In the face of these challenges new systems of training and social security will have to be devised, and new environmental policies and technologies will have to be introduced with the goal of growing your economy while improving the environment. Everything I know about the intelligence, the ingenuity, the enterprise of the Chinese people and everything I have heard these last few days in my discussions with President Jiang, Prime Minister Zhu and others give me confidence that you will succeed. As you build a new China, America wants to build a new relationship with you. We want China to be successful, secure and open, working with us for a more peaceful and prosperous world. I know there are those in China and the United States who question whether closer relations between our countries is a good thing. But everything all of us know about the way the world is changing and the challenges your generation will face tell us that our two nations will be far better off working together than apart. The late Deng Xiaoping counseled us to seek truth from facts. At the dawn of the new century, the facts are clear. The distance between our two nations, indeed, between any nations, is shrinking. Where once an American clipper ship took months to cross from China to the United States. Today, technology has made us all virtual neighbors. From laptops to lasers, from microchips to megabytes, an information revolution is lighting the landscape of human knowledge, bringing us all closer together. Ideas, information, and money cross the planet at the stroke of a computer key, bringing with them extraordinary opportunities to create wealth, to prevent and conquer disease, to foster greater understanding among peoples of different histories and different cultures. But we also know that this greater openness and faster change mean that problems which start beyond one nations borders can quickly move inside them -- the spread of weapons of mass destruction, the threats of organized crime and drug trafficking, of environmental degradation, and severe economic dislocation. No nation can isolate itself from these problems, and no nation can solve them alone. We, especially the younger generations of China and the United States, must make common cause of our common challenges, so that we can, together, shape a new century of brilliant possibilities. In the 21st century -- your century -- China and the United States will face the challenge of security in Asia. On the Korean Peninsula, where once we were adversaries, today we are working together for a permanent peace and a future freer of nuclear weapons.
On the Indian subcontinent, just as most of the rest of the world is moving away from nuclear danger, India and Pakistan risk sparking a new arms race. We are now pursuing a common strategy to move India and Pakistan away from further testing and toward a dialogue to resolve their differences. In the 21st century, your generation must face the challenge of stopping the spread of deadlier nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. In the wrong hands or the wrong places, these weapons can threaten the peace of nations large and small. Increasingly, China and the United States agree on the importance of stopping proliferation. That is why we are beginning to act in concert to control the worlds most dangerous weapons. In the 21st century, your generation will have to reverse the international tide of crime and drugs. Around the world, organized crime robs people of billions of dollars every year and undermines trust in government. America knows all about the devastation and despair that drugs can bring to schools and neighborhoods. With borders on more than a dozen countries, China has become a crossroad for smugglers of all kinds. Last year, President Jiang and I asked senior Chinese and American law enforcement officials to step up our cooperation against these predators, to stop money from being laundered, to stop aliens from being cruelly smuggled, to stop currencies from being undermined by counterfeiting. Just this month, our drug enforcement agency opened an office in Beijing, and soon Chinese counternarcotics experts will be working out of Washington. In the 21st century, your generation must make it your mission to ensure that today\'s progress does not come at tomorrow\'s expense. China\'s remarkable growth in the last two decades has come with a toxic cost, pollutants that foul the water you drink and the air you breathe -- the cost is not only environmental, it is also serious in terms of the health consequences of your people and in terms of the drag on economic growth. Environmental problems are also increasingly global as well as national. For example, in the near future, if present energy use patterns persist, China will overtake the United States as the world\'s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, the gases which are the principal cause of global warming. If the nations of the world do not reduce the gases which are causing global warming, sometime in the next century there is a serious risk of dramatic changes in climate which will change the way we live and the way we work, which could literally bury some island nations under mountains of water and undermine the economic and social fabric of nations.
