Bill Clinton's Farewell Address 克林顿告别演说(中英文)

《告别演说》- 英文原稿GEORGE WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS To the People of the United States. FRIENDS AND FELLOW-CITIZENS: The period for a new election of a citizen, to administer the executive government of the United States, b eing not far distant, and the time actually arrived, when y our thoughts must be employed designating the person, who is to be clothed with that important trust, it appears to me proper, especially as it may conduce to a more distinct e xpression of the public voice, that I should now apprize yo u of the resolution I have formed, to decline being conside red among the number of those out of whom a choice is to be made. I beg you at the same time to do me the justice to be assured that this resolution has not been t aken without a strict regard to all the considerations apper taining to the relation which binds a dutiful citizen to hi s country; and that in withdrawing the tender of service, w hich silence in my situation might imply, I am influenced b y no diminution of zeal for your future interest, no defici ency of grateful respect for your past kindness, but am sup ported by a full conviction that the step is compatible wit h both. The acceptance of, and continuance hitherto in, t he office to which your suffrages have twice called me, hav e been a uniform sacrifice of inclination to the opinion of duty, and to a deference for what appeared to be your de sire. I constantly hoped, that it would have been much earl ier in my power, consistently with motives, which I was not at liberty to disregard, to return to that retirement, fro m which I had been reluctantly drawn. The strength of my i nclination to do this, previous to the last election, had e ven led to the preparation of an address to declare it to you; but mature reflection on the then perplexed and criti cal posture of our affairs with foreign nations, and the un animous advice of persons entitled to my confidence impelled me to abandon the idea. I rejoice, that the state o f your concerns, external as well as internal, no longer re nders the pursuit of inclination incompatible with the sentim ent of duty, or propriety; and am persuaded, whatever partia lity may be retained for my services, that, in the present circumstances of our country, you will not disapprove my d etermination to retire. The impressions, with which I f irst undertook the arduous trust, were explained on the prop er occasion. In the discharge of this trust, I will only s ay, that I have, with good intentions, contributed towards the organization and administration of the government the best exertions of which a very fallible judgment was capable. N ot unconscious, in the outset, of the inferiority of my qua lifications, experience in my own eyes, perhaps still more i n the eyes of others, has strengthened the motives to diffi dence of myself; and every day the increasing weight of yea rs admonishes me more and more, that the shade of retiremen t is as necessary to me as it will be welcome. Satisfied, that, if any circumstances have given peculiar value to my services, they were temporary, I have the consolation to b elieve, that, while choice and prudence invite me to quit t he political scene, patriotism does not forbid it. In loo king forward to the moment, which is intended to terminate the career of my public life, my feelings do not permit me to suspend the deep acknowledgment of that debt of gratitu de, which I owe to my beloved country for the many honors it has conferred upon me; still more for the steadfast co nfidence with which it has supported me; and for the opport unities I have thence enjoyed of manifesting my inviolable a ttachment, by services faithful and persevering, though in us efulness unequal to my zeal. If benefits have resulted to o ur country from these services, let it always be remembered to your praise, and as an instructive example in our anna ls, that under circumstances in which the passions, agitated in every direction, were liable to mislead, amidst appearan ces sometimes dubious, vicissitudes of fortune often discourag ing, in situations in which not unfrequently want of success has countenanced the spirit of criticism, the constancy of your support was the essential prop of the efforts, and a guarantee of the plans by which they were effected. Profou ndly penetrated with this idea, I shall carry it with me t o my grave, as a strong incitement to unceasing vows that Heaven may continue to you the choicest tokens of its benef icence; that your union and brotherly affection may be perpe tual; that the free constitution, which is the work of your hands, may be sacredly maintained; that its administration in every department may be stamped with wisdom and virtue; than, in fine, the happiness of the people of these States, under the auspices of liberty, may be made complete, by s o careful a preservation and so prudent a use of this bles sing, as will acquire to them the glory of recommending it to the applause, the affection, and adoption of every nati on, which is yet a stranger to it. Here, perhaps I o ught to stop. But a solicitude for your welfare which cannot end but with my life, and the apprehension of danger, na tural to that solicitude, urge me, on an occasion like the present, to offer to your solemn contemplation, and to rec ommend to your frequent review, some sentiments which are th e result of much reflection, of no inconsiderable observation , and which appear to me all-important to the permanency of your felicity as a people. T hese will be offered to you with the more freedom, as you can only see in them the disinterested warnings of a part ing friend, who can possibly have no personal motive to bia s his counsel. Nor can I forget, as an encouragement to it , your indulgent reception of my sentiments on a former and not dissimilar occasion. Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every ligament of your hearts, no recommendati on of mine is necessary to fortify or confirm the attachmen t. The unity of Government, which constitutes you one peo ple, is also now dear to you. It is justly so; for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, t he support of your tranquillity at home, your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very Liberty, which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to foresee, that, from different causes and from different quarters, mu ch pains will be taken, many artifices employed, to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth; as this is the point in your political fortress against which the batterie s of internal and external enemies will be most constantly and actively (though often covertly and insidiously) directed, it is of infinite moment, that you should properly estimat e the immense value of your national Union to your collecti ve and individual happiness; that you should cherish a cordi al, habitual, and immovable attachment to it; accustoming you rselves to think and speak of it as of the Palladium of y our political safety and prosperity; watching for its preserv ation with jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may sugg est even a suspicion, that it can in any event be abandone d; and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the r est, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts. For this you have every inducement of sympathy and interest. Citizens, by birth or choice, of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections. The name of american, which belongs to yo u, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pr ide of Patriotism, more than any appellation derived from local discriminations. With slight shades of difference, you ha ve the same religion, manners, habits, and political principl es. You have in a common cause fought and triumphed togethe r; the Independence and Liberty you possess are the work of joint counsels, and joint efforts, of common dangers, suffe rings, and successes. But these considerations, however powerfully they address themselves to your sensibility, are g reatly outweighed by those, which apply more immediately to your interest. Here every portion of our country finds the most commanding motives for carefully guarding and preserving the Union of the whole. The North, in an unrestrained intercourse with the South, protected by the equal laws of a common government, finds, in the productions of the latter , great additional resources of maritime and commercial enter prise and precious materials of manufacturing industry. The S outh, in the same intercourse, benefiting by the agency of the North, sees its agriculture grow and its commerce expand . Turning partly into its own channels the seamen of the N orth, it finds its particular navigation invigorated; and, wh ile it contributes, in different ways, to nourish and increa se the general mass of the national navigation, it looks fo rward to the protection of a maritime strength, to which it self is unequally adapted. The East, in a like intercourse with the West, already finds, and in the progressive improve ment of interior communications by land and water, will more and more find, a valuable vent for the commodities which it brings from abroad, or manufactures at home. The West de rives from the East supplies requisite to its growth and co mfort, and, what is perhaps of still greater consequence, it must of necessity owe the secure enjoyment of indispensable outlets for its own productions to the weight, influence, and the future maritime strength of the Atlantic side of th e Union, directed by an indissoluble community of interest a s one nation. Any other tenure by which the West can hold this essential advantage, whether derived from its own sepa rate strength, or from an apostate and unnatural connexion w ith any foreign power, must be intrinsically precarious. While, then, every part of our country thus feels an imme diate and particular interest in Union, all the parts combin ed cannot fail to find in the united mass of means and ef forts greater strength, greater resource, proportionably greate r security from external danger, a less frequent interruption of their peace by foreign nations; and, what is of inesti mable value, they must derive from Union an exemption fromthose broils and wars between themselves, which so frequently afflict neighbouring countries not tied together by the sam e governments, which their own rivalships alone would be suf ficient to produce, but which opposite foreign alliances, att achments, and intrigues would stimulate and embitter. Hence, likewise, they will avoid the necessity of those overgrown m ilitary establishments, which, under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded a s particularly hostile to Republican Liberty. In this sense it is, that your Union ought to be considered as a main p rop of your liberty, and that the love of the one ought t o endear to you the preservation of the other. These con siderations speak a persuasive language to every reflecting a nd virtuous mind, and exhibit the continuance of the union as a primary object of Patriotic desire. Is there a doubt, whether a common government can embrace so large a sphere? Let experience solve it. To listen to mere speculation in such a case were criminal. We are authorized to hope, tha t a proper organization of the whole, with the auxiliary ag ency of governments for the respective subdivisions, will aff ord a happy issue to the experiment. It is well worth a f air and full experiment. With such powerful and obvious moti ves to Union, affecting all parts of our country, while exp erience shall not have demonstrated its impracticability, ther e will always be reason to distrust the patriotism of those , who in any quarter may endeavour to weaken its bands.In contemplating the causes, which may disturb our Union, it occurs as matter of serious concern, that any ground sho uld have been furnished for characterizing parties by Geograp hical discriminations, Northern and Southern, Atlantic and Wes tern; whence designing men may endeavour to excite a belief, that there is a real difference of local interests and vi ews. One of the expedients of party to acquire influence, w ithin particular districts, is to misrepresent the opinions a nd aims of other districts. You cannot shield yourselves too much against the jealousies and heart-burnings, which spring from these misrepresentations; they ten d to render alien to each other those, who ought to be bo und together by fraternal affection. The inhabitants of our western country have lately had a useful lesson on this hea d; they have seen, in the negotiation by the Executive, and in the unanimous ratification by the Senate, of the treaty with Spain, and in the universal satisfaction at that even t, throughout the United States, a decisive proof how unfounded were the suspicions propagated among them of a policy i n the General Government and in the Atlantic States unfriend ly to their interests in regard to the mississippi; they ha ve been witnesses to the formation of two treaties, that wi th Great Britain, and that with Spain, which secure to them every thing they could desire, in respect to our foreign relations, towards confirming their prosperity. Will it not b e their wisdom to rely for the preservation of these advant ages on the union by which they were procured? Will they n ot henceforth be deaf to those advisers, if such there are, who would sever them from their brethren, and connect them with aliens? To