We're here to mark that day in history when the Allied armies joined in battle to reclaim this continent to liberty. For four long years, much of Europe had been under a terrible shadow. Free nations had fallen, Jews cried out in the camps, millions cried out for liberation. Europe was enslaved and the world prayed for its rescue. Here, in Normandy, the rescue began. Here, the Allies stood and fought against tyranny, in a giant undertaking unparalleled in human history. 我们来到这里,是为了纪念历史上那一天——盟军各部并肩作战,为收复这片大陆、使其重获自由而战。漫长的四年里,欧洲大部笼罩在可怕的阴影之下。自由国家相继沦陷,犹太人在集中营中呼号,数以百万计的人哭喊着求解放。欧洲被奴役,整个世界为它的得救而祈祷。就在诺曼底,拯救开始了。在这里,盟军挺立迎战暴政,投身于人类历史上无与伦比的宏大事业。
We stand on a lonely, windswept point on the northern shore of France. The air is soft, but forty years ago at this moment, the air was dense with smoke and the cries of men, and the air was filled with the crack of rifle fire and the roar of cannon. At dawn, on the morning of the 6th of June, 1944, two hundred and twenty-five Rangers jumped off the British landing craft and ran to the bottom of these cliffs. 我们站在法国北岸一处孤独、风扫的高地上。空气柔和,但四十年前的此刻,空气中弥漫着硝烟和人的呐喊,回荡着步枪的脆响和大炮的轰鸣。1944年6月6日黎明,二百二十五名游骑兵跃出英军登陆艇,奔向这些悬崖的脚下。
Their mission was one of the most difficult and daring of the invasion: to climb these sheer and desolate cliffs and take out the enemy guns. The Allies had been told that some of the mightiest of these guns were here, and they would be trained on the beaches to stop the Allied advance. 他们的任务是整个登陆中最艰巨、最危险的一项:攀登这些陡峭荒凉的悬崖,摧毁敌军的火炮。盟军曾被告知,其中一些最强大的火炮就设在这里,炮口对准海滩,意图阻止盟军推进。
The Rangers looked up and saw the enemy soldiers at the edge of the cliffs, shooting down at them with machine guns and throwing grenades. And the American Rangers began to climb. They shot rope ladders over the face of these cliffs and began to pull themselves up. When one Ranger fell, another would take his place. When one rope was cut, a Ranger would grab another and begin his climb again. They climbed, shot back, and held their footing. 游骑兵抬头望去,看见悬崖边缘的敌军正用机枪向下射击、投掷手榴弹。而美国游骑兵开始攀登。他们将绳梯抛上悬崖壁面,开始向上攀爬。一名游骑兵倒下,另一名便接过他的位置。一条绳索被切断,游骑兵便抓住另一条重新开始攀登。他们攀爬着、回击着、稳住脚跟。
Soon, one by one, the Rangers pulled themselves over the top, and in seizing the firm land at the top of these cliffs, they began to seize back the continent of Europe. Two hundred and twenty-five came here. After two days of fighting, only ninety could still bear arms. 很快,游骑兵一个接一个翻过崖顶,在夺取这些悬崖顶端坚实土地的那一刻,他们开始夺回欧洲大陆。二百二十五人来到这里。两天的战斗之后,只有九十人还能继续持枪作战。
And behind me is a memorial that symbolizes the Ranger daggers that were thrust into the top of these cliffs. And before me are the men who put them there. These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc. These are the men who took the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a continent. And these are the heroes who helped end a war. Gentlemen, I look at you and I think of the words of Stephen Spender's poem. You are men who in your "lives fought for life and left the vivid air signed with your honor." 在我身后,是一座纪念碑,象征着插上这些悬崖顶端的游骑兵匕首。在我面前的,是当年把它们插上去的人。这些就是奥克角的勇士。这些就是攻克悬崖的人。这些是帮助解放一个大陆的冠军,这些是帮助结束一场战争的英雄。先生们,我望着你们,想起斯蒂芬·斯彭德诗中的句子。你们是那样的人——"在生命中为生命而战,将生动的空气铭刻上你们的荣光。"
