Thanksgiving Address by President-Elect Joe Biden in Wilmington, Delaware
November 25, 2020
美国当选总统乔·拜登在特拉华州威尔明顿的感恩节演讲
2020年11月25日
My fellow Americans:
我的美国同胞：
Thanksgiving is a special time in America. A time to reflect on what the year has brought, and think about what lies ahead.
感恩节在美国是一个特别的时刻，是我们反思这一年带来什么、同时思考未来的时刻。
You know, our first national day of Thanksgiving, authorized by the Continental Congress, took place on December 18th, 1777. It was celebrated by General George Washington and his troops at Gulph Mills on the way to Valley Forge. It took place under extremely harsh conditions and deprivations – lacking food, clothing, shelter. They were preparing to ride out a long, hard winter.
Today, you can find a plaque in Gulph Mills marking that moment. Here’s…the plaque reads, it says – “This Thanksgiving in spite of the suffering-showed the reverence and character that was forging the soul of a nation.”
Faith, courage, sacrifice, service to country, service to each other, and gratitude even in the face of suffering, have long been part of what Thanksgiving means in America.
Now, looking back over our history you’ll see that it’s been in the most difficult of circumstances that the soul of our nation has been forged.
现在，回顾我们的历史，你会发现我们国家的灵魂是在最困难的情况下形成的。
Now, we find ourselves again facing a long, hard winter.
现在，我们发现自己再次面临着漫长而艰难的冬天。
We’ve fought a nearly year-long battle with a virus that has devastated this nation. It’s brought us pain and loss and frustration, and it has cost so many lives. 260,000 Americans – and counting.
It has divided us. Angered us. Set us against one another.
它分裂了我们。我们彼此埋怨。我们相互对抗。
I know the country has grown weary of the fight.
我知道这个国家已经厌倦了这场斗争。
But we need to remember we’re at a war with a virus – not with one another, not with each other.
但我们需要记住，我们正在与病毒作战——不是彼此，也不是彼此。
This is the moment where we need to steel our spines, redouble our efforts, and recommit ourselves to the fight.
此时此刻，我们需要振作起来，加倍努力，重新致力于战斗。
Let’s remember – we are all in this together. Sounds trite to say, but we’re all in this together.
让我们记住——我们都在一起。听起来很老套，但我们的确都在一起。
For so many of us, it’s hard to hear that this fight isn’t over, that we still have months of this battle ahead of us.
对于我们很多人来说，很难接受这场战斗还没有结束，我们还有几个月的时间才能结束这场战斗。
For those who have lost a loved one, I know this time of year can be especially difficult.
对于那些失去亲人的人来说，我知道一年中的这个时候会特别困难。
Believe me, I know. I remember that first Thanksgiving. The empty chair, the silence, takes your breath away. It’s really hard to care. It’s hard to give thanks. It’s hard to even think of looking forward. And it’s so hard to hope. I understand.
I’ll be thinking and praying for each and every one of you at this Thanksgiving, at your Thanksgiving table because we’ve been there.
在这个感恩节，在你们的感恩节餐桌上，我会为你们每个人想念和祈祷，因为我们一直在那里。
This year, we’re asking Americans to forego so many of the traditions that we have long made in this holiday which made it so special.
今年，我们要求美国人放弃我们在这个节日中长期创造的许多特别传统。
For our family, for 40 such years, 40 some years, we’ve had a tradition of traveling over Thanksgiving, a tradition that we’ve kept every year save one – the year after our son Beau died.
We’ve always had big family gatherings at Thanksgiving. Kids, grandkids, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, and more.
我们总是在感恩节举行大型家庭聚会。孩子、孙子、阿姨、叔叔、兄弟、姐妹等等。
For the Bidens, the days around Thanksgiving have always been a time to remember all we had to be grateful for, and a time to begin to think about [the] Christmas and begin even to do the Christmas list.
But this year, because we care so much for each other, we’re going to be having a separate Thanksgiving.
但今年，由于我们非常在乎彼此，我们将单独度过一个感恩节。
For Jill and I, we’ll be at our home in Delaware with our daughter and our son-in-law. The rest of the family will be doing the same thing in small groups.
对于吉尔和我来说，我们将和女儿和女婿在特拉华州的家中。家里的其他人也将小范围地做同样的事情。
So, I know. I know how hard it is to forego family traditions, but it is so very important.
所以，我知道。我知道放弃家庭传统有多难，但这非常重要。
Our country is in the middle of a dramatic spike in cases. We’re now averaging 160,000 new cases a day. And no one will be surprised if we hit 200,000 cases in a single day.
Many local health systems are at risk of being overwhelmed.