We must work together. We Americans know from our own experience that it is possible to grow an economy while improving the environment. We must do that together for ourselves and for the world. Building on the work that our Vice President, Al Gore, has done previously with the Chinese government, President Jiang and I are working together on ways to bring American clean energy technology to help improve air quality and grow the Chinese economy at the same time. But I will say this again -- this is not on my remarks -- your generation must do more about this. This is a huge challenge for you, for the American people and for the future of the world. And it must be addressed at the university level, because political leaders will never be willing to adopt environmental measures if they believe it will lead to large-scale unemployment or more poverty. The evidence is clear that does not have to happen. You will actually have more rapid economic growth and better paying jobs, leading to higher levels of education and technology if we do this in the proper way. But you and the university, communities in China, the United States and throughout the world will have to lead the way. (Applause.) In the 21st century your generation must also lead the challenge of an international financial system that has no respect for national borders. When stock markets fall in Hong Kong or Jakarta, the effects are no longer local; they are global. The vibrant growth of your own economy is tied closely, therefore, to the restoration of stability and growth in the Asia Pacific region. China has steadfastly shouldered its responsibilities to the region and the world in this latest financial crisis -- helping to prevent another cycle of dangerous devaluations. We must continue to work together to counter this threat to the global financial system and to the growth and prosperity which should be embracing all of this region. In the 21st century, your generation will have a remarkable opportunity to bring together the talents of our scientists, doctors, engineers into a shared quest for progress. Already the breakthroughs we have achieved in our areas of joint cooperation -- in challenges from dealing with spina bifida to dealing with extreme weather conditions and earthquakes -- have proved what we can do together to change the lives of millions of people in China and the United States and around the world. Expanding our cooperation in science and technology can be one of our greatest gifts to the future.
In each of these vital areas that I have mentioned, we can clearly accomplish so much more by walking together rather than standing apart. That is why we should work to see that the productive relationship we now enjoy blossoms into a fuller partnership in the new century. If that is to happen, it is very important that we understand each other better, that we understand both our common interest and our shared aspirations and our honest differences. I believe the kind of open, direct exchange that President Jiang and I had on Saturday at our press conference -- which I know many of you watched on television -- can both clarify and narrow our differences, and, more important, by allowing people to understand and debate and discuss these things can give a greater sense of confidence to our people that we can make a better future. From the windows of the White House, where I live in Washington, D.C., the monument to our first President, George Washington, dominates the skyline. It is a very tall obelisk. But very near this large monument there is a small stone which contains these words: The United States neither established titles of nobility and royalty, nor created a hereditary system. State affairs are put to the vote of public opinion. This created a new political situation, unprecedented from ancient times to the present. How wonderful it is. Those words were not written by an American. They were written by Xu Jiyu, governor of Fujian Province, inscribed as a gift from the government of China to our nation in 1853. I am very grateful for that gift from China. It goes to the heart of who we are as a people -- the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, the freedom to debate, to dissent, to associate, to worship without interference from the state. These are the ideals that were at the core of our founding over 220 years ago. These are the ideas that led us across our continent and onto the world stage. These are the ideals that Americans cherish today. As I said in my press conference with President Jiang, we have an ongoing quest ourselves to live up to those ideals. The people who framed our Constitution understood that we would never achieve perfection. They said that the mission of America would always be "to form a more perfect union" -- in other words, that we would never be perfect, but we had to keep trying to do better. The darkest moments in our history have come when we abandoned the effort to do better, when we denied freedom to our people because of their race or their religion, because there were new immigrants or because they held unpopular opinions. The best moments in our history have come when we protected the freedom of people who held unpopular opinion, or extended rights enjoyed by the many to the few who