Fellow-Citizens: 各位公民:
In the presence of this vast assemblage of my countrymen I am about to supplement and seal by the oath which I shall take the manifestation of the will of a great and free people. 在广大同胞面前,我即将通过宣誓来确认并完成伟大而自由的人民意愿的表达。
In the exercise of their power and right of self-government they have committed to one of their fellow-citizens a supreme and sacred trust, and he here consecrates himself to their service. 在行使自治权的过程中,他们将至高无上的神圣信任托付给了他们的一位同胞,而我在此奉献自己,为他们服务。
This impressive ceremony adds little to the solemn sense of responsibility with which I contemplate the duty I owe to all the people of the land. 这场庄严的仪式并未减轻我对责任的深切感受,我时刻铭记着对这片土地上所有人民的义务。
Nothing can relieve me from anxiety lest by any act of mine their interests may suffer, and nothing is needed to strengthen my resolution to engage every faculty and effort in the promotion of their welfare. 没有任何事情能够消除我的忧虑——唯恐我的任何行为会损害他们的利益,也没有任何事情需要我加强决心,我将全力以赴,促进他们的福祉。
Amid the din of party strife the people's choice was made, but its attendant circumstances have demonstrated anew the strength and safety of a government by the people. 在党派纷争的喧嚣中,人民做出了选择,但其伴随的情况再次证明了民治政府的力量与安全。
In each succeeding year it more clearly appears that our democratic principle needs no apology, and that in its fearless and faithful application is to be found the surest guaranty of good government. 在每一个接踵而至的年代里,越来越清楚的是,我们的民主原则无需辩解,而在无畏和忠诚的实践中,我们找到了善政最可靠的保障。
But the best results in the operation of a government wherein every citizen has a share largely depend upon a proper limitation of purely partisan zeal and effort and a correct appreciation of the time when the heat of the partisan should be merged in the patriotism of the citizen. 但是,在一个每个公民都有份的政府运作中,最好的结果很大程度上取决于对纯粹党派热情和努力的适当限制,以及对党派狂热应融入公民爱国主义的时机的正确认识。
To-day the executive branch of the Government is transferred to new keeping. 今天,政府的行政部门移交到新的管理者手中。
But this is still the Government of all the people, and it should be none the less an object of their affectionate solicitude. 但这仍然是全体人民的政府,它不应因此而减少成为他们深情关怀的对象。
At this hour the animosities of political strife, the bitterness of partisan defeat, and the exultation of partisan triumph should be supplanted by an ungrudging acquiescence in the popular will and a sober, conscientious concern for the general weal. 此时此刻,政治纷争的敌意、党派失败的痛苦和党派胜利的欢欣,应该让位于对人民意愿的欣然接受,以及对公共福利的清醒、认真的关注。
Moreover, if from this hour we cheerfully and honestly abandon all sectional prejudice and distrust, and determine, with manly confidence in one another, to work out harmoniously the achievements of our national destiny, we shall deserve to realize all the benefits which our happy form of government can bestow. 此外,如果从此时此刻起,我们真诚地放弃一切地域偏见和不信任,并决心以男子汉的相互信任,和谐地实现我们民族的命运,我们就值得享有我们幸福的政府形式所能赋予的所有好处。
On this auspicious occasion we may well renew the pledge of our devotion to the Constitution, which, launched by the founders of the Republic and consecrated by their prayers and patriotic devotion, has for almost a century borne the hopes and the aspirations of a great people through prosperity and peace and through the shock of foreign conflicts and the perils of domestic strife and vicissitudes. 在这个吉祥的时刻,我们不妨重申对宪法的忠诚誓言。这部宪法由共和国的缔造者们制定,被他们的祈祷和爱国奉献所神圣化,在近一个世纪的时间里,承载着一个伟大民族的希望和抱负,历经繁荣与和平,经受了外患的冲击和内乱与变迁的考验。
By the Father of his Country our Constitution was commended for adoption as "the result of a spirit of amity and mutual concession." 国父将我们的宪法推荐通过,称其为"友好与相互让步精神的结果"。
In that same spirit it should be administered, in order to promote the lasting welfare of the country and to secure the full measure of its priceless benefits to us and to those who will succeed to the blessings of our national life. 应该以同样的精神来实施它,以促进国家的持久福利,并确保我们以及那些将继承我们民族生活福祉的人充分享有其无价的好处。
The large variety of diverse and competing interests subject to Federal control, persistently seeking the recognition of their claims, need give us no fear that "the greatest good to the greatest number" will fail to be accomplished if in the halls of national legislation that spirit of amity and mutual concession shall prevail in which the Constitution had its birth. 受联邦控制的各种不同和相互竞争的利益,不断寻求承认其主张,但我们无需担心"最大多数人的最大利益"无法实现,只要在国家立法的殿堂中盛行宪法诞生时的那种友好与相互让步的精神。