the efficacy and permanency of your Uni on, a Government for the whole is indispensable. No alliance s, however strict, between the parts can be an adequate sub stitute; they must inevitably experience the infractions and interruptions, which all alliances in all times have experien ced. Sensible of this momentous truth, you have improved upo n your first essay, by the adoption of a Constitution of G overnment better calculated than your former for an intimate Union, and for the efficacious management of your common c oncerns. This Government, the offspring of our own choice, u ninfluenced and unawed, adopted upon full investigation and m ature deliberation, completely free in its principles, in the distribution of its powers, uniting security with energy, a nd containing within itself a provision for its own amendmen t, has a just claim to your confidence and your support. R espect for its authority, compliance with its laws, acquiesce nce in its measures, are duties enjoined by the fundamental maxims of true Liberty. The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their C onstitutions of Government. But the Constitution which at any time exists, till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all. The very idea of the power and the right of the people to e stablish Government presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established Government. All obstructions to th e execution of the Laws, all combinations and associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency. They ser ve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extrao rdinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation, the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community; and, accordin g to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make t he public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than th e organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common counsels, and modified by mutual interests. However combi nations or associations of the above description may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunn ing, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subv ert the power of the people, and to usurp for themselves t he reins of government; destroying afterwards the very engine s, which have lifted them to unjust dominion. Towards th e preservation of your government, and the permanency of you r present happy state, it is requisite, not only that you steadily discountenance irregular oppositions to its acknowledg ed authority, but also that you resist with care the spirit of innovation upon its principles, however specious the pre texts. One method of assault may be to effect, in the form s of the constitution, alterations, which will impair the en ergy of the system, and thus to undermine what cannot be d irectly overthrown. In all the changes to which you may be invited, remember that time and habit are at least as nec essary to fix the true character of governments, as of othe r human institutions; that experience is the surest standard, by which to test the real tendency of the existing consti tution of a country; that facility in changes, upon the cre dit of mere hypothesis and opinion, exposes to perpetual cha nge, from the endless variety of hypothesis and opinion; and remember, especially, that, for the efficient management of our common interests, in a country so extensive as ours, a government of as much vigor as is consistent with the pe rfect security of liberty is indispensable. Liberty itself wi ll find in such a government, with powers properly distribut ed and adjusted, its surest guardian. It is, indeed, little else than a name, where the government is too feeble to withstand the enterprises of faction, to confine each member of the society within the limits prescribed by the laws, and to maintain all in the secure and tranquil enjoyment of the rights of person and property. I have already in timated to you the danger of parties in the state, with pa rticular reference to the founding of them on geographical d iscriminations. Let me now take a more comprehensive view, a nd warn you in the most solemn manner against the banefuleffects of the spirit of party, generally. This spirit, u nfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists un der different shapes in all governments, more or less stifle d, controlled, or repressed; but, in those of the popular f orm, it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly the ir worst enemy. The alternate domination of one faction o ver another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightf ul despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal an d permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries, which resu lt, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this dispositio n to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of P ublic Liberty. Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind, (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely ou t of sight,) the common and continual mischiefs of the spir it of party are sufficient to make it the interest and dut y of a wise people to discourage and restrain it. It se rves always to distract the Public Councils, and enfeeble th e Public Administration. It agitates the Community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and ins urrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corrup tion, which find a facilitated access to the government itse lf through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy an d will of another. There is an opinion, that parties in free countries are useful checks upon the administration of the Government, and serve to keep alive the spirit of Lib erty. This within certain limits is probably true; and in G overnments of a Monarchical cast, Patriotism may look with i ndulgence, if not with favor, upon the spirit of party. But in those of the popular character, in Governments purely e lective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged. From their n atural tendency, it is certain there will always be enough of that spirit for every salutary purpose. And, there being constant danger of excess, the effort ought to be, by for ce of public opinion, to mitigate and assuage it. A fire n ot to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to preven t its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warming, itshould consume. It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution, in those intrusted with its administration, to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach up on another. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to crea te, whatever the form of government, a real despotism. A ju st estimate of that love of power, and proneness to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position. The necessity o f reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing and distributing it into different depositories, and constituting each the Guardian of the Public Weal against invasions by the others, has been evinced by experiments anc ient and modern; some of them in our country and under our own eyes. To preserve them must be as necessary as to in stitute them. If, in the opinion of the people, the distrib ution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way, which the constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for, though this, in one instance , may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapo n by which free governments are destroyed. The precedent mus t always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial o r transient benefit, which the use can at any time yield. Of all the dispositions and habits, which lead to political prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, w ho should labor to subvert these great pillars of human hap piness, these firmest props of the duties of Men and Citize ns. The mere Politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace a ll their connexions with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked, Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation d esert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in Courts of Justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined educa tion on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience b oth forbid us to expect, that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. It is substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or les s force to every species of free government. Who, that is a sincere friend to it, can look with indifference upon att empts to shake the foundation of the fabric ? Promote, t hen, as an object of primary importance, institutions for th e general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the struc ture of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened. As a very important source of strength and security, cherish pub lic credit. One method of preserving it is, to use it as sparingly as possible; avoiding occasions of expense by culti vating peace, but remembering also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent much greater disburs ements to repel it; avoiding likewise the accumulation of de bt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigor ous exertions in time of peace to discharge the debts, whic h unavoidable wars may have occasioned, not ungenerously thro wing upon posterity the burthen, which we ourselves ought to bear. The execution of these maxims belongs to your repres entatives, but it is necessary that public opinion should co operate. To facilitate to them the performance of their duty , it is essential that you should practically bear in mind, that towards the payment of debts there must be Revenue; that to have Revenue there must be taxes; that no taxes ca n be devised, which are not more or less inconvenient and unpleasant; that the intrinsic embarrassment, inseparable from the selection of the proper objects (which is always a ch oice of difficulties), ought to be a decisive motive for a candid construction of the conduct of the government in ma king it, and for a spirit of acquiescence in the measures for obtaining revenue, which the public exigencies may at an y time dictate. Observe good faith and justice towards al l Nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all. Religion an d Morality enjoin this conduct; and can it be, that good p olicy does not equally enjoin it? It will be worthy of a free, enlightened, and, at no distant period, a great Nation , to give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a people always guided by an exalted justice and benev olence. Who can doubt, that, in the course of time and thi ngs, the fruits of such a plan would richly repay any temp orary advantages, which might be lost by a steady adherence to it ? Can it be, that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a Nation with its Virtue? The experi ment, at least, is recommended by every sentiment which ennobles human nature. Alas! is it rendered impossible by its v ices ? In the execution of such a plan, nothing is m ore essential, than that permanent, inveterate antipathies aga inst particular Nations, and passionate attachments for others , should be excluded; and that, in place of them, just and amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated. The Nat ion, which indulges towards another an habitual hatred, or a n habitual fondness, is in some degree a slave. It is a s lave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its in terest. Antipathy in one nation against another disposes each more readily to offer insult and injury, to lay hold of slight causes of umbrage, and to be haughty and intractable, when accidental or trifling occasions of dispute occur. Hen ce frequent collisions, obstinate, envenomed, and bloody conte sts. The Nation, prompted by ill-will and resentment, sometimes impels to war the Government, contrary to the best calculations of policy. The Government sometimes participates in the national propensity, and adopt s through passion what reason would reject; at other times, it makes the animosity of the nation subservient to projec ts of hostility instigated by pride, ambition, and other sin ister and pernicious motives. The peace often, sometimes perh aps the liberty, of Nations has been the victim. So like wise, a passionate attachment of one Nation for another prod uces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite Nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest, in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing i nto one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter, w ithout adequate inducement or justification. It leads also to concessions to the favorite Nation of privileges denied to others, which is apt doubly to injure the Nation making t he concessions; by unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been retained; and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a disposition to retaliate, in the parties from w hom equal privileges are withheld. And it gives to ambitious , corrupted, or deluded citizens, (who devote themselves to the favorite nation,) facility to betray or sacrifice the in terests of their own country, without odium, sometimes even with popularity; gilding, with the appearances of a virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference for public opi nion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base or fool ish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation. As。

