In compliance with an usage coeval with the existence of our Federal Constitution, and sanctioned by the example of my predecessors in the career upon which I am about to enter, I appear, my fellow-citizens, in your presence and in that of Heaven to bind myself by the solemnities of religious obligation to the faithful performance of the duties allotted to me in the station to which I have been called. 遵循与联邦宪法同时存在的惯例，并得到我即将踏入的职业生涯中各位前辈的示范认可，同胞们，我来到你们面前，在上帝的见证下，以宗教义务的庄严性约束自己，忠实履行被任命的职位所赋予我的职责。
In unfolding to my countrymen the principles by which I shall be governed in the fulfillment of those duties my first resort will be to that Constitution which I shall swear to the best of my ability to preserve, protect, and defend. That revered instrument enumerates the powers and prescribes the duties of the Executive Magistrate, and in its first words declares the purposes to which these and the whole action of the Government should be invariably and sacredly devoted. 在向同胞们阐述我在履行这些职责时将遵循的原则时，我首先求助于宪法，我将宣誓尽我所能维护、保护和捍卫这部宪法。这部神圣的文献列举了行政长官的权力，规定了其职责，并在开篇明言，这些权力以及由此建立的政府的全部行动应始终不渝地致力于某些目的。
These purposes are to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to the people of this Union in their successive generations. 这些目的是：建立更完善的联邦，确立正义，保证国内安宁，提供共同防务，促进公共福利，并确保联邦人民及其后代享有自由的福祉。
Since the adoption of this social compact one of these generations has passed away. It is the work of our forefathers. Administered by some of the most eminent men who contributed to its formation, through a most eventful period in the annals of the world, and through all the vicissitudes of peace and war incidental to the condition of associated man, it has not disappointed the hopes and aspirations of those illustrious benefactors of their age and nation. 自这部社会契约通过以来，已经过去了一代人的时间。这是我们先辈的杰作。在世界历史上一个多事之秋，经历了人类社会必然遭遇的各种兴衰变迁，由参与制定宪法的一些最杰出人士管理，它没有辜负那些为时代和国家作出杰出贡献的人们的期望和抱负。
It has promoted the lasting welfare of that country so dear to us all; it has to an extent far beyond the ordinary lot of humanity secured the freedom and happiness of this people. We now receive it as a precious inheritance from those to whom we are indebted for its establishment, doubly bound by the examples which they have left us and by the blessings which we have enjoyed as the fruits of their labors to transmit the same unimpaired to the succeeding generation. 它促进了我们深爱的国家的持久福祉；它在很大程度上保障了人民的自由和幸福，远超人类通常的命运。我们现在从那些为我们建立了这一制度的先辈手中接过这份宝贵的遗产，我们深受他们留下的榜样的激励，也深受我们作为他们劳动成果所享有的福祉的鼓舞，必须将其完好无损地传给后代。
In the compass of thirty-six years since this great national covenant was instituted a body of laws enacted under its authority and in conformity with its provisions has unfolded its powers and carried into practical operation its effective energies. Subordinate departments have distributed the executive functions in their various relations to foreign affairs, to the revenue and expenditures, and to the military force of the Union by land and sea. 自这个伟大的国家契约制定以来的三十六年中，根据其授权并按照其规定制定的一系列法律，已经展现了其权力并将其有效能量付诸实践。各下属部门已将行政职能分配到其与外交事务、收支以及联邦陆海军的各种关系中。
A coordinate department of the judiciary has expounded the Constitution and the laws, settling in harmonious coincidence with the legislative will numerous weighty questions of construction which the imperfection of human language had rendered unavoidable. The year of jubilee since the first formation of our Union has just elapsed; that of the declaration of our independence is at hand. The consummation of both was effected by this Constitution. 司法部门的一个协调机构已经阐释了宪法和法律，与立法意志和谐一致地解决了因人类语言不完善而不可避免的众多重大解释问题。联邦成立以来的五十周年刚刚过去；独立宣言发表五十周年即将到来。这两件大事都是由这部宪法完成的。
