基本介紹

我們選擇登月 （We Choose to Go to the Moon,，又譯《我們決定登月》）是美國(guó)前總統(tǒng)約翰·費(fèi)茨杰拉德·肯尼迪（John Fitzgerald Kennedy）于1962年9月12日在賴斯大學(xué)的一篇關(guān)于航天事業(yè)的演講,。之后,，這篇演講被視為阿波羅登月計(jì)劃奠基的第一鏟土?？夏岬媳救擞?963年遇刺身亡,，登月計(jì)劃由林登·約翰遜總統(tǒng)與尼克松總統(tǒng)接管。經(jīng)過(guò)不懈努力,，終于在1969年7月成功將人類送上了月球,。

內(nèi)容介紹

中英對(duì)照

We Choose to Go to the Moon

我們決定登月

John Fitzgerald Kennedy

約翰·費(fèi)茨杰拉德·肯尼迪

September 12, 1962

1962年9月12日

Rice Stadium

賴斯（大學(xué)的）體育場(chǎng)

President Pitzer, Mr.Vice President, Governor, Congressman Thomas, Senator Wiley, and Congressman Miller, Mr. Webb, Mr. Bell, scientists, distinguished guests, and ladies and gentlemen:

皮茨校長(zhǎng)，副總統(tǒng),，州長(zhǎng),，眾議員托馬斯，參議員維利,，眾議員米勒,，韋伯先生，比爾先生,，科學(xué)家們,，尊敬的來(lái)賓，女士們先生們：

I appreciate your president having made me an honorary visiting professor, and I will assure you that my first lecture will be very brief.

我十分感激你們的校長(zhǎng)授予我名譽(yù)客座教授的頭銜,，并且我向各位保證我的第一個(gè)演講會(huì)十分簡(jiǎn)潔,。

I am delighted to be here and I'm particularly delighted to be here on this occasion.

我很高興來(lái)到這里，特別是在這個(gè)時(shí)候來(lái)到這里,。

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.

我們?cè)谶@個(gè)以知識(shí)聞名的大學(xué),，在這個(gè)以進(jìn)步聞名的城市，在這個(gè)以實(shí)力聞名的州府相會(huì),。并且我們需要它們?nèi)咳?，因?yàn)槲覀冋幱谝粋€(gè)變化與挑戰(zhàn)的時(shí)刻,，希望與恐懼交織的十年，知識(shí)與愚昧并存的時(shí)代,。

The greater our knowledge increases, the greater our ignorance unfolds.

我們獲取的知識(shí)越多,，我們顯露出的無(wú)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.

盡管顯著的事實(shí)表明：享譽(yù)世界的科學(xué)家們?nèi)栽谄D苦工作,，盡管我國(guó)的科研力量以每12年翻一倍的速度增長(zhǎng),、總體超過(guò)了人口增長(zhǎng)速度的三倍。盡管如此,，宇宙中未知之域,、未解之謎和未竟之事的范圍之廣，仍然遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)超出了我們所有人的理解能力,。

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.

沒(méi)人能夠斷言我們能走多遠(yuǎn),，能走多快。但如果你愿意,，將5萬(wàn)年的人類歷史濃縮為短短的半個(gè)世紀(jì),。

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.

在這個(gè)時(shí)間跨度下，我們對(duì)于開始的40年知之甚少,，除了在最后階段我們學(xué)會(huì)了用獸皮遮體,。

Then about 10 years ago, under this standard, man emerged from his caves to construct other kinds of shelter.

接下來(lái)，在此標(biāo)準(zhǔn)之下,，10年前,，人類走出洞穴，開始建造新的家園,。

Only five years ago man learned to write and use a cart with wheels.

五年前人類才學(xué)會(huì)了寫字和使用有輪子的車輛,。

Christianity began less than two years ago.

基督教產(chǎn)生于不到兩年前。

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.

印刷出版今年才出現(xiàn),。在人類歷史的50年間,，在不到兩個(gè)月前，蒸汽機(jī)為我們提供了新的動(dòng)力,。

Newton explored the meaning of gravity.

牛頓發(fā)現(xiàn)了引力的意義,。

Last month electric lights and telephones and automobiles and airplanes became available.

上個(gè)月，電燈,，電話,，汽車和飛機(jī)成為了現(xiàn)實(shí)。

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.