had previously been denied them, making, therefore, the promises of our Declaration of Independence and Constitution more than faded words on old parchment. Today we do not seek to impose our vision on others, but we are convinced that certain rights are universal -- not American rights or European rights or rights for developed nations, but the birthrights of people everywhere, now enshrined in the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights -- the right to be treated with dignity; the right to express one\'s opinions, to choose one\'s own leaders, to associate freely with others, and to worship, or not, freely, however one chooses. In the last letter of his life, the author of our Declaration of Independence and our third President, Thomas Jefferson, said then that "all eyes are opening to the rights of man." I believe that in this time, at long last, 172 years after Jefferson wrote those words, all eyes are opening to the rights of men and women everywhere. Over the past two decades, a rising tide of freedom has lifted the lives of millions around the world, sweeping away failed dictatorial systems in the Former Soviet Union, throughout Central Europe; ending a vicious cycle of military coups and civil wars in Latin America; giving more people in Africa the chance to make the most of their hard-won independence. And from the Philippines to South Korea, from Thailand to Mongolia, freedom has reached Asia\'s shores, powering a surge of growth and productivity. Economic security also can be an essential element of freedom. It is recognized in the United Nations Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. In China, you have made extraordinary strides in nurturing that liberty, and spreading freedom from want, to be a source of strength to your people. Incomes are up, poverty is down; people do have more choices of jobs, and the ability to travel -- the ability to make a better life. But true freedom includes more than economic freedom. In America, we believe it is a concept which is indivisible. Over the past four days, I have seen freedom in many manifestations in China. I have seen the fresh shoots of democracy growing in the villages of your heartland. I have visited a village that chose its own leaders in free elections. I have also seen the cell phones, the video players, the fax machines carrying ideas, information and images from all over the world. I\'ve heard people speak their minds and I have joined people in prayer in the faith of my own choosing. In all these ways I felt a steady breeze of freedom. The question is, where do we go from here? How do we work together to be on the right side of history together? More than 50 years ago, Hu Shi, one of your great political thinkers and a teacher at this university, said these words: "Now some people say to me you must sacrifice your individual freedom so that the nation may be free. But I reply, the struggle for individual freedom is the struggle for the nation\'s freedom. The struggle for your own character is the struggle for the nation\'s character." We Americans believe Hu Shi was right. We believe and our experience demonstrates that freedom strengthens stability and helps nations to change. One of our founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin, once said, "Our critics are our friends, for they show us our faults." Now, if that is true, there are many days in the United States when the President has more friends than anyone else in America. (Laughter.) But it is so. In the world we live in, this global information age, constant improvement and change is necessary to economic opportunity and to national strength. Therefore, the freest possible flow of information, ideas, and opinions, and a greater respect for divergent political and religious convictions will actually breed strength and stability going forward. It is, therefore, profoundly in your interest, and the world\'s, that young Chinese minds be free to reach the fullness of their potential. That is the message of our time and the mandate of the new century and the new millennium. I hope China will more fully embrace this mandate. For all the grandeur of your history, I believe your greatest days are still ahead. Against great odds in the 20th century China has not only survived, it is moving forward dramatically. Other ancient cultures failed because they failed to change. China has constantly proven the capacity to change and grow. Now, you must re-imagine China again for a new century, and your generation must be at the heart of China\'s regeneration.The new century is upon us. All our sights are turned toward the future. Now your country has known more millennia than the United States has known centuries. Today, however, China is as young as any nation on Earth. This new century can be the dawn of a new China, proud of your ancient greatness, proud of what you are doing, prouder still of the tomorrows to come. It can be a time when the world again looks to China for the vigor of its culture, the freshness of its thinking, the elevation of human dignity that is apparent in its works. It can be a time when the oldest of nations helps to make a new world.The United States wants to work with you to make that time a reality.Thank you very much. (Applause.)
