每年的11月11日是美国的退伍军人纪念日，昨天美国总统奥巴马参加了在阿灵顿国家公墓举办的纪念仪式。仪式庄严肃穆，人们的神情严肃而平静。悠扬的军乐小号响起，仿佛又把人们思绪拉回了那硝烟弥漫的岁月，人们似乎又看到了与战友前仆后继的峥嵘岁月。然后今天，当他们从四面八方来到这里，向烈士纪念碑敬献花圈时，昔日的战友们却已长眠于此。而那些垂垂老矣的老兵们，虽然今年他们仍能坐在我们中间，向我们讲述四十年前的血雨腥风，但是他们毕竟正在慢慢老去，也许明年此时，他们也将在此处长眠。

They're the stories of generations of Americans who left home barely more than boys and girls, became men and women and returned home heroes. And when these Americans who had dedicated their lives to defending this country came home, many settled on a life of service, choosing to make their entire lives a tour of duty. Many chose to live a quiet life, trading one uniform and set of responsibilities for another-doctor, engineer, teacher, mom, dad. They bought homes, raised families, built businesses. They built the greatest middle class that the world has ever known. Some put away their medals, stayed humble about their service and moved on. Some, carrying shrapnel and scars, found that they couldn't. We call this a holiday, but for many veterans, it's another day of memories that drive them to live their lives each day as best as they possibly can.

tour of duty 这个词组从广义上来说可以解释为‘在一段时期内在某地工作或是担任某个职务'，而它通常特指军人去海外服役。

这个trade是一个动词，解释为‘to exchange 交换'，这里说交换了制服和责任，也就是说从事了另一份职业、承担了另一项责任。

Some people presume that the attack on Pearl Harbour break America militarily and frightened our public into a corner. They said that Americans were too caught up in their own conerns and self interests to make the sacrifices necessary to win in fight of this magnitude. They would be proven wrong by the young people who set their lives and dreams aside to fight that war.

 

【现场士兵演唱的是美国国歌The Star-Spangled Banner 】

Casualties of war cry out to be known as persons, not as abstractions called casualties, not simply as numbers entered into the books, and not only as names chiseled into marble or granite. We have carried in our memories the stories of those recorded here, but memories fade as to those who remember. We are greying, after all of us who knew them are gone, the wall on this name will endure.

The soldiers whose names were inscribed on the wall will forever be remembered for their bravery, for their courage and for their sacrifice. On this veteran's day, may we rededicate ourselves to the sacred cause of liberty and justice, for which these brave soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines fought and died, and let us never forget, in this grateful nation, that freedom is not free.