晨读英语美文100篇 Passage 70. Inaugural Speech

[00:00.66]Passage 70. Inaugural Speech

[00:06.89]In your hands, my fellow citizens,more than mine,

[00:14.56]will rest the final success or failure of our cause.

[00:18.82]Since this country was founded, each generation of Americans has been summoned

[00:23.98]to give testimony to its national loyalty.

[00:26.93]The graves of young Americans who answered the call to service surround the globe.

[00:32.51]Now the trumpet summons us again—not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need;

[00:40.51]not as a call to battle, though in battle we are,

[00:43.79]but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out,

[00:49.80]rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, a struggle against the common enemies of man:

[00:55.71]tyranny, poverty,disease and war itself.

[01:00.30]Can we forge against these enemies a grand and global alliance,North and South, East and West,

[01:07.64]that can assure a fruitful life for all mankind?

[01:11.57]Will you join in that historic effort?

[01:14.42]In the long history of the world,

[01:17.59]only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger.

[01:24.60]I do not shrink from this responsibility—I welcome it.

[01:29.41]I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation.

[01:36.63]The energy, the belief, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor

[01:42.10]will light our country and all who serve it

[01:45.71]—and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.

[01:49.76]And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you

[01:56.54]—ask what you can do for your country.

[01:59.71]My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you,

[02:06.17]but what together we can do for the freedom of man.

[02:10.98]Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world,

[02:16.89]ask of us here the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you.

[02:23.79]With a good conscience our only sure reward,

[02:28.05]with history the final judge of our deeds,

[02:30.57]let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help,

[02:36.70]but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own.