僅僅上周我們才發(fā)明了盤尼西林（即青霉素,，譯者注）,，電視與核能。如果現(xiàn)在美國(guó)最新的飛船能夠成功抵達(dá)金星,，那么我們才真正算得上在今天午夜抵達(dá)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.

這是激動(dòng)人心的一步,，但邁出的這一步在驅(qū)散舊邪惡的同時(shí)，也會(huì)派生出新邪惡,，新無(wú)知,、新問(wèn)題和新危險(xiǎn)。

Surely the opening vistas of space promise high costs and hardships, as well as high reward.

太空所展現(xiàn)的遠(yuǎn)景固然會(huì)得到巨大的回報(bào),，但同時(shí)也會(huì)伴隨著巨大的困難與高昂的代價(jià),。

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，有時(shí)我們會(huì)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，德克薩斯州與美利堅(jiān)合眾國(guó)不是由那些止步不前,，安于現(xiàn)狀,，甘愿落后的人建立的。

This country was conquered by those who moved forward--and so will space.

這個(gè)國(guó)家是由那些不斷前進(jìn)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儀式上說(shuō),，所有偉大而光榮的行動(dòng)都伴隨著巨大的困難,，而完成這些行動(dòng)必須具備不斷進(jìn)取的精神和與之相當(dāng)?shù)挠職狻?/p>

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.

如果說(shuō)這段簡(jiǎn)短而充滿進(jìn)步的歷史能給我們什么樣的教訓(xùn),，那就是,，人類在探求知識(shí)和進(jìn)步的過(guò)程中是堅(jiān)定不移，并無(wú)可阻擋的,。

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.

無(wú)論我們參加與否,，太空探索終將繼續(xù)。無(wú)論何時(shí)它都是一場(chǎng)偉大的冒險(xiǎn),，沒(méi)有任何一個(gè)期望領(lǐng)先世界的國(guó)家想在這場(chǎng)太空競(jìng)賽中止步,。

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.

我們的先輩使這個(gè)國(guó)家掀起了工業(yè)革命的第一波浪潮，掀起了現(xiàn)代發(fā)明的第一波浪潮,，掀起了核能技術(shù)的第一波浪潮,。而我們這一代絕不會(huì)甘愿在即將到來(lái)的太空時(shí)代的浪潮中倒下。

We mean to be a part of it--we mean to lead it.

我們要加入其中――我們要領(lǐng)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.

為了如今仰望太空,，注視月球和遙看繁星的人們，我們發(fā)誓,，我們決不允許太空被那些敵對(duì)國(guó)家（原文為旗幟,，譯者注）所征服，我們會(huì)看到自由與和平的旗幟在飄揚(yáng),。

We have vowed that we shall not see space filled with weapons of mass destruction, but with instruments of knowledge and understanding.

我們發(fā)誓我們不會(huì)看到太空遍布大規(guī)模殺傷性武器,，而是充滿了獲取知識(shí)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.

這個(gè)承諾只有在我國(guó)領(lǐng)先的情況下才能履行。因此,，我們即將付諸行動(dòng),。

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.

簡(jiǎn)而言之，我們?cè)诳茖W(xué)和工業(yè)上的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)地位,，我們對(duì)于和平與安全的渴望,，我們對(duì)于自身和他人的責(zé)任，它們要求我們做出努力,，為了全人類的利益而努力解開這些謎團(tuán),，成為世界領(lǐng)先的航天國(guó)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.

為了獲取新知識(shí),，贏得新權(quán)利,，我們?cè)谶@全新的領(lǐng)域內(nèi)揚(yáng)帆起航。我們必須獲取并運(yùn)用權(quán)利,。為了全人類的進(jìn)步,，我們踏上新的航程。

For space science, like nuclear science and all technology, has no conscience of its own.

空間科學(xué),，正如核科學(xué)以及其他一切科技,，本身并無(wú)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.

它的善惡完全取決于人類,。并且只有當(dāng)美利堅(jiān)合眾國(guó)獲得一個(gè)卓越的地位之時(shí),，才能幫助決定這片新的領(lǐng)域最終成為和平的海洋還是變成另一個(gè)恐怖的戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)悲劇。

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.

我不認(rèn)為我們應(yīng)該或者必須對(duì)敵人濫用太空比對(duì)敵人濫用陸地和海洋更加無(wú)動(dòng)于衷,。但是我確實(shí)要說(shuō),，太空能夠避免在被戰(zhàn)火吞噬的情況下，在不重蹈戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)覆轍的情況下開發(fā)和利用,。

There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet.

