贾军的博客

论无聊(转载周国平的博客）

Thu, 19 February 2009 08:32:31 +0800

论无聊（一）

1
无聊是对欲望的欲望。当一个人没有任何欲望而又渴望有欲望之时，他便感到无聊。

2
叔本华把无聊看作欲望满足之后的一种无欲望状态，可说是只知其一不知其二。完全无欲望是一种恬静状态，无聊却包含着不安的成分。人之所以无聊不是因为无欲望，而是因为不能忍受这无欲望的状态，因而渴望有欲望。

                                  3
    无聊的前提是闲。一般来说，只要人类在求温饱之余还有精力，无聊的可能性就存在了。席勒用剩余精力解释美感的发生。其实，人类特有的一切好东西坏东西，其发生盖赖于此，无聊也不例外。
    所谓闲，是指没有非做不可的事，遂可以自由支配时间，做自己感兴趣的事。闲的可贵就在于此。闲了未必无聊，闲着没事干才会无聊。有了自由支配的时间，却找不到兴趣所在，或者做不成感兴趣的事，剩余精力茫茫然无所寄托，这种滋味就叫无聊。

4
兽和神大约都不会无聊。兽活命而已，只有纯粹的生存。神充实自足，具备完满的存在。兽人神三界，唯有夹在中间的人才会无聊，才可能有活得没意思的感觉和叹息。

人，永远走在从生存向存在的途中。他已经辞别兽界，却无望进入神界。他不甘于纯粹的生存，却达不到完美的存在。他有了超出生存的精力，却没有超出生存的目标。他寻求，却不知道寻求什么。人是注定要无聊的。

5
如果人真能够成为神，就不无聊了吗?我想象不出，上帝在完成他的创世工作之后，是如何消磨他的星期天的。圣经对此闭口不谈，这倒不奇怪，因为上帝是完美无缺的，既不能像肉欲犹存的人类那样用美食酣睡款待自己，又不能像壮心不已的人类那样不断进行新的精神探险，他实在没事可干了。他的绝对的完美便是他的绝对的空虚。人类的无聊尚可药治，上帝的无聊宁有息日?

                                     6
    没有比长途旅行更令人兴奋的了，也没有比长途旅行更容易使人感到无聊的了。
    人生，就是一趟长途旅行。
    一趟长途旅行，意味着奇遇，巧合，不寻常的机缘，意外的收获，陌生而新鲜的人和景物。总之，意味着种种打破生活常规的偶然性和可能性。所以，谁不是怀着朦胧的期待和莫名的激动踏上旅程的?
    然而，一般规律是，随着旅程的延续，兴奋递减，无聊递增。

   我们从记事起就已经身在这趟名为“人生”的列车上了。一开始，我们并不关心它开往何处。孩子们不需要为人生安上一个目的，他们扒在车窗边，小脸蛋紧贴玻璃，窗外掠过的田野、树木、房屋、人畜无不可观，无不使他们感到新奇。无聊与他们无缘。
    不知从何时起，车窗外的景物不再那样令我们陶醉了。这是我们告别童年的一个确切标志，我们长大成人了。我们开始需要一个目的，而且往往也就有了一个也许清晰但多半模糊的目的。我们相信列车将把我们带往一个美妙的地方，那里的景物远比沿途优美。我们在心里悄悄给那地方冠以美好的名称，名之为“幸福”、“成功”、“善”、“真理”等等。
    不幸的是，一旦我们开始憧憬一个目的，无聊便接踵而至。既然生活在远处，近处的就不是生活。既然目的最重要，过程就等而下之。我们的心飞向未来，只把身体留在现在，视正在经历的一切为必不可免的过程，耐着性子忍受。

8
愈是心中老悬着一个遥远目的地的旅客，愈不耐旅途的漫长，容易百无聊赖。由此可见，无聊生于目的与过程的分离，乃是一种对过程疏远和隔膜的心境。孩子或者像孩子一样单纯的人，目的意识淡薄，沉浸在过程中，过程和目的浑然不分，他们能够随遇而安，即事起兴，不易感到无聊。商人或者像商人一样精明的人，有非常明确实际的目的，以此指导行动，规划过程，目的与过程丝丝相扣，他们能够聚精会神，分秒必争，也不易感到无聊。怕就怕既失去了孩子的单纯，又不肯学商人的精明，目的意识强烈却并无明确实际的目的，有所追求但所求不是太缥缈就是太模糊。“我只是想要，但不知道究竟想要什么。”这种心境是滋生无聊的温床。心中弥漫着一团空虚，无物可以填充。凡到手的一切都不是想要的，于是难免无聊了。

9
等的可怕，在于等的人对于所等的事完全不能支配，对于其他的事又完全没有心思，因而被迫处在无所事事的状态。有所期待使人兴奋，无所事事又使人无聊，等便是混合了兴奋和无聊的一种心境。随着等的时间延长，兴奋转成疲劳，无聊的心境就会占据优势。

10
活着总得等待什么，哪伯是等待戈多。有人问贝克特，戈多究竟代表什么，他回答道：“我要是知道，早在剧中说出来了。”事实上，我们一生都在等待自己也不知道的什么，生活就在这等待中展开并且获得了理由。等的滋味不免无聊，然而，一无所等的生活更加无聊。不，一无所等是不可能的。即使在一无所等的时候，我们还是在等，等那个有所等的时刻到来。一个人到了连这样的等也没有的地步，就非自杀不可。所以，始终不出场的戈多先生实在是人生舞台的主角，没有他，人生这场戏是演不下去的。

11
时间就是生命，时间是我们的全部所有。谁都不愿意时间飞速流逝，一下子就到达生命的终点。可是大家似乎又都在“消磨”时间，也就是说，想办法把时间打发掉。如此宝贵的时间似乎又是一个极其可怕的东西，因而人们要用种种娱乐、闲谈、杂务隔开自己与时间，使自己不至于直接面对这空无所有而又确实在流逝着的时间。

12
在有些人眼里，人生是一碟乏味的菜，为了咽下这碟菜，少不了种种作料，种种刺激。他们的日子过得真热闹。

13
闲是福气，无聊却是痛苦。在自由状态下，多半可以找到法子排遣无聊。排遣的方式因人而异，最能见出一个人的性情。愈浅薄的人，其无聊愈容易排遣，现成的法子有的是。“不有博弈者乎?”如今更好办，不有电视机乎?面对电视机一坐几个钟点，天天坐到头昏脑胀然后上床去，差不多是现代人最常见的消磨闲暇的方式，——或者说，糟踏闲暇的方式。

14
时间就是生命。奇怪的是，人人都爱惜生命，不愿其速逝，却害怕时间，唯恐其停滞。我们好歹要做点什么事来打发时间，一旦无所事事，时间就仿佛在我们面前停住了。我们面对这脱去事件外衣的赤裸裸的时间，发现它原来空无所有，心中隐约对生命的实质也起了恐慌。无聊的可怕也许就在于此，所以要加以排遣。

15
人生中有些时候，我们会感觉到一种无可排遣的无聊。我们心不在焉，百事无心，觉得做什么都没意思，并不是疲倦了，因为我们有精力，只是茫无出路。并不是看透了，因为我们有欲望，只是空无对象。这种心境无端而来，无端而去，昙花一现，却是一种直接暴露人生根底的深邃的无聊。

16
生命太短暂了，太珍贵了，无论用它来做什么都有点可惜。总想做最有意义的事，足以使人不虚此生、死而无恨的事，却没有一件事堪当此重责。但是，人活着总得做点什么。于是．我们便做着种种微不足道的事。

17
无聊是意义的空白。然而，如果没有这空白，我们又怎么会记起我们对于意义的渴望呢?当情人不在场的时候，对情人的思念便布满了爱情的空间。

                                     18
    无聊：缺乏目的和意义。
    无聊的天性：没有能力为自己设立一个目的，创造一种意义。
    伟大天性的无聊时刻：对自己所创造的意义的突然看破。

19
如果消遣也不能解除你的无聊，你就有点儿深刻了。

                                     20
    有这样一种时候，我翻开书，又合上，拿起笔，又放下，不知道自己究竟要什么，找不到一件自己真正想做的事，只觉得心中弥漫着一种空虚怅惘之感。这是无聊袭来的时候。
    当一个人无所事事而直接面对自己时，便会感到无聊。在通常情况下，我们仍会找些事做，尽快逃脱这种境遇。但是，也有无可逃脱的时候，我就是百事无心，不想见任何人，不想做任何事。
    自我似乎喜欢捉迷藏，如同蒙田所说：“我找我的时候找不着；我找着我由于偶然的邂逅比由于有意的搜寻多。”无聊正是与自我邂逅的一个契机。这个自我，摆脱了一切社会的身分和关系，来自虚无，归于虚无。难怪我们和它相遇时，不能直面相视太久，便要匆匆逃离。可是，让我多坚持一会儿吧，我相信这个可怕的自我一定会教给我许多人生的真理。

21
除了肉体欲望之外，人还有精神欲望，后者实质上是无限的。这种无限的精神欲望尤其体现在像拜伦这样极其敏感的天性身上，他们内心怀着对精神事物的永不满足的欲求，由于无限的欲望不可能通过有限的事物获得满足，结果必然对一切业已到手的东西很容易感到厌倦。对他们来说，因为欲望不能满足而导致的痛苦和因为对既有事物丧失欲望而导致的无聊不是先后交替，而是同时并存的。他们的无聊直接根源于不满足，本身就具有痛苦的性质。

                                     22
    精神一面要逃避无常，企求永恒，另一面却又厌倦重复，渴慕新奇。在自然中，变是绝对的，不变是相对的。绝对的变注定了凡胎肉身的易朽。相对的不变造就了日常生活的单调。所以，无常和重复原是自然为人生立的法则。但精神不甘于循此法则，偏要求绝对的不变——永恒，偏难忍相对的不变——重复，在变与不变之间陷入了两难。
    当然，自然中并无绝对的重复。正如潮汐是大海的节奏一样，生命也有其新陈代谢的节奏。可是，当生命缺乏更高的目的时，我们便把节奏感受为重复。重复之荒谬就在于它是赤裸裸的无意义。重复像是永恒的一幅讽刺画，简直使人对永恒也丧失了兴趣。对于那些不安的灵魂来说，重复比无常更不堪忍受。精神原是为逃脱无常而不倦地追求永恒，到后来这不倦的追求本身成了最大需要，以致当追求倦怠之时，为了逃脱重复，它就宁愿扑向无常，毁灭自己。

23
如果说颓废是听天由命地接受无意义，悲壮是慷慨激昂地反抗无意义，那么，厌倦则是一种既不肯接受、又不想反抗的心态。颓废者是奴隶，悲壮者是英雄，厌倦者是那种既不愿做奴隶、又无心当英雄的人，那种骄傲得做不成奴隶、又懒惰得当不了英雄的人。

柳传志早年给杨元庆的一封信

Thu, 05 February 2009 15:37:22 +0800

除了普通的同事关系，柳传志和杨元庆之间更微妙的是创业者和继任者的情结。在中国，这种关系一直因为神秘而让人好奇。

　　那么，柳传志在何时相中杨元庆？杨元庆早期的不足和缺点表现在哪些方面？柳传志又当如何协调好二人的工作关系？一封柳传志于14年前写给杨元庆的亲笔信，终于揭开了这些谜底。

元庆：

　　来香港后，虽然任务繁重，但对你的情况仍不放心。自我检查后，觉得这几年和你沟通少，谈的都是些你要解决的具体问题。客观原因是你和我都忙，主观原因是没有特别注意我们之间沟通的重要性。我想利用边角或休息时间写信给你，用笔谈的方式会比较冷静，但我也不想很正式，只是拿起笔想到哪儿就写到哪儿，还是自然感情的随意流露，未必就逻辑性、说理性很强。一次谈不完，下次接着再谈。

　　我喜欢有能力的年轻人。私营公司的老板喜欢有能力的人才主要是为了一个原因——能给他赚钱。有这一条就够了。而国营公司的老板除了这一条以外，当然希望在感情上要有配合。

　　联想已经是一番不太小的事业了，按照预定的计划将发展到更大。此刻不对领导核心精心加以培养，将来就一切都是空话。

　　那么我心目中的年轻领导核心应该是什么样子呢？

　　一要有德。这个德包括了几部分内容：首先是要忠诚于联想的事业，也就是说个人利益完全服从于联想的利益。公开地讲，主要就是这一条。不公开地讲，还有一条就是能实心实意地对待前任的开拓者们——我认为这也应该属于“德”的内容之一。

　　在纯粹的商品社会，企业的创业者们把事业做大以后，交下班去应该得到一份从物质到精神的回报。而在我们的社会中，由于机制的不同则不一定能保证这一点，这就使得老一辈的人把权力抓得牢牢的，宁可耽误事情也不愿意交班。我的责任就是平和地让老同志交班，但要保证他们的利益。另一方面，从对人的多方考核上造就一个骨干层，再从中选择经得住考验的领导核心。

　　另外，属于“才”和“德”边缘范围的内容是，年轻的领导者要无私，对自己严格要求，对合作伙伴要大度和宽容，具有卓越的领导能力，还能虚心看到别人的长处，不断反省自己的不足等——这些优良品质才能使人心服。

　　你知道我的“大鸡”和“小鸡”的理论。你真的只有把自己锻炼成火鸡那么大，小鸡才肯承认你比他大（编者注：此处应为“小鸡会觉得和你同样大”。具体理论请参阅背景资料）。当你真像鸵鸟那么大时，小鸡才会心服。只有赢得这种“心服”，才具备了在同代人中做核心的条件。

　　当然，在别的国有企业，都是上级领导钦定企业负责人，下面一般都心不服，所以领导班子很难团结。我如果不提前考虑这个问题，而像一般国有企业一样到时候再定，也不是过不去，只不过在联想进一步发展时，可能在班子问题上留下隐患。

　　我是希望向这个方向去培养你的。当你由CAD部（主要代理惠普产品）调到微机事业部，并在当年就把微机事业部做得有显著起色时，我的心中除了对事情本身成功的喜悦以外，更有一层对人才脱颖而出的喜悦。在你开始工作后不久，诸多的矛盾就产生了。我是坚决反对对人求全责备，如果把一切其他人得到的经验硬给你加上去，会使得你很难做。我们努力统一思想，尽量保证公司环境对微机事业部的支持。事实证明了你的能力和不达目的誓不罢休的上进精神。

　　当事情进展到这一步，我应该更多地支持你发展优势，同时指出你的不足，注意如何能上更高的台阶。而你在这时候，应该如何考虑呢？我觉得应该总结出自己真正的优点是什么？自己的弱点是什么？到底联想的环境给了你哪些支持（这能使你更恰如其分地看待自己的成绩）？主动向更高的台阶迈进要注意什么？

　　当我心中明确了将来作为领导核心的人应该具备的条件以后，我对你要做的事是：1）加强对你的全面了解，你自己也要抓住各个机会和我交流各种想法，不仅是工作上的，应该包括方方面面的。2）加强和你的沟通，使你更了解我的好处和毛病，性格中的弱点——“后脑勺”的一面，这才能产生真正的感情交流。3）互相帮助，但更多的是我用你接受的方式指导你改正缺点，向预定的目标前进。

　　以上的部分是我用了星期六的一个钟头和星期日的一个钟头写的。马上我又要外出了，我想信就写到这里。下面是我想从你那里得到的信息：1）你是不是真有这份心思吃得了苦，受得了委屈，去攀登更高的山峰？2）你自己反思一下，如果向这个目标前进，你到底还缺什么？

　　柳传志

　　——写于1994年

短信

Wed, 28 January 2009 22:21:57 +0800

今儿是农历的大年初三，下午正在忙着删除手机中的一些短信息时，突然接到了一位大学同窗的电话，毕业已经十三年了，期间，与这位同窗也曾经联系过几回，但也都是在过年的当口，发个短信过去，借此表示心里还记着他。

这位同学在浙江大学做教师，天各一方，尽管当年在同一个宿舍吃睡了四年，友情不可谓不深，然而，随着毕业后各自忙于生活，因此，联络的次数也越来越少了。

同学在电话里说，没啥事，就是想听听我的声音。

呵呵，在现代科技日益高速发展的今天，能有幸听听双方彼此牵挂的声音，可能真的成了奢望。

咋（2）

Fri, 23 January 2009 23:03:22 +0800

哟！今儿谁欺负美女啦，给哥说说。萧虎没话找话。因为他知道，但凡美人胚子都是稳坐钓鱼台的主儿。

罗怡薇白了他一眼，端起口杯狠狠的喝了一口，随之粉颜大变，“你想烫死我呀！”紧接着一口水喷的满桌都是，办公室内其他几个人这时都向这边瞧来。

“哟、哟、哟……”萧虎一边赶忙擦着桌子，一边向司花表达着歉意。

贱人！罗怡薇对面的乔翠翠嘴里蹦出一句话。

按理说，这足以能震死蚊子的话搁平日是不会让萧虎感到难堪的，而且，罗怡薇一般也不会理睬这句话的，就像萧虎往前在她跟前说的那样，别搭理您对坐的，谁要您是咱的偶像呢。

但今天可就不一样了，没想到罗怡薇猛然冲着乔翠翠嚷道，你说谁呢，谁贱呀！你把话说清楚了。

谁贱谁知道，乔翠翠也不含糊的回应了一句。

今儿，这都是咋了。萧虎一边替双方灭火，一边嘟囔，该不是吃枪药了吧。

其实，这句话他主要是让乔翠翠听的。所以，说话的时候，他有意的用胳膊肘顶了顶罗怡薇。

意思就是说，我没说你，是说她哩。

但让萧虎万万没料到的是，这次他真的是捅上了马蜂窝。

罗怡薇和乔翠翠突然联合起来，向他开炮了。（未完待续）

美国前几任总统就职演说（中英文）

Wed, 21 January 2009 15:51:14 +0800

First Inaugural Address of George Washington

　　THE CITY OF NEW YORK

　　THURSDAY, APRIL 30, 1789

　　Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:

　　Among the vicissitudes incident to life no event could have 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. 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.

　　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 can 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. 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 and voluntary consent of so many distinct communities from which the event has resulted can not be compared with the means by which most governments have been established without some return of pious gratitude, 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. 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. 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 less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on 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 to the hands of the American people.

　　Besides the ordinary objects submitted to your care, it will remain with your judgment to decide how far an exercise of the occasional power delegated by the fifth article of the Constitution is rendered expedient at the present juncture by the nature of objections which have been urged against the system, or by the degree of inquietude which has given birth to them. Instead of undertaking particular recommendations on this subject, in which I could be guided by no lights derived from official opportunities, I shall again give way to my entire confidence in your discernment and pursuit of the public good; for I assure myself that whilst you carefully avoid every alteration which might endanger the benefits of an united and effective government, or which ought to await the future lessons of experience, a reverence for the characteristic rights of freemen and a regard for the public harmony will sufficiently influence your deliberations on the question how far the former can be impregnably fortified or the latter be safely and advantageously promoted.

　　To the foregoing observations I have one to add, which will be most properly addressed to the House of Representatives. It concerns myself, and will therefore be as brief as possible. When I was first honored with a call into the service of my country, then on the eve of an arduous struggle for its liberties, the light in which I contemplated my duty required that I should renounce every pecuniary compensation. From this resolution I have in no instance departed; and being still under the impressions which produced it, I must decline as inapplicable to myself any share in the personal emoluments which may be indispensably included in a permanent provision for the executive department, and must accordingly pray that the pecuniary estimates for the station in which I am placed may during my continuance in it be limited to such actual expenditures as the public good may be thought to require.

　　Having thus imparted to you my sentiments as they have been awakened by the occasion which brings us together, I shall take my present leave; but not without resorting once more to the benign Parent of the Human Race in humble supplication that, since He has been pleased to favor the American people with opportunities for deliberating in perfect tranquillity, and dispositions for deciding with unparalleled unanimity on a form of government for the security of their union and the advancement of their happiness, so His divine blessing may be equally conspicuous in the enlarged views, the temperate consultations, and the wise measures on which the success of this Government must depend.

美国人民的实验

　　乔治-华盛顿

　　第一次就职演讲

　　纽约星期四,1789年4月30日

　　参议院和众议院的同胞们：

　　在人生沉浮中，没有一件事能比本月14日收到根据你们的命令送达的通知更使我焦虑不安，一方面，国家召唤我出任此职，对于她的召唤，我永远只能肃然敬从；而隐退是我以挚爱心憎、满腔希望和坚定的决心选择的暮年归宿，由于爱好和习惯，且时光流逝，健康渐衰，时感体力不济，愈觉隐退之必要和可贵。另一方面，国家召唤我担负的责任如此重大和艰巨，足以使国内最有才智和经验的人度德量力，而我天资愚饨，又无民政管理的实践，理应倍觉自己能力之不足，因而必然感到难以肩此重任。怀着这种矛盾心情，我唯一敢断言的是，通过正确估计可能产生影响的各种情况来克尽厥职，乃是我忠贞不渝的努力目标。我唯一敢祈望的是，如果我在执行这项任务时因陶醉于往事，或因由衷感激公民们对我的高度信赖，因而受到过多影响，以致在处理从未经历过的大事时，忽视了自己的无能和消极，我的错误将会由于使我误人歧途的各种动机而减轻，而大家在评判错误的后果时；也会适当包涵产生这些动机的偏见。

　　既然这就是我在遵奉公众召唤就任现职时的感想，那么，在此宣誓就职之际，如不热忱地祈求全能的上帝就极其失当，因为上帝统治着宇宙，主宰着各国政府，它的神助能弥补人类的任何不足，愿上帝赐福，侃佑一个为美国人民的自由和幸福而组成的政府，保佑它为这些基本目的而作出奉献，保佑政府的各项行政措施在我负责之下都能成功地发挥作用。我相信，在向公众利益和私人利益的伟大缔造者献上这份崇敬时，这些活也同样表达了各位和广大公民的心意。没有人能比美国人更坚定不移地承认和崇拜掌管人间事务的上帝。他们在迈向独立国家的进程中，似乎每走一步都有某种天佑的迹象；他们在刚刚完成的联邦政府体制的重大改革中，如果不是因虔诚的感恩而得到某种回报，如果不是谦卑地期待着过去有所预示的赐福的到来，那么，通过众多截然不同的集团的平静思考和自愿赞同来完成改革，这种方式是不能与大多数政府的组建方式同日而语的。在目前转折关头，我产生这些想法确实是深有所感而不能自已，我相信大家会和我怀有同感，即除了仰仗上帝的力量，一个新生的自由政府别无他法能一开始就事事顺利。根据设立行政部门的条款，总统有责任“将他认为必要而妥善的措施提请国会审议”。但在目前与各位见面的这个场合，恕我不进一步讨论这个问题，而只提一下伟大的宪法，它使各位今天聚集一堂，它规定了各位的权限，指出了各位应该注意的目标。在这样的场合，更恰当、也更能反映我内心激情的做法是不提出具体措施，而是称颂将要规划和采纳这些措施的当选者的才能、正直和爱国心。我从这些高贵品格中看到了最可靠的保证：其一，任何地方偏见或地方感情，任何意见分歧或党派敌视，都不能使我们偏离全局观点和公平观点，即必须维护这个由不同地区和利益所组成的大联合；因此，其二，我国的政策将会以纯洁而坚定的个人道德原则为基础，而自由政府将会以那赢得民心和全世界尊敬的一切特点而显示其优越性。我对国家的一片热爱之心激励着我满怀喜悦地展望这幅远景，因为根据自然界的构成和发展趋势，在美德与幸福之间，责任与利益之间，恪守诚实宽厚的政策与获得社会繁荣幸福的硕果之间，有着密不可分的统一；因为我们应该同样相信，上帝亲自规定了水恒的秩序和权利法则，它决不可能对无视这些法则的国家慈祥地加以赞许；因为人们理所当然地、满怀深情地、也许是最后一次把维护神圣的自由之火和共和制政府的命运，系于美国人所遵命进行的实验上。

　　我已将有感于这一聚会场合的想法奉告各位，现在我就要向大家告辞；但在此以前，我要再一次以谦卑的心情祈求仁慈的上帝给予帮助。因为承蒙上帝的恩赐，美国人有了深思熟虑的机会，以及为确保联邦的安全和促进幸福，用前所未有的一致意见来决定政府体制的意向；因而，同样明显的是，上帝将保佑我们扩大眼界，心平气和地进行协商，并采取明智的措施，而这些都是本届政府取得成功所必不可少的依靠。

Thomas Jefferson First Inaugural Address

　　First Inaugural Address

　　March 4, 1801

　　FRIENDS AND FELLOW-CITIZENS,

　　Called upon to undertake the duties of the first executive office of our country, I avail myself of the presence of that portion of my fellow-citizens which is here assembled to express my grateful thanks for the favor with which they have been pleased to look toward me, to declare a sincere consciousness that the task is above my talents, and that I approach it with those anxious and awful presentiments which the greatness of the charge and the weakness of my powers so justly inspire. A rising nation, spread over a wide and fruitful land, traversing all the seas with the rich productions of their industry, engaged in commerce with nations who feel power and forget right, advancing rapidly to destinies beyond the reach of mortal eye -- when I contemplate these transcendent objects, and see the honor, the happiness, and the hopes of this beloved country committed to the issue and the auspices of this day, I shrink from the contemplation, and humble myself before the magnitude of the undertaking. Utterly, indeed, should I despair did not the presence of many whom I here see remind me that in the other high authorities provided by our Constitution I shall find resources of wisdom, of virtue, and of zeal on which to rely under all difficulties. To you, then, gentlemen, who are charged with the sovereign functions of legislation, and to those associated with you, I look with encouragement for that guidance and support which may enable us to steer with safety the vessel in which we are all embarked amidst the conflicting elements of a troubled world.

　　During the contest of opinion through which we have passed the animation of discussions and of exertions has sometimes worn an aspect which might impose on strangers unused to think freely and to speak and to write what they think; but this being now decided by the voice of the nation, announced according to the rules of the Constitution, all will, of course, arrange themselves under the will of the law, and unite in common efforts for the common good. All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression. Let us, then, fellow-citizens, unite with one heart and one mind. Let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection without which liberty and even life itself are but dreary things. And let us reflect that, having banished from our land that religious intolerance under which mankind so long bled and suffered, we have yet gained little if we countenance a political intolerance as despotic, as wicked, and capable of as bitter and bloody persecutions. During the throes and convulsions of the ancient world, during the agonizing spasms of infuriated man, seeking through blood and slaughter his long-lost liberty, it was not wonderful that the agitation of the billows should reach even this distant and peaceful shore; that this should be more felt and feared by some and less by others, and should divide opinions as to measures of safety. But every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists. If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it. I know, indeed, that some honest men fear that a republican government can not be strong, that this Government is not strong enough; but would the honest patriot, in the full tide of successful experiment, abandon a government which has so far kept us free and firm on the theoretic and visionary fear that this Government, the world's best hope, may by possibility want energy to preserve itself? I trust not. I believe this, on the contrary, the strongest Government on earth. I believe it the only one where every man, at the call of the law, would fly to the standard of the law, and would meet invasions of the public order as his own personal concern. Sometimes it is said that man can not be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.

　　Let us, then, with courage and confidence pursue our own Federal and Republican principles, our attachment to union and representative government. Kindly separated by nature and a wide ocean from the exterminating havoc of one quarter of the globe; too high-minded to endure the degradations of the others; possessing a chosen country, with room enough for our descendants to the thousandth and thousandth generation; entertaining a due sense of our equal right to the use of our own faculties, to the acquisitions of our own industry, to honor and confidence from our fellow-citizens, resulting not from birth, but from our actions and their sense of them; enlightened by a benign religion, professed, indeed, and practiced in various forms, yet all of them inculcating honesty, truth, temperance, gratitude, and the love of man; acknowledging and adoring an overruling Providence, which by all its dispensations proves that it delights in the happiness of man here and his greater happiness hereafter -- with all these blessings, what more is necessary to make us a happy and a prosperous people? Still one thing more, fellow-citizens -- a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities.

　　About to enter, fellow-citizens, on the exercise of duties which comprehend everything dear and valuable to you, it is proper you should understand what I deem the essential principles of our Government, and consequently those which ought to shape its Administration. I will compress them within the narrowest compass they will bear, stating the general principle, but not all its limitations. Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political; peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none; the support of the State governments in all their rights, as the most competent administrations for our domestic concerns and the surest bulwarks against antirepublican tendencies; the preservation of the General Government in its whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad; a jealous care of the right of election by the people -- a mild and safe corrective of abuses which are lopped by the sword of revolution where peaceable remedies are unprovided; absolute acquiescence in the decisions of the majority, the vital principle of republics, from which is no appeal but to force, the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism; a well-disciplined militia, our best reliance in peace and for the first moments of war till regulars may relieve them; the supremacy of the civil over the military authority; economy in the public expense, that labor may be lightly burthened; the honest payment of our debts and sacred preservation of the public faith; encouragement of agriculture, and of commerce as its handmaid; the diffusion of information and arraignment of all abuses at the bar of the public reason; freedom of religion; freedom of the press, and freedom of person under the protection of the habeas corpus, and trial by juries impartially selected. These principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation. The wisdom of our sages and blood of our heroes have been devoted to their attainment. They should be the creed of our political faith, the text of civic instruction, the touchstone by which to try the services of those we trust; and should we wander from them in moments of error or of alarm, let us hasten to retrace our steps and to regain the road which alone leads to peace, liberty, and safety.

　　I repair, then, fellow-citizens, to the post you have assigned me. With experience enough in subordinate offices to have seen the difficulties of this the greatest of all, I have learnt to expect that it will rarely fall to the lot of imperfect man to retire from this station with the reputation and the favor which bring him into it. Without pretensions to that high confidence you reposed in our first and greatest revolutionary character, whose preeminent services had entitled him to the first place in his country's love and destined for him the fairest page in the volume of faithful history, I ask so much confidence only as may give firmness and effect to the legal administration of your affairs. I shall often go wrong through defect of judgment. When right, I shall often be thought wrong by those whose positions will not command a view of the whole ground. I ask your indulgence for my own errors, which will never be intentional, and your support against the errors of others, who may condemn what they would not if seen in all its parts. The approbation implied by your suffrage is a great consolation to me for the past, and my future solicitude will be to retain the good opinion of those who have bestowed it in advance, to conciliate that of others by doing them all the good in my power, and to be instrumental to the happiness and freedom of all.

　　Relying, then, on the patronage of your good will, I advance with obedience to the work, ready to retire from it whenever you become sensible how much better choice it is in your power to make. And may that Infinite Power which rules the destinies of the universe lead our councils to what is best, and give them a favorable issue for your peace and prosperity.

