Fellow-Citizens: 各位公民：
About to undertake the arduous duties that I have been appointed to perform by the choice of a free people, I avail myself of this customary and solemn occasion to express the gratitude which their confidence inspires and to acknowledge the accountability which my situation enjoins. While the magnitude of their interests convinces me that no thanks can be adequate to the honor they have conferred, it admonishes me that the best return I can make is the zealous dedication of my humble abilities to their service and their good. 即将承担由自由人民选择任命我履行的艰巨职责，我借此惯例而庄严的场合表达他们的信任所激发的感激之情，并承认我的处境所要求的责任。虽然他们利益的重要性使我相信，任何感谢都不足以回报他们授予我的荣誉，但它告诫我，我能做出的最好回报是将我微薄的能力热忱地奉献给他们的服务和福祉。
As the instrument of the Federal Constitution it will devolve on me for a stated period to execute the laws of the United States, to superintend their foreign and their confederate relations, to manage their revenue, to command their forces, and, by communications to the Legislature, to watch over and to promote their interests generally. And the principles of action by which I shall endeavor to accomplish this circle of duties it is now proper for me briefly to explain. 作为联邦宪法的执行者，在规定时期内，我将负责执行联邦法律，监督其对外和对内关系，管理其财政收入，指挥其军队，并通过向立法机构提交报告来全面关注和促进他们的利益。现在我应该简要解释我将努力完成这一系列职责所依据的行动原则。
In administering the laws of Congress I shall keep steadily in view the limitations as well as the extent of the Executive power, trusting thereby to discharge the functions of my office without transcending its authority. With foreign nations it will be my study to preserve peace and to cultivate friendship on fair and honorable terms, and in the adjustment of any differences that may exist or arise to exhibit the forbearance becoming a powerful nation rather than the sensibility belonging to a gallant people. 在执行国会法律时，我将始终牢记行政部门权力的限制和范围，从而相信能够在不超越其权限的情况下履行我的职责。对于外国，我的宗旨是在公平和光荣的条件下维护和平并培育友谊，在调整可能存在或出现的任何分歧时，表现出一个强大国家应有的克制，而不是一个勇敢民族的敏感。
In such measures as I may be called on to pursue in regard to the rights of the separate States I hope to be animated by a proper respect for those sovereign members of our Union, taking care not to confound the powers they have reserved to themselves with those they have granted to the Confederacy. 对于我可能被要求采取的涉及各州权利的措施，我希望能以适当尊重这些主权成员的态度行事，小心不要将他们保留给自己的权力与他们授予联邦的权力混淆。
The management of the public revenue--that searching operation in all governments--is among the most delicate and important trusts in ours, and it will, of course, demand no inconsiderable share of my official solicitude. Under every aspect in which it can be considered it would appear that advantage must result from the observance of a strict and faithful economy. 公共财政的管理——所有政府中都至关重要的一项工作——是我们政府中最微妙和最重要的职责之一，当然也将需要我相当大的官方关注。无论从哪个方面考虑，严格和忠实的节俭似乎都必然带来好处。
This I shall aim at the more anxiously both because it will facilitate the extinguishment of the national debt, the unnecessary duration of which is incompatible with real independence, and because it will counteract that tendency to public and private profligacy which a profuse expenditure of money by the Government is but too apt to engender. 我将更急切地追求这一目标，既因为它将有助于消除国家债务（国家债务的不必要持续与真正的独立不相容），也因为它将抵消政府挥霍金钱极易引发的公共和私人挥霍的倾向。
Powerful auxiliaries to the attainment of this desirable end are to be found in the regulations provided by the wisdom of Congress for the specific appropriation of public money and the prompt accountability of public officers. 实现这一理想目标的有力辅助手段在于国会的智慧为公共资金的特定拨款和公职人员的及时问责所提供的规定。
With regard to a proper selection of the subjects of impost with a view to revenue, it would seem to me that the spirit of equity, caution, and compromise in which the Constitution was formed requires that the great interests of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures should be equally favored, and that perhaps the only exception to this rule should consist in the peculiar encouragement of any products of either of them that may be found essential to our national independence. 关于为增加收入而适当选择征税对象，在我看来，宪法制定时所体现的公平、谨慎和妥协精神要求农业、商业和制造业的重大利益应得到平等对待，也许这一规则的唯一例外应包括对其中任何可能被发现对我们国家独立至关重要的产品给予特殊鼓励。
Internal improvement and the diffusion of knowledge, so far as they can be promoted by the constitutional acts of the Federal Government, are of high importance. 只要联邦政府的宪法行为能够促进，国内改进和知识传播就具有高度重要性。
