美国经典英文演讲100篇
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美国经典英文演讲100篇:Brandenburg Gate Address
时间:2008-6-12 10:19:20 来源:本站原创 作者:echo
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Ronald
Reagan
Remarks at the Brandenburg Gate
delivered 12 June 1987, West Berlin
[AUTHENTICITY CERTIFIED: Text
version below transcribed directly from audio.
(2)]
Thank you. Thank you, very much.
Chancellor Kohl, Governing Mayor Diepgen,
ladies and gentlemen: Twenty four years ago,
President John F. Kennedy visited Berlin, and
speaking to the people of this city and the world
at
the city hall. Well since then two other
presidents have come, each in his turn to Berlin.
And today,
I, myself, make my second visit to
your city.
We come to Berlin, we American
Presidents, because it's our duty to speak in this
place of
freedom. But I must confess, we’re
drawn here by other things as well; by the feeling
of history in
this city -- more than 500 years
older than our own nation; by the beauty of the
Grunewald and the
Tiergarten; most of all, by
your courage and determination. Perhaps the
composer, Paul Linke,
understood something
about American Presidents. You see, like so many
Presidents before me, I
come here today
because wherever I go, whatever I do: “Ich hab
noch einen Koffer in Berlin” [I
still have a
suitcase in Berlin.]
Our gathering today
is being broadcast throughout Western Europe and
North America. I
understand that it is being
seen and heard as well in the East. To those
listening throughout Eastern
Europe, I extend
my warmest greetings and the good will of the
American people. To those
listening in East
Berlin, a special word: Although I cannot be with
you, I address my remarks to
you just as
surely as to those standing here before me. For I
join you, as I join your fellow
countrymen in
the West, in this firm, this unalterable belief:
Es gibt nur ein Berlin. [There is only
one
Berlin.]
Behind me stands a wall that
encircles the free sectors of this city, part of a
vast system of barriers
that divides the
entire continent of Europe. From the Baltic South,
those barriers cut across
Germany in a gash of
barbed wire, concrete, dog runs, and guard towers.
Farther south, there may
be no visible,
no obvious wall. But there remain armed guards and
checkpoints all the same -- still
a
restriction on the right to travel, still an
instrument to impose upon ordinary men and women
the
will of a totalitarian state.
Yet, it is here in Berlin where the wall
emerges most clearly; here, cutting across your
city, where
the news photo and the television
screen have imprinted this brutal division of a
continent upon
the mind of the world.
Standing before the Brandenburg Gate, every
man is a German separated from his fellow men.
Every man is a Berliner, forced to look
upon a scar.
President Von Weizsäcker has
said, German question is open as long as the
Brandenburg
Gate is closed.
wall is
permitted to stand, it is not the German question
alone that remains open, but the question
of
freedom for all mankind.
Yet, I do not
come here to lament. For I find in Berlin a
message of hope, even in the shadow of
this
wall, a message of triumph.
In this
season of spring in 1945, the people of Berlin
emerged from their air-raid shelters to find
devastation. Thousands of miles away, the
people of the United States reached out to help.
And in
1947 Secretary of State -- as you've
been told -- George Marshall announced the
creation of what
would become known as the
Marshall Plan. Speaking precisely 40 years ago
this month, he said:
policy is directed not
against any country or doctrine, but against
hunger, poverty,
desperation, and chaos.
In the Reichstag a few moments ago, I saw a
display commemorating this 40th anniversary of the
Marshall Plan. I was struck by a sign -- the
sign on a burnt-out, gutted structure that was
being
rebuilt. I understand that Berliners of
my own generation can remember seeing signs like
it dotted
throughout the western sectors of
the city. The sign read simply:
here to
strengthen the free world.A strong, free world in
the West -- that dream became real.
Japan rose
from ruin to become an economic giant. Italy,
France, Belgium -- virtually every nation
in
Western Europe saw political and economic rebirth;
the European Community was founded.
In
West Germany and here in Berlin, there took place
an economic miracle, the Wirtschaftswunder.
Adenauer, Erhard, Reuter, and other leaders
understood the practical importance of liberty --
that
just as truth can flourish only when the
journalist is given freedom of speech, so
prosperity can
come about only when the farmer
and businessman enjoy economic freedom. The German
leaders
-- the German leaders reduced tariffs,
expanded free trade, lowered taxes. From 1950 to
1960
alone, the standard of living in West
Germany and Berlin doubled.
Where four
decades ago there was rubble, today in West Berlin
there is the greatest industrial
output of any
city in Germany: busy office blocks, fine homes
and apartments, proud avenues, and
the
spreading lawns of parkland. Where a city's
culture seemed to have been destroyed, today
there are two great universities, orchestras
and an opera, countless theaters, and museums.