同心同德地团结起来

　　托马斯-杰斐逊第一次就职演讲

　　华盛顿,星期三,1801年3月4日

　　朋友们、同胞们：

　　我应召担任国家的最高行政长官，值此诸位同胞集会之时，我衷心感谢大家寄予我的厚爱，诚挚地说，我意识到这项任务非我能力所及，其责任之重大，本人能力之浅簿，自然使我就任时忧惧交加。一个沃野千里的新兴国家，带着丰富的工业产品跨海渡洋，同那些自恃强权、不顾公理的国家进行贸易，向着世人无法预见的天命疾奔——当我思考这些重大的目标，当我想到这个可爱的国家，其荣誉、幸福和希望都系于这个问题和今天的盛典，我就不敢再想下去，并面对这宏图大业自惭德薄能鲜。确实，若不是在这里见到许多先生们在场，使我想起无论遇到什么困难，都可以向宪法规定的另一高级机构寻找智慧、美德和热忱的源泉，我一定会完全心灰意懒。因此，负有神圣的立法职责的先生们和各位有关人士，我鼓起勇气期望你们给予指引和支持，使我们能够在乱世纷争中同舟共济，安然航行。

　　在我们过去的意见交锋中，大家热烈讨论，各展所长，这种紧张气氛，有时会使不习惯于自由思想、不习惯于说出或写下自己想法的人感到不安；但如今，这场争论既已由全国的民意作出决定，而且根据宪法的规定予以公布，大家当然会服从法律的意志，妥为安排，为共同的利益齐心协力，大家也会铭记这条神圣的原则；尽管在任何情况下，多数人的意志是起决定作用的，但这种意志必须合理才瞩公正；少数人享有同等权利，这种权利必须同样受到法律保护，如果侵犯，便是压迫。因此，公民们，让我们同心同德地团结起来。让我们在社会交往中和睦如初、恢复友爱，如果没有这些，自由，甚至生活本身都会索然寡味，让我们再想一想，我们已经将长期以来造成人类流血、受苦的宗教信仰上的不宽容现象逐出国上，如果我们鼓励某种政治上的不宽容，其专演、邪恶和可能造成的残酷、血腥迫害均与此相仿，那么我们必将无所收获。当旧世界经历阵痛和骚动，当愤怒的人挣扎着想通过流血、杀戮来寻求失去已人的自由，那波涛般的激情甚至也会冲击这片遥远而宁静的海岸；对此，人们的感触和忧患不会一样，因而对安全措施的意见就出现了分歧，这些都不足为奇。但是，各种意见分歧并不都是原则分歧。我们以不同的名字呼唤同一原则的兄弟。我们都是共和党人，我们都是联邦党人，如果我们当中有人想解散这个联邦，或者想改变它的共和体制，那就让他们不受干扰而作为对平安的纪念碑吧，因为有了平安，错误的意见就可得到宽容，理性就得以自由地与之抗争。诚然，我知道，有些正直人士担心共和制政府无法成为强有力的政府，担心我们这个政府不够坚强；但是，在实验取得成功的高潮中，一个诚实的爱国者，难道会因为一种假设的和幻想的疑惧，就以为这个被世界寄予最大希望的政府可能需要力量才得以自存，因而就放弃这个迄今带给我们自由和坚定的政府吗？我相信下会。相反，我相信这是世界上最坚强的政府。我相信唯有在这种政府的治理下，每个人才会响应法律的号召，奔向法律的旗帜下，像对待切身利益那样，迎击侵犯公共秩序的举动：有时我们听到一种说法：不能让人们自己管理自己。那么，能让他去管理别人吗？或者•我们在统治人民的君王名单中发现了无使吗？这个问题让历史来回答吧。

　　因此，让我们以勇气和信心，迫求我们自己的联邦与共和原则，拥戴联邦与代议制政府。我们受惠于大自然和大洋的阻隔，幸免于地球上四分之一地区发生的那场毁灭性浩动；

　　我们品格高尚，不能容忍他人的堕落；们天赐良邦，其幅员足以容纳子孙万代；我们充分认识到在发挥个人才干、以勤劳换取收入、受到同胞的尊敬与信赖上，大家享有平等的权利，但这种尊敬和信赖不是出于门第，而是出于我们的行为和同胞的评判；我们受到仁慈的宗教的启迪，尽管教派不同，形式各异，但它们都教人以正直、忠诚、节制、恩义和仁爱；我们承认和崇拜全能的上帝，而天意表明，他乐于使这里的人们得到幸福，今后还将得到更多的幸福——我们有了这些福祉，还需要什么才能够使我们成为快乐而兴旺的民族呢？公民们，我们还需要一件，那就是贤明而节俭的政府，它会制止人们相互伤害，使他们自由地管理自己的实业和进步活动，它不会侵夺人们的劳动果实。这就是良好政府的集粹，这也是我们达到幸福圆满之必需。

　　公民们，我即将履行职责，这些职责包括你们所珍爱的一切，因此，你们应当了解我所认为的政府基本原则是什么，确定其行政依据的原则又是什么。我将尽量扼要地加以叙述，只讲一般原则，不讲其种种限制。实行人人平等和真正的公平，而不论其宗教或政治上的地位或派别；同所有国家和平相处、商务往来、真诚友好，而下与任何国家结盟，维护备州政府的一切权利，将它们作为我国最有权能的内政机构，和抵御反共和趋势的最可靠屏障；维持全国政府在宪制上的全部活力，将其作为国内安定和国际安全的最后依靠；忠实地维护人民的选举仅——将它作为一种温和而稳妥的矫正手段，对革命留下的、尚无和平补救办法的种种弊端予以矫正；绝对同意多数人的决定，因为这是共和制的主要原则，反之，不诉诸舆论而诉诸武力乃是专制的主要原则和直接根源；建立一支训练有来的民兵，作为平时和战争初期的最好依靠，直到正规军来接替；实行文职权高于军职权；节约政府开支，减轻劳工负担；诚实地偿还债务，庄严地维护政府信誉；鼓励农业，辅之以商业；传播信息，以公众理智力准绳补偏救弊；实行宗教自由；实行出版自由和人身自由，根据人身保护法和公正选出陪审团进行审判来保证人身自由。这些原则构成了明亮的星座，它在我们的前方照闸，指引我们经历了革命和改革时朗，先皙的智慧和英雄的鲜血都曾为实现这些原则作出过奉献，这些原则应当是我们的政治信条，公民教育的课本，检验我们所信曹的人的工作的试金石，如果我们因一时错误或惊恐而背日这些原则，那就让我们赶紧回头，重返这唯一通向和平、自由和安全的大道。

　　各位公民，我即将担当起你们委派给我的职务。根据我担任许多较低职务的经验，我已经意识到这是最艰巨的职务，囵此，我能够预期，当一个并非尽善尽奏的人从这个职位卸任时，很少能像就任时那样深手众望。我不敢奢皇大家如同信任我们第一位最伟大的革命元勋那样对我高度信任，因为他的卓著勋劳使他最有资格受到全国的爱戳，使他在忠实的史书中占有汲辉煌的一页，我只要求大家给我相当的信任，使人足以坚定地、有效地依法管理大家的事务。由于判断有误，我会常常犯错误。即使我是正确的，那些不是站在统筹全局的立场上看问题的人，也会常常认为我是错误的，我请求你们宽容我自己犯的锗误，而这些错误决不是故意犯的，我请求你们支持我反对别人的错误，而这些人如果通盘考虑，也是决不会犯的。从投票结果来看，大家对我的过去甚为嘉许，这是我莫大的安慰；今后我所渴望的是，力求赐予我好评的各位能保持这种好评，在我职权范围内为其他各位效劳以博得他们的好评，并为所有同胞们的幸福和自由而尽力。

　　现在，我仰承各位的好意，恭顺地就任此职，一旦你们觉得需要作出你们有权作出的更好的选择，我便准备辞去此职。愿主宰夭地万物命运的上帝引导我们的机构臻于完善，并为大家的和平与昌盛，赐给它一个值得赞许的结果。

First Inaugural Address of Abraham Lincoln

　　MONDAY, MARCH 4, 1861

　　Fellow-Citizens of the United States:

　　In compliance with a custom as old as the Government itself, I appear before you to address you briefly and to take in your presence the oath prescribed by the Constitution of the United States to be taken by the President before he enters on the execution of this office."

　　I do not consider it necessary at present for me to discuss those matters of administration about which there is no special anxiety or excitement.

　　Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern States that by the accession of a Republican Administration their property and their peace and personal security are to be endangered. There has never been any reasonable cause for such apprehension. Indeed, the most ample evidence to the contrary has all the while existed and been open to their inspection. It is found in nearly all the published speeches of him who now addresses you. I do but quote from one of those speeches when I declare that--

　　I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.

　　Those who nominated and elected me did so with full knowledge that I had made this and many similar declarations and had never recanted them; and more than this, they placed in the platform for my acceptance, and as a law to themselves and to me, the clear and emphatic resolution which I now read:

　　Resolved, That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the States, and especially the right of each State to order and control its own domestic institutions according to its own judgment exclusively, is essential to that balance of power on which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric depend; and we denounce the lawless invasion by armed force of the soil of any State or Territory, no matter what pretext, as among the gravest of crimes.

　　I now reiterate these sentiments, and in doing so I only press upon the public attention the most conclusive evidence of which the case is susceptible that the property, peace, and security of no section are to be in any wise endangered by the now incoming Administration. I add, too, that all the protection which, consistently with the Constitution and the laws, can be given will be cheerfully given to all the States when lawfully demanded, for whatever cause--as cheerfully to one section as to another.

　　There is much controversy about the delivering up of fugitives from service or labor. The clause I now read is as plainly written in the Constitution as any other of its provisions:

　　No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall in consequence of any law or regulation therein be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due.

　　It is scarcely questioned that this provision was intended by those who made it for the reclaiming of what we call fugitive slaves; and the intention of the lawgiver is the law. All members of Congress swear their support to the whole Constitution--to this provision as much as to any other. To the proposition, then, that slaves whose cases come within the terms of this clause "shall be delivered up" their oaths are unanimous. Now, if they would make the effort in good temper, could they not with nearly equal unanimity frame and pass a law by means of which to keep good that unanimous oath?

　　There is some difference of opinion whether this clause should be enforced by national or by State authority, but surely that difference is not a very material one. If the slave is to be surrendered, it can be of but little consequence to him or to others by which authority it is done. And should anyone in any case be content that his oath shall go unkept on a merely unsubstantial controversy as to how it shall be kept?

　　Again: In any law upon this subject ought not all the safeguards of liberty known in civilized and humane jurisprudence to be introduced, so that a free man be not in any case surrendered as a slave? And might it not be well at the same time to provide by law for the enforcement of that clause in the Constitution which guarantees that "the citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States"?

　　I take the official oath to-day with no mental reservations and with no purpose to construe the Constitution or laws by any hypercritical rules; and while I do not choose now to specify particular acts of Congress as proper to be enforced, I do suggest that it will be much safer for all, both in official and private stations, to conform to and abide by all those acts which stand unrepealed than to violate any of them trusting to find impunity in having them held to be unconstitutional.

　　It is seventy-two years since the first inauguration of a President under our National Constitution. During that period fifteen different and greatly distinguished citizens have in succession administered the executive branch of the Government. They have conducted it through many perils, and generally with great success. Yet, with all this scope of precedent, I now enter upon the same task for the brief constitutional term of four years under great and peculiar difficulty. A disruption of the Federal Union, heretofore only menaced, is now formidably attempted.

　　I hold that in contemplation of universal law and of the Constitution the Union of these States is perpetual. Perpetuity is implied, if not expressed, in the fundamental law of all national governments. It is safe to assert that no government proper ever had a provision in its organic law for its own termination. Continue to execute all the express provisions of our National Constitution, and the Union will endure forever, it being impossible to destroy it except by some action not provided for in the instrument itself.

　　Again: If the United States be not a government proper, but an association of States in the nature of contract merely, can it, as acontract, be peaceably unmade by less than all the parties who made it? One party to a contract may violate it--break it, so to speak--but does it not require all to lawfully rescind it?

　　Descending from these general principles, we find the proposition that in legal contemplation the Union is perpetual confirmed by the history of the Union itself. The Union is much older than the Constitution. It was formed, in fact, by the Articles of Association in 1774. It was matured and continued by the Declaration of Independence in 1776. It was further matured, and the faith of all the then thirteen States expressly plighted and engaged that it should be perpetual, by the Articles of Confederation in 1778. And finally, in 1787, one of the declared objects for ordaining and establishing the Constitution was "to form a more perfect Union."

　　But if destruction of the Union by one or by a part only of the States be lawfully possible, the Union is less perfect than before the Constitution, having lost the vital element of perpetuity.

　　It follows from these views that no State upon its own mere motion can lawfully get out of the Union; that resolves and ordinances to that effect are legally void, and that acts of violence within any State or States against the authority of the United States are insurrectionary or revolutionary, according to circumstances.

　　I therefore consider that in view of the Constitution and the laws the Union is unbroken, and to the extent of my ability, I shall take care, as the Constitution itself expressly enjoins upon me, that the laws of the Union be faithfully executed in all the States. Doing this I deem to be only a simple duty on my part, and Ishall perform it so far as practicable unless my rightful masters, the American people, shall withhold the requisite means or in some authoritative manner direct the contrary. I trust this will not be regarded as a menace, but only as the declared purpose of the Union that it will constitutionally defend and maintain itself.

　　In doing this there needs to be no bloodshed or violence, and there shall be none unless it be forced upon the national authority. The power confided to me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the Government and to collect the duties and imposts; but beyond what may be necessary for these objects, there will be no invasion, no using of force against or among the people anywhere. Where hostility to the United States in any interior locality shall be so great and universal as to prevent competent resident citizens from holding the Federal offices, there will be no attempt to force obnoxious strangers among the people for that object. While the strict legal right may exist in the Government to enforce the exercise of these offices, the attempt to do so would be so irritating and so nearly impracticable withal that I deem it better to forego for the time the uses of such offices.

　　The mails, unless repelled, will continue to be furnished in all parts of the Union. So far as possible the people everywhere shall have that sense of perfect security which is most favorable to calm thought and reflection. The course here indicated will be followed unless current events and experience shall show a modification or change to be proper, and in every case and exigency my best discretion will be exercised, according to circumstances actually existing and with a view and a hope of a peaceful solution of the national troubles and the restoration of fraternal sympathies and affections.

　　That there are persons in one section or another who seek to destroy the Union at all events and are glad of any pretext to do it I will neither affirm nor deny; but if there be such, I need address no word to them. To those, however, who really love the Union may I not speak?

　　Before entering upon so grave a matter as the destruction of our national fabric, with all its benefits, its memories, and its hopes, would it not be wise to ascertain precisely why we do it? Will you hazard so desperate a step while there is any possibility that any portion of the ills you fly from have no real existence? Will you, while the certain ills you fly to are greater than all the real ones you fly from, will you risk the commission of so fearful a mistake?

　　All profess to be content in the Union if all constitutional rights can be maintained. Is it true, then, that any right plainly written in the Constitution has been denied? I think not. Happily, the human mind is so constituted that no party can reach to the audacity of doing this. Think, if you can, of a single instance in which a plainly written provision of the Constitution has ever been denied. If by the mere force of numbers a majority should deprive a minority of any clearly written constitutional right, it might in a moral point of view justify revolution; certainly would if such right were a vital one. But such is not our case. All the vital rights of minorities and of individuals are so plainly assured to them by affirmations and negations, guaranties and prohibitions, in the Constitution that controversies never arise concerning them. But no organic law can ever be framed with a provision specifically applicable to every question which may occur in practical administration. No foresight can anticipate nor any document of reasonable length contain express provisions for all possible questions. Shall fugitives from labor be surrendered by national or by State authority? The Constitution does not expressly say. May Congress prohibit slavery in the Territories? The Constitution does not expressly say. Must Congress protect slavery in the Territories? The Constitution does not expressly say.

　　From questions of this class spring all our constitutional controversies, and we divide upon them into majorities and minorities. If the minority will not acquiesce, the majority must, or the Government must cease. There is no other alternative, for continuing the Government is acquiescence on one side or the other. If a minority in such case will secede rather than acquiesce, they make a precedent which in turn will divide and ruin them, for a minority of their own will secede from them whenever a majority refuses to be controlled by such minority. For instance, why may not any portion of a new confederacy a year or two hence arbitrarily secede again, precisely as portions of the present Union now claim to secede from it? All who cherish disunion sentiments are now being educated to the exact temper of doing this.

　　Is there such perfect identity of interests among the States to compose a new union as to produce harmony only and prevent renewed secession?

　　Plainly the central idea of secession is the essence of anarchy. A majority held in restraint by constitutional checks and limitations, and always changing easily with deliberate changes of popular opinions and sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a free people. Whoever rejects it does of necessity fly to anarchy or to despotism. Unanimity is impossible. The rule of a minority, as a permanent arrangement, is wholly inadmissible; so that, rejecting the majority principle, anarchy or despotism in some form is all that is left.

　　I do not forget the position assumed by some that constitutional questions are to be decided by the Supreme Court, nor do I deny that such decisions must be binding in any case upon the parties to a suit as to the object of that suit, while they are also entitled to very high respect and consideration in all parallel cases by all other departments of the Government. And while it is obviously possible that such decision may be erroneous in any given case, still the evil effect following it, being limited to that particular case, with the chance that it may be overruled and never become a precedent for other cases, can better be borne than could the evils of a different practice. At the same time, the candid citizen must confess that if the policy of the Government upon vital questions affecting the whole people is to be irrevocably fixed by decisions of the Supreme Court, the instant they are made in ordinary litigation between parties in personal actions the people will have ceased to be their own rulers, having to that extent practically resigned their Government into the hands of that eminent tribunal. Nor is there in this view any assault upon the court or the judges. It is a duty from which they may not shrink to decide cases properly brought before them, and it is no fault of theirs if others seek to turn their decisions to political purposes.

　　One section of our country believes slavery is right and ought to be extended, while the other believes it is wrong and ought not to be extended. This is the only substantial dispute. The fugitive- slave clause of the Constitution and the law for the suppression of the foreign slave trade are each as well enforced, perhaps, as any law can ever be in a community where the moral sense of the people imperfectly supports the law itself. The great body of the people abide by the dry legal obligation in both cases, and a few break over in each. This, I think, can not be perfectly cured, and it would be worse in both cases after the separation of the sections than before. The foreign slave trade, now imperfectly suppressed, would be ultimately revived without restriction in one section, while fugitive slaves, now only partially surrendered, would not be surrendered at all by the other.

　　Physically speaking, we can not separate. We can not remove our respective sections from each other nor build an impassable wall between them. A husband and wife may be divorced and go out of the presence and beyond the reach of each other, but the different parts of our country can not do this. They can not but remain face to face, and intercourse, either amicable or hostile, must continue between them. Is it possible, then, to make that intercourse more advantageous or more satisfactory after separation than before? Can aliens make treaties easier than friends can make laws? Can treaties be more faithfully enforced between aliens than laws can among friends? Suppose you go to war, you can not fight always; and when, after much loss on both sides and no gain on either, you cease fighting, the identical old questions, as to terms of intercourse, are again upon you.

　　This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing Government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it. I can not be ignorant of the fact that many worthy and patriotic citizens are desirous of having the National Constitution amended. While I make no recommendation of amendments, I fully recognize the rightful authority of the people over the whole subject, to be exercised in either of the modes prescribed in the instrument itself; and I should, under existing circumstances, favor rather than oppose a fair opportunity being afforded the people to act upon it. I will venture to add that to me the convention mode seems preferable, in that it allows amendments to originate with the people themselves, instead of only permitting them to take or reject propositions originated by others, not especially chosen for the purpose, and which might not be precisely such as they would wish to either accept or refuse. I understand a proposed amendment to the Constitution--which amendment, however, I have not seen--has passed Congress, to the effect that the Federal Government shall never interfere with the domestic institutions of the States, including that of persons held to service. To avoid misconstruction of what I have said, I depart from my purpose not to speak of particular amendments so far as to say that, holding such a provision to now be implied constitutional law, I have no objection to its being made express and irrevocable.

　　The Chief Magistrate derives all his authority from the people, and they have referred none upon him to fix terms for the separation of the States. The people themselves can do this if also they choose, but the Executive as such has nothing to do with it. His duty is to administer the present Government as it came to his hands and to transmit it unimpaired by him to his successor.

　　Why should there not be a patient confidence in the ultimate justice of the people? Is there any better or equal hope in the world? In our present differences, is either party without faith of being in the right? If the Almighty Ruler of Nations, with His eternal truth and justice, be on your side of the North, or on yours of the South, that truth and that justice will surely prevail by the judgment of this great tribunal of the American people.

　　By the frame of the Government under which we live this same people have wisely given their public servants but little power for mischief, and have with equal wisdom provided for the return of that little to their own hands at very short intervals. While the people retain their virtue and vigilance no Administration by any extreme of wickedness or folly can very seriously injure the Government in the short space of four years.

　　My countrymen, one and all, think calmly and well upon this whole subject. Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time. If there be an object to hurry any of you in hot haste to a step which you would never take deliberately, that object will be frustrated by taking time; but no good object can be frustrated by it. Such of you as are now dissatisfied still have the old Constitution unimpaired, and, on the sensitive point, the laws of your own framing under it; while the new Administration will have no immediate power, if it would, to change either. If it were admitted that you who are dissatisfied hold the right side in the dispute, there still is no single good reason for precipitate action. Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him who has never yet forsaken this favored land are still competent to adjust in the best way all our present difficulty.

　　In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government, while I shall have the most solemn one to "preserve, protect, and defend it."

　　I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.

永久联邦与总统权力

　　亚伯拉罕-林肯

　　第一次就职演讲

　　星期一,1861年3月4日

　　我今天正式宣誓时，并没有保留意见，也无意以任何苛刻的标准来解释宪法和法律，尽管我不想具体指明国会通过的哪些法案是适合施行的•但我确实要建议，所有的人，不论处于官方还是私人的地位，都得遵守那些未被废止的法令，这比泰然自若地认为其中某个法案是违背宪法的而去触犯它，要稳当得多。

　　自从第一任总统根据我国宪法就职以来已经72年了。在此期间，有15位十分杰出的公民相继主持了政府的行政部门。他们在许多艰难险阻中履行职责，大致说来都很成功。然而，虽有这样的先例，我现在开始担任这个按宪法规定任期只有短暂4年的同一职务时，却处在巨大而特殊的困难之下。联邦的分裂，在此以前只是一种威胁，现在却已成为可怕的行动。

　　从一般法律和宪法角度来考虑，我认为由各州组成的联邦是永久性的。在合国政府的根本法中，永久性即使没有明确规定，也是不盲而喻的。我们有把握说，从来没有哪个正规政府在自己的组织法中列入一项要结束自己执政的条款。继续执行我国宪法明文规定的条款，联邦就将永远存在，毁灭联邦是办不到的，除非采取宪法本身未予规定的某种行动。再者：假如合众国不是名副其实的政府，而只是具有契约性质的各州的联盟，那么，作为一种契约，这个联盟能够毫无争议地由纬约各方中的少数加以取消吗？缔约的一方可以违约——也可以说毁约——但是，合法地废止契约难道不需要缔约各方全都同意吗？从这些一般原则在下推，我们认为，从法律上来说，联邦是永久性的这一主张已经为联邦本身的历史所证实。联邦的历史比宪法长久得多。事实上，它在1774年就根据《联合条款》组成了。1776年，《独立宣言》使它臻子成熟并持续下来。1778年《邦联条款》使联邦愈趋成熟，当时的13个州都信誓旦旦地明确保证联邦应该永存，最后，1787年制定宪法时所宣市的日标之一就是“建设更完善的联邦”。

　　但是，如果联邦竟能由一个州或几个州按照法律加以取消的话，那么联邦就不如制宪前完善了，因为它丧失了永久性这个重要因素。

　　根据这些观点，任何一个州都不能只凭自己的动仪就能合法地脱离联邦；凡为此目的而作出的决议和法令在法律上都是无效的，任何一个州或几个州反对合众国当局的暴力行动都应根据憎况视为叛乱或革命。因此，我认为，根据宪法和法律，联邦是不容分裂的；我将按宪法本身明确授予我的权限，就自己能力所及，使联邦法律得以在各州忠实执行。我认为这仅仅是我份内的职责，我将以可行的方法去完成，除非我的合法主人——美国人民，不给予我必要的手段，或以权威的方式作出相反的指示，我相信大家下会把这看作是一种威胁，而只看作是联邦已宣布过的目标：它将按照宪法保卫和维护它自身。

　　以自然条件而言，我们是不能分开的，我们无法把各个地区彼此挪开，也无法在彼此之间筑起一堵无法逾越的墙垣。夫妻可以离婚，不再见面，互不接触，但是我们国家的各个地区就不可能那样做。它们仍得面对面地相处，它们之间还得有或者友好或者敌对的交往。那么，分开之后的交往是否可能比分开之前更有好处，更令人满意呢？外人之间订立条约难道还比朋友之间制定法律容易吗？外人之间执行条约难道还比朋友之间执行法律忠实吗？假定你们进行战争•你们不可能永远打下去；在双方损失惨重，任何一方都得不到好处之后，你们就会停止战斗，那时你们还会遇到诸如交往条件之类的老问题。

　　总统的一切权力来自人民，但人民没有授权给他为各州的分离规定条件。如果人民有此意愿，那他们可以这样做，而作为总统来说，则不可能这样做。他的责任是管理交给他的这一届政府，井将它完整地移交给他的继任者。

　　为什么我们不能对人民所具有的最高的公正抱有坚韧的信念呢？世界上还有比这更好或一样好的希望吗？在我何日前的分歧中，难道双方都缺乏相信自己正确的信心吗？如果万国全能的主宰以其永恒的真理和正义支持你北方这一边，或者支持你南方这一边，那么，那种真理和那种正义必将通过美国人民这个伟大法庭的裁决而取得胜利。

　　就是这些美国人民，通过我们现有的政府结构，明智地只给他们的公仆很小的权力，使他们不能力害作恶，并且同样明智地每隔很短的时间就把那小小的权力收回到自己手中。只要人民保持其力量和警惕，无论怎样作恶和愚蠢的执政人员都不能在短短4年的任期内十分严重地损害政府。我的同胞们，大家平静而认真地思考整个这一问题吧。任何宝贵的东西都下会因为从容对待而丧失，假使有一个目标火急地催促你们中随便哪一位采取一个措施，而你决不能不慌不忙，那么那个目标会因从容对待而落空；但是，任何好的目标是不会因为从容对待而落空的，你们现在感到不满意的人仍然有着原来的、完好元损的宪法，而且，在敏感问题上，你们有着自己根据这部宪法制定的各项法律；而新的一届政府即使想改变这两种情况，也没有直接的权力那样做。那些不满意的人在这场争论中即使被承认是站在正确的一边，也没有一点正当理由采取鲁莽的行动。理智、爱国精神、基行教义以及对从不抛弃这片幸福土地的上帝的信仰，这些仍然能以最好的方式来解决我们目前的一切困难。不满意的同胞们，内战这个重大问题的关键掌握在你们手中，而不掌握在我手中，政府不会对你们发动攻击。你们不当挑衅者，就下会面临冲突。你们没有对天发誓要毁灭政府，而我却要立下最庄严的誓言：“坚守、维护和捍卫合众国宪法。”我不愿意就此结束演说。我们不是敌人，而是朋友。我们一定不要成为敌人。尽管情绪紧张，也决不应割断我们之间的感情纽带。记忆的神秘琴弦，从每一个战场和爱国志上的坟墓伸向这片广阔土地上的每一颗跳动的心和家庭，必将再度被我们善良的夭性所拨响，那时就会高奏起联邦大团结的乐章。

First Inaugural Address of Franklin D. Roosevelt

　　SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 1933

　　I am certain that my fellow Americans expect that on my induction into the Presidency I will address them with a candor and a decision which the present situation of our Nation impels. This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself--nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days.

　　In such a spirit on my part and on yours we face our common difficulties. They concern, thank God, only material things. Values have shrunken to fantastic levels; taxes have risen; our ability to pay has fallen; government of all kinds is faced by serious curtailment of income; the means of exchange are frozen in the currents of trade; the withered leaves of industrial enterprise lie on every side; farmers find no markets for their produce; the savings of many years in thousands of families are gone.

　　More important, a host of unemployed citizens face the grim problem of existence, and an equally great number toil with little return. Only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment.

　　Yet our distress comes from no failure of substance. We are stricken by no plague of locusts. Compared with the perils which our forefathers conquered because they believed and were not afraid, we have still much to be thankful for. Nature still offers her bounty and human efforts have multiplied it. Plenty is at our doorstep, but a generous use of it languishes in the very sight of the supply. Primarily this is because the rulers of the exchange of mankind's goods have failed, through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence, have admitted their failure, and abdicated. Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men.

　　True they have tried, but their efforts have been cast in the pattern of an outworn tradition. Faced by failure of credit they have proposed only the lending of more money. Stripped of the lure of profit by which to induce our people to follow their false leadership, they have resorted to exhortations, pleading tearfully for restored confidence. They know only the rules of a generation of self-seekers. They have no vision, and when there is no vision the people perish.

　　The money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit.

　　Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. The joy and moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits. These dark days will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow men.

　　Recognition of the falsity of material wealth as the standard of success goes hand in hand with the abandonment of the false belief that public office and high political position are to be valued only by the standards of pride of place and personal profit; and there must be an end to a conduct in banking and in business which too often has given to a sacred trust the likeness of callous and selfish wrongdoing. Small wonder that confidence languishes, for it thrives only on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection, on unselfish performance; without them it cannot live.

　　Restoration calls, however, not for changes in ethics alone. This Nation asks for action, and action now.

　　Our greatest primary task is to put people to work. This is no unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously. It can be accomplished in part by direct recruiting by the Government itself, treating the task as we would treat the emergency of a war, but at the same time, through this employment, accomplishing greatly needed projects to stimulate and reorganize the use of our natural resources.

　　Hand in hand with this we must frankly recognize the overbalance of population in our industrial centers and, by engaging on a national scale in a redistribution, endeavor to provide a better use of the land for those best fitted for the land. The task can be helped by definite efforts to raise the values of agricultural products and with this the power to purchase the output of our cities. It can be helped by preventing realistically the tragedy of the growing loss through foreclosure of our small homes and our farms. It can be helped by insistence that the Federal, State, and local governments act forthwith on the demand that their cost be drastically reduced. It can be helped by the unifying of relief activities which today are often scattered, uneconomical, and unequal. It can be helped by national planning for and supervision of all forms of transportation and of communications and other utilities which have a definitely public character. There are many ways in which it can be helped, but it can never be helped merely by talking about it. We must act and act quickly.

　　Finally, in our progress toward a resumption of work we require two safeguards against a return of the evils of the old order; there must be a strict supervision of all banking and credits and investments; there must be an end to speculation with other people's money, and there must be provision for an adequate but sound currency.

　　There are the lines of attack. I shall presently urge upon a new Congress in special session detailed measures for their fulfillment, and I shall seek the immediate assistance of the several States.

　　Through this program of action we address ourselves to putting our own national house in order and making income balance outgo. Our international trade relations, though vastly important, are in point of time and necessity secondary to the establishment of a sound national economy. I favor as a practical policy the putting of first things first. I shall spare no effort to restore world trade by international economic readjustment, but the emergency at home cannot wait on that accomplishment.

　　The basic thought that guides these specific means of national recovery is not narrowly nationalistic. It is the insistence, as a first consideration, upon the interdependence of the various elements in all parts of the United States--a recognition of the old and permanently important manifestation of the American spirit of the pioneer. It is the way to recovery. It is the immediate way. It is the strongest assurance that the recovery will endure.

　　In the field of world policy I would dedicate this Nation to the policy of the good neighbor--the neighbor who resolutely respects himself and, because he does so, respects the rights of others-- the neighbor who respects his obligations and respects the sanctity of his agreements in and with a world of neighbors.

　　If I read the temper of our people correctly, we now realize as we have never realized before our interdependence on each other; that we can not merely take but we must give as well; that if we are to go forward, we must move as a trained and loyal army willing to sacrifice for the good of a common discipline, because without such discipline no progress is made, no leadership becomes effective. We are, I know, ready and willing to submit our lives and property to such discipline, because it makes possible a leadership which aims at a larger good. This I propose to offer, pledging that the larger purposes will bind upon us all as a sacred obligation with a unity of duty hitherto evoked only in time of armed strife.

　　With this pledge taken, I assume unhesitatingly the leadership of this great army of our people dedicated to a disciplined attack upon our common problems.

　　Action in this image and to this end is feasible under the form of government which we have inherited from our ancestors. Our Constitution is so simple and practical that it is possible always to meet extraordinary needs by changes in emphasis and arrangement without loss of essential form. That is why our constitutional system has proved itself the most superbly enduring political mechanism the modern world has produced. It has met every stress of vast expansion of territory, of foreign wars, of bitter internal strife, of world relations.

　　It is to be hoped that the normal balance of executive and legislative authority may be wholly adequate to meet the unprecedented task before us. But it may be that an unprecedented demand and need for undelayed action may call for temporary departure from that normal balance of public procedure.

　　I am prepared under my constitutional duty to recommend the measures that a stricken nation in the midst of a stricken world may require. These measures, or such other measures as the Congress may build out of its experience and wisdom, I shall seek, within my constitutional authority, to bring to speedy adoption.

　　But in the event that the Congress shall fail to take one of these two courses, and in the event that the national emergency is still critical, I shall not evade the clear course of duty that will then confront me. I shall ask the Congress for the one remaining instrument to meet the crisis--broad Executive power to wage a war against the emergency, as great as the power that would be given to me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe.

　　For the trust reposed in me I will return the courage and the devotion that befit the time. I can do no less.

　　We face the arduous days that lie before us in the warm courage of the national unity; with the clear consciousness of seeking old and precious moral values; with the clean satisfaction that comes from the stem performance of duty by old and young alike. We aim at the assurance of a rounded and permanent national life.

　　We do not distrust the future of essential democracy. The people of the United States have not failed. In their need they have registered a mandate that they want direct, vigorous action. They have asked for discipline and direction under leadership. They have made me the present instrument of their wishes. In the spirit of the gift I take it.

　　In this dedication of a Nation we humbly ask the blessing of God. May He protect each and every one of us. May He guide me in the days to come.

我们唯一不得不害怕的就是害怕本身

　　富兰克林-罗斯福第一次就职演讲

　　星期六,1933年3月4日

　　我肯定，同胞们都期待我在就任总统时，会像我国目前形势所要求的那样，坦率而果断地向他们讲话。现在正是但白、勇敢地说出实话，说出全部实话的最好时刻，我们不必畏首畏尾，不着老实实面对我国今天的情况，这个伟大的国家会一如既住地坚持下去，它会复兴和繁荣起来。因此，让我首先表明我的坚定信念：我们唯一下得不害怕的就是害怕本身——一种莫明其妙的、丧失理智的、毫无根据的恐惧，它会把转退为进所需的种种努力化为泡影。凡在我国生活阴云密布的时刻，坦率而有活力的领导都得到过人民的理解和支持，从而为胜利准备了必不可少的条件。我相信，在目前危急时刻，大家会再次给予同样的支持。我和你们都要以这种槽神，来面对我们共同的困难。感谢上帝，这些困难只是物质方面的。价值难以想象地贬缩了；课税增加了，我们的支付能力下降了；各级政府面临着严重的收入短缺；交换手段在贸易过程中遭到了冻结；工业企业枯萎的落叶到处可见；农场主的产品找不到销路；千家万户多年的积蓄付之东流。

　　更重要的是，大批失业公民正面临严峻的生育问题，还有大批公民正以艰辛的劳动换取微薄的报酬。只有愚蠢的乐天派会否认当前这些阴暗的现实。但是，我们的苦恼决不是因为缺乏物资。我们没有遭到什么蝗虫灾害。我们的先辈曾以信念和无畏一次次转危为安，比起他们经历过的险阻，我们仍大可感到欣慰。大自然仍在给予我们恩惠，人类的努力已使之倍增。富足的憎景近在咫尺，但就在我们见到这种情景的时候，宽裕的生活却悄然离去。这主要是因为主宰人类物资交换的统治者们失败了，他们固执己见而又无能为力，因而已经认定失败，并撒手不管了，贪得无厌的货币兑换商的种种行径，将受到舆论法庭的起诉，将受到人类心灵和理智的唾弃。

　　幸福并不在于单纯地占有主钱；幸福还在于取得成就后的喜悦，在于创造性努力时的激情。务必不能再忘记劳动带来的喜悦和激励，而去疯狂地追逐那转瞬即逝的利润。如果这些暗淡的时日能使我们认识到，我们真正的夭命不是要别人侍奉，而是为自己和同胞们服务，那么，我们付出的代价就完全是值得的。认识到把物质财富当作成功的标准是错误的，我们就会抛弃以地位尊严和个人收益为唯一标准。来衡量公职和高级政治地位的错误信念，我们必须制止银行界和企业界的一种行为，它常常使神圣的委托混同于无情和自私的不正当行为，难怪信心在减弱，因为增强信心只有靠诚实、荣誉感、神圣的责任感，忠实地加以维护和无私地履行职责，而没有这些，就不可能有信心。

　　但是，复兴不仅仅要求改变伦理观念。这个国家要求行动起来，现在就行动起来。

　　根据宪法赋予我的职责、我准备提出一些措施，而一个受灾世界上的受灾国家也许需要这些措施。对于这些措施，以及国会根据本身的经验和智慧可能制订的其他类似措施，我将在宪法赋予我的权限内，设法迅速地予以采纳。

　　但是，如果国会拒不采纳这两条路线中的一条，如果国家紧急情况依然如故，我将下回避我所面临的明确的尽责方向。我将要求国会准许我使用唯一剩下的手殷来应付危机——向非常情况开战的广泛的行政权，就像我们真的遭到外敌人侵时授予我那样的广泛权力。

　　对大家寄予我的信任，我一定报以时代所要求的勇气和献身精神，我会竭尽全力。

　　让我们正视面前的严峻岁月，怀着举国一致给我们带来的热情和勇气，怀着寻求传统的、珍贵的道德观念的明确意识，怀着老老少少都能通过克尽职守而得到的问心无愧的满足。我们的国标是要保证国民生活的圆满和长治久安。

　　我们并不怀疑基本民主制度的未来。合众国人民并没有失败。他们在困难中表达了自己的委托，即要求采取直接而有力的行动。他们要求有领导的纪律和方向。他们现在选择了我作为实现他们的愿望的工具。我接受这份厚赠。

　　在此举国奉献之际，我们谦卑地请求上帝赐福。愿上帝保佑我们大家和每一个人，愿上帝在未来的日子里指引我。

Inaugural Address of Harry S. Truman

　　THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 1949

　　Mr. Vice President, Mr. Chief Justice, and fellow citizens, I accept with humility the honor which the American people have conferred upon me. I accept it with a deep resolve to do all that I can for the welfare of this Nation and for the peace of the world.

