约翰·肯尼迪《我们选择登月》英语演讲稿

约翰·肯尼迪《我们选择登月》英语演讲稿

n this 1962 speech given at Rice University in Houston,

Texas, President John F. Kennedyreaffirmed America's

commitment to landing a man on the moon before the end of the

President

spoke

in

philosophical

terms

about

the

need

to solve the mysteries of spaceand also defended the enormous

expense of the space program.

President

pitzer

Mr.

Vice

President,

Governor,

Congressman

Thomas, Senator Wiley, andCongressman Miller, Mr. Webb, Mr.

Bell, scientists, distinguished guests, and ladies

andgentlemen:

I appreciate your president having made me an honorary

visiting

professor,

and

I

will

assureyou

that

my

first

lecture

will be very brief.

I am delighted to be here and I'm particularly delighted

to be here on this occasion.

We meet at a college noted for knowledge, in a city noted

for

progress,

in

a

state

noted

forstrength,

and

we

stand

in

need

of all three, for we meet in an hour of change and challenge,

ina decade of hope and fear, in an age of both knowledge and

ignorance.

The

greater

ourknowledge

increases,

the

greater

our

1

ignorance unfolds.

Despite

the

striking

fact

that

most

of

the

scientists

that

the world has ever known are alive andworking today, despite

the

fact

that

this

Nation's

own

scientific

manpower

is

doubling

every 12years in a rate of growth more than three times that

of our population as a whole, despitethat, the vast stretches

of the unknown and the unanswered and the unfinished still

faroutstrip our collective comprehension.

No man can fully grasp how far and how fast we have come,

but condense, if you will, the50,000 years of man's recorded

history in a time span of but a half- century. Stated in

theseterms,

we

know

very

little

about

the

first

40

years,

except

at the end of them advanced manhad learned to use the skins of

animals to cover them. Then about 10 years ago, under

thisstandard, man emerged from his caves to construct other

kinds of shelter. Only five years agoman learned to write and

use

a

cart

with

wheels.

Christianity

began

less

than

two

years

printing press came this year, and then less than two

months ago, during this whole 50-year span of human history,

the

steam

engine

provided

a

new

source

of

power.

Newtonexplored

the meaning of gravity. Last month electric lights and

telephones

and

automobilesand

airplanes

became

available.

Only

2

last week did we develop penicillin and television andnuclear

power,

and

now

if

America's

new

spacecraft

succeeds

in

reaching

Venus,

we

will

haveliterally

reached

the

stars

before

midnight

tonight.

This is a breathtaking pace, and such a pace cannot help

but create new ills as it dispels old,new ignorance, new

problems, new dangers. Surely the opening vistas of space

promise highcosts and hardships, as well as high reward.

So it

is

not

surprising that some

would have

us

stay

where

we

are

a

little

longer

to

rest,

to

this

city

of

Houston,

this

state of Texas,

this country

of the United

States was not

built bythose who waited and rested and wished to look behind

them.

This

country

was

conquered

bythose

who

moved

forward --and

so will space.

William Bradford, speaking in 1630 of the founding of the

Plymouth Bay Colony, said that allgreat and honorable actions

are accompanied with great difficulties, and both must

beenterprised and overcome with answerable courage.

If

this

capsule

history

of

our

progress

teaches

us

anything,

it is that man, in his quest forknowledge and progress, is

determined and cannot be deterred. The exploration of space

willgo ahead, whether we join in it or not, and it is one of

3

the great adventures of all time, and nonation which expects

to be the leader of other nations can expect to stay behind in

this race forspace.

Those

who

came

before

us

made

certain

that

this

country

rode

the first waves of the industrialrevolution, the first waves

of modern invention, and the first wave of nuclear power, and

thisgeneration does not intend to founder in the backwash of

the coming age of space. We mean tobe a part of it--we mean to

lead it. For the eyes of the world now look into space, to the

moonand

to the

planets

beyond,

and we

have

vowed

that

we

shall

not

see

it

governed

by

a

hostileflag

of

conquest,

but

by

a

banner

of

freedom and

peace. We

have

vowed

that

we shall not

seespace

filled with weapons of mass destruction, but with instruments

of knowledge andunderstanding.

Yet the vows of this Nation can only be fulfilled if we in

this Nation are first, and, therefore, weintend to be first.

In

short,

our

leadership

in

science

and

industry,

our

hopes

for

peace andsecurity, our obligations to ourselves as well as

others, all require us to make this effort, tosolve these

mysteries,

to

solve

them

for

the

good

of

all

men,

and

to

become

the world'sleading space-faring nation.

We set sail

on this

new

sea

because there

is

new

knowledge

4

to

be

gained,

and

new

rights

to

bewon,

and

they

must

be

won

and

used for the progress of all people. For space science,

likenuclear science and all technology, has no conscience of

its own.

Whether it

will

become aforce

for

good

or ill depends

on man, and only if the United States occupies a position of

pre- eminence

can

we

help

decide

whether

this

new

ocean

will

be

a sea of peace or a new terrifyingtheater of war. I do not say

that

we

should

or

will

go

unprotected

against

the

hostile

misuse

ofspace

any

more

than

we

go

unprotected

against

the

hostile

use

of land or sea, but I do saythat space can be explored and

mastered without feeding the fires of war, without repeating

themistakes

that

man

has

made

in

extending

his

writ

around

this

globe of ours.

There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in

outer space as yet. Its hazards arehostile to us all. Its

conquest

deserves

the

best

of

all

mankind,

and

its

opportunity

forpeaceful cooperation many never come again. But why, some

say, the moon? Why choosethis as our goal? And they may well

ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago,fly the

Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?

We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon

in

this

decade

and

do

the

otherthings,

not

because

they

are

easy,

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