【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 l be told for generations. But one that’s on my mind tonight is about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She’s a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election, except for one thing: Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old. 這次大選創(chuàng)造了多項(xiàng)“第一”，誕生了很多將流芳后世的故事，但今晚令我最為難忘的卻是一位在亞特蘭大投票的婦女：安妮?庫波爾。她和無數(shù)排隊(duì)等候投票的選民沒有什么差別，唯一的不同是她高齡106歲。
She was born just a generation past slavery。 a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky。 when someone like her couldn’t vote for two reasons — because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.
在她出生的那個時代，黑奴制剛剛廢除。那時路上沒有汽車，天上沒有飛機(jī)。當(dāng)時像她這樣的人由于兩個原因不能投票－－一第一因?yàn)樗桥?，第二個原因是她的膚色。
篇二：2020年美國總統(tǒng)奧巴馬就職演說中英文對照文稿(全)
Read the inaugural speech and pare it with JFK‘s Speech to find any monalities and differences in lexis, syntax, rhetoric, emotions and style. You may need to take different historical era of their presidency into consideration. Write a 300word report and submit next week.
2020年美國總統(tǒng)奧巴馬就職演說中英文對照文稿（全）
北京時間1月22日凌晨，貝拉克侯賽因奧巴馬宣誓就職第四十四任美利堅(jiān)合眾國總統(tǒng)并發(fā)表就職演說。奧巴馬在演講中追溯美國民主傳統(tǒng)和憲法精神，強(qiáng)調(diào)了民眾的力量。演講中涉及了包括就業(yè)、醫(yī)保、移民和同性戀等多項(xiàng)議題，以下為奧巴馬就職演說全文：
MR. OBAMA: Thank you. Thank you so much. Vice President Biden, Mr. Chief Justice, Members of the United States Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow citizens:
謝謝，非常感謝大家。拜登副總統(tǒng)、首席大法官先生、國會議員們、尊敬的各位嘉賓、親愛的公民們。
Each time we gather to inaugurate a president, we bear witness to the enduring strength of our Constitution. We affirm the promise of our democracy. We recall that what binds this nation together is not the colors of our skin or the tenets of our faith or the origins of our names. What makes us exceptional – what makes us American – is our allegiance to an idea, articulated in a declaration made more than two centuries ago:
當(dāng)我們每次聚集在一起為總統(tǒng)舉行就職典禮時，我們都是在見證美國憲法的不朽力量。我們是在又一次立下美國民主的承諾。 我們再次提醒說，把這個國家凝聚在一起的不是我們的膚色，不是信仰的教條，也不是我們的姓氏源于何處。使我們與眾不同——使我們成為美國人——的，是我們對一個在兩個多世紀(jì)以前發(fā)表的宣言中所表述的理念：
“We hold these truths to be selfevident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”
“我們認(rèn)為這些真理是不言而喻的：人人生而平等，他們都從他們的造物主那里被賦予了某些不可剝奪的權(quán)利，包括生命權(quán)、自由權(quán)和追求幸福的權(quán)利。”
Today we continue a neverending journey, to bridge the meaning of those words with the realities of our time. For history tells us that while these truths may be selfevident, they have never been selfexecuting。 that while freedom is a gift from God, it must be secured by His people here on Earth. The patriots of 1776 did not fight to replace the tyranny of a king with the privileges of a few or the rule of a mob. They gave to us a Republic, a government of, and by, and for the people, entrusting each generation to keep safe our founding creed.
今天，我們?nèi)栽诶^續(xù)這個永恒的旅程，讓那些字句體現(xiàn)在我們這個時代的現(xiàn)實(shí)中。因?yàn)闅v史告訴我們，雖然這些真理是不言而喻的，但它們卻不會自動實(shí)現(xiàn)；雖然自由是上帝給我們的禮物，但自由只能靠他在世間的子民的奮斗才能獲得。1776年愛國先驅(qū)們所進(jìn)行的斗爭并不是以少數(shù)人的特權(quán)或?yàn)鹾现姷慕y(tǒng)治來
替代專制君主。他們?yōu)槲覀兙喸斓氖且粋€共和國，一個民有、民治、民享的政府，并將捍衛(wèi)這個建國理念的任務(wù)交給一代又一代的后人。
For more than two hundred years, we have.
兩百多年的歷史證明，我們做到了。
Through blood drawn by lash and blood drawn by sword, we learned that no union founded on the principles of liberty and equality could survive halfslave and halffree. We made ourselves anew, and vowed to move forward together.
從皮鞭下和刺刀尖流出的鮮血中，我們發(fā)現(xiàn)，建立在自由和平等原則之上的合眾國不能一半是蓄奴的，一半是自由的。我們浴火重生，我們發(fā)誓共同努力向前。
Together, we determined that a modern economy requires railroads and highways to speed travel and merce。 schools and colleges to train our workers.
我們共同決定，現(xiàn)代經(jīng)濟(jì)需要鐵路和公路，以加快旅行和商業(yè)，也需要中小學(xué)和大學(xué)來培訓(xùn)我們的工人。
Together, we discovered that a free market only thrives when there are rules to ensure petition and fair play.
我們一起發(fā)現(xiàn)，只有確保競爭和公平的法規(guī)健全，自由市場才能欣欣向榮。
Together, we resolved that a great nation must care for the vulnerable, and protect its people from life’s worst hazards and misfortune.
我們一同決定，一個偉大國家必須關(guān)照弱者，并保護(hù)我們的人民免受生活中最嚴(yán)重的危險和不幸。
Through it all, we have never relinquished our skepticism of central authority, nor have we succumbed to the fiction that all society’s ills can be cured through government alone. Our celebration of initiative and enterprise。 our insistence on hard work and personal responsibility, are constants in our character.
在做這一切的時候，我們從來沒有放棄對政府集中權(quán)力的懷疑，我們也沒有屈就于那種相信只靠政府就可以解決所有社會弊病的幻想。我們一直保持著自己的秉性，推崇創(chuàng)造力和企業(yè)家精神，堅(jiān)持辛勤工作和個人責(zé)任。
But we have always understood that when times change, so must we。 that fidelity to our founding principles requires new responses to new challenges。 that preserving our individual freedoms ultimately requires collective action. For the American people can no more meet the demands of today’s world by acting alone than American soldiers could have met the forces of fascism or munism with muskets and militias. No single person can train all the math and science teachers we’ll need to equip our children for the future, or build the roads and networks and research labs that will bring new jobs and businesses to our shores. Now, more than ever, we must do these things together, as one nation, and one people.
但是我們也很明白，隨著時代的變化，我們也必須變化；我們出于對基本原則的忠誠，需要對新的挑戰(zhàn)做出新的回應(yīng)；我們?yōu)楸Ｗo(hù)個人自由就最終需要集體作出努力。美國人民如果再單打獨(dú)斗去應(yīng)付當(dāng)今世界的挑戰(zhàn)，等于讓美國軍隊(duì)以長槍和民兵組織去面對法西斯主義或共產(chǎn)主義的武裝。沒有任何一個個人有能力訓(xùn)練出我們后代的教育需要的所有數(shù)學(xué)和科學(xué)教師，或者建造出能把新的工作和商業(yè)