我们选择登月(有中文翻译)

We Choose to Go to the Moon
我们选择登月

John F. Kennedy
约翰·肯尼迪

We meet in an hour of change and challenge, in a decade of hope and fear, in an age of both knowledge and ignorance. The greater our knowledge increases, the greater our ignorance unfolds.
Despite the striking fact that most of the scientists that the world has ever known are alive and working today, despite the fact that this Nation's own scientific manpower is doubling every 12 years in a rate of growth more than three times that of our population as a whole, despite that, the vast stretches of the unknown and the unanswered and the unfinished still far outstrip2 our collective comprehension.
No man can fully grasp how far and how fast we have come, this is a breathtaking pace, and such a pace cannot help but create new ills as it dispels old, new ignorance, new problems, new dangers. Surely the opening vistas of space promise high costs and hardships, as well as high reward.
So it is not surprising that some would have us stay where we are a little longer to rest, to wait. But this city of Houston, this State of Texas, this country of the United States was not built by those who waited and rested and wished to look behind them. This country was conquered by those who moved forward--and so will space.
William Bradford, speaking in 1630 of the founding of the Plymouth Bay Colony, said that all great and honorable actions are accompanied with great difficulty, and both must be enterprising and overcome with answerable3 courage.
And this generation does not intend to founder4 in the backwash of the coming age of space. We mean to be a part of it--we mean to lead it. For the eyes of the world now look into space, to the moon and to the planets beyond, and we have vowed that we shall not see it governed by a hostile flag of conquest, but by a banner of freedom and peace. We have vowed that we shall not see space filled with weapons of mass destruction, but with instruments of knowledge and understanding. Yet the vows of this Nation can only be fulfilled if we in this Nation are first, and, therefore, we intend to be first.
But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?
We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win, and the others, too.
Even though I realize that this is in some measure an act of faith and vision, for we do not now know what benefits await us. But if I were to say, my fellow citizens, that we shall send to the moon, 240,000 miles away fro

m the control station in Houston, a giant rocket more than 300 feet tall, the length of this football field, made of new metal alloys5, some of which have not yet been invented, capable of standing heat and stresses several times more than have ever been experienced, fitted together with a precision better than the finest watch, carrying all the equipment needed for propulsion6, guidance, control, communications, food and survival, on an untried mission, to an unknown celestial7 body, and then return it safely to earth, re-entering the atmosphere at speeds of over 25,000 miles per hour, causing heat about half that of the temperature of the sun--almost as hot as it is here today--and do all this, and do it right, and do it first before this decade is out--then we must be bold.
Many years ago the great British explorer George Mallory, who was to die on Mount Everest, was asked why did he want to climb it. He said, "Because it is there."
Well, space is there, and we're going to climb it, and the moon and the planets are there, and new hopes for knowledge and peace are there. And, therefore, as we set sail we ask God's blessing on the most hazardous8 and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked. Thank you.


我们处于一个变化与挑战无所不在的时期、希望与失望相互交织的十年、知识与愚昧并存的时代。我们获得的知识越多，我们显露出的无知也就越多。
尽管显著的事实是，大多数享誉世界的科学家们仍在奋斗不息，尽管我国的科研力量以每 12 年翻一番的速率增长、总体上超过了人口增长速率的 3 倍——尽管这样，世上未知领域、未得到答案和未完成任务的范围之广，仍远远超出了我们所有人的理解力。
没有人确切了解我们能走多远，能走多快。这是激动人心的一步，但迈出的这一步在驱除旧邪恶的同时，也会派生出新邪恶——新的无知、新的问题与新的危险。不可否认，太空展现的远景回报高，但困难多、代价也高。
因此不难理解，有些状况会使我们在原地止步不前，继续等待。但休斯敦市、德克萨斯州、美利坚合众国并不是由那些止步不前、安于现状、甘愿落后的人建立的。这个国家是由那些不断进取的人征服的，航天事业也是这样。
1630 年，威廉?布拉德福曾在普利茅斯湾殖民地建立仪式上说，所有伟大而光荣的行动都伴随着巨大的困难，而完成这些行动需具备冒险精神和与此相当的勇气。
而我们这一代并不准备在即将到来的、太空时代所产生的困难面前萎缩不前。我们要参与其中——我们要领导潮流。为如今仰望太空、注视月球和遥远行星的世人，我们发誓，我们不会看到太空成为那些不友好国家的战利品，而是看到代表自由与和平的旗帜在飘扬；我们发誓，我们不会看到

太空布满大规模杀伤性武器，而应该是充满获取知识的工具。然而，我国的承诺只有在我国领先的情况下才能得以履行，而我们正准备这样做。
但是，有些人问，为什么选择月球？为什么选择登月作为我们的目标？那他们也许会问为什么我们要登上最高峰？ 35 年前为什么要飞越大西洋？为什么赖斯大学要与德克萨斯大学比赛？
我们决定登月，我们决定在这个 10 年间登月，并且完成其他的事，不是因为它们轻而易举，而是因为它们困难丛丛，因为这个目标将促进我们最佳能源的组织以及最佳技能的检验，因为这个挑战是我们乐于接受的，因为这个挑战是我们不愿推迟的，因为这个挑战我们志在必得，对于其他的挑战也是一样！
虽然我认识到，目前这个目标从某种程度上来说还停留在信念与想象之中，因为我们无从知晓人们会从中获得怎样的收益；但是我想说，我的同胞们，让我们向那个距离休斯敦控制中心 24 万英里的月球发射火箭，一枚超过 300 英尺高、与这个橄榄球场长度相当的火箭——这枚火箭采用新型合金材料，其耐热与抗压性比现在使用的材料强好几倍，只是个别部分还是个“未知数”；其装配的精密程度可以与最精确的手表相媲美；它运载着用于推进、导航、控制、通讯、食品和维生的各种设备，肩负着一个前所未有的使命，登上那个未知的天体，然后安全返回地球，以超过 2 万 5 千英里的时速重返大气层，由此产生的高温大约是太阳温度的一半，就像今天这里这样热——我们要实现全部这些目标，要顺利实现这个目标，要在这个十年内领先完成——那么我们必须敢做敢为。
很多年之前，伟大的英国探险家乔治? 马拉里在攀登珠穆朗玛峰时遇难。此前有人问他为什么要攀登珠穆朗玛峰，他回答说：“因为它就在那儿。”
好，太空就在那儿，而我们即将在那里遨游；月球和其他行星在那儿，获得知识与和平的新的希望在那儿。因此，当我们启程的时候，我们祈求上帝保佑这个人类有史以来所从事的最危险和最伟大的历险。谢谢。