美国总统奥巴马2008年在新墨西哥州的竞选集会上的演讲:传承美国军人的信念
On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes, I see many audiences here today. Our sense of patriotism is particularly strong. Because while we gather here under open skies, we know that far beyond the Organ Mountains—in the streets of Baghdad, and the outskirts of Kabul~America’s sons and daughters are sacrificing on our behalf. And our thoughts and prayers are with them.
在今天这个“阵亡将士纪念日”里，在我们的国家纪念那些前仆后继为国捐躯 的烈士之际，我看到有很多人都来到了这里。此刻，我们的爱国情感尤为强烈，因 为我们知道，当我们此刻聚集在这片开阔的天空之下时，远在阿更山的那边——在 巴格达的街道上，在喀布尔的近郊——美国儿女们正在为我们牺牲，我们的思想和 祈祷与他们同在。
I speak to you today with deep humility. My grandfather marched in Patton’s Army, but I cannot know what it is like to walk into battle like so many of you. My grandmother worked on a bomber assembly line, but I cannot know personally what it is for a family to sacrifice like so many of yours have.
今天我怀着深深的谦卑之情做此次演讲。我的祖父曾参加了巴顿的军队，但是 我无法像你们中的许多人那样了解走进战场是什么感受；我的祖母曾在轰炸机的装 配流水线上工作，但是我却无法亲身体会是什么让你们中的许多人的家庭做出那样 的牺牲。
I am the father of two young girls，and I cannot imagine what it is like to lose a child. My heart breaks for the families who’ve lost a loved one.
我自己是两个小女孩的父亲，我无法想象失去一个孩子会带来怎样的伤痛。我 为那些丧失亲人的家庭感到心碎。
There are things I cannot know. But there are also things that I do know.
有一些事情，我可能无法知道；但也有一些事情，我的确知道。
I know that our sadness today is mixed with pride; that those we’ve lost will be remembered by a grateful nation; and that our presence here today is only possible because your loved ones, America’s patriots, were willing to give their lives to defend our nation.
我知道我们今天的悲痛中混杂着自豪，我知道烈士们将被这个感恩的民族铭 记在心头，我知道我们今天之所以存活完全是因为你们的亲人——美国的爱国者 们——甘愿献出自己的生命去捍卫祖国。
I know that while we may come from different traditions, different places, and have different political beliefs, we all—every one of us~hold in reverence those who’ve given this country the full measure of their devotion.
我知道尽管我们有着各异的传统，来自不同的地方，抱有不同的政治信仰，但 是我们所有人——我们每一个人——都对那些为这个国家全心全意奉献的人们抱有 崇敬之情。
And I know that children in New Mexico and across this country look to your children, to your brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, and friends~to those we honor here today~as a shining example of what’s best about America.
我知道新墨西哥州和整个国家的孩子们都把你们的孩子，你们的兄弟姐妹，你 们的父亲母亲，你们的朋友——所有那些我们今天在这里纪念的人——当作美国精 髓的光辉榜样。
Their lives are a model for us all.
他们的人生是我们所有人的榜样。
What led these men and women to wear their country’s uniform?
是什么引导这些人从戎参军？
What is it that leads anyone to put aside their own pursuits of life’s comforts; to subordinate their own sense of survival, for something bigger—something greater?
是什么让他们放弃追求安逸的生活，把自己的安危放在次要地位，而去追求更加重要、更加伟大的事业？
Many of those we honor today were so young when they were killed. They had a whole life ahead of them—birthdays and weddings, holidays with children and grandchildren, homes and jobs and happiness of their own. And yet, at one moment or another, they felt the tug, just as generations of Americans did before. Maybe it was a massacre in a Boston square; or a President’s call to save the Union and free the slaves. Maybe it was the day of infamy that awakened a nation to a storm that gathered in the Pacific and a madman’s death march across Europe. Or maybe it was the morning they woke up to see our walls of security crumble alongside our two largest towers.
