We Choose to Go to the Moon
我们选择登月
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
约翰·费茨杰拉德·肯尼迪
September 12, 1962
1962
年
9
月
12
日
Rice Stadium
赖斯（大学的）体育场
President Pitzer, Mr.Vice President,
Governor, Congressman Thomas, Senator Wiley, and Congressman Miller, Mr. Webb,
Mr. Bell, scientists, distinguished guests, and ladies and gentlemen:
皮茨校长，副总统，州长，众议员托马斯，参议员维利，众议员米勒，韦伯先生，比尔先生，科学家们，尊敬的来宾，女士们先生们：
I appreciate your president having made me
an honorary visiting professor, and I will assure you that my first lecture
will be very brief.
我十分感激你们的校长授予我名誉客座教授的头衔，并且我向各位保证我的第一个演讲会十分简洁。
I am delighted to be here and I'm
particularly delighted to be here on this occasion.
我很高兴来到这里，特别是在这个时候来到这里。
We meet at a college noted for knowledge,
in a city noted for progress, in a state noted for strength, and we stand in
need of all three, for we meet in an hour of change and challenge, in a decade
of hope and fear, in an age of both knowledge and ignorance.
我们在这个以知识闻名的大学，在这个以进步闻名的城市，在这个以实力闻名的州府相会。并且我们需要它们全部三者，因为我们正处于一个变化与挑战的时刻，希望与恐惧交织的十年，知识与愚昧并存的时代。
The greater our knowledge increases, the
greater our ignorance unfolds.
我们获取的知识越多，我们显露出的无知也就越多。
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 outstrip our collective comprehension.
尽管显著的事实表明：享誉世界的科学家们仍在艰苦工作，尽管我国的科研力量以每
12
年翻一倍的速度增长、总体超过了人口增长速度的三倍。尽管如此，宇宙中未知之域、未解之谜和未竟之事的范围之广，仍然远远超出了我们所有人的理解能力。
No man can fully grasp how far and how fast
we have come, but condense, if you will, the 50,000 years of man's recorded
history in a time span of but a half-century.
没人能够断言我们能走多远，能走多快。但如果你愿意，将
5
万年的人类历史浓缩为短短的半个世纪。
Stated in these terms, we know very little
about the first 40 years, except at the end of them advanced man had learned to
use the skins of animals to cover them.
在这个时间跨度下，我们对于开始的
40
年知之甚少，除了在最后阶段我们学会了用兽皮遮体。
Then about 10 years ago, under this
standard, man emerged from his caves to construct other kinds of shelter.
接下来，在此标准之下，
10
年前，人类走出洞穴，开始建造新的家园。
Only five years ago man learned to write
and use a cart with wheels.
五年前人类才学会了写字和使用有轮子的车辆。
Christianity began less than two years ago.
基督教产生于不到两年前。
The printing press came this year, and then
less than two months ago, during this whole 50-year span of human history, the
steam engine provided a new source of power.
印刷出版今年才出现。在人类历史的
50
年间，在不到两个月前，蒸汽机为我们提供了新的动力。
Newton explored the meaning of gravity.
牛顿发现了引力的意义。
Last month electric lights and telephones
and automobiles and airplanes became available.
上个月，电灯，电话，汽车和飞机成为了现实。
Only last week did we develop penicillin
and television and nuclear power, and now if America's new spacecraft succeeds
in reaching Venus, we will literally reached the stars before midnight tonight.
仅仅上周我们才发明了盘尼西林（即青霉素，译者注），电视与核能。如果现在美国最新的飞船能够成功抵达金星，那么我们才真正算得上在今天午夜抵达其他星球了。
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.
这是激动人心的一步，但迈出的这一步在驱散旧邪恶的同时，也会派生出新邪恶，新无知、新问题和新危险。
Surely the opening vistas of space promise
high costs and hardships, as well as high reward.
太空所展现的远景固然会得到巨大的回报，但同时也会伴随着巨大的困难与高昂的代价。
So it is not surprising that some would
have us stay where we are a little longer to rest, to wait.
所以并不意外，有时我们会在裹足不前，焦急等待。
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.
但休斯敦市，德克萨斯州与美利坚合众国不是由那些止步不前，安于现状，甘愿落后的人建立的。
This country was conquered by those who
moved forward--and so will space.
这个国家是由那些不断前进的人所征服的，太空也是如此。
William Bradford, speaking in 1630 of the founding
of the Plymouth Bay Colony, said that all great and honorable actions are
accompanied with great difficulties, and both must be enterprised and overcome
with answerable courage.
威廉·布拉德福德，曾在
1630
年的普利茅斯港殖民地的建立仪式上说，所有伟大而光荣的行动都伴随着巨大的困难，而完成这些行动必须具备不断进取的精神和与之相当的勇气。
If this capsule history of our progress
teaches us anything, it is that man, in his quest for knowledge and progress,
is determined and cannot be deterred.