在太空還沒(méi)有競(jìng)爭(zhēng),，偏見和國(guó)家沖突。

Its hazards are hostile to us all.

我們所有人都要面對(duì)太空的危險(xiǎn),。

Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation may never come again.

太空值得全人類盡最大的力量征服,，而且和平合作的機(jī)會(huì)可能永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)重來(lái)。

But why, some say, the moon?

但有人問(wèn),，為什么選擇登月,？

Why choose this as our goal?

為什么選擇登月作為我們的目標(biāo)？

And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain?

那他們也許會(huì)問(wèn)為什么我們要登上最高的山峰,？

Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic?

為什么,，要在35年前，飛越大西洋,？

Why does Rice play Texas?

為什么賴斯大學(xué)要與德克薩斯大學(xué)競(jìng)賽,？

We choose to go to the moon.

我們決定登月,。

We choose to go to the moon.

我們決定登月。

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.

我們決定在這十年間登上月球并實(shí)現(xiàn)更多夢(mèng)想,，并非它們輕而易舉,，而正是因?yàn)樗鼈兝щy重重。因?yàn)檫@個(gè)目標(biāo)將促進(jìn)我們實(shí)現(xiàn)最佳的組織并測(cè)試我們頂尖的技術(shù)和力量,，因?yàn)檫@個(gè)挑戰(zhàn)我們樂(lè)于接受,，因?yàn)檫@個(gè)挑戰(zhàn)我們不愿推遲，因?yàn)檫@個(gè)挑戰(zhàn)我們志在必得,，其他的挑戰(zhàn)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?yàn)檫@些理由，我決定將去年關(guān)于提升航天計(jì)劃的決定作為我在本屆總統(tǒng)任期內(nèi)最重要的決定之一,。

In the last 24 hours we have seen facilities now being created for the greatest and most complex exploration in man's history.

在過(guò)去的24小時(shí)里我們看到一些設(shè)施已經(jīng)為人類歷史上最偉大而復(fù)雜的探險(xiǎn)而建立起來(lái),。

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.

我們感受到了土星C-1火箭試驗(yàn)產(chǎn)生的震動(dòng)和沖擊，它比把約翰·格倫送入太空的擎天神火箭還要強(qiáng)大好幾倍,，可以產(chǎn)生相當(dāng)于1萬(wàn)輛汽車的功率,。

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.

我們看到了5個(gè)F-1火箭引擎，每一個(gè)都相當(dāng)于8個(gè)土星火箭引擎的功率,，它們將會(huì)用于建造更先進(jìn)的土星火箭,，在卡納維拉爾角即將興建的48層大樓中組裝起來(lái)。這幢建筑寬一個(gè)街區(qū),，長(zhǎng)度超過(guò)我們現(xiàn)在所在的這個(gè)體育場(chǎng)的兩倍,。

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.

在過(guò)去的19個(gè)月里至少有45顆衛(wèi)星進(jìn)入地球軌道，其中大約40顆標(biāo)著“美利堅(jiān)合眾國(guó)制造”的標(biāo)記,，它們比蘇聯(lián)的衛(wèi)星更加精密,，能為世界人民提供更多的知識(shí),。

The Mariner spacecraft now on its way to Venus is the most intricate instrument in the history of space science.

正在飛向金星的水手號(hào)飛船是空間科學(xué)史上最復(fù)雜的裝置,。

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.

其精確程度比得上在卡納維拉爾角發(fā)射的一枚導(dǎo)彈直接擊中這個(gè)體育場(chǎng)的40碼線之間。

Transit satellites are helping our ships at sea to steer a safer course.

海事衛(wèi)星將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.

氣象衛(wèi)星可以提前帶給我們颶風(fēng)與風(fēng)暴預(yù)警,，它同樣也可以用于森林火災(zāi)與冰山預(yù)警。

We have had our failures, but so have others, even if they do not admit them.

我們經(jīng)歷過(guò)失敗,，但是別人也經(jīng)歷過(guò),，即便他們不會(huì)承認(rèn)。

And they may be less public.

因此它們可能并不為人所知,。

To be sure, we are behind, and will be behind for some time in manned flight.

顯然,，我們正落后于人，并且在載人航天方面還將繼續(xù)落后一段時(shí)間,。

But we do not intend to stay behind, and in this decade, we shall make up and move ahead.