　　In performing the duties of my office, I need the help and prayers of every one of you. I ask for your encouragement and your support. The tasks we face are difficult, and we can accomplish them only if we work together.

　　Each period of our national history has had its special challenges. Those that confront us now are as momentous as any in the past. Today marks the beginning not only of a new administration, but of a period that will be eventful, perhaps decisive, for us and for the world.

　　It may be our lot to experience, and in large measure to bring about, a major turning point in the long history of the human race. The first half of this century has been marked by unprecedented and brutal attacks on the rights of man, and by the two most frightful wars in history. The supreme need of our time is for men to learn to live together in peace and harmony.

　　The peoples of the earth face the future with grave uncertainty, composed almost equally of great hopes and great fears. In this time of doubt, they look to the United States as never before for good will, strength, and wise leadership.

　　It is fitting, therefore, that we take this occasion to proclaim to the world the essential principles of the faith by which we live, and to declare our aims to all peoples.

　　The American people stand firm in the faith which has inspired this Nation from the beginning. We believe that all men have a right to equal justice under law and equal opportunity to share in the common good. We believe that all men have the right to freedom of thought and expression. We believe that all men are created equal because they are created in the image of God.

　　From this faith we will not be moved.

　　The American people desire, and are determined to work for, a world in which all nations and all peoples are free to govern themselves as they see fit, and to achieve a decent and satisfying life. Above all else, our people desire, and are determined to work for, peace on earth--a just and lasting peace--based on genuine agreement freely arrived at by equals.

　　In the pursuit of these aims, the United States and other like- minded nations find themselves directly opposed by a regime with contrary aims and a totally different concept of life.

　　That regime adheres to a false philosophy which purports to offer freedom, security, and greater opportunity to mankind. Misled by this philosophy, many peoples have sacrificed their liberties only to learn to their sorrow that deceit and mockery, poverty and tyranny, are their reward.

　　That false philosophy is communism.

　　Communism is based on the belief that man is so weak and inadequate that he is unable to govern himself, and therefore requires the rule of strong masters.

　　Democracy is based on the conviction that man has the moral and intellectual capacity, as well as the inalienable right, to govern himself with reason and justice.

　　Communism subjects the individual to arrest without lawful cause, punishment without trial, and forced labor as the chattel of the state. It decrees what information he shall receive, what art he shall produce, what leaders he shall follow, and what thoughts he shall think.

　　Democracy maintains that government is established for the benefit of the individual, and is charged with the responsibility of protecting the rights of the individual and his freedom in the exercise of his abilities.

　　Communism maintains that social wrongs can be corrected only by violence.

　　Democracy has proved that social justice can be achieved through peaceful change.

　　Communism holds that the world is so deeply divided into opposing classes that war is inevitable.

　　Democracy holds that free nations can settle differences justly and maintain lasting peace.

　　These differences between communism and democracy do not concern the United States alone. People everywhere are coming to realize that what is involved is material well-being, human dignity, and the right to believe in and worship God.

　　I state these differences, not to draw issues of belief as such, but because the actions resulting from the Communist philosophy are a threat to the efforts of free nations to bring about world recovery and lasting peace.

　　Since the end of hostilities, the United States has invested its substance and its energy in a great constructive effort to restore peace, stability, and freedom to the world.

　　We have sought no territory and we have imposed our will on none. We have asked for no privileges we would not extend to others.

　　We have constantly and vigorously supported the United Nations and related agencies as a means of applying democratic principles to international relations. We have consistently advocated and relied upon peaceful settlement of disputes among nations.

　　We have made every effort to secure agreement on effective international control of our most powerful weapon, and we have worked steadily for the limitation and control of all armaments.

　　We have encouraged, by precept and example, the expansion of world trade on a sound and fair basis.

　　Almost a year ago, in company with 16 free nations of Europe, we launched the greatest cooperative economic program in history. The purpose of that unprecedented effort is to invigorate and strengthen democracy in Europe, so that the free people of that continent can resume their rightful place in the forefront of civilization and can contribute once more to the security and welfare of the world.

　　Our efforts have brought new hope to all mankind. We have beaten back despair and defeatism. We have saved a number of countries from losing their liberty. Hundreds of millions of people all over the world now agree with us, that we need not have war--that we can have peace.

　　The initiative is ours.

　　We are moving on with other nations to build an even stronger structure of international order and justice. We shall have as our partners countries which, no longer solely concerned with the problem of national survival, are now working to improve the standards of living of all their people. We are ready to undertake new projects to strengthen the free world.

　　In the coming years, our program for peace and freedom will emphasize four major courses of action.

　　First, we will continue to give unfaltering support to the United Nations and related agencies, and we will continue to search for ways to strengthen their authority and increase their effectiveness. We believe that the United Nations will be strengthened by the new nations which are being formed in lands now advancing toward self-government under democratic principles.

　　Second, we will continue our programs for world economic recovery.

　　This means, first of all, that we must keep our full weight behind the European recovery program. We are confident of the success of this major venture in world recovery. We believe that our partners in this effort will achieve the status of self-supporting nations once again.

　　In addition, we must carry out our plans for reducing the barriers to world trade and increasing its volume. Economic recovery and peace itself depend on increased world trade.

　　Third, we will strengthen freedom-loving nations against the dangers of aggression.

　　We are now working out with a number of countries a joint agreement designed to strengthen the security of the North Atlantic area. Such an agreement would take the form of a collective defense arrangement within the terms of the United Nations Charter.

　　We have already established such a defense pact for the Western Hemisphere by the treaty of Rio de Janeiro.

　　The primary purpose of these agreements is to provide unmistakable proof of the joint determination of the free countries to resist armed attack from any quarter. Each country participating in these arrangements must contribute all it can to the common defense.

　　If we can make it sufficiently clear, in advance, that any armed attack affecting our national security would be met with overwhelming force, the armed attack might never occur.

　　I hope soon to send to the Senate a treaty respecting the North Atlantic security plan.

　　In addition, we will provide military advice and equipment to free nations which will cooperate with us in the maintenance of peace and security.

　　Fourth, we must embark on a bold new program for making the benefits of our scientific advances and industrial progress available for the improvement and growth of underdeveloped areas.

　　More than half the people of the world are living in conditions approaching misery. Their food is inadequate. They are victims of disease. Their economic life is primitive and stagnant. Their poverty is a handicap and a threat both to them and to more prosperous areas.

　　For the first time in history, humanity possesses the knowledge and the skill to relieve the suffering of these people.

　　The United States is pre-eminent among nations in the development of industrial and scientific techniques. The material resources which we can afford to use for the assistance of other peoples are limited. But our imponderable resources in technical knowledge are constantly growing and are inexhaustible.

　　I believe that we should make available to peace-loving peoples the benefits of our store of technical knowledge in order to help them realize their aspirations for a better life. And, in cooperation with other nations, we should foster capital investment in areas needing development.

　　Our aim should be to help the free peoples of the world, through their own efforts, to produce more food, more clothing, more materials for housing, and more mechanical power to lighten their burdens.

　　We invite other countries to pool their technological resources in this undertaking. Their contributions will be warmly welcomed. This should be a cooperative enterprise in which all nations work together through the United Nations and its specialized agencies wherever practicable. It must be a worldwide effort for the achievement of peace, plenty, and freedom.

　　With the cooperation of business, private capital, agriculture, and labor in this country, this program can greatly increase the industrial activity in other nations and can raise substantially their standards of living.

　　Such new economic developments must be devised and controlled to benefit the peoples of the areas in which they are established. Guarantees to the investor must be balanced by guarantees in the interest of the people whose resources and whose labor go into these developments.

　　The old imperialism--exploitation for foreign profit--has no place in our plans. What we envisage is a program of development based on the concepts of democratic fair-dealing.

　　All countries, including our own, will greatly benefit from a constructive program for the better use of the world's human and natural resources. Experience shows that our commerce with other countries expands as they progress industrially and economically.

　　Greater production is the key to prosperity and peace. And the key to greater production is a wider and more vigorous application of modern scientific and technical knowledge.

　　Only by helping the least fortunate of its members to help themselves can the human family achieve the decent, satisfying life that is the right of all people.

　　Democracy alone can supply the vitalizing force to stir the peoples of the world into triumphant action, not only against their human oppressors, but also against their ancient enemies-- hunger, misery, and despair.

　　On the basis of these four major courses of action we hope to help create the conditions that will lead eventually to personal freedom and happiness for all mankind.

　　If we are to be successful in carrying out these policies, it is clear that we must have continued prosperity in this country and we must keep ourselves strong.

　　Slowly but surely we are weaving a world fabric of international security and growing prosperity.

　　We are aided by all who wish to live in freedom from fear--even by those who live today in fear under their own governments.

　　We are aided by all who want relief from the lies of propaganda-- who desire truth and sincerity.

　　We are aided by all who desire self-government and a voice in deciding their own affairs.

　　We are aided by all who long for economic security--for the security and abundance that men in free societies can enjoy.

　　We are aided by all who desire freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom to live their own lives for useful ends.

　　Our allies are the millions who hunger and thirst after righteousness.

　　In due time, as our stability becomes manifest, as more and more nations come to know the benefits of democracy and to participate in growing abundance, I believe that those countries which now oppose us will abandon their delusions and join with the free nations of the world in a just settlement of international differences.

　　Events have brought our American democracy to new influence and new responsibilities. They will test our courage, our devotion to duty, and our concept of liberty.

　　But I say to all men, what we have achieved in liberty, we will surpass in greater liberty.

　　Steadfast in our faith in the Almighty, we will advance toward a world where man's freedom is secure.

　　To that end we will devote our strength, our resources, and our firmness of resolve. With God's help, the future of mankind will be assured in a world of justice, harmony, and peace.

四项主要的行动方针

　　哈里-杜鲁门就职演讲

　　星期四,1949年1月20日

　　我国历史上的各个时期都面临过特殊的挑战。我们现在面临的挑战和过去面临的任何挑战一样严重，今天不仅标志着一届新政府的起点，而且标志着一个新时期的开始。对我们来说，对整个世界来说，这个时期特是个多事之秋，也许还将是决定性的岁月。也许命运注定我们要去体验，或者在更大程度上是去促成人类漫长历史中的一个重大转折。本世纪上半叶的特点是，人权遭到史无前例的粗暴践踏，并经历了历史上最可怕的两场战争。我们这个时代最迫切的需要是学会和睦相处。

　　世界各国人民都怀着忐忑不安的心情面对着未来，他们既充满希望又满腹忧虑。在这疑虑的时刻，他们比以往任何时候更期待着合众国的善意、力量以及明智的领导。

　　因此，我们审时度势，利用这一时机向全世界宣布指导我们生活的信念的基本原则，向所有的民族宜布我们的目标。

　　在今后几年，我们的和平自由纲领将着重于四项主要的行动方针。

　　第一，我们将继续坚定不移地支持联合国及其有关机构，继续寻求各种方法来加强这些机构的权威和增加这些机构的效率。今天，不少新的国家正在成立，正在民主原则的指引下向自治方向迈进，我们相信，联合国将因这些新国家而得到加强。

　　第二，我们将继续执行我们制定的世界经济复兴计划。

　　这意味着我们必须首先全力支持欧洲复兴计划。对于世界复兴中这一重大事业的成功，我们充满了信心。我们相信，通过这项工作，我们的伙伴将再一次取得自给国家的地位。此外，我们还必须执行为减少世界贸易壁垒、增加世界贸易额而制定的计划。经济复兴与和平本身都取决于世界贸易的增加。

　　第三，我们要加强热爱自由的国家的力量，以抵御侵略的威胁。

　　我们和许多国家一起，正在为增加北大西洋地区的安全面起草一项共同协议。这种协议将根据联合国宪章的规定，采取集体防御协定的形式。

　　我们已经根据里约热内卢公约为西半球建立了这样一个防御同盟。

　　这些协议的主要目的是明确表示自由国家抵抗来自任何地方的武装进攻的共同决心。参加这些协议的每个国家必须为共同防御贡献出全部力量。

　　如果我们能预先充分地表明，任何影响到我们国家安全的武装进攻必将遭到强大的抵抗，那么武装进攻也许就永远不会发生。

　　我希望关于北大西洋安全计划的条约不久将呈送参议院。

　　此外，我们还将向在维护和平与安全时同我们进行合作的自由国家，提供军事顾问和军事装备。

　　第四，我们必须着手拟定一项大胆的新计划，使不发达地区的进步与发展能受益于我们的先进的科学和发达的工业。

　　全世界半数以上的人口正濒临悲惨的境地，他们食不果腹、疾患加身。他们的经济生活原始落后，滞缀不振。无论对于他们自己还是对于比较繁荣的地区来说，他们的贫困既是一种阻碍又是一种威胁。

　　人类有史以来第一次掌握了能解除这些人苦难的知识和技术。

　　合众国在工业和科学技术发展方面居各国之首。尽管我们用来援助其他国家人民的物质资源是有限的，但我们在技术知识方面的资源却是无法估量的，是不断增长和用之不竭的。

　　我认为，为了帮助各爱好和平民族实现他们对美好生活的愿望，我们应该使他们受惠于我们丰富的技术知识。同时，我们还应该和其他国家合作，支持对急待开发的地区进行投资。

　　我们的目标应该是帮助世界上各个自由民族通过他们自己的努力，生产更多的食物，更多的衣物，更多的建筑材料，以及更多的机器来减轻他们的负担。

　　我们吁请其他国象汇集他们的技术力量以进行这项工作。我们热烈欢迎他们作出贡献。这应该是一种合作事业，所有国家通过联合国及其专门机构在任何可行的方面为此共同工作。这必须是在世界范围内为实现和平、繁荣和自由而作出的努力。

　　在我国企业、私人资本、农业和劳工等方面的协作下，这一计划能够极大促进其他国家的工业活动，从实质上提高他们的生活水平。

　　这种新的经济发展必须加以规划和控制，从而使被开发地区的人民有所得益。在保证投资者利益的同时，必须兼顾人民的利益，因为在这些经济发展中倾注着人民的才智和劳动。

　　在我们的计划中，剥削他国利润的老牌帝国主义没有立足之地。我们拟定的是一个以民主的公平交易的概念为基础的发展规划。

　　所有国家，包括我国在内，将极大地受益于为更合理地使用世界上的人力资源和自然资源而制定的一项建设性计划。经验证明，我们同其他国家的贸易将随着这些国家在工业和经济上的发展而扩大。

　　提高生产是繁荣与和平的关键，而提高生产的关键是更广泛、更积极地运用现代科学技术知识。

　　人类大家庭只有通过帮助最不幸的成员自助，才能享受体面的、令人满意的生活，而所有人郁有权过上这样的生活。

　　只有民主政治才能产生生机勃勃的力量，以激励世界人民不仅为反抗人类的压迫者，而且压力反抗人类古老的敌人——饥饿、贫困、失望——而斗争。

　　根据这四项主要的行动方针，我们希望有助于创造各种条件，最终实现个人自由和全人类的幸福。

FRIDAY, JANUARY 20, 1961

　　Vice President Johnson, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chief Justice, President Eisenhower, Vice President Nixon, President Truman, reverend clergy, fellow citizens, we observe today not a victory of party, but a celebration of freedom--symbolizing an end, as well as a beginning--signifying renewal, as well as change. For I have sworn I before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forebears l prescribed nearly a century and three quarters ago.

　　The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe--the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God.

　　We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans--born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage--and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this Nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.

　　Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

　　This much we pledge--and more.

　　To those old allies whose cultural and spiritual origins we share, we pledge the loyalty of faithful friends. United, there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided, there is little we can do--for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder.

　　To those new States whom we welcome to the ranks of the free, we pledge our word that one form of colonial control shall not have passed away merely to be replaced by a far more iron tyranny. We shall not always expect to find them supporting our view. But we shall always hope to find them strongly supporting their own freedom--and to remember that, in the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.

　　To those peoples in the huts and villages across the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is required--not because the Communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right. If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.

　　To our sister republics south of our border, we offer a special pledge--to convert our good words into good deeds--in a new alliance for progress--to assist free men and free governments in casting off the chains of poverty. But this peaceful revolution of hope cannot become the prey of hostile powers. Let all our neighbors know that we shall join with them to oppose aggression or subversion anywhere in the Americas. And let every other power know that this Hemisphere intends to remain the master of its own house.

　　To that world assembly of sovereign states, the United Nations, our last best hope in an age where the instruments of war have far outpaced the instruments of peace, we renew our pledge of support--to prevent it from becoming merely a forum for invective--to strengthen its shield of the new and the weak--and to enlarge the area in which its writ may run.

　　Finally, to those nations who would make themselves our adversary, we offer not a pledge but a request: that both sides begin anew the quest for peace, before the dark powers of destruction unleashed by science engulf all humanity in planned or accidental self-destruction.

　　We dare not tempt them with weakness. For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed.

　　But neither can two great and powerful groups of nations take comfort from our present course--both sides overburdened by the cost of modern weapons, both rightly alarmed by the steady spread of the deadly atom, yet both racing to alter that uncertain balance of terror that stays the hand of mankind's final war.

　　So let us begin anew--remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof. Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.

　　Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us.

　　Let both sides, for the first time, formulate serious and precise proposals for the inspection and control of arms--and bring the absolute power to destroy other nations under the absolute control of all nations.

　　Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors. Together let us explore the stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths, and encourage the arts and commerce.

　　Let both sides unite to heed in all corners of the earth the command of Isaiah--to "undo the heavy burdens ... and to let the oppressed go free."

　　And if a beachhead of cooperation may push back the jungle of suspicion, let both sides join in creating a new endeavor, not a new balance of power, but a new world of law, where the strong are just and the weak secure and the peace preserved.

　　All this will not be finished in the first 100 days. Nor will it be finished in the first 1,000 days, nor in the life of this Administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.

　　In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than in mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course. Since this country was founded, each generation of Americans has been summoned to give testimony to its national loyalty. The graves of young Americans who answered the call to service surround the globe.

　　Now the trumpet summons us again--not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need; not as a call to battle, though embattled we are--but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, "rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation"--a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself.

　　Can we forge against these enemies a grand and global alliance, North and South, East and West, that can assure a more fruitful life for all mankind? Will you join in that historic effort?

　　In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shank from this responsibility--I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it--and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.

　　And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country.

　　My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.

　　Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own.

约翰-肯尼迪就职演讲

　　星期五,1961年1月20日

　　首席法官先生、艾森豪威尔总统、尼克松副总统、杜鲁门总统、尊敬的牧师、各位公民：

　　今天我们庆祝的不是政党的胜利，而是自由的胜利。这象征着一个结束，也象征着一个开端，表示了一种更新，也表示了一种变革。因为我已在你们和全能的上帝面前，宣读了我们的先辈在170多年前拟定的庄严誓言。现在的世界已大不相同了，人类的巨手掌握着既能消灭人间的各种贫困，又能毁灭人间的各种生活的力量。但我们的先辈为之奋斗的那些革命信念，在世界各地仍然有着争论。这个信念就是：人的权利井非来自国家的慷慨，而是来自上帝恩赐。

　　今天，我们不敢忘记我们是第一次革命的继承者。让我们的朋友和敌人同样听见我此时此地的讲话：火炬已经传给新一代美国人。这一代人在本世纪诞生，在战争中受过锻炼，在艰难困苦的和平时期受过陶冶，他们为我国悠久的传统感到自豪——他们不愿目睹或听任我国一向保证的、今天仍在国内外作出保证的人权渐趋毁灭。

　　让每个国家都知道——不论它希望我们繁荣还是希望我们衰落——为确保自由的存在和自由的胜利，我们将付出任何代价，承受任何负担，应付任何艰难，支持任何朋友，反抗任何敌人。

　　这些就是我们的保证——而且还有更多的保证。

　　对那些和我们有着共同文化和精神渊源的老盟友，我们保证待以诚实朋友那样的忠诚。我们如果团结一致，就能在许多合作事业中无在而下胜；我们如果分歧对立，就会一事无成——因为我们不敢在争吵下休、四分五裂时迎接强大的挑战。

　　对那些我们欢迎其加入到自由行列中来的新国家，我们格守我们的誓言：决不让一种更为残酷的暴政来取代一种消失的殖民统治。我们并不总是指望他们会支持我们的观点。但我们始终希望看到他们坚强地维护自己的自由——而且要记住，在历史上，凡愚蠢地骑在虎背上谋求权力的人，都是以葬身虎口而告终。

　　对世界各地身居茅舍和乡村，为摆脱普遍贪困而斗争的人们，我们保证尽量大努力帮助他们自立，不管需要花多长时间——之所以这样做，并不是因为共产党可能正在这样做，也不是因为我们需要他们的选票，而是因为这样做是正确的，自由社会如果不能帮助众多的穷人，也就无法保全少数富人。

　　对我国南面的姐妹共和国，我们提出一项特殊的保证——在争取进步的新同盟中，把我们善意的话变为善意的行动，帮助自由的人们和自由的政府摆脱贫困的枷锁。但是，这种充满希望的和平革命决不可以成为敌对国家的牺牲品。我们要让所有邻国都知道，我们将和他们在一起，反对在美洲任何地区进行侵略和颠覆活动。让所有其他国家都知道，本半球的人仍然想做自己家园的主人。

　　联合国是主权国家的世界性议事机构，是我们在战争手段大大超过和平手段的时代里最后的、最美好的希望所在。因此，我们重申予以支持；防止它仅仅成为谩骂的场所；加强它对新生国家和弱小国家的保护；扩大它的行使法令的管束范围。

　　最后，对那些想与我们作时的国家，我们提出一个要求而不是一项保证：在科学释放出可怕的破坏力量，把全人类卷人到预谋的或意外的自我毁灭的深渊之前，让我们双方重新开始寻求和平。

　　我们不敢以怯弱来引诱他们。因为只有当我们毫无疑问地拥有足够的军备，我们才能毫无疑问地确信永远下会使用这些军备。

　　但是，这两个强大的国家集团都无法从目前所走的道路中得到安慰——发展现代武器所需的费用使双方负担过重，致命的原子武器的不断扩散理所当然使双方忧心忡忡，但是，双方却在争着改变那制止人类发动最后战争的不移定的恐怖均势。因此，让我们双方重新开始——双方都要牢记。礼貌并不意味着怯弱，诚意永远有侍于验证。让我们决不要由于畏惧而谈判。但我们决不能畏惧谈判。

　　让双方都来探讨使我们团结起来的问题，而不要操劳那些使我们分裂的问题。

　　让双方首次为军备检查和军备控制制订认真而又明确的提案，把毁灭他国的绝对力量置于所有国家的绝对控制之下。

　　让双方寻求利用科学的奇迹，而不是乞灵于科学造成的恐怖。让我们一起探索星球，征服沙漠，根除疾患，开发深梅，并鼓励艺术和商业的发展。

　　让双方团结起来，在全世界各个角落倾听以赛亚的训令——“解下轭上的索，使被欺压的得自由。”

　　如果合作的滩头阵地的逼退猜忌的丛林，那么就让双方共同作一次新的努力：不是建立一种新的均势，而是创造一个新的法治世界，在这个世界中，强者公正，弱者安全，和平将得到维护。

　　所有这一切下可能在第一个一百天内完成，也不可能在第一个一千天或者在本届政府任期内完成，甚至也许不可能在我们居住在这个星球上的有生之年内完成。但是，让我们开始吧。

　　公民们，我们方针的最终成败与其说掌握在我手中，不如说掌握在你们手中。自从合众国建立以来，每一代美国人都曾受到召唤去证明他们对国家的忠诚。响应召唤而献身的美国青年的坟墓遍及全球。

　　现在，号角已再次吹响——不是召唤我们拿起武器，虽然我们需要武器，不是召唤我们去作战，虽然我们严阵以待。它召唤我们为迎接黎明而肩负起漫长斗争的重任，年复一年，“从希望中得到欢乐，在苦难中保持坚韧”，去反对人类共同的敌人——专制、贫困、疾病和战争本身。

　　为反对这些敌人，确保人类更为丰裕的生活，我们能够组成一个包括东西南北各方的全球大联盟吗？你们愿意参加这一历史性的努力吗？

　　在漫长的世界历史中，只有少数几代人在自由处于最危急的时刻被赋予保卫自由的责任。我不会推卸这一责任，我欢迎这一责任。我不相信我们中间有人想同其他人或其他时代的人交换位置。我们为这一努力所奉献的精力、信念和忠诚，将照亮我们的国家和所有力国效劳的人，而这火焰发出的光芒定能照亮全世界。

　　因此，美国同胞们，不要问国家能力你们做些什么，而要问你们能为国家做些什么。

　　全世界的公民们，不要间美国将为你们做些什么，而要问我们共同能为人类的自中做些什么。

　　最后，不论你们是美国公民还是其他国家的公民，你们应该要求我们现出我们同样要求于你们地高度力量和牺牲。问心无愧是我们唯一可靠的奖赏，历史是我们行动的最终裁判，让我们走向前去，引导我们所珍爱的国家。我们祈求上帝的福佑和帮助，但我们知道，确切的说，上帝在尘世的工作必定是我们自己的工作。

MONDAY, JANUARY 20, 1969

　　Senator Dirksen, Mr. Chief Justice, Mr. Vice President, President Johnson, Vice President Humphrey, my fellow Americans--and my fellow citizens of the world community:

　　I ask you to share with me today the majesty of this moment. In the orderly transfer of power, we celebrate the unity that keeps us free.

　　Each moment in history is a fleeting time, precious and unique. But some stand out as moments of beginning, in which courses are set that shape decades or centuries.

　　This can be such a moment.

　　Forces now are converging that make possible, for the first time, the hope that many of man's deepest aspirations can at last be realized. The spiraling pace of change allows us to contemplate, within our own lifetime, advances that once would have taken centuries.

　　In throwing wide the horizons of space, we have discovered new horizons on earth.

　　For the first time, because the people of the world want peace, and the leaders of the world are afraid of war, the times are on the side of peace.

　　Eight years from now America will celebrate its 200th anniversary as a nation. Within the lifetime of most people now living, mankind will celebrate that great new year which comes only once in a thousand years--the beginning of the third millennium.

　　What kind of nation we will be, what kind of world we will live in, whether we shape the future in the image of our hopes, is ours to determine by our actions and our choices.

　　The greatest honor history can bestow is the title of peacemaker. This honor now beckons America--the chance to help lead the world at last out of the valley of turmoil, and onto that high ground of peace that man has dreamed of since the dawn of civilization.

　　If we succeed, generations to come will say of us now living that we mastered our moment, that we helped make the world safe for mankind.

　　This is our summons to greatness.

　　I believe the American people are ready to answer this call.

　　The second third of this century has been a time of proud achievement. We have made enormous strides in science and industry and agriculture. We have shared our wealth more broadly than ever. We have learned at last to manage a modern economy to assure its continued growth.

　　We have given freedom new reach, and we have begun to make its promise real for black as well as for white.

　　We see the hope of tomorrow in the youth of today. I know America's youth. I believe in them. We can be proud that they are better educated, more committed, more passionately driven by conscience than any generation in our history.

　　No people has ever been so close to the achievement of a just and abundant society, or so possessed of the will to achieve it. Because our strengths are so great, we can afford to appraise our weaknesses with candor and to approach them with hope.

　　Standing in this same place a third of a century ago, Franklin Delano Roosevelt addressed a Nation ravaged by depression and gripped in fear. He could say in surveying the Nation's troubles: "They concern, thank God, only material things."

　　Our crisis today is the reverse.

　　We have found ourselves rich in goods, but ragged in spirit; reaching with magnificent precision for the moon, but falling into raucous discord on earth.

　　We are caught in war, wanting peace. We are torn by division, wanting unity. We see around us empty lives, wanting fulfillment. We see tasks that need doing, waiting for hands to do them.

　　To a crisis of the spirit, we need an answer of the spirit.

　　To find that answer, we need only look within ourselves.

　　When we listen to "the better angels of our nature," we find that they celebrate the simple things, the basic things--such as goodness, decency, love, kindness.

　　Greatness comes in simple trappings.

　　The simple things are the ones most needed today if we are to surmount what divides us, and cement what unites us.

　　To lower our voices would be a simple thing.

　　In these difficult years, America has suffered from a fever of words; from inflated rhetoric that promises more than it can deliver; from angry rhetoric that fans discontents into hatreds; from bombastic rhetoric that postures instead of persuading.

　　We cannot learn from one another until we stop shouting at one another--until we speak quietly enough so that our words can be heard as well as our voices.

　　For its part, government will listen. We will strive to listen in new ways--to the voices of quiet anguish, the voices that speak without words, the voices of the heart--to the injured voices, the anxious voices, the voices that have despaired of being heard.

　　Those who have been left out, we will try to bring in.

　　Those left behind, we will help to catch up.

　　For all of our people, we will set as our goal the decent order that makes progress possible and our lives secure.

　　As we reach toward our hopes, our task is to build on what has gone before--not turning away from the old, but turning toward the new.

　　In this past third of a century, government has passed more laws, spent more money, initiated more programs, than in all our previous history.

　　In pursuing our goals of full employment, better housing, excellence in education; in rebuilding our cities and improving our rural areas; in protecting our environment and enhancing the quality of life--in all these and more, we will and must press urgently forward.

　　We shall plan now for the day when our wealth can be transferred from the destruction of war abroad to the urgent needs of our people at home.

　　The American dream does not come to those who fall asleep.

　　But we are approaching the limits of what government alone can do.

　　Our greatest need now is to reach beyond government, and to enlist the legions of the concerned and the committed.

　　What has to be done, has to be done by government and people together or it will not be done at all. The lesson of past agony is that without the people we can do nothing; with the people we can do everything.

　　To match the magnitude of our tasks, we need the energies of our people--enlisted not only in grand enterprises, but more importantly in those small, splendid efforts that make headlines in the neighborhood newspaper instead of the national journal.

　　With these, we can build a great cathedral of the spirit--each of us raising it one stone at a time, as he reaches out to his neighbor, helping, caring, doing.

　　I do not offer a life of uninspiring ease. I do not call for a life of grim sacrifice. I ask you to join in a high adventure--one as rich as humanity itself, and as exciting as the times we live in.

　　The essence of freedom is that each of us shares in the shaping of his own destiny.

　　Until he has been part of a cause larger than himself, no man is truly whole.

　　The way to fulfillment is in the use of our talents; we achieve nobility in the spirit that inspires that use.

　　As we measure what can be done, we shall promise only what we know we can produce, but as we chart our goals we shall be lifted by our dreams.

　　No man can be fully free while his neighbor is not. To go forward at all is to go forward together.

　　This means black and white together, as one nation, not two. The laws have caught up with our conscience. What remains is to give life to what is in the law: to ensure at last that as all are born equal in dignity before God, all are born equal in dignity before man.

　　As we learn to go forward together at home, let us also seek to go forward together with all mankind.

　　Let us take as our goal: where peace is unknown, make it welcome; where peace is fragile, make it strong; where peace is temporary, make it permanent.

　　After a period of confrontation, we are entering an era of negotiation.

　　Let all nations know that during this administration our lines of communication will be open.

　　We seek an open world--open to ideas, open to the exchange of goods and people--a world in which no people, great or small, will live in angry isolation.

　　We cannot expect to make everyone our friend, but we can try to make no one our enemy.

　　Those who would be our adversaries, we invite to a peaceful competition--not in conquering territory or extending dominion, but in enriching the life of man.

　　As we explore the reaches of space, let us go to the new worlds together--not as new worlds to be conquered, but as a new adventure to be shared.

　　With those who are willing to join, let us cooperate to reduce the burden of arms, to strengthen the structure of peace, to lift up the poor and the hungry.

　　But to all those who would be tempted by weakness, let us leave no doubt that we will be as strong as we need to be for as long as we need to be.

