Thank you very much. Well, it is wonderful to be back in Springfield, and I see so many familiar faces -- to Mr. Hart, to Marilyn, to my Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood -- to two of the finest governors that we've had in the past, Jim Thompson and Jim Edgar -- to Laura Lynn Ryan and to our new governor, who's going to be doing outstanding work for us in the future, Pat Quinn -- to Reverend McCants and to my dear friend, Loretta Durbin. 非常感谢大家。很高兴能回到斯普林菲尔德，我看到了这么多熟悉的面孔——向哈特先生问好，向玛丽莲问好，向我的交通部长雷·拉胡德问好，向过去我们拥有的两位最杰出的州长吉姆·汤普森和吉姆·埃德加问好，向劳拉·林恩·瑞恩以及将来会为我们做出卓越贡献的新州长帕特·奎因问好，向麦坎茨牧师以及我亲爱的朋友洛蕾塔·德宾问好。
I do feel guilty because Dick was the one who brought this event to my attention. I'm here and he's there. But part of the reason that Dick Durbin has been such a great friend, not just to me but to the people of Illinois, is because his work always comes first, and he has been unbelievable in providing leadership in the Senate, through thick and through thin. I'm very, very grateful to him. He is one of my greatest friends, and I would not be standing here if it were not for Dick Durbin. So please give Dick Durbin a big round of applause. 我确实感到有些过意不去，因为是迪克最先让我注意到这场活动的。我站在这里，而他却在那里。但迪克·德宾之所以能成为我、也成为伊利诺伊州人民如此伟大的朋友，部分原因在于他始终把工作放在首位，在参议院的风风雨雨中提供了难以置信的领导力。我对他充满感激。他是我最伟大的朋友之一，如果没有迪克·德宾，我今天就不会站在这里。请大家为迪克·德宾热烈鼓掌。
So it is wonderful to be back in Springfield, the city where I got my start in elective office, where I served for nearly a decade. I see some of my colleagues, your Attorney General, Lisa Madigan, in the house. You've got some constitutional officers there. 回到斯普林菲尔德真是太好了，这座城市是我步入选举产生的公职的起点，我在这里服务了将近十年。我看到了我的一些同事，你们的州检察长莉萨·马迪根也在这里。你们还有几位宪法官员在场。
I think that's Alexi, your Treasurer, who's going to be playing basketball with me at some point -- Dan Hynes, Comptroller, and just an incredible supporter during this past race; and your new Senate President, John Cullerton, one of the sharpest legislators that we've ever had. Is the Speaker around? He's over there? Mr. Speaker, it's good to see you. Thank you. 我想那位是你们的州财长亚历克西，他改天会和我一起打篮球——还有审计长丹·海因斯，在这次竞选中给予了我难以置信的支持；以及你们的新任参议院议长约翰·卡勒顿，他是我们所拥有的最敏锐的立法者之一。议长在吗？他在那边吗？议长先生，很高兴见到您。谢谢。
So I've got a lot of friends here. I've got to stop there, otherwise I'm going to be using up all my time. 我在这里有许多朋友。我必须就此打住，否则就要把所有时间都用光了。
I served here for nearly a decade and, as has already been mentioned, this is where I launched my candidacy for President two years ago this week -- on the steps -- on the steps of the Old State Capitol where Abraham Lincoln served and prepared for the presidency. 我在这里服务了近十年，正如已经提到的那样，两年前的这一周，正是在亚伯拉罕·林肯曾经服务并为总统之位做准备的旧州议会大厦的台阶上，我宣布参选总统。
It was here, nearly 150 years ago, that the man whose life we are celebrating today, who you've been celebrating all week, bid farewell to this city that he had come to call his own. And as has already been mentioned, on a platform at a train station not far from where we're gathered, Lincoln turned to the crowd that had come to see him off and said, "To this place, and the kindness of these people, I owe everything." And being here tonight, surrounded by all of you, I share his sentiment. 将近150年前，正是我们今天所纪念其一生、你们整个星期都在纪念的那位伟人，向他已视为故里的这座城市告别。正如已经提到的那样，在距我们相聚之地不远处的一座火车站台上，林肯转身面向前来送行的人群说道："对这个地方，对这些善良的人们，我亏欠了一切。"今晚置身于你们之中，我深有同感。
