Friends and Fellow-Citizens: 朋友们，各位公民：
CALLED upon to undertake the duties of the first executive office of our country, I avail myself of the presence of that portion of my fellow-citizens which is here assembled to express my grateful thanks for the favor with which they have been pleased to look toward me, to declare a sincere consciousness that the task is above my talents, and that I approach it with those anxious and awful presentiments which the greatness of the charge and the weakness of my powers so justly inspire. 蒙召担任我国最高行政职务，我借各位同胞莅临之机，表达我对大家厚爱之情的衷心感谢。我坦诚地认识到，这项重任非我才能所及。面对这一伟大职责和我自身能力的有限，我怀着焦虑和敬畏之情接受任命。
A rising nation, spread over a wide and fruitful land, traversing all the seas with the rich productions of their industry, engaged in commerce with nations who feel power and forget right, advancing rapidly to destinies beyond the reach of mortal eye—when I contemplate these transcendent objects, and see the honor, the happiness, and the hopes of this beloved country committed to the issue, and the auspices of this day, I shrink from the contemplation, and humble myself before the magnitude of the undertaking. 一个正在崛起的国家，广袤而肥沃的土地上人口遍布，其勤劳的产品远销四海，与那些恃强凌弱的国家进行贸易，正快速迈向人类目光难以企及的命运——当我思考这些崇高目标，看到我们热爱的国家的荣誉、幸福和希望都寄托于今天的结果和吉兆时，我不禁心生退缩，在这项伟大事业面前感到卑微。
Utterly, indeed, should I despair did not the presence of many whom I here see remind me that in the other high authorities provided by our Constitution I shall find resources of wisdom, of virtue, and of zeal on which to rely under all difficulties. 若不是看到在座的许多人让我想起，在宪法规定的其他高级机构中，我将找到智慧、品德和热忱的源泉，在任何困难下都可信赖，我真会感到绝望。
To you, then, gentlemen, who are charged with the sovereign functions of legislation, and to those associated with you, I look with encouragement for that guidance and support which may enable us to steer with safety the vessel in which we are all embarked amidst the conflicting elements of a troubled world. 那么，各位肩负立法主权职能的先生们，以及与你们共事的人们，我满怀期望地向你们寻求指导和支持，使我们能在这个动荡世界的汹涌波涛中安全驾驭这艘共同的航船。
During the contest of opinion through which we have passed the animation of discussions and of exertions has sometimes worn an aspect which might impose on strangers unused to think freely and to speak and to write what they think; 在我们经历的意见纷争中，讨论和努力有时表现出一种可能让不习惯自由思考、自由言论和自由写作的陌生人感到不安的面貌；
but this being now decided by the voice of the nation, announced according to the rules of the Constitution, all will, of course, arrange themselves under the will of the law, and unite in common efforts for the common good. 但既然这个问题已由国家的声音按照宪法规则作出决定，当然所有人都将遵从法律的意志，团结起来为共同利益而努力。
All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression. 所有人也将铭记这一神圣原则：虽然多数人的意志在所有情况下都应占上风，但这一意志要合法必须合理；少数人拥有平等权利，这些权利必须由平等的法律保护，侵犯这些权利就是压迫。
Let us, then, fellow-citizens, unite with one heart and one mind. Let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection without which liberty and even life itself are but dreary things. 那么，同胞们，让我们同心同德。让我们恢复社会交往中的和谐与友爱，没有它们，自由甚至生命本身都将变得枯燥无味。
And let us reflect that, having banished from our land that religious intolerance under which mankind so long bled and suffered, we have yet gained little if we countenance a political intolerance as despotic, as wicked, and capable of as bitter and bloody persecutions. 让我们反思：既然我们已经在国土上消除了人类长期流血受苦的宗教迫害，如果我们容忍一种同样专制、同样邪恶、同样可能引发残酷血腥迫害的政治迫害，那我们就几乎一无所获。
During the throes and convulsions of the ancient world, during the agonizing spasms of infuriated man, seeking through blood and slaughter his long-lost liberty, it was not wonderful that the agitation of the billows should reach even this distant and peaceful shore; that this should be more felt and feared by some and less by others, and should divide opinions as to measures of safety. 在古代世界的阵痛和动荡中，在愤怒的人们为追寻久失的自由而经历的痛苦痉挛中，汹涌的波涛波及这片遥远而宁静的海岸，本不足为奇；对此有些人感受更深、恐惧更甚，有些人则较轻，这在安全措施问题上造成意见分歧。
But every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists. 但并非所有意见分歧都是原则分歧。我们以不同的名称称呼同一原则的兄弟。我们都是共和党人，我们都是联邦党人。