就职演讲（克林顿1993年1月20日）同胞们，今天我们庆祝振兴美国这件令人感到异常惊奇的事。

尽管这个仪式在隆冬举行，但是，我们所说的话，我们向全世界所显示的面貌，将促使春天的早日来临。

春天重新降临到这个世界上最古老的民主国家，它给我们带来了重新塑造美国的构想和勇气。

当我们的缔造者们大胆地向全世界宣布美国的独立，向上帝宣布我们的目的时，他们知道，美国要长久地存在下去，就必须改革。

我们不是为改革而改革，而是为了保持美国的理想——生活、自由和追求幸福。

虽然我们伴随着时代的乐曲前进，我们的使命却是永恒的。

每一代美国人都必须明确作为一个美国人意味着什么。

我的前任布什总统为美国服务了半个世纪，在此，我代表我们的国家向他致以崇高的敬意。

我还要向千百万人民表示感谢，他们以坚定的信念和牺牲战胜了经济萧条、法西斯主义。

今天，在冷战的阴影下成长起来的一代人在世界上已肩负起新的责任。

这个世界虽然沐浴在自由的阳光下，但仍然面临着旧的仇恨和新的灾祸的威胁。

我们在无与伦比的繁荣中成长，继承了一个仍然是世界上最强大经济，但是，商业失败、工资停滞、不平等加剧，以及我们自己的人民四分五裂，削弱了这个经济。

当乔治华盛顿第一次发出我刚才宣誓信守的誓言时，消息缓慢地通过骑马传遍大陆和乘船漂洋过海。

而今，这个仪式的情景和声音可以立即向全世界数十亿人广播。

通讯和商业是全球性的，投资是流动性的，技术几乎是神秘的，而要求改善生活的强烈愿望是全世界人民共同的。

今天，我们美国人是和全世界人民在和平竞争中谋求我们的生计。

各种根深蒂固和强大的势力正在动摇和重新塑造我们的世界。

我们时代迫切需要解决的问题是，我们能否使改革成为我们的朋友，而不是我们的敌人。

尽管这个新的世界已经使千百万能够在其中竞争并取胜的美国人富裕起来了，但是，在大多数人更加拼命地工作而收入却在减少的时候，在还有人根本找不到工作的时候，在卫生保健费用使许多人倾家荡产、使大大小小的企业行将倒闭的时候，在恐惧犯罪而使奉公守法的公民丧失自由的时候，在千百万贫困儿童甚至难以想象我们正召唤他们去过的那种生活的时候，我们却还没有使改革成为我们的朋友。

