22/1/09
奥巴马的就职演说太振奋人心了。很久了没有被如此真实却铿锵有力的声音所震撼，他的演说和个人魅力给美国乃至全世界的人民带来了希望，一个大国需要一个伟大智慧的领导者，然而空缺了太久，甚至已经开始忘记了对他的需要。
摘了几段我最喜欢的。
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.
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 labour, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.
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.
…We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defence, 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.
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.
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 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.
新官上任三把火，第一把，白宫高级职员冻薪。奥巴马说，“正值危机之时，全美国人民需要勒紧裤腰带，华盛顿也不例外。”这和昨天看到的新闻成鲜明对比，昨天澳洲报纸除美国新总统的新闻外最鲜眼的就是老陆在号召澳洲人民在危机中不要期待着长薪的同时批了发给他的首席参某的巨额秘密红包。显然，在全球勒紧裤腰带的时候，华盛顿不例外，却例外了堪培拉。老陆自上台后支持率一直下降，而他的对手自由党领导人的支持率却也未因此而上升，看来澳洲人民对两大政党都已经心灰意冷了，期待着什么时候从其他小党里也神奇的冒出个象奥巴马这样的奇才，来个耳目一新的改变。哈哈～～以上纯属个人言论及设想，不负任何责任的哟。
这两天我家的一条金鱼身上长了一些黑点点，黑点点越来越大，变成了黑片片。开始我们以为它病了，心想大概又要不久于鱼世，但几天下来依然在鱼缸里游上蹿下的，于是我说，大概它的皮肤就是深色的，象奥巴马一样。哈哈～～