　　Over the past twenty years, since I first came to this Capital as a freshman Congressman, I have visited most of the nations of the world.

　　I have come to know the leaders of the world, and the great forces, the hatreds, the fears that divide the world.

　　I know that peace does not come through wishing for it--that there is no substitute for days and even years of patient and prolonged diplomacy.

　　I also know the people of the world.

　　I have seen the hunger of a homeless child, the pain of a man wounded in battle, the grief of a mother who has lost her son. I know these have no ideology, no race.

　　I know America. I know the heart of America is good.

　　I speak from my own heart, and the heart of my country, the deep concern we have for those who suffer, and those who sorrow.

　　I have taken an oath today in the presence of God and my countrymen to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States. To that oath I now add this sacred commitment: I shall consecrate my office, my energies, and all the wisdom I can summon, to the cause of peace among nations.

　　Let this message be heard by strong and weak alike:

　　The peace we seek to win is not victory over any other people, but the peace that comes "with healing in its wings"; with compassion for those who have suffered; with understanding for those who have opposed us; with the opportunity for all the peoples of this earth to choose their own destiny.

　　Only a few short weeks ago, we shared the glory of man's first sight of the world as God sees it, as a single sphere reflecting light in the darkness.

　　As the Apollo astronauts flew over the moon's gray surface on Christmas Eve, they spoke to us of the beauty of earth--and in that voice so clear across the lunar distance, we heard them invoke God's blessing on its goodness.

　　In that moment, their view from the moon moved poet Archibald MacLeish to write:

　　"To see the earth as it truly is, small and blue and beautiful in that eternal silence where it floats, is to see ourselves as riders on the earth together, brothers on that bright loveliness in the eternal cold--brothers who know now they are truly brothers."

　　In that moment of surpassing technological triumph, men turned their thoughts toward home and humanity--seeing in that far perspective that man's destiny on earth is not divisible; telling us that however far we reach into the cosmos, our destiny lies not in the stars but on Earth itself, in our own hands, in our own hearts.

　　We have endured a long night of the American spirit. But as our eyes catch the dimness of the first rays of dawn, let us not curse the remaining dark. Let us gather the light.

　　Our destiny offers, not the cup of despair, but the chalice of opportunity. So let us seize it, not in fear, but in gladness-- and, "riders on the earth together," let us go forward, firm in our faith, steadfast in our purpose, cautious of the dangers; but sustained by our confidence in the will of God and the promise of man.

我们都是地球的乘客

理查德-尼克松第一次就职演讲

　　星期一,1969年1月20日

　　历史的每一个时刻转瞬即逝，它既珍贵又独特。可是，其中某些显然是揭开序幕的时刻，此时，一代先河得以开创，它决定了未来数十年或几个世纪的航向。

　　现在可能就是这样一个时刻。

　　现在，各方力量正在汇聚起来，使我们第一次可以期望人类的许多夙愿最终能够实现。

　　不断加快的变革速度，使我们能在我们这一代期望过去花了几百年才出现的种种进步。

　　由于开辟了大空的天地，我们在地球上也发现了新的天地。

　　由于世界人民希望和平，而世界各国领袖害怕战争，因此，目前形势第一次变得有利于和平。

　　从现在起，再过8年，美国将庆祝建国200周年。在现在大多数人的有生之年，人类将庆祝千载难逢的、辉煌无比的新年——第三个百年盛世的开端。

　　我们的国家将变成怎样的国家，我们将生活在怎样的世界上，我们要不要按照我们的希望铸造未来，这些都将由我们根据自己的行动和选择来决定。

　　历史所能赐予我们的最大荣誉，莫过于和平缔造者这一称号。这一荣誉现在正在召唤美国——这是领导世界最终脱离动乱的幽谷，走向自文明开端以来人类一直梦寐以求的和平高坛的一个机会。

　　我们若获成功，下几代人在谈及现在在世的我们时会说，正是我们掌握了时机，正是我们协力相助，使普天之下国泰民安。

　　这是要我们创立宏伟大业的召唤。

　　我相信，美国人民准备响应这一召唤。

　　经过一段对抗时期，我们正进入一个谈判时代。

　　让所有国家都知道，在本届政府任期内，交流通道是敞开的。

　　我们谋求一个开放的世界——对各种思想开放，对物资和人员的交流开放，在这个世界中，任何民族，不论大小，都不会生活在怏怏不乐的孤立之中。

　　我们不能指望每个人都成为我们的朋友，可是我们能设法使任何人都不与我们为敌。

　　我们邀请那些很可能是我们对手的人进行一场和平竞赛——不是要征服领土或扩展版图，而是要丰富人类的生活。

　　在探索宇宙空间的时候，让我们一起走向新的世界——不是走向被征服的新世界，而是共同进行一次新的探险。

　　让我们同那些愿意加入这一行列的人共同合作，减少军备负担，加固和平大厦，提高贫穷挨饿的人们的生活水平。

　　但是，对所有那些见软就欺的人来说，让我们不容置疑地表明，我们需要多么强大就会多强大：需要强大多久，就会强大多久。

　　自从我作为新当选的国会议员首次来到国会大厦之后的20多年来，我已经出访过世界上大多数国家。

　　我结识了世界各国的领导人，了解到使世界陷于四分五裂的各种强大势力，各种深仇大恨，各种恐惧心理。

　　我知道，和于不会单凭愿望就能到来——这需要日复一日，甚至年复一年地进行耐心而持久的外交努力，除此别无他法。

　　我也了解世界各国人民。

　　我见到过无家可归的儿童在忍饥挨饿，战争中挂彩负伤的男人在痛苦呻吟，失去孩子的母亲在无限悲伤。我知道，这些并没有意识形态和种族之分。

　　我了解美国。我了解美国的心是善良的。

　　我从心底里，从我国人民的心底里，向那些蒙受不幸和痛苦的人们表达我们的深切关怀。

　　今天，我在上帝和我国同胞面前宣誓，拥护和捍卫合众国宪法。除了这一誓言，我现在还要补充一项神圣的义务：我将把自己的职责、精力以及我所能使唤的一切智慧，一并奉献给各国之间的和平事业。

　　让强者和弱者都能听到这一信息：

　　我们企求赢得的和平不是战胜任何一个民族，而是“和平天使”带来的为治愈创伤的和平：是对遭受苦难者予以同情的和平；是对那些反对过我们的人予以谅解的和平；是地球上各族人民都有选择自己命运的机会的和平。

　　就在几星期以前，人类如同上帝凝望这个世界一样，第一次端视了这个世界，一个在冥冥黑暗中辉映发光的独特的星球。我们分享了这一荣光。

　　阿波罗号上的字航员在圣诞节前夕飞越月球灰色的表面时，向我们说起地球的美丽——从穿过月距而传来的如此清晰的声音中，我们听到他们在祈祷上帝赐福人间。

　　在那一时刻，他们从月球上发出的意愿，激励着诗人阿奇博尔德•麦克利什写下了这样的篇章：

　　“在永恒的宁静中，那渺小、斑斓、美丽的地球在浮动。要真正地观望地球，就得把我们自己都看作是地球的乘客，看作是一群兄弟，他们共处于漫漫的、寒冷的字宙中。仰赖着光明的挚爱——这群兄弟懂得，而今他们是真正的兄弟。”

　　在那个比技术胜利更有意义的时刻，人们把思绪转向了家乡和人类——他们从那个遥远的视角中发现，地球上人类的命运是不能分开的；他们告诉我们，不管我们在宇宙中走得多远，我们的命运不是在别的星球上，而是在地球上，在我们自己手中，在我们的心头。

　　我们已经度过了一个反映美国精神的漫漫长夜。可是，当我们瞥见黎明前的第一缕曙光，切莫诅咒那尚未消散的黑暗。让我们迎接光明吧。

　　我们的命运所赐予的不是绝望的苦酒，而是机会的美餐。因此，让我们不是充满恐惧，而是满怀喜悦地去抓住这个机会吧——“地球的乘客们”，让我们以坚定的信念，朝着稳定的目标，在提防着危险中前进吧！我们对上帝的意志和人类的希望充满了信心，这将使我们持之以恒。

TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 1981

　　Senator Hatfield, Mr. Chief Justice, Mr. President, Vice President Bush, Vice President Mondale, Senator Baker, Speaker O'Neill, Reverend Moomaw, and my fellow citizens: To a few of us here today, this is a solemn and most momentous occasion; and yet, in the history of our Nation, it is a commonplace occurrence. The orderly transfer of authority as called for in the Constitution routinely takes place as it has for almost two centuries and few of us stop to think how unique we really are. In the eyes of many in the world, this every-4-year ceremony we accept as normal is nothing less than a miracle.

　　Mr. President, I want our fellow citizens to know how much you did to carry on this tradition. By your gracious cooperation in the transition process, you have shown a watching world that we are a united people pledged to maintaining a political system which guarantees individual liberty to a greater degree than any other, and I thank you and your people for all your help in maintaining the continuity which is the bulwark of our Republic.

　　The business of our nation goes forward. These United States are confronted with an economic affliction of great proportions. We suffer from the longest and one of the worst sustained inflations in our national history. It distorts our economic decisions, penalizes thrift, and crushes the struggling young and the fixed- income elderly alike. It threatens to shatter the lives of millions of our people.

　　Idle industries have cast workers into unemployment, causing human misery and personal indignity. Those who do work are denied a fair return for their labor by a tax system which penalizes successful achievement and keeps us from maintaining full productivity.

　　But great as our tax burden is, it has not kept pace with public spending. For decades, we have piled deficit upon deficit, mortgaging our future and our children's future for the temporary convenience of the present. To continue this long trend is to guarantee tremendous social, cultural, political, and economic upheavals.

　　You and I, as individuals, can, by borrowing, live beyond our means, but for only a limited period of time. Why, then, should we think that collectively, as a nation, we are not bound by that same limitation?

　　We must act today in order to preserve tomorrow. And let there be no misunderstanding--we are going to begin to act, beginning today.

　　The economic ills we suffer have come upon us over several decades. They will not go away in days, weeks, or months, but they will go away. They will go away because we, as Americans, have the capacity now, as we have had in the past, to do whatever needs to be done to preserve this last and greatest bastion of freedom.

　　In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem.

　　From time to time, we have been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. But if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? All of us together, in and out of government, must bear the burden. The solutions we seek must be equitable, with no one group singled out to pay a higher price.

　　We hear much of special interest groups. Our concern must be for a special interest group that has been too long neglected. It knows no sectional boundaries or ethnic and racial divisions, and it crosses political party lines. It is made up of men and women who raise our food, patrol our streets, man our mines and our factories, teach our children, keep our homes, and heal us when we are sick--professionals, industrialists, shopkeepers, clerks, cabbies, and truckdrivers. They are, in short, "We the people," this breed called Americans.

　　Well, this administration's objective will be a healthy, vigorous, growing economy that provides equal opportunity for all Americans, with no barriers born of bigotry or discrimination. Putting America back to work means putting all Americans back to work. Ending inflation means freeing all Americans from the terror of runaway living costs. All must share in the productive work of this "new beginning" and all must share in the bounty of a revived economy. With the idealism and fair play which are the core of our system and our strength, we can have a strong and prosperous America at peace with itself and the world.

　　So, as we begin, let us take inventory. We are a nation that has a government--not the other way around. And this makes us special among the nations of the Earth. Our Government has no power except that granted it by the people. It is time to check and reverse the growth of government which shows signs of having grown beyond the consent of the governed.

　　It is my intention to curb the size and influence of the Federal establishment and to demand recognition of the distinction between the powers granted to the Federal Government and those reserved to the States or to the people. All of us need to be reminded that the Federal Government did not create the States; the States created the Federal Government.

　　Now, so there will be no misunderstanding, it is not my intention to do away with government. It is, rather, to make it work-work with us, not over us; to stand by our side, not ride on our back. Government can and must provide opportunity, not smother it; foster productivity, not stifle it.

　　If we look to the answer as to why, for so many years, we achieved so much, prospered as no other people on Earth, it was because here, in this land, we unleashed the energy and individual genius of man to a greater extent than has ever been done before. Freedom and the dignity of the individual have been more available and assured here than in any other place on Earth. The price for this freedom at times has been high, but we have never been unwilling to pay that price.

　　It is no coincidence that our present troubles parallel and are proportionate to the intervention and intrusion in our lives that result from unnecessary and excessive growth of government. It is time for us to realize that we are too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams. We are not, as some would have us believe, loomed to an inevitable decline. I do not believe in a fate that will all on us no matter what we do. I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing. So, with all the creative energy at our command, let us begin an era of national renewal. Let us renew our determination, our courage, and our strength. And let us renew; our faith and our hope.

　　We have every right to dream heroic dreams. Those who say that we are in a time when there are no heroes just don't know where to look. You can see heroes every day going in and out of factory gates. Others, a handful in number, produce enough food to feed all of us and then the world beyond. You meet heroes across a counter--and they are on both sides of that counter. There are entrepreneurs with faith in themselves and faith in an idea who create new jobs, new wealth and opportunity. They are individuals and families whose taxes support the Government and whose voluntary gifts support church, charity, culture, art, and education. Their patriotism is quiet but deep. Their values sustain our national life.

　　I have used the words "they" and "their" in speaking of these heroes. I could say "you" and "your" because I am addressing the heroes of whom I speak--you, the citizens of this blessed land. Your dreams, your hopes, your goals are going to be the dreams, the hopes, and the goals of this administration, so help me God.

　　We shall reflect the compassion that is so much a part of your makeup. How can we love our country and not love our countrymen, and loving them, reach out a hand when they fall, heal them when they are sick, and provide opportunities to make them self- sufficient so they will be equal in fact and not just in theory?

　　Can we solve the problems confronting us? Well, the answer is an unequivocal and emphatic "yes." To paraphrase Winston Churchill, I did not take the oath I have just taken with the intention of presiding over the dissolution of the world's strongest economy.

　　In the days ahead I will propose removing the roadblocks that have slowed our economy and reduced productivity. Steps will be taken aimed at restoring the balance between the various levels of government. Progress may be slow--measured in inches and feet, not miles--but we will progress. Is it time to reawaken this industrial giant, to get government back within its means, and to lighten our punitive tax burden. And these will be our first priorities, and on these principles, there will be no compromise.

　　On the eve of our struggle for independence a man who might have been one of the greatest among the Founding Fathers, Dr. Joseph Warren, President of the Massachusetts Congress, said to his fellow Americans, "Our country is in danger, but not to be despaired of.... On you depend the fortunes of America. You are to decide the important questions upon which rests the happiness and the liberty of millions yet unborn. Act worthy of yourselves."

　　Well, I believe we, the Americans of today, are ready to act worthy of ourselves, ready to do what must be done to ensure happiness and liberty for ourselves, our children and our children's children.

　　And as we renew ourselves here in our own land, we will be seen as having greater strength throughout the world. We will again be the exemplar of freedom and a beacon of hope for those who do not now have freedom.

　　To those neighbors and allies who share our freedom, we will strengthen our historic ties and assure them of our support and firm commitment. We will match loyalty with loyalty. We will strive for mutually beneficial relations. We will not use our friendship to impose on their sovereignty, for or own sovereignty is not for sale.

　　As for the enemies of freedom, those who are potential adversaries, they will be reminded that peace is the highest aspiration of the American people. We will negotiate for it, sacrifice for it; we will not surrender for it--now or ever.

　　Our forbearance should never be misunderstood. Our reluctance for conflict should not be misjudged as a failure of will. When action is required to preserve our national security, we will act. We will maintain sufficient strength to prevail if need be, knowing that if we do so we have the best chance of never having to use that strength.

　　Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have. It is a weapon that we as Americans do have. Let that be understood by those who practice terrorism and prey upon their neighbors.

　　I am told that tens of thousands of prayer meetings are being held on this day, and for that I am deeply grateful. We are a nation under God, and I believe God intended for us to be free. It would be fitting and good, I think, if on each Inauguration Day in future years it should be declared a day of prayer.

　　This is the first time in history that this ceremony has been held, as you have been told, on this West Front of the Capitol. Standing here, one faces a magnificent vista, opening up on this city's special beauty and history. At the end of this open mall are those shrines to the giants on whose shoulders we stand.

　　Directly in front of me, the monument to a monumental man: George Washington, Father of our country. A man of humility who came to greatness reluctantly. He led America out of revolutionary victory into infant nationhood. Off to one side, the stately memorial to Thomas Jefferson. The Declaration of Independence flames with his eloquence.

　　And then beyond the Reflecting Pool the dignified columns of the Lincoln Memorial. Whoever would understand in his heart the meaning of America will find it in the life of Abraham Lincoln.

　　Beyond those monuments to heroism is the Potomac River, and on the far shore the sloping hills of Arlington National Cemetery with its row on row of simple white markers bearing crosses or Stars of David. They add up to only a tiny fraction of the price that has been paid for our freedom.

　　Each one of those markers is a monument to the kinds of hero I spoke of earlier. Their lives ended in places called Belleau Wood, The Argonne, Omaha Beach, Salerno and halfway around the world on Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Pork Chop Hill, the Chosin Reservoir, and in a hundred rice paddies and jungles of a place called Vietnam.

　　Under one such marker lies a young man--Martin Treptow--who left his job in a small town barber shop in 1917 to go to France with the famed Rainbow Division. There, on the western front, he was killed trying to carry a message between battalions under heavy artillery fire.

　　We are told that on his body was found a diary. On the flyleaf under the heading, "My Pledge," he had written these words: "America must win this war. Therefore, I will work, I will save, I will sacrifice, I will endure, I will fight cheerfully and do my utmost, as if the issue of the whole struggle depended on me alone."

　　The crisis we are facing today does not require of us the kind of sacrifice that Martin Treptow and so many thousands of others were called upon to make. It does require, however, our best effort, and our willingness to believe in ourselves and to believe in our capacity to perform great deeds; to believe that together, with God's help, we can and will resolve the problems which now confront us.

　　And, after all, why shouldn't we believe that? We are Americans. God bless you, and thank you.

罗纳德-里根第一次就职演说

　　第40任总统(1981年-1989年)

　　议员海特菲尔德先生、法官先生、总统先生、副总统布什、蒙代尔先生、议员贝克先生、发言人奥尼尔先生、尊敬的摩麦先生，以及广大支持我的美国同胞们：今天对于我们中间的一些人来说，是一个非常庄严隆重的时刻。当然，对于这个国家的历史来说，却是一件普通的事情。按照宪法要求，政府权利正在有序地移交，我们已经如此“例行公事”了两个世纪，很少有人觉得这有什么特别的。但在世界上更多人看来，这个我们已经习以为常的四年一次的仪式，却实在是一个奇迹。

　　总统先生，我希望我们的同胞们都能知道你为了这个传承而付出的努力。通过移交程序中的通力合作，你向观察者展示了这么一个事实：我们是发誓要团结起来维护这样一个政治体制的团体，这样的体制保证了我们能够得到比其他政体更为广泛的个人自由。同时我也要感谢你和你的伙伴们的帮助，因为你们坚持了这样的传承，而这恰恰是我们共和国的根基。

　　我们国家的事业在继续前进。合众国正面临巨大的经济困难。我们遭遇到我国历史上历时最长、最严重之一的通货膨胀，它扰乱着我们的经济决策，打击着节俭的风气，压迫着正在挣扎谋生的青年人和收入固定的中年人，威胁着要摧毁我国千百万人民的生计。

　　停滞的工业使工人失业、蒙受痛苦并失去了个人尊严。即使那些有工作的人，也因税收制度的缘故而得不到公正的劳动报酬，因为这种税收制度使我们无法在事业上取得成就，使我们无法保持充分的生产力。

　　尽管我们的纳税负担相当沉重，但还是跟不上公共开支的增长。数十年来，我们的赤字额屡屡上升，我们为图目前暂时的方便，把自己的前途和子孙的前途抵押出去了。这一趋势如果长此以往，必然引起社会、文化、政治和经济等方面的大动荡。

　　作为个人，你们和我可以靠借贷过一种人不敷出的生活，然而只能维持一段有限的时期，我们怎么可以认为，作为一个国家整体，我们就不应受到同样的约束呢？为了保住明天，我们今天就必须行动起来。大家都要明白无误地懂得--我们从今天起就要采取行动。

　　我们深受其害的经济弊病，几十年来一直袭击着我们。这些弊病不会在几天、几星期或几个月内消失，但它们终将消失。它们之所以终将消失，是因为我们作为现在的美国人，一如既往地有能力去完成需要完成的事情，以保存这个最后而又最伟大的自由堡垒。

　　在当前这场危机中，政府的管理不能解决我们面临的问题。政府的管理就是问题所在。

　　我们时常误以为，社会已经越来越复杂，已经不可能凭借自治方式加以管理，而一个由杰出人物组成的政府要比民享、民治、民有的政府高明。可是，假如我们之中谁也管理不了自己，那么，我们之中谁还能去管理他人呢。

　　我们大家--不论政府官员还是平民百姓--必须共同肩负起这个责任，我们谋求的解决办法必须是公平的，不要使任何一个群体付出较高的代价。

　　我们听到许多关于特殊利益集团的谈论，然而。我们必须关心一个被忽视了大久的特殊利益集团。这个集团没有区域之分，没有人种之分，没有民族之分，没有政党之分，这个集团由许许多多的男人与女人组成，他们生产粮食，巡逻街头，管理厂矿，教育儿童，照料家务和治疗疾病。他们是专业人员、实业家、店主、职员、出租汽车司机和货车驾驶员，总而言之，他们就是"我们人民"--这个称之为美国人的民族。

　　本届政府的日标是必须建立一种健全的、生气勃勃的和不断发展的经济，为全体美国人民提供一种不因偏执或歧视而造成障碍的均等机会，让美国重新工作起来，意味着让全体美国人重新工作起来。制止通货膨胀，意味着让全体美国人从失控的生活费用所造成的恐惧中解脱出来。人人都应分担"新开端"的富有成效的工作，人人都应分享经济复苏的硕果。我国制度和力量的核心是理想主义和公正态度，有了这些，我们就能建立起强大、繁荣、国内稳定并同全世界和平相处的美国。

　　因此，在我们开始之际，让我们看看实际情况。我们是一个拥有政府的国家--而不是一个拥有国家的政府。这一点使我们在世界合国中独树一帜，我们的政府除了人民授予的权力，没有任何别的权力。目前，政府权力的膨胀已显示出超过被统治者同意的迹象，制止并扭转这种状况的时候到了。

　　我打算压缩联邦机构的规模和权力，并要求大家承认联邦政府被授予的权力同各州或人民保留的权利这两者之间的区别。我们大家都需要提醒：不是联邦政府创立了各州，而是各州创立了联邦政府。因此，请不要误会，我的意思不是要取消政府，而是要它发挥作用--同我们一起合作，而不是凌驾于我们之上；同我们并肩而立，而不是骑在我们的背上。政府能够而且必须提供机会，而不是扼杀机会，它能够而且必须促进生产力，而不是抑制生产力。

　　如果我们要探究这么多年来我们为什么能取得这么大成就，并获得了世界上任何一个民族未曾获得的繁荣昌盛，其原因是在这片土地上，我们使人类的能力和个人的才智得到了前所未有的发挥。在这里，个人所享有并得以确保的自由和尊严超过了世界上任何其他地方。为这种自由所付出的代价有时相当高昂，但我们从来没有不愿意付出这代价。

　　我们目前的困难，与政府机构因为不必要的过度膨胀而干预、侵扰我们的生活同步增加，这决不是偶然的巧合。我们是一个泱泱大国，不能自囿于小小的梦想，现在正是认识到这一点的时候。我们并非注定走向衰落，尽管有些人想让我们相信这一点。我不相信，无论我们做些什么，我们都将命该如此，但我相信，如果我们什么也不做，我们将的确命该如此。

　　为此，让我们以掌握的一切创造力来开创一个国家复兴的时代吧。让我们重新拿出决心、勇气和力量，让我们重新建立起我们的信念和希望吧。我们完全有权去做英雄梦。

　　有人告诉我们在他的身上发现一本日记。扉页上写着这样的标题：“我的誓言”。他写下了这样的话语：“美国必须赢得这场战争。为此，我会奋斗，我会拯救，我会牺牲，我会忍受，我会并将尽我最大的努力英勇奋战，就好比所有的战争问题都将由我一个人来肩负。”

January 20, 1993

　　My fellow citizens :

　　Today we celebrate the mystery of American renewal.

　　This ceremony is held in the depth of winter. But, by the words we speak and the faces we show the world, we force the spring. A spring reborn in the world's oldest democracy, that brings forth the vision and courage to reinvent America.

　　When our founders boldly declared America's independence to the world and our purposes to the Almighty, they knew that America, to endure, would have to change. Not change for change's sake, but change to preserve America's ideals; life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. Though we march to the music of our time, our mission is timeless. Each generation of Americans must define what it means to be an American.

　　On behalf of our nation, I salute my predecessor, President Bush, for his half-century of service to America. And I thank the millions of men and women whose steadfastness and sacrifice triumphed over Depression, fascism and Communism.

　　Today, a generation raised in the shadows of the Cold War assumes new responsibilities in a world warmed by the sunshine of freedom but threatened still by ancient hatreds and new plagues.

　　Raised in unrivaled prosperity, we inherit an economy that is still the world's strongest, but is weakened by business failures, stagnant wages, increasing inequality, and deep divisions among our people.

　　When George Washington first took the oath I have just sworn to uphold, news traveled slowly across the land by horseback and across the ocean by boat. Now, the sights and sounds of this ceremony are broadcast instantaneously to billions around the world.

　　Communications and commerce are global; investment is mobile; technology is almost magical; and ambition for a better life is now universal. We earn our livelihood in peaceful competition with people all across the earth.

　　Profound and powerful forces are shaking and remaking our world, and the urgent question of our time is whether we can make change our friend and not our enemy.

　　This new world has already enriched the lives of millions of Americans who are able to compete and win in it. But when most people are working harder for less; when others cannot work at all; when the cost of health care devastates families and threatens to bankrupt many of our enterprises, great and small; when fear of crime robs law-abiding citizens of their freedom; and when millions of poor children cannot even imagine the lives we are calling them to lead, we have not made change our friend.

　　We know we have to face hard truths and take strong steps. But we have not done so. Instead, we have drifted, and that drifting has eroded our resources, fractured our economy, and shaken our confidence.

　　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.

　　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.

　　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.

　　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.

　　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.

　　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.

　　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.

　　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.

　　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.

　　To renew America, we must meet challenges abroad as well at home. There is no longer division between what is foreign and what is domestic; the world economy, the world environment, the world AIDS crisis, the world arms race; they affect us all.

　　Today, as an old order passes, the new world is more free but less stable. Communism's collapse has called forth old animosities and new dangers. Clearly America must continue to lead the world we did so much to make.

　　While America rebuilds at home, we will not shrink from the challenges, nor fail to seize the opportunities, of this new world. Together with our friends and allies, we will work to shape change, lest it engulf us.

　　When our vital interests are challenged, or the will and conscience of the international community is defied, we will act; with peaceful diplomacy when ever possible, with force when necessary. The brave Americans serving our nation today in the Persian Gulf, in Somalia, and wherever else they stand are testament to our resolve.

　　But our greatest strength is the power of our ideas, which are still new in many lands. Across the world, we see them embraced, and we rejoice. Our hopes, our hearts, our hands, are with those on every continent who are building democracy and freedom. Their cause is America's cause.

　　The American people have summoned the change we celebrate today. You have raised your voices in an unmistakable chorus. You have cast your votes in historic numbers. And you have changed the face of Congress, the presidency and the political process itself. Yes, you, my fellow Americans have forced the spring. Now, we must do the work the season demands.

　　To that work I now turn, with all the authority of my office. I ask the Congress to join with me. But no president, no Congress, no government, can undertake this mission alone. My fellow Americans, you, too, must play your part in our renewal. I challenge a new generation of young Americans to a season of service; to act on your idealism by helping troubled children, keeping company with those in need, reconnecting our torn communities. There is so much to be done; enough indeed for millions of others who are still young in spirit to give of themselves in service, too.

　　In serving, we recognize a simple but powerful truth, we need each other. And we must care for one another. Today, we do more than celebrate America; we rededicate ourselves to the very idea of America.

　　An idea born in revolution and renewed through two centuries of challenge. An idea tempered by the knowledge that, but for fate we, the fortunate and the unfortunate, might have been each other. An idea ennobled by the faith that our nation can summon from its myriad diversity the deepest measure of unity. An idea infused with the conviction that America's long heroic journey must go forever upward.

　　And so, my fellow Americans, at the edge of the 21st century, let us begin with energy and hope, with faith and discipline, and let us work until our work is done. The scripture says, "And let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season, we shall reap, if we faint not."

　　From this joyful mountaintop of celebration, we hear a call to service in the valley. We have heard the trumpets. We have changed the guard. And now, each in our way, and with God's help, we must answer the call.

　　Thank you, and God bless you all.

美国复兴的新时代

比尔•克林顿第一次就职演讲

　　星期三,1993年1月20日

　　同胞们：

　　今天，我们庆祝美国复兴的奇迹。这个仪式虽在隆冬举行，然而，我们通过自己的言语和向世界展示的面容、却促使春回大地--回到了世界上这个最古老的民主国家，并带来了重新创造美国的远见和勇气。

　　当我国的缔造者勇敢地向世界宣布美国独立，并向上帝表明自己的目的时，他们知道，美国若要永存，就必须变革。不是为变革而变革，而是为了维护美国的理想--为了生命、自由和追求幸福而变革。尽管我们随着当今时代的节拍前进，但我们的使命永恒不变。每一代美国人，部必须为作为一个美国人意味着什么下定义。今天，在冷战阴影下成长起来的一代人，在世界上负起了新的责任。这个世界虽然沐浴着自由的阳光，但仍受到旧仇宿怨和新的祸患的威胁。

　　我们在无与伦比的繁荣中长大，继承了仍然是世界上最强大的经济。但由于企业倒闭，工资增长停滞、不平等状况加剧，人民的分歧加深，我们的经济已经削弱。

　　当乔治•华盛顿第一次宣读我刚才宜读的誓言时，人们骑马把那个信息缓慢地传遍大地，继而又来船把它传过海洋。而现在，这个仪式的情景和声音即刻向全球几十亿人播放。通信和商务具有全球性，投资具有流动性；技术几乎具有魔力；改善生活的理想现在具有普遍性。今天，我们美国人通过同世界各地人民进行和平竞争来谋求生存。各种深远而强大的力量正在震撼和改造我们的世界，当今时代的当务之急是我们能否使变革成为我们的朋友，而不是成为我们的敌人。

　　这个新世界已经使几百万能够参与竞争并且取胜的美国人过上了富裕的生活。但是，当多数人干得越多反而挣得越少的时候，当有些人根本不可能工作的时候，当保健费用的重负使众多家庭不堪承受、使大大小小的企业濒临破产的时候，当犯罪活动的恐惧使守法公民不能自由行动的时候，当千百万贫穷儿童甚至不能想象我们呼唤他们过的那种生活的时候，我们就没有使变革成为我们的朋友。我们知道，我们必须面对严酷的事实真相，并采取强有力的步骤。但我们没有这样做，而是听之任之，以致损耗了我们的资源，破坏了我们的经济，动摇了我们的信心。

　　我们面临惊人的挑战，但我们同样具有惊人的力量，美国人历来是不安现状、不断追求和充满希望的民族，今天，我们必须把前人的远见卓识和坚强意志带到我们的任务中去。从革命，内战，大萧条，直到民权运动，我国人民总是下定决心，从历次危机中构筑我国历史的支柱。

　　托马斯•杰斐逊认为，为了维护我国的根基，我们需要时常进行激动人心的变革。美国同胞们，我们的时代就是变革的时代，让我们拥抱这个时代吧！

　　我们的民主制度不仅要成为举世称羡的目标，而且要成为举国复兴的动力。美国没有任何错误的东西不能被正确的东西所纠正。因此，我们今天立下誓言，要结束这个僵持停顿、放任自流的时代，一个复兴美国的新时代已经开始。

　　我们要复兴美国，就必须鼓足勇气。我们必须做前人无需做的事情。我们必须更多地投资于人民，投资于他们的工作和未来，与此同时，我们必须减少巨额债务。而且，我们必须在一个需要为每个机会而竞争的世界上做到这一切。这样做并不容易：这样做要求作出牺牲。但是，这是做得到的，而且能做得公平合理。我们不是为牺牲而牺牲，我们必须像家庭供养子女那样供养自己的国家。

　　我国的缔造者是用子孙后代的眼光来审视自己的。我们也必须这样做。凡是注意过孩子蒙?o人睡的人，都知道后代意味着什么，后代就是将要到来的世界--我们为之坚持自己的理想，我们向之借用这个星球，我们对之负有神圣的责任。我们必须做美国最拿手的事情：为所有的人提供更多的机会，要所有的人负起更多的责任。

　　现在是破除只求向政府和别人免费索取的恶习的时候了。让我们大家不仅为自己和家庭，而且为社区和国家担负起更多的责任吧。

　　我们要复兴美国，就必须恢复我们民主制度的活力。这个美丽的首都，就像文明的曙光出现以来的每一个首都一样，常常是尔虞我诈、明争暗斗之地。大腕人物争权夺势，没完没了地为官员的更替升降而烦神，却忘记了那些用辛勤和汗水把我们送到这里来，并养活了我们的人。

　　美国人理应得到更好的回报。在这个城市里，今天有人想把事情办得更好一些。因此，我要时所有在场的人说：让我们下定决心改革政治，使权力和特权的喧嚣不再压倒人民的呼声。让我们撇开个人利益。这样我们就能觉察美国的病痛，并看到官的希望。让我们下定决心，使政府成为富兰克林•罗斯福所说的进行"大胆而持久试验"的地方，成为一个面向未来而不是留恋过去的政府。让我们把这个首都归还给它所属于的人民。

　　我们要复兴美国，就必须迎接国内外的种种挑战。国外和国内事务之间已不再有明确的界限--世界经济，世界环境，世界艾滋病危机，世界军备竞赛，这一切都在影响着我们大家。

　　我们在国内进行重建的同时，面对这个新世界的挑战不会退缩不前，也下会坐失良机。我们将同盟友一起努力进行变革，以免被变革所吞没。当我们的重要利益受到挑战，或者，当国际社会的意志和良知受到蔑视，我们将采取行动--可能时就采用和平外交手段，必要时就使用武力。

　　今天，在波斯湾、索马里和任何其他地方为国效力的勇敢的美国人，都证明了我们的决心。

　　但是，我们最伟大的力量是我们思想的威力。这些思想在许多国家仍然处于萌芽阶段。看到这些思想在世界各地被接受，我们感到欢欣鼓舞。我们的希望，我们的心，与每一个大陆正在建立民主和自由的人们是连在一起的。他们的事业也是美国的事业。

　　美国人民唤来了我们今天所庆祝的变革。你们毫不含糊地齐声疾呼。你们以前所未有的人数参加了投票。你们使国会、总统职务和政治进程本身全都面目一新。是的，是你们，我的美国同胞们，促使春回大地。

　　现在，我们必须做这个季节需要做的工作。现在，我就运用我的全部职权转向这项工作。我请求国会同我一道做这项工作。任何总统、任何国会、任何政府都不能单独完成这一使命。同胞们，在我国复兴的过程中，你们也必须发挥作用。

　　我向新一代美国年轻人挑战，要求你们投入这一奉献的季节--按照你们的理想主义行动起来，使不幸的儿童得到帮助，使贫困的人们得到关怀，使四分五裂的社区恢复联系。要做的事情很多--确实够多的，以至几百万在精神上仍然年轻的人也可作出奉献。

　　在奉献过程中，我们认识到相互需要这一简单而又强大的真理。我们必须相互关心.今天，我们不仅是在赞颂美国，我们再一次把自己奉献给美国的理想：这个理想在革命中诞生，在两个世纪的挑战中更新；这个理想经受了认识的考验，大家认识到，若不是命运的安排，幸运者或不幸者有可能互换位置；这个理想由于一种信念而变得崇高，即我国能够从纷繁的多佯性中实现最深刻的统一性，这个理想洋溢着一种信：美国漫长而英勇的旅程必将永远继续。同胞们，在我恻即将跨入21世纪之际，让我们以旺盛的精力和满腔的希望，以坚定的信心和严明的纪律开始工作，直到把工作完成。《圣经》说："我们行善，不可丧志，若不灰心，到了时候，就要收成。"

　　在这个欢乐的山巅，我们听见山谷里传来了要我们作出奉献的召唤。我们听到了号角声。我们已经换岗。现在，我们必须以各自的方式，在上帝的帮助下响应这一召唤。

　　谢谢大家。上帝保佑大家。

January 20, 2001

　　President Clinton, distinguished guests and my fellow citizens:

　　The peaceful transfer of authority is rare in history, yet common in our country. With a simple oath, we affirm old traditions and make new beginnings.

