精美英文欣赏:曼德拉就职演说（在线收听）

To my compatriots,

对我的同胞，

I have no hesitation in saying that each one of us is as intimately attached to the soil of this beautiful country as are the famous jacaranda trees of Pretoria and the mimosa trees of the bushveld.

我可以毫不犹疑地说，我们每一个人都跟这美丽祖国的大地亲密地牢不可分，就如红木树之 于比勒陀利亚，含羞草之于灌木林。

That spiritual and physical oneness we all share with this common homeland explains the depth of the pain we all carried in our hearts as we saw our country tear itself apart in a terrible conflict,and as we saw it spurned,outlawed and isolated by the peoples of the world,

我们对这共同的家乡在精神上和肉体上有共同的感觉，当目睹国家因可怕的冲突而变得四分五裂，遭全球人民唾弃、孤立，

precisely because it has become the universal base of the pernicious ideology and practice of racism and racial oppression.

特别是它成为恶毒的意识形态时，我们的内心如此地痛苦。

The time for the healing of the wounds has come.

治愈创伤的时候已经来临。

The moment to bridge the chasms that divide us has come.

消除分隔我们的鸿沟的时刻已经来临。

The time to build is upon us.

创建未来的时机就在眼前。

We have, at last, achieved our political emancipation.

我们终于取得了政治解放。

We pledge ourselves to liberate all our people from the continuing bondage of poverty,deprivation,suffering, gender and other discrimination.

我们承诺，会将依然陷于贫穷、剥削、苦难、受着性别及其他歧视的国人解放出来。

We succeeded to take our last steps to freedom in conditions of relative peace.

我们已成功地让我们千千万万的国人的心中燃起希望。

We commit ourselves to the construction of a complete, just and lasting peace.

我们承诺将努力建立一个健全，公平，长治久安的和平社会。

We have triumphed in the effort to implant hope in the breasts of the millions of our people.

他们心中不再有恐惧，他们可以肯定自己拥有不可剥夺的人类尊严—这是一个在国内及与其他各国之间都保持和平的美好国度。

We enter into a covenant that we shall build the society in which all South Africans, both black and white,will be able to walk tall, without any fear in their hearts,assured of their inalienable right to human dignity-a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world.

我们立下誓约，要建立一个让所有南非人，不论是 黑人还是白人，都可以昂首阔步的社会。

We understand it still that there is no easy road to freedom.

我们深信，自由之路从来都不易走。

We know it well that none of us acting alone can achieve success.

我们很清楚，没有任何一个人可以单独取得成功。

We must therefore act together as a united people,for national reconciliation,for nation building,for the birth of a new world.

因此，为了全国和解，建设国家，为了一个新世界的诞生，我们必须团结成为一个民族，共同行动。

Let there be justice for all.

让所有人得享正义。

Let there be peace for all.

让所有人得享和平。

Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all.

让所有人得享工作、面包、水、盐分。

Let each know that for each the body, the mind and the soul have been freed to fulfil themselves.

让每个人都明白，每个人 的身体、思想和灵魂都获得了解放，从属于自己。

Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another and suffer the indignity of being the skunk of the world.

这片美丽的土地永远、永远、永远再不会经历人对人 的压迫，以及遭全球唾弃的屈辱。

The sun shall never set on so glorious a human achievement!

对于如此光辉的成就，太阳永不会停止照耀。

Let freedom reign.

让自由战胜一切。

God bless Africa!

愿上帝保佑南非！

I thank you!

谢谢大家！