希拉⾥.克林顿总统竞选退职演讲（英⽂） Transcript of Hillary Clinton’s Speech Hillary Clinton delivered the following remarks in Washington, D.C., on Saturday: Thank you so much. Thank you all. Well, this isn’t exactly the party I’d planned, but I sure like the company. I want to start today by saying how grateful I am to all of you to everyone who poured your hearts and your hopes into this campaign, who drove for miles and lined the streets waving homemade signs, who scrimped and saved to raise money, who knocked on doors and made calls, who talked and sometimes argued with your friends and neighbors, who emailed and contributed online, who invested so much in our common enterprise, to the moms and dads who came to our events, who lifted their little girls and little boys on their shoulders and whispered in their ears, "See, you can be anything you want to be." To the young people like 13 year-old Ann Riddle from Mayfield, Ohio who had been saving for two years to go to Disney World, and decided to use her savings instead to travel to Pennsylvania with her Mom and volunteer there as well. To the veterans and the childhood friends, to New Yorkers and Arkansans who traveled across the country and telling anyone who would listen why you supported me. To all those women in their 80s and their 90s born before women could vote who cast their votes for our campaign. I’ve told you before about Florence Steen of South Dakota, who was 88 years old, and insisted that her daughter bring an absentee ballot to her hospice bedside. Her daughter and a friend put an American flag behind her bed and helped her fill out the ballot. She passed away soon after, and under state law, her ballot didn’t count. But her daughter later told a reporter, "My dad’s an ornery old cowboy, and he didn’t like it when he heard mom’s vote wouldn’t be counted. I don’t think he had voted in 20 years. But he voted in place of my mom." To all those who voted for me, and to whom I pledged my utmost, my commitment to you and to the progress we seek is unyielding. You have inspired and touched me with the stories of the joys and sorrows that make up the fabric of our lives and you have humbled me with your commitment to our country. 18 million of you from all walks of life – women and men, young and old, Latino and Asian, African-American and Caucasian, rich, poor and middle class, gay and straight – you have stood strong with me. And I will continue to stand strong with you, every time, every place, and every way that I can. The dreams we share are worth fighting for. Remember - we fought for the single mom with a young daughter, juggling work and school, who told me, "I’m doing it all to better myself for her." We fought for the woman who grabbed my hand, and asked me, "What are you going to do to make sure I have health care?" and began to cry because even though she works three jobs, she can’t afford insurance. We fought for the young man in the Marine Corps t-shirt who waited months for medical care and said, "Take care of my buddies over there and then, will you please help take care of me?" We fought for all those who’ve lost jobs and health care, who can’t afford gas or groceries or college, who have felt invisible to their president these last seven years. I entered this race because I have an old-fashioned conviction: that public service is about helping people solve their problems and live their dreams. I’ve had every opportunity and blessing in my own life – and I want the same for all Americans. Until that day comes, you will always find me on the front lines of democracy – fighting for the future. The way to continue our fight now – to accomplish the goals for which we stand – is to take our energy, our passion, our strength and do all we can to help elect Barack Obama the next President of the United States. Today, as I suspend my campaign, I congratulate him on the victory he has won and the extraordinary race he has run. I endorse him, and throw my full support behind him. And I ask all of you to join me in working as hard for Barack Obama as you have for me. I have served in the Senate with him for four years. I have been in this campaign with him for 16 months. I have stood on the stage and gone toe-to-toe with him in 22 debates. I have had a front row seat to his candidacy, and I have seen his strength and determination, his grace and his grit. In his own life, Barack Obama has lived the American Dream. As a community organizer, in the state senate, as a United States Senator - he has dedicated himself to ensuring the dream is realized. And in this campaign, he has inspired so many to become involved in the democratic process and invested in our common future. Now when I started this race, I intended to win back the White House, and make sure we have a president who puts our country back on the path to peace, prosperity, and progress. And that’s exactly what we’re going to do by ensuring that Barack Obama walks through the doors of the Oval Office on January 20, 2009. I understand that we all know this has been a tough fight. The Democratic Party is a family, and it’s now time to restore the ties that bind us together and to come together around the ideals we share, the values we cherish, and the country we love. We may have started on separate journeys – but today, our paths have merged. And we are all heading toward the same destination, united and more ready than ever to win in November and to turn our country around because so much is at stake. We all want an economy that sustains the American Dream, the opportunity to work hard and have that work rewarded, to save for college, a home and retirement, to afford that gas and those groceries and still have a little left over at the end of the month. An economy that lifts all of our people and ensures that our prosperity is broadly distributed and shared. We all want a health care system that is universal, high quality, and affordable so that parents no longer have to choose between care for themselves or their children or be stuck in dead end jobs simply to keep their insurance. This isn’t just an issue for me it is a passion and a cause and it is a fight I will continue until every single American is insured no exceptions, no excuses. We all want an America defined by deep and meaningful equality from civil rights to labor rights, from women’s rights to gay rights, from ending discrimination to promoting unionization to providing help for the most important job there is: caring for our families. We all want to restore America’s standing in the world, to end the war in Iraq and once again lead by the power of our values, and to join with our allies to confront our shared challenges from poverty and genocide to terrorism and global warming. You know, I’ve been involved in politics and public life in one way or another for four decades. During those forty years, our country has voted ten times for President. Democrats won only three of those times. And the man who won two of those elections is with us today. We made tremendous progress during the 90s under a Democratic President, with a flourishing economy, and our leadership for peace and security respected around the world. Just think how much more progress we could have made over the past 40 years if we had a Democratic president. Think about the lost opportunities of these past seven years on the environment and the economy, on health care and civil rights, on education, foreign policy and the Supreme Court. Imagine how far we could’ve come, how much we could’ve achieved if we had just had a Democrat in the White House.We cannot let this moment slip away. We have come too far and accomplished too much. Now the journey ahead will not be easy. Some will say we can’t do it. That it’s too hard. That we’re just not up to the task. But for as long as America has existed, it has been the American way to reject "can’t do" claims, and to choose instead to stretch the boundaries of the possible through hard work, determination, and a pioneering spirit. It is this belief, this optimism, that Senator Obama and I share, and that has inspired so many millions of our supporters to make their voices heard. So today, I am standing with Senator Obama to say: Yes we can. Together we will work. We’ll have to work hard to get universal health care. But on the day we live in an America where no child, no man, and no woman is without health insurance, we will live in a stronger America. That’s why we need to help elect Barack Obama our President. We’ll have to work hard to get back to fiscal responsibility and a strong middle class. But on the day we live in an America whose middle class is thriving and growing again, where all Americans, no matter where they live or where their ancestors came from, can earn a decent living, we will live in a stronger America and that is why we must elect Barack Obama our President. We’ll have to work hard to foster the innovation that makes us energy independent and lift the threat of global warming from our children’s future. But on the day we live in an America fueled by renewable energy, we will live in a stronger America. That’s why we have to help elect Barack Obama our President. We’ll have to work hard to bring our troops home from Iraq, and get them the support they’ve earned by their service. But on the day we live in an America that’s as loyal to our troops as they have been to us, we will live in a stronger America and that is why we must help elect Barack Obama our President. This election is a turning point election and it is critical that we all understand what our choice really is. Will we go forward together or will we stall and slip backwards. Think how much progress we have already made. When we first started, people everywhere asked the same questions: Could a woman really serve as Commander-in-Chief? Well, I think we answered that one. And could an African American really be our President? Senator Obama has answered that one. Together Senator Obama and I achieved milestones essential to our progress as a nation, part of our perpetual duty to form a more perfect union. Now, on a personal note when I was asked what it means to be a woman running for President, I always gave the same answer: that I was proud to be running as a woman but I was running because I thought I’d be the best President. But I am a woman, and like millions of women, I know there are still barriers and biases out there, often unconscious. I want to build an America that respects and embraces the potential of every last one of us. I ran as a daughter who benefited from opportunities my mother never dreamed of. I ran as a mother who worries about my daughter’s future and a mother who wants to lead all children to brighter tomorrows. To build that future I see, we must make sure that women and men alike understand the struggles of their grandmothers and mothers, and that women enjoy equal opportunities, equal pay, and equal respect. Let us resolve and work toward achieving some very simple propositions: There are no acceptable limits and there are no acceptable prejudices in the twenty-first century. You can be so proud that, from now on, it will be unremarkable for a woman to win primary state victories, unremarkable to have a woman in a close race to be our nominee, unremarkable to think that a woman can be the President of the United States. And that is truly remarkable. To those who are disappointed that we couldn’t go all the way especially the young people who put so much into this campaign it would break my heart if, in falling short of my goal, I in any way discouraged any of you from pursuing yours. Always aim high, work hard, and care deeply about what you believe in. When you stumble, keep faith. When you’re knocked down, get right back up. And never listen to anyone who says you can’t or shouldn’t go on. As we gather here today in this historic magnificent building, the 50th woman to leave this Earth is orbiting overhead. If we can blast 50 women into space, we will someday launch a woman into the White House.Although we weren’t able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it’s got about 18 million cracks in it. And the light is shining through like never before, filling us all with the hope and the sure knowledge that the path will be a little easier next time. That has always been the history of progress in America.Think of the suffragists who gathered at Seneca Falls in 1848 and those who kept fighting until women could cast their votes. Think of the abolitionists who struggled and died to see the end of slavery. Think of the civil rights heroes and foot-soldiers who marched, protested and risked their lives to bring about the end to segregation and Jim Crow. Because of them, I grew up taking for granted that women could vote. Because of them, my daughter grew up taking for granted that children of all colors could go to school together. Because of them, Barack Obama and I could wage a hard fought campaign for the Democratic nomination. Because of them, and because of you, children today will grow up taking for granted that an African American or a woman can yes, become President of the United States. When that day arrives and a woman takes the oath of office as our President, we will all sta n d t a l l e r , p r o u d o f t h e v a l u e s o f o u r n a t i o n , p r o u d t h a t e v e r y l i t t l e g i r l c a n d r e a m a n d t h a t h e r d r e a m s c a n c o m e t r u e i n A m e r i c a . A n d a l l o f y o u w i l l k n o w t h a t b e c a u s e o f y o u r p a s s i o n a n d h a r d w o r k y o u h e l p e d p a v e t h e w a y f o r t h a t d a y . b r > 0 0 S o I w a n t t o s a y t o m y s u p p o r t e r s , w h e n y o u h e a r p e o p l e s a y i n g o r t h i n k t o y o u r s e l f " i f o n l y " o r " w h a t i f , " I s a y , " p l e a s e d o n t g o t h e r e . " E v e r y m o m e n t w a s t e d l o o k i n g b a c k k e e p s u s f r o m m o v i n g f o r w a r d . b r > 0 0 L i f e i s t o o s h o r t , t i m e i s t o o p r e c i o u s , a n d t h e s t a k e s a r e t o o h i g h t o d w e l l o n w h a t m i g h t h a v e b e e n . W e h a v e t o w o r k t o g e t h e r f o r w h a t s t i l l c a n b e . A n d t h a t i s w h y I w i l l w o r k m y h e a r t o u t t o m a k e s u r e t h a t S e n a t o r O b a m a i s o u r n e x t P r e s i d e n t a n d I h o p e a n d p r a y t h a t a l l o f y o u w i l l j o i n m e i n t h a t e f f o r t . b r > 0 0 T o m y s u p p o r t e r s a n d c o l l e a g u e s i n C o n g r e s s , t o t h e g o v e r n o r s a n d m a y o r s , e l e c t e d o f f i c i a l s w h o s t o o d w i t h m e , i n g o o d t i m e s a n d i n b a d , t h a n k y o u f o r y o u r s t r e n g t h a n d l e a d e r s h i p . T o m y f r i e n d s i n o u r l a b o r u n i o n s w h o s t o o d s t r o n g e v e r y s t e p o f t h e w a y I t h a n k y o u a n d p l e d g e m y s u p p o r t t o y o u . T o m y f r i e n d s , f r o m e v e r y s t a g e o f m y l i f e y o u r l o v e a n d o n g o i n g c o m m i t m e n t s s u s t a i n m e e v e r y s i n g l e d a y . T o m y f a m i l y e s p e c i a l l y B i l l a n d C h e l s e a a n d m y m o t h e r , y o u m e a n t h e w o r l d t o m e a n d I t h a n k y o u f o r a l l y o u h a v e d o n e . A n d t o m y e x t r a o r d i n a r y s t a f f , v o l u n t e e r s a n d s u p p o r t e r s , t h a n k y o u f o r w o r k i n g t h o s e l o n g , h a r d h o u r s . T h a n k y o u f o r d r o p p i n g e v e r y t h i n g l e a v i n g w o r k o r s c h o o l t r a v e l i n g t o p l a c e s y o u d n e v e r b e e n , s o m e t i m e s f o r m o n t h s o n e n d . A n d t h a n k s t o y o u r f a m i l i e s a s w e l l b e c a u s e y o u r s a c r i f i c e w a s t h e i r s t o o . b r > 0 0 A l l o f y o u w e r e t h e r e f o r m e e v e r y s t e p o f t h e w a y . B e i n g h u m a n , w e a r e i m p e r f e c t . T h a t s w h y w e n e e d e a c h o t h e r . T o c a t c h e a c h o t h e r w h e n w e f a l t e r . T o e n c o u r a g e e a c h o t h e r w h e n w e l o s e h e a r t . S o m e m a y l e a d ; o t h e r s m a y f o l l o w ; b u t n o n e o f u s c a n g o i t a l o n e . T h e c h a n g e s w e r e w o r k i n g f o r a r e c h a n g e s t h a t w e c a n o n l y a c c o m p l i s h t o g e t h e r . L i f e , l i b e r t y , a n d t h e p u r s u i t o f h a p p i n e s s a r e r i g h t s t h a t b e l o n g t o e a c h o f u s a s i n d i v i d u a l s . B u t o u r l i v e s , o u r f r e e d o m , o u r h a p p i n e s s , a r e b e s t e n j o y e d , b e s t p r o t e c t e d , a n d b e s t a d v a n c e d w h e n w e d o w o r k t o g e t h e r . b r > 0 0 T h a t i s w h a t w e w i l l d o n o w a s w e j o i n f o r c e s w i t h S e n a t o r O b a m a a n d h i s c a m p a i g n . W e w i l l m a k e h i s t o r y t o g e t h e r a s w e w r i t e t h e n e x t c h a p t e r i n A m e r i c a s s t o r y . W e w i l l s t a n d u n i t e d f o r t h e v a l u e s w e h o l d d e a r , f o r t h e v i s i o n o f p r o g r e s s w e s h a r e , a n d f o r t h e c o u n t r y w e l o v e . T h e r e i s n o t h i n g m o r e A m e r i c a n t h a n t h a t . b r > 0 0 A n d l o o k i n g o u t a t y o u t o d a y , I h a v e n e v e r f e l t s o b l e s s e d . T h e c h a l l e n g e s t h a t I h a v e f a c e d i n t h i s c a m p a i g n a r e n o t h i n g c o m p a r e d t o t h o s e t h a t m i l l i o n s o f A m e r i c a n s f a c e e v e r y d a y i n t h e i r o w n l i v e s . S o t o d a y , I m g o i n g t o c o u n t m y b l e s s i n g s a n d k e e p o n g o i n g . I m g o i n g t o k e e p d o i n g w h a t I w a s d o i n g l o n g b e f o r e t h e c a m e r a s e v e r s h o w e d u p a n d w h a t I l l b e d o i n g l o n g a f t e r t h e y r e g o n e : W o r k i n g t o g i v e e v e r y A m e r i c a n t h e s a m e o p p o r t u n i t i e s I h a d , a n d w o r k i n g t o e n s u r e t h a t e v e r y c h i l d h a s t h e c h a n c e t o g r o w u p a n d a c h i e v e h i s o r h e r G o d - g i v e n p o t e n t i a l . b r > 0 0 I w i l l d o i t w i t h a h e a r t f i l l e d w i t h g r a t i t u d e , w i t h a d e e p a n d a b i d i n g l o v e f o r o u r c o u n t r y a n d w i t h n o t h i n g b u t o p t i m i s m a n d c o n f i d e n c e f o r t h e d a y s a h e a d . T h i s i s n o w o u r t i m e t o d o a l l t h a t w e c a n t o m a k e s u r e t h a t i n t h i s e l e c t i o n w e a d d a n o t h e r D e m o c r a t i c p r e s i d e n t t o t h a t v e r y s m a l l l i s t o f t h e l a s t 4 0 y e a r s a n d t h a t w e t a k e b a c k o u r c o u n t r y a n d o n c e a g a i n m o v e w i t h p r o g r e s s a n d c o m m i t m e n t t o t h e f u t u r e . b r > 0 0 T h a n k y o u a l l a n d G o d b l e s s y o u a n d G o d b l e s s A m e r i c a .。