If this involves the surrender or postponement of private interests and the abandonment of local advantages, compensation will be found in the assurance that the common interest is subserved and the general welfare advanced. 如果这涉及到私人利益的放弃或推迟,以及地方优势的放弃,那么在公共利益得到维护和普遍福利得到促进的保证中,将找到补偿。
In the discharge of my official duty I shall endeavor to be guided by a just and unstrained construction of the Constitution, a careful observance of the distinction between the powers granted to the Federal Government and those reserved to the States or to the people, and by a cautious appreciation of those functions which by the Constitution and laws have been especially assigned to the executive branch of the Government. 在履行我的职责时,我将努力遵循对宪法的公正和宽松的解释,仔细遵守授予联邦政府的权力与保留给各州或人民的权力之间的区别,并谨慎评价宪法和法律特别赋予政府行政部门的那些职能。
But he who takes the oath today to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States only assumes the solemn obligation which every patriotic citizen--on the farm, in the workshop, in the busy marts of trade, and everywhere--should share with him. 但是,今天宣誓维护、保护和捍卫美国宪法的人,只是承担了每个爱国公民——无论是在农场、车间、繁忙的贸易市场,还是任何地方——都应与他共同分担的庄严义务。
The Constitution which prescribes his oath, my countrymen, is yours; the Government you have chosen him to administer for a time is yours; the suffrage which executes the will of freemen is yours; the laws and the entire scheme of our civil rule, from the town meeting to the State capitals and the national capital, is yours. 我的同胞们,规定他宣誓的宪法是你们的;你们选择他暂时管理的政府是你们的;执行自由人民意愿的选举权是你们的;从城镇会议到州府和国会,我们整个民事统治体系是你们的。
Your every voter, as surely as your Chief Magistrate, under the same high sanction, though in a different sphere, exercises a public trust. 你们的每一位选民,正如你们的首席行政长官一样,在同样崇高的制裁下,尽管在不同的领域,都行使着公共信任。
Nor is this all. Every citizen owes to the country a vigilant watch and close scrutiny of its public servants and a fair and reasonable estimate of their fidelity and usefulness. 不仅如此。每位公民都有责任对国家保持警惕,密切关注其公共服务人员,并对他们的忠诚和效用做出公正合理的评价。
Thus is the people's will impressed upon the whole framework of our civil polity--municipal, State, and Federal; and this is the price of our liberty and the inspiration of our faith in the Republic. 这样,人民的意愿就铭刻在我们整个民事政体的框架上——市政、州和联邦;这就是我们自由的代价,也是我们对共和国信念的源泉。
It is the duty of those serving the people in public place to closely limit public expenditures to the actual needs of the Government economically administered, because this bounds the right of the Government to exact tribute from the earnings of labor or the property of the citizen, and because public extravagance begets extravagance among the people. 那些在公共岗位上为人民服务的人,有责任将公共开支严格限制在政府实际需求的范围内,并进行经济管理,因为这限制了政府向劳动所得或公民财产征税的权利,也因为公共铺张会滋生人民的铺张浪费。
We should never be ashamed of the simplicity and prudential economies which are best suited to the operation of a republican form of government and most compatible with the mission of the American people. 我们绝不应该为最适合共和政体运作、最符合美国人民使命的简朴和审慎节约感到羞愧。
Those who are selected for a limited time to manage public affairs are still of the people, and may do much by their example to encourage, consistently with the dignity of their official functions, that plain way of life which among their fellow-citizens aids integrity and promotes thrift and prosperity. 那些被选出在有限时间内管理公共事务的人,仍然是人民的一员,他们可以以身作则,在与官方职责的尊严相一致的情况下,鼓励那种在同胞中有助于正直、促进节俭和繁荣的简朴生活方式。
The genius of our institutions, the needs of our people in their home life, and the attention which is demanded for the settlement and development of the resources of our vast territory dictate the scrupulous avoidance of any departure from that foreign policy commended by the history, the traditions, and the prosperity of our Republic. 我们制度的特质、人民家庭生活的需要,以及开发和利用我们广阔领土资源所需要的关注,都要求我们谨慎避免偏离我国历史、传统和繁荣所认可的外交政策。
It is the policy of independence, favored by our position and defended by our known love of justice and by our power. 这是独立的政策,为我们的地理位置所支持,为我们众所周知的正义感和实力所捍卫。
It is the policy of peace suitable to our interests. 这是符合我们利益的和平政策。
It is the policy of neutrality, rejecting any share in foreign broils and ambitions upon other continents and repelling their intrusion here. 这是中立的政策,拒绝参与其他大陆的外国争端和野心,并抵制它们在这里的入侵。
It is the policy of Monroe and of Washington and Jefferson--"Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliance with none." 这是门罗、华盛顿和杰斐逊的政策——"与所有国家保持和平、贸易和真诚友谊;不与任何国家缔结纠缠不清的联盟。"