Where
there was want, today there's abundance
-- food, clothing, automobiles -- the wonderful
goods of
the Kudamm.¹ From devastation, from
utter ruin, you Berliners have, in freedom,
rebuilt a city
that once again ranks as one of
the greatest on earth. Now the Soviets may have
had other plans.
But my friends, there were a
few things the Soviets didn't count on: Berliner
Herz, Berliner Humor,
ja, und Berliner
Schnauze. [Berliner heart, Berliner humor, yes,
and a Berliner Schnauze.²]
In the 1950s
-- In the 1950s Khrushchev predicted:
But in the West today, we see a free world
that has achieved a level of prosperity and well-
being
unprecedented in all human history. In
the Communist world, we see failure, technological
backwardness, declining standards of health,
even want of the most basic kind -- too little
food.
Even today, the Soviet Union still
cannot feed itself. After these four decades,
then, there stands
before the entire world one
great and inescapable conclusion: Freedom leads to
prosperity.
Freedom replaces the ancient
hatreds among the nations with comity and peace.
Freedom is the
victor.
And now -- now
the Soviets themselves may, in a limited way, be
coming to understand the
importance of
freedom. We hear much from Moscow about a new
policy of reform and openness.
Some political
prisoners have been released. Certain foreign news
broadcasts are no longer being
jammed. Some
economic enterprises have been permitted to
operate with greater freedom from
state
control.
Are these the beginnings of
profound changes in the Soviet state? Or are they
token gestures
intended to raise false hopes
in the West, or to strengthen the Soviet system
without changing it?
We welcome change and
openness; for we believe that freedom and security
go together, that the
advance of human liberty
-- the advance of human liberty can only
strengthen the cause of world
peace.
There is one sign the Soviets can make that
would be unmistakable, that would advance
dramatically the cause of freedom and peace.
General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek
peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union
and
Eastern Europe, if you seek
liberalization: Come here to this gate.
Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate.
Mr.
Gorbachev -- Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!
I understand the fear of war and the pain
of division that afflict this continent, and I
pledge to you
my country's efforts to help
overcome these burdens. To be sure, we in the West
must resist Soviet
expansion. So, we must
maintain defenses of unassailable strength. Yet we
seek peace; so we must
strive to reduce arms
on both sides.
Beginning 10 years
ago, the Soviets challenged the Western alliance
with a grave new threat,
hundreds of new and
more deadly SS-20 nuclear missiles capable of
striking every capital in
Europe. The Western
alliance responded by committing itself to a
counter-deployment (unless the
Soviets agreed
to negotiate a better solution) -- namely, the
elimination of such weapons on both
sides. For
many months, the Soviets refused to bargain in
earnestness. As the alliance, in turn,
prepared to go forward with its counter-
deployment, there were difficult days, days of
protests like
those during my 1982 visit to
this city; and the Soviets later walked away from
the table.
But through it all, the
alliance held firm. And I invite those who
protested then -- I invite those
who protest
today -- to mark this fact: Because we remained
strong, the Soviets came back to the
table.
Because we remained strong, today we have within
reach the possibility, not merely of
limiting
the growth of arms, but of eliminating, for the
first time, an entire class of nuclear
weapons
from the face of the earth.
As I speak,
NATO ministers are meeting in Iceland to review
the progress of our proposals for
eliminating
these weapons. At the talks in Geneva, we have
also proposed deep cuts in strategic
offensive
weapons. And the Western allies have likewise made
far-reaching proposals to reduce
the danger of
conventional war and to place a total ban on
chemical weapons.
While we pursue these
arms reductions, I pledge to you that we will
maintain the capacity to deter
Soviet
aggression at any level at which it might occur.
And in cooperation with many of our allies,
the United States is pursuing the Strategic
Defense Initiative -- research to base deterrence
not on
the threat of offensive retaliation,
but on defenses that truly defend; on systems, in
short, that will
not target populations, but
shield them. By these means we seek to increase
the safety of Europe
and all the world. But we
must remember a crucial fact: East and West do not
mistrust each other
because we are armed; we
are armed because we mistrust each other. And our
differences are not
about weapons but about
liberty. When President Kennedy spoke at the City
Hall those 24 years
ago, freedom was
encircled; Berlin was under siege. And today,
despite all the pressures upon this
city,
Berlin stands secure in its liberty. And freedom
itself is transforming the globe.
