For years, black Americans saw Thomas Jefferson's pledge in the Declaration of Independence mocked by legal impediment and lingering prejudice. As the new president has often pointed out, his election does not build the colour-blind society dreamed of by Martin Luther King; still less does it perfect the union that the founders of the United States envisaged. Nonetheless it is a huge and historic advance. It stands as a challenge to other nations to live by the principles they espouse. The world, as much as the US, is not just impressed by this inauguration, it is moved – and it is right to be
巴拉克?奧巴馬(Barack Obama)——一位非裔黑人父親和一位美國(guó)白人母親的兒子，成為美國(guó)第44任總統(tǒng)。對(duì)美國(guó)和全世界而言，他的就職是一個(gè)振奮人心的時(shí)刻。其中部分原因在于，他是一位非常出色的人，具備一名偉大總統(tǒng)所需要的素質(zhì)。更重要的是，因?yàn)檫@個(gè)地球上最強(qiáng)大國(guó)家的新任領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人證明了一條美國(guó)特有的重要準(zhǔn)則：人人生而平等。