英国前首相“铁娘子”撒切尔夫人在美国白宫晚宴上的演讲

Mr. President, Mrs. Carter, ladies and gentlemen, it has been my first visit to Washington as head of the British government, and I should like, at the end of a memorable day, to say thank you. Thank you, to you, Mr. President, to you, Mrs. Carter, and through you to the American people for the wonderfully warm welcome I have been given everywhere. 

总统先生，卡特夫人，女士们，先生们，这是我以英国政府首脑的身份首次访问华盛顿，在这令人难忘的一天结束时，我想说声谢谢。谢谢您，总统先生，谢谢您，卡特夫人，并通过你们向美国人民表示感谢，感谢他们在我所到之处给予热烈的欢迎。 

I know, Mr. President, that as you pointed out at the beginning of your speech, the relationship between America and Britain started off with one or two errors of judgment on our side. Looking around me at the beauty here and at the wonderful nation you have created I am really rather glad that my predecessors weren't successful in all things they tried to carry out. 

总统先生，我知道，正如您在发言开始时所指出的那样，美英之间关系出现始于我们这一方的一两个错误的判断。 环顾四周，欣赏这里的美景和你们创造的美丽的国家，我甚至很高兴我的前任在他们试图执行的一切事情上都没有取得成功。

Now, I know that official visits to Washington recur almost with the regularity of the passing seasons, but as far as I am concerned, this really has been an exceptional event in the year for me. Alas, I will not be staying long, but it makes a great difference to me to have this chance of direct discussion and to sense at first hand what it is that quickens the pulse of the American people, their yearnings and preoccupations. 

现在，我知道对华盛顿的正式访问，几乎随着季节的更替而不断进行，但就我个人而言，这真的是一年中的一个特殊事件。 遗憾的是我不会停留很长时间，但是让我有机会直接参与讨论，并且亲身感受到是什么加速了美国人民的脉搏，他们的渴望和关注，这对我来说很重要。

I am very much aware, Mr. President, of the ordeal that the United States is going through at the moment. It is a double ordeal, for the fate of the 50 hostages in Tehran, from whom our thoughts are never far, and for the temper of the United States as a whole. You will not want me to speak at length about this now, but I would be giving you a false impression if I allowed the evening to proceed any further without letting you know how much we in Britain, support you in your ordeal at this time. 

总统先生，我非常清楚美国此时此刻正在经历的磨难。对于德黑兰的50名人质来说，这是一个双重考验，我们的思绪从未远离，对于整个美国的情绪，也是一种考验。 您可能不想让我现在这就此发表冗长的讲话，但如果这样的话，我会给您一个错误的印象，如果我让今晚平静地度过，而不让您知道此时在英国的我们在这场考验中如此支持你们。 

The United States is our friend, our ally, and our time-honored partner in peace and war. The history and the destiny of our countries have been and always will be inextricably intertwined. Our friendship goes back a very long way. We are, after all, among the very few countries in the world whose constitutions and national identities have remained intact over two centuries. I hope you won't mind, Mr. President, my recalling that George Washington was a British subject until well after his 40th birthday. I have been told, to my surprise, that he does not have a place in the British Dictionary of National Biography. I suppose the editors must have regarded him as a late developer.

美国是我们的朋友，我们的盟友，也是我们在和平与战争中历史悠久的伙伴。 我们国家的历史和命运已经并将永远密不可分。 我们的友谊源远流长。 毕竟我们是世界上极少数几个宪法和民族身份保持两个多世纪不变的国家之一。 总统先生，我希望您不会介意，我回想起乔治华盛顿在他40岁生日之前一直是英国国民。令我感到惊讶的是，我曾被告知他在《英国国家传记》词典里没有位置。 我想编辑们一定把他视为已故的开发者。

I confess to you that in some ways my visit got off to a rather shaky start, because I was told on arrival at Andrews Field that I had interrupted your Secretary of State, Mr. Vance, in one of his few moments of relaxation. He was watching the Redskins playing the Cowboys. He had to take his eye off the game to greet me. I am very grateful but I don't think the Redskins can have been very grateful to me because it was no doubt as a result of this diversion of Mr. Vance's attention that the Redskins lost the game. I do apologize for having intervened in your internal affairs.