I think I know what you may be thinking right now -- thinking "we were just part of a bigger effort; everyone was brave that day." Well everyone was. Do you remember the story of Bill Millin of the 51st Highlanders? Forty years ago today, British troops were pinned down near a bridge, waiting desperately for help. Suddenly, they heard the sound of bagpipes, and some thought they were dreaming. Well, they weren't. They looked up and saw Bill Millin with his bagpipes, leading the reinforcements and ignoring the smack of the bullets into the ground around him. 我想我知道你们此刻可能在想什么——你们在想"我们只是更大努力的一部分;那天每个人都英勇无畏。"确实每个人都英勇。你们还记得第五十一高地团的比尔·米林的故事吗?四十年前的今天,英军部队在一座桥附近被压制,绝望地等待救援。突然,他们听见风笛声,有人以为自己是在做梦。然而并非如此。他们抬头看见比尔·米林吹着风笛,引领援军,对身边噗噗落地的子弹毫不在意。
Lord Lovat was with him -- Lord Lovat of Scotland, who calmly announced when he got to the bridge, "Sorry, I'm a few minutes late," as if he'd been delayed by a traffic jam, when in truth he'd just come from the bloody fighting on Sword Beach, which he and his men had just taken. 洛瓦特勋爵与他同行——苏格兰的洛瓦特勋爵,到达桥边时平静地说:"抱歉,我迟到了几分钟。"仿佛他只是被交通堵塞耽搁,而实际上他刚从剑滩血战中走出,那里是他和他的部下刚刚攻下的战场。
There was the impossible valor of the Poles, who threw themselves between the enemy and the rest of Europe as the invasion took hold; and the unsurpassed courage of the Canadians who had already seen the horrors of war on this coast. They knew what awaited them there, but they would not be deterred. And once they hit Juno Beach, they never looked back. 还有波兰人那种不可思议的英勇——他们在登陆展开时挺身而出,挡在敌军与欧洲其余地区之间;以及加拿大人那种无与伦比的勇气——他们早已在这片海岸见证过战争的恐怖。他们知道前方等待他们的是什么,却义无反顾。一旦登上朱诺滩,他们便再未回头。
All of these men were part of a roll call of honor with names that spoke of a pride as bright as the colors they bore; The Royal Winnipeg Rifles, Poland's 24th Lancers, the Royal Scots' Fusiliers, the Screaming Eagles, the Yeomen of England's armored divisions, the forces of Free France, the Coast Guard's "Matchbox Fleet," and you, the American Rangers. 所有这些人,都属于一份荣耀的名册,那些名字闪耀着与他们所扛军旗同样明亮的骄傲:皇家温尼伯步枪团、波兰第二十四枪骑兵团、皇家苏格兰燧发枪团、尖叫之鹰、英格兰装甲师的约曼们、自由法兰西的部队、海岸警卫队的"火柴盒舰队",还有你们——美国游骑兵。
Forty summers have passed since the battle that you fought here. You were young the day you took these cliffs; some of you were hardly more than boys, with the deepest joys of life before you. Yet you risked everything here. Why? Why did you do it? What impelled you to put aside the instinct for self-preservation and risk your lives to take these cliffs? What inspired all the men of the armies that met here? We look at you, and somehow we know the answer. It was faith and belief. It was loyalty and love. 自你们在此战斗以来,四十个夏天已经过去。攻克这些悬崖的那天,你们还年轻;你们中有些人当时几乎还是男孩,生命中最深沉的欢乐还在前方。然而你们在这里押上了一切。为什么?你们为何这样做?是什么让你们放下自我保存的本能,冒死攀登这些悬崖?是什么激励了在此会师的各军所有战士?我们望着你们,不知怎么就知道了答案。那是信仰与信念,是忠诚与爱。
The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead, or on the next. It was the deep knowledge -- and pray God we have not lost it -- that there is a profound moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest. You were here to liberate, not to conquer, and so you and those others did not doubt your cause. And you were right not to doubt. 诺曼底的战士们相信自己所做的事是正确的,相信他们为全人类而战,相信公正的上帝会在这片滩头或下一片滩头赐予他们怜悯。那是一种深刻的认知——祈求上帝我们未曾失去它——为解放而使用武力与为征服而使用武力之间,存在着深刻的道德差别。你们来此是为了解放,而非征服,因此你们和那些战友对自己的事业毫不怀疑。而你们不怀疑,是对的。
You all knew that some things are worth dying for. One's country is worth dying for, and democracy is worth dying for, because it's the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man. All of you loved liberty. All of you were willing to fight tyranny, and you knew the people of your countries were behind you. 你们都知道,有些事值得为之赴死。一个人的国家值得为之赴死,民主值得为之赴死,因为它是人类迄今设计出的最值得敬重的政体。你们所有人都热爱自由。你们所有人都愿意抗击暴政,你们知道你们国家的人民在身后支持着你们。