许多当地卫生系统面临不堪重负的风险。
That is the plain and simple truth – nothing made up, it’s real. And I believe you always deserve to hear the truth…hear the truth from your president.
We have to try to slow the growth of this virus. We owe it to the doctors, and the nurses, and other frontline workers, care workers who have risked their lives, some have lost their lives, put so much on the line in a heroic battled in this virus, against it for so long.
You know, we owe that to our fellow citizens who need access to hospital beds and the care to fight this disease.
你知道，这要亏钱我们的同胞，他们需要获得医院病床和护理来抗击这种疾病。
We owe it to one another – it’s literally our patriotic duty as Americans.
我们彼此应该这样——这确实是我们作为美国人的爱国责任。
It means wearing a mask, keeping social distancing, limiting the size of any group we’re in. Until we have a vaccine, these are most effective tools to combat the virus.
Starting on Day One of my presidency, we will take steps that will change the course of this disease.
从我担任总统的第一天开始，我们将采取措施改变抗击这一疾病的进程。
More testing will find people with cases and get them away from other people, slowing the number of infections. More protective gear for businesses and our schools to [will] do the same – reducing the number of cases. Clear guidance will get more businesses and more schools open.
Every decision we make matters. Every decision we make can save a life.
我们做出的每个决定都很重要。我们做出的每个决定都可以挽救一条生命。
None of these steps we’re asking people to take are political statements.
我们要求人们采取的这些步骤都不是政治声明。
Every one of them is based on science, real science.
每一点都是基于科学，真正的科学。
And the good news is, there has been significant, record-breaking progress made recently in developing a vaccine. And several of these vaccines look extraordinarily effective.
好消息是，最近在开发疫苗方面取得了创纪录的重大进展。其中几种疫苗看起来非常有效。
And it happens that we are on track for the first immunizations to begin by late December or early January. Then we will need to put in place a distribution plan to get the entire country immunized as soon as possible, which we will do.
I’m hoping the news of a vaccine will serve as an incentive to every American to take these simple steps to get control of this virus.
我希望疫苗的消息能激励每个美国人采取这些简单步骤来控制这种病毒。
There is real hope, tangible hope. So hang on. Don’t let yourself surrender to the fatigue, which I understand it is real fatigue.
有真正的希望，可及的希望。所以坚持住。不要让自己屈服于疲劳，我知道大家都真正的疲劳。
I know we can and we will beat this virus. America is not going to lose this war.
我知道我们可以，我们会战胜这种病毒。美国不会输掉这场战争。
We’ll get our lives back. Life is going to return to normal. I promise you, this will happen. This will not last forever.
我们会恢复生活。生活将恢复正常。我向你保证，这种情况会发生。这不会永远持续下去。
So yes, this has been really a hard year, particularly hard for over 250000 people and their families, but I still believe we have much to be thankful for.
There’s so much to hope for. Much to build on. Much to dream of.
有很多希望。还有很多可以借鉴的东西。有很多梦想。
Here’s the America I see, and I believe it’s the America you see, as well:
这是我看到的美国，我相信你看到的也是这样的美国：
An America that faces facts. An America that overcomes challenges. An America where we seek justice and equality for all people.
一个面对事实的美国。一个克服挑战的美国。一个我们为所有人寻求正义和平等的美国。
An America that holds fast to the conviction that out of pain comes possibility; out of frustration comes progress; and out of division, unity.
一个坚信痛苦带来可能性、挫折感带来进步、分裂带来团结的美国。
You all know, in our finest hours, that’s who we’ve always been, and that’s who we shall be again, for I believe that this grim season of division [and] demonization is going to give way to a year of light and unity.
Because America is a nation not of adversaries, but of neighbors.
因为美国不是一个有对手的国家，而是有邻国的国家。
Not of limitations, but of possibilities.
不是限制，而是可能性。
Not of dreams deferred, but of dreams realized.
不是梦想被推迟，而是梦想被实现。
I’ve said it many times that this is a great country; we are a good people. This is the United States of America.
我说过很多次，这是一个伟大的国家；我们是一个优秀的民族。这是美利坚合众国。
And there’s never been anything we’ve been unable to do when we’ve done it together.
当我们一起做这件事时，从来没有任何事情我们不能做。
Think of what we’ve come through. As a nation, how many things we’ve come through? Centuries of human enslavement; cataclysmic Civil War; exclusion of women from the ballot box; World Wars...
Look, I’m not naïve. I know that history is just that: history.
听着，我不是天真的。我知道历史就是这样：历史。
But to know what came before, what’s come before, [and] what’s happened before can help arm us against despair.
但是，了解以前发生了什么，可以帮助我们抵御绝望。
Knowing the previous generations got through the same universal human challenges that we face: the tension between selfishness and generosity, between fear and hope, between division and unity.