　　As I begin, I thank President Clinton for his service to our nation; and I thank Vice President Gore for a contest conducted with spirit and ended with grace.

　　I am honored and humbled to stand here, where so many of America's leaders have come before me, and so many will follow.

　　We have a place, all of us, in a long story. A story we continue, but whose end we will not see. It is the story of a new world that became a friend and liberator of the old, a story of a slave-holding society that became a servant of freedom, the story of a power that went into the world to protect but not possess, to defend but not to conquer. It is the American story. A story of flawed and fallible people, united across the generations by grand and enduring ideals. The grandest of these ideals is an unfolding American promise that everyone belongs, that everyone deserves a chance, that no insignificant person was ever born. Americans are called upon to enact this promise in our lives and in our laws; and though our nation has sometimes halted, and sometimes delayed, we must follow no other course.

　　Through much of the last century, America's faith in freedom and democracy was a rock in a raging sea. Now it is a seed upon the wind, taking root in many nations. Our democratic faith is more than the creed of our country, it is the inborn hope of our humanity, an ideal we carry but do not own, a trust we bear and pass along; and even after nearly 225 years, we have a long way yet to travel.

　　While many of our citizens prosper, others doubt the promise, even the justice, of our own country. The ambitions of some Americans are limited by failing schools and hidden prejudice and the circumstances of their birth; and sometimes our differences run so deep, it seems we share a continent, but not a country. We do not accept this, and we will not allow it. Our unity, our union, is the serious work of leaders and citizens in every generation; and this is my solemn pledge, "I will work to build a single nation of justice and opportunity." I know this is in our reach because we are guided by a power larger than ourselves who creates us equal in His image and we are confident in principles that unite and lead us onward.

　　America has never been united by blood or birth or soil. We are bound by ideals that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests and teach us what it means to be citizens. Every child must be taught these principles. Every citizen must uphold them; and every immigrant, by embracing these ideals, makes our country more, not less, American.

　　Today, we affirm a new commitment to live out our nation's promise through civility, courage, compassion and character. America, at its best, matches a commitment to principle with a concern for civility. A civil society demands from each of us good will and respect, fair dealing and forgiveness. Some seem to believe that our politics can afford to be petty because, in a time of peace, the stakes of our debates appear small. But the stakes for America are never small. If our country does not lead the cause of freedom, it will not be led. If we do not turn the hearts of children toward knowledge and character, we will lose their gifts and undermine their idealism. If we permit our economy to drift and decline, the vulnerable will suffer most. We must live up to the calling we share. Civility is not a tactic or a sentiment. It is the determined choice of trust over cynicism, of community over chaos. This commitment, if we keep it, is a way to shared accomplishment.

　　America, at its best, is also courageous. Our national courage has been clear in times of depression and war, when defending common dangers defined our common good. Now we must choose if the example of our fathers and mothers will inspire us or condemn us. We must show courage in a time of blessing by confronting problems instead of passing them on to future generations.

　　Together, we will reclaim America's schools, before ignorance and apathy claim more young lives; we will reform Social Security and Medicare, sparing our children from struggles we have the power to prevent; we will reduce taxes, to recover the momentum of our economy and reward the effort and enterprise of working Americans; we will build our defenses beyond challenge, lest weakness invite challenge; and we will confront weapons of mass destruction, so that a new century is spared new horrors.

　　The enemies of liberty and our country should make no mistake, America remains engaged in the world by history and by choice, shaping a balance of power that favors freedom. We will defend our allies and our interests; we will show purpose without arrogance; we will meet aggression and bad faith with resolve and strength; and to all nations, we will speak for the values that gave our nation birth.

　　America, at its best, is compassionate. In the quiet of American conscience, we know that deep, persistent poverty is unworthy of our nation's promise. Whatever our views of its cause, we can agree that children at risk are not at fault. Abandonment and abuse are not acts of God, they are failures of love. The proliferation of prisons, however necessary, is no substitute for hope and order in our souls. Where there is suffering, there is duty. Americans in need are not strangers, they are citizens, not problems, but priorities, and all of us are diminished when any are hopeless. Government has great responsibilities for public safety and public health, for civil rights and common schools. Yet compassion is the work of a nation, not just a government. Some needs and hurts are so deep they will only respond to a mentor's touch or a pastor's prayer. Church and charity, synagogue and mosque lend our communities their humanity, and they will have an honored place in our plans and in our laws. Many in our country do not know the pain of poverty, but we can listen to those who do. I can pledge our nation to a goal, "When we see that wounded traveler on the road to Jericho, we will not pass to the other side."

　　America, at its best, is a place where personal responsibility is valued and expected. Encouraging responsibility is not a search for scapegoats, it is a call to conscience. Though it requires sacrifice, it brings a deeper fulfillment. We find the fullness of life not only in options, but in commitments. We find that children and community are the commitments that set us free. Our public interest depends on private character, on civic duty and family bonds and basic fairness, on uncounted, unhonored acts of decency which give direction to our freedom. Sometimes in life we are called to do great things. But as a saint of our times has said, every day we are called to do small things with great love. The most important tasks of a democracy are done by everyone. I will live and lead by these principles, "to advance my convictions with civility, to pursue the public interest with courage, to speak for greater justice and compassion, to call for responsibility and try to live it as well." In all of these ways, I will bring the values of our history to the care of our times.

　　What you do is as important as anything government does. I ask you to seek a common good beyond your comfort; to defend needed reforms against easy attacks; to serve your nation, beginning with your neighbor. I ask you to be citizens. Citizens, not spectators; citizens, not subjects; responsible citizens, building communities of service and a nation of character.

　　Americans are generous and strong and decent, not because we believe in ourselves, but because we hold beliefs beyond ourselves. When this spirit of citizenship is missing, no government program can replace it. When this spirit is present, no wrong can stand against it.

　　After the Declaration of Independence was signed, Virginia statesman John Page wrote to Thomas Jefferson, "We know the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong. Do you not think an angel rides in the whirlwind and directs this storm?" Much time has passed since Jefferson arrived for his inauguration. The years and changes accumulate, but the themes of this day he would know, "our nation's grand story of courage and its simple dream of dignity."

　　We are not this story's author, who fills time and eternity with His purpose. Yet His purpose is achieved in our duty, and our duty is fulfilled in service to one another. Never tiring, never yielding, never finishing, we renew that purpose today; to make our country more just and generous; to affirm the dignity of our lives and every life.

　　This work continues. This story goes on. And an angel still rides in the whirlwind and directs this storm.

　　God bless you all, and God bless America.

谢谢大家！

　　尊敬的芮恩奎斯特大法官，卡特总统，布什总统，克林顿总统，尊敬的来宾们，我的同胞们，

　　这次权利的和平过渡在历史上是罕见的，但在美国是平常的。我们以朴素的宣誓庄严地维护了古老的传统，同时开始了新的历程。

　　首先，我要感谢克林顿总统为这个国家作出的贡献，也感谢副总统戈尔在竞选过程中的热情与风度。

　　站在这里，我很荣幸，也有点受宠若惊。在我之前，许多美国领导人从这里起步；在我之后，也会有许多领导人从这里继续前进。

　　在美国悠久的历史中，我们每个人都有自己的位置；我们还在继续推动着历史前进，但是我们不可能看到它的尽头。这是一部新世界的发展史，是一部后浪推前浪的历史。这是一部美国由奴隶制社会发展成为崇尚自由的社会的历史。这是一个强国保护而不是占有世界的历史，是捍卫而不是征服世界的历史。这就是美国史。它不是一部十全十美的民族发展史，但它是一部在伟大和永恒理想指导下几代人团结奋斗的历史。

　　这些理想中最伟大的是正在慢慢实现的美国的承诺，这就是：每个人都有自身的价值，每个人都有成功的机会，每个人天生都会有所作为的。美国人民肩负着一种使命，那就是要竭力将这个诺言变成生活中和法律上的现实。虽然我们的国家过去在追求实现这个承诺的途中停滞不前甚至倒退，但我们仍将坚定不移地完成这一使命。

　　在上个世纪的大部分时间里，美国自由民主的信念犹如汹涌大海中的岩石。现在它更像风中的种子，把自由带给每个民族。在我们的国家，民主不仅仅是一种信念，而是全人类的希望。民主，我们不会独占，而会竭力让大家分享。民主，我们将铭记于心并且不断传播。225年过去了，我们仍有很长的路要走。

　　有很多公民取得了成功，但也有人开始怀疑，怀疑我们自己的国家所许下的诺言，甚至怀疑它的公正。失败的教育，潜在的偏见和出身的环境限制了一些美国人的雄心。有时，我们的分歧是如此之深，似乎我们虽身处同一个大陆，但不属于同一个国家。我们不能接受这种分歧，也无法容许它的存在。我们的团结和统一，是每一代领导人和每一个公民的严肃使命。在此，我郑重宣誓：我将竭力建设一个公正、充满机会的统一国家。我知道这是我们的目标，因为上帝按自己的身形创造了我们，上帝高于一切的力量将引导我们前进。

　　对这些将我们团结起来并指引我们向前的原则，我们充满信心。血缘、出身或地域从未将美国联合起来。只有理想，才能使我们心系一处，超越自己，放弃个人利益，并逐步领会何谓公民。每个孩子都必须学习这些原则。每个公民都必须坚持这些原则。每个移民，只有接受这些原则，才能使我们的国家不丧失而更具美国特色今天，我们在这里重申一个新的信念，即通过发扬谦恭、勇气、同情心和个性的精神来实现我们国家的理想。美国在它最鼎盛时也没忘记遵循谦逊有礼的原则。一个文明的社会需要我们每个人品质优良，尊重他人，为人公平和宽宏大量。

　　有人认为我们的政治制度是如此的微不足道，因为在和平年代，我们所争论的话题都是无关紧要的。但是，对我们美国来说，我们所讨论的问题从来都不是什么小事。如果我们不领导和平事业，那么和平将无人来领导；如果我们不引导我们的孩子们真心地热爱知识、发挥个性，他们的天分将得不到发挥，理想将难以实现。如果我们不采取适当措施，任凭经济衰退，最大的受害者将是平民百姓。

　　我们应该时刻听取时代的呼唤。谦逊有礼不是战术也不是感情用事。这是我们最坚定的选择--在批评声中赢得信任；在混乱中寻求统一。如果遵循这样的承诺，我们将会享有共同的成就。

　　美国有强大的国力作后盾，将会勇往直前。

　　在大萧条和战争时期，我们的人民在困难面前表现得无比英勇，克服我们共同的困难体现了我们共同的优秀品质。现在，我们正面临着选择，如果我们作出正确的选择，祖辈一定会激励我们；如果我们的选择是错误的，祖辈会谴责我们的。上帝正眷顾着这个国家，我们必须显示出我们的勇气，敢于面对问题，而不是将它们遗留给我们的后代。

　　我们要共同努力，健全美国的学校教育，不能让无知和冷漠吞噬更多的年轻生命。我们要改革社会医疗和保险制度，在力所能及的范围内拯救我们的孩子。我们要减低税收，恢复经济，酬劳辛勤工作的美国人民。我们要防患于未然，懈怠会带来麻烦。我们还要阻止武器泛滥，使新的世纪摆脱恐怖的威胁。

　　反对自由和反对我们国家的人应该明白：美国仍将积极参与国际事务，力求世界力量的均衡，让自由的力量遍及全球。这是历史的选择。我们会保护我们的盟国，捍卫我们的利益。我们将谦逊地向世界人民表示我们的目标。我们将坚决反击各种侵略和不守信用的行径。我们要向全世界宣传孕育了我们伟大民族的价值观。

　　正处在鼎盛时期的美国也不缺乏同情心。

　　当我们静心思考，我们就会明了根深蒂固的贫穷根本不值得我国作出承诺。无论我们如何看待贫穷的原因，我们都必须承认，孩子敢于冒险不等于在犯错误。放纵与滥用都为上帝所不容。这些都是缺乏爱的结果。监狱数量的增长虽然看起来是有必要的，但并不能代替我们心中的希望-人人遵纪守法。

　　哪里有痛苦，我们的义务就在哪里。对我们来说，需要帮助的美国人不是陌生人，而是我们的公民；不是负担，而是急需救助的对象。当有人陷入绝望时，我们大家都会因此变得渺小。

　　对公共安全和大众健康，对民权和学校教育，政府都应负有极大的责任。然而，同情心不只是政府的职责，更是整个国家的义务。有些需要是如此的迫切，有些伤痕是如此的深刻，只有导师的爱抚、牧师的祈祷才能有所感触。不论是教堂还是慈善机构、犹太会堂还是清真寺，都赋予了我们的社会它们特有的人性，因此它们理应在我们的建设和法律上受到尊重。

　　我们国家的许多人都不知道贫穷的痛苦。但我们可以听到那些感触颇深的人们的倾诉。我发誓我们的国家要达到一种境界：当我们看见受伤的行人倒在远行的路上，我们决不会袖手旁观。

　　正处于鼎盛期的美国重视并期待每个人担负起自己的责任。

　　鼓励人们勇于承担责任不是让人们充当替罪羊，而是对人的良知的呼唤。虽然承担责任意味着牺牲个人利益，但是你能从中体会到一种更加深刻的成就感。

　　我们实现人生的完整不单是通过摆在我们面前的选择，而且是通过我们的实践来实现。我们知道，通过对整个社会和我们的孩子们尽我们的义务，我们将得到最终自由。

　　我们的公共利益依赖于我们独立的个性；依赖于我们的公民义务，家庭纽带和基本的公正；依赖于我们无数的、默默无闻的体面行动，正是它们指引我们走向自由。

　　在生活中，有时我们被召唤着去做一些惊天动地的事情。但是，正如我们时代的一位圣人所言，每一天我们都被召唤带着挚爱去做一些小事情。一个民主制度最重要的任务是由大家每一个人来完成的。

　　我为人处事的原则包括：坚信自己而不强加于人，为公众的利益勇往直前，追求正义而不乏同情心，勇担责任而决不推卸。我要通过这一切，用我们历史上传统价值观来哺育我们的时代。

　　(同胞们)，你们所做的一切和政府的工作同样重要。我希望你们不要仅仅追求个人享受而忽略公众的利益；要捍卫既定的改革措施，使其不会轻易被攻击；要从身边小事做起，为我们的国家效力。我希望你们成为真正的公民，而不是旁观者，更不是臣民。你们应成为有责任心的公民，共同来建设一个互帮互助的社会和有特色的国家。

　　美国人民慷慨、强大、体面，这并非因为我们信任我们自己，而是因为我们拥有超越我们自己的信念。一旦这种公民精神丧失了，无论何种政府计划都无法弥补它。一旦这种精神出现了，无论任何错误都无法抗衡它。

　　在《独立宣言》签署之后，弗吉尼亚州的政治家约翰?佩齐曾给托马斯?杰弗逊写信说："我们知道，身手敏捷不一定就能赢得比赛，力量强大不一定就能赢得战争。难道这一切不都是上帝安排的吗？"

　　杰斐逊就任总统的那个年代离我们已经很远了。时光飞逝，美国发生了翻天覆地的变化。但是有一点他肯定能够预知，即我们这个时代的主题仍然是：我们国家无畏向前的恢宏故事和它追求尊严的纯朴梦想。

　　我们不是这个故事的作者，是杰斐逊作者本人的伟大理想穿越时空，并通过我们每天的努力在变为现实。我们正在通过大家的努力在履行着各自的职责。

　　带着永不疲惫、永不气馁、永不完竭的信念，今天我们重树这样的目标：使我们的国家变得更加公正、更加慷慨，去验证我们每个人和所有人生命的尊严。

　　这项工作必须继续下去。这个故事必须延续下去。上帝会驾驭我们航行的。

　　愿上帝保佑大家！愿上帝保佑美国！

奥巴马就职演说（中英文）

Wed, 21 January 2009 15:45:37 +0800

January 20,2009

　　My fellow citizens:

　　I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.

　　Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.

　　So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

　　That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

　　These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land - a nagging fear that America’s decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

　　Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America - they will be met.

　　On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

　　On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

　　We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

　　In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted - for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things - some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

　　For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.

　　For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

　　For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sanh.

　　Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

　　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.

　　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 health care’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.

　　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.

　　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.

　　Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control - and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart - not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

　　As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience’s sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.

　　Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

　　We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort - even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

　　For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

　　To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society’s ills on the West - know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

　　To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world’s resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

　　As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment - a moment that will define a generation - it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

　　For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter’s courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent’s willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

　　Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends - hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

　　This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

　　This is the source of our confidence - the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

　　This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed - why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

　　So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America’s birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

　　"Let it be told to the future world...that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."

　　America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children’s children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God’s grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

同胞们：

　　我今天站在这里，因为面前的任务而感到谦卑，因为你们的信任而心存感激，同时铭记先辈们做所出的巨大牺牲。感谢布什总统为这个国家做出的贡献，同时也谢谢他在整个政权交接期间表现出的慷慨与合作。

　　迄今已经有44名美国人宣誓就任总统。这些誓词曾出现在繁荣的上升趋势和如水般平静的和平中，当然，也经常会出现在乌云密布和狂风暴雨之时。在这各种时刻，美国一直在继续前行，这不仅仅是因为执政的技巧或者有先见之明，而是因为我们的人民一直在坚守先辈们的理想，忠实履行我们的建国宣言。过去是这样，这一代的美国人仍将会坚持这样做。

　　众所周知，我们目前正处在危机之中。我们的国家正在对暴力和仇恨宣战。我们的经济也被严重削弱，这是一些人贪婪和不负责任的后果，但在做出艰难选择和准备迎接新时代方面，我们出现了集体性的失误。房屋失去了；工作丢掉了；商业萧条了；我们的卫生保健耗资巨大；我们太多的学校不合格；每天都能找到更多的证据表明我们利用能源的方式使得对手更加强大，并且威胁到了我们整个星球。

　　这些数据和统计都是危机的表现特征。虽然无法具备测量，但产生的深远影响是我们的信心受到了侵蚀--担心美国的衰退不可避免，担心下一代会降低他们的期待。今天我要向你们说的是，我们面临的挑战是真实存在的。这些挑战很多，而且非常严重，它们不会轻易地或者在短时间内就能得以解决。但大家也必须认识到，美国，终将会解决这些困难。

　　今天，我们聚集在这里，是因为我选择用希望来战胜恐惧，用团结来战胜冲突与分歧。今天，我们来到这里将结束悲戚和错误的承诺，抛弃指责和教条主义这些扼杀我们政治的东西。我们仍然是一个年轻的国家，但现在应该摒弃充满孩子气的行为，重申我们不朽的精神；选择我们更好的历史；宏扬那些珍贵而且高尚的理念，并将这一代一代地传递下去。上帝认为天下众生皆平等，众生皆自由，而且都应该拥有追求幸福的机会。

　　在重申我们国家的伟大时，我们必须明白，伟大绝对不会是一种馈赠，而是要靠我们去努力争取。我们的征途从来没有捷径，也不属于那些胆怯懦弱、消谴工作或者只追求财富名利的人。为了我们，他们整理起自己不多的物品开始穿越大海寻找新的生活；为了我们，他们在血汗工厂辛苦劳作，忍受着皮鞭的抽打并且犁开坚硬的土地；为了我们，他们在诸如康科得、盖茨堡、诺曼底等等地方作战并献出生命。

　　这些男男女女们不停地奋斗和牺牲，一直工作直到双手生疼，目的只是为了过上更好一些的生活。在他们的眼中，美国比他们个人的报负更加重要，也比所有出身、财富或者宗派之间的差别更加重要。这就是我们今天仍在继续的征程。我们仍然是世界上最繁荣、最强大的国家。当这场危机开始后，我们工人的生产力并没有下降；我们的思想也没有失去创造力；我们现在需要的商品和服务，并没有比上周、上月或者去年减少；我们的生产力并没有降低。从今天开始，我们必须振作起来，拂去身上的灰尘，重新开始振兴美国。

　　环视周围，到处是要做的工作。目前的经济状况要求我们采取大胆和迅速的行动，我们将采取行动，不仅是创造新的工作岗位，而且是为经济的增长奠定新的基石。我们将建设道路和桥梁、电网和数字网络，它们将为我们的商业活动服务，把我们联系在一起。我们将使科学回归其位，应用科学技术来提高医疗的质量并降低其费用。我们将利用太阳能、风能、潮汐能来驱动我们的汽车，运营我们的工厂。我们将变革我们的学校、学院和大学以满足新时代的需求。这些是我们能够做的，我们将做这一切。

　　现在，有些人质疑我们的雄心壮志。他们称，我们的制度不能容忍太多宏伟的计划，他们很健忘，因为他们已忘记了这个国家曾经作过的事情，忘记了自由的男女在想像力和共同目标、必要性和勇气相结合的情况下所能取得的成就。

　　愤世嫉俗者未能理解的是，他们脚下的土地已发生了变动，过去那种消耗我们太长时间的陈腐的政治争论将不会重现。我们今天问的问题将不是我们的政府是过大或者过小，而是它是否有效-它是否能帮助家庭找到可支付体面工资的工作，向他们提供可支付得起的医疗服务，提供有尊严的退休。当答案是肯定时，我们就会推动这一项目。当答案是否定时，我们就会结束这一项目。我们所有管理公共资金的人将在这一标准下工作-明智地花钱、改革坏习惯、使我们的活动透明化，因为只有这样，我们才能恢复人民和他们政府之间的至关重要的信任。

　　对于我们来说，市场是好是坏并不是一个问题，市场产生财富和扩展自由的能力是无以匹敌的。但这场危机提醒我们，没有有效的监管，市场会失控。当一个国家只青睐富人时，它的繁荣将无法持久。我们经济的成功不仅取决于我们国民生产总值的总量，而且取决于我们共享繁荣的范围，取决于我们将机会扩大至每个愿意抓住机会的人，这不仅是出于慈善之心，而是因为这是一条通往我们共同利益的最确切的道路。

　　就我们共同的防务而言，我们拒绝那种在我们的安全和我们的理想之间作出取舍的错误选择。我们的建国先辈曾面临我们几乎无法想像的危险，他们起草了确保法制和人权的宪章，数代美国人的鲜血扩展了这一宪章。这些理想仍然照亮着世界，我们将不会为了权宜之计而放弃它们。对于所有那些今天在观看就职典礼的世界其它各地的人民和政府，从宏伟的首都至我父亲所出生的那个小村庄，请明白，美国是所有国家、所有试图寻求和平和尊严男人、女人、儿童的朋友，我们已作好了再次担任领导者的准备。

　　我们回忆起前几辈的美国人，他们不仅仅是靠导弹和坦克击败法西斯主义，而且是靠紧密的联盟和持久的信念。他们明白，我们自身的力量不足以保护我们，也不会使我们为所欲为。相反，他们知道，我们的力量只有在谨慎使用的情况下才会增涨，我们的安全来源于我们事业的正义、我们榜样的力量、人性和克制的品格。

　　我们是这种遗产的继承者。这些原则将再次指引我们，我们可以应对那些需要更多努力的新威胁，这些新威胁需要国家之间进行更大程度的合作和理解。我们将负责任地把伊拉克交给它的人民，我们将在阿富汗推动负出重大代价才赢得的和平。我们将和老朋友和前敌手一起毫不松懈地削弱核威胁，应对全球变暖。我们将不会为我们的生活方式道歉，我们也不会放松我们的防务。对通过谋杀无辜者推动自己生活方式的人，我们对你们说，我们的精神更为强大，它无法被挫败，你们不可能消灭我们，我们将击败你们。

　　我们都知道，我们各类遗产的汇集是一种力量，而不是脆弱。美国是由信仰基督教、伊斯兰教、犹太教和印度教的人们以及无信仰人士组成的国家，来自地球上每一个角落的语言和文化在这里融汇。我们有过内战和种族隔离的惨痛经历，翻过黑暗的一页，我们因此变得更加强大、更加团结，我们因此坚信古老的仇恨总有一天会化解，部族之间的隔阂很快就会消除。我们坚信，随着世界变得越来越小，我们共有的人道精神将放出光芒，美国必须克尽己职，开创一个和平的新纪元。

　　对于穆斯林世界，我们将寻求新的共处之道，一种基于共同利益和相互尊重的方式。对于世界上那些播种冲突的种子或将自己社会的弊病归咎于西方的领导人，你们应该明白一点，你们的人民将根据你们所建设的而非破坏的来对你们作出评判。对于那些通过腐败、欺骗和镇压异见者来攫取权力的领导人，你们应该明白自己在违逆历史的潮流，但如果你们愿意松开拳头，我们将向你们提供帮助。

　　对于那些贫穷国家的人民，我们发誓将跟你们并肩战斗，让你们的农场繁茂、让洁净的水源流淌，让挨饿的身体获得营养、让饥渴的头脑获得食粮。对于那些像我们一样相对富有的国家，我们要说，我们再也不能对自己国界之外的苦难漠不关心，我们再也不能不顾后果地消耗世界的资源。这个世界已经改变，我们必须与之俱变。

　　当我们展望未来的路途，我们怀着谦卑的感激想起此时此刻正守卫在边远的沙漠和山区的勇敢的美国人。今天他们有话要对我们说，就像躺在阿林顿国家公墓里那些倒下的英雄的低语一样。我们之所以尊敬他们，不仅仅因为他们为我们的自由保驾护航，更是因为他们践行着服务的精神，以及在比自身更宏伟的事物上寻找意义的崇高意愿。然而就在此时，这个将影响一代人的时刻，我们所有人需要的正是这种精神。

　　因为不论政府能做什么和必须做什么，最终这个国家都要依赖美国人民的信念和决心。它是当堤坝溃决后收留一个陌生人的仁善，它是那些宁愿减少自己的工时也不愿看见一位朋友失业、帮助我们度过黑暗时光的工人的大公无私，它是消防员们冲进浓烟滚滚的楼梯的勇气，也是那些养育小孩并最终决定我们的命运的父母们的意愿。

　　我们可能面临着全新的挑战，我们应对这些挑战的手段也可能是全新的，但是我们的成功所仰赖的价值标准却是古老的——勤劳、诚实、勇气、公正、忍耐、好奇、忠诚和爱国。这些东西都是真实的，它们在整个美国历史上一直是我们取得进步的背后推动力。现在所亟需的是回归这些真理，现在我们需要进入一个新的责任时代——需要每个美国人都认识到，我们对自己、对这个国家、对整个世界都负有责任，不是勉强接受的责任，而是当仁不让，应该彻底明白一点，即除非将我们的一切献给一项艰巨的任务，我们的精神无法获得满足、我们的人格也无法获得塑造。

　　这是作为一位公民的价值和承诺。

　　这是我们的信心之源，是上帝召唤我们去塑造一个不确定的命运。

　　这是我们的自由和信念的意义所在——为什么不同信仰、不同种族的男女老少能够在这个宏伟的大厅里欢聚一堂，以及为什么不到六十年前一个人的父亲还不能在当地餐馆里就餐、现在他却能够站在大家面前进行最庄严的宣誓。

　　让我们为这一天打上标记吧，用对我们是谁以及走过的旅程的回忆。在美国诞生的那一年，在最寒冷的季节，一小队爱国志士围着河边快要熄灭的篝火，此时河流已经冰封。首府被遗弃了。敌人在挺进。雪地上血迹斑斑。在革命成败茫然未知的时刻，我们的国父让人民听到了下面的话语：

　　“让未来的世界知道……在冰天雪地的寒冬里，当唯有希望和美德幸存的时候……这个城市和这个国家，在危险的警报响起之后，挺身迎向它们。”

　　美国。现在我们面临共同的危险，在这个艰苦卓绝的寒冬，让我们记起这些不朽的话语。怀着希望和美德，让我们再次迎击冰冷的湍流，忍受可能来临的风暴。让我们的孙辈这样讲述我们：当我们面临考验之时，我们拒绝让这段旅程中止，我们没有转过身去，也没有摇摆不定，而是眼睛坚定地望着前方，承蒙上帝的恩典，我们携带着自由的伟大礼物，安全地将它交付给我们的后代。

三一降薪：给高管一份责任，给员工一份希望

Wed, 21 January 2009 14:47:15 +0800

这样的企业何愁不能基业长青，何愁不能称为百年老店。

更何会担心企业员工的凝聚力问题呢？

这样的举措，降薪的舒畅，涨薪的幸福。

向伟大的三一重工致以最崇高的敬礼！！！

百年不遇的经济危机，给2009年经济形势带来了不确定性。

总理说"新的一年将是新世纪最困难的一年"！

为了应对危机,三一就薪酬和奖金等问题做了一些决定,引起广泛关注,特此说明如下:

一、三一经过慎重研究，接连下达了五个文件，大意是：

1、决定09年董事长年薪为1元，其它董事年薪降低90%。

2、接受公司高管自愿降薪申请，但降幅不超过50%。

3、不接受中层以下员工的降薪申请,对于己收到的8000份申请将视同宝贵财富永久珍藏。

4、不裁员，中层以下员工不降薪。

5、2008年年终奖按2005年标准上浮20%发放。同时决定，当公司年销售达千亿时，以特别奖的形式对员工进行奖励和补偿，奖励额度按今年奖金的5-10倍发放,高管5倍员工10倍。如经批准员工放弃或少领,按同等倍数奖励.