美国总统克林顿在北京大学演讲全文
克林顿总统：谢谢。陈校长、任书记、迟副校长、韦副部长，谢谢你们。今 天，我很高兴率领一个庞大的美国代表团来到这里，代表团中包括第一夫人和我们的女儿，她是斯坦福大学的学生，该校是和北大具有交流关系的学校之一。此外，我们的代表团中还包括六位美国国会议员、国务卿、商务部长、农业部长、经济顾问理事会理事长、我国驻华大使参议员尚慕杰、国家安全顾问和我的办公厅主任 等。我提到这些人是为了说明美国极为重视对华关系。在北大百年校庆之际，我首先要向你们全体师生员工、管理人员祝贺。恭喜了，北大！（掌声。）各位知道，这个校园曾经一度是由美国传教士建立的燕京大学。学校许多美丽的建筑物由美国建筑师设计。成千上万的美国学生和教授来到北大求学和教课。我们对你们有一种特殊的亲近感。我很庆幸，今天和 79 年前的一个重要的日子大不相同。1919 年 6 月 ，就在这里， 燕京大学首任校长司徒雷登（John Leighton Stuart）准备发表第 一个毕业典礼致辞。他准时出场，但学生一个未到。学生们为了振兴中国的政治文化，全部走上街头领导“五四”运动去了。我读到这个故事后，希望今天当我走进这个礼堂时，会有人坐在这里。非常感谢大家前来听我演讲。(掌声。)
一百年以来，北大已经发展到两万多学生。贵校的毕业生遍及中国和全世界。贵校建成了亚洲最大的大学图书馆。去年贵校有20%的毕业生去国外深造，其中包括一半的数理专业学生。在这个百年校庆之年，中国、亚洲和全世界有100多万人 上机访问贵校的网址。在新世纪黎明之际，北大正在率领中国奔向未来。
你们是中国下一代的领导者。我今天要跟你们讲的是，建立中美两国牢固的伙伴关系，对于你们的未来至关重要。
在几千年的历史长河中，中国为人类文化、宗教、哲学、艺术和科技作出了贡献，美国人民深深钦佩你们。我们铭记着第二次世界大战期间两国的牢固伙伴关 系。现在我们看到，中国处于历史性时刻：能和你们光辉灿烂的过去相提并论的，只有贵国目前气势磅礴的改革和更加美好的未来。
仅仅在30年前，中国还与世界隔绝。现在，中国参加了从航空旅行到农业开发等领域的1000多个国际组织。贵国为大规模贸易和投资敞开了大门。今天有40,000多年轻的中国学生在美国留学，还有数十万中国学生在亚洲、非洲、欧洲和拉美国家留学。
贵国在社会和经济领域的变革更为显著，从一个封闭的指令性经济体制向一个日显生机、日趋注重市场性的经济转变，产生了连续20年史无前例的增长，赋予人民更大的自由，到国内外旅游、进行村委会选举、拥有住房、选择职业以及上更好学校。因此，贵国帮助成千上百万的人们摆脱了贫困。在过去的10年中人均收入翻了一番以上。大多数中国人民过上了20年前还难以想象的美好生活。
当然，这些变化也打乱了固有的生活和工作格局，给贵国的环境造成了巨大压力。以前，每个城市居民到国有企业就业都有保障。现在，你们必须到就业市场上去竞争。以前，每个中国工人只要满足北京中央计划人员的要求，现在，全球性经济意味着人人必须跟上世界其他地区的质量和创造力。对于缺乏适当训练、技能和支持的人们来说，这个新世界的确令人生畏。
在短期内，一些诚实勤快的人会失业。正如你们所见，过去20年的开发模式和能源使用模式，造成了空气污染、滥伐森林、酸雨和缺水，在环境、经济和医疗保健方面带来了巨大代价。
面对这些挑战，必须制定出培训和社会保障的新体系，推出保护环境的新政策和新技术，以便在促进经济增长的同时改进环境。我对中国人民智慧、独创性和开发精神的所见所闻，过去几天我和江主席和朱总理及其他人会谈中的所见所闻，给了我信心，相信你们定能成功。
