Clinton's Farewell Speech

President Bill Clinton:

My fellow citizens, tonight is my last opportunity to speak to you from the Oval Office as your president.

I am profoundly grateful to you for twice giving me the honor to serve, to work for you and with you to prepare our nation for the 21st century. And I'm grateful to Vice President Gore, to my Cabinet secretaries, and to all those who have served with me for the last eight years.
This has been a time of dramatic transformation, and you have risen to every new challenge. You have made our social fabric stronger, our families healthier and safer, our people more prosperous.
You, the American people, have made our passage into the global information age an era of great American renewal.
In all the work I have done as president, every decision I have made, every executive action I have taken, every bill I have proposed and signed, I've tried to give all Americans the tools and conditions to build the future of our dreams, in a good society, with a strong economy, a cleaner environment, and a freer, safer, more prosperous world.
I have steered my course by our enduring values, opportunity for all, responsibility from all, a community of all Americans. I have sought to give America a new kind of government, smaller, more modern, more effective, full of ideas and policies appropriate to this new time, always putting people first, always focusing on the future.
Working together, America has done well. Our economy is breaking records, with more than 22 million new jobs, the lowest unemployment in 30 years, the highest home ownership ever, the longest expansion in history.
Our families and communities are stronger. Thirty-five million Americans have used the family leave law. Eight million have moved off welfare. Crime is at a 25-year low. Over 10 million Americans receive more college aid, and more people than ever are going to college. Our schools are better - higher standards, greater accountability and larger investments have brought higher test scores, and higher graduation rates.
More than three million children have health insurance now, and more than 7 million Americans have been lifted out of poverty. Incomes are rising across the board. Our air and water are cleaner. Our food and drinking water are safer. And more of our precious land has been preserved, in the continental United States, than at any time in 100 years.
America has been a force for peace and prosperity in every corner of the globe. I'm very grateful to be able to turn over the reins of leadership to a new president, with America in such a strong position to meet the challenges of the future.
Tonight, I want to leave you with three thoughts about our future. First, America must maintain our record of fiscal responsibility. Through our last four budgets, we've turned record deficits to record surpluses, and we've been able to pay down $600 billion of our national debt, on track to be debt free by the end of the decade for the first time since 1835.
Staying on that course will bring lower interest rates, greater prosperity and the opportunity to meet our big challenges. If we choose wisely, we can pay down the debt, deal with the retirement of the baby boomers, invest more in our future and provide tax relief.

Second, because the world is more connected every day in every way, America's security and prosperity require us to continue to lead in the world. At this remarkable moment in history, more people live in freedom that ever before. Our alliances are stronger than ever. People all around the world look to America to be a force for peace and prosperity, freedom and security. The global economy is giving more of our own people, and billions around the world, the chance to work and live and raise their families with dignity.
But the forces of integration that have created these good opportunities also make us more subject to global forces of destruction, to terrorism, organized crime and narco -trafficking, the spread of deadly weapons and disease, the degradation of the global environment.
The expansion of trade hasn't fully closed the gap between those of us who live on the cutting edge of the global economy and the billions around the world who live on the knife's edge of survival.
This global gap requires more than compassion. It requires action. Global poverty is a powder keg that could be ignited by our indifference.
In his first inaugural address, Thomas Jefferson warned of entangling alliances. But in our times, America cannot and must not disentangle itself from the world. If we want the world to embody our shared values, then we must assume a shared responsibility.
If the wars of the 20th century, especially the recent ones in Kosovo and Bosnia, have taught us anything, it is that we achieve our aims by defending our values and leading the forces of freedom and peace. We must embrace boldly and resolutely that duty to lead, to stand with our allies in word and deed, and to put a human face on the global economy so that expanded trade benefits all people in all nations, lifting lives and hopes all across the world.
Third, we must remember that America cannot lead in the world unless here at home we weave the threads of our coat of many colors into the fabric of one America. As we become ever more diverse, we must work harder to unite around our common values and our common humanity.
We must work harder to overcome our differences. In our hearts and in our laws, we must treat all our people with fairness and dignity, regardless of their race, religion, gender or sexual orientation and regardless of when they arrived in our country, always moving toward the more perfect union of our founders' dreams.
Hillary, Chelsea and I join all Americans in wishing our very best to the next president, George W. Bush, to his family and his administration in meeting these challenges and in leading freedom's march in this new century.
As for me, I'll leave the presidency more idealistic, more full of hope than the day I arrived and more confident than ever that America's best days lie ahead.
My days in this office are nearly through, but my days of service, I hope, are not. In the years ahead, I will never hold a position higher or a covenant more sacred than that of president of the United States. But there is no title I will wear more proudly than that of citizen.
Thank you. God bless you, and God bless America.