Since that period a population of four millions has multiplied to twelve. A territory bounded by the Mississippi has been extended from sea to sea. New States have been admitted to the Union in numbers nearly equal to those of the first Confederation. Treaties of peace, amity, and commerce have been concluded with the principal dominions of the earth. 自那时以来，人口从四百万增长到一千二百万。密西西比河以西的领土已扩展到两洋之间。新州加入联邦的数量几乎与最初的联邦成员国相等。与世界主要国家缔结了和平、友好和通商条约。
The people of other nations, inhabitants of regions acquired not by conquest, but by compact, have been united with us in the participation of our rights and duties, of our burdens and blessings. The forest has fallen by the ax of our woodsmen; the soil has been made to teem by the tillage of our farmers; our commerce has whitened every ocean. 其他国家的人民，那些不是通过征服而是通过契约获得的地区的居民，已经与我们一起享有权利和义务，分担负担和福祉。森林被我们的伐木工用斧头砍倒；土地被我们的农民耕作得肥沃多产；我们的商业使每一片海洋都泛起白帆。
The dominion of man over physical nature has been extended by the invention of our artists. Liberty and law have marched hand in hand. All the purposes of human association have been accomplished as effectively as under any other government on the globe, and at a cost little exceeding in a whole generation the expenditure of other nations in a single year. 人类对自然的统治通过艺术家的发明得到了扩展。自由与法律携手并进。人类联合的所有目的都像世界上任何其他政府一样有效地实现了，而整个一代人的花费仅略高于其他国家一年的支出。
Such is the unexaggerated picture of our condition under a Constitution founded upon the republican principle of equal rights. To admit that this picture has its shades is but to say that it is still the condition of men upon earth. From evil--physical, moral, and political--it is not our claim to be exempt. 这就是在基于平等权利共和原则的宪法下我们状况的真实写照。承认这幅图景有其阴影，只不过是说我们仍然是地球上的人类。我们不能声称免除邪恶——身体的、道德的和政治的邪恶。
We have suffered sometimes by the visitation of Heaven through disease; often by the wrongs and injustice of other nations, even to the extremities of war; and, lastly, by dissensions among ourselves--dissensions perhaps inseparable from the enjoyment of freedom, but which have more than once appeared to threaten the dissolution of the Union, and with it the overthrow of all the enjoyments of our present lot and all our earthly hopes of the future. 我们有时因上天的疾病侵袭而受苦；常常因其他国家的不公和不义而受苦，甚至到了战争的边缘；最后，因我们内部的分歧而受苦——这种分歧也许与享有自由密不可分，但多次威胁到联邦的解体，以及随之而来的我们目前所有福祉的丧失和未来所有尘世希望的破灭。
The causes of these dissensions have been various, founded upon differences of speculation in the theory of republican government; upon conflicting views of policy in our relations with foreign nations; upon jealousies of partial and sectional interests, aggravated by prejudices and prepossessions which strangers to each other are ever apt to entertain. 这些分歧的原因多种多样，源于对共和政府理论的不同思考；源于我们与外国关系的政策冲突观点；源于局部和地区利益的嫉妒，以及彼此陌生的人往往易于产生的偏见和成见。
It is a source of gratification and of encouragement to me to observe that the great result of this experiment upon the theory of human rights has at the close of that generation by which it was formed been crowned with success equal to the most sanguine expectations of its founders. Union, justice, tranquillity, the common defense, the general welfare, and the blessings of liberty--all have been promoted by the Government under which we have lived. 我欣慰地看到，在制定人权理论的那一代人结束时，这一伟大实验的结果取得了超出其创立者最乐观期望的成功。联邦、正义、安宁、共同防务、公共福利和自由的福祉——所有这些都在我们所生活的政府下得到了促进。
Standing at this point of time, looking back to that generation which has gone by and forward to that which is advancing, we may at once indulge in grateful exultation and in cheering hope. From the experience of the past we derive instructive lessons for the future. 站在这个时间点上，回顾过去的一代人，展望未来的一代人，我们可以同时怀着感激的欢欣和鼓舞的希望。从过去的经验中，我们为未来汲取有益的教训。