在你们建设新中国的同时，美国希望同你们建立新关系。我们要看到一个成就非凡、安全开放的中国，和我们携手为一个和平繁荣的世界而努力。我知道，无论在中国还是在美国，都有人怀疑两国之间的紧密关系是否是好事。但是，世界在变化，我们面临着种种挑战，我们了解的这一切告诉我们，我们两国携手合作比分道扬镳要有利得多。
已故的邓小平告诫我们要实事求是。新世纪来临之际，事实显而易见。我们两国间的距离在缩短，实际上是所有国家间的距离在缩短。以前，美国的快速帆船开到中国要花几个月。今天，高科技使我们天涯若比邻。从笔记本电脑到激光技术、从微芯片到兆字节储存器，信息革命正在照亮人类知识领域，将我们更紧密地联结起来。人们只要敲一下电脑的键盘，观念、信息和资金就能跨越全球，为人们创造财富、预防和征服疾病、加深具有不同历史和文化背景人民之间的了解，带来了极大的机会。
但我们也知道，更大的开放和更快的变革也意味着，别国产生的问题会很快蔓延到本国境内，如大规模毁灭性武器的扩散、有组织的犯罪和贩卖毒品的威胁、环境的恶化和严重的经济混乱等问题。没有哪个国家能避免这些问题，没有那个国家能独自解决这些问题。我们，特别是中美两国的年轻一代必须以迎接这些共同的挑战为共同的事业，共创一个光辉灿烂的新世纪。
二十一世纪是你们的世纪。中美两国将面临亚洲安全的挑战。我们两国曾在朝鲜半岛为敌，现在我们携手合作，为一个永久和平和无核武器的未来而努力。
世界各国正在摆脱核威胁，而在印度次大陆，印度和巴基斯坦却甘冒挑起新一轮军备竞赛的风险。我们正在谋求一个共同的策略，以使印巴两国停止进一步的核试验，并为解决分歧进行对话。
在二十一世纪，你们年轻一代必须承担制止更加致命的核武器、化学武器和生物武器扩散的重任。如果这种武器落入坏人之手或流入不适当的场所，无论大小国家，其安全都会受到威胁。中美两国日益认识到制止这类武器扩散的重要性，因此我们已开始齐心协力，控制世界上最危险的武器。
在二十一世纪，你们年轻一代一定要扭转犯罪和毒品的国际逆流。全世界有组织的犯罪分子每年从人民手中抢走的财产达数十亿美元，破坏了人们对政府的信 任。美国人民深知毒品给学校师生和社区居民造成的破坏和绝望。中国的边境和十几个国家相邻，已成了各种走私分子的通道。
去年，我和江主席请求中美双方的高级执法官员加强合作，打击这些犯罪分 子，防止洗钱，防止在残酷条件下偷运外国人，防止伪币破坏货币的信用。就在本月，我们的缉毒署在北京开设了办事处。不久，中国的缉毒专家也将在华盛顿开展工作。
在二十一世纪，你们年轻一代的使命是必须保证今天的进步发展不以明天为代价。中国过去20年来的快速增长以遭受毒害为代价，即贵国人民的饮用水和呼吸的空气都已遭受污染。这种代价不仅仅体现在环境方面，对人民的健康也造成了严重的危害，而且还会阻碍经济的发展。
环境问题正在变得日趋全球化和全国化。例如，在不久的将来，如果目前的能源使用模式不改变，中国将超过美国成为世界最大的温室气体的排放国。温室气体是全球性升温的主要原因。如果世界各国不减少排放造成全球性升温的气体，下世纪的某个时候就会出现气候急剧变化的严重威胁，这将改变我们的生活和工作方 式，某些岛国就会被大水淹没，某些国家的经济社会结构就会遭到破坏。
我们必须大力合作。经验告诉我们美国人，可以在促使经济成长的同时保护环境。为了我们自己也为了世界，我们必须做到这一点。
我国副总统戈尔已同中国政府合作开展了不少工作。在此基础上，我和江主席正在一起探讨方法，在中国推出美国的清洁能源技术，在促进中国经济发展的同时提高中国的大气质量。