the Oval Office  美国总统办公室；白宫椭圆形办公室。

cabinet 名词〔常作 C-〕内阁；

social fabric 社会组织

prosperous 形容词 兴隆的，繁荣的，昌隆的。
bill 名词 议案，法案
steer 及物动词,不及物动词 指导，领导；操纵，控制，筹划。
ownership 名词 所有权, 物主身份

welfare 名词 福利(事业)。

accountability 名词 有责任，有义务。

insurance 名词 保险, 保险单, 保险业, 保险费

rein 名词 统治(手段)；控制(权)。

deficit 名词 不敷，亏空(额)，赤字；欠缺。
cover the deficit 弥补亏欠。

surplus 名词 结余；盈余。

retirement 名词 退休，退职，退役。

boomer 生育高峰期出生的人。

ever before 以前

with dignity 庄严地；神气十足地。
integration 名词 结合；综合；一体化。

terrorism 名词 恐怖主义。
gap 名词 分歧；隔阂，距离，差距。

cutting edge 前沿，尖端。

powder keg 小型火药箱；易爆炸物。

inaugural 形容词 就职(仪式)的；开幕的，开始的。
an inaugural address 就职演说；开幕词。

entangle 及物动词 使纠缠，缠住；使混乱。

disentangle 及物动词 解脱；解决(纠纷等)。

disentangle oneself from 从……中解脱出来。

embrace 及物动词 拥抱，信奉，领悟。

at home 副词 在家, 在本地, 在国内, 熟悉
religion 名词 宗教；宗派，信仰。

idealistic 形容词 理想主义者的。
covenant 名词 协议书，协定条款；契约(条款)。

克林顿告别演说
同胞们，今晚是我作为你们的总统，在白宫总统办公室向你们做最后一次演说。
我深深地感谢你们给了我两次机会和荣誉，为你们服务和工作，并同你们一道为我们进入21世纪做准备。在此，我要感谢戈尔副总统，我的内阁部长们以及所有和我一同走过过去8年的同仁们。　　
这是一个极具变革的年代，你们为新的挑战做好了准备。是你们使我们的社会更强大，我们的家庭更健康和安全，我们的人民更富裕。
同胞们，我们已迈进全球信息化的时代，这是美国复兴的伟大时代。
作为总统，我所做的每一个决定，每一个行政命令，提议和签署的每一项法令，都在努力为美国人民提供工具和创造条件，去实现美国人民梦想的未来----一个美好的社会，繁荣的经济，清洁的环境，一个更自由、更安全、更繁荣的世界。
凭借着我们永恒的价值，我不断前进。机会属于所有的美国公民；责任源自全体美国人民；所有美国人民组成了一个大家庭。我一直在为寻求一个更小、更现代化、更有效率、面对新时代的挑战充满创意和思想、永远把人民的利益放在第一位、永远面向未来的新型的美国政府而努力。
我们一同工作，使美国变得更加美好。我们的经济正在打破一个又一个的记录。我们已创造了2200万个新的工作岗位，现在的失业率是30年来最低的，购房率达到一个空前的高度，经济增长的持续时间是历史上最长的。
我们的家庭、我们的社会变得更加强大。3500万美国人曾经享受联邦休假，800万人获得社会保障，犯罪率是25年来最低的，1000多万美国人享受更多的大学贷款，更多的人接受大学教育。我们的学校也在改善。更高的办学水平、更大的责任感和更多的投资使得我们的学生取得更好的考试和毕业成绩。
目前，已有300多万美国儿童在享受着医疗保险，700多万美国人已经脱离了贫困线。人们的收入在大幅度提高。我国的空气和水源更洁净，食品和饮用水更安全。宝贵的土地资源得到了近百年来前所未有的保护。
美国已成为世界上每个地方促进和平和繁荣的积极力量。此时，我非常高兴地将领导权移交给新任总统，强大的美国正面临未来的挑战。