Of the two great political parties which have divided the opinions and feelings of our country, the candid and the just will now admit that both have contributed splendid talents, spotless integrity, ardent patriotism, and disinterested sacrifices to the formation and administration of this Government, and that both have required a liberal indulgence for a portion of human infirmity and error. 对于分裂了我国意见和感情的两大政党，公正和正直的人现在会承认，两者都为政府的建立和管理贡献了杰出的人才、无可挑剔的正直、炽热的爱国主义和无私的牺牲，两者都需要对人类的一些弱点和错误给予宽容。
The revolutionary wars of Europe, commencing precisely at the moment when the Government of the United States first went into operation under this Constitution, excited a collision of sentiments and of sympathies which kindled all the passions and imbittered the conflict of parties till the nation was involved in war and the Union was shaken to its center. 欧洲的革命战争恰在美国政府根据这部宪法首次运作时爆发，激起了情感和同情的冲突，点燃了所有激情，加剧了党派斗争，直到国家卷入战争，联邦受到动摇。
This time of trial embraced a period of five and twenty years, during which the policy of the Union in its relations with Europe constituted the principal basis of our political divisions and the most arduous part of the action of our Federal Government. 这段考验时期长达二十五年，在此期间，联邦在与欧洲关系中的政策构成了我们政治分歧的主要基础，也是联邦政府行动中最艰巨的部分。
With the catastrophe in which the wars of the French Revolution terminated, and our own subsequent peace with Great Britain, this baneful weed of party strife was uprooted. From that time no difference of principle, connected either with the theory of government or with our intercourse with foreign nations, has existed or been called forth in force sufficient to sustain a continued combination of parties or to give more than wholesome animation to public sentiment or legislative debate. 随着法国大革命战争的结束和我们随后与英国的和平，这株有害的党派斗争杂草被连根拔起。从那时起，无论是关于政府理论还是关于我们与外国交往的原则分歧，都没有以足够的力量存在或被唤起，以维持持续的党派联合或给公众情绪或立法辩论带来超出健康范围的活力。
Our political creed is, without a dissenting voice that can be heard, that the will of the people is the source and the happiness of the people the end of all legitimate government upon earth; that the best security for the beneficence and the best guaranty against the abuse of power consists in the freedom, the purity, and the frequency of popular elections. 我们的政治信条是，人民的意志是地球上所有合法政府的源泉，人民的幸福是其目的；善政的最佳保障和防止权力滥用的最佳保证在于普选的自由、纯洁和频率。
That the General Government of the Union and the separate governments of the States are all sovereignties of limited powers, fellow-servants of the same masters, uncontrolled within their respective spheres, uncontrollable by encroachments upon each other. 联邦的中央政府和各州的独立政府都是有限权力的主权，是同一主人的共同仆人，在各自领域内不受控制，也不会因彼此侵犯而被控制。
That the firmest security of peace is the preparation during peace of the defenses of war; that a rigorous economy and accountability of public expenditures should guard against the aggravation and alleviate when possible the burden of taxation; that the military should be kept in strict subordination to the civil power. 最可靠的和平保障是在和平时期准备战争的防御；严格的经济和公共支出的问责制应防止税收负担加重，并在可能时减轻负担；军队应严格服从文官权力。
That the freedom of the press and of religious opinion should be inviolate; that the policy of our country is peace and the ark of our salvation union are articles of faith upon which we are all now agreed. 新闻自由和宗教信仰自由应不受侵犯；我国的政策是和平，联邦是我们救赎的方舟——这些都是我们现在一致认同的信念。
If there have been those who doubted whether a confederated representative democracy were a government competent to the wise and orderly management of the common concerns of a mighty nation, those doubts have been dispelled; if there have been projects of partial confederacies to be erected upon the ruins of the Union, they have been scattered to the winds. 如果有人曾怀疑联邦代表民主制是否是一个有能力明智有序地管理一个伟大国家共同事务的政府，这些怀疑已经消除；如果有人曾计划在联邦废墟上建立部分联盟，这些计划已经化为乌有。