但是我們絕不會(huì)處于下風(fēng),，在這十年間,，我們將會(huì)迎頭趕上。

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.

我們?cè)诳茖W(xué)和教育獲得的進(jìn)展將豐富我們關(guān)于宇宙與環(huán)境的新知識(shí),，新經(jīng)驗(yàn),，繪圖與觀測(cè)技術(shù)，用于工業(yè),，醫(yī)學(xué)和家庭的新工具和計(jì)算機(jī),，所有的一切都將促進(jìn)科學(xué)和教育的發(fā)展。

Technical institutions, such as Rice, will reap the harvest of these gains.

像賴斯大學(xué)這樣的技術(shù)院校將會(huì)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.

最終,，盡管航天事業(yè)本身仍然處于童年，它已經(jīng)催生了許多公司和數(shù)以千計(jì)的新興工作,。

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.

航天與其他相關(guān)工業(yè)對(duì)投資和特殊技術(shù)人員產(chǎn)生了新的需求,。并且這個(gè)城市，這個(gè)州和這個(gè)地區(qū)將會(huì)極大地受益于這種增長(zhǎng),。

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.

西部的舊邊界將會(huì)成為空間科學(xué)的新邊界,。

Houston, your city of Houston, with its Manned Spacecraft Center, will become the heart of a large scientific and engineering community.

休斯敦，你們的休斯敦市,，以及它的載人航天中心,，將會(huì)成為一個(gè)巨大的科學(xué)與工程共同體的命脈。

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.

接下來(lái)5年,，國(guó)家航空航天局希望這里的科學(xué)家和工程師數(shù)量翻倍,，希望將工資和開支提高到每年6千萬(wàn)美元，希望在工廠和實(shí)驗(yàn)設(shè)施上得到2億美元的投資,，希望指導(dǎo)或與這個(gè)城市的航天中心簽訂超過(guò)10億美元的合同,。

To be sure, all this costs us all a good deal of money.

顯而易見，這些會(huì)花掉我們一大筆錢,。

This year's space budget is three times what it was in January 1961, and it is greater than the space budget of the previous eight years combined.

今年的航天預(yù)算是1961年元月的三倍,，比過(guò)去八年的總和還要多。

That budget now stands at $5,400 million a year--a staggering sum, though somewhat less than we pay for cigarettes and cigars every year.

預(yù)算現(xiàn)在保持在每年54億美元――一個(gè)令人震驚的數(shù)目,，盡管還稍小于我們?cè)谙銦熀脱┣焉纤牡哪晗M(fèi)額,。

Space expenditures will soon rise some more, from 40 cents per person per week to more than 50 cents a week for every man, woman and child in the United States, for we have given this program a high national priority--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.

航天支出很快就會(huì)從全國(guó)人均每周40美分上升到每周50美分，因?yàn)槲覀冑x予了這個(gè)計(jì)劃極高的國(guó)家優(yōu)先權(quán)――即使我認(rèn)識(shí)到,，目前這個(gè)目標(biāo)從某種程度上來(lái)說(shuō)還停留在信念與夢(mèng)想中,，因?yàn)槲覀儫o(wú)從知曉人們將會(huì)從中獲得怎樣的收益。

But if I were to say, my fellow citizens, that we shall send to the moon, 240,000 miles away from the control station in Houston, a giant rocket more than 300 feet tall, the length of this football field, made of new metal alloys, 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 propulsion, guidance, control, communications, food and survival, on an untried mission, to an unknown celestial 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.

但是我想說(shuō),，我的同胞們,。讓我們向那個(gè)距離休斯敦控制中心遠(yuǎn)隔24萬(wàn)英里的月球發(fā)射一枚超過(guò) 300 英尺高，與這個(gè)橄欖球場(chǎng)長(zhǎng)度相當(dāng)?shù)幕鸺＿@枚火箭采用了新型合金材料,，其耐熱性與抗壓性比現(xiàn)在使用的材料強(qiáng)好幾倍,，只是個(gè)別部分還是未知數(shù)。其裝配的精密程度堪比最精確的手表,。它運(yùn)載著用于推進(jìn),，導(dǎo)航，控制,，通訊,，食品和維生的各種設(shè)備，肩負(fù)著前所未有的使命,，登上那個(gè)未知的天體,，之后安全返回地球。以超過(guò)2萬(wàn)5千英里的時(shí)速重返大氣層,，由此產(chǎn)生的高溫大約是太陽(yáng)溫度的一半,，像此時(shí)此地一樣熱――如果我們要在這10年間，正確地實(shí)現(xiàn)這些目標(biāo)――那我們必須敢做敢為,。

I'm the one who is doing all the work, so we just want you to stay cool for a minute.

