Nothing filled me with greater anxieties than that of which the notification was transmitted by your order, and received on the 14th day of the present month.On the one hand, I was summoned by my country, whose voice I can never hear but with veneration and love, 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 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.
在人生沉浮中，沒有一件事能比你們于本月14日送達(dá)的通知更使我焦慮不安。一方面，國(guó)家召喚我出任此職，對(duì)于她的召喚，我永遠(yuǎn)只能肅然敬從；而隱退是我以摯愛心情、滿腔希望和堅(jiān)定的決心選擇的暮年歸宿，由于愛好和習(xí)慣，時(shí)感體力不濟(jì)，愈覺隱退之必要和可貴。且時(shí)光流逝，健康漸衰。

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, 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.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. 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, and have thence too little consulted my incapacity as well as disinclination for the weighty and untried cares before me, my error will be palliated by the motives which mislead me,and its consequences be judged by my country with some share of the partiality in which they originated.
另一方面，國(guó)家召喚我擔(dān)負(fù)的責(zé)任如此重大和艱巨，足以使國(guó)內(nèi)最有才智和經(jīng)驗(yàn)的人度德量力；而我天資愚鈍，又無民政管理的實(shí)踐，理應(yīng)倍覺自己能力之不足，因而必然感到難以肩此重任。懷著這種矛盾心情，我唯一敢斷言的是，通過正確估計(jì)可能產(chǎn)生影響的各種情況來克盡吾職，乃是我忠貞不渝的努力目標(biāo)。我唯一敢祈望的是，如果我在執(zhí)行這項(xiàng)任務(wù)時(shí)因陶醉于往事�；蛞蛴芍愿屑す�民們對(duì)我的高度信賴，因而受到過多影響，以致在處理從未經(jīng)歷過的大事時(shí)，忽視了自己的無能和消極。我的錯(cuò)誤將會(huì)由于使我誤人歧途的各種動(dòng)機(jī)而減輕，而大家在評(píng)判錯(cuò)誤的后果時(shí)，也會(huì)適當(dāng)包涵產(chǎn)生這些動(dòng)機(jī)的偏見。

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, 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.
既然這就是我在遵奉公眾召喚就任現(xiàn)職時(shí)的感想，那么，在此宣誓就職之際，如不熱忱地祈求全能的上帝就極其失當(dāng)。因?yàn)樯系劢y(tǒng)治著宇宙，主宰著各國(guó)政府，它的神助能彌補(bǔ)人類的任何不足。愿上帝賜福，保佑一個(gè)為美國(guó)人民的自由和幸福而組成的政府，保佑它為這些基本目標(biāo)而做出奉獻(xiàn)。保佑政府的各項(xiàng)行政措施在我負(fù)責(zé)之下都能成功地發(fā)揮作用。

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. 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. 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; and in the important revolution just accomplished in the system of their united government the tranquil deliberations, along with an humble anticipation of the future blessings which the past seem to presage.These reflections, arising out of the present crisis, have forced themselves too strongly on my mind to be suppressed.
在向公眾利益和私人利益的偉大締造者獻(xiàn)上這份崇敬時(shí)，我保證這不僅表達(dá)了我自己的情感，這些話也同樣表達(dá)了各位和廣大公民的心意。沒有人能比美國(guó)更堅(jiān)定不移地承認(rèn)和崇拜掌管人間事務(wù)的上帝。他們?cè)谶~向獨(dú)立國(guó)家的進(jìn)程中，似乎每走一步都有某種天佑的跡象；他們?cè)趧倓偼瓿傻穆?lián)邦政府體制的重大改革中，如果不是因虔誠(chéng)的感恩而得到某種回報(bào)，如果不是謙卑地期待著過去有所預(yù)示的賜福的到來，那么，通過眾多截然不同的集團(tuán)的冷靜思考和自愿贊同來完成改革，這種方式是不能與大多數(shù)政府的組建方式同日而語的。

You will join with me, I trust, in thinking that there are none under the influence of which the proceedings of a new and free government can more auspiciously commence. By the article establishing the executive department it is made the duty of the President, "to recommend to your consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient."The circumstances under which I now meet you will acquit me from entering into that subject further than to refer to the great constitutional charter under which you are assembled, and which, in defining your powers, designates the objects to which your attention is to be given. It will be more consistent with those circumstances, and far more congenial with the feelings which actuate me, to substitute, in place of a recommendation of particular measures, the tribute that is due to the talents, the rectitude, and the patriotism which adorn the characters selected to devise and adopt them.
在目前轉(zhuǎn)折關(guān)頭，我產(chǎn)生這些想法確實(shí)是深有所感而不能自已。我相信大家會(huì)和我懷有同感，即除了仰仗上帝的力量，一個(gè)新生的自由政府別無他法能一開始就事事順利。根據(jù)設(shè)立行政部門的條款，總統(tǒng)有責(zé)任對(duì)你們提出建議。如衡量權(quán)宜必要的判斷之類的思路。但在目前與各位見面的這個(gè)場(chǎng)合，恕我不能進(jìn)一步討論這個(gè)問題，而只是提一下偉大的憲法，它使各位今天聚集一堂，它規(guī)定了各位的權(quán)限，提出了各位應(yīng)該注意的目標(biāo)。在這樣的場(chǎng)合，更恰當(dāng)、也更能反映我內(nèi)心激情的做法。不是提出具體措施，而是稱頌將要規(guī)劃和采納這些措施的當(dāng)選者的才能、正直和愛國(guó)心。

In these honorable qualifications I behold the surest pledges that as on one side no local prejudices or attachments, no separate views nor party animosities, will misdirect the comprehensive and equal eye which ought to watch over this great assemblage of communities and interests, so ,on another, that the foundation of our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private morality, and the preeminence of free government be exemplified by all the attributes which can win the affections of its citizens and command the respect of the world.I dwell on this prospect with every satisfaction which an ardent love for my country can inspire, since there is no truth more thoroughly established than that there exists in the economy and course of nature an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness; between duty and advantage; between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity; since we ought to be no a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained; and since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered, perhaps, as deeply, as finally, staked on the experiment entrusted on the hands of the American people.
我從這些高貴品格中看到了最可靠的保證：其一，任何地方偏見或地方感情，任何意見分歧或黨派敵視，都不能使我們偏離全局觀念和公平觀點(diǎn)，即必須維護(hù)這個(gè)由不同地區(qū)和不同利益所組成的大聯(lián)合；因?yàn)�，其二，我�?guó)政策將會(huì)以純潔而堅(jiān)定的個(gè)人道德原則為基礎(chǔ)，而自由政府將會(huì)以那贏得民心和全世界尊敬的一切特點(diǎn)而顯示其優(yōu)越性。我對(duì)國(guó)家的一片熱愛之心激勵(lì)著我滿懷喜悅地展望這幅遠(yuǎn)景，因?yàn)楦鶕?jù)自然界的構(gòu)成和發(fā)展趨勢(shì)，在美德與幸福之間，有著密不可分的統(tǒng)一；責(zé)任與利益之間，恪守誠(chéng)實(shí)寬厚的政策與獲得社會(huì)繁榮幸福的碩果之間，因?yàn)槲覀儜?yīng)該同樣相信，上帝親自規(guī)定了永恒的秩序和權(quán)利法則，它決不可能對(duì)無視這些法則的國(guó)家仁慈地加以贊許；因?yàn)槿藗兝硭��?dāng)然地、滿懷覺悟地，也許是最后一次把維護(hù)神圣的自由之火和共和制政府的命運(yùn)，系于美國(guó)人所遵命進(jìn)行的實(shí)驗(yàn)上。

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