名校励志英语演讲 第122期:21世纪的挑战(16)
The question is, where do we go from here? How do we work together to be on the right side of history together? More than 50 years ago, Hu Shi, one of your great political thinkers and a teacher at this university, said these words: "Now some people say to me you must sacrifice your individual freedom so that the nation may be free. But I reply, the struggle for individual freedom is the struggle for the nation's freedom. The struggle for your own character is the struggle for the nation's character."
但人们不禁要问，我们的发展方向是什么?我们怎样相互合作走上历史的正确一面?中国伟大的政治思想家、曾在北大任教的胡适教授在50多年前说过：“有些人对我说，为了国家的自由你必须牺牲自己的个人自由。但我回答，为了个人自由而奋斗就是为了国家的自由而奋斗。解放个性就是解放民族。”
We Americans believe Hu Shi was right. We believe and our experience demonstrates that freedom strengthens stability and helps nations to change.
我们美国人认为胡适是对的。我们相信，并且我们的经验表明，自由可以加强稳定，自由有助于国家的变革。
One of our founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin, once said, "Our critics are our friends, for they show us our faults." Now, if that is true, there are many days in the United States when the President has more friends than anyone else in America. But it is so.
我国的一位开国先贤本杰明·富兰克林曾经说过：“我们的批评者是我们的朋友，因为他们指出我们的缺点。”如果这话正确，在美国很多时候，总统的朋友比其他任何人都多。 但确实如此。
