就职演讲

Among the vicissitudes incident to life no event could have filled with greater anxieties than that of which the notification was transmitted by your order, and received on the 14th day of the present month.

在人生沉浮中，没有一件事能比本月14号收到根据你们的命令送达的通知更使我焦虑不安。

On the one hand, I was summoned by my country , whose voice I can never hear but with veneration and love.

一方面，国家召唤我出任此职，对于她的召唤，我永远只能肃然敬从。

from a retreat which I had chosen with the fondest predilection , and , in my flattering hopes, with an immutable decision, as the asylum of my declining years.

而我十分偏爱、并曾选择了隐退，我还满怀奢望，矢志不移，誓愿以此为暮年归宿。

a retreat which was rendered every day more necessary as well as more dear to me by the addition of habit to inclination,and of frequent interruptions in my health to the gradual waste committed on it by time.

斗转星移，我越来越感到隐退的必要和亲切，因为喜爱之余，我已经习惯，还因为岁月催人渐老，身体常感不适。

On the other hand , the magnitude and difficulty of the trust to which the voice of my country called me , being sufficient to awaken in the wisest and most experienced of her citizens a distrustful scrutiny into his qualifications.

另一方面，国家召唤我担任的责任如此重大和艰巨，足以使国内最有才华的智和经验的人度德量力;

could not but overwhelm with despondence one who (inheriting inferior endowments from nature and unpracticed in the duties of civil administration) ought to be peculiarly conscious of his own deficiencies.

而我天生愚钝，有无民政管理的实践，应该倍觉自己能力之不足，因此必然感到难以荷此重任。

In this conflict of emotions all I dare aver is that it has been my faithful study to collect my duty from a just appreciation of every circumstance by which it might be affected.

怀着这种矛盾的心情，我唯一敢断言的是，通过正确的理解可能产生影响的各种情况来恪尽职守，乃是我忠贞不渝的努力目标。

All I dare hope is that if,in executing this task,I have been too much swayed by a grateful remembrance of former instances, or by an affectionate sensibility to this transcendent proof of the confidence of my fellow citizens,

我唯一敢祈望的是，如果我在执行这项任务时因陶醉于往事，或因由衷感激公民们对我的高度信赖，

and have thence too little consulted my incapacity as well as disinclination for the weighty and untried cares before me,

因而受到过多影响，以致在处理从未经历过的大事时，忽视了自己的无能和消极。

my error will be palliated by the motives which mislead me,

我的错误将会由于使我误人歧途的各种动机而减轻，

and its consequences be judged by my country with some share of the partiality in which they originated.

而大家在评判错误的后果时，也会适当包涵产生这些动机的偏见。

Such being the impressions under which I have,in obedience to the public summons,repaired to the present station, it would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official act my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations,and whose providential aids supply every human defect,

既然这就是我在遵奉公众召唤就任现职时的感想，那么，在此宣誓就职之际，如不热忱地祈求全能的上帝就极其失当。因为上帝统治着宇宙。主宰着各国政府，它的神助能弥补人类的任何不足。

that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States a Government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes, and may enable every instrument employed in its administration to execute with success the functions allotted to his charge.

愿上帝赐福，保佑一个为美国人民的自由和幸福而组成的政府，保佑它为这些基本目标而作出奉献。保佑政府的各项行政措施在我负责之下都能成功地发挥作用。

In tendering this homage to the Great Author of every public and private good, I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not less than my own, nor those of my fellow citizens at large less than either.

在向公众利益和私人利益的伟大缔造者献上这份崇敬时，我保证这不仅表达了我自己的情感，这些话也同样表达了各位和广大公民的心意。

No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States.

没有人能比美国更坚定不移地承认和崇拜掌管人间事务的上帝。

Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency;

他们在迈向独立国家的进程中，似乎每走一步都有某种天佑的迹象；

总统介绍

华盛顿在普林斯顿的战斗结束后美国首任总统（1789～1797年），美国独立战争大陆军总司令。他毕生未进大学学习，但注意自学，使自己具备了突出的才干。早年当过土地测量员。