制度最重要的任务是由大家每一个人来完成的。

　　我为人处事的原则包括：坚信自己而不强加于人，为公众的利益勇往直前，追求正义而不乏同情心，勇担责任而决不推卸。我要通过这一切，用我们历史上传统价值观来哺育我们的时代。

　　(同胞们)，你们所做的一切和政府的工作同样重要。我希望你们不要仅仅追求个人享受而忽略公众的利益;要扞卫既定的改革措施，使其不会轻易被攻击;要从身边小事做起，为我们的国家效力。我希望你们成为真正的公民，而不是旁观者，更不是臣民。你们应成为有责任心的公民，共同来建设一个互帮互助的社会和有特色的国家。

　　美国人民慷慨、强大、体面，这并非因为我们信任我们自己，而是因为我们拥有超越我们自己的信念。一旦这种公民精神丧失了，无论何种政府计划都无法弥补它。一旦这种精神出现了，无论任何错误都无法抗衡它。

　　在《独立宣言》签署之后，弗吉尼亚州的政治家约翰?佩齐曾给托马斯?杰弗逊写信说：“我们知道，身手敏捷不一定就能赢得比赛，力量强大不一定就能赢得战争。难道这一切不都是上帝安排的吗?”

　　杰斐逊就任总统的那个年代离我们已经很远了。时光飞逝，美国发生了翻天覆地的变化。但是有一点他肯定能够预知，即我们这个时代的主题仍然是：我们国家无畏向前的恢宏故事和它追求尊严的纯朴梦想。

　　我们不是这个故事的作者，是杰斐逊作者本人的伟大理想穿越时空，并通过我们每天的努力在变为现实。我们正在通过大家的努力在履行着各自的职责。

　　带着永不疲惫、永不气馁、永不完竭的信念，今天我们重树这样的目标：使我们的国家变得更加公正、更加慷慨，去验证我们每个人和所有人生命的尊严。

　　这项工作必须继续下去。这个故事必须延续下去。上帝会驾驭我们航行的。

　　愿上帝保佑大家!愿上帝保佑美国!

　　布什就职演讲稿英版

　　President Clinton, 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 traditions and make new beginnings.

　　As I begin, I thank President Clinton for his service to our nation; and I thank Vice President Gore for a contest conducted with spirit and ended with grace.

　　I am honored and humbled to stand here, where so many of America's leaders have come before me, and so many will follow.

　　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 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. 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. Americans are called upon 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.

　　Through much of the last century, America's faith in freedom and democracy was a rock in a raging sea. Now it is a seed upon the wind, taking root in many nations. 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; and even after nearly 225 years, we have a long way yet to travel.

　　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, 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; and this is my solemn pledge, “I will work to build a single nation of justice and opportunity.” I know this is in our reach because we are guided by a power larger than ourselves who creates us equal in His image and we are confident in principles that unite and lead us onward.

　　America has never been united by blood or birth or soil. We are bound by ideals that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests and teach us what it means to be citizens. Every child must be taught these principles. Every citizen must uphold them; and every immigrant, by embracing these ideals, makes our country more, not less, American.

　　Today, we affirm a new commitment to live out our nation's promise through civility, courage, compassion and character. America, at its best, matches a commitment to principle with a concern for civility. A civil society demands from each of us good will and respect, fair dealing and forgiveness. Some seem to believe that our politics can afford to be petty because, in a time of peace, the stakes of our debates appear small. But the stakes for America are never small. If our country does not lead the cause of freedom, it will not be led. If we do not turn the hearts of children toward knowledge and character, we will lose their gifts and undermine their idealism. If we permit our economy to drift and decline, the vulnerable will suffer most. We must live up to the calling we share. Civility is not a tactic or a sentiment. It is the determined choice of trust over cynicism, of community over chaos. This commitment, if we keep it, is a way to shared accomplishment.

　　America, at its best, is also courageous. Our national courage has been clear in times of depression and war, when defending common dangers defined our common good. Now we must choose if the example of our fathers and mothers will inspire us or condemn us. We must show courage in a time of blessing by confronting problems instead of passing them on to future generations.