President: Good evening. A long year has passed since enemies attacked our country. We've seen the images so many times they are seared on our souls, and remembering the horror, reliving the anguish, re-imagining the terror, is hard — and painful.

For those who lost loved ones, it's been a year of sorrow, of empty places, of newborn children who will never know their fathers here on earth. For members of our military, it's been a year of sacrifice, and service far from home. For all Americans, it has been a year of adjustment — of coming to terms with the difficult knowledge that our nation has determined enemies, and that we are not invulnerable to their attacks.

Yet in the events that have challenged us, we've also seen the character that will deliver us. We've seen the greatness of America in airline passengers who defied their hijackers and ran a plane into the ground to spare the lives of others. We've seen the greatness of America in rescuers who rushed up flights of stairs toward peril. And we continue to see the greatness of America in the care and compassion our citizens show to each other.

September the 11th, 2001, will always be a fixed point in the life of America. The loss of so many lives left us to examine our own. Each of us was reminded that we are here only for a time, and these counted days should be filled with things that last and matter: love for our families, love for our neighbors, and for our country; gratitude for life and to the giver of life. We resolved a year ago to honor every last person lost. We owe them remembrance, and we owe them more. We owe them, and their children, and our own, the most enduring monument we can build: a world of liberty and security made possible by the way America leads, and by the way Americans lead our lives.

The attack on our nation was also attack on the ideals that make us a nation.

Our deepest national conviction is that every life is precious, because every life is the gift of a creator who intended us to live in liberty and equality.

More than anything else, this separates us from the enemy we fight. We value every life; our enemies value none — not even the innocent; not even their own. And we seek the freedom and opportunity that give meaning and value to life.

There is a line in our time, and in every time, between those who believe that all men are created equal, and those who believe that some men, and women, and children, are expendable in the pursuit of power. There is a line in our time, and in every time, between the defenders of human liberty and those who seek to master the minds and souls of others. Our generation has now heard history's call, and we will answer it.

America has entered a great struggle that tests our strength, and even more our resolve. Our nation is patient and steadfast. We continue to pursue the terrorists in cities, and camps, and caves across the earth. We are joined by a great coalition of nations to rid the world of terror. And we will not allow any terrorist or tyrant to threaten civilization with weapons of mass murder. Now and in the future, Americans will live as free people, not in fear, and never at the mercy of any foreign plot or power.

This nation has defeated tyrants and liberated death camps, raised this lamp of liberty to every captive land. We have no intention of ignoring or appeasing history's latest gang of fanatics trying to murder their way to power. They are discovering, as others before them, the resolve of a great country and a great democracy. In the ruins of two towers, under a flag unfurled at the Pentagon at the funerals of the lost, we have made a sacred promise, to ourselves and to the world: We will not relent until justice is done and our nation is secure. What our enemies have begun, we will finish.

I believe there is a reason that history has matched this nation with this time. America strives to be tolerant and just. We respect the faith of Islam, even as we fight those whose actions defile that faith. We fight, not to impose our will, but to defend ourselves and extend the blessings of freedom.

We cannot know all that lies ahead. Yet we do know that God has placed us together in this moment, to grieve together, to stand together, to serve each other and our country. And the duty we have been given — defending America and our freedom — is also a privilege we share.

We're prepared for this journey. And our prayer tonight is that God will see us through, and keep us worthy.

Tomorrow is September the 12th. A milestone is passed, and a mission goes on. Be confident. Our country is strong. And our cause is even larger than our country. Ours is the cause of human dignity: freedom guided by conscience, and guarded by peace. This ideal of America is the hope of all mankind. That hope drew millions to this harbor. That hope still lights our way. And the light shines in the darkness. And the darkness will not overcome it.

May God bless America.