narco-trafficking, the spread of deadly weapons and disease, the degradation of the global environment.The expansion of trade hasn't fully closed the gap between those of us who live on the cutting edge of the global economy and the billions around the world who live on the knife's edge of survival. This global gap requires more than compassion. It requires action. Global poverty is a powder keg that could be ignited by our indifference.In his first inaugural address, Thomas Jefferson warned of entangling alliances. But in our times, America cannot and must not disentangle itself from the world. If we want the world to embody our shared values, then we must assume a shared responsibility.If the wars of the 20th century, especially the recent ones in Kosovo and Bosnia, have taught us anything, it is that we achieve our aims by defending our values and leading the forces of freedom and peace. We must embrace boldly and resolutely that duty to lead, to stand with our allies in word and deed, and to put a human face on the global economy so that expanded trade benefits all people in all nations, lifting lives and hopes all across the world.Third, we must remember that America cannot lead in the world unless here at home we weave the threads of our coat of many colors into the fabric of one America. As we become ever more diverse, we must work harder to unite around our common values and our common humanity.We must work harder to overcome our differences. In our hearts and in our laws, we must treat all our people with fairness and dignity, regardless of their race, religion, gender or sexual orientation and regardless of when they arrived in our country, always moving toward the more perfect union of our founders' dreams.Hillary, Chelsea and I join all Americans in wishing our very best to the next president, George W. Bush, to his family and his administration in meeting these challenges and in leading freedom's march in this new century.As for me, I'll leave the presidency more idealistic, more full of hope than the day I arrived and more confident than ever that America's best days lie ahead.My days in this office are nearly through, but my days of service, I hope, are not. In the years ahead, I will never hold a position higher or a covenant more sacred than that of president of the United States. But there is no title I will wear more proudly than that of citizen.Thank you. God bless you, and God bless America."同胞们，今晚是我最后一次作为你们的总统，在白宫椭圆形办公室向你们做最后一次演讲。