But looking out at this room, full of so many who did so much for me, I'm also reminded of what Lincoln once said to a favor-seeker who claimed it was his efforts that made the difference in the election. Lincoln asked him, "So you think you made me President?" "Yes," the man replied, "under Providence, I think I did." "Well," said Lincoln, "it's a pretty mess you've got me into." "But I forgive you." 但环顾这间坐满了那么多曾为我付出良多的人的厅堂，我也想起了林肯曾对一个声称正是自己的努力才使选举获胜的求官者说过的话。林肯问他："那么你认为是我当上了总统？"那人答道："是的，在天意之下，我想是我促成的。"林肯说："好吧，你可把我推进了一个相当糟糕的境地。""不过我原谅你。"
So whoever of you think you are responsible for this -- we're taking names. 所以，你们当中凡是自认为对此负有责任的人——我们可都记下名字了。
It's a humbling task, marking the bicentennial of our 16th President's birth -- humbling for me in particular because it's fair to say that the presidency of this singular figure who we celebrate in so many ways made my own story possible. 纪念我国第16任总统诞辰200周年，是一项令人谦卑的任务——对我而言尤为如此，因为可以说，正是我们所如此赞颂的这位非凡人物的总统生涯，使我的个人故事成为可能。
Here in Springfield, it's easier, though, to reflect on Lincoln the man rather than the marble giant -- before Gettysburg, before Antietam, before Fredericksburg and Bull Run, before emancipation was proclaimed and the captives were set free. 在斯普林菲尔德，我们更容易去追忆作为凡人的林肯，而非那尊大理石巨人——在葛底斯堡之前，在安提坦之前，在弗雷德里克斯堡和布尔朗之前，在解放宣言颁布、囚徒获得自由之前。
In 1854, Lincoln was simply a Springfield lawyer who'd served just a single term in Congress. Possibly in his law office, his feet on a cluttered desk, his sons playing around him, his clothes a bit too small to fit his uncommon frame, maybe wondering if somebody might call him up and ask him to be Commerce Secretary -- he put some thoughts on paper, and for what purpose we do not know: "The legitimate object of government," he wrote, "is to do for the people what needs to be done, but which they cannot, by individual effort, do at all, or do so well, by themselves." 1854年，林肯不过是斯普林菲尔德的一位律师，只在国会担任过一届议员。或许在他的律师事务所里，他双脚搁在凌乱的书桌上，儿子们在他身边嬉闹，衣服略显短小，裹不住他那与众不同的身躯，或许还在想会不会有人打电话请他出任商务部长——他把一些想法写在了纸上，至于目的我们无从知晓："政府的正当目标，"他写道，"是去做那些需要为民众做、而他们凭个人努力根本无法做、或无法做好的事情。"
To do for the people what needs to be done but which they cannot do on their own. It's a simple statement. But it answers a central question of Abraham Lincoln's life. Why did he land on the side of union? What was it that made him so unrelenting in pursuit of victory that he was willing to test the Constitution he ultimately preserved? What was it that led this man to give his last full measure of devotion so that our nation might endure? 为民众做那些需要做但他们自己无法做到的事。这是一句简单的话。但它回答了亚伯拉罕·林肯一生中的一个核心问题。他为何坚定地站在联邦一边？是什么让他对胜利的追求如此不屈不挠，以至于他愿意考验那部他最终捍卫的宪法？是什么让这个人献出自己最后的全部忠诚，好让我们的国家得以长存？
These are not easy questions to answer, and I cannot know if I'm right. But I suspect that his devotion to the idea of union came not from a belief that government always had the answer. It came not from a failure to understand our individual rights and responsibilities. 这些问题并不容易回答，我也无法断言自己一定正确。但我猜想，他对联邦理念的忠诚并非源于相信政府总有答案，也并非源于不理解我们个人的权利与责任。
This rugged rail-splitter, born in a log cabin of pioneer stock; who cleared a path through the woods as a boy; who lost a mother and a sister to the rigors of frontier life; who taught himself all that he knew; and everything that he had was because of his hard work -- this man, our first Republican President, knew better than anybody what it meant to pull yourself up by your bootstraps. He understood that strain of personal liberty and self-reliance, that fierce independence at the heart of the American experience. 这位粗犷的劈栅栏木匠，出生于拓荒者血脉的圆木小屋中，少年时在林中开辟小径，在严酷的边疆生活中失去了母亲和姐姐，自学成才，所拥有的一切都源于他的辛勤劳作——这个人，我们的首位共和党总统，比任何人都更明白"自力更生"意味着什么。他理解那贯穿美国经验核心的个人自由与自力更生，那股强烈的独立精神。