总统:晚上好。从敌人袭击我们的国家到现在时间已经过去一年了,令人心焦的景象屡屡出现在我们的面前,回忆起惨状、重新体验巨痛、想象到恐怖,是很艰难和痛苦的事情。

对于那些失去亲人的人来说,过去的一年是痛苦的一年,是他们茫然的一年,那些新生儿降临到这个世界,却没有见过自己的父亲。对于军人来说,过去的一年是奉献的一年,是远离家乡奋战的一年。对于所有的美国人来说,这是调整和适应的一年。我们意识到国家的敌人是谁,我们不会在袭击面前被催跨。

在袭击事件的挑战面前,我们看到了我们人民表现出来的品质。我们看到了客机上的英雄们反抗劫机者、使飞机坠入地面的勇于牺牲自己保护他人的美国人的崇高品质;我们看到了救援人员勇敢地冲向危机四伏的楼梯的美国人的崇高品质;我们还看到了我们同胞相互关爱所表现出来的美国人的崇高品质。

2001年9月11日将永远是美国人生活中的重要历史时刻。9/11事件牺牲了许多人的生命,让我们可以反思自己。我们在这里纪念失去的亲人,时间短暂却永驻心间,这些日子洋溢着我们对家人的爱,对邻居的爱、对国家的爱和对生命以及赐予我们生命的人的感激之情。一年前我们决心为每位牺牲者给予荣誉。我们应该铭记他们,感谢他们。我们感谢他们,感谢他们的子女,感谢他们为建立美国倡导的世界自由与安全树立了永久的丰碑。

恐怖袭击就是对创造我们国家的理想的袭击。我们深信每个人的生命都是宝贵的,生命是上帝赐予的专门享受自由与平等的礼物。

这就是我们与我们战斗的敌人的差别。我们珍惜每个生命,我们的敌人从不珍惜生命—包括无辜的生命,甚至他们自己的生命。我们在为生命的意义和价值寻求自由和机会。

这是我们这个时期和每个时期的界线--我们相信所有人生来就是平等的,而有些人认为这些男女和儿童是他们争夺权利的牺牲品;这是我们这个时期和每个时期的界线—人类自由的捍卫者与企图统治他人心灵和思想的人。我们这一代人听到了历史的呼唤,我们也将会响应。

美国进入了一场检验我们的力量和决心的伟大斗争。我们的国家是有耐心的,立场是坚定的。我们将继续在城市、营地和洞穴中搜寻恐怖分子。广大的反恐联盟将与我们一道根除世界恐怖。我们不会允许恐怖分子和暴君用大规模的屠杀行为威胁人类的文明。无论现在还是未来,美国人民都将生活在自由而不是恐惧之中,美国人民永远不会听任外国阴谋和权势的摆布。

美国多次击败暴君,解放了死亡营地,将自由之灯带到每块被征服的土地上。对历史上最近发生的一群狂热分子企图以谋杀来夺权的事,我们不会退缩容忍。与以前其他狂热分子一样,他们将发现一个伟大民族和伟大民主国家的决心。在世贸大楼的废墟,在五角大楼悬挂的国旗下方,在我们为逝者举行葬礼的地方,我们向自己和世界郑重宣誓:我们不会手软,直到我们实现正义,直到我们的国家安全。敌人发动的一切,让我们去把它终结。

我有理由相信是历史赋予我们的责任。美国努力保持宽容与公正。美国尊重伊斯兰教的教义,并与玷污伊斯兰教的教义的行为作斗争。我们战斗,不是强加我们的意愿,而是保卫我们自己和传递自由的祝福。

我们不可能知道未来所有的事情,但我们知道此时此刻是上帝把我们召集到一起,一起哀悼,一起战斗,服务你我,服务我们的国家。保卫美国、保卫自由是赋予我们的责任,也是我们共同的殊荣。

我们已经准备好踏上征途,我们今晚的祈祷就是要让上帝看到并引导我们前进,使我们更为高尚。

明天就是9月12日,里程碑的日子就要过去,而我们的使命将继续。充满信心,我们的国家是强大的。我们的事业比我们的国家更强大。我们的使命就是维护人的尊严,维护良知引导与和平守卫的自由。美国的理想就是全人类的理想。正是这个希望将成千上万的人吸引到这个港口,这个希望将继续照亮我们前进的路。自由之光将照亮黑暗,自由之光将压倒黑暗。

愿上帝保佑美国。