今晚，我希望能把三个关于我们的未来构想留给你们：第一，美国必须保持良好的财政状况。经过4个财政年度的努力，我们已经破纪录的把财政赤字变为盈余。并且，我们已偿还了6000亿美元的国债，正向着10年内彻底偿还国债的目标迈进，这是1835年以来的第一次。
只要这样做，才能给我们带来更低的利率、更大的经济繁荣，才能迎接未来更大的挑战。如果我们做出明智的选择，我们就能偿还债务，解决生育高峰期出生的一大批人的退休问题，对未来进行更多的投资，并减轻税收。
第二，由于世界各国的联系日益紧密。为了美国的安全与繁荣，我们应继续融入世界。在这个特殊的历史时刻，更多的美国人民享有前所未有的自由。我们的盟国比过去更加强大。全世界人民期望美国成为和平与繁荣、自由与安全的力量。全球经济给予美国人民以及全世界人民更多的机会去工作、生活，更好地养活家庭。
但是，促进世界一体化，一方面为我们创造了良好的机会，同时也使我们在全球范围内更易遭致破坏性力量、恐怖主义、有组织的犯罪、贩毒活动，以及致命性武器和疾病传播的威胁。
尽管世界贸易不断扩大，但它没能缩小处于全球经济前沿的我们与数十亿处于生死边缘的人们之间的距离。
要解决世界贫富两极分化需要的不是同情，而是实际行动。贫穷有可能被我们的漠不关心激化成为火药桶。
托马斯-杰斐逊在他的就职演说中告诫我们结盟的危害。但在我们这个时代，美国不能，也不可能使自己脱离整个世界。如果我们想把我们共享的价值观赋予这个世界，我们必须承担起这个责任。
如果20世纪的历次战争，尤其是最近在科索沃地区和波斯尼亚爆发的战争，能够让我们得到某种教训的话，我们从中得到的启示应是：由于捍卫了我们的价值观并领导了自由和和平的力量，我们才达到了目标。我们必须坚定勇敢地信奉这个信念和责任，在语言和行动上与我们的同盟者站在一起，领导他们按这条道路前进；在全球经济中遵循以人为本，让不断发展的贸易使所有国家的所有人受益，在全世界范围内提高人们的生活水平并实现他们的梦想。
第三，我们必须牢记如果我们不团结一致，美国就不能领先世界。随着我们变得多样化，我们必须更加努力地团结在共同价值观和共同人性的旗帜下。
我们必须努力工作，克服存在的种种分歧。于情于法，我们都要让我们的人民受到公正的待遇，不论他是哪一个民族、信仰哪种宗教、什么性别或性倾向，无论他们何时来到这个国家。我们都要时时刻刻为了实现先辈们建立的高度团结的梦想而奋斗。
希拉里、切尔西和我同所有美国人民一道，向即将上任的布什总统、他的家人及新政府致以衷心的祝福，希望新政府能够勇敢面对挑战，高举自由大旗在新世纪阔步前进。
对我来说，当我离开总统宝座时，我充满了更多的理想，比初进白宫时更加充满希望，并坚信美国的好日子还在后面。
我的总统任期就要结束了，但是我希望我为美国人民服务的日子永远不会结束。在我未来的岁月里，我再也不会担任一个比美利坚合众国总统更高的职位、签订一个比美利坚合众国总统所能签署的更为神圣的条约。当然，没有任何一个头衔能让我比作为一个美国公民更为自豪的了。
谢谢你们！愿上帝保佑你们！愿上帝保佑美国！

Clinton's Farewell Speech mp3