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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Inaugural1 Address speech by Nelson Mandela
May 10th 1994
Your Majesties2, Your Highnesses, Distinguished3 Guests, Comrades and friends:
Today, all of us do, by our presence here, and by our celebrations in other parts of our country and the world, confer glory and hope to newborn liberty.
Out of the experience of an extraordinary human disaster that lasted too long, must be born a society of which all humanity will be proud.
Our daily deeds as ordinary South Africans must produce an actual South African reality that will reinforce humanity's belief in justice, strengthen its confidence in the nobility of the human soul and sustain all our hopes for a glorious life for all.
All this we owe both to ourselves and to the peoples of the world who are so well represented here today.
To my compatriots, I have no hesitation4 in saying that each one of us is as intimately attached to the soil of this beautiful country as are the famous jacaranda trees of Pretoria and the mimosa trees of the bushveld.
Each time one of us touches the soil of this land, we feel a sense of personal renewal5. The national mood changes as the seasons change.
We are moved by a sense of joy and exhilaration when the grass turns green and the flowers bloom.
That spiritual and physical oneness we all share with this common homeland explains the depth of the pain we all carried in our hearts as we saw our country tear itself apart in a terrible conflict, and as we saw it spurned6, outlawed7 and isolated8 by the peoples of the world, precisely9 because it has become the universal base of the pernicious ideology10 and practice of racism11 and racial oppression.
We, the people of South Africa, feel fulfilled that humanity has taken us back into its bosom12, that we, who were outlaws13 not so long ago, have today been given the rare privilege to be host to the nations of the world on our own soil.
We thank all our distinguished international guests for having come to take possession with the people of our country of what is, after all, a common victory for justice, for peace, for human dignity.
We trust that you will continue to stand by us as we tackle the challenges of building peace, prosperity, non-sexism, non-racialism and democracy.
We deeply appreciate the role that the masses of our people and their political mass democratic, religious, women, youth, business, traditional and other leaders have played to bring about this conclusion. Not least among them is my Second Deputy President, the Honourable14 F.W. de Klerk.
We would also like to pay tribute to our security forces, in all their ranks, for the distinguished role they have played in securing our first democratic elections and the transition to democracy, from blood-thirsty forces which still refuse to see the light.
The time for the healing of the wounds has come.
The moment to bridge the chasms15 that divide us has come.
The time to build is upon us.
We have, at last, achieved our political emancipation16. We pledge ourselves to liberate17 all our people from the continuing bondage18 of poverty, deprivation19, suffering, gender20 and other discrimination.
We succeeded to take our last steps to freedom in conditions of relative peace. We commit ourselves to the construction of a complete, just and lasting21 peace.
We have triumphed in the effort to implant22 hope in the breasts of the millions of our people. We enter into a covenant23 that we shall build the society in which all South Africans, both black and white, will be able to walk tall, without any fear in their hearts, assured of their inalienable right to human dignity--a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world.
As a token of its commitment to the renewal of our country, the new Interim24 Government of National Unity25 will, as a matter of urgency, address the issue of amnesty for various categories of our people who are currently serving terms of imprisonment26.
We dedicate this day to all the heroes and heroines in this country and the rest of the world who sacrificed in many ways and surrendered their lives so that we could be free.
Their dreams have become reality. Freedom is their reward.
We are both humbled27 and elevated by the honour and privilege that you, the people of South Africa, have bestowed28 on us, as the first President of a united, democratic, non-racial and non-sexist South Africa, to lead our country out of the valley of darkness.
We understand it still that there is no easy road to freedom.
We know it well that none of us acting29 alone can achieve success.
We must therefore act together as a united people, for national reconciliation30, for nation building, for the birth of a new world.
Let there be justice for all.
Let there be peace for all.
Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all.
Let each know that for each the body, the mind and the soul have been freed to fulfil themselves.
Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another and suffer the indignity31 of being the skunk32 of the world.
The sun shall never set on so glorious a human achievement!
God bless Africa!
1 inaugural | |
adj.就职的;n.就职典礼 | |
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2 majesties | |
n.雄伟( majesty的名词复数 );庄严;陛下;王权 | |
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3 distinguished | |
adj.卓越的,杰出的,著名的 | |
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4 hesitation | |
n.犹豫,踌躇 | |
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5 renewal | |
adj.(契约)延期,续订,更新,复活,重来 | |
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6 spurned | |
v.一脚踢开,拒绝接受( spurn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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7 outlawed | |
宣布…为不合法(outlaw的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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8 isolated | |
adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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9 precisely | |
adv.恰好,正好,精确地,细致地 | |
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10 ideology | |
n.意识形态,(政治或社会的)思想意识 | |
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11 racism | |
n.民族主义;种族歧视(意识) | |
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12 bosom | |
n.胸,胸部;胸怀;内心;adj.亲密的 | |
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13 outlaws | |
歹徒,亡命之徒( outlaw的名词复数 ); 逃犯 | |
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14 honourable | |
adj.可敬的;荣誉的,光荣的 | |
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15 chasms | |
裂缝( chasm的名词复数 ); 裂口; 分歧; 差别 | |
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16 emancipation | |
n.(从束缚、支配下)解放 | |
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17 liberate | |
v.解放,使获得自由,释出,放出;vt.解放,使获自由 | |
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18 bondage | |
n.奴役,束缚 | |
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19 deprivation | |
n.匮乏;丧失;夺去,贫困 | |
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20 gender | |
n.(生理上的)性,(名词、代词等的)性 | |
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21 lasting | |
adj.永久的,永恒的;vbl.持续,维持 | |
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22 implant | |
vt.注入,植入,灌输 | |
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23 covenant | |
n.盟约,契约;v.订盟约 | |
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24 interim | |
adj.暂时的,临时的;n.间歇,过渡期间 | |
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25 unity | |
n.团结,联合,统一;和睦,协调 | |
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26 imprisonment | |
n.关押,监禁,坐牢 | |
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27 humbled | |
adj. 卑下的,谦逊的,粗陋的 vt. 使 ... 卑下,贬低 | |
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28 bestowed | |
赠给,授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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29 acting | |
n.演戏,行为,假装;adj.代理的,临时的,演出用的 | |
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30 reconciliation | |
n.和解,和谐,一致 | |
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31 indignity | |
n.侮辱,伤害尊严,轻蔑 | |
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32 skunk | |
n.臭鼬,黄鼠狼;v.使惨败,使得零分;烂醉如泥 | |
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33 reign | |
n.统治时期,统治,支配,盛行;v.占优势 | |
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