我向您承认，从某种程度上说，我的访问一开始就有些不顺，因为在抵达安德鲁斯菲尔德时，有人告诉我，已经打断了您的国务卿万斯先生短暂的休息时刻。 他当时正在看红人队和牛仔队的比赛（橄榄球比赛）。 他不得不把视线从比赛上移开来招呼我。我很感激，但是我不认为红人队会感谢我，因为毫无疑问，万斯先生注意力的转移，导致红人队输了这场比赛。我很抱歉干涉了您的内政。 

Mr. Vance's opposite number, Lord Carrington, who is with us this evening, has as you know, and as you have very kindly said, Mr. President, had something of a triumph in the Rhodesia negotiations at Lancaster House in London. If you think he looks a little pale, it is because he has been shut up in Lancaster House for many months, indeed has become known as the prisoner of Lancaster House and he is so pleased to be free at last. Lord Carrington would, I know, want me to repeat this evening how grateful the British government are to the United States authorities for the stalwart support they have given us unfailingly over Rhodesia, and you, Mr. President, and you, Mr. Vance, we would like to give our warmest and most heartfelt thanks, because without your support the whole process would have been incomparably more difficult and we may never have reached success. 

今天晚上与我们在一起的，万斯先生对面的嘉宾卡灵顿勋爵，正如您所知，并与您曾经询问过一样，总统先生，在伦敦兰开斯特宫举行的罗德西亚谈判中取得了有一些胜利。 如果你认为他的脸色看上去有些苍白，那是因为他已经在兰开斯特宫关了好几个月了，确实曾被称为兰卡斯特宫的囚犯了，他很高兴终于可以自由了。 我知道，卡灵顿勋爵希望我今天晚上再说一遍，英国政府对美国当局表示衷心的支持，感谢他们对罗德西亚的坚定支持。而您，总统先生，还有您，万斯先生，我们要表示最热烈和最衷心的感谢，因为如果没有你们的支持，整个过程将会变得无比困难，而且我们可能永远无法取得成功。

May I say one more thing, Mr. President. The government which I lead has been in power now for just over half a year. We face great difficulties, some of them deep seated and longstanding and some stemming from beyond our shores, and I don't pretend that anything is going to be remedied immediately, but we are determined upon a change. We are determined to return to the first principles which have traditionally governed our political and economic life, namely, the overall responsibility of the individual rather than the state for his own welfare, and the paramountcy of Parliament for the protection of fundamental rights. 

总统先生，我希望我可以再多说一件事。 我领导的政府已经掌权半年多了。 我们面临着巨大的困难，有些困难根深蒂固，由来已久，有些困难源于我们的境外，我也不假装要立即采取任何补救措施，但我们决心要做出改变。 我们决心回归传统上支配着我们的政治和经济生活的第一项原则，即个人的整体责任，而不是国家对其自身的福利负有的总体责任，以及议会对保护基本权利的至上主义。  

The government I lead has a resounding mandate to restore the face and the fortunes of the nation. We shall stick at the task whatever the difficulties and however great the endurance required, and we shall do so. Mr. President, in the conviction that our allies across the Atlantic have confidence in us, just as we have confidence in the strength and ingenuity of the United States to meet any challenge and triumph over any adversity that confronts them. And it is in that spirit that I would like to ask all your other guests this evening to drink a toast to you, the President of the United States of America. To the President.

我领导的政府肩负着令人振奋的使命，就是要恢复国家的面貌和财富。不管有多大的困难，不管需要多大的耐力，我们都要坚持完成任务，并且我们将这样做。总统先生，我们坚信大西洋彼岸的盟友对我们有信心，正如我们对美国的力量和独创性有信心，我们相信美国能够迎接任何挑战，战胜他们面临的任何逆境。 正是以这种精神，我想请今天晚上所有宾客为您敬酒，为美利坚合众国总统干杯。敬总统。