[美国总统就职演说英文版]布什就职演说（英文版）

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　　Chief Justice Rehnquist, President Carter, President Bush, President

　　Clinton, distinguished guests and my fellow citizens, the peaceful

　　transfer of authority is rare in history, yet common in our country. With

　　a simple oath, we affirm old traditions and make new beginnings.

　　As I begin, I thank President Clinton for his service to our nation.

　　And I thank Vice President Gore for a contest conducted with spirit and

　　ended with grace.

　　I am honored and humbled to stand here, where so many of America"s leaders

　　have come before me, and so many will follow.

　　We have a place, all of us, in a long story -- a story we continue, but

　　whose end we will not see. It is the story of a new world that became a

　　friend and liberator of the old, a story of a slave-holding society that

　　became a servant of freedom, the story of a power that went into the world

　　to protect but not possess, to defend but not to conquer.

　　It is the American story -- a story of flawed and fallible people, united

　　across the generations by grand and enduring ideals.

　　The grandest of these ideals is an unfolding American promise that

　　everyone be

　　longs, that everyone deserves a chance, that no insignificant person was

　　ever

　　born.

　　Americans are called to enact this promise in our lives and in our laws.

　　And t

　　hough our nation has sometimes halted, and sometimes delayed, we must

　　follow n

　　o other course.

　　Through much of the last century, America"s faith in freedom and democracy

　　was

　　a rock in a raging sea. Now it is a seed upon the wind, taking root in

　　many nations.

　　Our democratic faith is more than the creed of our country, it is the

　　inborn h

　　ope of our humanity, an ideal we carry but do not own, a trust we bear and

　　pass along. And even after nearly 225 years, we have a long way yet to

　　travel.

　　While many of our citizens prosper, others doubt the promise, even the

　　justice, of our own country. The ambitions of some Americans are limited

　　by failing schools and hidden prejudice and the circumstances of their

　　birth. And sometimes our differences run so deep, it seems we share a

　　continent, but not a country.

　　We do not accept this, and we will not allow it. Our unity, our union, is

　　the serious work of leaders and citizens in every generation. And this is

　　my solemn pledge: I will work to build a single nation of justice and

　　opportunity.

　　I know this is in our reach because we are guided by a power larger than

　　ourselves who creates us equal in His image.

　　And we are confident in principles that unite and lead us onward.

　　America has never been united by blood or birth or soil. We are bound by

　　ideals that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests

　　and teach us what it means to be citizens. Every child must be taught

　　these principles. E

　　very citizen must uphold them. And every immigrant, by embracing these

　　ideals, makes our country more, not less, American.

　　Today, we affirm a new commitment to live out our nation"s promise through

　　civility, courage, compassion and character.

　　America, at its best, matches a commitment to principle with a concern for

　　civility. A civil society demands from each of us good will and respect,

　　fair dealing and forgiveness.

　　Some seem to believe that our politics can afford to be petty because, in

　　a time of peace, the stakes of our debates appear small.

　　But the stakes for America are never small. If our country does not lead

　　the cause of freedom, it will not be led. If we do not turn the hearts of

　　children toward knowledge and character, we will lose their gifts and

　　undermine their idealism. If we permit our economy to drift and decline,

　　the vulnerable will su

　　ffer most.

　　We must live up to the calling we share. Civility is not a tactic or a

　　sentime nt. It is the determined choice of trust over cynicism, of

　　community over chaos. And this commitment, if we keep it, is a way to

　　shared accomplishment.

　　America, at its best, is also courageous.

　　Our national courage has been clear in times of depression and war, when

　　defending common dangers defined our common good. Now we must choose if

　　the example of our fathers and mothers will inspire us or condemn us. We

　　must show courage in a time of blessing by confronting problems instead of

　　passing them on to

　　future generations.

　　Together, we will reclaim America"s schools, before ignorance and apathy

　　claim more young lives.

　　We will reform Social Security and Medicare, sparing our children from

　　struggles we have the power to prevent. And we will reduce taxes, to

　　recover the momentum of our economy and reward the effort and enterprise

　　of working Americans.

