Though our challenges are fearsome, so are our strengths. And Americans have ever been a restless, questing, hopeful people. We must bring to our task today the vision and will of those who came before us.
雖然我們的挑戰是可畏的，但我們的力量也是可畏的。美國人民從來就是一個不甘寂寞、勇於探索和充滿希望的人民。我們必須使我們今天的任務體現我們前人的遠見和意志。
From our revolution, the Civil War, to the Great Depression to the civil rights movement, our people have always mustered the determination to construct from these crises the pillars of our history.
從美國革命到南北戰爭，到大蕭條，到民權運動，我們的人民總是下定決心，從這些危機中擺脫出來去建立我們歷史的支柱。
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.
托馬斯傑斐遜認為，要保持我們國家的基礎，我們就需要不時地進行改革。同胞們，這是我們的時代，讓我們去擁抱它。
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.
我們的民主制度不僅要為全世界所仰慕，還必須成為我們自我振興的發動機。美國完全有能力自己解救自己。
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 massive 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.
因此，今天我們決心結束這個僵持停頓和放任自流的時代。一個振興美國的新時代已經到來。要振興美國，我們必須有足夠的勇氣和膽量。我們必須對自己的人民——對他們的工作和對他們的未來——增加投資，同時削減我們的巨額債務。在一個我們必須靠競爭才能獲得每個機會的世界上，我們一定要這樣做。雖然，這不是一件輕而易舉的事，它需要作出犧牲。但是，我們能夠做到，而且能夠做得很好。我們不是為了犧牲而犧牲，而是為我們自己的利益而犧牲。我們必須像一個家庭撫育它的孩子那樣撫育我們的國家。
Our Founders saw themselves in the light of posterity. We can do no less. Anyone who has ever watched a child's eyes wander into sleep knows what posterity is. Posterity is the world to come; the world for whom we hold our ideals, from whom we have borrowed our planet, and to whom we bear sacred responsibility. We must do what America does best: offer more opportunity to all and demand responsibility from all.
我們的締造者們是從子孫後代的角度來審視他們自己的行為。我們也必須這樣做。任何曾經注意過孩子的雙眼朦朧進入夢鄉的人，都知道後代是什麼。後代是未來的世界。為了他們，我們滿懷理想。從他們那裡，我們借用了這塊地球，對他們，我們負有神聖的責任。我們必須盡美國之所能：向所有人提供更多的機會，要求所有人承擔更多的責任。
It is time to break the bad habit of expecting something for nothing, from our government or from each other. Let us all take more responsibility, not only for ourselves and our families but for our communities and our country. To renew America, we must revitalize our democracy.
現在，已經到了該破除那種只望政府或別人給予，而自己不願付出的壞習慣的時候了。讓我們大家都擔負起更多的責任，不光是為我們自己和我們的家庭，而且是我們的社會和我們的國家。為振興美國，我們必須給我們的民主制度帶來新的活力。
This beautiful capital, like every capital since the dawn of civilization, is often a place of intrigue and calculation. Powerful people maneuver for position and worry endlessly about who is in and who is out, who is up and who is down, forgetting those people whose toil and sweat sends us here and pays our way.
這個美麗的首都，就像文明出現以來的所有首都一樣，往往是一個搞陰謀詭計和勾心鬥角的地方。達官貴族們玩弄權術、爭名奪利，隨時都在擔心誰進誰出、誰升誰降，忘記了那些用辛勤和汗水把我們送到這裡，並為我們承擔費用的人。
Americans deserve better, and in this city today, there are people who want to do better. And so I say to all of us here, let us resolve to reform our politics, so that power and privilege no longer shout down the voice of the people. Let us put aside personal advantage so that we can feel the pain and see the promise of America. Let us resolve to make our government a place for what Franklin Roosevelt called "bold, persistent experimentation," a government for our tomorrows, not our yesterdays. Let us give this capital back to the people to whom it belongs.
美國人應當生活得更好。今天，在這座城市裡，人們希望把事情辦得更好。所以，我要向在場的諸位說，讓我們下定決心改革我們的政治，使人民的呼聲不再被權力和特權所壓倒。讓我們拋開個人利益，這樣，我們便能感受到美國的痛苦，也看到美國的希望。讓我們下定決心，使我們的政府成為一個富蘭克林羅斯福所說的，進行“大膽而持久的實驗”的地方，即是說，成為一個著眼於未來，而不是留戀過去的政府。讓我們把這個首都還給她所屬的人民。