如果说这段简短而充满进步的历史能给我们什么样的教训，那就是，人类在探求知识和进步的过程中是坚定不移，并无可阻挡的。
The exploration of space will go ahead,
whether we join in it or not, and it is one of the great adventures of all
time, and no nation which expects to be the leader of other nations can expect
to stay behind in this race for space.
无论我们参加与否，太空探索终将继续。无论何时它都是一场伟大的冒险，没有任何一个期望领先世界的国家想在这场太空竞赛中止步。
Those who came before us made certain that
this country rode the first waves of the industrial revolution, the first waves
of modern invention, and the first wave of nuclear power, and this generation
does not intend to founder in the backwash of the coming age of space.
我们的先辈使这个国家掀起了工业革命的第一波浪潮，掀起了现代发明的第一波浪潮，掀起了核能技术的第一波浪潮。而我们这一代绝不会甘愿在即将到来的太空时代的浪潮中倒下。
We mean to be a part of it--we mean to lead
it.
我们要加入其中――我们要领先世界。
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.
为了如今仰望太空，注视月球和遥看繁星的人们，我们发誓，我们决不允许太空被那些敌对国家（原文为旗帜，译者注）所征服，我们会看到自由与和平的旗帜在飘扬。
We have vowed that we shall not see space
filled with weapons of mass destruction, but with instruments of knowledge and
understanding.
我们发誓我们不会看到太空遍布大规模杀伤性武器，而是充满了获取知识的工具。
Yet the vows of this Nation can only be
fulfilled if we in this Nation are first, and, therefore, we intend to be
first.
这个承诺只有在我国领先的情况下才能履行。因此，我们即将付诸行动。
In short, our leadership in science and
industry, our hopes for peace and security, our obligations to ourselves as
well as others, all require us to make this effort, to solve these mysteries,
to solve them for the good of all men, and to become the world's leading
space-faring nation.
简而言之，我们在科学和工业上的领导地位，我们对于和平与安全的渴望，我们对于自身和他人的责任，它们要求我们做出努力，为了全人类的利益而努力解开这些谜团，成为世界领先的航天国家。
We set sail on this new sea because there
is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, and they must be won
and used for the progress of all people.
为了获取新知识，赢得新权利，我们在这全新的领域内扬帆起航。我们必须获取并运用权利。为了全人类的进步，我们踏上新的航程。
For space science, like nuclear science and
all technology, has no conscience of its own.
空间科学，正如核科学以及其他一切科技，本身并无道德可言。
Whether it will become a force for good or
ill depends on man, and only if the United States occupies a position of
preeminence can we help decide whether this new ocean will be a sea of peace or
a new terrifying theater of war.
它的善恶完全取决于人类。并且只有当美利坚合众国获得一个卓越的地位之时，才能帮助决定这片新的领域最终成为和平的海洋还是变成另一个恐怖的战争悲剧。
I do not say that we should or will go
unprotected against the hostile misuse of space any more than we go unprotected
against the hostile use of land or sea, but I do say that space can be explored
and mastered without feeding the fires of war, without repeating the mistakes
that man has made in extending his writ around this globe of ours.
我不认为我们应该或者必须对敌人滥用太空比对敌人滥用陆地和海洋更加无动于衷。但是我确实要说，太空能够避免在被战火吞噬的情况下，在不重蹈战争覆辙的情况下开发和利用。
There is no strife, no prejudice, no
national conflict in outer space as yet.
在太空还没有竞争，偏见和国家冲突。
Its hazards are hostile to us all.
我们所有人都要面对太空的危险。
Its conquest deserves the best of all
mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation may never come again.
太空值得全人类尽最大的力量征服，而且和平合作的机会可能永远不会重来。
But why, some say, the moon?
但有人问，为什么选择登月？
Why choose this as our goal?
为什么选择登月作为我们的目标？
And they may well ask why climb the highest
mountain?
那他们也许会问为什么我们要登上最高的山峰？
Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic?
为什么，要在
35
年前，飞越大西洋？
Why does Rice play Texas?
为什么赖斯大学要与德克萨斯大学竞赛？
We choose to go to the moon.
我们选择登月。
We choose to go to the moon.
我们选择登月。
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 which we intend to win, and the others, too.
我们决定在这十年间登上月球并实现更多梦想，并非它们轻而易举，而正是因为它们困难重重。因为这个目标将促进我们实现最佳的组织并测试我们顶尖的技术和力量，因为这个挑战我们乐于接受，因为这个挑战我们不愿推迟，因为这个挑战我们志在必得，其他的挑战也是如此。
It is for these reasons that I regard the
decision last year to shift our efforts in space from low to high gear as among
the most important decisions that will be made during my incumbency in the
office of the Presidency.
