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：

今天，我站在这里，谦卑地接受摆在我们面前的重任。感谢你们寄托给我的信任。感谢我们的祖先为我们的今天所做出的牺牲。我要感谢布什总统，感谢他对我们的国家所做出的贡献，也感谢他在交接过程中所展示出来的慷慨大方和合作精神。

　　现在，已经有44名美国人进行过总统宣誓。

　　这些宣誓词存在于平和昌盛时期，也存在于风起云涌的动荡时期。这些时刻，美国都坚持下来了，不是因为那些身居要职的人所表现出来的技巧和形象，而是因为人民对先人理想的坚信，对立国纲领的信守。

　　过去如此。我们这一代的美国人也必将如此。

　　目前，我们正陷入危机当中。我们的国家处于战争状态，与仇恨和暴力抗争。一部分人的贪婪和不负责任，以及我们在抉择和准备民族新纪元时的集体失误，致使国家经济身陷囹圄。人们流离失所，公司大幅裁员，商店接连倒闭。卫生保健耗资惊人，学校教育败绩频频，每天都有更多的证据证明我们应用能源的方式实际上是在损己利人。

　　这些是数据和统计显示的危机征兆。不可测量却侵蚀了全民的自信——我们开始困扰美国的衰落是否不可避免，我们开始怀疑下一代是否终将风光不再。

　　今天，我告诉你们，我们面临的挑战是真实存在的。它们严重而繁琐。可能短期内不会遇见，但是美国与它们终将相遇。

　　今天，我们相聚在一起，因为我们选择了希望来克服恐惧，联合起来解决矛盾和是非。

　　今天，我们来到这里，宣告冤屈和虚伪诺言的终结，结束相互指责和一无是处的教条，解放长期以来被压制的政治。

　　我们是一个年轻的民族。圣经上说，时间用来摒弃幼稚。时间已经再度肯定了我们隐忍的精神；选择了我们更好的历史；推进了珍贵的礼物——代代相传的崇高理念：上帝面前，人人平等而自由，人人都有权利追求自己的幸福。

　　再度肯定我们的民族是伟大的同时，我们必须理解，伟大不是赠予的，而是赢得的。我们并没有走捷径。这不是胆怯懦弱的人（那些好逸恶劳，追名逐利之徒）所走的路。

　　这是冒险家，实干家和创造者的路。他们中有一些是大名鼎鼎的人，但是更多的是在劳动中默默无闻的男男女女，他们带领我们走过荆棘和崎岖，走向繁荣和自由。

　　为了我们，他们背起行囊，远涉重洋，寻找新的生活。

　　为了我们，他们条件恶劣的工厂埋首苦干，开拓建立了西方世界；他们忍受鞭笞，辛勤耕耘贫瘠的土壤。

　　为了我们，他们誓死奋战，鲜血洒在康科德（Concord），盖茨堡（Gettysburg），诺曼底（Normandy）和科萨恩（KheSahn）。