In the
Philippines, in South and Central America,
democracy has been given a rebirth. Throughout
the Pacific, free markets are working miracle
after miracle of economic growth. In the
industrialized nations, a technological
revolution is taking place, a revolution marked by
rapid,
dramatic advances in computers and
telecommunications.
In Europe, only one
nation and those it controls refuse to join the
community of freedom. Yet in
this age of
redoubled economic growth, of information and
innovation, the Soviet Union faces a
choice:
It must make fundamental changes, or it will
become obsolete.
Today, thus, represents
a moment of hope. We in the West stand ready to
cooperate with the East
to promote true
openness, to break down barriers that separate
people, to create a safer, freer world.
And
surely there is no better place than Berlin, the
meeting place of East and West, to make a
start.
Free people of Berlin:
Today, as in the past, the United States stands
for the strict observance and
full
implementation of all parts of the Four Power
Agreement of 1971. Let us use this occasion,
the 750th anniversary of this city, to usher
in a new era, to seek a still fuller, richer life
for the
Berlin of the future. Together, let us
maintain and develop the ties between the Federal
Republic
and the Western sectors of Berlin,
which is permitted by the 1971 agreement.
And I invite Mr. Gorbachev: Let us work to
bring the Eastern and Western parts of the city
closer
together, so that all the inhabitants
of all Berlin can enjoy the benefits that come
with life in one of
the great cities of the
world.
To open Berlin still further to
all Europe, East and West, let us expand the vital
air access to this
city, finding ways of
making commercial air service to Berlin more
convenient, more comfortable,
and more
economical. We look to the day when West Berlin
can become one of the chief aviation
hubs in
all central Europe.
With -- With our
French -- With our French and British partners,
the United States is prepared to
help bring
international meetings to Berlin. It would be only
fitting for Berlin to serve as the site
of
United Nations meetings, or world conferences on
human rights and arms control, or other
issues
that call for international cooperation.
There is no better way to establish hope for
the future than to enlighten young minds, and we
would be honored to sponsor summer youth
exchanges, cultural events, and other programs for
young Berliners from the East. Our French and
British friends, I'm certain, will do the same.
And
it's my hope that an authority can be
found in East Berlin to sponsor visits from young
people of
the Western sectors.
One
final proposal, one close to my heart: Sport
represents a source of enjoyment and
ennoblement, and you may have noted that the
Republic of Korea -- South Korea -- has offered to
permit certain events of the 1988 Olympics to
take place in the North. International sports
competitions of all kinds could take place in
both parts of this city. And what better way to
demonstrate to the world the openness of this
city than to offer in some future year to hold the
Olympic games here in Berlin, East and West.
In these four decades, as I have said,
you Berliners have built a great city. You've done
so in spite
of threats -- the Soviet attempts
to impose the East-mark, the blockade. Today the
city thrives in
spite of the challenges
implicit in the very presence of this wall. What
keeps you here? Certainly
there's a great deal
to be said for your fortitude, for your defiant
courage. But I believe there's
something
deeper, something that involves Berlin's whole
look and feel and way of life -- not mere
sentiment. No one could live long in Berlin
without being completely disabused of illusions.
Something, instead, that has seen the
difficulties of life in Berlin but chose to accept
them, that
continues to build this good and
proud city in contrast to a surrounding
totalitarian presence, that
refuses to release
human energies or aspirations, something that
speaks with a powerful voice of
affirmation,
that says to this city, yes to the future, yes to
freedom. In a word, I would
submit that
what keeps you in Berlin -- is
Love both
profound and abiding.
Perhaps this gets
to the root of the matter, to the most fundamental
distinction of all between East
and West. The
totalitarian world produces backwardness because
it does such violence to the spirit,
thwarting
the human impulse to create, to enjoy, to worship.
The totalitarian world finds even
symbols of
love and of worship an affront.
Years
ago, before the East Germans began rebuilding
their churches, they erected a secular
structure: the television tower at Alexander
Platz. Virtually ever since, the authorities have
been
working to correct what they view as the
tower's one major flaw: treating the glass sphere
at the
top with paints and chemicals of every
kind. Yet even today when the sun strikes that
sphere, that
sphere that towers over all
Berlin, the light makes the sign of the cross.
There in Berlin, like the
city itself, symbols
of love, symbols of worship, cannot be suppressed.
As I looked out a moment ago from the
Reichstag, that embodiment of German unity, I
noticed
words crudely spray-painted upon the
wall, perhaps by a young Berliner (quote):
Yes, across Europe, this wall will
fall, for it cannot withstand faith; it cannot
withstand truth. The
wall cannot withstand
freedom.
