My fellow citizens, tonight is my last opportunity to speak to you from the Oval Office as your President. I am profoundly grateful to you for twice giving me the honor to serve, to work for you and with you to prepare our Nation for the 21st century. 各位公民，今晚是我作为你们的总统最后一次在椭圆形办公室向你们发表讲话。我深深感谢你们两次给予我服务的荣誉，与你们一起为我们的国家迎接21世纪做好准备。
And I'm grateful to Vice President Gore, to my Cabinet Secretaries, and to all those who have served with me for the last 8 years. 我也要感谢副总统戈尔、我的内阁部长们，以及所有在过去八年中与我一同服务的人们。
This has been a time of dramatic transformation, and you have risen to every new challenge. You have made our social fabric stronger, our families healthier and safer, our people more prosperous. You, the American people, have made our passage into the global information age an era of great American renewal. 这是一个剧烈变革的时代，你们迎接了每一个新的挑战。你们使我们的社会结构更加强大，我们的家庭更加健康和安全，我们的人民更加繁荣。你们，美国人民，使我们进入全球信息时代成为美国伟大复兴的时代。
In all the work I have done as President— every decision I have made, every executive action I have taken, every bill I have proposed and signed—I've tried to give all Americans the tools and conditions to build the future of our dreams in a good society with a strong economy, a cleaner environment, and a freer, safer, more prosperous world. 在我作为总统所做的所有工作中——我做出的每一个决定、我采取的每一项行政行动、我提出并签署的每一项法案——我都努力为所有美国人提供工具和条件，在一个强大的经济、更清洁的环境和一个更自由、更安全、更繁荣的世界中，在一个美好的社会里建设我们梦想的未来。
I have steered my course by our enduring values: opportunity for all, responsibility from all, a community of all Americans. I have sought to give America a new kind of Government, smaller, more modern, more effective, full of ideas and policies appropriate to this new time, always putting people first, always focusing on the future. 我一直以我们持久的价值观为指导：人人享有机会，人人承担责任，所有美国人的共同体。我努力为美国创造一种新的政府形式，更小、更现代化、更有效，充满适合这个新时代的理念和政策，始终以人为本，始终着眼未来。
Working together, America has done well. Our economy is breaking records with more than 22 million new jobs, the lowest unemployment in 30 years, the highest homeownership ever, the longest expansion in history. Our families and communities are stronger. Thirty-five million Americans have used the family leave law; 8 million have moved off welfare. Crime is at a 25-year low. Over 10 million Americans receive more college aid, and more people than ever are going to college. Our schools are better. Higher standards, greater accountability, and larger investments have brought higher test scores and higher graduation rates. More than 3 million children have health insurance now, and more than 7 million Americans have been lifted out of poverty. Incomes are rising across the board. Our air and water are cleaner. Our food and drinking water are safer. And more of our precious land has been preserved in the continental United States than at any time in a 100 years. 我们共同努力，美国取得了很好的成绩。我们的经济正在创造纪录——超过2200万个新工作岗位，30年来最低的失业率，有史以来最高的住房拥有率，历史上最长的经济扩张期。我们的家庭和社区更加强大。3500万美国人使用了家庭休假法；800万人摆脱了福利。犯罪率处于25年来的最低点。超过1000万美国人获得了更多的大学资助，上大学的人数比以往任何时候都多。我们的学校更好了。更高的标准、更大的问责制和更多的投资带来了更高的考试分数和更高的毕业率。现在有超过300万儿童享有医疗保险，超过700万美国人摆脱了贫困。收入全面增长。我们的空气和水更清洁了。我们的食品和饮用水更安全了。在美国本土，我们保护的珍贵土地比过去100年的任何时候都多。
America has been a force for peace and prosperity in every corner of the globe. I'm very grateful to be able to turn over the reins of leadership to a new President with America in such a strong position to meet the challenges of the future. 美国在全球每个角落都成为和平与繁荣的力量。我非常感激能够在如此强大的位置上将领导权移交给新总统，让美国能够迎接未来的挑战。
Tonight I want to leave you with three thoughts about our future. 今晚，我想留给你们三个关于我们未来的想法。
First, America must maintain our record of fiscal responsibility. Through our last four budgets we've turned record deficits to record surpluses, and we've been able to pay down $600 billion of our national debt—on track to be debt-free by the end of the decade for the first time since 1835. Staying on that course will bring lower interest rates, greater prosperity, and the opportunity to meet our big challenges. If we choose wisely, we can pay down the debt, deal with the retirement of the baby boomers, invest more in our future, and provide tax relief. 首先，美国必须保持我们的财政责任纪录。通过过去四个预算，我们将创纪录的赤字转化为创纪录的盈余，并且我们已经能够偿还6000亿美元的国债——按计划在本十年末实现自1835年以来首次无债务。保持这一路线将带来更低的利率、更大的繁荣以及迎接重大挑战的机会。如果我们明智地选择，我们可以偿还债务、应对婴儿潮一代的退休问题、更多地投资于我们的未来，并提供税收减免。
