Living History
亲历历史
By Hillary Clinton
译/叶子南
[1] In 1959, I wrote my autobiography for an assignment in sixth grade. In twenty-nine pages, most half-filled with earnest scrawl, I described my parents, brothers, pets, house, hobbies, school, sports, and plans for the future. Forty-two years later, I began writing another memoir, this one about the eight years I spent in the White House living history with Bill Clinton. I quickly realized that I couldn’t explain my life as First Lady without going back to the beginning—how I became the woman I was that first day I walked into the White House on January 20, 1993, to take on a new role and experiences that would test and transform me in unexpected ways.
〔1〕一九五九年我写过一个自传，那是六年级的一次作业。二十九页的自传中几乎每页上字数都不多，潦潦草草却又十分认真地写了我的父母、兄弟、宠物、房子、爱好、学校、体育活动和未来的计划。四十二年后，我又开始写自传，不过这次是记述我和比尔·克林顿在白宫亲身经历的八年历史。我马上意识到，要我把作第一夫人时的生活讲述给读者就不能不追溯到初始，不能不讲述我到底是如何成长为一九九三年一月二十日步人白宫时的那个女人的，那个即将承担新角色，经历新挑战的女人。新的生活将以令我意想不到的方式考验我，改变我。
[2] By the time I crossed the threshold of the White House, I had been shaped by my family upbringing, education, religious faith and all that I had learned before—as the daughter of a staunch conservative father and a more liberal mother, a student activist, an advocate for children, a lawyer, Bill’s wife, and Chelsea’s mom.
〔2〕我跨入白宫的门栏时，已经被我的家庭教养、学校教育、宗教信仰所塑造。此外，无论是十分保守的父亲，还是较为开明的母亲，或是我学生活动分子的经历，促进儿童权益的活动，无论是律师的职业，还是为妻为母的身份，都影响过我。
[3] For each chapter, there were more ideas I wanted to discuss than space allowed; more people to include than could be named; more places visited than could be described. If I mentioned everybody who has impressed, inspired, taught, influenced and helped me along the way, this book would be several volumes long. Although I’ve had to be selective, I hope that I’ve conveyed the push and pull of events and relationships that affected me and continue to shape and enrich my world today.
〔3〕在每一章里，都有些想法限于篇幅无法讨论，有些人物未能提及，一些访问过的地方没能描述。如果我要将这一路走来时，每一个令我羡慕，激励过我，教育过我，影响过我，帮助过我的人一一述及，那么这部书就得有数卷之长。因此，我不得不有所取舍。不过我希望我已经描述了那些影响过我，并仍在塑造我的世界，丰富我的人生的事件与人物。
[4] Since leaving the White House I have embarked on a new phase of my life as a U.S. Senator from New York, a humbling and daunting responsibility. A complete account of my move toNew York, campaign for the Senate and the honor of working for the people who elected me will have to be told another time, but I hope this memoir illustrates how my success as a candidate for the senate arose out of my White House experiences.
〔4〕自从离开白宫以来，我代表纽约州出任参议员，开始了人生的新阶段。这是一项既令人感到自己渺小，又叫人觉得责任艰巨的工作。有关我移居纽约、竟选议员、有幸为选民服务的经历只能在另一本书中详述。但我希望读者能从本回忆录中看到我在白宫的经历是如何帮助我成功当选参议员的。
[5] During my years as First Lady, I became a better student of how government can serve people, how Congress really works, how people perceive politics and policy through the filter of the media and how American values can be translated into economic and social progress. I learned the importance ofAmerica’s engagement with the rest of the world, and I developed relationships with foreign leaders and an understanding of foreign cultures that come in handy today. I also learned how to keep focused while living in the eye of many storms.
〔5〕在当第一夫人那段时间里，我更好地学习到政府如何为人民服务，国会实际如何运作， 人们如何透过传媒的过滤器理解政治和政策，美国的价值观如何转换成经济和社会的进步。我了解到美国与世界其他地区发展关系的重要性，并与外国领导人建立了关系，了解了外国的文化，这使我至今都受益。我还学会了如何在一次次的狂风暴雨中，头脑清醒、认定目标。
[6] I was raised to love my God and my country, to help others, to protect and defend the democratic ideals that have inspired and guided free people for more than 200 years. These ideals were nurtured in me as far back as I can remember. Back in 1959, I wanted to become a teacher or a nuclear physicist. Teachers were necessary to “train young citizens” and without them you wouldn’t have “much of a country.”Americaneeded scientists because the “Russians have about five scientists to our one.” Even then, I was fully a product of my country and its times, absorbing my family’s lessons andAmerica’s needs as I considered my own future. My childhood in the 1950s and the politics of the 1960s awakened my sense of obligation to my country and commitment to service. College, law school and then marriage took me into the political epicenter of theUnited States.
〔6〕我从小受的教育告诉我要热爱上帝、热爱国家、帮助他人、保卫民主的理想，正是这些理想200多年来激励引导着自由的人们。这些理想在我刚刚有记忆时就开始在我的心中得以哺育萌发。早在1959年，我想当一位教师或者成为一名核物理学家。老师对于“培训年轻公民”十分必要，没有老师，一个国家也就“国将不国”了。美国需要科学家，因为“苏联每有五个科学家， 我们只有一个。”即便是在当时，我已经完全是国家和时代的产物，在设计个人的未来时，考虑到家庭的教导，国家的需要。50年代的童年生活和60年代的政治环境唤醒了我对国家的责任感和为民服务的义务。大学、法学院和随后的婚姻又把我带人了美国政治的中心。
[7] A political life, I’ve often said, is a continuing education in human nature, including one’s own. My involvement on the ground floor of two presidential campaigns and my duties as First Lady took me to every state in our union and to seventy-eight nations. In each place, I met someone or saw something that caused me to open my mind and my heart and deepen my understanding of the universal concerns that most of humanity shares.
〔7〕我常说，投人政治生活实际是不断地接受有关人性的教育，包括自己的人性。我两次参与总统竞选的具体活动以及第一夫人的职责让我有机会走访我们共和国的每一个州和七十八个国家。每到一处，我总是会因为遇到了一些人，看到了一些事，而变得更能接受新思想，更富有同情心，于是我对大多数人类共享的普世关切便有了更深切的理解。
[8] I always knew that America matters to the rest of the world; my travels taught me how the rest of the world matters to America. Listening to what people in other countries are saying and trying to understand how they perceive their place in the world is essential to a future of peace and security at home and abroad. With this in mind, I have included voices we don’t hear often enough –voices of people in every corner of the globe who want the same things we do: freedom from hunger, disease and fear, freedom to have a say in their own destinies, no matter their DNA or station in life. I have devoted considerable space in these pages to my foreign travels because I believe that the people and places are important and what I learned from them is part of who I am today.
〔8〕我一向知道美国对于世界的其他地区至关重要，而外出旅行使我了解到世界其他地区对美国也十分重要。聆听其他国家人民的述说，试图了解他们如何看待他们在世界中的地位，这些对于未来国内外的和平与安全至关重要。考虑到这一点，我在书中包括了不经常听到的声音，那些居住在全球各个角落，与我们有同样企盼的人民的声音：他们希望摆脱饥饿、疾病、恐惧的困扰，希望对自己的命运能有发言权，这些愿望不因他们的染色体不同而别，也不因他们的社会地位不同而异。我在书中用了很大篇幅，讲述我在国外的旅行，因为我相信，了解不同的人和不同的地方是重要的，而我从这些旅行中所学到的已经成为今日我的一部分。