布什庆祝国家祈祷日讲话(2008-05-01)

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Welcome to the White House. And I am honored to join you for the National Day of Prayer. I'm sorry Laura is not here -- she's out selling her book. (Laughter.)
　　Shirley, thank you very much for being the Chairman of the National Day of Prayer. Glad you brought old Jim with you. (Laughter.) Dr. Zacharias, thank you for being the Honorary Chairman. I appreciate the members of my Cabinet who are here today, thank you all for coming. It's good to see members of the United States Senate and the House of Representatives. Appreciate you all taking time out of your busy schedule to come by. It's always good to be with you.
　　I want to thank our military chaplains who are with us. Thank you for doing the Lord's work with our troops. I'm proud to have prayer leaders here. Rabbi Fishman, thank you, it's good to see you again, sir. Father Coughlin, from the United States House of Representatives, it's good to see you, sir. I want to thank Pastor¹ Mays, who will be following me here shortly, for coming. I'm looking forward to hearing the choir² of Saint Patrick's Cathedral, New York City, New York. It's going to be a great moment to have this East Room filled with the joy of song. So I welcome them here today.
　　On this day, Americans come together to thank our Creator for our nation's many blessings³. We are a blessed nation. And on this day, we celebrate our freedoms, particularly the freedom to pray in public and the great diversity of faith found in America. I love being the President of a country where people feel free to worship as they see fit. And I remind our fellow citizens, if you choose to worship or not worship, and no matter how you worship, we're all equally American. (Applause.)
　　I think one of the interesting things about a National Day of Prayer is it does help describe our nation's character to others. We are a prayerful nation. A lot of citizens draw comfort from prayer. Prayer is an important part of the lives of millions of Americans. And it's interesting, when you think about our faith you can find it in the Pledge of Allegiance, you can find an expression of American faith in the Declaration of Independence, and you can find it in the coins in our pockets. I used to carry coins -- (laughter) -- in about 10 months I'll be carrying them again. (Laughter and applause.)
　　The fidelity⁴ to faith has been present in our nation's leaders from its very start. Upon assuming the presidency⁵, George Washington took the oath of office and then added the famous plea, "So help me God." On John Adams's first day in the White House, he wrote a prayer that is now etched in marble on the fireplace in the State Dining Room, and he prayed, "May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof." Now we'll leave it to the historians to judge whether or not that happened throughout our history. (Laughter.)
　　During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln turned to prayer. His second Inaugural⁶ Address quoted from Scripture⁷. He stood before the United States people and quoted from Scripture. And he sought to heal a people who "read the same Bible and prayed to the same God" -- his words.
　　As William McKinley lay dying from an assassin's bullet, one of his final words on earth focused on the Almighty⁸. On his deathbed he was heard to say, "Nearer, my God to thee."
　　As American forces risked their lives on D-Day, Franklin Roosevelt delivered a presidential prayer over the radio. He asked God to protect our troops as they liberated⁹ "a suffering humanity" and he prayed for "a peace that will let all men live in freedom." When Roosevelt died, his successor, Harry¹⁰ Truman, said he "felt like the moon, the stars and all the planets" had fallen on him. And he told reporters: "Boys, if you ever pray, pray for me now."
　　John F. Kennedy attended mass in Florida during the last week of his presidency, and during the last week of his life. It was at that mass that he heard the parable¹¹ where our Lord compared the Kingdom of Heaven to a mustard seed that grew into a large tree and offered shelter to God's creatures.
　　Three days after the worst terrorist attack on American soil, Laura and I joined our fellow citizens in prayer before the Lord. It was in the middle hour of our grief. We prayed for those who were missing. We prayed for the dead. We prayed for those who loved them. I recalled the words of a woman from New York, who said, "I prayed to God to give us a sign that He is still here."
　　Well, sometimes God's signs are not always the ones we look for. And we learn in tragedy that His purposes are not always our own. But we also know that in adversity we can find comfort through prayer.
　　Over the last seven years, our country has faced many trials. And time and time again we have turned to prayer and found strength and resilience. We prayed with those who've lost everything in natural disasters, and helped them heal and recover and build. We prayed for our brave and brilliant troops who died on the field of battle. We lift up their families in prayer. And as we pray for God's continued blessings on our country, I think it makes sense to hope that one day there may be a International Day of Prayer, that one day the national -- (applause.) It will be a chance for people of faith around the world to stop at the same time to pause to praise an Almighty. It will be a time when we could prayer together for a world that sees the promise of the Psalms¹² made real: "Your love is ever before me, and I walk continually in your truth."
　　I want to thank you all for coming. Particularly want to thank you for your prayers. You know, somebody asked me one time, when I was there over seeing the Sea of Galilee, they said, what did you think about what you were there, Mr. President? I said I have finally understood the story of the calm on the rough seas. I may have been a little hardheaded at times, but I'm absolutely convinced it was the prayers of the people who helped me understood in turbulence¹³ you can find calm and strength. And I thank you for those prayers. (Applause.)

