本文是英国第49任首相撒切尔夫人于1979年在美国白宫晚宴上发表的致辞，内容涉及英美关系、对外政策等，可作为英美关系、英美历史、跨文化和英语演讲等课程教学素材使用。

关键词：演讲，英美关系，英美历史，跨文化

撒切尔夫人（Margaret Hilda Thatcher），英国第49任首相，也是英国历史上第一位女首相。撒切尔夫人共执政11年，她的政治哲学和政治政策使英国的经济、社会与文化面貌发生了既深且广的变化；此外，在外交方面，她大力恢复与美国的关系，英美关系逐渐回暖。

1979年，撒切尔夫人访美并在美国白宫晚宴上发表演讲便是她着力恢复英美关系的力证。这段演讲中，撒切尔夫人提到了英美两国的历史渊源，还涉及了70年代英美发生的重大政治事件，是非常实用的教学素材！

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1979年撒切尔夫人白宫晚宴致辞视频

演讲原文

Mr. President, Mrs. Carter, ladies and gentlemen, it has been my first visit to Washington as head of the British government, and I should like, at the end of a memorable day, to say thank you. Thank you, to you, Mr. President, to you, Mrs. Carter, and through you to the American people for the wonderfully warm welcome I have been given everywhere.

I know, Mr. President, that as you pointed out at the beginning of your speech, the relationship between America and Britain started off with one or two errors of judgment on our side. Looking around me at the beauty here and at the wonderful nation you have created I am really rather glad that my predecessors weren’t successful in all things they tried to carry out.

Now, I know that official visits to Washington recur almost with the regularity of the passing seasons, but as far as I am concerned, this really has been an exceptional event in the year for me. Alas, I will not be staying long, but it makes a great difference to me to have this chance of direct discussion and to sense at first hand what it is that quickens the pulse of the American people, their yearnings and preoccupations.

I am very much aware, Mr. President, of the ordeal that the United States is going through at the moment. It is a double ordeal, for the fate of the 50 hostages in Tehran, from whom our thoughts are never far, and for the temper of the United States as a whole. You will not want me to speak at length about this now, but I would be giving you a false impression if I allowed the evening to proceed any further without letting you know how much we, in Britain, support you in your ordeal at this time.

The fate of the 50 hostages in Tehran：1979年11月4日，百名穆斯林学生冲到美国驻德黑兰大使馆，绑架使馆主楼里的工作人员、扣下52名美国外交官，意欲以其换取伊朗逃往美国的国王巴列维。

The United States is our friend, our ally, and our time-honored partner in peace and war. The history and the destiny of our countries have been and always will be inextricably intertwined. Our friendship goes back a very long way. We are, after all, among the very few countries in the world whose constitutions and national identities have remained intact over two centuries. I hope you won’t mind, Mr. President, my recalling that George Washington was a British subject until well after his 40th birthday. I have been told, to my surprise, that he does not have a place in the British Dictionary of National Biography. I suppose the editors must have regarded him as a late developer.

George Washington：乔治·华盛顿，美国第一任总统。在美国独立战争中他率领大陆军团赢得美国独立，是美国的开国元勋。1787年，华盛顿主持了制宪会议，制定了沿用至今的美国宪法。

I confess to you that in some ways my visit got off to a rather shaky start, because I was told on arrival at Andrews Field that I had interrupted your Secretary of State, Mr. Vance, in one of his few moments of relaxation. He was watching the Redskins playing the Cowboys. He had to take his eye off the game to greet me. I am very grateful but I don’t think the Redskins can have been very grateful to me because it was no doubt as a result of this diversion of Mr. Vance’s attention that the Redskins lost the game. I do apologize for having intervened in your internal affairs.

Your Secretary of State, Mr. Vance：赛勒斯·万斯，1977年至1980年任美国国务卿。

Redskins：美国橄榄球队华盛顿红人队，其前身是波士顿红人队。

Cowboys：Dallas Cowboys，达拉斯牛仔队，是美国国家橄榄球联盟（National Football League，简称NFL）的球队，有“美国之队”的美誉。

Mr. Vance’s opposite number, Lord Carrington, who is with us this evening, has, as you know, and as you have very kindly said, Mr. President, had something of a triumph in the Rhodesia negotiations at Lancaster House in London. If you think he looks a little pale, it is because he has been shut up in Lancaster House for many months, indeed has become known as the prisoner of Lancaster House and he is so pleased to be free at last. Lord Carrington would, I know, want me to repeat this evening how grateful the British government are to the United States authorities for the stalwart support they have given us unfailingly over Rhodesia, and you, Mr. President, and you, Mr. Vance, we would like to give our warmest and most heartfelt thanks, because without your support the whole process would have been incomparably more difficult and we may never have reached success.

Lord Carrington：彼德·卡林顿，尊称卡林顿勋爵，英国保守党政治家。在1979年，撒切尔夫人聘任他到内阁供职，并出任外务大臣兼海外发展部长。上任外相后不久，卡林顿勋爵主持了兰卡斯特楼会议，就罗德西亚的前途展开谈判。

Rhodesia negotiations at Lancaster House：罗德西亚谈判。罗德西亚，即为现今的南部非洲国家津巴布韦。1964-1965年，北罗德西亚和南罗德西亚的土著黑人不顾原殖民者英国的强力反对，先后宣布独立。从此，白人殖民政府和黑人政权在国内开始了长达十几年的混战。1979年，由于白人政府在外交上屡屡失败，游击战斗的黑人也是身心俱疲，双方在伦敦的兰卡斯特大会堂握手言和，达成协议，并宣布停火。在这之前，美国于1976年介入罗德西亚战争，向英国和当地白人施压，迫使其承认黑人政权。

May I say one more thing, Mr. President. The government which I lead has been in power now for just over half a year. We face great difficulties, some of them deep seated and longstanding and some stemming from beyond our shores, and I don’t pretend that anything is going to be remedied immediately, but we are determined upon a change. We are determined to return to the first principles which have traditionally governed our political and economic life, namely, the overall responsibility of the individual rather than the state for his own welfare, and the paramountcy of Parliament for the protection of fundamental rights.

撒切尔夫人执政后的经济政策变化：1979年起，撒切尔夫人采用调低直接税、调高增值税的办法，彻底改变了英国当代税收体系；她将除铁路和邮局外的要害部门国企统统私有化，将数以百万计的国企职工转变为私企雇员，使国民经济在一定程度上起死回生。她还通过减税和向小股东转让国有股份，让自由资本主义在英国再度盛行。

The government I lead has a resounding mandate to restore the face and the fortunes of the nation. We shall stick at the task whatever the difficulties and however great the endurance required, and we shall do so, Mr. President, in the conviction that our allies across the Atlantic have confidence in us, just as we have confidence in the strength and ingenuity of the United States to meet any challenge and triumph over any adversity that confronts them. And it is in that spirit that I would like to ask all your other guests this evening to drink a toast to you, the President of the United States of America. To the President.

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