The Americans who fought here that morning knew word of the invasion was spreading through the darkness back home. They fought -- or felt in their hearts, though they couldn't know in fact, that in Georgia they were filling the churches at 4:00 am. In Kansas they were kneeling on their porches and praying. And in Philadelphia they were ringing the Liberty Bell. 那天清晨在此战斗的美国人知道,登陆的消息正透过黑暗传回故乡。他们战斗着——或者在心中感觉到,虽然他们无从确知,在佐治亚州,人们凌晨四点就挤满了教堂。在堪萨斯州,人们跪在门廊上祈祷。而在费城,人们敲响了自由钟。
Something else helped the men of D-day; their rock-hard belief that Providence would have a great hand in the events that would unfold here; that God was an ally in this great cause. And so, the night before the invasion, when Colonel Wolverton asked his parachute troops to kneel with him in prayer, he told them: "Do not bow your heads, but look up so you can see God and ask His blessing in what we're about to do." Also, that night, General Matthew Ridgway on his cot, listening in the darkness for the promise God made to Joshua: "I will not fail thee nor forsake thee." 还有别的东西支撑着D日的战士们;那就是他们坚如磐石的信念:天意将在在此展开的事件中扮演重要角色;上帝是这一伟大事业的盟友。因此,登陆前夜,当沃尔弗顿上校要求他的伞兵们与他一同跪下祈祷时,他对他们说:"不要低头,要抬头仰望,这样你们就能看见上帝,请求他赐福我们将要做的事。"同样在那个夜晚,马修·李奇微将军躺在行军床上,在黑暗中聆听上帝对约书亚的承诺:"我必不撇下你,也不丢弃你。"
These are the things that impelled them; these are the things that shaped the unity of the Allies. 正是这些东西激励了他们;正是这些东西塑造了盟军的团结。
When the war was over, there were lives to be rebuilt and governments to be returned to the people. There were nations to be reborn. Above all, there was a new peace to be assured. These were huge and daunting tasks. But the Allies summoned strength from the faith, belief, loyalty, and love of those who fell here. They rebuilt a new Europe together. 战争结束后,有待重建的生活、有待归还给人民的政府。有待重生的大有国。最重要的是,有待确保的新的和平。这些都是巨大而艰巨的任务。但盟军从在此倒下者的信仰、信念、忠诚与爱中汲取力量。他们共同重建了一个新的欧洲。
There was first a great reconciliation among those who had been enemies, all of whom had suffered so greatly. The United States did its part, creating the Marshall Plan to help rebuild our allies and our former enemies. The Marshall Plan led to the Atlantic alliance -- a great alliance that serves to this day as our shield for freedom, for prosperity, and for peace. 首先,在曾是敌人的各方之间达成了一次伟大的和解——他们都曾承受巨大苦难。美国尽了自己的本分,制定了马歇尔计划,帮助重建我们的盟友和我们昔日的敌人。马歇尔计划促成了大西洋联盟——这一伟大联盟至今仍是捍卫自由、繁荣与和平的盾牌。
In spite of our great efforts and successes, not all that followed the end of the war was happy or planned. Some liberated countries were lost. The great sadness of this loss echoes down to our own time in the streets of Warsaw, Prague, and East Berlin. The Soviet troops that came to the center of this continent did not leave when peace came. They're still there, uninvited, unwanted, unyielding, almost forty years after the war. 尽管我们付出了巨大努力并取得了成功,战争结束后的一切并非都令人欣慰或如人所愿。一些获得解放的国家失去了。这一损失带来的巨大悲伤,至今仍在华沙、布拉格和东柏林的街头回响。来到这片大陆中心的苏军并未在和平到来时离去。战争结束近四十年后,他们仍在这里,未经邀请、不受欢迎、不肯退让。
Because of this, allied forces still stand on this continent. Today, as forty years ago, our armies are here for only one purpose: to protect and defend democracy. The only territories we hold are memorials like this one and graveyards where our heroes rest. 正因如此,盟军仍驻守在这片大陆上。今天,正如四十年前一样,我们的军队在此只为一件事:保护和捍卫民主。我们唯一占有的领土,只是像这样的纪念碑和安息着我们英雄的墓地。
