January 20, 1993
My fellow citizens :
Today we celebrate the mystery of American renewal.
This ceremony is held in the depth of winter.But, by the words we speak and the faces we show the world, we force the spring.A spring reborn in the world\'s oldest democracy, that brings forth the vision and courage to reinvent America.
When our founders boldly declared America\'s independence to the world and our purposes to the Almighty, they knew that America, to endure, would have to change.Not change for change\'s sake, but change to preserve
America\'s ideals; life, liberty, the pursuit of happine.Though we march to the music of our time, our miion is timele.Each generation of Americans must define what it means to be an American.
On behalf of our nation, I salute my predeceor, President Bush, for his half-century of service to America.And I thank the millions of men and women whose steadfastne and sacrifice triumphed over Depreion, fascism and Communism.
Today, a generation raised in the shadows of the Cold War aumes new responsibilities in a world warmed by the sunshine of freedom but threatened still by ancient hatreds and new plagues.
Raised in unrivaled prosperity, we inherit an economy that is still the world\'s strongest, but is weakened by busine failures, stagnant wages, increasing inequality, and deep divisions among our people.
When George Washington first took the oath I have just sworn to uphold, news traveled slowly acro the land by horseback and acro the ocean by boat.Now, the sights and sounds of this ceremony are broadcast instantaneously to billions around the world.
Communications and commerce are global; investment is mobile;
technology is almost magical; and ambition for a better life is now universal.We earn our livelihood in peaceful competition with people all acro the earth.
Profound and powerful forces are shaking and remaking our world, and the urgent question of our time is whether we can make change our friend and not our enemy.
This new world has already enriched the lives of millions of Americans who are able to compete and win in it.But when most people are working harder for le; when others cannot work at all; when the cost of health care devastates families and threatens to bankrupt many of our enterprises, great and small; when fear of crime robs law-abiding citizens of their freedom; and when millions of poor children cannot even imagine the lives we are calling them to lead, we have not made change our friend.We know we have to face hard truths and take strong steps.But we have not done so.Instead, we have drifted, and that drifting has eroded our resources, fractured our economy, and shaken our confidence.
Though our challenges are fearsome, so are our strengths.And Americans have ever been a restle, questing, hopeful people.We must bring to our task today the vision and will of those who came before us.
From our revolution, the Civil War, to the Great Depreion to the civil rights movement, our people have always mustered the determination to construct from these crises the pillars of our history.
Thomas Jefferson believed that to preserve the very foundations of our nation, we would need dramatic change from time to time.Well, my fellow citizens, this is our time.Let us embrace it.
Our democracy must be not only the envy of the world but the engine of our own renewal.There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America.
And so today, we pledge an end to the era of deadlock and drift; a new season of American renewal has begun.To renew America, we must be bold.We must do what no generation has had to do before.We must invest more in our own people, in their jobs, in their future, and at the same time cut our maive debt.And we must do so in a world in which we must compete for every opportunity.It will not be easy; it will require sacrifice.But it can be
done, and done fairly, not choosing sacrifice for its own sake, but for our own sake.We must provide for our nation the way a family provides for its children.美国复兴的新时代 比尔•克林顿 第一次就职演讲
星期三,1993年1月20日
同胞们：
今天，我们庆祝美国复兴的奇迹。这个仪式虽在隆冬举行，然而，我们通过自己的言语和向世界展示的面容、却促使春回大地--回到了世界上这个最古老的民主国家，并带来了重新创造美国的远见和勇气。
当我国的缔造者勇敢地向世界宣布美国独立，并向上帝表明自 己的目的时，他们知道，美国若要永存，就必须变革。不是为变革而变革，而是为了维护美国的理想--为了生命、自由和追求幸福而变革。尽管我们随着当今时代 的节拍前进，但我们的使命永恒不变。每一代美国人，部必须为作为一个美国人意味着什么下定义。今天，在冷战阴影下成长起来的一代人，在世界上负起了新的责 任。这个世界虽然沐浴着自由的阳光，但仍受到旧仇宿怨和新的祸患的威胁。
我们在无与伦比的繁荣中长大，继承了仍然是世界上最强大的经济。但由于企业倒闭，工资增长停滞、不平等状况加剧，人民的分歧加深，我们的经济已经削弱。
当乔治•华盛顿第一次宣读我刚才宜读的誓言时，人们骑马把 那个信息缓慢地传遍大地，继而又来船把它传过海洋。而现在，这个仪式的情景和声音即刻向全球几十亿人播放。通信和商务具有全球性，投资具有流动性；技术几 乎具有魔力；改善生活的理想现在具有普遍性。今天，我们美国人通过同世界各地人民进行和平竞争来谋求生存。各种深远而强大
的力量正在震撼和改造我们的世 界，当今时代的当务之急是我们能否使变革成为我们的朋友，而不是成为我们的敌人。
这个新世界已经使几百万能够参与竞争并且取胜的美国人过上 了富裕的生活。但是，当多数人干得越多反而挣得越少的时候，当有些人根本不可能工作的时候，当保健费用的重负使众多家庭不堪承受、使大大小小的企业濒临破 产的时候，当犯罪活动的恐惧使守法公民不能自由行动的时候，当千百万贫穷儿童甚至不能想象我们呼唤他们过的那种生活的时候，我们就没有使变革成为我们的朋 友。我们知道，我们必须面对严酷的事实真相，并采取强有力的步骤。但我们没有这样做，而是听之任之，以致损耗了我们的资源，破坏了我们的经济，动摇了我们 的信心。
我们面临惊人的挑战，但我们同样具有惊人的力量，美国人历来是不安现状、不断追求和充满希望的民族，今天，我们必须把前人的远见卓识和坚强意志带到我们的任务中去。从革命，内战，大萧条，直到民权运动，我国人民总是下定决心，从历次危机中构筑我国历史的支柱。
托马斯•杰斐逊认为，为了维护我国的根基，我们需要时常进行激动人心的变革。美国同胞们，我们的时代就是变革的时代，让我们拥抱这个时代吧！
我们的民主制度不仅要成为举世称羡的目标，而且要成为举国复兴的动力。美国没有任何错误的东西不能被正确的东西所纠正。因此，我们今天立下誓言，要结束这个僵持停顿、放任自流的时代，一个复兴美国的新时代已经开始。
我们要复兴美国，就必须鼓足勇气。我们必须做前人无需做的 事情。我们必须更多地投资于人民，投资于他们的工作和未来，与此同时，我们必须减少巨额债务。而且，我们必须在一个需要为每个机会而竞争的世界上做到这一 切。这样做并不容易：这样做要求作出
牺牲。但是，这是做得到的，而且能做得公平合理。我们不是为牺牲而牺牲，我们必须像家庭供养子女那样供养自己的国家。
我国的缔造者是用子孙后代的眼光来审视自己的。我们也必须 这样做。凡是注意过孩子蒙?o人睡的人，都知道后代意味着什么，后代就是将要到来的世界--我们为之坚持自己的理想，我们向之借用这个星球，我们对之负有 神圣的责任。我们必须做美国最拿手的事情：为所有的人提供更多的机会，要所有的人负起更多的责任。