Considering standing armies as dangerous to free governments in time of peace, I shall not seek to enlarge our present establishment, nor disregard that salutary lesson of political experience which teaches that the military should be held subordinate to the civil power. The gradual increase of our Navy, whose flag has displayed in distant climes our skill in navigation and our fame in arms; the preservation of our forts, arsenals, and dockyards, and the introduction of progressive improvements in the discipline and science of both branches of our military service are so plainly prescribed by prudence that I should be excused for omitting their mention sooner than for enlarging on their importance. 我认为常备军在和平时期对自由政府是危险的，因此我不会寻求扩大我们现有的编制，也不会忽视政治经验的有益教训，即军队应服从文官权力。我们海军的逐步增强（其旗帜在遥远的地方展示了我们的航海技能和军事声誉）、我们的堡垒、兵工厂和造船厂的维护，以及我们军事部门两个分支在纪律和科学方面的逐步改进，都是谨慎所明确规定的，我应该为省略提及它们而不是为详述它们的重要性而辩解。
But the bulwark of our defense is the national militia, which in the present state of our intelligence and population must render us invincible. As long as our Government is administered for the good of the people, and is regulated by their will; as long as it secures to us the rights of person and of property, liberty of conscience and of the press, it will be worth defending; and so long as it is worth defending a patriotic militia will cover it with an impenetrable aegis. 但我们防御的堡垒是国民民兵，在我们目前的智力和人口状况下，它必须使我们不可战胜。只要我们的政府是为人民的利益而管理，并由他们的意志所规范；只要它保障我们的人身和财产权利、良心和新闻自由，它就值得捍卫；只要它值得捍卫，爱国的民兵就会用坚不可摧的盾牌保护它。
Partial injuries and occasional mortifications we may be subjected to, but a million of armed freemen, possessed of the means of war, can never be conquered by a foreign foe. To any just system, therefore, calculated to strengthen this natural safeguard of the country I shall cheerfully lend all the aid in my power. 我们可能会遭受部分伤害和偶尔的屈辱，但一百万拥有战争手段的武装自由人永远不会被外国敌人征服。因此，对于任何旨在加强国家这一天然保障的公正制度，我将愉快地提供我力所能及的一切援助。
It will be my sincere and constant desire to observe toward the Indian tribes within our limits a just and liberal policy, and to give that humane and considerate attention to their rights and their wants which is consistent with the habits of our Government and the feelings of our people. 我真诚而一贯的愿望是，对我们范围内的印第安部落奉行公正和自由的政策，并给予他们的权利和需求以人道和体贴的关注，这与我们政府的习惯和人民的感情是一致的。
The recent demonstration of public sentiment inscribes on the list of Executive duties, in characters too legible to be overlooked, the task of 'reform', which will require particularly the correction of those abuses that have brought the patronage of the Federal Government into conflict with the freedom of elections, and the counteraction of those causes which have disturbed the rightful course of appointment and have placed or continued power in unfaithful or incompetent hands. 最近公众情绪的表现以清晰得不容忽视的文字将"改革"任务列入行政部门的职责清单，这将特别需要纠正那些使联邦政府的庇护与选举自由发生冲突的滥用行为，并抵制那些扰乱任命正当程序、将权力置于或继续留在不忠诚或不称职者手中的原因。
In the performance of a task thus generally delineated I shall endeavor to select men whose diligence and talents will insure in their respective stations able and faithful cooperation, depending for the advancement of the public service more on the integrity and zeal of the public officers than on their numbers. 在执行这样大致描述的任务时，我将努力选择那些勤奋和有才能的人，确保他们在各自岗位上能够提供有能力和忠实的合作，更多地依靠公职人员的正直和热忱而不是他们的数量来推进公共服务。
A diffidence, perhaps too just, in my own qualifications will teach me to look with reverence to the examples of public virtue left by my illustrious predecessors, and with veneration to the lights that flow from the mind that founded and the mind that reformed our system. The same diffidence induces me to hope for instruction and aid from the coordinate branches of the Government, and for the indulgence and support of my fellow-citizens generally. 也许过于公正的对自己资格的缺乏信心将教导我怀着崇敬之情看待我杰出的前任留下的公共美德榜样，并怀着敬畏之心看待创建和改革我们制度的思想所发出的光芒。同样的缺乏信心使我希望从政府的协调部门获得指导和帮助，并获得我的同胞们普遍的宽容和支持。
And a firm reliance on the goodness of that Power whose providence mercifully protected our national infancy, and has since upheld our liberties in various vicissitudes, encourages me to offer up my ardent supplications that He will continue to make our beloved country the object of His divine care and gracious benediction. 对那位仁慈地保护我们国家初创时期并在各种变迁中维护我们自由的权力的善良的坚定依赖，鼓励我热切祈祷他将继续使我们亲爱的国家成为他神圣关怀和仁慈祝福的对象。