If there have been dangerous attachments to one foreign nation and antipathies against another, they have been extinguished. Ten years of peace, at home and abroad, have assuaged the animosities of political contention and blended into harmony the most discordant elements of public opinion. 如果有人曾对一个外国产生危险的依恋并对另一个外国怀有敌意，这些情感已经消失。十年的国内外和平缓解了政治争论的敌意，将最不和谐的舆论元素融合成和谐。
There still remains one effort of magnanimity, one sacrifice of prejudice and passion, to be made by the individuals throughout the nation who have heretofore followed the standards of political party. It is that of discarding every remnant of rancor against each other, of embracing as countrymen and friends. 在全国范围内，那些迄今为止追随政党旗帜的个人，仍需做出最后一次宽宏大量的努力，做出最后一次牺牲偏见和激情的努力。那就是抛弃彼此之间的所有怨恨残余，像同胞和朋友一样拥抱彼此。
And of yielding to talents and virtue alone that confidence which in times of contention for principle was bestowed only upon those who bore the badge of party communion. 并将信心只给予那些有才干和美德的人——而在原则斗争时期，这种信心只给予那些带有党派徽章的人。
The collisions of party spirit which originate in speculative opinions or in different views of administrative policy are in their nature transitory. Those which are founded on geographical divisions, adverse interests of soil, climate, and modes of domestic life are more permanent, and therefore, perhaps, more dangerous. 源于思辨观点或不同行政政策观点的党派精神冲突本质上是短暂的。那些基于地理划分、土壤、气候和国内生活方式的不利利益的冲突则更为持久，因此也许更为危险。
It is this which gives inestimable value to the character of our Government, at once federal and national. It holds out to us a perpetual admonition to preserve alike and with equal anxiety the rights of each individual State in its own government and the rights of the whole nation in that of the Union. 正是这一点赋予了我们政府兼具联邦和国家性质的品格以不可估量的价值。它向我们发出永恒的告诫，要同样并且以同样的关切维护每个州在其自身政府中的权利和整个国家在联邦政府中的权利。
Whatsoever is of domestic concernment, unconnected with the other members of the Union or with foreign lands, belongs exclusively to the administration of the State governments. Whatsoever directly involves the rights and interests of the federative fraternity or of foreign powers is of the resort of this General Government. 凡是与联邦其他成员或外国无关的国内事务，完全属于州政府的管辖范围。凡是直接涉及联邦兄弟关系权利和利益或外国势力的事务，属于中央政府的管辖范围。
The duties of both are obvious in the general principle, though sometimes perplexed with difficulties in the detail. To respect the rights of the State governments is the inviolable duty of that of the Union; the government of every State will feel its own obligation to respect and preserve the rights of the whole. 两者的职责在一般原则上是明确的，尽管在细节上有时会遇到困难。尊重州政府的权利是联邦政府不可侵犯的职责；每个州政府都应感到有义务尊重和维护整体的权利。
The prejudices everywhere too commonly entertained against distant strangers are worn away, and the jealousies of jarring interests are allayed by the composition and functions of the great national councils annually assembled from all quarters of the Union at this place. 对远方陌生人普遍存在的偏见在每年从联邦各地汇集于此的伟大国家议会的组成和职能中被消除，相互冲突的利益嫉妒也得到缓解。
Here the distinguished men from every section of our country, while meeting to deliberate upon the great interests of those by whom they are deputed, learn to estimate the talents and do justice to the virtues of each other. 在这里，来自我国每一个地区的杰出人士在代表委托他们的人审议重大利益时，学会了评估彼此的才能并公正对待彼此的美德。
The harmony of the nation is promoted and the whole Union is knit together by the sentiments of mutual respect, the habits of social intercourse, and the ties of personal friendship formed between the representatives of its several parts in the performance of their service at this metropolis. 国家的和谐得到促进，整个联邦通过代表们在这座大都市履行职责时形成的相互尊重的情感、社会交往的习惯和个人友谊的纽带而紧密团结在一起。
