羅斯福于1945年在白宮的第四次就職演講

羅斯福于1945年在白宮的第四次就職演講 英文版

Saturday, January 20, 1945

Mr. Chief Justice, Mr. Vice President, my friends,

you will understand and, I believe, agree with my wish that the form of this inauguration be simple and its words brief.

We Americans of today, together with our allies, are passing through a period of supreme test. It is a test of our courage—of our resolve—of our wisdom—our essential democracy. If we meet that test—successfully and honorably—we shall perform a service of historic importance which men and women and children will honor throughout all time.

As I stand here today, having taken the solemn oath of office in the presence of my fellow countrymen—in the presence of our God—I know that it is America’s purpose that we shall not fail.

In the days and in the years that are to come we shall work for a just and honorable peace, a durable peace, as today we work and fight for total victory in war. We can and we will achieve such a peace.

We shall strive for perfection. We shall not achieve it immediately— but we still shall strive. We may make mistakes—but they must never be mistakes which result from faintness of heart or abandonment of moral principle.

I remember that my old schoolmaster, Dr. Peabody, said, in days that seemed to us then to be secure and untroubled: “Things in life will not always run smoothly. Sometimes we will be rising toward the heights—then all will seem to reverse itself and start downward. The great fact to remember is that the trend of civilization itself is forever upward; that a line drawn through the middle of the peaks and the valleys of the centuries always has an upward trend.”

Our Constitution of 1787 was not a perfect instrument; it is not perfect yet. But it provided a firm base upon which all manner of men, of all races and colors and creeds, could build our solid structure of democracy.

And so today, in this year of war, 1945, we have learned lessons—at a fearful cost—and we shall profit by them.

We have learned that we cannot live alone, at peace; that our own well-being is dependent on the well-being of other nations far away.

We have learned that we must live as men, not as ostriches, nor as dogs in the manger.

We have learned to be citizens of the world, members of the human community.

We have learned the simple truth, as Emerson said, that “The only way to have a friend is to be one.”

We can gain no lasting peace if we approach it with suspicion and mistrust or with fear. We can gain it only if we proceed with the understanding, the confidence, and the courage which flow from conviction.

The Almighty God has blessed our land in many ways. He has given our people stout hearts and strong arms with which to strike mighty blows for freedom and truth. He has given to our country a faith which has become the hope of all peoples in an anguished world.

So we pray to Him now for the vision to see our way clearly—to see the way that leads to a better life for ourselves and for all our fellow men—to the achievement of His will to peace on earth.

羅斯福于1945年在白宮的第四次就職演講 中文版

1945年1月20日，星期六

首席大法官先生、副總統(tǒng)先生、朋友們：

你們會(huì)理解，而且我相信也會(huì)贊同我的愿望，把這次就職典禮辦成一個(gè)簡(jiǎn)簡(jiǎn)單單的儀式，而我則只發(fā)表一個(gè)簡(jiǎn)短的演說(shuō)。

我們今天的美國(guó)人和我們的盟友一道，正經(jīng)歷一個(gè)最為嚴(yán)峻的考驗(yàn)時(shí)期。這是一次對(duì)我們的勇氣、決心和智慧的考驗(yàn)，也是一次對(duì)我們根本性的民主制的考驗(yàn)。我們?nèi)裟艹晒Χ鈽s地經(jīng)受住這次考驗(yàn)，那我們就可以創(chuàng)造具有重要?dú)v史意義的業(yè)績(jī)，受到人民世世代代的紀(jì)念。

今天，我佇立于此，在我國(guó)同胞的面前，在我們上帝的面前，進(jìn)行了莊嚴(yán)的就職宣誓。當(dāng)此之際，我深知美國(guó)的目標(biāo)要求我們決不能失敗。

在未來(lái)的歲月里，我們要致力于建設(shè)一種公正而光榮的和平，建設(shè)一種持久的和平，就像我們今天正在為戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)的徹底勝利而工作和戰(zhàn)斗一樣。我們能夠而且必將獲得這樣一種和平。

我們要為完美的局面而奮斗。我們不會(huì)馬上達(dá)到目標(biāo)，但我們?nèi)砸獮橹畩^斗。我們也許會(huì)犯下錯(cuò)誤，但我們決不能因?yàn)閱适б庵竞蛼仐壍懒x原則而犯錯(cuò)誤。

我記得，在我們似乎感到安穩(wěn)無(wú)憂的日子里，我們的老校長(zhǎng)皮博迪博士(注：皮博迪“Peabody”，羅斯福在馬薩諸塞州格羅頓中學(xué)時(shí)的校長(zhǎng)，對(duì)羅斯福影響很深，他曾于三十年后說(shuō)“校長(zhǎng)夫婦對(duì)我的影響僅次于我母親”。)說(shuō)過(guò)：“生活中的事情并不總是一帆風(fēng)順的。有時(shí)我們眼看就要登上頂峰，可是情況似乎很快急轉(zhuǎn)直下，又開(kāi)始走下坡路了。但我們要牢記一個(gè)重要事實(shí)：文明本身的趨向永遠(yuǎn)是向上的，如果從數(shù)個(gè)世紀(jì)的高峰和低谷之間劃出的中線來(lái)看，這條線一直都是呈上升趨勢(shì)的。”

我們1787年的憲法并不是一份完美無(wú)缺的文獻(xiàn)，而且它至今仍未盡善盡美。但它卻提供了一個(gè)堅(jiān)實(shí)的基礎(chǔ)，供不同種族、不同膚色、不同信仰的各式各樣的人們來(lái)建立一個(gè)牢固的民主大廈。

因此，在今天，在1945年這個(gè)戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)的年頭，我們用可怕的代價(jià)換取了若干教訓(xùn)，我們會(huì)從中獲益不淺。

我們懂得，單憑我們自己是無(wú)法生活在和平之中的，我們自己的富足有賴于相距遙遠(yuǎn)的其他國(guó)家的富足。

我們懂得，我們必須像人一樣生活，而不是作為鴕鳥(niǎo)，或是馬槽里的狗。(注：馬槽里的狗“dog sin the manger”，指自己不吃馬草料卻躺在馬槽里不讓馬吃的狗，典出《伊索寓言》。后指獨(dú)占財(cái)富而不與他人分享的人。)

我們懂得了要做世界的公民，要成為整個(gè)人類(lèi)社會(huì)的成員。

我們懂得了一個(gè)簡(jiǎn)單的真理，也就是愛(ài)默生(注：生卒1803—1882年，美國(guó)哲人，著有《論自助》、《人生法則》等。)所說(shuō)的：“只有當(dāng)朋友，才能交朋友。”

我們?cè)谥\求和平時(shí)，如果疑慮重重、互不信任和心懷畏懼，也就不能獲得持久的和平。只有滿懷來(lái)自于信念的理解、信任和勇氣而走向和平，我們才能獲得持久的和平。

全能的上帝一直以各種方式賜福于我們的國(guó)家。他賦予我們的人民堅(jiān)強(qiáng)的意志和有力的雙手，用以為自由和真理而打退各種強(qiáng)大的進(jìn)攻。他賦予我們的國(guó)家一種信仰，在一個(gè)苦難深重的世界里，這種信仰已成為各國(guó)人民的希望。

因此，我們現(xiàn)在向上帝祈禱，祈求它賜給我們遠(yuǎn)見(jiàn)，讓我們看清我們的道路——一條使我們自己和全人類(lèi)通向更加美好的生活的道路——一條通往實(shí)現(xiàn)上帝意愿和世界和平的道路。