我一個(gè)人做了所有這些工作,，所以我們想讓你們冷靜一會(huì)。

However, I think we're going to do it, and I think that we must pay what needs to be paid.

然而,，我認(rèn)為我們正在付諸實(shí)踐,，我們必須為所必為。

I don't think we ought to waste any money, but I think we ought to do the job.

我并不覺(jué)得我們應(yīng)該浪費(fèi)錢,，但我認(rèn)為我們應(yīng)該付諸實(shí)踐,。

And this will be done in the decade of the Sixties.

這些應(yīng)該在60年代實(shí)現(xiàn)。

It may be done while some of you are still here at school at this college and university.

它有可能在你們還在中學(xué),，這所學(xué)院或大學(xué)時(shí)實(shí)現(xiàn),。

It will be done during the terms of office of some of the people who sit here on this platform.

它將會(huì)在臺(tái)上諸位的任期之內(nèi)實(shí)現(xiàn)。

But it will be done. And it will be done before the end of this decade.

它必將完成,，并且應(yīng)當(dāng)在這十年結(jié)束之前完成,。

And I am delighted that this university is playing a part in putting a man on the moon as part of a great national effort of the United States of America.

我很高興這所大學(xué)能夠作為載人登月工程的一部分，能夠作為美利堅(jiān)合眾國(guó)國(guó)家事業(yè)的一部分,。

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."

很多年前,，偉大的英國(guó)探險(xiǎn)家喬治·馬拉里在攀登珠穆朗瑪峰時(shí)遇難。曾經(jīng)有人問(wèn)他為什么要攀登珠峰,，他回答說(shuō)，“因?yàn)樗驮谀莾??！?/p>

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.

好的，太空就在那兒，而我們將投入探索,。月球和其他星球就在那兒,，獲得知識(shí)與和平的新希望就在那兒。

And, therefore, as we set sail we ask God's blessing on the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked.

因此,，在我們啟程之時(shí),，我們祈求上帝能夠保佑這個(gè)人類有史以來(lái)所從事的最具風(fēng)險(xiǎn)，危險(xiǎn)與最偉大的歷險(xiǎn),。

Thank you.

謝謝你們,。

英文原版

President Pitzer, Mr. Vice President, Governor, Congressman Thomas, Senator Wiley, and Congressman Miller, Mr. Webb, Mr. Bell, scientists, distinguished guests, and ladies and gentlemen:

I appreciate your president having made me an honorary visiting professor, and I will assure you that my first lecture will be very brief.

I am delighted to be here and I'm particularly delighted to be here on this occasion.

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. 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 outstrip our collective comprehension.

No man can fully grasp how far and how fast we have come, but condense, if you will, the 50 thousand years of man's recorded history in a time span of but a half-century. 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. Then about 10 years ago, under this standard, man emerged from his caves to construct other kinds of shelter. Only five years ago man learned to write and use a cart with wheels. Christianity began less than two years ago. 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. Newton explored the meaning of gravity. Last month electric lights and telephones and automobiles and airplanes became available. 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 have literally reached the stars before midnight tonight.

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 difficulties, and both must be enterprised and overcome with answerable courage.

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. 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.

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. 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. 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.

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. For space science, like nuclear science and all technology, has no conscience of its own. Whether it will become a force for good or ill depends on man, and only if the United States occupies a position of pre-eminence can we help decide whether this new ocean will be a sea of peace or a new terrifying theater of war. 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.

There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation may never come again.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.

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.

In the last 24 hours we have seen facilities now being created for the greatest and most complex exploration in man's history. 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 thousand automobiles with their accelerators on the floor. 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 story structure, as wide as a city block, and as long as two lengths of this field.

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.

The Mariner spacecraft... (interrupted by applause) the Mariner spacecraft now on its way to Venus is the most intricate instrument in the history of space science. 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.

Transit satellites are helping our ships at sea to steer a safer course. Tiros satellites have given us unprecedented warnings of hurricanes and storms, and will do the same for forest fires and icebergs.

We have had our failures, but so have others, even if they do not admit them. And they may be less public.

