And yet, it cannot be said that John F. Kennedy lived an easy life. He lost an older brother in the war; a sister shortly thereafter. He nearly lost his own life, too, when a Japanese gunship cut his PT boat in half, casting him into the water, from which he swam a crewmate to safety. Another sister struggled with a severe mental handicap. His own health was so poor that priests pronounced his last rites on several different occasions. And he endured the personal prejudice and political poison of anti-Catholic fervor.
然而，并不能说约翰·肯尼迪一生都安逸顺利。他在战争中失去了哥哥；之后不久又失去了一个妹妹。他自己也几乎遇难，当时一架日本战机把他的鱼雷艇截成两半，他被抛入水中，但他从水里救起另一名水手，一起安然逃生。他的另一个妹妹患有严重脑障。他自己的身体状况也很差，以至于牧师数次为他做过临终祷告。他还忍受了反天主教狂热所引发的个人偏见和政治毒害。
And there is surely a possibility, under such circumstances, that a person will retreat from the world; that a person, particularly one born to wealth, will seek a life of luxury and ease; that a person, confronted by the coldness of chance, will become bitter or cynical or small. It has happened to others.
在这种情况下，一个人确实有可能遁世隐居；特别是一个天生富贵的人，有可能会追求一种奢华安逸的生活；一个面对机会之冷漠的人，可能会变得刻薄、愤世嫉俗或心胸狭隘。这种情况并不罕见。
But that is not the life that John F. Kennedy chose. As he famously said at a press conference, “life is unfair.” We can’t choose the lots we are given in life, but we can choose how to live that life. John F. Kennedy chose a life in the arena, full of confidence that our country could surmount any obstacle, as he’d seen it do himself. He chose a life of leadership, fired not by naïve optimism, but committed realism; “idealism,” as his wife Jackie put it, “without illusions.” That is the idealism -– soaring but sober –- that inspired the country and the world one half century ago.
但是，这并不是约翰·肯尼迪选择的人生。他在一次新闻发布会上说得好：“生活是不公平的。”我们不能选择生活给予我们的定数，但我们可以选择如何度过一生。约翰·肯尼迪选择生活在公众舞台上，坚信我们的国家能够克服任何困难，就像他亲眼目睹的那样。他选择了做领袖的生活，不为天真的乐观主义所驱使，而是受到坚定的现实主义、即他的夫人杰基所说的“不抱幻想的理想主义”的鼓舞。正是这种理想主义——豪情冲天又冷静沉着——在半个世纪前感召了这个国家和整个世界。
I can only imagine how he must have felt, entering the Oval Office in turbulent times. (Laughter and applause.) The Soviet Premier, Khrushchev, had threatened to “bury” America just a few years before. Wars of Liberation, as they were called, were being waged around the globe -– from Laos and Vietnam to Congo and Cuba, just 90 miles from our shore. At home, a young preacher’s cause was gaining traction across a segregated land.
我只能想象他在那个动荡的年代步入椭圆形办公室时的所思所想。（笑声和掌声）苏联总理赫鲁晓夫，仅仅几年前曾扬言要“埋葬”美国。所谓的“解放战争”在世界各地蔓延——从老挝和越南到刚果及距我国海岸只有90英里的古巴。而当时在国内，一位年轻牧师（即马丁·路德·金－译者注）的事业正在种族隔离的土地上赢得人心。
In this volatile America, this tinderbox of a world, President Kennedy led with a steadying hand, defusing the most perilous crisis of the Cold War without firing a single shot. Enforcing the rights of young black men and women to attend the university of their choice. Launching a corps of volunteers as ambassadors for peace in distant centers of the globe. Setting America’s sights on the moon, unwilling to lose the Space Race in the wake of Sputnik.
在这个动荡的美国，在这个战争一触即发的地区，肯尼迪总统以稳健之手担纲，不费一枪一弹化解了冷战时期最危险的危机。他强制履行了黑人男女青年选择大学的权利。他动员志愿者队伍，前往遥远的异乡担任和平大使。他让美国放眼月球，在 “斯普特尼克”升空后的太空竞赛中力争上游。
We know the moon-shot story. It’s a familiar one, often invoked to make the case for an ambitious idea. But it’s easy to lose sight of just how improbable it seemed in May of 1961. When President Kennedy proposed going to the moon, America had just 15 minutes of manned flight experience in space. NASA had neither a plan nor a shuttle for making a lunar voyage. (Laughter.) Its own engineers had taken out the slide rules, and they were deeply skeptical of the mission. (Laughter.)