Second, because the world is more connected every day, in every way, America's security and prosperity require us to continue to lead in the world. At this remarkable moment in history, more people live in freedom than ever before. Our alliances are stronger than ever. People all around the world look to America to be a force for peace and prosperity, freedom and security. The global economy is giving more of our own people and billions around the world the chance to work and live and raise their families with dignity. But the forces of integration that have created these good opportunities also make us more subject to global forces of destruction, to terrorism, organized crime and narcotrafficking, the spread of deadly weapons and disease, the degradation of the global environment. 其次，因为世界每天都在各个方面更加紧密地联系在一起，美国的安全与繁荣要求我们继续在世界上发挥领导作用。在这个非凡的历史时刻，比以往任何时候都更多的人生活在自由之中。我们的联盟比以往任何时候都更强大。世界各地的人民期待美国成为和平与繁荣、自由与安全的力量。全球经济正在给我们自己的人民和全球数十亿人提供有尊严地工作、生活和养育家庭的机会。但创造这些良好机遇的一体化力量也使我们更容易受到全球破坏力量的影响，包括恐怖主义、有组织犯罪和贩毒、致命武器和疾病的传播以及全球环境的恶化。
The expansion of trade hasn't fully closed the gap between those of us who live on the cutting edge of the global economy and the billions around the world who live on the knife's edge of survival. This global gap requires more than compassion; it requires action. Global poverty is a powder keg that could be ignited by our indifference. 贸易的扩展并未完全弥合我们这些生活在全球经济前沿的人与全球数十亿生活在生存边缘的人之间的差距。这一全球差距需要的不仅仅是同情；它需要行动。全球贫困是一个可能因我们的冷漠而被点燃的火药桶。
In his first Inaugural Address, Thomas Jefferson warned of entangling alliances. But in our times, America cannot and must not disentangle itself from the world. If we want the world to embody our shared values, then we must assume a shared responsibility. 托马斯·杰斐逊在他的第一次就职演说中警告过纠缠不清的联盟。但在我们这个时代，美国不能也绝不能与世界脱节。如果我们希望世界体现我们共同的价值观，那么我们必须承担共同的责任。
If the wars of the 20th century, especially the recent ones in Kosovo and Bosnia, have taught us anything, it is that we achieve our aims by defending our values and leading the forces of freedom and peace. We must embrace boldly and resolutely that duty to lead—to stand with our allies in word and deed and to put a human face on the global economy, so that expanded trade benefits all peoples in all nations, lifting lives and hopes all across the world. 如果说20世纪的战争，特别是最近在科索沃和波斯尼亚的战争，教会了我们什么的话，那就是我们通过捍卫我们的价值观和领导自由与和平的力量来实现我们的目标。我们必须大胆而坚定地承担起领导的责任——在言行上与我们的盟友站在一起，并赋予全球经济人性化的面貌，使扩大的贸易惠及所有国家的所有人民，提升全世界人民的生活和希望。
Third, we must remember that America cannot lead in the world unless here at home we weave the threads of our coat of many colors into the fabric of one America. As we become ever more diverse, we must work harder to unite around our common values and our common humanity. We must work harder to overcome our differences, in our hearts and in our laws. We must treat all our people with fairness and dignity, regardless of their race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation, and regardless of when they arrived in our country—always moving toward the more perfect Union of our Founders' dreams. 第三，我们必须记住，除非我们在国内将我们多彩外衣的线编织成一个美国的织物，否则美国无法在世界上发挥领导作用。随着我们变得更加多样化，我们必须更加努力地围绕我们共同的价值观和共同的人性团结起来。我们必须更加努力地克服我们的分歧，无论是在我们心中还是在我们的法律中。我们必须以公平和尊严对待我们所有的人民，无论他们的种族、宗教、性别或性取向，无论他们何时来到我们的国家——始终朝着我们开国元勋梦想的更完美联邦迈进。
Hillary, Chelsea, and I join all Americans in wishing our very best to the next President, George W. Bush, to his family and his administration, in meeting these challenges, and in leading freedom's march in this new century. 希拉里、切尔西和我与所有美国人一起，祝愿下一任总统乔治·W·布什、他的家人和他的政府一切顺利，迎接这些挑战，并在这个新世纪领导自由的前进。
As for me, I'll leave the Presidency more idealistic, more full of hope than the day I arrived, and more confident than ever that America's best days lie ahead. 至于我自己，我将带着比我就职那天更理想主义、更充满希望的心情离开总统职位，并且比以往任何时候都更加相信美国最好的日子还在前面。
My days in this office are nearly through, but my days of service, I hope, are not. In the years ahead, I will never hold a position higher or a covenant more sacred than that of President of the United States. But there is no title I will wear more proudly than that of citizen. 我在这个职位上的日子即将结束，但我希望我服务的日子不会结束。在未来的岁月里，我将永远不会担任比美国总统更高的职位，也不会承担比这更神圣的盟约。但没有任何头衔比公民这个称号更让我感到自豪。
Thank you. God bless you, and God bless America. 谢谢大家。上帝保佑你们，上帝保佑美国。