英国下议院议长约翰·伯考 | 2011年奥巴马访英热情致辞

Mr President,ladies and gentlemen:

总统先生，女士们先生们：

History is more than the path left by the past. It influences the present and can shape the future.

历史不仅仅是过去遗留下的痕迹。它影响着当下，更塑造着未来。

We meet today in Westminster Hall,a building begun nine hundred years ago, when the Vikings were visiting the shores of what would become the United States, even if it was Columbus who would subsequently demonstrate the politician’s art of arriving late but claiming all the credit.

今日，我们在威斯敏斯特大厅共聚一堂，这座建筑始建于900年前，而当时的维京人就在美洲海岸边游玩嬉戏，那片土地便是如今的美国，即便最后还是哥伦布发现了“新大陆”，他向我们展现了政客的艺术，就算来得晚，也要抢占所有功劳。

This Hall has witnessed grim trials and the sentencing to death of a king, coronation banquets ceremonial addresses and the coffins of those receiving the last respects of our people.

我们曾在这座大厅见证严酷的审判，甚至国王也被处以极刑，我们在这里举办加冕盛宴，发表重大演讲，也在这里摆放伟人棺椁，接受民众吊唁，向他们致以最后的敬意。

Few places reach so far into the heart of our nation. Yet until today no American President has stood on these steps to address our country’s Parliament.

极少有地方能够如此深入整个国家的心脏。迄今为止，尚未有过美国总统站在威斯敏斯特大厅台阶之上向英国国会致辞发言。

It is my honour, Mr President,to welcome you as our friend, and as a statesman. Statesmanship is the cement which seals our shared idealism as nations.

总统先生，我荣幸之至，能在此欢迎您，我们的挚友，一位卓绝的政治领袖。您的领袖风范拥有一种凝聚力，是团结我们共同理想的纽带。

It makes meaningful the unity of ambition, passion for freedom and abhorrence of injustice,that is the core of our close alliance. It has fallen to you to tackle economic turbulence at home,to protect the health of those without wealth, and to seek that precious balance between security which is too often threatened and human rights which are too often denied.

也赋予一切以意义，将雄心壮志、对自由的激情澎湃、对不公正的憎恶摒弃，融为一体，这就是我们紧密联盟的核心精神所在。一切责任皆落于你的臂膀，解决国内的经济动荡，保障贫困人士的身心健康，在时常受威胁的安全问题和时常被剥夺的人权问题之间，寻求一种宝贵的平衡。

History is not the burden of any one man or woman alone, but some are called to meet a special share of its challenges. It is a duty that you discharge with a dignity,determination and distinction that a widely admired. Abraham Lincoln once observed that “nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character,give him power”.

历史并不是某个男人女人仅凭一己之力去担负的责任，可总有些人被历史召唤，来应对其特殊的挑战。而您心怀尊严、不卑不亢、坚定决心、卓越优异地履行职责，也因而广受称颂和敬仰。亚伯拉罕·林肯曾经说过：“几乎所有人都能忍受逆境，但如果你想考验一个人的性格，那就给他权利。”

Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States of America, Barack Obama.

女士们先生们，欢迎美利坚合众国总统，巴拉克·奥巴马。