在我们今天纪念的英雄中，有很多年纪轻轻就已牺牲了。前面本该有一生的光 阴等着他们——生日、婚礼、和子孙们共度的假日、家庭、工作和属于他们自己的 幸福。然而，在某个时刻，他们被一股强大的力量所牵引，就如同美国的先辈们曾 经感受过的那样。那牵引力或许来自波士顿广场的大屠杀，或许来自总统发出的拯 救美国、解放奴隶的号召；他们也许是在那耻辱的一天感到这股力量，那天唤醒了 整个民族，让这个民族正视那场发生在太平洋地区的一个战争狂人横扫欧洲的末路 之战；也可能是在某天清晨，他们醒来突然发现自己的安全感随着我们的双子塔一 起崩塌。
Whatever the moment was, when it came and they felt that tug, perhaps it was simply the thought of a mom or a dad, a husband or a wife, or a child not yet born that made this young American think that it was time to go; that made them think “I must serve so that the people I love can live~in happiness, in safety, and in freedom.”
无论是在哪个时刻，当它降临的时候,他们就感受到了这股力量的牵引，或 许只是因为想到了父母，配偶，或者还没出世的孩子，就让年轻的美国人感到是行 动的时刻了，令他们萌生“我必须入伍，这样我爱的人才能幸福、安全、自由地生 活”的念头。
This sense of service is what America is all about. It is what leads Americans to enter the military. It is what sustains them in the most difficult hours. And it is the safeguard of our security.
这种服务意识就是美国的精神，是它引领着美国人民参军，是它在最困难的时刻支撑着他们。它是我们国家安全的保卫者。
You see, America has the greatest military in the history of the world. We have the best training, the most advanced technology，the most sophisticated planning, and the most powerful weapons. And yet, in the end, though each of these things is absolutely critical, the true strength of our military lies some place else.
就像你们看到的那样，美国拥有世界历史上最强大的军事力量。我们有最科学 的训练、最先进的技术、最精密的计划和最强大的武器。然而，尽管这些要素都非 常关键，但我们军队的真正力量却取决于其他方面。
It lies in the spirit of America’s servicemen and women.
军队的力量取决于美国军人的精神。
No matter whether they faced down fascism or fought for freedom; liberated Kuwait or stopped ethnic cleansing in the Balkans or serve brilliantly and bravely under our flag today; no matter whether they are black, or white, or Latino, or Asian, or Native American; whether they come from old military families, or are recent immigrants—their stories tell the same truth.
不管他们是为了反对法西斯主义还是争取自由，是为了解放科威特，还是阻止 巴尔干半岛的种族清洗，抑或光荣勇敢地为国效力；不管他们是黑人，白人，还是 拉丁美洲人，亚洲人，抑或美洲土著；不管他们出身军人世家，还是新进移民—— 他们的故事都表明了这个真理。
It is not simply their bravery, their insistence on doing their part-whatever the cost—to make America more secure and our world freer. It’s not simply an unflinching belief in our highest ideals. It’s that in the thick of battle，when their very survival is threatened, America’s sons and daughters aren’t thinking about themselves, they’re thinking about one another; they’re risking everything to save not their own lives, but the lives of their fellow soldiers and sailors, airmen and Marines. And when we lose them-in a final act of selflessness and sacrifice~we know that they died so that their brothers and sisters, and our nation, might live.
他们不惜付出任何代价，为美国争取更多安全、为世界争取更多自由，不仅仅 是因为他们的英勇无畏和尽忠职守，也不仅仅是因为他们对我们最髙的理想怀有坚 定不移的信念，而是因为当他们的生命在枪林弹雨中受到威胁时，美国的儿女们考虑 的不是自己，而是别人，他们不顾一切，以身犯险，拯救的不仅是自己的生命，而是 海陆空三军战友们的生命。当我们失去他们时一在一次体现无私和牺牲精神的决战中一我们知道他们的牺牲，是为了自己的同胞、自己的民族可以得以存活。
What makes America’s servicemen and women heroes is not just their sense of duty, honor, and country; it’s the bigness of their hearts and the breadth of their compassion.
美国的军人之所以成为英雄不仅是因为他们具有责任心、荣誉感和民族意识， 更是因为他们有着宽广的心胸和强烈的同情心。
That is what we honor today.