Passing from this general review of the purposes and injunctions of the Federal Constitution and their results as indicating the first traces of the path of duty in the discharge of my public trust, I turn to the Administration of my immediate predecessor as the second. It has passed away in a period of profound peace, how much to the satisfaction of our country and to the honor of our country's name is known to you all. 从对联邦宪法的目的和训令及其结果的总体回顾——这表明了我在履行公共职责时应遵循的职责轨迹——我转向我的前任的行政作为第二个考量。他的任期在一段深刻的和平时期结束，这在多大程度上令我国满意、为我国增光，是你们所有人都知道的。
The great features of its policy, in general concurrence with the will of the Legislature, have been to cherish peace while preparing for defensive war; to yield exact justice to other nations and maintain the rights of our own; to cherish the principles of freedom and of equal rights wherever they were proclaimed. 他的政策的主要特点，总体上与立法机构的意愿一致，是在准备防御性战争的同时珍惜和平；对其他国家给予公正，维护我们自己的权利；在任何地方宣扬自由和平等权利原则。
To discharge with all possible promptitude the national debt; to reduce within the narrowest limits of efficiency the military force; to improve the organization and discipline of the Army; to provide and sustain a school of military science; to extend equal protection to all the great interests of the nation. 尽快偿还国债；将军队减少到效率所需的最窄限度；改进军队的组织和纪律；提供并维持一所军事科学学校；平等保护国家的所有重大利益。
To promote the civilization of the Indian tribes, and to proceed in the great system of internal improvements within the limits of the constitutional power of the Union. 促进印第安部落的文明，并在联邦宪法权力范围内推进伟大的内部改进体系。
Under the pledge of these promises, made by that eminent citizen at the time of his first induction to this office, in his career of eight years the internal taxes have been repealed; sixty millions of the public debt have been discharged; provision has been made for the comfort and relief of the aged and indigent among the surviving warriors of the Revolution. 根据这位杰出公民首次就职时所作的这些承诺，在他八年的任期内，国内税被废除；六千万公共债务已偿还；为革命幸存战士中的年老贫困者提供了安慰和救济。
The regular armed force has been reduced and its constitution revised and perfected; the accountability for the expenditure of public moneys has been made more effective; the Floridas have been peaceably acquired, and our boundary has been extended to the Pacific Ocean; the independence of the southern nations of this hemisphere has been recognized. 常备军已减少，其组织已修订完善；公共资金支出的问责制已更加有效；佛罗里达已和平获得，我们的边界已扩展到太平洋；这个半球南部国家的独立已得到承认。
And recommended by example and by counsel to the potentates of Europe; progress has been made in the defense of the country by fortifications and the increase of the Navy, toward the effectual suppression of the African traffic in slaves. 并通过榜样和建议推荐给欧洲君主；在通过防御工事和增加海军来保卫国家、有效抑制非洲奴隶贸易方面取得了进展。
In alluring the aboriginal hunters of our land to the cultivation of the soil and of the mind, in exploring the interior regions of the Union, and in preparing by scientific researches and surveys for the further application of our national resources to the internal improvement of our country. 在吸引我国土地上的原始猎人从事土地和思想的耕耘、探索联邦内部地区以及通过科学研究和调查为进一步利用国家资源进行国内改善做准备方面。
In this brief outline of the promise and performance of my immediate predecessor the line of duty for his successor is clearly delineated. To pursue to their consummation those purposes of improvement in our common condition instituted or recommended by him will embrace the whole sphere of my obligations. 在我前任的承诺和成就的简要概述中，他的继任者的职责路线已经明确划定。将他所开创或推荐的改善我们共同状况的那些目标付诸实现，将涵盖我所有义务的全部范围。
To the topic of internal improvement, emphatically urged by him at his inauguration, I recur with peculiar satisfaction. It is that from which I am convinced that the unborn millions of our posterity who are in future ages to people this continent will derive their most fervent gratitude to the founders of the Union. 对于他在就职时着重强调的内部改进话题，我怀着特别的满足感再次提及。我深信，未来世代将在这片大陆上繁衍生息的数百万未出生的后代，将从这一点上对联邦的缔造者们表达最热烈的感激之情。
