22/1/09
奧巴馬的就職演說太振奮人心了。很久了沒有被如此真實卻鏗鏘有力的聲音所震撼，他的演說和個人魅力給美國乃至全世界的人民帶來了希望，一個大國需要一個偉大智慧的領導者，然而空缺了太久，甚至已經開始忘記了對他的需要。
摘了幾段我最喜歡的。
These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land - a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.
Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America - they will be met.
In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted - for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things - some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labour, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.
Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.
…We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defence, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.
To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.
Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends - hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.
This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed - why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.
新官上任三把火，第一把，白宮高級職員凍薪。奧巴馬說，“正值危機之時，全美國人民需要勒緊褲腰帶，華盛頓也不例外。”這和昨天看到的新聞成鮮明對比，昨天澳洲報紙除美國新總統的新聞外最鮮眼的就是老陸在號召澳洲人民在危機中不要期待著長薪的同時批了發給他的首席參某的巨額秘密紅包。顯然，在全球勒緊褲腰帶的時候，華盛頓不例外，卻例外了堪培拉。老陸自上台後支持率一直下降，而他的對手自由黨領導人的支持率卻也未因此而上升，看來澳洲人民對兩大政黨都已經心灰意冷了，期待著什麽時候從其他小黨裏也神奇的冒出個象奧巴馬這樣的奇才，來個耳目一新的改變。哈哈～～以上純屬個人言論及設想，不負任何責任的喲。
這兩天我家的一條金魚身上長了一些黑點點，黑點點越來越大，變成了黑片片。開始我們以為它病了，心想大概又要不久於魚世，但幾天下來依然在魚缸裏遊上躥下的，於是我說，大概它的皮膚就是深色的，象奧巴馬一樣。哈哈～～