But he also understood something else. He recognized that while each of us must do our part, work as hard as we can, be as responsible as we can, although we are responsible for our own fates, in the end, there are certain things we cannot do on our own. There are certain things we can only do together. There are certain things only a union can do. 但他还理解另一件事。他认识到，虽然我们每个人必须尽自己的一份力，尽我们所能去努力，尽我们所能去负责，尽管我们要为自己的命运负责，但归根到底，有些事情是我们自己无法独立完成的。有些事情我们只能共同去做。有些事情只有联邦才能完成。
Only a union could harness the courage of our pioneers to settle the American West, which is why Lincoln passed a Homestead Act giving a tract of land to anyone seeking a stake in our growing economy. 只有联邦才能凝聚开拓者们的勇气去开发美国西部，这正是林肯通过《宅地法》向任何希望在日益增长的经济中分一杯羹的人赠送一块土地的原因。
Only a union could foster the ingenuity of our framers -- the ingenuity of our farmers, which is why he set up land-grant colleges that taught them how to make the most of their land while giving their children an education that let them dream the American Dream. 只有联邦才能激发我们建国者们的智慧——激发我们农民们的智慧，这正是他建立赠地学院的原因，这些学院教会农民如何充分利用土地，同时让他们的子女接受教育，得以梦想属于自己的美国梦。
Only a union could speed our expansion and connect our coasts with a transcontinental railroad, and so, even in the midst of civil war, Lincoln built one. He fueled new enterprises with a national currency, spurred innovation, and ignited America's imagination with a national academy of sciences, believing we must, as he put it, add "the fuel of interest to the fire of genius in the discovery ... of new and useful things." 只有联邦才能加速我们的扩张，用一条横贯大陆的铁路把东西海岸连接起来，因此，即便身处内战之中，林肯仍修建了这样一条铁路。他用国家货币为新兴企业注入动力，推动创新，并以国家科学院点燃了美国的想象力，他相信正如他所说，必须为"天才之火添上利益之薪，以发现新的有用之物。"
And on this day, that is also the bicentennial of Charles Darwin's birth, it's worth a moment to pause and renew that commitment to science and innovation and discovery that Lincoln understood so well. 而今天，也是查尔斯·达尔文诞辰200周年，值得我们驻足片刻，重申对科学、创新和发现的承诺，这正是林肯深谙的道理。
Only a union could serve the hopes of every citizen to knock down the barriers to opportunity and give each and every person the chance to pursue the American Dream. Lincoln understood what Washington understood when he led farmers and craftsmen and shopkeepers to rise up against an empire; what Roosevelt understood when he lifted us from Depression, built an arsenal of democracy, created the largest middle class in history with the GI bill. It's what Kennedy understood when he sent us to the moon. 只有联邦才能回应每一位公民的期盼，扫除机会的障碍，让每一个人都有机会追寻美国梦。林肯理解华盛顿带领农民、工匠和小店主起义反抗帝国时所理解的东西；理解罗斯福将我们从大萧条中拯救出来、打造民主兵工厂、凭借《退伍军人法》缔造史上最庞大中产阶级时所理解的东西；也是肯尼迪送我们登上月球时所理解的东西。
All these Presidents recognized that America is -- and always has been -- more than a band of 13 colonies, or 50 states -- more than a bunch of Yankees and Confederates, more than a collection of Red States and Blue States. But we are the United States. There isn't any dream beyond our reach -- there is no dream beyond our reach, any obstacle that can stand in our way when we recognize that our individual liberty is served, not negated, by a recognition of the common good. 所有这些总统都认识到，美国——而且一直都是——不止是13个殖民地的集合，或50个州的集合，不止是一群北方佬和邦联人的集合，不止是红州与蓝州的集合。我们是美利坚合众国。当我们认识到个人自由并非被共同利益所否定、反而因之而得以实现时，就没有任何梦想是我们触不可及的——没有任何梦想遥不可及，没有任何障碍能阻挡我们的道路。