That in which the beneficent action of its Government will be most deeply felt and acknowledged. The magnificence and splendor of their public works are among the imperishable glories of the ancient republics. 正是在这一点上，政府的仁慈行动将被最深刻地感受到和认可。古代共和国的公共工程的宏伟壮丽是其不朽荣耀的一部分。
The roads and aqueducts of Rome have been the admiration of all after ages, and have survived thousands of years after all her conquests have been swallowed up in despotism or become the spoil of barbarians. Some diversity of opinion has prevailed with regard to the powers of Congress for legislation upon objects of this nature. 罗马的道路和渡槽一直为后世所钦佩，在其所有征服成果被专制主义吞噬或成为野蛮人战利品数千年后依然存在。关于国会就此性质的目标进行立法的权力，存在过一些意见分歧。
The most respectful deference is due to doubts originating in pure patriotism and sustained by venerated authority. But nearly twenty years have passed since the construction of the first national road was commenced. The authority for its construction was then unquestioned. 对于源于纯粹爱国主义并得到受人尊敬的权威支持的疑虑，应给予最尊重的考虑。但第一条国家公路的建设已经开始近二十年了。当时其建设的权威是毋庸置疑的。
To how many thousands of our countrymen has it proved a benefit? To what single individual has it ever proved an injury? Repeated, liberal, and candid discussions in the Legislature have conciliated the sentiments and approximated the opinions of enlightened minds upon the question of constitutional power. 它为多少同胞带来了好处？它曾给任何个人带来过伤害吗？立法机构反复、自由和坦率的讨论已经调和了开明人士在宪法权力问题上的情绪并使他们的意见趋于一致。
I can not but hope that by the same process of friendly, patient, and persevering deliberation all constitutional objections will ultimately be removed. The extent and limitation of the powers of the General Government in relation to this transcendently important interest will be settled and acknowledged to the common satisfaction of all. 我不禁希望，通过同样友好、耐心和坚持不懈的审议过程，所有宪法异议最终将被消除。中央政府在这一极其重要利益方面的权力范围和限制将得到解决并为所有人共同满意地承认。
And every speculative scruple will be solved by a practical public blessing. 每一个思辨上的顾虑都将通过实际的公共福祉得到解决。
Fellow-citizens, you are acquainted with the peculiar circumstances of the recent election, which have resulted in affording me the opportunity of addressing you at this time. You have heard the exposition of the principles which will direct me in the fulfillment of the high and solemn trust imposed upon me in this station. 同胞们，你们了解最近选举的特殊情况，这些情况使我有机会在此时向你们发表讲话。你们已经听到了我在履行这一职位所赋予的崇高而庄严的职责时将遵循的原则阐述。
Less possessed of your confidence in advance than any of my predecessors, I am deeply conscious of the prospect that I shall stand more and oftener in need of your indulgence. Intentions upright and pure, a heart devoted to the welfare of our country, and the unceasing application of all the faculties allotted to me to her service are all the pledges that I can give for the faithful performance of the arduous duties I am to undertake. 与我的任何前任相比，我预先获得的信心更少，我深切意识到我将更频繁地需要你们的宽容。正直纯洁的意图、致力于国家福祉的心灵以及将我所拥有的全部能力不断应用于她的服务——这些都是我能够为我即将承担的艰巨职责的忠实履行所做出的全部保证。
To the guidance of the legislative councils, to the assistance of the executive and subordinate departments, to the friendly cooperation of the respective State governments, to the candid and liberal support of the people so far as it may be deserved by honest industry and zeal, I shall look for whatever success may attend my public service. 对于立法议会的指导、行政和下属部门的协助、各州政府的友好合作、以及人民在诚实努力和热忱值得的范围内给予的坦诚和慷慨支持，我将寻求我公共服务可能取得的任何成功。
And knowing that "except the Lord keep the city the watchman waketh but in vain," with fervent supplications for His favor, to His overruling providence I commit with humble but fearless confidence my own fate and the future destinies of my country. 并且深知“若不是耶和华看守城池，看守的人就枉然警醒”，我怀着热切的祈求，以谦卑而无畏的信心，将我自己的命运和我国的未来命运托付给祂至高无上的眷顾。 the future destinies of my country. 并且深知“若不是耶和华看守城池，看守的人就枉然警醒”，我怀着热切的祈求，以谦卑而无畏的信心，