但我还要重申—这话不在我的讲稿上—在这一点上你们这一代还要有更多的作为。这对你们、对美国人民和世界的未来都是一个巨大的挑战。这个问题必须在大学里提出，因为如果政治领导人认为采取环保措施会导致大规模的失业或严重的贫困，他们就不愿意这样做。事实证明环保不会造成失业和贫困。如果我们的方法得当，人们将取得更快的经济增长，拥有薪水更高的工作，促进教育和科技向更高水平发展。但是，你们大学生和你们的大学，中美两国以及全世界的人民都必须带这个头。（掌声。）
在二十一世纪，你们必须承担不分国界的国际金融系统的重任。当香港和雅加达的股票市场下跌时，其影响再也不是局部性，而是全球性的。因此，贵国充满生机的经济成长同整个亚太地区恢复稳定和经济发展紧密相连。
在最近一次的金融危机中，中国坚定不移地承担了对本地区和全世界的责任，帮助避免了又一个危险的货币贬值周期。我们必须继续携手合作，对付全球金融系统面临的威胁以及对整个亚太地区本应有的发展和繁荣的威胁。
在二十一世纪，你们这一代将有极大的机会，将我们科学家、医生、工程师的各种才能结合起来，用于追求共同的发展。我们早就在一些合作领域中取得了突 破，包括从医治脊柱对裂到预报恶劣天气和地震等。这些突破证明，只要我们合 作，就能改变中美乃至全世界数以百万计的人的生活。扩大我们在科技领域的合作是我们给未来奉献的厚礼之一。
在我以上列举的每一个关键领域，显然，只要我们相互合作而不是互不往来，我们就能取得更大的成就。因此，我们应该努力，确保双方之间目前的建设性关系在下个世纪结出圆满的协作果实。
要做到这一点，我们就必须更好地相互了解，了解各自的共同利益、共有的期望和真诚的分歧。我相信大家在电视上都看到了，我和江主席星期六在联合记者招待会上公开直接的交流，有助于澄清和缩小我们的分歧。更为重要的是，允许人们理解、辩论和探讨这些问题，能使他们对我们建设美好的未来更加充满信心。
从我居住的华盛顿特区白宫的窗口向外眺望，我们第一任总统乔治．华盛顿的纪念碑俯视全城。那是一座高耸的方形尖塔。在这个庞大的纪念碑旁，有一块很小的石碑，上面刻着的碑文是：美国决不设置贵族和皇室头衔，也不建立世袭制度。国家事务由舆论公决。
美国就是这样建立了一个从古至今史无前例的崭新政治体系。这是最奇妙的事物。这些话不是美国人写的，而出自福建省巡抚徐继玉(Xu Jiyu)之手，并于1853年 由中国政府刻成碑文，作为礼物送给美国。
我很感激中国送的这份礼物。它道出了我们全体美国人民的心声，即人人有生命和自由的权利、追求幸福的权利，有不受国家的干涉，辩论和持不同政见的自 由、结社的自由和宗教信仰的自由。这些就是220年前美国立国的核心理想。这些理想指引我们跨越美洲大陆，走向世界舞台。这些仍然是美国人民今天珍视的理想。
正如我在和江主席举行的记者招待会上所说，我们美国人民正在不断寻求实现这些理想。美国宪法的制定者了解，我们不可能做到尽善尽美。他们说，美国的使命始终是要“建设一个更为完美的联邦。”换言之，我们永远不可能尽善尽美，但我们必须不断改进。
每当我们放弃不断改进的努力，每当我们由于种族或宗教原因、由于是新移 民，或者由于有人持不受欢迎的意见，而剥夺我们人民的自由，我们的历史就出现最黑暗的时刻。每当我们保护持不受欢迎的意见者的自由，或者将大多数人享受的权利给予以前被剥夺权利的人们，从而实践《独立宣言》和《宪法》的诺言，而不是使其成为一纸空文，我们的历史就出现最光明的时刻。