That is the spirit we are called to show once more. The challenges we face are very different now: two wars; an economic crisis unlike any we've seen in our lifetime. Jobs have been lost. Pensions are gone. Families' dreams have been endangered. Health care costs are exploding. Schools are falling short. We have an energy crisis that's hampering our economy and threatening our planet and enriching our adversaries. 这正是我们被召唤再次展现的精神。我们如今面临的挑战截然不同：两场战争；一场我们此生未见的经济危机。人们失去了工作。养老金化为乌有。家庭的梦想受到威胁。医疗费用爆炸式增长。学校难以为继。我们面临的能源危机既在拖累我们的经济，又在威胁我们的星球，还在让我们的对手坐收渔利。
And yet, while our challenges may be new, they did not come about overnight. Ultimately they result from a failure to meet the test that Lincoln set. I understand there have been times in our history when our government has misjudged what we can do by individual effort alone, and what we can only do together; when we didn't draw the line as effectively as we should have; when government has done things that people can -- and should -- do for themselves. 然而，尽管我们的挑战可能是新的，它们却并非一夜之间形成。归根结底，它们源于我们未能通过林肯所设定的考验。我理解，在我们的历史上，确实有过政府误判了哪些事可以单凭个人努力完成、哪些事只能共同完成的时刻；有过我们没有有效划定界限的时刻；有过政府做了人民能够——也应该——自己做的事情的时刻。
Our welfare system, before reform, too often dampened individual initiative, discouraging people from taking responsibility for their own upward mobility. In education, sometimes we've lost sight of the role of parents, rather than government, in cultivating a thirst for knowledge and instilling those qualities of good character, hard work and discipline and integrity -- that are so important to educational achievement and professional success. 我们改革前的福利制度，常常抑制个人的主动性，使人不愿为自己的向上流动承担责任。在教育领域，有时我们忽视了父母而非政府在培养求知欲、灌输良好品格、勤奋、自律和正直——这些对学业成就和职业成功至关重要的品质——方面所应扮演的角色。
But in recent years, we've seen the pendulum swing too far in the opposite direction. What's dominated is a philosophy that says every problem can be solved if only government would step out of the way; that if government were just dismantled and divvied up into tax breaks, that it would somehow benefit us all. 但近年来，我们看到钟摆过分地摆向了另一个方向。占据主导的是一种认为只要政府退到一边，任何问题都能迎刃而解的哲学；认为只要把政府拆解、分割成减税红利，就能让我们所有人都受益。
Such knee-jerk disdain for government -- this constant rejection of any common endeavor -- cannot rebuild our levees or our roads or our bridges. It can't refurbish our schools or modernize our health care system. It can't lead to the next medical discovery or yield the research and technology that will spark a clean energy economy. 这种对政府下意识的蔑视——这种对任何共同事业的一味拒斥——无法重建我们的堤坝、道路或桥梁。它无法翻新我们的学校或实现医疗体系的现代化。它无法带来下一次医学突破，也无法产生将催生清洁能源经济的研究与技术。
Only a nation can do those things. Only by coming together, all of us, in union, and expressing that sense of shared sacrifice and responsibility -- for ourselves, yes, but also for one another -- can we do the work that must be done in this country. That is -- that is part of the definition of being American. 只有国家才能完成这些事情。只有我们所有人团结一心、在联邦之中表达出那种共同牺牲与责任的精神——为我们自己，是的，但也为彼此——我们才能完成这个国家必须完成的工作。这——这正是身为美国人的定义的一部分。
