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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Franklin Delano Roosevelt: First Inaugural1 Address
[AUTHENTICITY CERTIFIED2: Text version below transcribed3 directly from audio. (2)]
President Hoover, Mr. Chief Justice, my friends:
This is a day of national consecration4. And I am certain that on this day my fellow Americans expect that on my induction5 into the Presidency6, I will address them with a candor7 and a decision which the present situation of our people impels8.
This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly9 and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure, as it has endured, will revive and will prosper10.
So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself -- nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life, a leadership of frankness and of vigor11 has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. And I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days.
In such a spirit on my part and on yours we face our common difficulties. They concern, thank God, only material things. Values have shrunk to fantastic levels; taxes have risen; our ability to pay has fallen; government of all kinds is faced by serious curtailment12 of income; the means of exchange are frozen in the currents of trade; the withered13 leaves of industrial enterprise lie on every side; farmers find no markets for their produce; and the savings14 of many years in thousands of families are gone. More important, a host of unemployed15 citizens face the grim problem of existence, and an equally great number toil16 with little return. Only a foolish optimist17 can deny the dark realities of the moment.
And yet our distress18 comes from no failure of substance. We are stricken by no plague of locusts20. Compared with the perils21 which our forefathers22 conquered, because they believed and were not afraid, we have still much to be thankful for. Nature still offers her bounty23 and human efforts have multiplied it. Plenty is at our doorstep, but a generous use of it languishes24 in the very sight of the supply.
Primarily, this is because the rulers of the exchange of mankind's goods have failed, through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence25, have admitted their failure, and have abdicated26. Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted27 in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men.
True, they have tried. But their efforts have been cast in the pattern of an outworn tradition. Faced by failure of credit, they have proposed only the lending of more money. Stripped of the lure19 of profit by which to induce our people to follow their false leadership, they have resorted to exhortations28, pleading tearfully for restored confidence. They only know the rules of a generation of self-seekers. They have no vision, and when there is no vision the people perish.
Yes, the money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure of that restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere29 monetary30 profit.
Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. The joy, the moral stimulation31 of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits. These dark days, my friends, will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves, to our fellow men.
Recognition of that falsity of material wealth as the standard of success goes hand in hand with the abandonment of the false belief that public office and high political position are to be valued only by the standards of pride of place and personal profit; and there must be an end to a conduct in banking32 and in business which too often has given to a sacred trust the likeness33 of callous34 and selfish wrongdoing. Small wonder that confidence languishes, for it thrives only on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection, and on unselfish performance; without them it cannot live.
Restoration calls, however, not for changes in ethics35 alone. This Nation is asking for action, and action now.
Our greatest primary task is to put people to work. This is no unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously36. It can be accomplished37 in part by direct recruiting by the Government itself, treating the task as we would treat the emergency of a war, but at the same time, through this employment, accomplishing great -- greatly needed projects to stimulate38 and reorganize the use of our great natural resources.
Hand in hand with that we must frankly recognize the overbalance of population in our industrial centers and, by engaging on a national scale in a redistribution, endeavor to provide a better use of the land for those best fitted for the land.
Yes, the task can be helped by definite efforts to raise the values of agricultural products, and with this the power to purchase the output of our cities. It can be helped by preventing realistically the tragedy of the growing loss through foreclosure of our small homes and our farms. It can be helped by insistence39 that the Federal, the State, and the local governments act forthwith on the demand that their cost be drastically reduced. It can be helped by the unifying40 of relief activities which today are often scattered41, uneconomical, unequal. It can be helped by national planning for and supervision42 of all forms of transportation and of communications and other utilities that have a definitely public character. There are many ways in which it can be helped, but it can never be helped by merely talking about it.
We must act. We must act quickly.
And finally, in our progress towards a resumption of work, we require two safeguards against a return of the evils of the old order. There must be a strict supervision of all banking and credits and investments. There must be an end to speculation43 with other people's money. And there must be provision for an adequate but sound currency.
These, my friends, are the lines of attack. I shall presently urge upon a new Congress in special session detailed44 measures for their fulfillment, and I shall seek the immediate45 assistance of the 48 States.
Through this program of action we address ourselves to putting our own national house in order and making income balance outgo. Our international trade relations, though vastly important, are in point of time, and necessity, secondary to the establishment of a sound national economy. I favor, as a practical policy, the putting of first things first. I shall spare no effort to restore world trade by international economic readjustment; but the emergency at home cannot wait on that accomplishment46.
The basic thought that guides these specific means of national recovery is not nationally -- narrowly nationalistic. It is the insistence, as a first consideration, upon the interdependence of the various elements in and parts of the United States of America -- a recognition of the old and permanently47 important manifestation48 of the American spirit of the pioneer. It is the way to recovery. It is the immediate way. It is the strongest assurance that recovery will endure.
In the field of world policy, I would dedicate this Nation to the policy of the good neighbor: the neighbor who resolutely49 respects himself and, because he does so, respects the rights of others; the neighbor who respects his obligations and respects the sanctity of his agreements in and with a world of neighbors.
If I read the temper of our people correctly, we now realize, as we have never realized before, our interdependence on each other; that we can not merely take, but we must give as well; that if we are to go forward, we must move as a trained and loyal army willing to sacrifice for the good of a common discipline, because without such discipline no progress can be made, no leadership becomes effective.
We are, I know, ready and willing to submit our lives and our property to such discipline, because it makes possible a leadership which aims at the larger good. This, I propose to offer, pledging that the larger purposes will bind50 upon us, bind upon us all as a sacred obligation with a unity51 of duty hitherto evoked52 only in times of armed strife53.
With this pledge taken, I assume unhesitatingly the leadership of this great army of our people dedicated54 to a disciplined attack upon our common problems.