这就是我们今天应该缅怀的。
Oliver Wendell Holmes once remarked that “To fight out a war, you must believe something and want something with all your might. The Americans we honor today believed. Sergeant Ryan Jopek believed. Ryan was just weeks away from coming home when he volunteered for a mission to Mosul from which he would never return. His friends remember his easy smile； I remember Ryan because of the bracelet his mother gave me that I wear every day. Next to his name，it reads: “All gave some~he gave all.
奥利佛?文德尔?荷默斯曾经说过：“想要赢得一场战争，你就必须相信一些 东西并用尽全力去得到它。”我们今天所缅怀的那些美国人相信这一点，瑞安?乔 匹克中士也相信这一点。当时瑞安还差几个星期就可以回家了，但他自愿去摩苏尔 执行一项任务，而他再也没有回来。他的朋友们都无法忘怀他平易近人的笑容，我 记得他是因为他的母亲曾送了我一个手镯，这个手镯我每天都带着，上面刻有瑞安 的名字，名字旁边写道：“所有人都付出了一些事物，他付出了所有。”
It is a living reminder of our obligations as Americans to serve Ryan and his compatriots as well as they have served us; as well as the wounded warriors I’ve had the honor of meeting at Walter Reed have served us; as well as the soldiers at Fort Bliss and the troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, and around the world are serving us. That means giving the same priority to building a 21st century VA as to building a 21st century military. It means having zero tolerance for veterans sleeping on our streets. It means bringing home our POWs and MIAs.And it means treating the graves of veterans like the hallowed ground it is and banning protests near funerals.
这句话是对我们一个活生生的提醒，提醒我们作为美国人应该履行的义务：我 们应该为瑞安和他的战友们付出，就像瑞安为我们做的那样；就像我在瓦尔特里德 陆军医疗中心有幸见到的那些受伤的战士们为我们做的那样；就像那些在布利斯基 地的士兵们以及我们在伊拉克、阿富汗和世界各地的军队正在为我们做的那样。这 意味着建立一个21世纪的退伍军人管理局应和打造21世纪的军事力量同等重要；这意味着我们绝不能容忍退伍老兵睡在大街上；这意味着我们要将战俘和战地失踪者 带回祖国；还意味着我们要像对待圣地那样对待老兵的坟墓，并且禁止葬礼周边的 抗议活动。
But it also means something more. It means understanding that what Ryan and so many Americans fought and died for is not a place on a map or a certain kind of people. What they sacrificed for~what they gave all for~is a larger idea—the idea that a nation can be governed by laws, not men; that we can be equal in the eyes of those laws; that we can be free to say what we want, write what we want, and worship as we please; that we can have the right to pursue our own dreams, but the obligation to help our fellow Americans pursue theirs.
但远远不止这些。它还意味着我们应该明白瑞安和如此多美国人并不是为地 图上某个特定的地方或者特定的人去战斗，去牺牲。他们牺牲了一切——他们付出 了一切——是因为一个更伟大的想法：国家应该法治，而非人治；法律面前人人平 等；我们享有发表言论的自由，撰写文章的自由，信仰的自由；我们有权利追逐自 己的梦想，但我们也应有义务帮助自己同胞追求他们的梦想。
So on this day, of all days, let’s memorialize our fallen heroes by honoring all who wear our country’s uniform; and by completing their work to make sure America is more secure and our world is more free. But let’s also do our part—service-member and civilian alike~to live up to the idea that so many of our fellow Americans have consecrated~the idea of America. That is the essence of patriotism. That is the lesson of this solemn day. And that is the task that lies ahead. God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America.
因此，在今天，在每一天，让我们给所有穿着国家制服的军人授予荣誉，让 我们完成那些逝去的英雄们的使命，使美国更加安全，使世界更加自由，并以此来 铭记他们。然而也让我们贡献出自己的一份力量——不管是军人还是普通公民—— 我们都应该抱有一个信念，一个我们如此多同胞已经为之牺牲的信念——美国的信 念。那就是爱国主义的精髓，这是在今天这个庄严的日子里我们要学到的一课，也 是未来的使命所在。愿上帝保佑你们，愿上帝保佑美国。