If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it. 如果我们中间有人希望解散联邦或改变其共和形式，就让他们不受干扰地站在那里，作为在理性自由辩论的地方可以容忍意见错误的安全纪念碑。
I know, indeed, that some honest men fear that a republican government can not be strong, that this Government is not strong enough; but would the honest patriot, in the full tide of successful experiment, abandon a government which has so far kept us free and firm on the theoretic and visionary fear that this Government, the world's best hope, may by possibility want energy to preserve itself? 我知道，确实有些诚实的人担心共和政府不够强大，担心这个政府不够有力；但在成功实验的大潮中，诚实的爱国者是否会因为理论上的、空想的恐惧——即这个政府、这个世界最美好的希望可能缺乏自我维持的能量——而放弃一个迄今使我们自由而坚定的政府？
I trust not. I believe this, on the contrary, the strongest Government on earth. I believe it the only one where every man, at the call of the law, would fly to the standard of the law, and would meet invasions of the public order as his own personal concern. 我相信不会。相反，我相信这是世界上最强大的政府。我相信，这是唯一一个人人在法律召唤下都会奔赴法律的旗帜，并将公共秩序受到侵犯视为个人关切的政府。
Sometimes it is said that man can not be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question. 有人说，人不能被信任来管理自己。那么，他能被信任来管理他人吗？或者我们是否找到了天使以国王的形式来统治他？让历史来回答这个问题。
Let us, then, with courage and confidence pursue our own Federal and Republican principles, our attachment to union and representative government. 让我们以勇气和信心追求我们自己的联邦共和原则，坚持联邦和代议制政府。
Kindly separated by nature and a wide ocean from the exterminating havoc of one quarter of the globe; too high-minded to endure the degradations of the others; possessing a chosen country, with room enough for our descendants to the thousandth and thousandth generation; 大自然和广阔海洋仁慈地将我们与地球四分之一地区的毁灭性浩劫隔离开来；我们有着崇高的精神，无法忍受其他地区的堕落；我们拥有一片上帝眷顾的国土，足以容纳千秋万代的子孙；
entertaining a due sense of our equal right to the use of our own faculties, to the acquisitions of our own industry, to honor and confidence from our fellow-citizens, resulting not from birth, but from our actions and their sense of them; enlightened by a benign religion, professed, indeed, and practiced in various forms, yet all of them inculcating honesty, truth, temperance, gratitude, and the love of man; 我们应当认识到，我们有权平等地运用自己的才能，享有自己劳动的成果，获得同胞的尊重和信任——这并非来自出身，而是来自我们的行为和他们对我们行为的评价；我们受到仁慈宗教的启迪，宗教确实以各种形式被信奉和实践，但都灌输诚实、真理、节制、感恩和仁爱；
acknowledging and adoring an overruling Providence, which by all its dispensations proves that it delights in the happiness of man here and his greater happiness hereafter—with all these blessings, what more is necessary to make us a happy and a prosperous people? 我们承认并崇拜至高无上的天意，其一切安排都证明它乐于看到人类在此生的幸福和来世更大的幸福——拥有这些祝福，还有什么能使我们成为幸福繁荣的民族呢？
Still one thing more, fellow-citizens—a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities. 还缺一件事，同胞们——一个明智而节俭的政府，它应制止人们相互伤害，除此之外让他们自由地管理自己的工业和改进事业，不应从劳动者口中夺走他们挣得的面包。这就是良好政府的要义，也是完善我们幸福所必需的。
About to enter, fellow-citizens, on the exercise of duties which comprehend everything dear and valuable to you, it is proper you should understand what I deem the essential principles of our Government, and consequently those which ought to shape its Administration. I will compress them within the narrowest compass they will bear, stating the general principle, but not all its limitations. 同胞们，即将承担包含你们一切珍贵事物的职责，你们应当了解我所认为的政府基本原则，以及指导其施政的原则。我将把它们压缩到最简练的程度，陈述一般原则，但不提及所有限制条件。
Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political; peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none; 对所有人——无论其地位、信仰、宗教或政治主张如何——实行平等和公正的司法；与所有国家保持和平、贸易和真诚友谊，不缔结纠缠不清的同盟；
the support of the State governments in all their rights, as the most competent administrations for our domestic concerns and the surest bulwarks against antirepublican tendencies; the preservation of the General Government in its whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad; 支持各州政府的一切权利，因为它们是处理国内事务最胜任的机构，也是抵御反共和倾向最可靠的堡垒；维护联邦政府的全部宪法活力，作为我们国内和平与国外安全的压舱石；
a jealous care of the right of election by the people—a mild and safe corrective of abuses which are lopped by the sword of revolution where peaceable remedies are unprovided; 谨慎维护人民的选举权利——这是温和安全的纠错手段，当和平补救措施不存在时，滥用权力将被革命之剑斩断；