了解前几代人，我们经历了与人类相同的普遍挑战：自私和慷慨、恐惧和希望、分裂和团结之间的紧张关系。
And what…what was it that brought the reality of America into closer alignment with the promise of reality, justice, and prosperity? Sound corny, but it was love. Plain and simple. Love of country. Love of one another.
We don’t talk much about love in our politics. The political arena is too loud, too angry, too heated.
我们在政治上很少谈论爱。政治舞台太吵，太愤怒，太激烈。
To love our neighbor as ourselves is a radical act, it is what we’re called to do. We must try, for only in trying, only in listening, only in seeing ourselves as bound together in what Dr. King called the “mutual garment of destiny” can we rise above divisions and truly heal.
Look, we know America has never been perfect. But we’ve always tried to fulfill the aspiration of the Declaration of Independence: that all people are created equal, created in the image of God. And we’ve always sought “to form a more perfect union.”
Well, first, let’s be thankful for democracy itself. In this…in this last election, the one that just took place, we’ve seen record numbers of Americans exercise their most sacred right – that of the vote – to register their will at the ballot box.
Think about that. In the middle of a pandemic, more people voted this year than have ever voted in the history of the United States of America. Over 150 million people cast a ballot. Simply extraordinary. Many waiting in line, five, six, seven, eight hours to vote.
If you want to know what beats deep in the heart of America, it’s this: democracy.
如果你想知道美国内心深处的跳动是什么，那就是：民主。
The right to determine our lives, our government, and our leaders. The right to be heard.
决定我们生活、政府的权利。表达意见的权利。
Our democracy was tested this year. And what we learned is this: The people of this nation are up to the task.
我们的民主今年受到了考验。我们学到的是：这个国家的人民可以胜任这项任务。
In America, we have full and fair and free elections, and then we honor the results. The people of this nation and the laws of the land won’t stand for anything else.
That “We the People”…“We the People” have the power to change what Jefferson called “the course of human events.”
“我们人民”......“我们人民”有能力改变杰斐逊所谓的“人类事件进程”。
That with our hearts and our hands and our voices, today, we can be better than yesterday, and tomorrow, we can be still better than that day.
用我们的心、双手和声音，今天，我们可以比昨天更好，明天，我们仍然可以比今天更好。
You know, we should be thankful, too, that America is a covenant and an unfolding story.
你知道，我们也应该感谢，美国是一个契约的国家，一个正在展开的故事。
We have what we need to create prosperity, opportunity and justice: Americans have grit and generosity, a capacity for greatness and reservoirs of goodness.
我们拥有创造繁荣、机会和正义所需要的东西：美国人有勇气和慷慨，有伟大的能力和善良的宝库。
We have what it takes. Now we have to act.
我们拥有它所需要的一切。现在我们必须采取行动。
This is our moment – ours together – to write a newer, bolder, more compassionate chapter in the life of our nation. The work ahead is not going to be easy. It will not be quick.
这是我们共同在国家生活中写下更新、更大胆、更富有同情心的篇章的时刻。前面的工作并不容易。不会很快。
You want solutions, not shouting. Reason, not hyper-partisanship. Light, not heat.
你想要解决方案，而不是大喊大叫。理性，而不是超党派。光，而不是热。
You want us to hear one another again, see one another again, respect one another again. You want Democrats and Republicans and Independents to come together and work together.
And that, my friends, is what I’m determined to do. Americans dream big. As hard as it may seem this Thanksgiving, we are going to dream big again. Our future is bright. In fact, we’ve never been…I have never been more optimistic about the future of America than I’m right now.
I, honest to God, believe the 21st Century is going to be an American Century.We are going to build an economy that leads the world. We are going to lead the world by the power of our example – not just the example of our power. We are going to lead the world on climate and save this planet. We are going to find cures for cancer and Alzheimer’s and diabetes. I promise you. We are going to finally root out systemic racism in this country.
On this Thanksgiving, and in anticipation of all the Thanksgivings to come, let’s dream again. Let us commit ourselves to thinking not only of ourselves but of others as well.
在这个感恩节，为了迎接即将到来的感恩节，让我们再做一次梦吧。让我们承诺不仅为自己着想，也着想别人。
For if we care for one another – if we open our arms rather than brandish our fists – we can, with the help of God, heal.
因为如果我们互相关心——如果我们张开双臂，而不是挥舞拳头——我们可以在上帝的帮助下痊愈。
And if we do, and I’m sure we can, we can proclaim with the Psalmist…with the Psalmist who wrote these following words: “The Lord is my strength and my shield…and with my song I give thanks to him.”