美国前总统克林顿在哈佛大学2007年毕业纪念日上的演讲June 6, 2007Remarks of former U.S. President Bill ClintonHarvard College Class Day 2007, Harvard YardFormer President Bill Clinton【原文】Thank you very much, Samantha, Stephanie, Chris, all the marshals, all the student speakers. Thanks for the gags and the jokes, and you know, when I got invited to do this, it was humbling in some ways. They asked Bill Gates to be the Commencement speaker. He's got more money than I do [LAUGHTER] and he went to Harvard. And I brought my friend Glenn Hutchins here with me, who's at his 30th reunion and he had something to do with overseeing the endowment and he explained that Gates was really, really, really rich and I was just rich [LAUGHTER]. And then I thought, well, the students asked me and that's good and besides, I don't have to wear a robe.But I couldn’t figure out why on what is supposed to be a festive and informal day, you would pick a gray-haired 60-year-old to speak.Following the great tradition of Al Franken, Will Ferrell [LAUGHTER], Borat or Ali G or whoever he was that day [LAUGHTER]. Conan O'Brien, that Family Guy person. What a tradition. So I did like Talladega Nights, however. Then I was reading all I could find out about the class and I thought well, they don't have any fun today. They already had fun. They had this class-wide Risk tournament around exam time [LAUGHTER]. And I understood when I heard the followership speech, I understood why you had that. Now you can all run for president. You played Risk. It's an eight-year Risk tournament. Then I thought well, maybe it's because you're about to name Drew Faust your next president, and I think women should run everything now [LAUGHTER]. And then I figure maybe it's just because Robin Williams and Billy Crystal turned you down [LAUGHTER]. But for whatever reason, we're here and I have had a really good time [LAUGHTER].You've already heard most of what you need to hear today, I think. But I want to focus for a minute on the fact that these graduating classes since 1968 have invited a few non-comedians. First was Martin Luther King [APPLAUSE], who was killed in April before. I remember that very well because it was my senior year at Georgetown. He was killed in April, before he could come and give the speech. And Coretta came and gave the speech for him here. And you’ve had Mother Teresa and you've had Bono. What do they all have in common? They are symbols of our common humanity and a rebuke even to humorists' cynicism. Martin Luther King basically said he lived the way he did because we were all caught in what he called an inescapable web of mutuality. Nelson Mandela, the world's greatest living example of that, I believe,comes from a tribe in South Africa, the Xhosa, who call it ubuntu. In English, I am because you are. That led Mother Teresa from Albania to spend her life with the poorest people on earth in Calcutta. It led Bono from his rock stage to worry about innocent babies dying of AIDS, and poor people with good minds who never got a chance to follow their dreams. This is a really fascinating time to be a college senior. I was looking at all of you, wishing I could start over again and thinking I'd let you be president if you let me be 21 [LAUGHTER].I'd take a chance on making it all over again if I could do it again. But I think, just think what an exciting time it is. All this explosion of knowledge. Just in the last couple of weeks before I came here, I read that thanks to the sequencing of the human genome, the ongoing research has identified two markers which seem to be high predictors of diabetes, which, as you heard, is a very important thing to me because it's now predicted that one in three children born in the United States in this decade will develop diabetes. We run the risk that we could be raising a first generation of kids to live shorter lives than their parents. Not because we're hungry, but because we don't eat the right things and we don't exercise. But this is a big deal. Then right after that, I saw that through our powerful telescopes we have identified a planet orbiting one of the hundred stars closest to our solar system, that appears to have the atmospheric conditions so similar to ours that life could actually be possible there. Alas, even though it's close to us in terms of the great universe, it's still 20 million light-years away. Unreachable in the lifetime of any young person. So unless there's a budding astrophysicist in the class that wants to get married in a hurry and then commit three generations and take another couple with him, we'll have to wait for them to come to us. It's an exciting time.It's also exciting because of all the diversity. If you look around this audience, I was thinking, I wonder how different this crowd would have looked if someone like me had been giving this speech 30 years ago. And how much more interesting it is for all of us.It’s a frustrating time, because for all the opportunity, there’s a lot of inequality. There’s a lot of insecurity and there’s a lot of instability and un sustainability. Half the world’s people still live on less than two bucks a day. A billion on less than a dollar a day. A billion people go to bed hungry tonight. A billion people won’t get a clean glass of water today or any day in their lives. One in four of all the people who die this year will die from AIDS, TB, malaria and infections related to dirty water. Nobody in America dies of any of that except people whose AIDS medicine doesn’t work anymore, or people who decline to follow the prescribed regime.In the United States in the last decade, we have had six years of economic growth, an all-time high in the stock market, a 40-year high in corporate profits. Workers are doing better every year with productivity, but median wages are stagnant. And there’s actually been in all this so-called recovery a 4 percent increase in the percentage ofpeople working full-time falling below the poverty line, and a 4 percent increase in the percentage of people working, who with their families, have lost their health insurance. It’s an unequal time. It’s an uncertain, insecure time because we’re all vulnerable to terror, to weapons of mass destruction, to global pandemics like avian influenza. We all make fun of the modern media and culture all the time, but I thought it was interesting in my little house in Chappaqua, where I stay home alone rooting for the candidate [LAUGHTER], I watch the evening news in the last few months, and it’s interesting. Somehow, clawing its way through the stories of the latest crime endea vor in our neighborhood and whether Britney Spears’ hair has grown out or not, I have learned that there were chickens in Romania, India and Indonesia identified with avian influenza and that every chicken within three square miles, those unfortunate ones, was eradicated. On the evening news, competing with Britney Spears and crime. Why? That’s a good thing because of the shared insecurity we feel. You all saw it this week in all of the stories about the terrorist attack being thwarted in Kennedy airport.Now remember a few months ago, everybody I knew was shaking their head when we found out that there was a plot in London to put explosive chemicals in a baby bottle to make it look like formula to evade the airport inspection. And every time I ask somebody, I said did you feel a chill go up and down your spine, they said yeah, they did. Because they can imagine being on the airplane, or in my case, I could imagine my daughter, who has to travel a lot on her job, being on the airplane. But here’s what I want to tell you about that. The inequality is fixable and the insecurity is manageable. We’re going to really have to go some in the 21st century to see political violence claim as many innocent lives as it did in the 20th century. Keep in mind you had what, 12 million people killed in World War I, somewhere between 15 and 20 million in World War II, six million in the Holocaust, six million Jews, three million others. Twenty million in the political purges in the former Soviet Union between the two world wars and one afterward. Two million in Cambodia alone. Millions in tribal wars in Africa. An untold but large number in the Chinese Cultural Revolution. I mean, we’re going to have to really get after it, if you expect your generation to claim as many innocents from political violence as was claimed in the 20th century. The difference is you think it could be you this time. Because of the interdependence of the world. So yes, it’s insecure but it’s manageable.It’s also an unsustainable world because of climat e change, resource depletion, and the fact that between now and 2050, the world’s supposed to grow from six and a half to nine billion people, with most of the growth in the countries least able to handle it, under today’s conditions, never mind those. That’s all fixable, too. So is climate change a problem? Is resource depletion a problem? Is poverty and the fact that 130 million kids never go to school and all this disease that I work on a problem? You bet it is. But I believe the most important problem is the way people think about it and each other, and themselves. The world is awash today in political, religious, almost psychological conflicts, which require us to divide up and demonize people whoaren’t us. And every one of them in one way or the other is premised on a very simple idea. That our differences are more important than our common humanity. I would argue that Mother Teresa was asked here, Bono was asked here, and Martin Luther King was asked here because this class believed that they were people who thought our common humanity was more important than our differences [APPLAUSE].So with this Harvard degree and your incredible minds and your spirits that I’ve gotten a little sense of today, this gives you virtually limitless possibilities. But you have to decide how to think about all this and what to do with your own life in terms of what you really think. I hope that you will share Martin Luther King’s dream, embrace Mandela’s spirit of reconciliation, support Bono’s concern for the poor and f ollow Mother Teresa’s life into some active service. Ordinary people have more power to do public good than ever before because of the rise of non-governmental organizations, because of the global media culture, because of the Internet, which gives people of modest means the power, if they all agree, to change the world. When former President Bush and I were asked to work on the tsunami, before we did the Katrina work, Americans, many of whom could not find the Maldives or Sri Lanka on a map, gave $ billion to tsunami aid. Thirty percent of our households gave. Half of them gave over the Internet, which means you don’t even have to be rich to change the world if enough people agree with you. But we have to do this. Citizen service is a tradition in our country about as old as Harvard, and certainly older than the government.Benjamin Franklin organized the first volunteer fire department in Philadelphia 40 years before the Constitution was ratified. When de Tocqueville came here in 1835, he talked among other things about how he was amazed that Americans just were always willing to step up and do something, not wait for someone else to do it. Now we have in America a 1,010,000 non-governmental groups. Not counting 355,000 religious groups, most of whom are involved in some sort of work to help other people. India has a million registered, over a half a million active. China has 280,000 registered and twice that many not registered because they don’t want to be confined. Russia has 400,000, so many that Preside nt Putin is trying to restrict them. I wish he wouldn’t do that, but it’s a high-class problem. There were no NGOs in Russia or China when I became president in 1993. All over the world we have people who know that they can do things to change, but again, I will say to all of you, there is no challenge we face, no barrier to having your grandchildren here on this beautiful site 50 years from now, more profound than the ideological and emotional divide which continues to demean our common life and undermine our ability to solve our common problems. The simple idea that our differences are more important than our common humanity. When the human genome was sequenced, and the most interesting thing to me as a non-scientist – we finished it in my last year I was president, I really rode herd on this thing and kept throwing more money at it – the most interesting thing to me was the discovery that human beings with their three billion genomes are percent identicalgenetically. So if you look around this vast crowd today, at the military caps and the baseball caps and the cowboy hats and the turbans, if you look at all the different colors of skin, all the heights, all the widths, all the everything, it’s all rooted in one-tenth of one percent of our genetic make-u p. Don’t you think it’s interesting that not just people you find appalling, but all the rest of us, spend 90 percent of our lives thinking about that one-tenth of one percent? I mean, don’t we all? How much of the laugh lines in the speeches were about th at? At least I didn’t go to Yale, right? [LAUGHTER] That Brown gag was hilarious. [LAUGHTER]But it’s all the same deal, isn’t it? I mean, the intellectual premise is that the only thing that really matters about our lives are the distinctions we can draw. Indeed, one of the crassest elements of modern culture, all these sort of talk shows, and even a lot of political journalism that's sort of focused on this shallow judgmentalism. They try to define everybody down by the worst moment in their lives, and it all is about well, no matter whatever’s wrong with me, I’m not that. And yet, you ask Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa and Bono to come here. Nelson Mandela’s the most admired person in the world. I got tickled the other night. I wound up in a restaurant in New York with a bunch of friends of mine. And I looked over and two tables away, and there was Rush Limbaugh [LAUGHTER], who’s said a few mad things about me. So I went up and shook hands with him and said hello and met his dinner guest. And I came just that close to telling him we were percent the same. [LAUGHTER] But I didn’t want to ruin the poor man’s dessert, so I let it go. [LAUGHTER]Now we’re laughing about this but next month, I’m making my annual trek to Africa to see the work of my AIDS and development project, and to celebrate with Nelson Mandela his birthday. He’s 89. Don’t know how many more he’ll have. And when I think that I might be percent the same as him, I can’t even fathom it. So I say that to you, do we have all these other problems? Is Darfur a tragedy? Do I wish America would adopt sensible climate change regulation? Do I hate the fact that ideologues in the government doctored scientific reports? Do I disagree with a thousand things that are going on? Absolutely. But it all flows from the idea that we can violate elemental standards of learning and knowledge and reason and even the humanity of our fellow human beings because our differences matter more. That’s what makes you worship power over purpose. Our differences matter mo re. One of the greatest things that’s happened in the last few years is doing all this work with former President Bush. You know, I ought to be doing this. I’m healthy and not totally antiquated. He’s 82 years old, still jumping out of airplanes and still doing stuff like this. And I love the guy. I’m sorry for all the diehard Democrats in the audience. I just do. [LAUGHTER] And life is all about seeing things new every day. And I’ll just close with two stories, one from Asia, one from Africa. And I’m telling you all the details don’t matter as much as this.After George Bush and I did the tsunami, we got so into this disaster work that Kofi Annan asked him to oversee the UN’s efforts in Pakistan after the earthquake, whichyou acknowledged today, and asked me to stay on as the tsunami coordinator for two years. So on my next to last trip to Aceh in Indonesia, the by far the hardest hit place, a quarter of a million people killed. I went to one of these refugee camps where in the sweltering heat, several thousand people were still living in tents. Highly uncomfortable. And my job was to go there and basically listen to them complain and figure out what to do about it, and how to get them out of there more quickly. So every one of these camps elected a camp leader and when I appeared, I was introduced to my young interpreter, a young Indonesian woman, and to the guy who was the camp leader, and his wife and his son. And they smiled, said hello, and then I looked down at this little boy, and I literally could no t breathe. I think he’s the most beautiful child I ever saw. And I said to my young interpreter, I said, I believe that’s the most beautiful boy I ever saw in my life. She said, yes, he’s very beautiful and before the tsunami he had nine brothers and siste rs. And now they’re all gone.So the wife and the son excused themselves. And the father who had lost his nine children proceeded to take me on a two-hour tour of this camp. He had a smile on his face. He never talked about anything but what the people in that camp needed. He gave no hint of what had happened to him and the grief that he bore. We get to the end of the tour. It’s the health clinic in the camp. I look up and there is his wife, a mother who had lost nine of her 10 children, holding a little bitty baby less than a week old, the newest born baby in the camp. And she told me, I’m going to get in trouble for telling this. She told me that in Indonesian culture, when a woman has a baby, she gets to go to bed for 40 days and everyone waits on her hand and foot. [LAUGHTER] She doesn’t get up, nothing happens. And then on the 40th day, the mother gets up out of bed, goes back to work doing her life and they name the baby. So this child was less than a week old. So this mother who had lost her nine children is here holding this baby. And she says to me, this is our newest born baby. And we want you to name him. Little boy. So I looked at her and I said through my interpreter, I said, do you have a name for new beginning? And she explained and the woman said something back and the interpreter said yes, luckily for you, in Indonesian the word for dawn is a boy’s name. And the mother just said to me, we will call this child Dawn and he will symbolize our new beginning. You shouldn’t have to meet people that lose nine of their 10 children, cherish the one they got left, and name a newborn baby Dawn to realize that what we have in common is more important than what divides us. [APPLAUSE]And I leave you with this thought. When Martin Luther King was invited here in 1968, the country was still awash in racism. The next decade it was awash in sexism, and after that in homophobia. And occasionally those things rear their ugly head along the way, but by and large, nobody in this class is going to carry those chains around through life. But nobody gets out for free, and everyone has temptations. The great temptation for all of you is to believe that the one-tenth of one percent of you which is different and which brought you here and which can bring you great riches or whatever else you want, is really the sum of who you are and that you deserve yourgood fate, and others deserve their bad one. That is the trap into which you must not fall. Warren Buffett's just about to give away 99 percent of his money because he said most of it he made because of where he was born and when he was born. It was a lucky accident. And his work was rewarded in this time and place more richly than the work of teachers and police officers and nurses and doctors and people who cared for tho se who deserve to be cared for. So he’s just going to give it away. And still with less than one percent left, have more than he could ever spend. Because he realizes that it wasn’t all due to the one-tenth of one percent, and that his common humanity requires him to give money to those for whom it will mean much more.In the central highlands in Africa where I work, when people meet each other walking, nearly nobody rides, and people meet each other walking on the trails, and one person says hello, how ar e you, good morning, the answer is not I’m fine, how are you. The answer translated into English is this: I see you. Think of that. I see you. How many people do all of us pass every day that we never see? You know, we all haul out of here, somebody’s goin g to come in here and fold up 20-something thousand chairs. And clean off whatever mess we leave here. And get ready for tomorrow and then after tomorrow, someone will have to fix that. Many of those people feel that no one ever sees them. I would never have seen the people in Aceh in Indonesia if a terrible misfortune had not struck. And so, I leave you with that thought. Be true to the tradition of the great people who have come here. Spend as much of your time and your heart and your spirit as you possibly can thinking about the percent. See everyone and realize that everyone needs new beginnings. Enjoy your good fortune. Enjoy your differences, but realize that our common humanity matters much, much more. God bless you and good luck.【中文翻译】萨曼莎，斯蒂法妮，克里斯，所有的高级军官和所有的学生发言者，超级感激你们！谢谢你们演讲中带来的揶揄和笑话！你们可明白，当我受邀到那个地址来演讲的时候，我有些受宠假设惊！他们邀请比尔.盖茨在毕业典礼上做主题演讲。