It's only by rebuilding our economy and fostering the conditions of growth that willing workers can find a job, and companies can find capital, and the entrepreneurial spirit that is the key to our competitiveness can flourish. It's only by unleashing the potential of alternative fuels that will lower our energy bills and raise our industries' sights, make our nation safer and our planet cleaner. 只有通过重建我们的经济、培育增长的条件，愿意工作的劳动者才能找到工作，企业才能找到资本，那作为我们竞争力关键的创业精神才能蓬勃发展。只有释放替代能源的潜力，才能降低我们的能源开支、提升我们产业的视野，让我们的国家更安全、让我们的星球更洁净。
It's only by remaking our schools for the 21st century that our children will get those good jobs so they can make of their lives what they will. It's only by coming together to do what people need done that we will, in Lincoln's words, "lift artificial weights from all shoulders [and give] an unfettered start, and a fair chance, in the race of life." That's all people are looking for, fair chance in the race of life. 只有为21世纪重塑我们的学校，我们的孩子才能获得那些好工作，从而按照自己的意愿塑造人生。只有团结起来去做民众需要完成的事，我们才能用林肯的话说，"卸下所有肩头的人为重负，[赋予]一个自由的起点和一次公平的机会，参与生活的竞赛。"这便是人们所求的一切——生活中公平竞赛的机会。
That's what's required of us -- now and in the years ahead. We will be remembered for what we choose to make of this moment. 这就是现在以及未来岁月里我们被要求的担当。我们将因选择如何把握此刻而被后人铭记。
And when posterity looks back on our time, as we are looking back on Lincoln's, I don't want it said that we saw an economic crisis but did not stem it; that we saw our schools decline and our bridges crumble but we did not rebuild them; that the world changed in the 21st century but America did not lead it; that we were consumed with small things, petty things, when we were called to do great things. Instead, let them say that this generation -- our generation -- of Americans rose to the moment and gave America a new birth of freedom and opportunity in our time. 当后世回望我们的时代，正如我们回望林肯的时代一样，我不希望人们说：我们目睹了经济危机却未能阻止它；我们目睹了学校的衰落和桥梁的崩塌却未能重建它们；世界在21世纪发生了改变而美国却未能引领它；我们在被召唤去做伟大之事时，却被琐碎的、渺小的事情所吞噬。相反，让后人这样说：这一代——我们这一代——美国人挺身而出，在我们的时代赋予了美国自由与机遇的新生。
These are trying days and they will grow tougher in the months to come. And there will be moments when our doubts rise and our hopes recede. But let's always remember that we, as a people, have been here before. There were times when our revolution itself seemed altogether improbable, when the union was all but lost, when fascism seemed set to prevail around the world. 这是艰难的时日，且在未来数月中将更为艰难。会有疑虑升起、希望退却的时刻。但让我们始终铭记：作为一个民族，我们曾经历过这样的时刻。曾有过我们的革命本身似乎完全不可能成功的时刻，有过联邦几乎失守的时刻，有过法西斯主义似乎将在全球得逞的时刻。
And yet, what earlier generations discovered -- and what we must rediscover right now -- is that it is precisely when we are in the deepest valley, when the climb is steepest, that Americans relearn how to take the mountaintop. Together. As one nation. As one people. As one nation. As one people. 然而，先辈们所发现的——也是我们现在必须重新发现的——正是当我们身处最深的谷底、当攀爬最为陡峭之时，美国人重新学会如何登上山巅。同心协力。作为一个国家。作为一个民族。作为一个国家。作为一个民族。
That's how we will beat back our present dangers. That is how we will surpass what trials may come. That's how we will do what Lincoln called on us all to do, and "nobly save ... the last best hope on earth." That's what this is, the last best hope on earth. Lincoln has passed that legacy onto us. It is now our responsibility to pass it on to the next generation. 这就是我们将如何击退眼前的危难。这就是我们将如何超越可能降临的考验。这就是我们将如何完成林肯召唤我们所有人去做的事，"高尚地拯救，地球上最后、最好的希望。"这就是我们所拥有的，地球上最后、最好的希望。林肯已将这份遗产传给了我们。如今，将它传给下一代，便是我们的责任。
Thank you, God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America. 谢谢大家，愿上帝保佑你们，愿上帝保佑美利坚合众国。
