名篇背诵：Our Responsibility Is Heavy 我们的责任重大

Our Responsibility Is Heavy 我们的责任重大

西奥多·罗斯福(Theodore Roosevelt)

My fellow-citizens, no people on earth have more cause to be thankful than ours, and this is said reverently , in no spirit of boastfulness in our own strength, but with gratitude to the Giver of Good who has blessed us with the conditions which have enabled us to achieve so large a measure of well-being and of happiness. To us as a people it has been granted to lay the foundations of our national life in a new continent. We are the heirs of the ages, and yet we have had to pay few of the penalties which in old countries are exacted by the dead hand of a bygone civilization. We have not been obliged to fight for our existence against any alien race; and yet our life has called for the vigor and effort without which the manlier and hardier virtues wither away. Under such conditions it would be our own fault if we failed; and the success which we have had in the past, the success which we confidently believe the future will bring, should cause in us no feeling of vainglory , but rather a deep and abiding realization of all which life has offered us; a full acknowledgment of the responsibility which is ours; and a fixed determination to show that under a free government a mighty people can thrive best, alike as regards the things of the body and the things of the soul.

Much has been given us, and much will rightfully be expected from us. We have duties to others and duties to ourselves; and we can shirk neither. We have become a great nation, forced by the fact of its greatness into relations with the other nations of the earth, and we must behave as beseems a people with such responsibilities. Toward all other nations, large and small, our attitude must be one of cordial and sincere friendship. We must show not only in our words, but in our deeds, that we are earnestly desirous of securing their good will by acting toward them in a spirit of just and generous recognition of all their rights. But justice and generosity in a nation, as in an individual, count most when shown not by the weak but by the strong. While ever careful to refrain from wrongdoing others, we must be no less insistent that we are not wronged ourselves. We wish peace, but we wish the peace of justice, the peace of righteousness. We wish it because we think it is right and not because we are afraid. No weak nation that acts manfully and justly should ever have cause to fear us, and no strong power should ever be able to single us out as a subject for insolent aggression.

- reverently [ˈrevərəntlɪ] ad. 谦恭地

the Giver of Good 上帝

- heir [eə] n. 继承者

- vainglory [veɪnˈɡlɔːrɪ] n. 自负，骄傲自大

in a spirit of 以一种……态度

single out 挑选出

- insolent [ˈɪnsələnt] a. 蛮横的，无礼的

我的公民同胞们，世界上没有哪个民族具有比我们更值得高兴的事业，我是怀着崇敬之情说这话的，绝没有吹嘘自己实力的意思，而是带着对赐给我们这么一份巨大的幸福与安乐的上帝的感激。上帝赐予了我们得天独厚的建国、富国的条件，使我们作为一个民族，得以在一个新大陆上奠定了国民生活的基础。我们是过往时代的继承人，但我们不必交罚金了，这些罚金，在一些古老的国度里，是由一个已消失的文明的黑手所征收的。我们不再被迫为了我们的生存而同外族战斗；然而我们的生活需要充沛的活力和不懈的努力，无此，则勇猛刚毅的美德就会消失。在这样的条件下，如果我们失败，那就是自己的过失。既往的成功，我们坚信将来定能取得的成功，不该引起我们的自负，而应该是深切体会到生活给予我们的一切，充分意识到自己的责任和坚定的决心；在自由政府的领导下，一个强大的民族可以更加兴旺发达，身强体壮，心灵崇高。

给我们越多，自然对我们的期望也就越高。我们对自己和他人都负有责任，责无旁贷。我们已经成为一个大国，因为伟大，我们得同地球上的其他国家发生联系，进行交往，我们的所作所为必须同我们这个负有责任的民族的地位相称。对其他国家和民族，不分大小，我们的态度必须是友好诚挚的。不仅在言辞上，而且在行动上，我们要表明，我们真诚地渴望得到他们的善意，承认他们所有的权利，公正而大度地对待他们。但是一个国家的公正与大度，正如一个人一样，由强者而非弱者表现出来时才最有价值。一方面美国要注意不要委屈他国，另一方面我们也绝不受他国伤害。我们希望和平，但我们希望的是公正的和平，正义的和平。我们希望和平，因为我们认为这是对的，并不是因为我们害怕。没有哪个行得端做得正的弱小国家有理由害怕我们，也没有哪个强国可以把我们当作无理侵略的对象。