克林顿总统第一次就职演说Bill Clinton's Inaugural AddressThursday, January 20, 1993My fellow citizens:Today we celebrate the mystery of American renewal. This ceremony is held in the depth of winter, but by the words we speak and the faces we show the world, we force the spring. A spring reborn in the world's oldest democracy, that brings forth the vision and courage to reinvent America. When our founde rs boldly declared America's independence to the world, and our purposes to the Almighty, they knew th at America, to endure, would have to change. Not change for change sake, but change to preserve Ameri ca's ideals: life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness.Though we march to the music of our time, our mission is timeless. Each generation of American's must define what it means to be an American. On behalf of our nation, I salute my predecessor, President B ush, for his half-century of service to America, and I thank the millions of men and women whose stead fastness and sacrifice triumphed over depression, fascism and communism.Today, a generation raised in the shadows of the Cold War assumes new responsibilities in a world war med by the sunshine of freedom, but threatened still by ancient hatreds and new plagues. Raised in unriv alled prosperity, we inherit an economy that is still the world's strongest, but is weakened by business fa ilures, stagnant wages, increasing inequality, and deep divisions among our own people.When George Washington first took the oath I have just sworn to uphold, news travelled slowly across t he land by horseback, and across the ocean by boat. Now the sights and sounds of this ceremony are br oadcast instantaneously to billions around the world. Communications and commerce are global. Investme nt is mobile. Technology is almost magical, and ambition for a better life is now universal.We earn our livelihood in America today in peaceful competition with people all across the Earth. Profo und and powerful forces are shaking and remaking our world, and the urgent question of our time is wh ether we can make change our friend and not our enemy. This new world has already enriched the lives of millions of Americans who are able to compete and win in it. But when most people are working harder for less, when others cannot work at all, when the cost of health care devastates families and threa tens to bankrupt our enterprises, great and small; when the fear of crime robs law abiding citizens of the ir freedom; and when millions of poor children cannot even imagine the lives we are calling them to lea d, we have not made change our friend.We know we have to face hard truths and take strong steps, but we have not done so. Instead we have drifted, and that drifting has eroded our resources, fractured our economy, and shaken our confidence. T hough our challenges are fearsome, so are our strengths. Americans have ever been a restless, questing, h opeful people, and we must bring to our task today the vision and will of those who came before us. Fr om our Revolution to the Civil War, to the Great Depression, to the Civil Rights movement, our people have always mustered the determination to construct from these crises the pillars of our history. Thomas Jefferson believed that to preserve the very foundations of our nation we would need dramatic change fr om time to time. Well, my fellow Americans, this is our time. Let us embrace it.Our democracy must be not only the envy of the world but the engine of our own renewal. There is no thing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America.And so today we pledge an end to the era of deadlock and drift, and a new season of American renewa l has begun.To renew America we must be bold. We must do what no generation has had to do before. We must in vest more in our own people, in their jobs, and in their future, and at the same time cut our massive de bt. . .and we must do so in a world in which we must compete for every opportunity. It will not be ea sy. It will require sacrifice, but it can be done, and done fairly. Not choosing sacrifice for its own sake, but for our own sake. We must provide for our nation the way a family provides for its children.Our founders saw themselves in the light of posterity. We can do no less. Anyone who has ever watche d a child's eyes wander into sleep knows what posterity is. Posterity is the world to come, the world for whom we hold our ideals, from whom we have borrowed our planet, and to whom we bear sacred resp onsibilities. We must do what America does best, offer more opportunity to all and demand more respon sibility from all.It is time to break the bad habit of expecting something for nothing: from our government, or from each other. Let us all take more responsibility, not only for ourselves and our families, but for our communit ies and our country. To renew America we must revitalize our democracy. This beautiful capitol, like ev ery capitol since the dawn of civilization, is often a place of intrigue and calculation. Powerful people m aneuver for position and worry endlessly about who is in and who is out, who is up and who is down, forgetting those people whose toil and sweat sends ushere and paves our way.Americans deserve better, and in this city today there are people who want to do better, and so I say to all of you here, let us resolve to reform our politics, so that power and privilege no longer shout down the voice of the people. Let us put aside personal advantage, so that we can feel the pain and see the promise of America. Let us resolve to make our government a place for what Franklin Roosevelt called "bold, persistent experimentation, a government for our tomorrows, not our yesterdays." Let us give this c apitol back to the people to whom it belongs.To renew America we must meet challenges abroad, as well as at home. There is no longer a clear divi sion between what is foreign and what is domestic. The world economy, the world environment, the worl d AIDS crisis, the world arms race: they affect us all. Today as an old order passes, the new world is more free, but less stable. Communism's collapse has called forth old animosities, and new dangers. Clear ly, America must continue to lead the world we did so much to make.While America rebuilds at home, we will not shrink from the challenges nor fail to seize the opportuniti es of this new world. Together with our friends and allies, we will work together to shape change, lest i t engulf us. When our vital interests are challenged, or the will and conscience of the international com munity is defied, we will act; with peaceful diplomacy whenever possible, with force when necessary.The brave Americans serving our nation today in the Persian Gulf, in Somalia, and wherever else they st and, are testament to our resolve, but our greatest strength is the power of our ideas, which are still new in many lands. Across the world, we see them embraced and we rejoice. Our hopes, our hearts, our ha nds, are with those on every continent, who are building democracy and freedom. Their cause is America 's cause. The American people have summoned the change we celebrate today. You have raised your voi ces in an unmistakable chorus, you have cast your votes in historic numbers, you have changed the faceof congress, the presidency, and the political process itself. Yes, you, my fellow Americans, have forced the spring. Now we must do the work the season demands. To that work I now turn with all the autho rity of my office. I ask the congress to join with me; but no president, no congress, no government can undertake this mission alone.My fellow Americans, you, too, must play your part in our renewal. I challenge a new generation of yo ung Americans to a season of service, to act on your idealism, by helping troubled children, keeping co mpany with those in need, reconnecting our torn communities. There is so much to be done. Enough, in deed, for millions of others who are still young in spirit, to give of themselves in service, too. In servin g we recognize a simple, but powerful, truth: we need each other, and we must care for one another. To day we do more than celebrate America, we rededicate ourselves to the very idea of America, an idea b orn in revolution, and renewed through two centuries of challenge, an idea tempered by the knowledge t hat but for fate, we, the fortunate and the unfortunate, might have been each other; an idea ennobled by the faith that our nation can summon from its myriad diversity, the deepest measure of unity; an idea i nfused with the conviction that America's journey long, heroic journey must go forever upward.And so, my fellow Americans, as we stand at the edge of the 21st Century, let us begin anew, with ene rgy and hope, with faith and discipline, and let us work until our work is done. The Scripture says: "An d let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." From this joyful mountaintop of celebration we hear a call to service in the valley. We have heard the trumpets, we have changed the guard, and now each in our own way, and with God's help, we must answer the call.Thank you, and God bless you all!克林顿总统第二次就职演说INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF PRESIDENTWILLIAM J. CLINTONJanuary 20, 1997My fellow citizens:At this last presidential inauguration of the 20th century, let us lift our eyes toward the challenges that a wait us in the next century. It is our great good fortune that time and chance have put us not only at t he edge of a new century, in a new millennium, but on the edge of a bright new prospect in human aff airs -- a moment that will define our course, and our character, for decades to come. We must keep our old democracy forever young. Guided by the ancient vision of a promised land, let us set our sights up on a land of new promise.The promise of America was born in the 18th century out of the bold conviction that we are all created equal. It was extended and preserved in the 19th century, when our nation spread across the continent, saved the union, and abolished the awful scourge of slavery.Then, in turmoil and triumph, that promise exploded onto the world stage to make this the American Ce ntury. And what a century it has been. America became the world's mightiest industrial power; saved the world from tyranny in two world wars and a long cold war; and time and again, reached out across th e globe to millions who, like us, longed for the blessings of liberty.Along the way, Americans produced a great middle class and security in old age; built unrivaled centers of learning and opened public schools to all; split the atom and explored the heavens; invented the comp uter and the microchip; and deepened the wellspring of justice by making a revolution in civil rights for African Americans and all minorities, and extending the circle of citizenship, opportunity and dignity to women.Now, for the third time, a new century is upon us, and another time to choose. We began the 19th cent ury with a choice, to spread our nation from coast to coast. We began the 20th century with a choice, t o harness the Industrial Revolution to our values of free enterprise, conservation, and human decency. Th ose choices made all the difference. At the dawn of the 21st century a free people must now choose to shape the forces of the Information Age and the global society, to unleash the limitless potential of all o ur people, and, yes, to form a more perfect union.When last we gathered, our march to this new future seemed less certain than it does today. We vowed then to set a clear course to renew our nation.In these four years, we have been touched by tragedy, exhilarated by challenge, strengthened by achieve ment. Americastands alone as the world's indispensable nation. Once again, our economy is the strongest on Earth. Onc e again, we are building stronger families, thriving communities, better educational opportunities, a cleane r environment. Problems that once seemed destined to deepen now bend to our efforts: our streets are sa fer and record numbers of our fellow citizens have moved from welfare to work.And once again, we have resolved for our time a great debate over the role of government. Today we c an declare: Government is not the problem, and government is not the solution. We -- the American peo ple -- we are the solution. (Applause.) Our founders understood that well and gave us a democracy stron g enough to endure for centuries, flexible enough to face our common challenges and advance our comm on dreams in each new day.As times change, so government must change. We need a new government for a new century -- humble enough not to try to solve all our problems for us, but strong enough to give us the tools to solve our problems for ourselves; a government that is smaller, lives within its means, and does more with less. Yet where it can stand up for our values and interests in the world, and where it can give Americans th e power to make a real difference in their everyday lives, government should do more, not less. The pre eminent mission of our new government is to give all Americans an opportunity -- not a guarantee, but a real opportunity -- to build better lives. (Applause.)Beyond that, my fellow citizens, the future is up to us. Our founders taught us that the preservation of o ur liberty and our union depends upon responsible citizenship. And we need a new sense of responsibilit y for a new century. There is work to do, work that government alone cannot do: teaching children to r ead; hiring people off welfare rolls; coming out from behind locked doors and shuttered windows to help reclaim our streets from drugs and gangs and crime; taking time out of our own lives to serve others.Each and every one of us, in our own way, must assume personal responsibility -- not only for ourselve s and our families, but for our neighbors and our nation. (Applause.) Our greatest responsibility is to em brace a new spirit of community for a new century. For any one of us to succeed, we must succeed asoneAmerica.The challenge of our past remains the challenge of our future -- will we be one nation, one people, with one common destiny, or not? Will we all come together, or come apart?The divide of race has been America's constant curse. And each new wave of immigrants gives new targ ets to old prejudices. Prejudice and contempt, cloaked in the pretense of religious or political conviction are no different. (Applause.) These forces have nearly destroyed our nation in the past. They plague us s till. They fuel the fanaticism of terror. And they torment the lives of millions in fractured nations all aro und the world.These obsessions cripple both those who hate and, of course, those who are hated, robbing both of what they might become. We cannot, we will not, succumb to the dark impulses that lurk in the far regions of the soul everywhere. We shall overcome them. (Applause.) And we shall replace them with the gener ous spirit of a people who feel at home with one another. Our rich texture of racial, religious and politi cal diversity will be a Godsend in the 21st century. Great rewards will come to those who can live toge ther, learn together, work together, forge new ties that bind together.As this new era approaches we can already see its broad outlines. Ten years ago, the Internet was the m ystical province of physicists; today, it is a commonplace encyclopedia for millions of schoolchildren. Sci entists now are decoding the blueprint of human life. Cures for our most feared illnesses seem close at h and.The world is no longer divided into two hostile camps. Instead, now we are building bonds with nations that once were our adversaries. Growing connections of commerce and culture give us a chance to lift t he fortunes and spirits of people the world over. And for the very first time in all of history, more peop le on this planet live under democracy than dictatorship. (Applause.)My fellow Americans, as we look back at this remarkable century, we may ask, can we hope not just to follow, but even to surpass the achievements of the 20th century in America and to avoid the awful bloodshed that stained its legacy? To that question, every American here and every American in our land t oday must answer a resounding "Yes." (Applause.)This is the heart of our task. With a new vision of government, a new sense of responsibility, a new sp irit of community, we will sustain America's journey. The promise we sought in a new land we will fin d again in a land of new promise. (Applause.)In this new land, education will be every citizen's most prized possession. Our schools will have the hig hest standards in the world, igniting the spark of possibility in the eyes of every girl and every boy. An d the doors of higher education will be open to all. The knowledge and power of the Information Age will be within reach not just of the few, but of every classroom, every library, every child. Parents and children will have time not only to work, but to read and play together. And the plans they make at the ir kitchen table will be those of a better home, a better job, the certain chance to go to college.Our streets will echo again with the laughter of our children, because no one will try to shoot them or s ell them drugs anymore. Everyone who can work, will work, with today's permanent under class part of tomorrow's growing middle class. New miracles of medicine at last will reach not only those who can cl aim care now, but the children and hardworking families too long denied.We will stand mighty for peace and freedom, and maintain a strong defense against terror and destructio n. Our children will sleep free from the threat of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons. Ports and airp orts, farms and factories will thrive with trade and innovation and ideas. And the world's greatest democr acy will lead a whole world of democracies.Our land of new promise will be a nation that meets its obligations -- a nation that balances its budget, but never loses the balance of its values. (Applause.) A nation where our grandparents have secure retire ment and health care, and their grandchildren know we have made the reforms necessary to sustain those benefits for their time. (Applause.) A nation that fortifies the world's most productive economy even as it protects the great natural bounty of our water, air, and majestic land.And in this land of new promise, we will have reformed our politics so that the voice of the people wil l always speak louder than the din of narrow interests -- regaining the participation and deserving the tru st of all Americans. (Applause.)Fellow citizens, let us build that America, a nation ever moving forward toward realizing the full potenti al of all its citizens. Prosperity and power -- yes, they are important, and we must maintain them. But l et us never forget: The greatest progress we have made, and the greatest progress we have yet to make, is in the human heart. In the end, all the world's wealth and a thousand armies are no match for the st rength and decency of the human spirit. (Applause.)Thirty-four years ago, the man whose life we celebrate today spoke to us down there, at the other end o f this Mall, in words that moved the conscience of a nation. Like a prophet of old, he told of his drea m that one day America would rise up and treat all its citizens as equals before the law and in the hear t. Martin Luther King's dream was the American Dream. His quest is our quest: the ceaseless striving to live out our true creed. Our history has been built on such dreams and labors. And by our dreams and laborswe will redeem the promise of America in the 21st century.To that effort I pledge all my strength and every power of my office. I ask the members of Congress h ere to join in that pledge. The American people returned to office a President of one party and a Congr ess of another. Surely, they did not do this to advance the politics of petty bickering and extreme partisa nship they plainly deplore. (Applause.) No, they call on us instead to be repairers of the breach, and to move on with America's mission.America demands and deserves big things from us -- and nothing big ever came from being small. (Appl ause.) Let us remember the timeless wisdom of Cardinal Bernardin, when facing the end of his own life. He said: "It is wrong to waste the precious gift of time, on acrimony and division."Fellow citizens, we must not waste the precious gift of this time. For all of us are on that same journey of our lives, and our journey, too, will come to an end. But the journey of our America must go on.And so, my fellow Americans, we must be strong, for there is much to dare. The demands of our time are great and they are different. Let us meet them with faith and courage, with patience and a grateful a nd happy heart. Let us shape the hope of this day into the noblest chapter in our history. Yes, let us bu ild our bridge. (Applause.) A bridge wide enough and strong enough for every American to cross over t o a blessed land of new promise.May those generations whose faces we cannot yet see, whose names we may never know, say of us her e that we led our beloved land into a new century with the American Dream alive for all her children; with the American promise of a more perfect union a reality for all her people; with America's bright fl ame of freedom spreading throughout all the world.From the height of this place and the summit of this century, let us go forth. May God strengthen our h ands for the good work ahead -- and always, always bless our America. (Applause.)。

