Level 5-Day 31.Eisenhower 'The Military-Industrial Complex' (1)

词汇提示

1.military 军事的

2.farewell 告别的

3.holocausts 大屠杀

4.preeminence杰出优秀

5.prestige 声望

6.mighty 强大的

7.plowshares 犁铧

8.conjunction 结合

9.imperative 必要的

原文

Dwight D. Eisenhower: 'The Military-Industrial Complex' (1)

This evening,I come to you with a message of leave-taking and farewell, and to share a few final thoughts with you, my countrymen...

We now stand ten years past the midpoint of a century that has witnessed four major wars among great nations three of these involved our own country.

Despite these holocausts America is today the strongest, the most influential, and most productive nation in the world.

Understandably proud of this preeminence, we yet realize that America's leadership and prestige depend, not merely upon our unmatched material progress, riches, and military strength, but on how we use our power in the interests of world peace and human betterment.

A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment.

Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor maybe tempted to risk his own destruction.

Our military organization today bears little relation to that known by any of my predecessors in peacetime or, indeed, by the fighting men of World War Il or Korea.

Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry.

American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well.

But we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense.

We have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions.

Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment.

We annually spend on military security alone more than the net income of all United States corporations.

Now,this conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience.

The total influence-economic, political, even spiritual - is felt in every city,every statehouse, every office of the federal government.

We recognize the imperative need for this development.

Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications.

Our toil, resources, and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.

The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

翻译

德怀特·d·艾森豪威尔:“军工复合体”(一)

今晚，我要向你们告别，并与你们分享一些最后的想法，我的同胞们……
我们现在站在一个世纪中期的十年过去了，这个世纪见证了大国之间的四次主要战争，其中三次涉及我们自己的国家。
尽管经历了这些浩劫，美国今天仍是世界上最强大、最有影响力和最具生产力的国家。
可以理解，我们对这种卓越感到自豪，但我们也认识到，美国的领导地位和威望不仅取决于我们无与伦比的物质进步、财富和军事实力，还取决于我们如何利用我们的力量为世界和平和人类福祉服务。
维持和平的一个重要因素是我们的军事机构。
我们的武器必须强大，随时准备立即行动，这样就不会有潜在的侵略者冒着毁灭自己的危险。
我们今天的军事组织与和平时期我的任何一位前任所知道的，甚至与第二次世界大战或朝鲜战争的战士所知道的，几乎没有什么关系。
在最近的世界冲突之前，美国没有军备工业。
随着时间的推移和需要，美国的犁头制造商也可以制造剑。
但我们不能再冒国防紧急应变的风险。
我们被迫建立一个规模庞大的永久性军备工业。
除此之外，还有350万男女直接参与国防建设。
我们每年仅在军事安全上的开支就超过了美国所有公司的净收入。
现在，庞大的军事机构和庞大的武器工业的结合在美国是新的经验。
所有的影响——经济的、政治的，甚至精神上的——在每个城市、每个州议会、联邦政府的每个办公室都能感受到。
我们认识到这一发展的迫切需要。
然而，我们必须理解它的严重影响。
我们的劳动、资源、生计都牵涉其中;我们的社会结构也是如此。
在政府委员会中，我们必须防止军工复合体获得不必要的影响力，无论是有意的还是无意的。
错位的权力带来灾难性崛起的可能性存在并将持续下去。