12. An Epoch-making Toast
Mr. Prime Minister and all of your distinguished1 guests this evening:
总理先生、今夜在座的诸位贵宾:
1. On behalf of all of your American guests, I wish to thank you for the incomparable hospitality for which the
Chinese people are justly famous throughout the world. I particularly want to pay tribute, not only to those
who prepared the magnificent dinner, but also to those who have provided the splendid music. Never have
I heard American music played better in a foreign land.
1、我谨代表你们的所有美国客人向你们表示感谢,感谢你们的无可比拟韵盛情款待。中国人民以这种盛情款待而闻名世界。我不只要特别赞扬那些筹备了这次盛大晚宴的人,而且还要赞扬那些给大家演奏如此美好的音乐的人。我在外国从来没听到过演奏得这么好的美国音乐。
2. Mr. Prime Minister, I wish to thank you for your very gracious and eloquent2 remarks. At this very moment, through the
wonder of telecommunications, more people are seeing and hearing what we say than on any other such occasion in the whole
history of the world. Yet what we say here will not be long remembered. What we do here can change the world.
2、总理先生,我要感谢你的很亲切和雄辩的讲话。就在这个时刻,通过电讯的奇迹,看到和听到大家讲话的人比在整个世界历史上任何其他如此的场所都要多。不过,大家在这里讲的话,大家不会长久记住。大家在这里所做的事却可以改变世界。
3. As you said in your toast, the Chinese people are a great people, the American people are a great people. If our two peoples
are enemies, the future of this world we share together is dark indeed. But if we can find common ground to work together,
the chance for world peace is immeasurably increased.
3、正如你在祝酒词中讲的那样,中国人民是伟大的人民,美国人民是伟大的人民。假如大家两国人民为敌的话,那样大家一同居住的这个世界的前途就的确是黑暗的了。但,假如大家可以找到进行合作的一同点,那样达成世界和平的机会就无可估量地大大增加了。
4. In the spirit of frankness which I hope will characterize our talks this week, let us recognize at the outset these points: We have
at times in the past been enemies. We have great differences today. What brings us together is that we have common interests which
transcend those differences. As we discuss our differences, neither of us will compromise our principles. But while we cannot close the
gulf3 between us, we can try to bridge it so that we may be able to talk across it.
4、我期望大家这个星期的会谈将是坦率的。本着这种坦率的精神,让大家刚开始就认识到如此什么时间:在过去的一些时期大家曾是敌人。今天大家有巨大的分歧。使大家走到一块的,是大家有超越这类分歧的一同利益。大家在讨论大家的分歧的时候,大家哪一方都不会在大家的原则上妥协。但,虽然大家不可以弥合大家之间的鸿沟,大家却可以设法搭一座桥,以便大家可以越过它进行会谈。
5. So, let us, in these next five days, start a long march together, not in lockstep, but on different roads leading to the same goal, the goal
of building a world structure of peace and justice in which all may stand together with equal dignity and in which each nation, large of small,
has a right to determine its own form of government, free of outside interference or domination. The world watches. The world listens.
The world waits to see what we will do. What is the world? In a personal sense, I think of my eldest4 daughter whose birthday is today.
As I think of her, I think of all the children in the world, in Asia, in Africa, in Europe, in the Americas, most of whom were born since the
date of the foundation of the Peoples Republic of China.
5、因此,让大家在以后的五天里在一块开始一次长征吧,不是在一块迈步,而是在不一样的道路上向同一目的前进。这个目的就是打造一个和平和正义的世界结构:在这个世界结构中,所有些人都可以在一块享有同等的尊严;在这个世界结构中,每一个国家,不论大小,都有权利决定我们的政府形式,不受外来的干预或统治。全世界在注视着。全世界在倾听着。全世界在等待着看大家将做些什么。这个世界是什么呢?就个人来讲,我想到我的大女儿,由于今天是她的过生日。当我想到她的时候,我就想到全世界的儿童,想到亚洲、非洲、欧洲与美洲的儿童,他们大部分都是在中华人民共和国成立将来生的。
6. What legacy5 shall we leave our children? Are they destined6 to die for the hatreds7 which have plagued the old world,
or are they destined to live because we have the Vision to build a new world?
6、大家将给大家的孩子们留下什么遗产呢?他们的命是怀着对旧世界中的苦难的仇恨而死亡呢,还是因为大家有缔造一个新世界的远见而活下去呢?
7. There is no reason for us to be enemies. Neither of us seeks the territory of the other; neither of us seeks domination over the other;
neither of us seeks to stretch out our hands and rule the world.
7、大家没理由要成为敌人。大家哪一方都不企图获得他们的领土,大家哪一方都不企图统治他们,大家哪一方都不企图伸出手去统治世界。
8. Chairman Mao has written, So many deeds cry out to be done, and always urgently; / The world rolls on, / Time presses.
/ Ten thousand years are too long, / Seize the day, seize the hour! This is the hour. This is the day for our two peoples to
rise to the heights of greatness which can build a new and a better world.
8、毛主席写过:多少事,从来急;天地转,光阴迫。一万年太久,只争朝夕。目前就是只争朝夕的时候了,是大家两国人民攀登那种可以缔造一个新的、更美好的世界的伟大事业的高峰的时候了。
9. In that spirit, I ask all of you present to join me in raising your glasses to Chairman Mao, to Prime Minister Chou, and to the
friendship of the Chinese and American people which can lead to friendship and peace for all people in the world.
9、本着这种精神,我请求诸位同我一块举杯,为毛主席,为周总理,为可以致使全世界所有人民的友谊与和平的中国人民和美国人民之间的友谊,干杯。