We in America have learned bitter lessons from two world wars. It is better to be here ready to protect the peace, than to take blind shelter across the sea, rushing to respond only after freedom is lost. We've learned that isolationism never was and never will be an acceptable response to tyrannical governments with an expansionist intent. 我们美国人从两次世界大战中汲取了惨痛的教训。与其在大洋彼岸盲目避险、等到自由丧失才匆忙应对,不如在此做好准备、捍卫和平。我们懂得,孤立主义从来都不是、也永远不会是对付具有扩张意图的专制政府的可行之道。
But we try always to be prepared for peace, prepared to deter aggression, prepared to negotiate the reduction of arms, and yes, prepared to reach out again in the spirit of reconciliation. In truth, there is no reconciliation we would welcome more than a reconciliation with the Soviet Union, so, together, we can listen -- lessen the risks of war, now and forever. 但我们始终努力为和平做好准备,为遏制侵略做好准备,为谈判裁减军备做好准备,并且,为再次本着和解精神伸出援手做好准备。事实上,没有哪种和解比与苏联的和解更让我们欢迎,这样我们就能共同——倾听——降低战争的风险,无论现在还是永远。
It's fitting to remember here the great losses also suffered by the Russian people during World War II. Twenty million perished, a terrible price that testifies to all the world the necessity of ending war. I tell you from my heart that we in the United States do not want war. We want to wipe from the face of the earth the terrible weapons that man now has in his hands. 在此纪念二战中俄国人民所遭受的巨大损失,也是恰当的。两千万人丧生,这一惨痛代价向全世界证明结束战争的必要。我发自内心地告诉你们,我们美国人不想要战争。我们希望从地球上抹去人类如今掌握的那些可怕武器。
And I tell you, we are ready to seize that beachhead. We look for some sign from the Soviet Union that they are willing to move forward, that they share our desire and love for peace, and that they will give up the ways of conquest. There must be a changing there that will allow us to turn our hope into action. 我还要告诉你们,我们已准备好夺取那片滩头阵地。我们期待苏联发出某种信号,表明他们愿意向前迈进,与我们一样渴望并热爱和平,愿意放弃征服之道。那里必须发生改变,让我们把希望化为行动。
We will pray forever that someday that changing will come. But for now, particularly today, it is good and fitting to renew our commitment to each other, to our freedom, and to the alliance that protects it. 我们将永远祈祷,有朝一日那种改变会到来。但眼下,尤其是今天,重新确立我们对彼此、对自由、对捍卫自由的联盟的承诺,是恰当而美好的。
We're bound today by what bound us 40 years ago, the same loyalties, traditions, and beliefs. We're bound by reality. The strength of America's allies is vital to the United States, and the American security guarantee is essential to the continued freedom of Europe's democracies. We were with you then; we're with you now. Your hopes are our hopes, and your destiny is our destiny. 今天,将我们联结在一起的,正是四十年前将我们联结在一起的东西——同样的忠诚、传统与信念。我们被现实联结在一起。美国盟友的力量对美国至关重要,而美国的安全保障对欧洲民主国家持续的自由同样不可或缺。那时我们与你们同在;现在我们仍与你们同在。你们的希望就是我们的希望,你们的命运就是我们的命运。
Here, in this place where the West held together, let us make a vow to our dead. Let us show them by our actions that we understand what they died for. Let our actions say to them the words for which Matthew Ridgway listened: "I will not fail thee nor forsake thee." 在这里,在西方世界凝聚不散的此地,让我们向死者立誓。让我们以行动向他们证明,我们理解他们为何而死。让我们的行动对他们说出马修·李奇微所聆听的那句话:"我必不撇下你,也不丢弃你。"
Strengthened by their courage and heartened by their valor and borne by their memory, let us continue to stand for the ideals for which they lived and died. 因他们的勇气而坚强,因他们的英勇而振奋,因他们的记忆而承载,让我们继续捍卫他们为之生、为之死的理想。
Thank you very much, and God bless you all. 非常感谢你们,愿上帝保佑你们大家。