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1、不读万卷书，行万里路，完成工作的方法，是爱惜每一分钟！Franklin D. Roosevelt: The Fou franklin d. roosevelt: the four freedoms mr. speaker, members of the 77th congress: i address you, the members of this new congress, at a moment unprecedented in the history of the union. i use the word unprecedented because at no previous ti
2、me has american security been as seriously threatened from without as it is today. since the permanent formation of our government under the constitution in 1789, most of the periods of crisis in our history have related to our domestic affairs. and, fortunately, only one of thesethe four-year war b
3、etween the statesever threatened our national unity. today, thank god, 130,000,000 americans in forty-eight states have forgotten points of the compass in our national unity. it is true that prior to 1914 the united states often has been disturbed by events in other continents. we have even engaged
4、in two wars with european nations and in a number of undeclared wars in the west indies, in the mediterranean and in the pacific, for the maintenance of american rights and for the principles of peaceful commerce. but in no case has a serious threat been raised against our national safety or our con
5、tinued independence. what i seek to convey is the historic truth that the united states as a nation has at all times maintained oppositionclear, definite oppositionto any attempt to lock us in behind an ancient chinese wall while the procession of civilization went past. today, thinking of our child
6、ren and of their children, we oppose enforced isolation for ourselves or for any other part of the americas. and in like fashion, from 1815 to 1914ninety-nine yearsno single war in europe or in asia constituted a real threat against our future or against the future of any other american nation. exce
7、pt in the maximilian interlude in mexico, no foreign power sought to establish itself in this hemisphere. and friendly strength; it is still a friendly strength. even when the world war broke out in 1914 it seemed to contain only small threat of danger to our own american future. but as time went on
8、, as we remember, the american people began to visualize what the downfall of democratic nations might mean to our own democracy. we need not overemphasize imperfections in the peace of versailles. we need not harp on failure of the democracies to deal with problems of world reconstruction. we shoul
9、d remember that the peace of 1919 was far less unjust than the kind of pacification which began even before munich, and which is being carried on under the new order of tyranny that seeks to spread over every continent today. the american people have unalterably set their faces against that tyranny.
10、 i suppose that every realist knows that the democratic way of life is at this moment being directly assailed in every part of the worldassailed either by arms or by secret spreading of poisonous propaganda by those who seek to destroy unity and promote discord in nations that are still at peace. du
11、ring sixteen long months this assault has blotted out the whole pattern of democratic life in an appalling number of independent nations, great and small. and the assailants are still on the march, threatening other nations, great and small. therefore, as your president, performing my constitutional
12、 duty to give to the congress information of the state of the union, i find it unhappily necessary to report that the future and the safety of our country and of our democracy are overwhelmingly involved in events far beyond our borders. armed defense of democratic existence is now being gallantly w
13、aged in four continents. if that defense fails, all the population and all the resources of europe and asia, africa and australia will be dominated by conquerors. and let us remember that the total of those populations in those four continents, the total of those populations and their resources grea
14、tly exceeds the sum total of the population and the resources of the whole of the western hemisphereyes, many times over. in times like these it is immature and, incidentally, untruefor anybody to brag that an unprepared america, single-handed and with one hand tied behind its back, can hold off the
15、 whole world. no realistic american can expect from a dictators peace international generosity, or return of true independence, or world disarmament, or freedom of expression, or freedom of religionor even good business. such a peace would bring no security for us or for our neighbors. those who wou
16、ld give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. as a nation we may take pride in the fact that we are soft-hearted; but we cannot afford to be soft-headed. we must always be wary of those who with sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal preach the ism of appeasement. we must especially beware of that small group of selfish