A due regard for the interests and prosperity of all the people demands that our finances shall be established upon such a sound and sensible basis as shall secure the safety and confidence of business interests and make the wage of labor sure and steady. 对全体人民利益和繁荣的应有考虑,要求我们的财政建立在合理可靠的基础上,以确保商业利益的安全和信心,使劳动工资稳定可靠。
And that our system of revenue shall be so adjusted as to relieve the people of unnecessary taxation, having a due regard to the interests of capital invested and workingmen employed in American industries, and preventing the accumulation of a surplus in the Treasury to tempt extravagance and waste. 并且我们的税收制度应进行调整,以减轻人民不必要的负担,同时适当考虑在美国工业中投资的资本和受雇工人的利益,并防止国库积累盈余以诱惑铺张浪费。
Care for the property of the nation and for the needs of future settlers requires that the public domain should be protected from purloining schemes and unlawful occupation. 关心国家财产和未来定居者的需求,要求保护公共土地免受掠夺计划和非法侵占。
The conscience of the people demands that the Indians within our boundaries shall be fairly and honestly treated as wards of the Government and their education and civilization promoted with a view to their ultimate citizenship. 人民的良心要求,我们境内的印第安人应作为政府的受监护人得到公平和诚实的对待,促进他们的教育和文明,以期他们最终获得公民身份。
And that polygamy in the Territories, destructive of the family relation and offensive to the moral sense of the civilized world, shall be repressed. 并且领土上的一夫多妻制破坏家庭关系,冒犯文明世界的道德感,应予以压制。
The laws should be rigidly enforced which prohibit the immigration of a servile class to compete with American labor, with no intention of acquiring citizenship, and bringing with them and retaining habits and customs repugnant to our civilization. 法律应严格执行,禁止奴仆阶级移民来与美国劳工竞争,这些人无意获得公民身份,并且带来并保留与我们文明格格不入的习惯和习俗。
The people demand reform in the administration of the Government and the application of business principles to public affairs. 人民要求改革政府管理,并将商业原则应用于公共事务。
As a means to this end, civil-service reform should be in good faith enforced. 为此目的,应真诚地执行文官制度改革。
Our citizens have the right to protection from the incompetency of public employees who hold their places solely as the reward of partisan service, and from the corrupting influence of those who promise and the vicious methods of those who expect such rewards. 我们的公民有权受到保护,免受那些仅凭党派服务获得职位的公职人员的无能之害,免受那些承诺此类回报的人的腐败影响以及那些期望获得此类回报的人的邪恶手段之害。
And those who worthily seek public employment have the right to insist that merit and competency shall be recognized instead of party subserviency or the surrender of honest political belief. 并且那些值得寻求公共就业的人有权坚持,应认可才能和能力,而不是党派顺从或放弃诚实的政治信仰。
In the administration of a government pledged to do equal and exact justice to all men there should be no pretext for anxiety touching the protection of the freedmen in their rights or their security in the enjoyment of their privileges under the Constitution and its amendments. 在一个承诺对所有人实行平等和严格正义的政府管理中,不应有任何借口担心自由民的权利保护或他们根据宪法及其修正案享有特权的安全。
All discussion as to their fitness for the place accorded to them as American citizens is idle and unprofitable except as it suggests the necessity for their improvement. 关于他们是否适合作为美国公民所享有的地位的所有讨论,除了表明他们需要改进之外,都是徒劳无益的。
The fact that they are citizens entitles them to all the rights due to that relation and charges them with all its duties, obligations, and responsibilities. 他们作为公民的事实赋予他们该身份应有的所有权利,并使他们承担该身份的所有职责、义务和责任。
These topics and the constant and ever-varying wants of an active and enterprising population may well receive the attention and the patriotic endeavor of all who make and execute the Federal law. 这些议题以及积极进取的人民不断变化的需求,值得所有制定和执行联邦法律的人关注和爱国努力。
Our duties are practical and call for industrious application, an intelligent perception of the claims of public office, and, above all, a firm determination, by united action, to secure to all the people of the land the full benefits of the best form of government ever vouchsafed to man. 我们的职责是实际的,需要勤奋的应用、对公职要求的明智理解,最重要的是,通过团结行动,坚定决心确保这片土地上的所有人民充分享有人类所获得的最好政府形式的全部好处。
And let us not trust to human effort alone, but humbly acknowledging the power and goodness of Almighty God, who presides over the destiny of nations, and who has at all times been revealed in our country's history, let us invoke His aid and His blessings upon our labors. 并且让我们不仅依靠人类的努力,还要谦卑地承认全能上帝的力量和仁慈——他主宰着国家的命运,并在我国历史的所有时刻都显现出来。让我们祈求他的帮助和祝福降临我们的劳作。