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•奥巴马(Barack Obama)——一位非裔黑人父亲和一位美国白人母亲的儿子，成为美国第44任总统。对美国和全世界而言，他的就职是一个振奋人心的时刻。其中部分原因在于，他是一位非常出色的人，具备一名伟大总统所需要的素质。更重要的是，因为这个地球上最强大国家的新任领导人证明了一条美国特有的重要准则：人人生而平等。