二、决策的主要考量

1、给高管一份责任和压力

公司给高管降薪并非企业已经很困难，相反，2008年公司业绩仍然亮丽。但是百年不遇的经济危机将如何演变仍存在不确定性，而在我们的肩上承担着将近30000名员工的生计责任,面对重大的挑战与机会。给高管降薪是让大家明白自己的责任，同时，给高管一份压力，全面贯彻落实公司战略和计划,推动各项工作和变革,借势而为推动公司的经营管理水平迈上一个新台阶，把“一升二紧三降六加强”工作落到实处,为企业可持续发展打下更加坚实的基础。

2、给员工一份信心与希望

30000名员工背后是30000个家庭，三一作为一个优秀企业，必须承担更多的社会责任。员工大多靠工资生活，经济危机中将面临更大的生活压力，所以，公司明确对中层以下员工不裁员、不减薪。

但是仅有这一点还不够，也要让员工有忧患意识，所以，我们调整了奖金发放标准，按2005标准上浮20%发放,在2007年基础上有所降低。为了凝聚共识，激发信心与斗志，同时又让员工利益不受损害，我们通过设立“千亿特别奖”实质上是大幅提高了员工的奖金，等于在给员工发放奖金的同时，发放了等额的(如放弃则翻倍)投资回报率为10倍的“股票”，尽管附加了实现千亿的条件,但大部分员工对2012年集团销售实现千亿元深信不疑。我们在给员工一份信心的同时，其实也给了员工一个美好的希望！

总理说“信心比黄金更重要”，命运让我们遭遇百年不遇的经济危机，不能让它轻巧滑过,三一人想凭自己的智慧、能力和担当，给未来留下一段佳话，同时给自己留下一段美好的回忆！

希望有更多的公司比三一做得更好！让我们一起面对困难，在创造历史的同时为自己的子孙后代留下一份宝贵的经验和精神财富！

咋

Tue, 20 January 2009 11:38:26 +0800

萧虎早上刚一踏进办公室，办公桌上那个红色的信封就跳进了眼里。

终于捱到这一天了，萧虎飘至红包前，猫下腰狠狠地来了一个亲吻。

不对呀！这么喜庆的日子，隔档那边的司花——罗怡薇，还有屋内的其他四、五个人咋都耷拉着脸，用指尖狠狠地敲着键盘哩？尤其罗怡薇，更是将平日的修养和风韵抛在了一边，大口大口喝着水，嘴巴咂的砰砰响。全然不顾了她自己在萧虎心中的印象。

萧虎有些懵！看到这儿，他心里猛地一紧，难道……

不对，不对！呸呸呸……萧虎一边心里鄙视着自己，一边殷勤地给怡薇半空的茶杯续上水。（未完待续）

企业家像企鹅

Wed, 14 January 2009 13:03:46 +0800

企业家是什么样的人？企业家是像企鹅一样立业成家的人。从企鹅的特性可以认知企业家的某些特征：第一，始终踮着脚后跟；第二，向上看、向前进；第三，小步快走；第四，耐严寒；第五，孤独感；第六，群体生活；第七，水陆两栖。

企业家的“企”字也很值得玩味，它由“人”与“止”两字组成。企业家应是知止之人，《大学》曰：知止，而后能定，而后能静，而后能安，而后能虑，而后能得。知止，才能成为成功的企业家。

企业家与资本家不同，资本家是资本的人格化，资本的运行走的路线是循环和周转，所以，资本家走的是一条圆形的没有尽头的不归路，而企业家作为职业经理人，走的是一条直线，是一条会有尽头的路。当然，在当前的中国，资本家与企业家大部分是合二为一的，日常当中我们都把企业家等同于资本家了。

如今，处在经济萧条的冬天里的企业家，恐怕就更像企鹅，更有企鹅的感觉了！

认识你自己(转载）

Tue, 25 November 2008 13:02:32 +0800

一个灵魂在天外游荡，有一天通过某一对男女的交合而投进一个凡胎。他从懵懂无知开始，似乎完全忘记了自己的本来面目。但是，随着年岁和经历的增加，那天赋的性质渐渐显露，使他不自觉地对生活有一种基本的态度。在一定意义上，“认识你自己”就是要认识附着在凡胎上的这个灵魂，一旦认识了，过去的一切都有了解释，未来的一切都有了方向。认识你自己

人人都在写自己的历史，但这历史缺乏细心的读者。我们没有工夫读自己的历史，即使读，也是读得何其草率。

“认识你自己！”——这是铭刻在希腊圣城德尔斐神殿上的著名箴言，希腊和后来的哲学家喜欢引用来规劝世人。对这句箴言可作三种理解。

第一是人要有自知之明。这大约是箴言本来的意思，它传达了神对人的要求，就是人应该知道自己的限度。希腊人大抵也是这样理解的。有人问泰勒斯，什么是最困难之事，回答是：“认识你自己。”接着的问题：什么是最容易之事？回答是：“给别人提建议。”这位最早的哲人显然是在讽刺世人，世上有自知之明者寥寥无几，好为人师者比比皆是。看来苏格拉底领会了箴言的真谛，他认识自己的结果是知道自己一无所知，为此受到了德尔斐神谕的最高赞扬，被称作全希腊最智慧的人。

第二种理解是，每个人身上都藏着世界的秘密，因此，都可以通过认识自己来认识世界。在希腊哲学家中，好像只有晦涩哲人赫拉克利特接近了这个意思。他说：“我探寻过我自己。”还说，他的哲学仅是“向自己学习”的产物。不说认识世界，至少就认识人性而言，每个人在自己身上的确都有着丰富的素材，可惜大多被浪费掉了。事实上，自古至今，一切伟大的人性认识者都是真诚的反省者，他们无情地把自己当作标本，藉之反而对人性有了深刻而同情的理解。

第三种理解是，每个人都是一个独一无二的个体，都应该认识自己独特的禀赋和价值，从而实现自我，真正成为自己。这种理解最流行，我以前也常采用，但未必符合作为城邦动物的希腊人的实情，恐怕是文艺复兴以来的引伸和发挥了。

在一定意义上，可以把“认识你自己”理解为认识你的最内在的自我，那个使你之所以成为你的核心和根源。认识了这个东西，你就心中有数了，知道怎样的生活才是合乎你的本性的，你究竟应该要什么和可以要什么了。

然而，最内在的自我必定也是最隐蔽的，怎样才能认识它呢？各种宗教有静修内观的功夫，对于一般人来说，那毕竟玄了一点。而且，内观的对象其实不是上述意义的自我，而是这自我背后的东西，例如，在佛教是空，在基督教是神。

我觉得我找到了一个认识自我的方便路径。事实上，我们平时做事和与人相处，那个最内在的自我始终是在表态的，只是往往不被我们留意罢了。那么，让我们留意，做什么事，与什么人相处，我们发自内心深处感到喜悦，或者相反，感到厌恶，那便是最内在的自我在表态。就此而论，知道自己最深刻的好恶就是认识自我，而一个人在这个世界上倘若有了自己真正钟爱的事和人，就可以算是在实现自我了。（转载自周国平博客）

群体性事件震动中国与民争利是“罪魁祸首”(转）

Mon, 24 November 2008 14:00:46 +0800

中国应该在处理群体性事件的过程中学习应有的经验，然后将其制度化，避免涟漪效应不断发酵

国际先驱导报记者安同发自北京多年后，当人们书写2008年的中国历史时，重庆“的哥”或许将是一个绕不开的话题。

这个生活不堪重负的底层群体大概没有料到，他们在11月3日那天的罢运将会掀开全国一连串出租车罢运的序幕。最近的一起发生在11月20日，广东汕头市出租车司机集体停运，第二天，数百名司机聚集在市政府门前，呼吁当地政府采取有效措施打击“黑车”，整治运营市场秩序。

　　重庆“的哥”“唤醒”的不仅只有利益受到侵犯的各地同行，还有在过去处理群体性事件时一直趋于保守的地方政府。“今年政府在处理这类群体性事件时，基本上做到了披露信息及时公开，处理方式以人为本。”危机管理专家、中国人民大学公共传播研究所副所长胡百精说，政府的决策理念和行政原则正在发生变化，这是一个了不起的进步。

　　不平静的十一月

　　率先被“唤醒”的同行来自离重庆千里之遥的海南三亚。11月10日上午6点，两百多名出租车司机聚集在三亚市政府门口，申诉三亚市一些出租车公司垄断市场、租金过高、黑车太多等问题，要求与市政府相关部门领导接洽以尽快解决问题。三个小时后，甘肃省永登县司机罢运开始，全县共有合法运营手续的出租车280多辆，参加当天罢运的有160多辆。

　　一波未平，一波又起。短短8天后，云南大理部分“挂靠”在大理交通运输集团的个体司机因不满公司一项新规定而集体罢运，并到大理州政府集体上访。

　　尽管罢运事件在全国此起彼伏，但司机们一直在用平和的方式表达利益的诉求。相比之下，甘肃陇南的群体性事件则掺进了些许暴力的色彩。11月17日上午9时30分开始，陇南市武都区东江镇30多名拆迁户集体到陇南市委上访，要求对陇南市行政中心搬迁后他们面临的住房、土地和今后的生活等问题做出答复。陇南市委和相关部门的干部及时进行了接访，但未与上访人员意见达成一致。当晚，聚集和围观群众陆续增加，部分聚集人员冲击市委机关，砸坏部分车辆和办公设施，打伤维护秩序的武警战士。

　　十天前，类似的场面也曾在深圳街头上演。11月7日上午，深圳宝安石岩街道组织相关部门进行整治非法营运统一行动，一工作人员举对讲机砸无牌摩托车致司机李某撞灯柱身亡。下午千名群众聚集示威，并烧毁了值勤的警车。

　　群体性事件频发的2008

　　如果把时间的镜头调转到整个2008年，比“陇南事件”更暴力的群体性事件远不只一起。

　　6月28日下午，一些人因对贵州省瓮安县公安局针对该县一名女学生死因开列的鉴定结果不满，聚集到县政府和县公安局。在县政府有关负责人接待过程中，一些群众冲击县公安局、县政府和县委大楼。随后，少数群众趁机打砸办公室，并点火焚烧多间办公室和一些车辆。

　　瓮安之所以发生暴动，是信息不透明所致。当地少女李树芬溺水死亡，在长达六天的时间里，由于死者家属怀疑李树芬被奸杀而连续上访上诉，但警方没有及时公布信息，致使谣言四起，激化矛盾，升级为暴乱。

　　之后，很多地方政府纷纷将“瓮安事件”作为政府处理群体性事件的一个反思样本，力争从中吸取教训，但这却未能阻止更多悲剧的发生。从7月到10月，接连发生了云南孟连县胶农事件等多起群体性事件。

　　与民争利是“罪魁祸首”

　　这些群体性事件一经媒体披露，迅速在网上引起广泛讨论。“地方政府与民夺利”被中国网民认为是“罪魁祸首”。“部分地方政府片面维护企业与自身利益，漠视农民的权利要求与利益诉求，将损害群众利益当做增加企业与政府利益的前提。”中国一位资深评论员魏文彪说。《联合早报》评论说，一些地方政府片面强调经济发展，忽略了应有的服务职能。比如在公共事业范围内，修路要过路费，建校要集资费，拆迁要劳务费，对治下百姓敲膏吸髓，刮地三尺，所作所为有的甚至比黑帮有过之而无不及。

　　在2008年的“全国土地执法百日行动”中，中国查出“以租代征”、开发区擅自设区扩区、未批先用三类违规违法案件3万多件，涉及土地330多万亩。凤凰卫视时事评论员邱震海建议说，政府应该早日退出市场资源的配置，主要管宏观经济，制定游戏规则，这样才能降低政府的寻租空间。在邱震海主持的《震海听风录》节目中，经济学家吴敬琏表示，改革开放三十年来面临的最大的问题是，权力和经济结合得非常紧密。清华大学社会学教授孙立平说，中国历经十多年的经济腾飞，如今社会贫富差距越拉越大。

　　2008年究竟发生了多少群体性事件，官方尚未公布最新的数据。不过三年前的一组数据已经说明问题的严重性。根据2005年的《社会蓝皮书》披露，从1993年到2003年间，中国群体性事件数量已由1万起增加到6万起，参与人数也由约73万增加到约307万。“群体性事件发生的根本性原因在于个人无法找到协商机制和利益维护机制”，中国人民大学毛寿龙教授这样说道。

　　政府采取新思维应对

　　不过，纵观今年以来发生的一连串群体性事件，应该说政府已经在试图建立这样的协商机制。以重庆罢运事件为例。事件发生3天后，重庆市委书记薄熙来邀请重庆出租车司机和市民代表进行交流、座谈，听取了出租车行业的诉求和市民代表的意见。薄熙来与重庆“的哥”及市民代表的这次座谈还在当地电视台、电台和新闻网站进行全程直播。

　　重庆市公安局副局长高晓东认为，应对群体事件需要新思维，关键是建立畅通的利益诉求渠道、有效的谈判协商机制，在平等、法制的轨道内解决利益冲突；要把应急能力的建设更多地转化为日常管理能力的加强，比如提升出租车行业协会的地位，促使其健康发育，发挥行业自律作用，使从业人员追求自身利益的行为合法化、有序化。

　　在中共十六届六中全会上，如何预防和处理群体性事件写进了执政党的文件。

　　“连续几次的群体性事件，政府都是把人放在第一位解决问题。政府开始意识到，公共利益就是大众的利益，哪怕是少数出租车司机的利益，它也会把他们作为一个整体的公共利益来对待。”胡百精认为，一个社会最健康的状态就是能够把个体的困境转化为公共问题，大家一起投入智慧和精力进行协商，毕竟社会对抗的成本远远大于社会协商的成本，而最不健康的状态是局部出现问题后，局部去压制。

　　信息公开成为必须

　　除了以人为本，另一个突出的变化就是媒体报道比以往更为及时和公开。

　　重庆罢运事件在11月3日清晨7时左右爆发，新华社在早上10时许，先后就事件发出《重庆主城区出租车全部停驶》、《重庆市主城区出租车全城罢工，主要四大原因》等报道。内容不仅叙述事件，且更颇具理解罢工司机不满情绪的意味。当天下午4点半，重庆市政府便主动邀请媒体召开新闻发布会，向社会公布了停运事件发生的原因，以及政府即将采取的处置措施。此后，重庆市政府更是连续召开3次这样的新闻发布会。

　　敏锐的西方媒体立刻嗅出了其中开放的讯息。路透社评论说，当政府推行扩大社会安全网和同经济低迷作战的政策目标时，增加新闻报道的开放性也将对政府有利。对此，胡百精非常认同。“大多数矛盾是在时间的迟滞当中发酵的，及时本身就意味着主动。”胡百精说，此前这类信息往往采取“出口转内销”，如果自己的媒体先失声，那么我们将全面处于被动状态。“这是政府部门从"3·14"拉萨事件，"5·12"大地震，奥运圣火海外传递受阻事件中所积累下来的经验。”

　　正如“云南孟连”事件发生后，在现场主持处置工作的云南省委副书记李纪恒所言：“谣言止于真相。一个负责任的政府，没有什么可以向公众隐瞒的。”

　　然而，也有需要继续完善的地方。以陇南事件为例。事件发生后，落款为“陇南市人民政府新闻办公室”的情况说明函这样表述道：武都城区部分群众上访被少数别有用心的人煽动利用，信访干部公安干警出面劝导遭一些不法分子殴打致伤，导致60多名干部群众和公安干警受伤。

　　“一些地方政府有个思维惯性，一旦群体性事件发生就认为一定存在"少数别有用心的人"在推波助澜，这是不对的。”胡百精认为，政府不能武断下结论，要实事求是，具体问题具体分析。“假如当真存在非法肇事者，要依照法律来处理他。但很多情况下，"少数别有用心的人"可能因为利益受到伤害，只不过情绪的反弹更激烈，仅此而已。”

　　用对话化解对抗

　　在胡百精看来，在当前社会环境下，政府面对群体性事件，堵不如疏。“重庆市政府正是采取直接和民间面对面对话的方式，所以才避免了私下上访，激烈对抗。很多问题不是不能解决，很多矛盾也不是已经到了尖锐对立的程度，大部分问题仅仅因为社会情绪无法宣泄，信息暧昧不清，官民对话缺位。开辟新的官民对话渠道，保证它的畅通性，这实际上是非常重要的。”

　　胡百精认为，应该把对话能力列入公务员工作绩效的考察内容。“具体而言，一个公务员每周有多长时间在和他所"管辖"的社会公众在对话，这应该成为考核他的一个内容。”

　　他还建议说，中央有关部门应该进行一轮协商，邀请地方政府、媒体、学者参与，一起总结群体性事件的经验和教训。“我们要在处理群体性事件的过程中学习应有的经验，然后将其制度化，避免涟漪效应不断发酵。”邱震海则认为，要从根本上解决这一问题就要继续深化政治体制改革，杜绝官员腐败。与此同时，进一步扩大人民知情权，“发生问题时媒体监督将会帮助事件的顺利解决。”来源：国际先驱导报

(责任编辑：杨笑)

犹豫之间

Wed, 19 November 2008 14:24:34 +0800

昨天，儿子的数学期中考试得了100分，老师说，全年级8个班共出了7个100分，儿子的班级就出了这一个100分。

但昨天，爱人也被儿子的班主任打电话叫到学校，说最近一段时间，儿子比以前不仅更加淘气了，而且很浮躁，小毛病不断。所以，要和家长沟通，

昨天傍晚，在开车接儿子放学回家的路上，儿子说，他知道今晚肯定会被我们猛训一顿。

晚上，在儿子做完作业后，克制一天的我终于发火了，猛烈的炮火如冰雹般砸向儿子的心里阵地。

儿子的泪水也犹如潮水般涌向脸颊，但就是固执地不承认自己的错误。

老师上午对爱人说，其实，这学期她一直有意培养孩子做班干部，但孩子就是不好好配合，因此，她也很是无奈。

晚上，临睡前，我问儿子屡次违反班级纪律的原因，儿子用被子捂着头，瓮声瓮气地说，他觉着老师教的课程太简单了，所以，就慌的难受。

问，能改好不？

回答说，尽量吧！

在这一问一答的时候，在我父子俩的枕头中间放着《纠正孩子99个坏习惯》一本书。

对话前，我草草地翻看了这本书，其实是用来临场救急的。

儿子安慰我说，不用看那本书，他会按照我们的要求改好的。

听着儿子的保证，我甜甜的进入了梦乡。

但，在梦里，我分明看见儿子不再是我认识的那个纯真的小孩了。

脸很生，陌生的将我惊出一身冷汗——

然后，猛地坐起。

天亮了，但窗外肯定很冷，楼下的清洁工都裹着厚厚的棉衣。

起床了，叫醒儿子，又该送他去上学了。

下楼时，看着走在前边的儿子背着的沉重异常的书包，我的心也很沉重。

儿子弓着腰，耸着肩，似图不让宽大的书包往下溜。但脚步依然轻快。

又是新的一天，太阳还没有升起。

刚从俄罗斯回来，中俄差距之大超乎想象(转载）

Tue, 28 October 2008 16:52:27 +0800

这回去俄罗斯七天，去了圣彼德堡、莫斯科、斯摩陵斯克、沃罗宁日四个地方，前天刚回来，感觉中俄罗差距实在太大了。

这回去俄罗斯七天，去了圣彼德堡、莫斯科、斯摩陵斯克、沃罗宁日四个地方，前天刚回来，感觉中俄罗差距实在太大了。

我去的四个城市，圣彼德堡、莫斯科、斯摩陵斯克都是大都市，沃罗宁日是小城市，大约相当于我国的一个县城的规模，人口约不超过十万，但不论大都市还是小城市，给我的感觉就是干净，真的实在太干净了，地面上几乎一尘不染，我在俄罗斯七天，皮鞋没擦过，出去什么样回来基本什么样。

第二个感觉，学校实在太好了，真的太好了。学校没有围墙，象个大公园，我们去了莫斯科的一所普通学校，俄罗斯语翻译过来大约叫格哈罗夫（抱歉，不能打俄语）学校，大约相当于我们一所中专或专科学校，他们的图书馆我想大约相当于我们一个省级图书馆的规模，校园的环境，绝对比我们任何一个公园好，校园有公共汽车，不要钱，招手就停，也从来不问乘车人的身份。最让我震撼的，是学生宿舍，绝对相当于我国三星级宾馆的水平（据我们一起去的人说，比我国绝大多数三星级宾馆都好），一进门，就是地毯，走廊上全是沙发，学生公寓两人一套，一个大起居室，两个小卧，一个卫生间，全是地毯，面积大约在五十平方左右，学生公寓设备非常齐全，从各种小吃到超级市场到烧烤，全部能在公寓里买到，水、电、热、房租（压根就没有房租的概念），全免费，很多学生公寓卫生间里的灯已经开了五六年，一分钟都没关过，因为不要钱，水是热水和冷水，二十四小时供应。

圣彼得堡的冬宫和夏宫，面积之大令人难以想象，尤其是夏宫，十二个小时不停地走，只逛了一半左右，汉白玉和镀金的雕塑（镀的都是纯金，有些就是真金），成千上万，保存得非常好，相比之下，故宫就象个大农庄，真的，以前说故宫是世界第几大奇迹，和人家比起来，真是太阴暗，太狭窄了。故宫和冬宫夏宫的建筑年代相差并不远，但人家已经可以建造几百个绝不重复的喷泉和宽畅到令人难以想象的饭厅，只要去过这两个地方不存偏见的话，文明的差距一目了然。

俄罗斯的物价非常贵，在莫斯科，一瓶普通的矿泉水大约要三十元人民币（九十卢布左右），一盘青菜大约要五十到八十人民币，随便吃一顿饭，大约要八百到两千人民币（吃得非常一般），但俄罗斯人的福利非常好，水费全免，电费非常便宜（每度大约相当于零点几分人民币），天然气很多地方都全免，冬天的暖气基本也相当于不收费。每个俄罗斯人，只要成年而且有正式工作，都由政府分配一套度假别墅，可以终身享，死后由政府收回。医疗全部免费，而且是百分之百免费，只要是俄罗斯国籍，我们非常详细地问了，全免，一个卢布都不收，所有的病，全部的人，没有任何例外。教育，除了私立学校以外，全免，无一例外，无任何一所学校例外。当时我们问，假如有学校乱收费呢？他们呆了半天，说，不清楚会怎么处置，因为没发生过这种事。

去之前听说俄罗斯警察非常腐败，对中国人不友好，黑社会盛行，等实际到了俄罗斯，感觉根本不是那么回事，俄罗斯警察非常有礼貌，非常友好，除了不会说英语。我们在莫斯科问过一回路，一个警察非常仔细地听我们说了半天，但他听不懂英语，当然更不懂汉语，但他依旧非常耐心地听，没有一点耐烦的样子，最后弄清楚我们是中国，于是马上和警察局联系，最后联系了中国大使馆，问我们需要什么帮助，并说，假如不能确定，可以先去警察局休息。

俄罗斯人的素质之高，令我们这些中国人真的感到非常惭愧。在莫斯科，根本不需要打车，只要一招手，就会有车停下来，坐上就走，有些收钱，有些不收钱，收钱的也便宜，因为俄罗斯的城市都非常大，莫斯科有很多人都兼职当出租车，政府从来不管。当然，很多人是真心帮助你，不要钱，而且，有时候你去的地方和他不同路，他还会为你绕一下，车自各种各样，有林肯，有拉达，也有丰田，什么车都能打到。

莫斯科的地铁，深大约有一百米左右，共四层，电梯上人们都自觉地站到右边，左边经常空无一人，后来才发现，左边是应急通道，是供那些有急事的人临时使用的，偶尔会有人急匆匆地从左边跑过，不论多么挤，人们都要留出一个通道，非常自觉。

莫斯科的红场，原本以为非常大，结果一看，连天安门广场的十分之一都不到，太小了，克里姆林宫也可以随便进，游人可以随意地拍照游玩，没有人来干涉，只是有一幢办公楼，只能去到隔着一条街的地方，有红线，一过去，就有人吹哨子，提醒你不要过街（但没有警察过来），那条街大约六七米宽，连声人行道也就十米左右吧，经过询问才知道，那是总统办公楼，梅德维杰夫总统的办公楼就在二楼，每个人都能看见他办公室的窗子，距离普通游人的直线距离不过十五六米，当时我们开玩笑说，力气大些的人估计都可以把手榴弹丢进去。

红场侧面有一幢白色小楼，很小，有个俄罗斯语叫什么楼，比较拗口，没记住。这里是普京总理的办公室，这里的管理就更松了，游人可以直接上到楼梯，只有一个警卫，绝对不来管你，只要你别进到大门里面去，但是也很少有人去，俄罗斯好象对此并不感兴趣，只有一些外国游客去照相，俄罗斯导游说普京以前当总统就很随意，莫斯科人时不时都会看到他去上班，走克里姆林宫的一个侧门，很多时候没有警车开道，也从来不住在克里姆林宫。

俄罗斯的城市街道都非常宽，城市一般限速都是八十公里左右，但行人从斑马线过马路非常安全，有红灯的地方，只要红灯一亮，车子绝对停住，不管有人没人，没红灯的地方，只要你从斑马线一过马路，车子离你非常远的地方就开始减速，你只要一犹豫，司机就会非常友好地朝你挥手，让你先过，态度非常和蔼耐心。这个现象我在几个城市都试过，有人说，这是假的，但我告诉你，至少在俄罗斯，这是千真万确的，我们回来的时候，因为去赶飞机，到乘车的地方要过一条马路，斑马线有点远，有人建议不要绕，直接过去，当时马路上没有车，但俄罗斯导游坚定地说：宁可误了飞机，也要走斑马线。

俄罗斯人非常尊重妇女，无论在什么地方，无论你是乘车还是在街边休息，只要女的一过来，男的全部起来让坐，无一例外，最典型是在公交车上，只要女的一上来，全部男人都条件反射试的站起来，从小学生到白发苍苍的老人，马上全部站起来，坐一次公交车要站起坐下很多次，最后我们都懒得坐了。

俄罗斯人每个人好象都带着垃圾袋，擦脸的吃剩的反正只要不用的，全部放垃圾袋里，一遇到垃圾桶就丢进去。俄罗斯很多地方不能抽烟，在一些商场或公共场所，都有一些水缸一样的烟灰岗，男男女女一群人围着抽烟，非常自觉，导游说就连莫斯科的市长议员，都要到这里抽烟，因为没有别的地方可以抽，大家都很坦然，没什么怨言。

俄罗斯很多地方都有排队现象，俄罗斯人对排队习以为常，非常瘦纪律，没有一个插队的。在圣彼得堡夏宫，叶卡捷宁娜宫，因为限制人数，所以要排队，大家都非常自觉，耐心地等着，而且每个人排每个人的队，几个小时，非常安静，很多人拿着书在看。在夏宫里，有很多雕塑是不能用手摸的，这些雕塑旁边有些有人守，有些没人守，我观察了一下，没有一个人去摸。当时有一个纯金的雕塑，我们以为没人，就伸手去摸，刚一触摸到，就听见哨子声（很奇怪，俄罗斯很多地方都喜欢用哨子），我们才发觉有个老兄嘴里含着哨子，警惕地看着我们。后来我们发觉，这位老兄实在很机械，假如你作势去摸，但没摸到你就停住，他就只是盯着你，不吹哨，我们试了几次，都是如此，最后大家都笑了，旁边的那些俄罗斯也无奈地笑了（但绝对是善意的，没有丝毫的敌对态度），我们也不好意思再逗他了。

俄罗斯有两样东西很多，二战纪念馆和列宁雕塑，俄罗斯人结婚都要去二战纪念馆献花，并在长明灯前默哀，而且俄罗斯法律规定只有新人才能靠近长明灯，其他人不能靠近，莫斯科的二战纪念馆规模宏大，最醒目的是，里面刻满了战死者的名字，每个战役都很多油画来表现，旁边的拄子或墙壁上全部密密麻麻的名子，从将军到士兵，没有任何区别。列宁雕塑则让我很奇怪，我原来以为都被撤除了，问导游，他说确实拆了很多，但也保留了一些，我问为什么要保留，他说因为俄罗斯还有很多人喜欢他，他们就不希望拆除，这些人的权利必须得到保障，“这很奇怪吗？”他反问。国家杜马每年都有人提议把列宁的遗体迁走，但每年都迁不走，因为总有很多人反对，每年都有人到红场示威，反对迁走，示威的人不但有老人，共产党员，也有学生甚至还有歌星，比较有趣的是，很多美国人英国人法国人也来示威，反对迁走列宁遗体，而且人很多，比俄罗斯人还起劲，说这是全人类的遗产，不能由俄罗斯自己说了算，国家杜马通不过，政府也没办法。

俄罗斯人身体非常好，很多白发苍苍的老人，走路非常快捷，俄罗斯象学校医院法院都没有退休制度，都是终身制，只要你自己愿意，就可以一直工作下去，没人赶你走。

俄罗斯街上最有特权的人，是孕妇，只要孕妇一出现，那场面，绝对象我们的领导出巡，人们纷纷往路两边让，还不停地小身提醒，听导游说孕妇在莫斯科确实是特殊人群，只要她愿意，随时有警车为她服务，一个卢布都不收。

俞敏洪在北京大学2008年开学典礼上的演讲辞

Sat, 27 September 2008 14:42:05 +0800

在北京大学2008年开学典礼上的发言

英语系80级校友、新东方教育科技集团董事长兼总裁俞敏洪

2008年9月21日

　　北大原来从未邀请过校友在开学典礼上讲话，2008年开学典礼，北大邀请了新东方教育科技集团董事长兼总裁俞敏洪老师讲话，这是俞老师的一种荣幸，更是新东方的一种荣誉。

北京大学2008级新生开学典礼（摄影/王天天）

英语系80级校友、新东方教育科技集团董事长兼总裁俞敏洪作为优秀校友代表发言

各位同学、各位领导：

大家上午好！（掌声）

非常高兴许校长给我这么崇高的荣誉，谈一谈我在北大的体会。（掌声）

可以说，北大是改变了我一生的地方，是提升了我自己的地方，使我从一个农村孩子最后走向了世界的地方。毫不夸张地说，没有北大，肯定就没有我的今天。北大给我留下了一连串美好的回忆，大概也留下了一连串的痛苦。正是在美好和痛苦中间，在挫折、挣扎和进步中间，最后找到了自我，开始为自己、为家庭、为社会能做一点事情。

学生生活是非常美好的，有很多美好的回忆。我还记得我们班有一个男生，每天都在女生的宿舍楼下拉小提琴，（笑声）希望能够引起女生的注意，结果后来被女生扔了水瓶子。我还记得我自己为了吸引女生的注意，每到寒假和暑假都帮着女生扛包。（笑声、掌声）后来我发现那个女生有男朋友，（笑声）我就问她为什么还要让我扛包，她说为了让男朋友休息一下（笑声、掌声）。我也记得刚进北大的时候我不会讲普通话，全班同学第一次开班会的时候互相介绍，我站起来自我介绍了一番，结果我们的班长站起来跟我说：“俞敏洪你能不能不讲日语？”（笑声）我后来用了整整一年时间，拿着收音机在北大的树林中模仿广播台的播音，但是到今天普通话还依然讲得不好。

人的进步可能是一辈子的事情。在北大是我们生活的一个开始，而不是结束。有很多事情特别让人感动。比如说，我们很有幸见过朱光潜教授。在他最后的日子里，是我们班的同学每天轮流推着轮椅在北大里陪他一起散步。（掌声）每当我推着轮椅的时候，我心中就充满了对朱光潜教授的崇拜，一种神圣感油然而生。所以，我在大学看书最多的领域是美学。因为他写了一本《西方美学史》，是我进大学以后读的第二本书。

为什么是第二本呢？因为第一本是这样来的，我进北大以后走进宿舍，我有个同学已经在宿舍。那个同学躺在床上看一本书，叫做《第三帝国的兴亡》。所以我就问了他一句话，我说：“在大学还要读这种书吗？”他把书从眼睛上拿开，看了我一眼，没理我，继续读他的书。这一眼一直留在我心中。我知道进了北大不仅仅是来学专业的，要读大量大量的书。你才能够有资格把自己叫做北大的学生。（掌声）所以我在北大读的第一本书就是《第三帝国的兴亡》，而且读了三遍。后来我就去找这个同学，我说：“咱们聊聊《第三帝国的兴亡》”，他说：“我已经忘了。”（笑声）

　　我也记得我的导师李赋宁教授，原来是北大英语系的主任，他给我们上《新概念英语》第四册的时候，每次都把板书写得非常的完整，非常的美丽。永远都是从黑板的左上角写起，等到下课铃响起的时候，刚好写到右下角结束。（掌声）我还记得我的英国文学史的老师罗经国教授，我在北大最后一年由于心情不好，导致考试不及格。我找到罗教授说：“这门课如果我不及格就毕不了业。”，罗教授说：“我可以给你一个及格的分数，但是请你记住了，未来你一定要做出值得我给你分数的事业。”（掌声）所以，北大老师的宽容、学识、奔放、自由，让我们真正能够成为北大的学生，真正能够得到北大的精神。当我听说许智宏校长对学生唱《隐形的翅膀》的时候，我打开视频，感动得热泪盈眶。因为我觉得北大的校长就应该是这样的。（掌声）

我记得自己在北大的时候有很多的苦闷。一是普通话不好，第二英语水平一塌糊涂。尽管我高考经过三年的努力考到了北大——因为我落榜了两次，最后一次很意外地考进了北大。我从来没有想过北大是我能够上学的地方，她是我心中一块圣地，觉得永远够不着。但是那一年，第三年考试时我的高考分数超过了北大录取分数线七分，我终于下定决心咬牙切齿填了“北京大学”四个字。我知道一定会有很多人比我分数高，我认为自己是不会被录取的。没想到北大的招生老师非常富有眼光，料到了三十年后我的今天。（掌声）但是实际上我的英语水平很差，在农村既不会听也不会说，只会背语法和单词。我们班分班的时候，五十个同学分成三个班，因为我的英语考试分数不错，就被分到了A班，但是一个月以后，我就被调到了C班。C班叫做“语音语调及听力障碍班”。（笑声）

我也记得自己进北大以前连《红楼梦》都没有读过，所以看到同学们一本一本书在读，我拼命地追赶。结果我在大学差不多读了八百多本书，用了五年时间（掌声）。但是依然没有赶超上我那些同学。我记得我的班长王强是一个书癖，现在他也在新东方，是新东方教育研究院的院长。他每次买书我就跟着他去，当时北大给我们每个月发二十多块钱生活费，王强有个癖好就是把生活费一分为二，一半用来买书，一半用来买饭菜票。买书的钱绝不动用来买饭票。如果他没有饭菜票了就到处借，借不到就到处偷。（笑声）后来我发现他这个习惯很好，我也把我的生活费一份为二，一半用来买书，一半用来买饭菜票，饭票吃完了我就偷他的。（笑声掌声）

