華盛頓紀念塔內200多英尺高度第十層內壁的漢字碑文
我十分感謝這份來自中國的禮物。它直探我們作為人的內心願望：擁有生命權、自由權和追求幸福的權利，也有不受國家幹預的言論、異議、結社和信仰等自由。——節選自克林頓總統在北大的演講。
欽命福建巡撫部院大中丞徐繼畬所著《瀛環誌略》曰，“按，華盛頓，異人也。起事勇於勝廣，割據雄於曹劉。既已提三尺劍，開疆萬裏，乃不僭位號，不傳子孫，而創為推舉之法，幾於天下為公，駸駸乎三代之遺意。其治國崇讓善俗，不尚武功，亦迥與諸國異。餘嚐見其畫像，氣貌雄毅絕倫。嗚呼！可不謂人傑矣哉。”“米利堅合眾國以為國，幅員萬裏，不設王侯之號，不循世及之規，公器付之公論，創古今未有之局，一何奇也！泰西古今人物，能不以華盛頓為稱首哉！”
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從我在華盛頓特區所住的白宮往窗外眺望,我們首任總統喬治·華盛頓的紀念碑高聳入雲。這是一座很高的方尖碑，但就在這個大碑鄰近有塊小石碑，上麵刻著：米利堅不設王侯之號，不循世及之規，公器付之公論，創古今未有之局，一何奇也。這些話並非出自美國人，而是由福建巡撫徐繼畬所寫，1853年中國政府將它勒石為碑作為禮物贈送給我國。
我十分感謝這份來自中國的禮物。它直探我們作為人的內心願望：擁有生命權、自由權和追求幸福的權利，也有不受國家幹預的言論、異議、結社和信仰等自由。這些就是我們美國220年前賴以立國的核心理念。這些就是引導我們橫跨美洲大陸登上世界舞台的理念。這些就是美國人今天仍然珍惜的理念。
正如我在同江主席的記者會上所說，我們自己為了達到這些理念也還在不斷追求。美國的立憲先賢了解我們永遠達不到完美境界。他們說，美國的任務就是不斷的“組成更完美的結合”，換句話說，我們永遠不會完美，但我們總得不斷努力改善。
From the windows of the White House, where I live in Washington, D.C., the monument to our first President, George Washington, dominates the skyline. It is a very tall obelisk. But very near this large monument there is a small stone which contains these words: The United States neither established titles of nobility and royalty, nor created a hereditary system. State affairs are put to the vote of public opinion. This created a new political situation, unprecedented from ancient times to the present. How wonderful it is. Those words were not written by an American. They were written by Xu Jiyu, governor of Fujian Province, inscribed as a gift from the government of China to our nation in 1853.
I am very grateful for that gift from China. It goes to the heart of who we are as a people the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, the freedom to debate, to dissent, to associate, to worship without interference from the state. These are the ideals that were at the core of our founding over 220 years ago. These are the ideas that led us across our continent and onto the world stage. These are the ideals that Americans cherish today.
As I said in my press conference with President Jiang, we have an ongoing quest ourselves to live up to those ideals. The people who framed our Constitution understood that we would never achieve perfection. They said that the mission of America would always be "to form a more perfect union" – in other words, that we would never be perfect, but we had to keep trying to do better.
——節選自克林頓總統在北大的演講。