1 pastor   

n.牧师，牧人

参考例句：

• He was the son of a poor pastor.他是一个穷牧师的儿子。
• We have no pastor at present:the church is run by five deacons.我们目前没有牧师：教会的事是由五位执事管理的。

2 choir   

n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱

参考例句：

• The choir sang the words out with great vigor.合唱团以极大的热情唱出了歌词。
• The church choir is singing tonight.今晚教堂歌唱队要唱诗。

3 blessings   

n.（上帝的）祝福( blessing的名词复数 )；好事；福分；因祸得福

参考例句：

• Afflictions are sometimes blessings in disguise. 塞翁失马，焉知非福。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We don't rely on blessings from Heaven. 我们不靠老天保佑。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 fidelity   

n.忠诚，忠实；精确

参考例句：

• There is nothing like a dog's fidelity.没有什么能比得上狗的忠诚。
• His fidelity and industry brought him speedy promotion.他的尽职及勤奋使他很快地得到晋升。

5 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

6 inaugural   

adj.就职的；n.就职典礼

参考例句：

• We listened to the President's inaugural speech on the radio yesterday.昨天我们通过无线电听了总统的就职演说。
• Professor Pearson gave the inaugural lecture in the new lecture theatre.皮尔逊教授在新的阶梯讲堂发表了启用演说。

7 scripture   

n.经文，圣书，手稿；Scripture:(常用复数)《圣经》，《圣经》中的一段

参考例句：

• The scripture states that God did not want us to be alone.圣经指出上帝并不是想让我们独身一人生活。
• They invoked Hindu scripture to justify their position.他们援引印度教的经文为他们的立场辩护。

8 almighty   

adj.全能的，万能的；很大的，很强的

参考例句：

• Those rebels did not really challenge Gods almighty power.这些叛徒没有对上帝的全能力量表示怀疑。
• It's almighty cold outside.外面冷得要命。

9 liberated   

a.无拘束的，放纵的

参考例句：

• The city was liberated by the advancing army. 军队向前挺进，解放了那座城市。
• The heat brings about a chemical reaction, and oxygen is liberated. 热量引起化学反应，释放出氧气。

10 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

11 parable   

n.寓言，比喻

参考例句：

• This is an ancient parable.这是一个古老的寓言。
• The minister preached a sermon on the parable of the lost sheep.牧师讲道时用了亡羊的比喻。

12 psalms   

n.赞美诗( psalm的名词复数 )；圣诗；圣歌；(中的)

参考例句：

• the Book of Psalms 《〈圣经〉诗篇》
• A verse from Psalms knifed into Pug's mind: "put not your trust in princes." 《诗篇》里有一句话闪过帕格的脑海：“不要相信王侯。” 来自辞典例句

13 turbulence   

n.喧嚣，狂暴，骚乱，湍流

参考例句：

• The turbulence caused the plane to turn over.空气的激流导致飞机翻转。
• The world advances amidst turbulence.世界在动荡中前进。