毫不夸张地说，我们班的同学当时在北大，真是属于读书最多的班之一。而且我们班当时非常地活跃，光诗人就出了好几个。后来挺有名的一个诗人叫西川，真名叫刘军，就是我们班的。（掌声）我还记得我们班开风气之先，当时是北大的优秀集体，但是有一个晚上大家玩得高兴了，结果跳起了贴面舞，第二个礼拜被教育部通报批评了。那个时候跳舞是必须跳得很正规的，男女生稍微靠近一点就认为违反风纪。所以你们现在比我们当初要更加幸福一点。不光可以跳舞，而且可以手拉手地在校园里面走，我们如果当时男女生手拉手在校园里面走，一定会被扔到未名湖里，所以一般都是晚上十二点以后再在校园里面走。（笑声掌声）

我也记得我们班五十个同学，刚好是二十五个男生二十五个女生，我听到这个比例以后当时就非常的兴奋（笑声），我觉得大家就应该是一个配一个。没想到女生们都看上了那些外表英俊潇洒、风流倜傥的男生。像我这样外表不怎么样，内心充满丰富感情、未来有巨大发展潜力的，女生一般都看不上。（笑声掌声）

我记得我奋斗了整整两年希望能在成绩上赶上我的同学，但是就像刚才吕植老师说的，你尽管在中学高考可能考得很好，是第一名，但是北大精英人才太多了，你的前后左右可能都是智商极高的同学，也是各个省的状元或者说第二名。所以，在北大追赶同学是一个非常艰苦的过程，尽管我每天几乎都要比别的同学多学一两个小时，但是到了大学二年级结束的时候我的成绩依然排在班内最后几名。非常勤奋又非常郁闷，也没有女生来爱我安慰我。（笑声）这导致的结果是，我在大学三年级的时候得了一场重病，这个病叫做传染性侵润肺结核。当时我就晕了，因为当时我正在读《红楼梦》，正好读到林黛玉因为肺结核吐血而亡的那一章，（笑声）我还以为我的生命从此结束，后来北大医院的医生告诉我现在这种病能够治好，但是需要在医院里住一年。我在医院里住了一年，苦闷了一年，读了很多书，也写了六百多首诗歌，可惜一首诗歌都没有出版过。从此以后我就跟写诗结上了缘，但是我这个人有丰富的情感，但是没有优美的文笔，所以终于没有成为诗人。后来我感到非常的庆幸，因为我发现真正成为诗人的人后来都出事了。我们跟当时还不太出名的诗人海子在一起写过诗。后来他写过一首优美的诗歌，叫做《面朝大海，春暖花开》，我们每一个同学大概都能背。后来当我听说他卧轨自杀的时候，嚎啕大哭了整整一天。从此以后，我放下笔，再也不写诗了。（掌声）

记得我在北大的时候，到大学四年级毕业时，我的成绩依然排在全班最后几名。但是，当时我已经有了一个良好的心态。我知道我在聪明上比不过我的同学，但是我有一种能力，就是持续不断的努力。所以在我们班的毕业典礼上我说了这么一段话，到现在我的同学还能记得，我说：“大家都获得了优异的成绩，我是我们班的落后同学。但是我想让同学们放心，我决不放弃。你们五年干成的事情我干十年，你们十年干成的我干二十年，你们二十年干成的我干四十年”。（掌声）我对他们说：“如果实在不行，我会保持心情愉快、身体健康，到八十岁以后把你们送走了我再走。”（笑声掌声）

有一个故事说，能够到达金字塔顶端的只有两种动物，一是雄鹰，靠自己的天赋和翅膀飞了上去。我们这儿有很多雄鹰式的人物，很多同学学习不需要太努力就能达到高峰。很多同学后来可能很轻松地就能在北大毕业以后进入哈佛、耶鲁、牛津、剑桥这样的名牌大学继续深造。有很多同学身上充满了天赋，不需要学习就有这样的才能，比如说我刚才提到的我的班长王强，他的模仿能力就是超群的，到任何一个地方，听任何一句话，听一遍模仿出来的绝对不会两样。所以他在北大广播站当播音员当了整整四年。我每天听着他的声音，心头咬牙切齿充满仇恨。（笑声）所以，有天赋的人就像雄鹰。但是，大家也都知道，有另外一种动物，也到了金字塔的顶端。那就是蜗牛。蜗牛肯定只能是爬上去。从低下爬到上面可能要一个月、两个月，甚至一年、两年。在金字塔顶端，人们确实找到了蜗牛的痕迹。我相信蜗牛绝对不会一帆风顺地爬上去，一定会掉下来、再爬、掉下来、再爬。但是，同学们所要知道的是，蜗牛只要爬到金字塔顶端，它眼中所看到的世界，它收获的成就，跟雄鹰是一模一样的。（掌声）所以，也许我们在座的同学有的是雄鹰，有的是蜗牛。我在北大的时候，包括到今天为止，我一直认为我是一只蜗牛。但是我一直在爬，也许还没有爬到金字塔的顶端。但是只要你在爬，就足以给自己留下令生命感动的日子。（掌声）

我常常跟同学们说，如果我们的生命不为自己留下一些让自己热泪盈眶的日子，你的生命就是白过的。我们很多同学凭着优异的成绩进入了北大，但是北大绝不是你们学习的终点，而是你们生命的起点。在一岁到十八岁的岁月中间，你听老师的话、听父母的话，现在你真正开始了自己的独立生活。我们必须为自己创造一些让自己感动的日子，你才能够感动别人。我们这儿有富裕家庭来的，也有贫困家庭来的，我们生命的起点由不得你选择出生在富裕家庭还是贫困家庭，如果你生在贫困家庭，你不能说老爸给我收回去，我不想在这里待着。但是我们生命的终点是由我们自己选择的。我们所有在座的同学过去都走得很好，已经在十八岁的年龄走到了很多中国孩子的前面去，因为北大是中国的骄傲，也可以说是世界的骄傲。但是，到北大并不意味着你从此大功告成，并不意味着你未来的路也能走好，后面的五十年、六十年，甚至一百年你该怎么走，成为了每一个同学都要思考的问题。就本人而言，我觉得只要有两样东西在心中，我们就能成就自己的人生。

第一样叫做理想。我从小就有一种感觉，希望穿越地平线走向远方，我把它叫做“穿越地平线的渴望”。也正是因为这种强烈的渴望，使我有勇气不断地高考。当然，我生命中也有榜样。比如我有一个邻居，非常的有名，是我终生的榜样，他的名字叫徐霞客。当然，是五百年前的邻居。但是他确实是我的邻居，江苏江阴的，我也是江苏江阴的。因为崇拜徐霞客，直接导致我在高考的时候地理成绩考了九十七分。（掌声）也是徐霞客给我带来了穿越地平线的这种感觉，所以我也下定决心，如果徐霞客走遍了中国，我就要走遍世界。而我现在正在实现自己这一梦想。所以，只要你心中有理想，有志向，同学们，你终将走向成功。你所要做到的就是在这个过程要有艰苦奋斗、忍受挫折和失败的能力，要不断地把自己的心胸扩大，才能够把事情做得更好。

第二样东西叫良心。什么叫良心呢？就是要做好事，要做对得起自己对得起别人的事情，要有和别人分享的姿态，要有愿意为别人服务的精神。有良心的人会从你具体的生活中间做的事情体现出来，而且你所做的事情一定对你未来的生命产生影响。我来讲两个小故事，讲完我就结束我的讲话，已经占用了很长的时间。

第一个小故事。有一个企业家和我讲起他大学时候的一个故事，他们班有一个同学，家庭比较富有，每个礼拜都会带六个苹果到学校来。宿舍里的同学以为是一人一个，结果他是自己一天吃一个。尽管苹果是他的，不给你也不能抢，但是从此同学留下一个印象，就是这个孩子太自私。后来这个企业家做成功了事情，而那个吃苹果的同学还没有取得成功，就希望加入到这个企业家的队伍里来。但后来大家一商量，说不能让他加盟，原因很简单，因为在大学的时候他从来没有体现过分享精神。所以，对同学们来说在大学时代的第一个要点，你得跟同学们分享你所拥有的东西，感情、思想、财富，哪怕是一个苹果也可以分成六瓣大家一起吃。（掌声）因为你要知道，这样做你将来能得到更多，你的付出永远不会是白白付出的。

我再来讲一下我自己的故事。在北大当学生的时候，我一直比较具备为同学服务的精神。我这个人成绩一直不怎么样，但我从小就热爱劳动，我希望通过勤奋的劳动来引起老师和同学的的注意，所以我从小学一年级就一直打扫教室卫生。到了北大以后我养成了一个良好的习惯，每天为宿舍打扫卫生，这一打扫就打扫了四年。所以我们宿舍从来没排过卫生值日表。另外，我每天都拎着宿舍的水壶去给同学打水，把它当作一种体育锻炼。大家看我打水习惯了，最后还产生这样一种情况，有的时候我忘了打水，同学就说“俞敏洪怎么还不去打水”。（笑声）。但是我并不觉得打水是一件多么吃亏的事情。因为大家都是一起同学，互相帮助是理所当然的。同学们一定认为我这件事情白做了。又过了十年，到了九五年年底的时候新东方做到了一定规模，我希望找合作者，结果就跑到了美国和加拿大去寻找我的那些同学，他们在大学的时候都是我生命的榜样，包括刚才讲到的王强老师等。我为了诱惑他们回来还带了一大把美元，每天在美国非常大方地花钱，想让他们知道在中国也能赚钱。我想大概这样就能让他们回来。后来他们回来了，但是给了我一个十分意外的理由。他们说：“俞敏洪，我们回去是冲着你过去为我们打了四年水。”（掌声）他们说：“我们知道，你有这样的一种精神，所以你有饭吃肯定不会给我们粥喝，所以让我们一起回中国，共同干新东方吧。”才有了新东方的今天。（掌声）

人的一生是奋斗的一生，但是有的人一生过得很伟大，有的人一生过得很琐碎。如果我们有一个伟大的理想，有一颗善良的心，我们一定能把很多琐碎的日子堆砌起来，变成一个伟大的生命。但是如果你每天庸庸碌碌，没有理想，从此停止进步，那未来你一辈子的日子堆积起来将永远是一堆琐碎。所以，我希望所有的同学能把自己每天平凡的日子堆砌成伟大的人生。（掌声）

最后，我代表全体老校友向在座的三千多位新生表一个心意，我代表全体老校友和新东方把两百万人民币捐给许校长，为在座同学们的学习、活动和成长提供一点帮助。（掌声）

忙！！！！！

Wed, 10 September 2008 20:25:31 +0800

今天下午，收到一朋友发来的短信，问最近忙啥呢？

是啊！忙啥呢？我最近到底在忙啥呢？

几乎搜空了所有的回忆，仍未能梳理出问候的答案。

也是在上周，一个老领导关切地问我，最近忙不忙，干啥呢？

不忙！啥都没干！我回答说。

可不敢这样说哟！要说忙得很哩！

呵呵，领导就是领导，就连督促都是那样的善意。

这个世界，现在的人都很忙。无论为了生活还是事业，无论为了工作还是心计，无论为了无论什么，如果谁敢说他不忙，那是会被人鄙夷的，甚至是会被人疏远到圈子之外的，会如同一个异类而被屏蔽起来。

那么，到底大家都为什么而忙呢？生活、事业、工作、爱情、还是内心不可告人的秘密。

总之，大家都在忙！

忙的可谓昏天黑地，忙的真是不可开交，忙的大家都快失去了联系。

那么，到底是为什么而忙呢？

这个答案，千万别忙中出错哟……

儿子终于能静下来了！

Sun, 10 August 2008 11:35:51 +0800

儿子天性好动，从上幼儿园开始，小家伙周围的人都盛赞他的精力，从每天的日出到日落，他就不停地在蹦跳着，我们也曾担心他是否患上了多动症，但经医生诊断，完全担心多余。

这个暑假，孩子已经8岁了，也顺利地上完了二年级，但精力充沛的特征却是越来越明显。为此，我们在这个暑假特别为他安排了学写毛笔字，哪怕暑假作业因此而不能完成，也要让他能安静地消停一会儿。

经过一段时间的学习，儿子还是有了一定的变化，终于偶尔能安静上十几分钟了，这对他来说，也是一个不小的进步！

儿子也感受到了自己的改变。尽管他每次在面对我的训斥后，也很苦恼的说：“爸爸，我只要停下来，就难受的很！”

小伙子能有这样的反思，就足以说明他已经在寻求改变了。

但我真的不知道，他的这种被迫的改变是否是对的。

(哎！在参观人民大会堂时，竟然攀上了大厅楼梯的扶手上）

（安静地练字，墙上的奖状是近两年上学获得的荣誉）

（学写的毛笔字，正在进步，而且进步明显）

参悟66条禅语！！！

Wed, 04 June 2008 17:14:40 +0800

66条禅语
1. 人之所以痛苦，在于追求错误的东西。
2. 如果你不给自己烦恼，别人也永远不可能给你烦恼。因为你自己的内心，你放不下。
3. 你永远要感谢给你逆境的众生。
4. 你永远要宽恕众生，不论他有多坏，甚至他伤害过你，你一定要放下，才能得到真正的快乐。
5. 当你快乐时，你要想这快乐不是永恒的。当你痛苦时，你要想这痛苦也不是永恒的。
6. 今曰的执著，会造成明曰的后悔。

7. 你可以拥有爱，但不要执著，因为分离是必然的。
8. 不要浪费你的生命在你一定会后悔的地方上。
9. 你什么时候放下，什么时候就没有烦恼。
10. 每一种创伤，都是一种成熟。
11. 狂妄的人有救，自卑的人没有救，认识自己，降伏自己，改变自己，才能改变别人。
12. 你不要一直不满人家，你应该一直检讨自己才对。不满人家，是苦了你自己。

13. 一个人如果不能从内心去原谅别人，那他就永远不会心安理得。
14. 心中装满着自己的看法与想法的人，永远听不见别人的心声。
15. 毁灭人只要一句话，培植一个人却要千句话，请你多口下留情。
16. 根本不必回头去看咒骂你的人是谁？如果有一条疯狗咬你一口，难道你也要趴下去反咬他一口吗？
17. 永远不要浪费你的一分一秒，去想任何你不喜欢的人。
18. 请你用慈悲心和温和的态度，把你的不满与委屈说出来，别人就容易接受。

19. 同样的瓶子，你为什么要装毒药呢？同样的心里，你为什么要充满着烦恼呢？
20. 得不到的东西，我们会一直以为他是美好的，那是因为你对他了解太少，没有时间与他相处在一起。当有一天，你深入了解后，你会发现原不是你想像中的那么美好。
21. 活着一天，就是有福气，就该珍惜。当我哭泣我没有鞋子穿的时候，我发现有人却没有脚。
22. 多一分心力去注意别人，就少一分心力反省自己，你懂吗？
23. 憎恨别人对自己是一种很大的损失。
24. 每一个人都拥有生命，但并非每个人都懂得生命，乃至于珍惜生命。不了解生命的人，生命对他来说，是一种惩罚。

25. 情执是苦恼的原因，放下情执，你才能得到自在
26. 不要太肯定自己的看法，这样子比较少后悔。
27. 当你对自己诚实的时候，世界上没有人能够欺骗得了你。
28. 用伤害别人的手段来掩饰自己缺点的人，是可耻的。
29. 默默的关怀与祝福别人，那是一种无形的布施。
30. 不要刻意去猜测他人的想法，如果你没有智慧与经验的正确判断，通常都会有错误的。

31. 要了解一个人，只需要看他的出发点与目的地是否相同，就可以知道他是否真心的。
32. 人生的真理，只是藏在平淡无味之中。
33. 不洗澡的人，硬擦香水是不会香的。名声与尊贵，是来自于真才实学的。有德自然香。
34. 时间总会过去的，让时间流走你的烦恼吧！
35. 你硬要把单纯的事情看得很严重，那样子你会很痛苦。
36. 永远扭曲别人善意的人，无药可救。

37. 说一句谎话，要编造十句谎话来弥补，何苦呢？
38. 白白的过一天，无所事事，就像犯了窃盗罪一样
39. 广结众缘，就是不要去伤害任何一个人。
40. 沉默是毁谤最好的答覆。
41. 对人恭敬，就是在庄严你自己。
42. 拥有一颗无私的爱心，便拥有了一切。

43. 来是偶然的，走是必然的。所以你必须，随缘不变，不变随缘。
44. 慈悲是你最好的武器。
45. 只要面对现实，你才能超越现实。
46. 良心是每一个人最公正的审判官，你骗得了别人，却永远骗不了你自己的良心。
47. 不懂得自爱的人，是没有能力去爱别人的。
48. 有时候我们要冷静问问自已，我们在追求什么？我们活着为了什么？

49. 不要因为小小的争执，远离了你至亲的好友，也不要因为小小的怨恨，忘记了别人的大恩。
50. 感谢上苍我所拥有的，感谢上苍我所没有的。
51. 凡是能站在别人的角度为他人着想，这个就是慈悲。
52. 说话不要有攻击性，不要有杀伤力，不夸已能，不扬人恶，自然能化敌为友。
53. 诚实的面对你内心的矛盾和污点，不要欺骗你自己。
54. 因果不曾亏欠过我们什么，所以请不要抱怨。

55. 大多数的人一辈子只做了三件事；自欺、欺人、被人欺。
56. 心是最大的骗子，别人能骗你一时，而它却会骗你一辈子
57. 只要自觉心安，东西南北都好。如有一人未度，切莫自己逃了。
58. 当你手中抓住一件东西不放时，你只能拥有这件东西，如果你肯放手，你就有机会选择别的。人的心若死执自己的观念，不肯放下，那么他的智慧也只能达到某种程度而已
59. 如果你能够平平安安的渡过一天，那就是一种福气了。多少人在今天已经见不到明天的太阳，多少人在今天已经成了残废，多少人在今天已经失去了自由，多少人在今天已经家破人亡。
60. 你有你的生命观，我有我的生命观，我不干涉你。只要我能，我就感化你。如果不能，那我就认命。
61. 你希望掌握永恒，那你必须控制现在。
62. 恶口永远不要出自于我们的口中，不管他有多坏，有多恶。你愈骂他，你的心就被污染了，你要想，他就是你的善知识。
63. 别人可以违背因果，别人可以害我们，打我们，毁谤我们。可是我们不能因此而憎恨别人，为什么？我们一定要保有一颗完整的本性和一颗清净的心。
64. 如果一个人没有苦难的感受，就不容易对他人给予同情。你要学救苦救难的精神，就得先受苦受难。
65. 世界原本就不是属于你，因此你用不着抛弃，要抛弃的是一切的执著。万物皆为我所用，但非我所属。
66. 虽然我们不能改变周遭的世界，我们就只好改变自己，用慈悲心和智慧心来面对这一切。

耿庆国欲哭无泪（转载）

Thu, 22 May 2008 10:59:34 +0800

2008年5月12日，听到四川汶川发生7.8级强震，中国的地震科学家耿庆国欲哭无泪，心里在流血。2006年他根据旱震关系提出中期预报，近年阿坝地区将发生7级以上地震。2008年4月26日和27日在中国地球物理学会下属的“天灾预测***会”经集体讨论,作出“在一年内（2008.5- 2009.4）仍应注意兰州以南,川、甘、青交界附近可能发生6-7级地震”的预报（文字报告已报中国地震局等，4月30日密件发出），而且，耿庆国根据强磁暴组合，明确提出“阿坝地区7级以上地震的危险点在5月8日(前后10天以内)”（以上地震预报三要素：震级、地点、时间均已明确）。明明是国宝，却受到当权的主流地震科学家的排斥，只能靠微薄的退休费坚持搞科研。可惜这位退休的地震科学家的话，没有起到应有的作用。我的感觉是满腔悲愤。什么时候耿庆国、汪成民、任振球、王迪兴等一批国宝才能不受排挤，得到国家资助,放开手脚为振兴中华效力呢？

走进美国大报今日美国（转载）

Fri, 16 May 2008 14:35:52 +0800

年轻大报后来居上  彩色版式影响全球

　　《今日美国》，创刊于1982年，是美国各大报中最年轻的报纸，但后来居上，成拦畲蟊ㄖ?以发行量论)，也是美国目前唯一综合性全国性大型日报。隶属于美国第一大报业集团甘尼特公司；在版面彩色化、全国卫星远程传版、推行短新闻等方面走在美国报纸前列；2001年3月至9月日平均发行量为2，149,933份，居全国第一，没有周末版。


　　一、世界报业的现代神话

　　2001年11月29日下午1：30,我准时从甘尼特公司一楼大厅给《今日美国》总编辑的行政助理芭芭拉•达切克女士打电话。不一会儿，她已经到达大厅，并一眼就认出我来——我是当时大厅里唯一的亚洲人。这是一位中年妇女。她和我握手、问候，便领我往里走。由于《今日美国》办公楼在大厦的另一端，我们要穿过一条较长的走廊。芭芭拉说，那边也有一个出入口，若从那边进门就可少走几步路。

　　在接近《今日美国》的走廊的内侧墙上，突现三大块鲜红底版，每块底板都至少有2米多高，3米多宽，上面分布着“WORDS IN THEIR BEST ORDER”这几个银色金属立体英文大字，我试译为“最佳文理”。这是我从上午到现在首次在这幢大楼内见到标语式的文字，而且是那么醒目。它似乎在昭示来客，你正步入一家规矩严谨、管理到位的著名大报的编辑部。

　　《今日美国》创刊于1982年。它是美国新闻史上首家从一开始就面向全国市场的大型日报，也是甘尼特公司在一片争议中不惜工本以大手笔塑造出的集团的旗舰。在此之前，甘尼特公司几乎没有什么著名的报纸，与美国前20名大报完全挨不上边。这对于一家世界驰名的报业集团来说，无疑是件憾事。但在报业秩序十分稳定、新办报纸如凤毛麟角且极少获得大成功的美国，要将一份报纸从无到有并一举办成著名大报，简直无法想象。

　　在美国新闻界，谁都知道甘尼特公司的发展，是靠兼并和购买其他报纸，特别是其他报团实现的。在2000年购入东部报团之前，它就买下过多个报团，如1964年和1971年就分别将韦斯切斯特•罗克兰报团和联合报团连锅端地收归己有。它旗下在底特律、亚利桑那、路易斯维尔、檀香山等城市的大报，也都是在70年代以后陆续买进的。但这一回，甘尼特公司想尝尝自己创办报纸的滋味，而且想不鸣则已，一鸣惊人：决定为他人所不为，创办一份真正意义上的全国性报纸！

　　作为创办者之一的该报现任总编辑凯伦•朱尔金森女士，后来在接受我采访时谈到了该报创办和发展的过程。

　　《今日美国》的最初设想来自甘尼特公司董事长艾伦•H•纽哈斯(Allen H. Neuharth)。这是一位有丰富办报经历并喜欢创新的高层管理者。他第一次会见项目组成员是1980年2月29日在佛罗里达州的可可海滩。这次会议被认为是《今日美国》“动工”象征。在后来《今日美国》创办的日子里，纽哈斯亲临“前线”，参加编前会，听取编辑意见，深入到具体的业务工作中，对该报的成功起到了关键的作用。

　　据说该报创刊号的头条就是由纽哈斯亲自拍板。1982年9月14日是该报创刊的前一天，上帝似乎想帮助这家报纸以轰动新闻打开局面，在那一天竟发生三宗惨剧：一是黎巴嫩总理被杀，二是美国昔日明星格雷斯•凯利(Grace Carry)遇车祸身亡，三是一架美国客机在西班牙起飞时失事，55人遇难。结果在很多报纸第二天都用黎巴嫩总理被杀消息作头条时，《今日美国》出人意料地采用了52岁昔日影星之死。纽哈斯的理由是，《今日美国》不必与别人一致，应作出自己的选择，事实上美国人谈论得更多的是凯利之死。于是，《今日美国》的创刊号就显示其不同凡向的个性。

　　后来该报在很多方面不是特立独行就是领风气之先。例如该报一开始就将自己设计成电视画面模样，希望以大画面和短文章与电视争夺观众。迄今在我所见到的美国对开报纸中，还没有一家报纸像《今日美国》那样敢于用短新闻的；该报是全国最先在头版用全彩色图片的报纸，在该报的影响下，美国报纸从90年代初起刮起一股彩色风，连坚守“灰色基调”的《纽约时报》也于1996年开始在头版用彩；该报对灾祸新闻一改美国报纸普遍习惯的悲观口吻，而采取积极报道姿态；该报还是全国最早通过卫星向全国传版的报纸之一，如今卫星传版已是各报的家常便饭了；该报设计的独特版式，不仅在美国产生很大影响，远在太平洋另一端的中国报业，竟也纷纷效仿……

　　该报的试刊号介于首次会见与正式出版之间的1981年6月11日，距两者都为一年多时间。1981年甘尼特公司董事会一直同意创办《今日美国》，但股票却有所下跌，表明市场和全国多数报人一样，对此重大举措存有疑虑。1982年9月15日报纸正式在华盛顿特区与巴尔的摩市之间的办公地点创刊，首日报纸全部售罄。从此，该报走上一条发行量直窜的喜人轨道：1982年11月19日，发行量达到362，879份，比原先预计的年底发行量多了一倍；1983年4月24日，纽哈斯宣布发行量首次突破百万大关，达到1，109，587份；1984年6月25日，美国报刊发行量稽核局(ABC)首次确认该报1983年10月至1984年4月的6个月平均发行量为1,179,834份；1986年2月6日，甘尼特公司宣布，在过去的一个季度里报纸发行量升至140万份以上，居全国第二；1987年7月9日，美国西蒙斯市场调研局(Simmons Market Research Bureau)确认该报每天的读者人数达到550万，居全国第一。

　　在发行量增长的同时，报纸的内容不断扩张，面孔逐渐变靓：1984年7月2日实现4叠报纸全部彩色；7月27日扩大至48个版；1985年11月7日再次扩至56个版……

　　伴随如此迅猛的发行量增长的是甘尼特公司对该报的巨额投入。可以说，尽管发行量大增，但该报在创刊的最初几年一直亏损。1987年7月2日，公司宣布，《今日美国》创刊4年半累计亏损2.33亿美元，但预测当年第四季度会有可观的盈利。这一巨额赤字曾引起美国新闻界很大议论，有人甚至怀疑《今日美国》继续存在的价值。但纽哈斯充满信心，并认为创办这样一家真正有全国影响力的报纸，投入二三亿美元完全值得。事实果然如此，《今日美国》从1987年开始盈利，迄今已连续15个年头，成为甘尼特公司的重要收入来源。

　　《今日美国》的成功，成为世界传媒史上一个现代神话。
在芭芭拉的带领下，我走进朱尔金森总编辑的办公室。

　　早就听说甘尼特公司以注意任用女性和少数民族高层管理者见长。在甘尼特公司的一份资料中，我获知甘尼特公司女性占员工总数的45%，占公司各级管理岗位的39%，占专业人士的46%；少数民族员工占员工总数的25%，占管理岗位的14%。人们把甘尼特公司称为妇女和少数员工就业的好去处。所以，我对自己一天内在甘尼特见到两位女老总并不感到惊奇，尽
管美国的报业是男人的天下。1986年出版的《Newspaper Leadership》就曾将美国报纸总编辑的典型形象描述为“一位有一个孩子的中年白种男人”【1】。但在对美国诸大报的访问中，这已是我见到的第四位女性负责人。

　　不巧的是，朱尔金森得了重感冒，说话带着浓重的鼻音，而且因喘气困难而影响了说话的音量。患病的她依然很忙，在我之前刚和一个人谈过话，见我时已经是下午1：30,助理说她还没吃午饭呢。这让我感到了不安，表示可以另外再约时间，或者等她吃过饭再谈。她友善地笑笑说：“不不，我们可以谈，你来自远方，跑一趟不容易。另外，我现在也没有胃口。”我很受感动，联想到当初能够联系成功对甘尼特公司和《今日美国》的访问，也是这位老总首先表态同意的，因此先说了几句发自内心的感谢话。

　　在回顾了《今日美国》的早期发展后，她应我要求谈到目前的发行状况。她说：

　　“我们在五六年前就超过了《华尔街日报》，成为发行量全国第一的报纸，此后它一直没有再超过我们。发行量的统计是以有价发行为准的。我们在旅馆酒店有较大发行，我们称作BLUESHEET(蓝页)或CHEAP(廉页)。这些报纸由旅馆或酒店付费，但绝大多数情况下这些费用从客人的房费中扣除，实际上是客人在付费购买报纸，所以它们属于有价发行。但我们对这类报纸有一定的折扣优惠。目前我们有550万读者，这不是发行量，而是权威机构对实际阅读报纸人数的调查统计。按照这个统计，《华尔街日报》的读者为390万，比我们少多了。

　　“从1987年开始，我们已经盈利10多年了。1988年1月29日，我们当天的广告页数首次超过半数，在78页报纸中占了44.38页(当时讲的数据不太精确，后来根据她给我的有关材料更正，下同——笔者)。同年5月25日，我们当天的广告收入超过370万美元，创出第一个高点。我们的发行量也一直在增长，也在1988年月29日首次单日突破200万份，达2,114,055份。但经ABC统计确认的半年平均数超过200万份，还是近几年来的事。10多年来，我们的报纸每逢重大事件发生，发行量就会创出最高纪录。例如我们几个300万纪录都是在这种情况下发生的：第一次是1991年1月18日美国发动打击伊拉克战争，当日报纸连同号外共发行3，261，609份；1997年9月5日是英国王妃黛安娜(Diana)葬礼的前一天，本报发行3，251,310份；1999年本报推出100页的世纪末特刊，发行3，367，062份；今年9月12日，即9.11恐怖袭击事件发生的第二天，本报发行量再创单日历史最高纪录，达到3,638,600份，比前6个月的平均发行量高71%。

　　“这样大的发行量，当然需要一个很大的发行部门来运作。我们发行部的员工数量占整个报社人数的一半，大约900人。我们下面有很多发行区，每个区都有发行经理。我们在全国有30个分印点，每个分印点至少算作一个发行区。个别大的分印点有2个发行区，所以我们总共有36个发行区，同时配有36个发行经理。他们负责当地发行，你说得对，他们属于‘地方发行经理’，但对本报而言，‘地方’不是某个大城市的郊区县市，而可能是2个州，管辖的面积比很多大都市报纸覆盖范围还大。他们手下还有人归其调遣。他们努力占有当地市场，同时对当地的旅馆和学校展开攻势。我们在民航客机上的发行量也很大。我们有一半以上的零售，所以和当地分销商合作及送报和投递都是他们的职责范围。我们的住户投递量很小，大约20万份，但这个数量正在增长。我们现在通过自己的网站扩大发行，效果很好，每天都有很多读者从网上订阅我们的报纸。由于发行队伍健全和销售网点密集，我们现在已经不主要依靠售报机卖报纸了。”

　　听她谈到售报机，我想到一个问题，问她：“贵报创办初期曾建了很多售报机，甚至沙漠地区的路上都有售报机，这我在中国都知道，现在还有多少售报机在使用？”

　　“现在比当初可就少多了，”她回答说。“报纸创刊初期，我们全国的发行队伍还没有建立起来，销售网点和独立签约人更少，但又想办成真正的全国范围内发售的报纸，所以就想到一个办法：大量分布售报机。我们的售报机做成电视机模样，这与我们的编辑方针很吻合。最初几年内，我们在全国各地的售报机最高达到约13.5万个，分布在全国50个州的城乡公路上以及几乎所有加油站，你说得对，包括人迹稀少的沙漠地区的公路。我们的口号是，凡有人的地方就有《今日美国》。公司在售报机这一个项目上的投入就超过3亿美元。这也是早期办报一笔最大的投入。后来我们各发行区机构成立，他们积极建立网点和发现合作伙伴，加上我们报纸的影响力增大，对读者的吸引力也加强了，所以我们将重点渐渐转到报摊、超市、独立签约人方面。如今我们在全国2500多个城市的几乎所有报摊上都销售《今日美国》。这样一来，售报机的用途就不像当初那么大了，早在90年代初，售报机的数量就降至5万个，现在更少了。具体多少我不太清楚，要问发行部。”

　　“这样大的发行量，又涉及多个时差，且要照顾到当地内容，你们怎样运作呢？”我不禁问。

　　“我们的报纸每周出版5天，即周一至周五，但我们的网站每周7天，天天更新。对这5天报纸的发行，我们采用至少6个不同版本，以满足地区和时差的需要。其中，国际版有3个版本，它们分别于美国东部时间下午3：30、5：30和7：30开始印刷，印刷地点分别在香港、比利时、意大利和英格兰，当然是通过卫星传送版面。国际版没有住户投递，都是零售，大约有10万份。国内版也有3个基本版本。第一个版本晚上10：40付印(都是美东时间，下同)，用来送往远途地区；第二版我们称为‘追加版’(Chase Edition)，在第二天凌晨1：30付印；最后版在凌晨2：30付印。但上述所有时间都可能临时改变，这要根据新闻发生的情况来定。所有分印点都获得这3个不同版本，因此所有接近分印点的城市，都能买到我们的最后版。

　　“为了使所有读者能获得尽可能多的信息，我们各版本的内容绝大多数是相同的。我们出版不同版本主要是因为时差关系。你知道的，东海岸和西海岸相差3个小时。但有时候我们会在头版的某个角落编印不同的内容，因为在某些特别地区发生了一些当地人特别关心的事情。有时则因截稿后又发生了新闻，需要让全国知道。例如，昨晚有两个地区有重要体育赛事且结束很迟，我们就在后来的版本的头版撤换一些稿件，将这最后体育消息放在头版的角落里。这时你就会在同一天看到不同的头版。但总体来说，全国的版本内容基本一致。而国际版的内容与国内版相差很大。国际版的页数比国内版少多了，而且它是从国内版选择一些新闻，然后加上各国的最新重要新闻编辑而成的。因此，国际版和国内版看上去很不相同。”

　　“9.11事件对你们的发行和广告影响大吗？一般来说发行问题不大吧？另外，我在旅行时常在房间里获得贵报，有时我也从街上买，但似乎贵报几乎没有广告插页，这与你们没有星期天版有关吗？”我再次发问。