And I would like, before I
close, to say one word. I have read, and I have
been questioned since
I've been here about
certain demonstrations against my coming. And I
would like to say just one
thing, and to those
who demonstrate so. I wonder if they have ever
asked themselves that if they
should have the
kind of government they apparently seek, no one
would ever be able to do what
they're doing
again.
Thank you and God bless you all.
Thank you.
美国经典英文演讲100篇:Oklahoma
Bombing Memorial Address
时间:2008-6-12
10:19:08 来源:本站原创 作者:echo (女宇航员选拔标准 |
招聘英语编
辑)
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William Jefferson
Clinton
Oklahoma Bombing Memorial Prayer
Service Address
delivered 23 April 1995 in Oklahoma City, OK
[AUTHENTICITY CERTIFIED: Text
version below transcribed directly from audio.
(2)]
Thank you very much, Governor
Keating and Mrs. Keating, Reverend Graham, to the
families of
those who have been lost and
wounded, to the people of Oklahoma City, who have
endured so
much, and the people of this
wonderful state, to all of you who are here as our
fellow Americans.
I am honored to be here
today to represent the American people. But I have
to tell you that Hillary
and I also come as
parents, as husband and wife, as people who were
your neighbors for some of
the best years of
our lives.
Today our nation joins with
you in grief. We mourn with you. We share your
hope against hope
that some may still survive.
We thank all those who have worked so heroically
to save lives and to
solve this crime -- those
here in Oklahoma and those who are all across this
great land, and many
who left their own lives
to come here to work hand in hand with you. We
pledge to do all we can
to help you heal the
injured, to rebuild this city, and to bring to
justice those who did this evil.
This
terrible sin took the lives of our American
family, innocent children in that building, only
because their parents were trying to be good
parents as well as good workers; citizens in the
building going about their daily business; and
many there who served the rest of us -- who worked
to help the elderly and the disabled, who
worked to support our farmers and our veterans,
who
worked to enforce our laws and to protect
us. Let us say clearly, they served us well, and
we are
grateful.
But for so many of
you they were also neighbors and friends. You saw
them at church or the PTA
meetings, at the
civic clubs, at the ball park. You know them in
ways that all the rest of America
could not.
And to all the members of the families here
present who have suffered loss, though we
share your grief, your pain is unimaginable,
and we know that. We cannot undo it. That is God's
work.
Our words seem small beside the
loss you have endured. But I found a few I wanted
to share today.
I've received a lot of letters
in these last terrible days. One stood out because
it came from a young
widow and a mother of
three whose own husband was murdered with over 200
other Americans
when Pan Am 103 was shot down.
Here is what that woman said I should say to you
today:
The anger you feel is valid, but
you must not allow yourselves to be consumed by
it. The hurt you
feel must not be allowed to
turn into hate, but instead into the search for
justice. The loss you feel
must not paralyze
your own lives. Instead, you must try to pay
tribute to your loved ones by
continuing to do
all the things they left undone, thus ensuring
they did not die in vain.
Wise
words from one who also knows.
You have
lost too much, but you have not lost everything.
And you have certainly not lost America,
for
we will stand with you for as many tomorrows as it
takes.
If ever we needed evidence of
that, I could only recall the words of Governor
and Mrs. Keating:
If anybody thinks
Americans have lost the capacity for love and
caring and courage, they ought to
come to
Oklahoma.
To all my fellow Americans
beyond this hall, I say, one thing we owe those
who have sacrificed is
the duty to purge
ourselves of the dark forces which gave rise to
this evil. They are forces that
threaten our
common peace, our freedom, our way of life. Let us
teach our children that the God
of comfort is
also the God of righteousness: Those who trouble
their own house will inherit the
wind.¹
Justice will prevail.
Let us let our own
children know that we will stand against the
forces of fear. When there is talk
of hatred,
let us stand up and talk against it. When there is
talk of violence, let us stand up and talk
against it. In the face of death, let us honor
life. As St. Paul admonished us, Let us be
overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Yesterday, Hillary and I had the
privilege of speaking with some children of other
federal
employees -- children like those who
were lost here. And one little girl said something
we will
never forget. She said,
before we
got on the plane to come here, at the White House,
we planted that tree in honor of the
children
of Oklahoma. It was a dogwood with its wonderful
spring flower and its deep, enduring
roots. It
embodies the lesson of the Psalms -- that the life
of a good person is like a tree whose leaf
does not wither.³
My fellow
Americans, a tree takes a long time to grow, and
wounds take a long time to heal. But
we must
begin. Those who are lost now belong to God. Some
day we will be with them. But until
that
happens, their legacy must be our lives.
Thank you all, and God bless you.