Action in this image, action to this end is feasible under the form of government which we have inherited from our ancestors. Our Constitution is so simple, so practical that it is possible always to meet extraordinary needs by changes in emphasis and arrangement without loss of essential form. That is why our constitutional system has proved itself the most superbly enduring political mechanism55 the modern world has ever seen.
It has met every stress of vast expansion of territory, of foreign wars, of bitter internal strife, of world relations. And it is to be hoped that the normal balance of executive and legislative56 authority may be wholly equal, wholly adequate to meet the unprecedented57 task before us. But it may be that an unprecedented demand and need for undelayed action may call for temporary departure from that normal balance of public procedure.
I am prepared under my constitutional duty to recommend the measures that a stricken nation in the midst of a stricken world may require. These measures, or such other measures as the Congress may build out of its experience and wisdom, I shall seek, within my constitutional authority, to bring to speedy adoption58.
But, in the event that the Congress shall fail to take one of these two courses, in the event that the national emergency is still critical, I shall not evade59 the clear course of duty that will then confront me. I shall ask the Congress for the one remaining instrument to meet the crisis -- broad Executive power to wage a war against the emergency, as great as the power that would be given to me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe60.
For the trust reposed61 in me, I will return the courage and the devotion that befit the time. I can do no less.
We face the arduous62 days that lie before us in the warm courage of national unity; with the clear consciousness of seeking old and precious moral values; with the clean satisfaction that comes from the stern performance of duty by old and young alike. We aim at the assurance of a rounded, a permanent national life.
We do not distrust the -- the future of essential democracy. The people of the United States have not failed. In their need they have registered a mandate63 that they want direct, vigorous action. They have asked for discipline and direction under leadership. They have made me the present instrument of their wishes. In the spirit of the gift I take it.
In this dedication64 -- In this dedication of a Nation, we humbly65 ask the blessing66 of God.
May He protect each and every one of us.
May He guide me in the days to come.
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1
inaugural
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| adj.就职的；n.就职典礼 | |
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certified
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| a.经证明合格的；具有证明文件的 | |
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transcribed
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| （用不同的录音手段）转录( transcribe的过去式和过去分词 )； 改编（乐曲）（以适应他种乐器或声部）； 抄写； 用音标标出（声音） | |
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consecration
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| n.供献，奉献，献祭仪式 | |
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induction
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| n.感应，感应现象 | |
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presidency
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| n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期) | |
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candor
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| n.坦白，率真 | |
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impels
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| v.推动、推进或敦促某人做某事( impel的第三人称单数 ) | |
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frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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prosper
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| v.成功，兴隆，昌盛；使成功，使昌隆，繁荣 | |
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vigor
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| n.活力，精力，元气 | |
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curtailment
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| n.缩减，缩短 | |
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withered
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| adj. 枯萎的，干瘪的，（人身体的部分器官）因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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savings
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| n.存款，储蓄 | |
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unemployed
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| adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的 | |
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toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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optimist
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| n.乐观的人，乐观主义者 | |
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distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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lure
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| n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引 | |
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locusts
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| n.蝗虫( locust的名词复数 )；贪吃的人；破坏者；槐树 | |
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perils
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| 极大危险( peril的名词复数 )； 危险的事（或环境） | |
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forefathers
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| n.祖先，先人；祖先，祖宗( forefather的名词复数 )；列祖列宗；前人 | |
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bounty
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| n.慷慨的赠予物，奖金；慷慨，大方；施与 | |
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languishes
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| 长期受苦( languish的第三人称单数 )； 受折磨； 变得（越来越）衰弱； 因渴望而变得憔悴或闷闷不乐 | |
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incompetence
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| n.不胜任，不称职 | |
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abdicated
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| 放弃（职责、权力等）( abdicate的过去式和过去分词 )； 退位，逊位 | |
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indicted
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| 控告，起诉( indict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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exhortations
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| n.敦促( exhortation的名词复数 )；极力推荐；（正式的）演讲；（宗教仪式中的）劝诫 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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monetary
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| adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的 | |
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stimulation
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| n.刺激，激励，鼓舞 | |
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banking
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| n.银行业，银行学，金融业 | |
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likeness
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| n.相像，相似（之处） | |
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callous
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| adj.无情的，冷淡的，硬结的，起老茧的 | |
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ethics
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| n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准 | |
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courageously
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| ad.勇敢地，无畏地 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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stimulate
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| vt.刺激，使兴奋；激励，使…振奋 | |
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insistence
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| n.坚持；强调；坚决主张 | |
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unifying
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| 使联合( unify的现在分词 )； 使相同； 使一致； 统一 | |
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scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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supervision
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| n.监督，管理 | |
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speculation
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| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
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detailed
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| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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accomplishment
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| n.完成，成就，（pl.）造诣，技能 | |
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permanently
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| adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地 | |
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manifestation
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| n.表现形式；表明；现象 | |
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resolutely
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| adj.坚决地，果断地 | |
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bind
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| vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬 | |
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unity
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| n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调 | |
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evoked
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| [医]诱发的 | |
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strife
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| n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争 | |
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dedicated
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| adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的 | |
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mechanism
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| n.机械装置；机构，结构 | |
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legislative
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| n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的 | |
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unprecedented
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| adj.无前例的，新奇的 | |
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adoption
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| n.采用，采纳，通过；收养 | |
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evade
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| vt.逃避，回避；避开，躲避 | |
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foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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reposed
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| v.将（手臂等）靠在某人（某物）上( repose的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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arduous
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| adj.艰苦的，费力的，陡峭的 | |
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mandate
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| n.托管地；命令，指示 | |
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dedication
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| n.奉献，献身，致力，题献，献辞 | |
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humbly
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| adv. 恭顺地，谦卑地 | |
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blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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