absolute acquiescence in the decisions of the majority, the vital principle of republics, from which is no appeal but to force, the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism; a well disciplined militia, our best reliance in peace and for the first moments of war, till regulars may relieve them; 绝对服从多数人的决定，这是共和国的生命原则，除诉诸武力外别无上诉，而武力是专制的生命原则和直接根源；一支纪律严明的民兵，是我们和平时期和战争初期的最佳依靠，直至正规军可以接替他们；
the supremacy of the civil over the military authority; economy in the public expense, that labor may be lightly burthened; the honest payment of our debts and sacred preservation of the public faith; 文官高于武官；公共开支节俭，使劳动负担减轻；诚实地偿还债务，神圣地维护公共信用；
encouragement of agriculture, and of commerce as its handmaid; the diffusion of information and arraignment of all abuses at the bar of the public reason; freedom of religion; freedom of the press, and freedom of person under the protection of the habeas corpus, and trial by juries impartially selected. 鼓励农业，并鼓励作为其侍女的商业；传播信息，让一切弊端在公共理性的法庭上接受审判；宗教自由；新闻自由；人身自由受人身保护令和公正遴选的陪审团审判的保护。
These principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation. The wisdom of our sages and blood of our heroes have been devoted to their attainment. 这些原则构成指引我们穿越革命和改革时代的璀璨星座。我们先哲的智慧和英雄的鲜血都奉献于实现这些原则。
They should be the creed of our political faith, the text of civic instruction, the touchstone by which to try the services of those we trust; and should we wander from them in moments of error or of alarm, let us hasten to retrace our steps and to regain the road which alone leads to peace, liberty, and safety. 它们应当成为我们政治信仰的信条，公民教育的文本，检验我们所信任者服务的试金石；如果我们在错误或恐慌的时刻偏离了它们，让我们赶紧回头，重走那条唯一通向和平、自由与安全的道路。
I repair, then, fellow-citizens, to the post you have assigned me. With experience enough in subordinate offices to have seen the difficulties of this the greatest of all, I have learnt to expect that it will rarely fall to the lot of imperfect man to retire from this station with the reputation and the favor which bring him into it. 同胞们，我现在走马上任。在下级职位的经验让我看到了这个最高职位的困难，我深知，不完美的人很少能带着就职时获得的声誉和青睐离任。
Without pretensions to that high confidence you reposed in our first and greatest revolutionary character, whose preeminent services had entitled him to the first place in his country's love and destined for him the fairest page in the volume of faithful history, I ask so much confidence only as may give firmness and effect to the legal administration of your affairs. 我不奢求你们对我们第一位最伟大革命人物的那种高度信任——他卓越的贡献使他理应在国家的爱戴中占据首位，并注定在忠实的历史画卷中拥有最光辉的一页。我只要求获得足以使我合法施政坚定有效的信任。
I shall often go wrong through defect of judgment. When right, I shall often be thought wrong by those whose positions will not command a view of the whole ground. I ask your indulgence for my own errors, which will never be intentional, and your support against the errors of others, who may condemn what they would not if seen in all its parts. 我常常会因判断力不足而出错。即使我是正确的，那些无法看到全局的人也常常会认为我是错误的。我请求你们宽恕我的错误——它们绝不会是故意的——并支持我反对他人的错误，这些人如果看到事情的全貌，就不会谴责我。
The approbation implied by your suffrage is a great consolation to me for the past, and my future solicitude will be to retain the good opinion of those who have bestowed it in advance, to conciliate that of others by doing them all the good in my power, and to be instrumental to the happiness and freedom of all. 你们的投票所蕴含的认可对我过去是巨大的慰藉，我未来的关切将是保持那些预先给予我好评的人的好感，尽我所能为他人做好事以争取他们的好感，并致力于所有人的幸福与自由。
Relying, then, on the patronage of your good will, I advance with obedience to the work, ready to retire from it whenever you become sensible how much better choice it is in your power to make. And may that Infinite Power which rules the destinies of the universe lead our councils to what is best, and give them a favorable issue for your peace and prosperity. 那么，依靠你们善意的支持，我将服从使命前进，随时准备在你们认识到可以作出更好选择时辞职。愿统治宇宙命运的无限力量指引我们的议会走向最好的方向，并赐予我们有利于你们和平与繁荣的结果。
