词汇提示

1.preeminent 卓越的

2.prejudice 偏见

3.contempt 轻视

4.cloaked 遮盖

5.plague 困扰

6.torment 折磨

7.fractured 断裂

8.obsessions 执念

9.succumb 屈服

10.impulse 冲动

11.texture 结构

12.forge 锻造

原文

Bill Clinton: 'Second Inaugural Address' (2)

And once again, we have resolved for our time a great debate over the role of government.

Today we can declare: Government is not the problem, and government is not the solution.

We-the American people-we are the solution.

Our founders understood that well and gave us a democracy strong enough to endure for centuries, flexible enough to face our common challenges and advance our common dreams in each new day.

As times change, so government must change.

We need a new government for a new century-humble enough not to try to solve our problems for us, but strong enough to give us the tools to solve our problems for ourselves; a government that is smaller, lives within its means, and does more with less.

Yet where it can stand up for our values and interests in the world, and where it can give Americans the power to make a real difference in their everyday lives,government should do more, not less.

The preeminent mission of our new government is to give all Americans an opportunity-not a guarantee, but a real opportunity-to build better lives.

Beyond that, my fellow citizens, the future is up to us.

Our founders taught us that the preservation of our liberty and our union depends upon responsible citizenship.

And we need a new sense of responsibility for a new century.

There is work to do, work that government alone cannot do: teaching children to read;hiring people off welfare rolls;coming out from behind locked doors and shuttered windows to help reclaim our streets from drugs and gangs and crime;taking time out of our own lives to serve others.

Each and every one of us, in our own way, must assume personal responsibility-not only for ourselves and our families,but for our neighbors and our nation.

Our greatest responsibility is to embrace a new spirit of community for a new century.

For any one of us to succeed, we must succeed as one America.

The challenge of our past remains the challenge of our future - will we become one nation, one people, with one common destiny, or not?

Will we all come together, or come apart?

The divide of race has been America's constant curse.

And each new wave of immigrants gives new targets to old prejudices.

Prejudice and contempt, cloaked in the pretense of religious or political conviction are no different.

These forces have nearly destroyed our nation in the past.

They plague us still.

They fuel the fanaticism of terror.

And they torment the lives of millions in fractured nations all around the world.

These obsessions cripple both those who hate and, of course, those who are hated,robbing both of what they might become.

We cannot, we will not, succumb to the dark impulses that lurk in the far regions of the soul everywhere.

We shall overcome them.

And we shall replace them with the generous spirit of a people who feel at home with one another.

Our rich texture of racial, religious and political diversity will be a Godsend in the 21st century.

Greatrewards will come to those who can live together, learn together, work together,forge new ties that bind together.

翻译

比尔·克林顿:“第二次就职演说”(2)

我们再一次解决了我们这个时代关于政府角色的大争论。
今天，我们可以宣布:政府不是问题所在，也不是解决问题的办法。
我们——美国人民——我们就是解决之道。
我们的开国元勋深知这一点，他们给了我们一个强大到足以持续几个世纪的民主，一个灵活到足以在每一天面对我们共同的挑战、推进我们共同的梦想的民主。
随着时代的变化，政府也必须改变。
我们需要一个新世纪的新政府，它要足够谦卑，不要试图为我们解决问题，但要足够强大，给我们提供工具，让我们自己解决问题;一个规模较小、量入为出、事半功倍的政府。
然而，只要它能在世界上维护我们的价值观和利益，只要它能给美国人带来真正改变日常生活的力量，政府就应该做得更多，而不是更少。
我们新政府的首要任务是给所有美国人一个机会——不是保证，而是真正的机会——去建设更好的生活。
除此之外，同胞们，未来掌握在我们自己手中。
我们的开国元勋教导我们，维护我们的自由和我们的联盟取决于负责任的公民。
我们需要对新世纪有一种新的责任感。
我们有很多工作要做，这些工作单靠政府是无法完成的:教孩子们阅读;雇用没有领取福利的人;走出紧锁的大门和紧闭的窗户，帮助我们的街道摆脱毒品、帮派和犯罪;从自己的生活中抽出时间来服务他人。
我们每个人都必须以自己的方式承担个人责任——不仅是为了我们自己和我们的家庭，也是为了我们的邻居和我们的国家。
我们最大的责任是在新世纪拥抱新的社区精神。
对于我们中的任何一个人来说，我们必须作为一个美国取得成功。
我们过去的挑战仍然是我们未来的挑战——我们是否会成为一个拥有共同命运的国家、一个民族?
我们会走到一起，还是走到一起?
种族分裂一直是美国的祸根。
每一波新的移民潮都为旧的偏见提供了新的目标。
在宗教或政治信念的伪装下，偏见和蔑视也没有什么不同。
这些力量在过去几乎摧毁了我们的国家。
它们仍然困扰着我们。
它们助长了恐怖主义的狂热。
他们折磨着世界各地支离破碎的国家数百万人的生命。
这些执念既削弱了那些憎恨的人，当然也削弱了那些被憎恨的人，剥夺了他们可能成为的人。
我们不能，也不会屈服于潜伏在灵魂深处的黑暗冲动。
我们将战胜他们。
我们将以一个民族的慷慨精神来取代它们，这个民族彼此之间都有家的感觉。
在21世纪，我们丰富的种族、宗教和政治多样性将是天赐之物。
那些能够在一起生活、一起学习、一起工作、建立新的联系的人将获得巨大的回报。

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Level 5-Day 7.Bill Clinton : Second Inaugural Address(2)