To be sure,... (interrupted by applause) to be sure, we are behind, and will be behind for some time in manned flight. But we do not intend to stay behind, and in this decade, we shall make up and move ahead.

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. Technical institutions, such as Rice, will reap the harvest of these gains.

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. 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. 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. Houston, (interrupted by applause) your city of Houston, with its Manned Spacecraft Center, will become the heart of a large scientific and engineering community. 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 dollars a year; to invest some 200 million dollars in plant and laboratory facilities; and to direct or contract for new space efforts over 1 billion dollars from this center in this city.

To be sure, all this costs us all a good deal of money. This year's space budget is three times what it was in January 1961, and it is greater than the space budget of the previous eight years combined. That budget now stands at 5 billion 400 million dollars a year—a staggering sum, though somewhat less than we pay for cigarettes and cigars every year. Space expenditures will soon rise some more, from 40 cents per person per week to more than 50 cents a week for every man, woman and child in the United States, for we have given this program a high national priority—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 thousand miles away from the control station in Houston, a giant rocket more than 300 feet tall, the length of this football field, made of new metal alloys, 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 propulsion, guidance, control, communications, food and survival, on an untried mission, to an unknown celestial body, and then return it safely to earth, re-entering the atmosphere at speeds of over 25 thousand 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.

I'm the one who is doing all the work, so we just want you to stay cool for a minute.

However, I think we're going to do it, and I think that we must pay what needs to be paid. I don't think we ought to waste any money, but I think we ought to do the job. And this will be done in the decade of the Sixties. It may be done while some of you are still here at school at this college and university. It will be done during the terms of office of some of the people who sit here on this platform. But it will be done. And it will be done before the end of this decade.

And I am delighted that this university is playing a part in putting a man on the moon as part of a great national effort of the United States of America.

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 hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked.

Thank you.

背景介紹

1961年1月，約翰·肯尼迪當(dāng)選美國(guó)總統(tǒng),，當(dāng)時(shí)由于蘇聯(lián)在將近4年前就成功發(fā)射了第一顆人造衛(wèi)星斯普特尼克1號(hào)等原因,，許多美國(guó)人認(rèn)為在與蘇聯(lián)的太空競(jìng)賽中美國(guó)正在失利。1961年4月12日,，俄羅斯宇航員尤利·加加林趕在美國(guó)水星計(jì)劃成功之前成為太空第一人使得這種觀念越發(fā)強(qiáng)烈,。

因此，美國(guó)急需一種能展現(xiàn)空間技術(shù)實(shí)力的尖端成就,。為此肯尼迪任命副總統(tǒng)Lyndon B.Johnson擔(dān)任國(guó)家航空航天委員會(huì)主席,，以選擇他們的目標(biāo)。他特別要求調(diào)查在“建造空間實(shí)驗(yàn)室”“載人繞月飛行”和“載人登月”這些計(jì)劃中擊敗蘇聯(lián)的可能性,，及它們的成本,。約翰遜咨詢了美國(guó)國(guó)家航空航天局（NASA）的官員。NASA局長(zhǎng)詹姆斯·韋伯給出的回答是：美國(guó)沒(méi)有機(jī)會(huì)趕在蘇聯(lián)之前建造空間站,，是否能率先進(jìn)行載人繞月飛行則很難說(shuō),，因此載人登月是最好的選擇，這也是最昂貴的選擇,。同時(shí)韋伯認(rèn)為在1970年前實(shí)現(xiàn)這一目標(biāo)需要耗費(fèi)220億美元,。約翰遜還咨詢了馮·布勞恩和行業(yè)三個(gè)巨頭：CBS的弗蘭克·斯坦頓，美國(guó)電力公司的唐納德·C·庫(kù)克和KBR的喬治·R·布朗的意見,。

1961年5月25日,，肯尼迪總統(tǒng)發(fā)表《關(guān)于國(guó)家緊急需求向國(guó)會(huì)的報(bào)告》提議“我相信現(xiàn)在到了這個(gè)國(guó)家兌現(xiàn)承諾的時(shí)刻，去完成這個(gè)目標(biāo)：在這10年結(jié)束前,，將人類送上月球,，并安全返回地球?！倍藭r(shí)有58%的美國(guó)人反對(duì)這一計(jì)劃,。

1962年肯尼迪發(fā)表該講話，旨在鼓勵(lì)美國(guó)人民支持阿波羅計(jì)劃,。