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LESSON 102 IMPORTANCE OF THE UNION
第一百零二课 联邦的重要性
Mr. President: I am conscious of having detained you and the Senate much too long.
总统先生，我觉得耽搁您和参议院太久了。
I was drawn into the debate with no previous deliberation, such as is suited to the discussion of so grave and important a subject.
未及深思熟虑我便卷进了这场争论，如此唐突唯恐自己不适合讨论如此严肃和重要的话题。
But it is a subject of which my heart is full, and I have not been willing to suppress the utterance of its spontaneous sentiments.
但这是一个我思量许久的话题，我不愿意克制情感，刻意不说出自己的意见。
I can not, even now, persuade myself to relinquish it, without expressing once more my deep conviction,
甚至现在，我亦不能说服自己放弃这个念头，不将内心的坚定信仰和盘托出，
that, since it respects nothing less than the union of the states, it is of most vital and essential importance to the public happiness.
因为我坚信各州应该结成联邦，对于民众福祉而言这是必不可少且至关重要的。
I profess, sir, in my career hitherto, to have kept steadily in view the prosperity and honor of the whole country, and the preservation of our federal Union.
先生，我在此公开声称，在到目前为止我的职业生涯里，一直把整个国家的繁荣和荣誉，把保持我们的合众国国体看得很重。
It is to that Union we owe our safety at home, and our consideration and dignity abroad.
人民生活安宁，在国外受到尊重。这应该归功于联邦。
It is to that Union that we are chiefly indebted for whatever makes us most proud of our country.
人民得到恩惠，这也要归功于联邦。
That Union we reached only by the discipline of our virtues, in the severe school of adversity.
只有通过对品性道德和伦理原则的严格规范，经历灾难的磨砺，我们才能建立合众国。
