This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions - that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.
今天我们继续先辈们的旅途。美国依然是地球上最富裕、最强大的国家。同危机初露端倪之时相比,美国人民的生产力依然旺盛;与上周、上个月或者去年相比,我们的头脑依然富于创造力,我们的商品和服务依然很有市场,我们的实力不曾削弱。但是,可以肯定的是,轻歌曼舞的时代、保护狭隘利益的时代以及对艰难决定犹豫不决的时代已经过去了。从今天开始,我们必须跌倒后爬起来,拍拍身上的泥土,重新开始工作,重塑美国。
For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act - not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise healthcare's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.
我目之所及,都有工作有待完成。国家的经济情况要求我们采取大胆且快速的行动,我们的确是要行动,不仅是要创造就业,更要为(下一轮经济)增长打下新的基础。我们将造桥铺路,为企业铺设电网和数字线路,将我们联系在一起。我们将回归科学,运用科技的奇迹提高医疗质量,降低医疗费用。我们将利用风能、太阳能和土壤驱动车辆,为工厂提供能源。我们将改革中小学以及大专院校,以适应新时代的要求。这一切,我们都能做到,而且我们都将会做到。
Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions - who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.
现在,有一些人开始质疑我们的野心是不是太大了,他们认为我们的体制承载不了太多的宏伟计划。他们是健忘了。他们已经忘了这个国家已经取得的成就;他们已经忘了当创造力与共同目标以及必要的勇气结合起来时,自由的美国人民所能发挥的能量。
What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them - that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works - whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account - to spend wisely, reform bad habits and do our business in the light of day - because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.