　　We will build our defenses beyond challenge, lest weakness invite

　　challenge.

　　We will confront weapons of mass destruction, so that a new century is

　　spared

　　new horrors.

　　The enemies of liberty and our country should make no mistake: America

　　remains engaged in the world by history and by choice, shaping a balance

　　of power tha

　　t favors freedom. We will defend our allies and our interests. We will

　　show purpose without arrogance. We will meet aggression and bad faith with

　　resolve and strength. And to all nations, we will speak for the values

　　that gave our nation birth.

　　America, at its best, is compassionate. In the quiet of American

　　conscience, we know that deep, persistent poverty is unworthy of our

　　nation"s promise.

　　And whatever our views of its cause, we can agree that children at risk

　　are not at fault. Abandonment and abuse are not acts of God, they are

　　failures of lo

　　ve.

　　And the proliferation of prisons, however necessary, is no substitute for

　　hope and order in our souls.

　　Where there is suffering, there is duty. Americans in need are not

　　strangers, they are citizens, not problems, but priorities. And all of us

　　are diminished when any are hopeless.

　　Government has great responsibilities for public safety and public health,

　　for civil rights and common schools. Yet compassion is the work of a

　　nation, not just a government.

　　And some needs and hurts are so deep they will only respond to a mentor"s

　　touch or a pastor"s prayer. Church and charity, synagogue and mosque lend

　　our communities their humanity, and they will have an honored place in our

　　plans and in our laws.

　　Many in our country do not know the pain of poverty, but we can listen to

　　those who do.

　　And I can pledge our nation to a goal: When we see that wounded traveler

　　on the road to Jericho, we will not pass to the other side.

　　America, at its best, is a place where personal responsibility is valued

　　and expected.

　　Encouraging responsibility is not a search for scapegoats, it is a call to

　　concience. And though it requires sacrifice, it brings a deeper

　　fulfillment. We find the fullness of life not only in options, but in

　　commitments. And we find that children and community are the commitments

　　that set us free.

　　Our public interest depends on private character, on civic duty and family

　　bonds and basic fairness, on uncounted, unhonored acts of decency which

　　give direction to our freedom.

　　Sometimes in life we are called to do great things. But as a saint of our

　　times has said, every day we are called to do small things with great

　　love. The most important tasks of a democracy are done by everyone.

　　I will live and lead by these principles: to advance my convictions with

　　civility, to pursue the public interest with courage, to speak for greater

　　justice and compassion, to call for responsibility and try to live it as

　　well.

　　In all these ways, I will bring the values of our history to the care of

　　our times.

　　What you do is as important as anything government does. I ask you to seek

　　a common good beyond your comfort; to defend needed reforms against easy

　　attacks;

　　to serve your nation, beginning with your neighbor. I ask you to be

　　citizens:

　　citizens, not spectators; citizens, not subjects; responsible citizens,

　　building communities of service and a nation of character.

　　Americans are generous and strong and decent, not because we believe in

　　ourselves, but because we hold beliefs beyond ourselves. When this spirit

　　of citizenship is missing, no government program can replace it. When this

　　spirit is pre

　　sent, no wrong can stand against it.

　　After the Declaration of Independence was signed, Virginia statesman John

　　Page wrote to Thomas Jefferson: "We know the race is not to the swift nor

　　the batt

　　le to the strong. Do you not think an angel rides in the whirlwind and

　　directs this storm?"

　　Much time has passed since Jefferson arrived for his inauguration. The

　　years and changes accumulate. But the themes of this day he would know:

　　our nation"s grand story of courage and its simple dream of dignity.

　　We are not this story"s author, who fills time and eternity with his

　　purpose.

　　Yet his purpose is achieved in our duty, and our duty is fulfilled in

　　service to one another.

　　Never tiring, never yielding, never finishing, we renew that purpose

　　today, to make our country more just and generous, to affirm the dignity

　　of our lives and every life.

　　This work continues. This story goes on. And an angel still rides in the

　　whirl wind and directs this storm.

　　God bless you all, and God bless America.

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