Renquist: Governor, are you ready to take the oath?
Bush: I am.
Renquist: Please raise your right hand and repeat after me. I, George Walker Bush, do solemnly swear.
Bush: I, George Walker Bush, do solemnly swear.
Renquist: That I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States.
Bush: That I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States.
Renquist: And will to the best of my ability……
Bush: And will to the best of my ability……
Renquist: ……preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
Bush: ……preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
Renquist: So help me, God.
Bush: So help me, God.
Renquist: Congratulations!
I thank you all. Chief Justice Renquist, President Carter, President Bush, President Clinton, distinguished guests and my fellow citizens.
The peaceful transfer of authority is rare in history, yet common in our country. With a simple oath, we affirm old traditions and make new beginnings.
I am honored and humbled to stand here where so many of America's leaders have come before me, and so many will follow.
We have a place, all of us, in a long story. A story we continued, but whose end we will not see. It is a story of a new world that became a friend and liberator of the old. A story of a slave holding society that became a servant of freedom. It is the American story. A story of flawed and fallible people, united across the generations by grand and 1）enduring ideals.
The grandest of these ideals is an 2）unfolding American promise that everyone belongs, that everyone deserves a chance, that no insignificant person was ever born. Americans are called to 3）enact this promise in our lives and in our laws. And although our nation has sometimes halted and sometimes delayed, we must follow no other course.
Sometimes in life we're called to do great things. But as a saint of our times has said, "Everyday we're called to do small things with great love." The most important tasks of a democracy are done by everyone.
I will live and lead by these principles, to advance my convictions with civility, to pursue the public interest with courage, to speak for greaterjustice and compassion, to call for responsibility, and try to live it as well. In all these ways, I will bring the values of our history to the care of our times.
What you do is an important as anything government does. I ask you to seek a common good beyond your comfort, to defend needed reforms against easy attacks, to serve your nation beginning with your neighbor. I ask you to be citizens; citizens, not 4）spectators; citizens, not subjects; responsible citizens building communities of service and a nation of character.
Americans are generous and strong and decent not because we believe in ourselves, but because we hold beliefs beyond ourselves. When this spirit of citizenship is missing, no government program can replace it. When this spirit is present, no wrong can stand against it.
After the Declaration of Independence was signed, Virginian statesman John Page wrote to Thomas Jefferson. "We know the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong. Do you not think an angel rides in the 5）whirlwind and directs this storm?"
Much time has passed since Jefferson arrived for his inauguration. The yearsand changes accumulate. But the things of this day, he would know; our nation's grand story of courage, and its simple dream of dignity.
We are not this story's author, who fills time and eternity with his purpose. Yet his purpose is achieved in our duty, and our duty is fulfilled in service to one another.
Never tiring, never yielding, never finishing. We renew that purpose today, to make our country more just and generous, to affirm the dignity of our lives, and every life. This work continues. The story goes on. And an angel still rides in the whirlwind and directs this storm.
God bless you all and God bless America!
1） enduring a. 持久的
2） unfolding a. 呈現(xiàn)的
3） enact v. 制定，扮演，頒布
4） spectator n.旁觀者
5） whirlwind n. 旋風(fēng)
Bush: I am.
Renquist: Please raise your right hand and repeat after me. I, George Walker Bush, do solemnly swear.
Bush: I, George Walker Bush, do solemnly swear.
Renquist: That I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States.
Bush: That I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States.
Renquist: And will to the best of my ability……
Bush: And will to the best of my ability……
Renquist: ……preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
Bush: ……preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
Renquist: So help me, God.
Bush: So help me, God.
Renquist: Congratulations!
I thank you all. Chief Justice Renquist, President Carter, President Bush, President Clinton, distinguished guests and my fellow citizens.
The peaceful transfer of authority is rare in history, yet common in our country. With a simple oath, we affirm old traditions and make new beginnings.
I am honored and humbled to stand here where so many of America's leaders have come before me, and so many will follow.
We have a place, all of us, in a long story. A story we continued, but whose end we will not see. It is a story of a new world that became a friend and liberator of the old. A story of a slave holding society that became a servant of freedom. It is the American story. A story of flawed and fallible people, united across the generations by grand and 1）enduring ideals.
The grandest of these ideals is an 2）unfolding American promise that everyone belongs, that everyone deserves a chance, that no insignificant person was ever born. Americans are called to 3）enact this promise in our lives and in our laws. And although our nation has sometimes halted and sometimes delayed, we must follow no other course.
Sometimes in life we're called to do great things. But as a saint of our times has said, "Everyday we're called to do small things with great love." The most important tasks of a democracy are done by everyone.
I will live and lead by these principles, to advance my convictions with civility, to pursue the public interest with courage, to speak for greaterjustice and compassion, to call for responsibility, and try to live it as well. In all these ways, I will bring the values of our history to the care of our times.
What you do is an important as anything government does. I ask you to seek a common good beyond your comfort, to defend needed reforms against easy attacks, to serve your nation beginning with your neighbor. I ask you to be citizens; citizens, not 4）spectators; citizens, not subjects; responsible citizens building communities of service and a nation of character.
Americans are generous and strong and decent not because we believe in ourselves, but because we hold beliefs beyond ourselves. When this spirit of citizenship is missing, no government program can replace it. When this spirit is present, no wrong can stand against it.
After the Declaration of Independence was signed, Virginian statesman John Page wrote to Thomas Jefferson. "We know the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong. Do you not think an angel rides in the 5）whirlwind and directs this storm?"
Much time has passed since Jefferson arrived for his inauguration. The yearsand changes accumulate. But the things of this day, he would know; our nation's grand story of courage, and its simple dream of dignity.
We are not this story's author, who fills time and eternity with his purpose. Yet his purpose is achieved in our duty, and our duty is fulfilled in service to one another.
Never tiring, never yielding, never finishing. We renew that purpose today, to make our country more just and generous, to affirm the dignity of our lives, and every life. This work continues. The story goes on. And an angel still rides in the whirlwind and directs this storm.
God bless you all and God bless America!
1） enduring a. 持久的
2） unfolding a. 呈現(xiàn)的
3） enact v. 制定，扮演，頒布
4） spectator n.旁觀者
5） whirlwind n. 旋風(fēng)