正是因为这些理由，我决定将去年关于提升航天计划的决定作为我在本届总统任期内最重要的决定之一。
In the last 24 hours we have seen
facilities now being created for the greatest and most complex exploration in
man's history.
在过去的
24
小时里我们看到一些设施已经为人类历史上最伟大而复杂的探险而建立起来。
We have felt the ground shake and the air
shattered by the testing of a Saturn C-1 booster rocket, many times as powerful
as the Atlas which launched John Glenn, generating power equivalent to 10,000
automobiles with their accelerators on the floor.
我们感受到了土星
C-1
火箭试验产生的震动和冲击，它比把约翰·格伦送入太空的擎天神火箭还要强大好几倍，可以产生相当于
1
万辆汽车的功率。
We have seen the site where five F-1 rocket
engines, each one as powerful as all eight engines of the Saturn combined, will
be clustered together to make the advanced Saturn missile, assembled in a new
building to be built at Cape Canaveral as tall as a 48-storey structure, as
wide as a city block, and as long as two lengths of this field.
我们看到了
5
个
F-1
火箭引擎，每一个都相当于
8
个土星火箭引擎的功率，它们将会用于建造更先进的土星火箭，在卡纳维拉尔角即将兴建的
48
层大楼中组装起来。这幢建筑宽一个街区，长度超过我们现在所在的这个体育场的两倍。
Within these last 19 months at least 45
satellites have circled the earth. Some 40 of them were made in the United
States of America and they were far more sophisticated and supplied far more
knowledge to the people of the world than those of the Soviet Union.
在过去的
19
个月里至少有
45
颗卫星进入地球轨道，其中大约
40
颗标着“美利坚合众国制造”的标记，它们比苏联的卫星更加精密，能为世界人民提供更多的知识。
The Mariner spacecraft now on its way to
Venus is the most intricate instrument in the history of space science.
正在飞向金星的水手号飞船是空间科学史上最复杂的装置。
The accuracy of that shot is comparable to
firing a missile from Cape Canaveral and dropping it in this stadium between
the 40-yard lines.
其精确程度比得上在卡纳维拉尔角发射的一枚导弹直接击中这个体育场的
40
码线之间。
Transit satellites are helping our ships at
sea to steer a safer course.
海事卫星将使海上的船只航行更加安全。
Tiros satellites have given us
unprecedented warnings of hurricanes and storms, and will do the same for
forest fires and icebergs.
气象卫星可以提前带给我们飓风与风暴预警，它同样也可以用于森林火灾与冰山预警。
We have had our failures, but so have
others, even if they do not admit them.
我们经历过失败，但是别人也经历过，即便他们不会承认。
And they may be less public.
因此它们可能并不为人所知。
To be sure, we are behind, and will be
behind for some time in manned flight.
显然，我们正落后于人，并且在载人航天方面还将继续落后一段时间。
But we do not intend to stay behind, and in
this decade, we shall make up and move ahead.
但是我们绝不会处于下风，在这十年间，我们将会迎头赶上。
The growth of our science and education
will be enriched by new knowledge of our universe and environment, by new
techniques of learning and mapping and observation, by new tools and computers
for industry, medicine, the home as well as the school.
我们在科学和教育获得的进展将丰富我们关于宇宙与环境的新知识，新经验，绘图与观测技术，用于工业，医学和家庭的新工具和计算机，所有的一切都将促进科学和教育的发展。
Technical institutions, such as Rice, will
reap the harvest of these gains.
像赖斯大学这样的技术院校将会因此受益。
And finally, the space effort itself, while
still in its infancy, has already created a great number of new companies, and
tens of thousands of new jobs.
最终，尽管航天事业本身仍然处于童年，它已经催生了许多公司和数以千计的新兴工作。
Space and related industries are generating
new demands in investment and skilled personnel, and this city and this state,
and this region, will share greatly in this growth.
航天与其他相关工业对投资和特殊技术人员产生了新的需求。并且这个城市，这个州和这个地区将会极大地受益于这种增长。
What was once the furthest outpost on the
old frontier of the West will be the furthest outpost on the new frontier of
science and space.
西部的旧边界将会成为空间科学的新边界。
Houston, your city of Houston, with its
Manned Spacecraft Center, will become the heart of a large scientific and
engineering community.
休斯敦，你们的休斯敦市，以及它的载人航天中心，将会成为一个巨大的科学与工程共同体的命脉。
During the next 5 years the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration expects to double the number of scientists
and engineers in this area, to increase its outlays for salaries and expenses
to $60 million a year; to invest some $200 million in plant and laboratory
facilities; and to direct or contract for new space efforts over $1 billion
from this center in this city.
