Presidential Speech

Good evening, my fellow Americans. Three days from now, after a half-century of service of our country, I shall lay down the responsibilities of office as, in a traditional and solemn ceremony, the authority of the Presidency is vested in my successor. This evening I come to you with a message of leave-taking and farewell, and to share a few final thoughts with you, my countrymen.

晚上好，我的美国同胞们。再过三天，在为这个国家服务半个世纪之后，我将卸下总统的职责，按照传统而庄严的仪式，把总统的权力移交给我的继任者。今晚，我向你们致意，带着告别和辞行的话语，并与你们，我的同胞们，分享最后几点想法。

Like every other citizen, I wish the new President, and all who will labor with him, Godspeed. I pray that the coming years will be blessed with peace and prosperity for all.

和每一位公民一样，我祝愿新总统以及所有与他一起努力的人一帆风顺。我祈祷未来的岁月对所有人民都充满和平与繁荣。

Our people expect their President and the Congress to find essential agreement on questions of great importance, the wise resolution of which will better shape the future of our great nation. My own relations with Congress began on a remote and tenuous basis when, long ago, a member of the Senate appointed me to West Point. I then had the pleasure of building more intimate relationship with Congress during the war and immediate post-war period. Finally, we have progressed to the mutually interdependent relationship we’ve had during these past eight years.

我们的人民期望总统和国会在重大问题上达成基本共识，这些问题的明智解决将更好地塑造我们伟大国家的未来。我本人与国会的关系始于久远而薄弱的纽带——当时一位参议员任命我进入西点军校。随后，在战争期间和战后初期，我有幸与国会建立了更密切的关系。最终，我们发展到过去八年中这种相互依赖的关系。