名校勵志英語演講 第122期:21世紀的挑戰(zhàn)(16)
The question is, where do we go from here? How do we work together to be on the right side of history together? More than 50 years ago, Hu Shi, one of your great political thinkers and a teacher at this university, said these words: "Now some people say to me you must sacrifice your individual freedom so that the nation may be free. But I reply, the struggle for individual freedom is the struggle for the nation's freedom. The struggle for your own character is the struggle for the nation's character."
但人們不禁要問，我們的發(fā)展方向是什么?我們怎樣相互合作走上歷史的正確一面?中國偉大的政治思想家、曾在北大任教的胡適教授在50多年前說過：“有些人對我說，為了國家的自由你必須犧牲自己的個人自由。但我回答，為了個人自由而奮斗就是為了國家的自由而奮斗。解放個性就是解放民族。”
We Americans believe Hu Shi was right. We believe and our experience demonstrates that freedom strengthens stability and helps nations to change.
我們美國人認為胡適是對的。我們相信，并且我們的經驗表明，自由可以加強穩(wěn)定，自由有助于國家的變革。
One of our founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin, once said, "Our critics are our friends, for they show us our faults." Now, if that is true, there are many days in the United States when the President has more friends than anyone else in America. But it is so.
我國的一位開國先賢本杰明·富蘭克林曾經說過：“我們的批評者是我們的朋友，因為他們指出我們的缺點。”如果這話正確，在美國很多時候，總統(tǒng)的朋友比其他任何人都多。 但確實如此。