今天，我们没有谋求将自己的见解强加于人，但我们深信，某种权利具有普遍性，它们不是美国的权利或者欧洲的权利或者是发达国家的权利，而是所有的人们与生俱来的权利。这些权利现在载于《联合国人权宣言》。这些就是待人以尊严、各抒己见、选举领袖、自由结社、自由选择信教或不信教的权利。
《独立宣言》的作者、我国第三任总统托马斯．杰克逊在他一生的最后一封信中写道：“人们正在睁开眼睛关注人权。”在杰克逊写了这句话172年之后，我相信，人们现在终于睁开眼睛关注着世界各地男男女女应享受的人权。
过去20年以来，一个高涨的自由浪潮解放了成千上百万的生灵，扫除了前苏联和中欧那种失败的独裁统治，结束了拉美国家军事政变和内战的恶性循环，使更多的非洲人民有机会享受来之不易的独立。从菲律宾到南朝鲜，从泰国到蒙古，自由之浪已冲到亚洲的海岸，给发展和生产力注入了动力。
经济保障也应该是自由的要素。这在《联合国经济社会文化权益公约》中获得承认。在中国，你们为培育这种自由已迈出了大步，保证不遭受匮乏，并成为贵国人民的力量源泉。中国人的收入提高了，贫困现象减轻了；人们有了更多的选择就业的机会和外出旅游的机会，有了创造更好生活的机会。但真正的自由不仅仅是经济的自由。我们美国人民认为这是一个不可分割的概念。
在过去的四天中，我在中国看到了自由的许多表现形式。我在贵国内地的一个村庄看到民主的萌芽正在迸发。我访问了一个自由选举村委领导的村庄。我也看到了大哥大电话、录象机和带来全世界观念、信息和图象的传真机。我听到人们抒发自己的想法，我还同当地的人们一起为我选择的宗教信仰祈祷。在所有这些方面，我感觉到自由的微风在吹拂。
但人们不禁要问，我们的发展方向是什么？我们怎样相互合作走上历史的正确一面？贵校伟大的政治思想家之一、胡适教授在50多年前说过：“有些人对我说，为了国家的自由你必须牺牲自己的个人自由。但我回答，为了个人自由而奋斗就是为了国家的自由而奋斗。为了个性而奋斗就是为了国民性而奋斗。”
我们美国人认为胡适是对的。我们相信，并且我们的经验表明，自由加强稳 定，自由有助于国家的变革。
我国的一位开国先贤本杰明．富兰克林曾经说过：“我们的批评者是我们的朋友，因为他们指出我们的缺点。”如果这话正确，在美国很多时候，总统的朋友比其他任何人都多。
(笑声。) 但确实如此。
在我们生活的世界，全球性的信息时代、不断的改进和变革是增加经济机会和国力的必要条件。因此，让信息、观念和看法最自由地流通，更多地尊重不同的政治和宗教信仰，实际上将增加实力，推动稳定。
因此，为了贵国和世界的根本利益，中国的年轻人必须享有心灵上的自由，以便最充分地开发自己的潜力。这是我们时代的信息，也是新的世纪和新的千年的要求。
我希望中国能更充分地赞同这个要求。尽管贵国历史上有过辉煌的功绩，我认为，贵国最伟大的时光仍在前头。中国不仅顶着20世纪的种种艰难险阻生存了下 来，而且正在迅速向前迈进。
其它的古老文化消亡了，因为他们没有进行变革。中国始终显示出变革和成长的能力。你们必须重新想象新世纪的中国，你们这一代必然处于中国复兴的中心。
我们即将进入新世纪。我们所有的目光瞄向未来。即使贵国以千年计算历史，即使美国以百年计算历史，贵国的历史也更加悠久。然而，今天的中国和任何一个国家一样年轻。新世纪将是新的中国的黎明，贵国为其在历史上的伟大而自豪，为你们进行的事业而自豪，为明天的到来更加自豪。在新世纪中，世界可能再次转向中国寻求她文化的活力、思想的新颖、人类尊严的升华，这在中国的成就中已显而易见。在新世纪中，最古老的国家有可能帮助建设一个新世界。
美国希望与贵国合作，使那个时刻成为现实。
感谢大家。(掌声。)
参考资料：美国使馆新闻文化处