Practice 8 : Passage Translation I I (E-C )克林顿总统的告别演说2001年1月18日下午8点总统；我的同胞们，今天晚上是我最后一次机会以总统的身份在白宫椭圆办公室对你们讲话。

两次给我这个光荣为你们服务，为你们效劳和你们一起为我们的国家迎接21世纪做准备，对此我深深感激。

我感谢乔治副总统，感谢内阁秘书，感谢过去八年来和我一起工作的所有人。

这是一个急剧变革的时代，出现每个新的挑战。

是你们使我们的社会更加强大，我们的家庭更加健康和安全，我们的人民更加富裕。

你们，美国人民，已经进入了全球信息化时代——美国复兴的伟大时代。

在担任总统所做的所有工作中，我做的每一个决定，我采取的每一个行政命令，我提出和签署的每一项议案，我试图给所有美国人的工具和条件构筑我们未来的梦想，即一个美好的社会，与一个强大的经济，清洁的环境，和一个更自由，更安全，更繁荣的世界。

我们永恒的价值观是，给所有人机会，每个人都有责任，一个所有美国人的团体，我选择自己的道路。

我试图给美国人一个新的政府，更小，更现代，更高效，充满了想法和政策来适应这个新年时代，总是把人民放在第一位，总是关注未来。

共同奋斗，美国人做得很好。

我们的经济打破记录，超过2200万新的工作，30年来最低的失业率，最高的房屋所有产权，历史上最长的发展。

我们的家庭和社区更强大了。

3500万美国人享有家庭休假法，800万人脱离了福利。

犯罪率是25年来最低。

超过1000万美国人接受更多上大学援助，越来越多的人比以往任何时候都要上大学。

我们的学校更好。

更高的标准，更大的责任感和更多的投资带来了更高的考试分数和较高的毕业率。

超过300万的儿童有健康保险，和超过700万的美国人已经脱离了贫困。

收入全面上升。

我们的空气和水更干净。

食品和饮用水更安全。

我们珍贵的土地资源被保存在美国大陆，比一百年来任何时候都多。

美国推动成为推动世界每一个角落和平和繁荣的力量。

克林顿告别演说----WORD文档，下载后可编辑修改----下面是小编收集整理的范本，欢迎您借鉴参考阅读和下载，侵删。

您的努力学习是为了更美好的未来！In all the work I have done as president, every decision I have made, every executive action I have taken, every bill I have proposed and signed, I've tried to give all Americans the tools and conditions to build the future of our dreams, in a good society, with a strong economy, a cleaner environment, and a freer, safer, more prosperous world. 作为总统，我所做的一切---每一个决定，每一个行政命令，提议和签署的每一项法令，都是在努力为美国人民提供工具和创造条件，来实现美国的梦想，建设美国的未来---一个美好的社会，繁荣的经济，清洁的环境，进而实现一个更自由、更安全、更繁荣的世界．I have steered my course by our enduring values. Opportunity for all. Responsibility from all. A community of all Americans. I have sought to give America a new kind of government, smaller, more modern, more effective, full of ideas and policies appropriate to this new time, always putting people first, always focusing on the future. 借助我们永恒的价值，我驾驭了我的航程．机会属于每一个美国公民；(我的)责任来自全体美国人民；所有美国人民组成了一个大家庭．我一直在努力为美国创造一个新型的政府：更小、更现代化、更有效率、面对新时代的挑战充满创意和思想、永远把人民的利益放在第一位、永远面向未来．Working together, America has done well. Our economy is breaking records, with more than 22 million new jobs, the lowest unemployment in 30 years, the highest home ownership ever, the longest expansion in history. 我们在一起使美国变得更加美好．我们的经济正在破着一个又一个的记录，向前发展．我们已创造了2200万个新的工作岗位，我们的失业率是30年来最低的，老百姓的购房率达到一个空前的高度，我们经济繁荣的持续时间是历史上最长的．Our families and communities are stronger. Thirty-five million Americans have used the family leave law. Eight million have moved off welfare. Crime is at a 25-year low. Over 10 million Americans receive more college aid, and more people than ever are going to college. Our schools are better - higher standards, greater accountability and larger investments have brought higher test scores, and higher graduation rates. 我们的家庭、我们的社会变得更加强大．3500万美国人曾经享受联邦休假，800万人重新获得社会保障，犯罪率是25年来最低的，1000多万美国人享受更多的入学贷款，更多的人接受大学教育．我们的学校也在改善．更高的办学水平、更大的责任感和更多的投资使得我们的学生取得更高的考试分数和毕业成绩．More than three million children have health insurance now, and more than 7 million Americans have been lifted out of poverty. Incomes are rising across the board. Our air and water are cleaner. Our food and drinking water are safer. And more of our precious land has been preserved, in the continental United States, than at any time in 100 years. 目前，已有300多万美国儿童在享受着医疗保险，700多万美国人已经脱离了贫困线．全国人民的收入在大幅度提高．我们的空气和水资源更加洁净，食品和饮用水更加安全．我们珍贵的土地资源也得到了近百年来前所未有的保护．America has been a force for peace and prosperity in every corner of the globe. I'm very grateful to be able to turn over the reins of leadership to a new president, with America in such a strong position to meet the challenges of the future. 美国已经成为地球上每个角落促进和平和繁荣的积极力量．我非常高兴能于此时将领导权交给新任总统，强大的美国正面临未来的挑战．Tonight, I want to leave you with three thoughts about our future. First, America must maintain our record of fiscal responsibility. Through our last four budgets, we've turned record deficits to record surpluses, and we've been able to pay down $600 billion of our national debt, on track to be debt freeby the end of the decade for the first time since 1835. 今晚，我希望大家能从以下3点审视我们的未来：第一，美国必须保持它的良好财政状况．通过过去4个财政年度的努力，我们已经把破纪录的财政赤字变为破纪录的盈余．并且，我们已经偿还了6000亿美元的国债，我们正向10年内彻底偿还国家债务的目标迈进，这将是1835年以来的第一次．Staying on that course will bring lower interest rates, greater prosperity and the opportunity to meet our big challenges. If we choose wisely, we can pay down the debt, deal with the retirement of the baby boomers, invest more in our future and provide tax relief. 只要这样做，就会带来更低的利率、更大的经济繁荣，从而能够迎接将来更大的挑战．如果我们做出明智的选择，我们就能偿还债务，解决(二战后出生的)一大批人们的退休问题，对未来进行更多的投资，并减轻税收．Second, because the world is more connected every day in every way, America's security and prosperity require us to continue to lead in the world. At this remarkable moment in history, more people live in freedom that ever before. Our alliances are stronger than ever. People all around the world look to America to be a force for peace and prosperity, freedom and security. The global economy is giving more of our own people, and billions around the world, the chance to work andlive and raise their families with dignity. 第二，世界各国的联系日益紧密．为了美国的安全与繁荣，我们应继续融入世界．在这个特别的历史时刻，更多的美国人民享有前所未有的自由．我们的盟国更加强大．全世界人民期望美国成为和平与繁荣、自由与安全的力量．全球经济给予美国民众以及全世界人民更多的机会去工作、生活，更体面地养活家庭．But the forces of integration that have created these good opportunities also make us more subject to global forces of destruction, to terrorism, organized crime and narco-trafficking, the spread of deadly weapons and disease, the degradation of the global environment. 但是，这种世界融合的趋势一方面为我们创造了良好的机会，但同时使得我们在全球范围内更容易遭致破坏性力量、恐怖主义、有组织的犯罪、贩毒活动，致命性武器和疾病传播的威胁．The expansion of trade hasn't fully closed the gap between those of us who live on the cutting edge of the global economy and the billions around the world who live on the knife's edge of survival. 尽管世界贸易不断扩大，但它没能缩小处于全球经济繁荣中的我们同数十亿处于死亡边缘的人们之间的距离．This global gap requires more than compassion. It requires action. Global poverty is a powder keg that could be ignitedby our indifference. In his first inaugural address, Thomas Jefferson warned of entangling alliances. But in our times, America cannot and must not disentangle itself from the world. If we want the world to embody our shared values, then we must assume a shared responsibility. 要解决世界贫富两极分化需要的不是同情和怜悯，而是实际行动．贫穷有可能被我们的漠不关心激化而成为火药桶．托马斯-杰斐逊在他的就职演说中告诫我们结盟的危害．但是，在我们这个时代，美国不能，也不可能使自己脱离这个世界．如果我们想把我们共有的价值观赋予这个世界，我们必须共同承担起这个责任．If the wars of the 20th century, especially the recent ones in Kosovo and Bosnia, have taught us anything, it is that we achieve our aims by defending our values and leading the forces of freedom and peace. We must embrace boldly and resolutely that duty to lead, to stand with our allies in word and deed, and to put a human face on the global economy so that expanded trade benefits all people in all nations, lifting lives and hopes all across the world. 如果 20世纪的历次战争，尤其是新近在科索沃地区和波斯尼亚爆发的战争，能够让我们得到某种教训的话，我们从中得到的启示应是：由于捍卫了我们的价值观并领导了自由和和平的力量，我们才达到了目标．我们必须坚定勇敢地拥抱这个信念和责任，在语言和行动上与我们的同盟者们站在一起，领导他们按这条道路前进；循着在全球经济中以人为本的观念，让不断发展的贸易能够使所有国家的所有人受益，在全世界范围内提高他们的生活水平和实现他们的梦想．Third, we must remember that America cannot lead in the world unless here at home we weave the threads of our coat of many colors into the fabric of one America. As we become ever more diverse, we must work harder to unite around our common values and our common humanity. 第三，我们必须牢记如果我们不团结一致，美国就不能领先世界．随着我们变得越来越多样化，我们必须更加努力地团结在共同价值观和共同人性的旗帜下．We must work harder to overcome our differences. In our hearts and in our laws, we must treat all our people with fairness and dignity, regardless of their race, religion, gender or sexual orientation and regardless of when they arrived in our country, always moving toward the more perfect union of our founders' dreams. 我们要加倍努力地工作，克服生活中存在的种种分歧．于情于法，我们都要让我们的人民受到公正的待遇，不论他是哪一个民族、信仰何种宗教、什么性别或性倾向，或者何时来到这个国家．我们时时刻刻都要为了实现先辈们建立高度团结的美利坚合众国的梦想而奋斗．Hillary, Chelsea and I join all Americans in wishing our very best to the next president, George W. Bush, to his familyand his administration in meeting these challenges and in leading freedom's march in this new century. 希拉里、切尔西和我同美国人民一起，向即将就任的布什总统、他的家人及美国新政府致以衷心的祝福，希望新政府能够勇敢面对挑战，并高扛自由大旗在新世纪阔步前进．As for me, I'll leave the presidency more idealistic, more full of hope than the day I arrived and more confident than ever that America's best days lie ahead. 对我来说，当我离开总统宝座时，我充满更多的理想，比初进白宫时更加充满希望，并且坚信美国的好日子还在后面．My days in this office are nearly through, but my days of service, I hope, are not. In the years ahead, I will never hold a position higher or a covenant more sacred than that of president of the United States. But there is no title I will wear more proudly than that of citizen. 我的总统任期就要结束了，但是我希望我为美国人民服务的日子永远不会结束．在我未来的岁月里，我再也不会担任一个能比美利坚合众国总统更高的职位、签订一个比美利坚合众国总统所能签署的更为神圣的契约了．当然，没有任何一个头衔能让我比作为一个美国公民更为自豪的了．Thank you. God bless you, and God bless America. 谢谢你们！愿上帝保佑你们！愿上帝保佑美国！。

美国总统克林顿在白宫发表离职演说全文FAREWELL ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT CLINTON8:00 P.M. January 18, 2001THE PRESIDENT: My fellow citizens, tonight is my last opportunity to speak to you from the Oval Office as your President. I am profoundly grateful to you for twice giving me the honor to serve -- to work for you and with you to prepare our nation for the 21st century.And I'm grateful to Vice President Gore, to my Cabinet Secretaries, and to all those who have served with me for the last eight years.This has been a time of dramatic transformation, and you have risen to every new challenge. You have made our social fabric stronger, our families healthier and safer, our people more prosperous. You, the American people, have made our passage into the global information age an era of at American renewal.In all the work I have done as President -- every decision I have made, every executive action I have taken, every bill I have proposed and signed, I've tried to give all Americans the tools and conditions to build the future of our dreams in a good society, with a strong economy, a cleaner environment, and a freer, safer, more prosperous world.I have steered my course by our enduring values -- opportunity for all, responsibility from all, a community of all Americans. I have sought to give America a new kind of government, smaller, more modern, more effective, full of ideas and policies appropriate to this new time, always putting people first, always focusing on the future.Working together, America has done well. Our economy is breaking records, with more than 22 million new jobs, the lowest unemployment in 30years, the highest home ownership ever, the longest expansion in history.Our families and communities are stronger. Thirty-five million Americans have used the Family Leave law;8 million have moved off welfare. Crime is at a 25-year low. Over 10 million Americans receive more college aid, and more people than ever are going to college. Our schools are better. Higher standards, ater ccountability and larger investments have brought higher test scores and higher graduation rates.More than 3 million children have health insurance now, and more than 7 million Americans have been lifted out of poverty. Incomes are rising across the board. Our air and water are cleaner. Ou r food and drinking water are safer. And more of our precious land has been preserved in the continental United States than at any time in a hundred years.America has been a force for peace and prosperity in every corner of the globe. I'm very grateful to be able to turn over the reins of leadership to a new President with America in such a strong position to meet the challenges of the future.Tonight I want to leave you with three thoughts about our future.First, America must maintain our record of fiscal responsibility.Through our last four budgets we've turned record deficits to record surpluses, and we've been able to pay down $600 billion of our national debt, on track to be debt-free by the end of the decade for the first time since 1835. Staying on that course will bring lower interest rates, ater prosperity, and the opportunity to meet our big challenges. If we choose wisely, we can pay down the debt, deal with the retirement of the baby boomers, invest more in our future, and provide tax relief.Second, ause the world is more connected every day, in every way, America's security and prosperity require us to continue to lead in the world. At this remarkable moment in history, more people live in freedom than ever before. Our alliances are s tronger than ever. People all around the world look to America to be a force for peace and prosperity, freedom and security.The global economy is giving more of our own people and billions around the world the chance to work and live and raise their families with dignity.But the forces of integration that have created these good opportunities also make us more subject to global forces of destruction --to terrorism, organized crime and narco trafficking, the spread of deadly weapons and disease, the degradation of the global environment.The expansion of trade hasn't fully closed the gap between those of us who live on the cutting edge of the global economy and the billions around the world who live on the knife's edge of survival. This global gap requires more than compassion; it requires action. Global poverty is a powder keg that could be ignited by our indifference.In his first inaugural address, Thomas Jefferson warned of entangling alliances. But in our times, America cannot, and must not, disentangle itself from the world. If we want the world to embody our shared values, then we must assume a shared responsibility.If the wars of the 20th century, especially the recent ones in Kosovo and Bosnia, have taught us anything, it is that we achieve our aims by defending our values, and leading the forces of freedom and peace. We must embrace boldly and resolutely that duty to lead -- to stand with our allies in word and deed, and to cut a human face on the global economy, so that expanded trade benefits all peoples in all nations, lifting lives and hopes all across the world.Third, we must remember that America cannot lead in the world unless here at home we weave the threads of our coat of many colors into the fabric of one America. As we ome ever more diverse, we must work harder to unite around our common values and our common humanity. We must work harder to overcome our differences, in our hearts and in our laws. We must treat all our people with fairness and dignity, regardless of their race, religion, gender or sexual orientation, and regardless ofwhen they arrived in our country; always moving toward the more perfect union of our founders' dreams.Hillary, Chelsea and I join all Americans in wishing our very best to the next President, George W. Bush, to his family and his administration, in meeting these challenges, and in leading freedom's marching this new century.As for me, I'll leave the presidency more idealistic, more full of hope than the day I arrived, and more confident than ever that America's best days lie ahead.My days in this office are nearly through, but my days of service, I hope, are not. In the years ahead, I will never hold a position higher or a covenant more sacred than that of President of the United States. But there is no title I will wear more proudly than that of citizen.Thank you. God bless you, and God bless America.。