　　“我们有插页广告，你瞧(她拿起当天的报纸给我看，果然其中有一些插页广告，但不多)。现在，我们的发行量已经持续多年增长，但现在我们也和其他报纸一样受到9.11事件的严重影响。这个影响包括发行和广告。因为我们报纸和那些大都市报纸不同，我们在全国发行，而且旅行读者很多。我们读者的42%是在旅行当中，而9.11事件对航空市场及旅游业打击沉重，所以我们这部分发行受到很大影响。但我们总体的发行量未受太大挫折，原因是我们在各大城市的零售量增长很快，这部分的增长超过了旅行读者的损失，所以我们的发行量仍保持增长。我们在旅馆的发行有折扣，但不像人们说的那样大。至于广告收入，9.11后有所下降，具体情况需要向广告部了解，我不太清楚。”

朱尔金森总编辑应邀介绍了自己的经历。她说自己14岁时就开始接触新闻工作，然后断断续续地干了报纸，1982年正式加盟甘尼特公司参与创办《今日美国》。见她感冒现兀蝗陶加霉嗍奔洌晕医ㄒ榍胨拿厥樵诓煞弥蟾乙环菁蚶４雍罄疵厥楦业母鋈斯ぷ骷蚶矗於鹕坑?971年毕业于北卡罗莱纳大学查珀尔希尔分校(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)大众传播系；1972~1975年在北卡罗莱纳的《夏洛特新闻》(Charlotte News)任社论版评论员和副刊记者及社论版版面编辑；1976~1979年在北卡罗莱
纳大学校报当记者和编辑；1979~1982年在《迈阿密新闻》(The Miami News)先后任助理副刊主编、副刊主编和助理本市新闻部主编；1982年《今日美国》创刊时受聘该报担任“生活”副刊(该报四大板块之一——笔者)选题编辑；1983~1985年任该报“生活”副刊特别项目编辑；1985~1986年任“生活”副刊部副执行主编；1986~1987年任头版新闻执行主编；1987~1991年任特别项目高级编辑；1991~1999年任社论版主编；1999年升任总编辑至今。她获得过若干新闻奖项，并在一些报纸编辑协会担任主席等职务，是位繁忙的社会活动家。

　　接着，她介绍了报纸的基本情况：

　　“我们报纸的全部员工共约1800人，但实际上只有一半人在这里及附近地区工作，其余约900人都在全国及国外。我们几乎在所有大城市都建有自己的发行办公室，我们在全国还有35个分印点(她在谈话中三次谈到分印点，但数量都有出入，只好照抄——笔者)，这些分印点的印刷厂不归我们所有，只是按照协议为我们印报。在新闻方面，我们在洛杉矶、芝加哥、旧金山、纽约、华盛顿特区、迈阿密、西雅图等大城市设有分社，另外还在许多城市设有一二个人的记者站。我们编辑部全部人员，包括外国分社和记者站在内，共约440人，其中约半数为记者或专栏作家，有80至90人在分社或记者站工作。我们有一些驻外国机构，如柏林、伦敦、墨西哥城和北京。北京分社人数不多，它兼管香港新闻。”

　　此次访问之前暂住同学程晓鸿家时，她在马里兰大学当教授的美国男朋友和我聊起摄影(他是个摄影迷)。他问我：“你是否知道美国最早使用彩色照片的报纸是哪家？我对这问题很有兴趣，但迄今找不到答案。”我回答说《今日美国》是用彩图较早的，但是否最早不清楚。于是他希望我在今后的访问中留心这个问题，然后将答案告诉他。和朱尔金森谈话时，我突然想到这个问题，赶紧问她。她说：

　　“我们在报纸的彩色运用上是进行了革命性创新的。我们在1982年创刊之初，就在副刊版运用彩色，当时国内还见不到其他报纸这样做。那时彩色版制作十分复杂，也很困难，需要花两三天时间，也就是说在报纸出版前三天，你就得开始制作彩版和图片，因此那时我们虽然用彩色图片，但也用得很节省，不像现在这么多、这么花。但那时我们有些彩色版并没用全彩，有的用绿色，有的用蓝色。大概从1984年起，我们开始在头版和体育版少量采用全彩色装饰和彩色图片，在这方面我们绝对是全国第一家。然后我们将彩色扩大到财经板块和生活板块。这些年，美国很多报纸也在头版用彩色图片了，如《纽约时报》。现在用彩色是太方便了。举一个例子，当初我们刚推出彩色天气版时，虽然已进入90年代，可依然很困难。那时我们是用手工分色，每道颜色都要分别制版，一个天气版至少要工作整整8个小时。如今同样一个天气版，只需45分钟就完成了。这都归功于各种新技术的应用。”

　　诚如她所言，《今日美国》是美国报纸的色彩运用的带头人。它不仅最早采用彩色，而且直到今天仍在彩色版面的设计上独领风骚。该报头版特别注重选用大幅彩色照片。“挑战者”号宇宙飞船升空几秒钟即爆炸并造成7名宇航员身亡的事件发生后，该报头版用几乎占据整版的巨幅彩色照片，清晰表现了飞船爆炸和地面观众惊恐的表情，极具冲击力。这个版面已成为报业的经典，也被美国及中国很多新闻学院作为编辑教学的重要参考，被教师们广泛引用。在该报四大板块的各个头版，也可见到色彩的充分运用，如“新闻”、“生活”、“体育”、“财经”四个板块的报头或版头分别用蓝色、紫色、红色、绿色方块铺底。但《今日美国》的色彩运用也很节制，尽量采用冷色调，彩色铺底的版头面积也不大，标题字和所有线条一律用黑色，颜色鲜明而不乱，不像中国一些报纸，特别是香港特区的报纸，常常是红彤彤、暖烘烘一片，一个标题也套用几种颜色，恨不能将赤橙黄绿青蓝紫都抹在一个版上，仿佛不懂化妆的村姑往脸上乱涂胭脂。

　　据朱尔金森介绍，《今日美国》实施彩色战略的目的之一，是向电视观众争读者。该报创刊时，正逢彩色电视开始普及、电视观众数量急剧增加、一代青年人沉迷于电视机前，报纸读者不断涌向电视媒体，报纸发行量开始下降。针对这一形势，《今日美国》确定了短新闻、大图片、快餐化的编辑定位，被同行称作“电视报”。她说：“你说得对，我们的报纸看上去就像一部电视，上面是大图片、短内容。我们的售报机就是照着当时的电视机样式和尺寸设计的。报纸的头版对折后仍可见到三四幅彩色图片，置于售报机里简直就像一幅静止的电视画面。”在朱尔金森总编辑的办公室门外，就有一个这样的售报机，采访结束时我还和她站在这个售报机旁照了个像。

　　《今日美国》的彩色版式也是中国读者最喜欢的。现在有越来越多的中国报纸借鉴和模仿《今日美国》的版式。此次从美国回来，发现《深圳商报》的版式有很大改变，变得更漂亮了，据说是去年从北京请来专家帮助设计的。这个新版式，就有很多模仿《今日美国》的痕迹，包括各板块的头版设计。中国报纸能取他人之长补己之短，更多地借鉴西方发达国家的办报经验，这是一种可贵的进步。

　　天气彩版也是《今日美国》之首创。1993年，《今日美国》在第一叠(第一板块)的封底推出全彩色的天气预报版，其版式之漂亮、信息之齐全，令所有美国报纸刮目相看。这个版只有底端有8公分通栏彩色广告，其余都是天气内容。以我这次访问当天的天气版为例，在一个整版篇幅里，顶端的版头右侧是专家答疑，上半部有五栏宽的大幅彩色全国气象地图，面积为25×17公分。地图上用10种不同颜色标出从华氏10度以下到100度的气温，并用黑字标出全国约200个城市当日天气预报。这幅大图左侧一栏，分别是阿富汗和夏威夷天气情况。据介绍，将这两处单独列出，是因为阿富汗是美国当前反恐战争的前沿国家，是新闻的焦点；夏威夷则因为距美国大陆太远，地图上未标出。中部9.5公分通栏以彩色小方块排列全国36个大城市今、明、后日天气预报。下半版为当地城市(各地方版)未来5日天气情况，全国68个中等城市和世界90个主要城市今明两日天气预报。左下方还有“天气聚焦”专栏，配有一幅5公分三栏面积的全国地图，这次的“焦点”是今年冬天偏暖，各地普遍降雪推迟，地图上用9种颜色标出各地今年首场雪的大致来临时间。

　　在《今日美国》天气彩版效应的影响下，美国各大报都开始引入彩色天气版。这些报纸每天不仅在头版固定位置刊有天气简况，还在新闻板块某固定版面用半个版至一个整版的彩色版，刊登本地、全国、全世界主要城市未来五天的天气预报，同时附有气象、海浪等天气图，并用地图将各主要城市天气标识出来，有的还有气象专家的分析，可谓应有尽有，琳琅满目。一些使命感很强的大报也像《今日美国》那样随时预报世界热点新闻地区的天气。如我访问《纽约时报》的当天，该报不仅在报头右侧刊登本市当天白天、夜晚及第二天白天、夜晚的简要天气情况，还在第二板块第十页用五分之四彩版刊登极为详细的天气情况(头版有提示)。这些天气情况包括：大幅全国天气彩图，全国天气预报，本市昨日及未来5日天气情况，山区及海洋气温(含彩图)，全国及世界170个主要城市昨日、今日、明日天气，阿富汗地区天气预报(当时美国在阿富汗的反恐战争激战正酣)，本报气象网址(可查1500个城市天气情况)，等等。

　　各地方报纸也纷纷效仿《今日美国》的天气彩版，如笔者居住的斯塔藤岛(纽约市的一个区)，其主要报纸《斯塔藤岛前进报》(Staten Island Advance)是纯粹的地方报纸，发行量9万份，基本上限于本岛，岛外几乎买不到该报。就是这样一份地方报纸，每天除在头版刊登类似《纽约时报》那样的简要天气预报外，另在A12版(即第一板块第12页)用半个彩色版篇幅刊登天气情况，内容包括本岛未来5天天气预报，全国天气彩图，全国70个大中城市和世界35个主要城市昨日和今日天气情况，本岛昨日气温，附近地区近日天气走势，等等。笔者访问过的其他一些中等城市报纸，如《奥兰多前哨报》(Orlando Sentinel)、《夏洛特观察家报》(Charlotte Observer)、《圣彼得堡时报》(St. Petersburg Times)等，每天的彩色天气版面积也都在三分之二版以上，且都是五颜六色，做得非常漂亮，引人注目。

　　说到天气，我觉得中国报纸的气象服务意识很差。很多报纸对读者这一需求并不重视，刊登的天气资讯少得可怜。其中我所在的深圳两家大报做得更差。《深圳特区报》每天只在头版的报头之下用30多个字报道深圳市当天的天气简况，与改革开放之前的70年代各对开四版报纸的做法如出一辙。尽管深圳人口的80%是各地移民，尽管深圳的对外开放程度全国第一，但在这份每天平均36个版的报纸中，读者看不到包括香港、广州、北京、上海等任何国内其他城市的天气，更不用说世界主要城市的天气预报。就深圳本地来说，也只有当天而没有第二天的天气。《深圳商报》的天气预报更是随心所欲，读者只能既不定期，也不定版地从内页偶然发现一块比《深圳特区报》内容稍多的天气信息。据说深圳的气象台也不太配合，对第二天的天气预报要收费。我不知道这种一面利用国家及纳税人的资金获取信息一面又将这种公共信息垄断为自己创收资源的做法是否合法。

　　美国传媒界认为，天气情况是受众每天最需要获得的基本信息之一，传媒不提供，便是失职。这一观点，值得中国报人及有关部门借鉴。

我们交谈的重点，当然还在于《今日美国》区别于其他报纸的特色，这是它在竞争中获胜的主要法宝。这一点，我在见到朱尔金森之前就预先将问题告诉她的助手了。

　　朱尔金森说：拔颐怯泻芏嗑赫允帧Ｃ拦蟾琶挥幸患冶ㄖ接形颐钦饷炊嗟木赫允帧Ｒ蛭侨⑿校恳患掖蟪鞘腥毡ǎā杜υ际北ā罚际俏颐堑木赫摺Ｎ颐怯?!--NEWSZW_HZH_BEGIN-->
几乎所有报纸都有竞争关系。我们还与电视竞争。1982年本报创刊时，CNN(美国有线电视网)也正在创办，各类有线电视频道也是从80年代才开始兴起的，现在全国一半左右的电视频道就是在那以后陆续建立的。所以我们和电视竞争，和互联网竞争。信息太多，竞争者也太多。他们走在街头随处可从商店的电视屏幕上获取信息，也可从网络甚至电话上得到新闻标题。在这个信息过剩的时代，我们必须具有自己的特色，必须让受众从我们这里获得他们真正想要的东西。为做到这一点，我们在以下五个方面确定并发扬自己的特色：

　　“首先，我们是一份全国性报纸。我们是目前唯一真正综合性的全国性报纸。因此我们尽自己最大的努力去覆盖全国各地的新闻。我们在全国设的分社或记者站数量超过任何报纸，为保证各地读者及时得到我们的报纸，我们的分印点多达36个，这在全国报界首屈一指。我们租用了GE2和GE4两颗美国卫星，它们距地面22300英里，足以覆盖包括夏威夷在内的全国各分印点，确保报纸的及时传递和印刷。通过卫星，一个黑白版传送仅需10秒钟，彩色版也最多花30秒钟，这要看彩色图片的多少。现在我们正在扩大对全世界新闻的覆盖，因为读者对全球新闻的兴趣正日益增加。我们从1984年起就开辟国际版，现在在法兰克福、伦敦、香港、米兰、沙勒罗瓦(比利时)印刷，平均每天的发行量为72000份。我们报纸的网站在全球60个国家开通，网络版国际读者超过25万人。我们还要建更多的驻外记者站。

　　“第二是我们的板块包装。我们在美国报界较早按内容进行板块式包装，并给每个板块设计不同的彩色头版，这样读者就可以很容易找到自己喜欢的部分。虽然现在越来越多的美国报纸采用类似的包装，但我们仍然有自己的特色，例如我们各板块头版的栏目设计及内页的安排。我们将努力保持和挖掘自己的这一特色。

　　“第三是独特的编辑设计。就像前面说到的那样，我们的一切设计都是为了满足那些快速读者(time-fast readers)的需要。我们所做的最艰苦工作，就是让报纸上的信息易于获取和易于理解。我们要求新闻的处理有预见性。我们尽量用图片、图标来表示新闻内容，让读者通过图表明白新闻的要义。我们称此为‘信息图表’(informational graphics)或‘解释性图表’(explanatory graphics)。我们的图片、图标在新闻中的运用频率超过国内任何一家报纸。我们还努力使信息便于浏览。也就是说，读者时间很紧的时候，可以用5分钟、15分钟读完本报的主要内容，但如果读者有空，也可花2小时来阅读本报。读者可以轻易做出上述选择。

　　“第四是打破基本栏的限制。美国绝大多数报纸的设计是按一栏一栏来设计的，但我们认为不该为读者提供这样的设计。读者需要的是最容易接受的信息，而不是你排版的方便。于是我们给他们最便捷的阅读版式，给他们大字标题，给他们跨栏或破栏的文章，给他们常变常新的感觉。我们把很大的精力放在新闻的包装上。我们希望给读者密集的信息。我们在‘巡视’(surveillance)。我的工作就是时刻关注着国内、国际发生着的一切事情，然后用最可靠、最显而易见的方式让读者参与我们的‘巡视’。

　　“第五方面是我们近年来为《今日美国》增加的新特点，即我们所说的‘咄咄逼人’(enterprise)。‘咄咄逼人’的意思是我们向读者提供他们在其他媒体上不易获得的东西，如更多的突发新闻和新闻中的新闻。在创刊初期我们对此并不重视，但现在我们认为这对读者很重要。”

　　说着，朱尔金森给了我一张塑料卡片，大小和名片一样。她说《今日美国》编辑部的员工每人怀里都揣着这张卡片，也向读者提供，让其检验报纸的承诺。卡片的正面，上方是和《今日美国》报头一样的蓝底反白大字——USA TODAY，下面是一行粗体黑字：Put the Reader First(读者第一)。卡片反面的内容实际上是对刚才总编辑一番“特色”谈话的补充，也可以视为《今日美国》的编辑方针，不妨照录如下：

《今日美国》读者权益承诺

(SERVICE服务)
　　当我阅读《今日美国》时，我会期望以下结果：

　　1、Surveillance(巡视，即刚才总编辑反复提到的词2、——笔者)：我将得到我今天需要的国际、国内新闻，同时获得我和我的家庭想要的其他内容。

　　2、Exclusives(独家)：我将获得在其他媒体上得不到的先到新闻、突发新闻和独家分析。

　　3、Reader-friendly presentation(易读)：我将迅速6、发现自己正在寻找的新闻。图表、划线、围框、标题、图片说明、小标题等编辑手法的运用将方便读者理解新闻。

　　4、Veracit(真诚)：我可以相信自己所读到的东西是真实、公正、客观的。当有错误发生时，我相信报纸会及时更正。

　　5、Ingenuity, fun and excitement(机智、有趣和兴奋)：我将从阅读《今日美国》中获得娱乐、惊奇和快感。

　　6、Community(与世共存)：作为一位经常出外旅行、经常上网处理生意、兴趣不限于本地新闻的全球读者成员，我将读到我所需要的信息。

　　7、Epuality and Diversity(公平和多样)：我将从《今日美国》上看到任何年龄、任何种族、任何国家的妇女和男人的信息。

　　以上7条承诺的第一个英文字母，正好组成“服务”(SERVICE)。这也表明《今日美国》编辑部是在刻意强化员工们的读者服务意识。

与朱尔金森总编辑谈话结束后，芭芭拉奉命陪我参观编辑部。

　　《今日美国》的编辑部占两层楼：三楼和二楼。它和美国其他报纸一样，采取大面积敞开式办公，但比大多数我见过的编辑部办公室更宽敞、更明亮、更洁净，每位员工的办公区也较大。这里所有办公桌都有一体化的小书柜，桌椅被漆成柔和的乳白色，唯办公桌之间及靠过道的隔板用鲜红色带细花纹的布料包装，员工可在上面订些照片、贺卡等饰物。一眼
望去，大片乳白色中露出点点红色，分外夺目。无闪烁的光源从天花板上一排排毛玻璃框里均匀地洒向地面，每个办公桌上还备有一台臂式可调节落地灯。办公桌上摆放着较大屏幕的电脑和一部电话，而女员工的书柜上往往摆放着很多小巧玲珑、色泽鲜艳的小玩具小公仔。“Made in China”，我心里想着。

　　路过美术设计组时，见一位金发碧眼的女美编正在设计一幅包裹着美国国旗的石头，我不由得停住脚步。芭芭拉将我介绍给了这位女士。女编辑见我好奇，告诉我她正在为一篇特稿配图。她给我看了这幅配图的黑白草图，说她准备将这幅草图搬进电脑后再用相关软件修改和着色。她说现在一切美术设计都在电脑上进行，所以每位美编都必须会用电脑绘图。说着，还向我出示了一幅彩色人物肖像，看上去像是水彩画，她说这也是在电脑上画的。我问该报有多少美术设计员，芭芭拉说有14或15位。在相邻的摄影部，一位摄影主编在回答我的问题时说，该报的摄影记者大多数用了数码相机，像素为500万，有一些传统相机仍在使用，因为胶片的独特作用暂不可替代。

　　访问《今日美国》前，在同学程晓鸿小姐的引荐下，我与该报经济部的记者詹姆斯•考克斯(James Cox)联系上，并约好在采访总编辑后见个面。于是，参观完编辑部，我便向芭芭拉告别，说我还要见一位记者。热心的芭芭拉一直将我领到考克斯跟前。

　　考克斯看上去约30来岁(后来我知道他今年已42岁)，是《今日美国》国际经济新闻的首席记者，一见我就热情地招呼坐下。他正在写一篇东西，但愿意停下活和我谈话。我从程晓鸿那里知道他曾在中国工作，便先介绍了自己的情况，然后请他谈谈在中国的经历和现在的工作。他说：

　　“我现在的工作是报道国际经济新闻，但说是经济新闻，其实包括了各类国际新闻。比如这个星期我就负责写阿富汗方面的新闻，同时也做一些编辑工作。我非常谨慎地为老板(指部主任——笔者)工作。我们很幸运有这样好的工作环境。我为这位老板(说着他向不远处一位大胡子男子招了招手，看来那就是他的老板了，他也向我招手笑笑)干了很多年，因此我知道他的立场和好恶。最大的报纸应该有最多的版面，所以我们必须写最多的稿件。我们这里鼓励你写各类国际新闻和国际经济新闻稿件，越多越好，只要那些事件对世界有较大影响。你问我为什么坐在财经新闻部？因为我现在主要报道经济新闻。除了在香港工作4年及那以前的年月，我大多数时间都为财经部干活。

　　“我1986年到《今日美国》之前在印第安那州一家报纸工作，我太太也在那家报社干。其实我在上高中时就为当地的报纸干活，那时我才十五六岁，如今我已42岁了。我对深圳很熟悉，你们报社的大楼我也见过。我猜你不是深圳人，对吗？(我说不是。)因为据我所知，很多深圳白领都不是本地人。我还记得邓小平关于白猫和黑猫的高论。但我不太确切他第一次去深圳是哪一年？(我说1979年。)谢谢。那座城市真是发展太快了。我几乎走过那里每一寸土地。我大概几十次经过罗湖桥，那里很拥挤，但现在好多了，因为靠近香港一方的口岸重新修建了。我1993年起参与北京记者站的筹备并在那里工作了两年。1995年我就到香港工作，直至1998年。香港的工作和北京的工作是紧密相连的。我最后一次在深圳是2000年。我到过当地的公证处，那个机构正好就在你们报社的楼下。好像一楼还有一个证券交易市场，很多人跑到大屏幕跟前看股票是升还是跌。(我告诉他那是我们原先的办公楼，现在的办公楼很高大)。”

　　在访问美国各报老总时，我常常问的一个问题是记者有无工作定额。我得到的回答全部是“无”。他们认为，记者的工作很复杂，而且富有创造性，难以量化。《纽约时报》的老总还举例说：“一个跑警察局的记者一天可以写三、五条新闻，而一位跑环保的记者可能三天也写不出一篇稿，你能说后者就懒吗？”他们也承认记者有懒惰和勤奋之分，也有高产和低产之别，但认为编辑清楚记者是否卖力气，不卖力气的记者肯定干不长。这次我想从眼前这位资深记者口中听到这方面的情况。他一听就明白我的意思，说：

　　“我们记者的任务是发现哪些是读者们需要的或正在寻找的信息。《今日美国》创刊时，我才21岁。我们报纸不像《纽约时报》和《华尔街日报》那样企图成为所谓的档案记录报。我们只是努力获取最重要的新闻。我们倾全部精力、花全部时间，只是为了得到那些能影响人们生活的最重要的新闻。我们还从地方琐事中解脱出来，因为我们不是任何人的‘家乡报纸’。我们不必要告诉读者谁结婚了、谁获得了执业资格或谁开了一家饭馆。我们不必报道任何琐碎杂事。所以我们不惹怒谁，因为所有美国人都不喜欢他们的‘家乡报纸’。但我们没有定额。你问我一年写多少稿子？我每年写将近100篇稿件。去年我写了大约90篇，有些年我写超过110篇。我写的很多稿件都是长稿。”

　　我知道他说“长稿”时内心是颇为自豪的，因为《今日美国》是美国唯一提倡短稿的大报，在其他报纸极难见到的数百字短稿，在《今日美国》的版面上却比比皆是。大图片，短稿件，正是该报的特色之一。在这种政策下，记者发的“长稿”，都是非常重要的重点报道或深度报道。能经常发长稿，可见考克斯出手不凡。

　　谈话时，我被考克斯贴在桌板上的几幅中国孩子的照片吸引住了。在我的询问下，竟引出一段有趣的故事。原来，考克斯结婚多年没有生育，自己却非常喜欢孩子。在香港工作的4年间，他竟先后收养了3位中国孤儿，其中两个男孩一个女孩，第一位和第三位是在深圳市社会福利院收养的，第二位是在香港收养的。二楼编辑部的隔板用带细花纹的蓝色布料包装。在考克斯的这面蓝墙上，订着9幅放大的照片，除一幅他太太的照片和一幅风景照以外，其余7幅竟全是这些孩子的。孩子们的照片有单人的，更多的是三人合影，个个喜笑颜开。有一幅单人照片是孩子正坐在一个生日蛋糕前，乐得嘴巴张老大。其中有一张照片是3个孩子身着白色中袖无领T恤的全身照，T恤上印着他们的中文名字，老大是女孩，名叫“明月”，老二是男孩，名叫“博文”，老三是女孩，名叫“小波”，小波看上去有些先天愚型。

　　考克斯告诉我，老大和老三都有残疾，3个孩子现在分别为6岁、5岁和4岁，都是被遗弃的孤儿。他说他很喜欢他们，写稿累了看看他们，就觉得很轻松，外出也常常揣着他们的照片。他给每个人都起了英语名字，老二是杰夫，老三是莫莉(老大的名字我忘了)。老大今年刚上小学，其余两个孩子都上幼儿园。他和深圳社会福利院的一位女士还成了朋友，每次去深圳都尽量抽出时间去看她。他说今后还会带他们回中国看看，让他们知道自己的祖国是什么样子。他还主动说起自己的家庭和婚姻，说他们过得很好，“但是……但是……”，连说几个“但是”，竟然说不下去，眼里闪出泪光。我不知道在“但是”后面他想说什么，但猜出他有难言之隐，也就没问下去。

　　我们交谈时间虽然不长，但这位身着绿色灯芯绒长袖衬衣的记者给我留下很深印象。看得出来，他属于那种充满爱心、有责任感、为人忠厚的男人。我给了他一张名片，希望他再次来深圳时能够重聚。

　　【1】Newspaper Leadership，中文译名《报业管理艺术》，辜晓进译，中国人民大学出版社，1991年版

有狼性执行，就不可以有人性化管理吗？（转载）

Thu, 17 April 2008 15:38:34 +0800

为什么军队是世界上最强大的组织？我们知道，这个世界上只有两种组织是最强大的，第一种是军队，第二是宗教。这两种组织的执行能力是任何其它组织难以相比的。而军队是首当其冲，可以这样说，军队强大的执行力，改变了整个人类世界。那么军队的执行力从哪里来的呢？首先是严格的军规，违者斩。其次是绝对的服从，军令如山倒。军规就是制度，命令就是服从，这两项构成了军队强大的执行力。

狼性执行是对结果的狼性，对应的是基层员工！

什么叫狼性执行呢？军队是最具狼性的团队，是因为它严厉的军规和对命令的坚决服从，让组织获得了方向一致，行动一致的执行力。狼性的意思就是在服从命令，提供结果上的坚定不移的服从。

企业的狼性执行，主要体现在对业绩的狼性追求，而业绩来自结果，结果是由员工提供的，所以对员工的狼性要求，对结果的使命般追求，构成了企业的狼性执行。

服从命令是军人的天职，提供结果是员工的天职！

企业是一个商业组织，它的本质决定它必须要盈利，但盈利从哪里来呢？盈利从结果上来，只有员工提供了客户满意的结果，客户才会用钱来交换。所以没有结果，就没有业绩，没有业绩企业就难以生存，所以提供结果是每一位员工的天职。企业执行力的强大，就是提供结果能力的强大。这就是为什么提供结果是员工的天职！没有结果，企业就会死亡，而员工就是提供结果的直接负责人。

军队的狼性执行来自每一位军人，因为执行始终是每一位执行者的职责。衡量一支军队的执行力是看军队的作战能力。而衡量一家企业的执行力时，看的是这家企业员工提供结果的能力。所以企业的狼性执行对应的是结果，而结果是由每一位员工提供的，所以员工提供结果的强大，就是企业狼性执行力的强大。

请记住，我们在谈狼性执行时，对应的是员工层面，是员工提供结果的执行层面，是对结果产出的一种狼性要求，而结果只能从员工中来。

人性化管理是一种领导力，领导力对应的是中高层！

什么叫人性化管理呢？人性化管理最大的特点就是对人性的尊重。尊重一个人的自我意愿，尊重他不同的价值观，思想及不同的需求。把平等、自由等这些人性公理作为基点，运用爱与智慧的力量来管理。

很多企业家会问：“为什么狼性管理这么重要，但很多企业在做人性化管理呢？”要弄清楚这个问题，首先要从领导力的角度来思考。

首先要明确的是，领导力是一种自愿服从的能力，是自愿的不是强迫的。那什么情况下别人会自愿服从你呢？领导是一种投资，接受是一种义务，回报是一种责任。只有当人们接受了好处时，才会回报你，才会服从你！

所以让人自愿就是一种人性化的管理方式，自愿服从就是尊重人性最大的体现，这跟在狼性执行上的绝对服从形成鲜明对比。因为狼性执行是绝对服从，是必须服从，没有条件的服从，而人性化管理却是一种让人自愿服从，自愿跟从的领导方式。

领导力从投资需求开始，人性化对应的是中高层

记住，当人们接受你的好处时才会跟从你！那什么叫好处？给钱是一种好处，赞美也是一种好处，获得快乐也是一种好处。好处就是一种需求，每个人的需求又是不一样的，而需求有无数种。

做企业有两套原理，一个是经济原理，就是交换利益，打一份工赚一份工资，这个是底线。这相当于马斯洛的生理需求和安全需求。这是最基本的需要，也是员工层面的需求，因为员工的位置是处于需求最低层（生理上）。但是人的需求还有更高的层次，那就是对成就感的需要。

企业的中高层大部分处于领导者位置，而领导者通常是成就感决定成就。成就感在前，成就在后，成就感就是你的价值观，你的成功的信念和意志，以及远大的远景与目标等，这些是作为领导者必不可少的。因为领导力就是让别人自愿服从的能力，如何让别人服从，领导是先有成就感后有成就，用自己的成就感来赢得别人的跟从，比如远景、战略目标，价值观等，这才有所谓的人性化管理。因为人性化管理是一种在成就感上的管理，是一种让人自愿服从，跟从的能力，更是一种领导力。人们只会跟从共同的价值观、目标与远景。

狼性执行与人性化管理的区别在哪里？

很多管理者不明白，狼性执行与人性化管理之间的区别，同样很多管理者认为，有狼性执行就不应该有人性化的管理，否则就不狼性了。其实不是这样，狼性执行与人性管理针对的目标群体是不一样的。一家企业可以实施狼性执行，也可以建立人性化的管理方式，只是要区别实施的对象。那么狼性执行与人性管理最大的区别在哪里呢？

狼性执行是结果管理；人性化管理是成就感管理

结果管理是企业基本的底线要求，结果管理也就是业绩管理。比如产品制造，每一个产品就如同一个结果，而结果是需要与客户交换的，所以任何一个结果（产品）不好，不能交换，就不能给企业带来价值。结果管理就是实现产品的业绩产出，让企业获得商业回报！这是一种商业交换的关系。所以狼性执行是对结果产出的执行。

而人性管理是一种对人的成就感的管理，通过尊重人性，运用智慧与爱来实现人对成就感的需要。每一个人都有尊严，成就感以及自我价值实现的需要，成就感是每一个人在更高层次的需求。人性化管理的目的是让团队获得更强的凝聚力。

狼性执行的对象是基层员工，人性化管理的对象是中高层

狼性执行的对象是员工，因为员工是提供结果的直接负责人。对员工的狼性，就是对结果的狼性。所以，我们讲所有的狼性执行，都是针对于基层员工而言的，通常是中层以下的所有成员。

人性管理的对象是中高层人员，因为这些群体是属于成就感需求的人，他们需要的是自我价值的实现，所以用人性化管理，不仅是符合他们的需要，也是凝聚团队，打造文化最好的方式。所以中层以上都是人性化管理的对象。

狼性执行是对事的管理，人性化管理是对人的管理

狼性管理针对的是事，是对做事的管理，它的出发点是结果，做事的过程就是提供结果的过程，所以对事本身的管理，就是狼性执行的体现。狼性执行是对事不对人！

人性化管理针对的是人，是做事的人，因为人性管理是一种影响人的方式，用爱与智慧来影响和领导人，所以人是人性化管理的出发点。人性化管理是对人不对事！

狼性执行是制度、流程的执行，人性化管理是领导力的管理

军队的执行力在于对军规的坚定执行，执行力来自对规则，制度和流程的执行。因为执行是操作层面的，在执行层面不能保持行动、步伐的一致性，就不能获得团队的执行力。所以对制度，规则的执行，直接决定执行力的效果。

人性管理在本质上是一种对人的影响，通过对人的需求进行投资，投资好处——接受好处——回报好处，等这样一个过程。所以它跟领导力是一致的，即领导是一种投资，接受是一种义务，回报是一种责任。所以人性管理是领导力的管理。

狼性执行强调绝对服从，人性化管理重在自愿服从

狼性管理强调的是对执行、对命令的绝对服从。尤其是在制度层面，很多时候员工必须去执行，没有可以不可以，愿不愿意服从的。正如军人的天职是服从命令一样，员工的天职是提供结果。是无条件的服从规则制度。

人性化管理则在于自愿服从，人性化管理是对人性的尊重，所以对人的尊重是不可以用强制或命令的方法来执行，而是尊重人的本意，通过对人的投资，让其自愿服从。这就是人性化管理。

可以考核的用狼性，不可以考核的用人性

狼性执行针对的是结果，是业绩，所以业绩需要考核，需要量化。同样结果是可量化，可衡量的，所以狼性执行必须是可量化，可衡量的。

而人性化管理是一种成就感管理，更多的是对人与人之间在精神，成就感上的激励，所以通常很难量化。（转载自管理咨询大师姜汝祥的博客文章）