我们都知道飞船登月的故事。这个故事为人们所熟知，人们经常用它来激励一个远大理想。然而，人们很容易忽略，在1961年5月这个想法看来是多么遥不可及。当肯尼迪总统提出登月计划时，美国的载人太空飞行经历不过15分钟。美国国家航空航天局既无月球飞行的计划又无可用于登月的飞船。（笑声）该局的工程师们已将计算尺收了起来，他们对这一使命表示十分怀疑。（笑声）
The science just wasn’t there. President Kennedy understood that. But he also knew something else. He knew that we, as a people, can do big things. We can reach great heights. We can rise to any challenge, so long as we’re willing to ask what we can do for our country; so long as we’re willing to take America’s destiny into our own hands. What President Kennedy understood was the character of the people he led: our resilience, our fearlessness, our distinctly American ability, revealed time and again throughout history, to defy the odds, to fashion our future, to make the world anew.
当时的科学还没有发展到那一步。肯尼迪总统理解这一点，但是他也清楚另一点。他知道，我们作为一个国家能够大有作为。我们能够攀登高峰。我们能够迎接任何挑战，只要我们愿意扪心自问：我们能为我们的国家做些什么，只要我们自己愿意主宰美国的命运。肯尼迪总统看到的是他所率领的人民的个性：我们的坚韧；我们的无畏；我们美国与众不同的能力，这种能力历经考验，在整个历史进程中反复展现，它造就未来，使世界焕然一新。
The world is very different now than it was in 1961. We face new trials and new uncertainties, from our economy to our security. We have a politics that can often seem too small for the hardships at hand. So meeting these tests won’t be easy. But we cannot forget, we are the heirs of this President, who showed us what is possible. Because of his vision, more people prospered; more people served; our union was made more perfect. Because of that vision, I can stand here tonight as President of the United States. (Applause.)
当今世界与1961年相比已经全然不同。在从经济到安全的诸多领域，我们面临新的考验、新的变数。面对眼前的困难，我们的政治运作常常显得偏于狭隘。因此，应对这些考验并非易事。然而，我们不能忘记，我们是这位总统的传人，他曾向我们昭示我们的潜力。由于他的远大理想，更多的人走向繁荣；更多的人作出奉献；我们的合众国变得更加美好。由于这一远大理想，我今晚才能够以美国总统的身份来到这里。（掌声）
So John F. Kennedy captured that American spirit that not only put a man on the moon, but saved a continent from tyranny and overcame a Great Depression; that forged, from 13 colonies, the last best hope on Earth. And if we can hold onto that spirit today, I know that our generation will answer its call as ably as earlier ones did before us.
约翰∙肯尼迪激发了美国精神，这一精神使人类登上月球，把一个大陆从暴政下拯救出来，战胜了大萧条，还从13个殖民地开始，缔造了世界迄今最美好的希望。如果我们今天继续弘扬这一精神，我知道我们这一代人将会像前几代人那样以非凡的能力响应这一召唤。
In December 1962, President Kennedy was asked by the Saturday Evening Post to submit his favorite quotation. A student not only of history, but also of literature, he chose a passage written by the poet Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., father of the Supreme Court justice. Mr. Holmes wrote:
1962年12月，《星期六晚报》邀请肯尼迪总统介绍他的座右铭。由于他在大学时兼修历史和文学，他挑选了诗人奥利弗•温德尔•霍姆斯——即最高法院大法官霍姆斯的父亲——的一段话。霍姆斯先生写道：
“I find the great things in this world -- is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving: to reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it -– but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor.”
“我感悟到，这个世界上的伟大事业——并非在于我们身处何地，而在于我们走向何方：为了到达天堂之门，我们有时必须顺风而行，有时则必须逆风而行——但我们必须航行，而非随波逐流或原地不动。”
That, I think, captures well the daring, graceful spirit of the unfinished life we celebrate today; a life that inspires us and lights our way, as we sail on to the new frontiers of our own time. Thank you, God bless you, and may God bless this country that we love. Thank you. (Applause.)
我认为，这段话确切地再现了我们今日所庆祝的依然延续的生命中那种无畏而高尚的精神，这一生命激励着我们，照亮我们的前进道路，伴随着我们驶向我们这个时代的新前沿。多谢各位，愿主保佑你们，愿主保佑我们所挚爱的国家。谢谢。（掌声）
