宋美龄在美国参议院英语演讲稿

宋美龄在美国参议院英语演讲稿

the committee appointed by vice president, preceded by the secretary of the senate (edwin a. halsey), and the sergeant at arms (wall doxey), and consisting of mr. barkley, mr. mcnary, mr. connally, mr. capper, and mrs. caraway, entered the chamber at the main door and escorted mme. chiang kai-shek to a seat at the desk immediately in front of the vice president.

(mme. chiang kai-shek was greeted with prolonged applause, senators and guests of the senate rising.)

the vice president. senators, distinguished guests, mme. chiang kai-shek, wife of the generalissimo of the armies of china, will now address you.

address by mme. chiang kai-shek

mr. president, members of the senate of the united states, ladies and gentlemen, i am overwhelmed by the warmth and spontaneity of the welcome of the american people, of whom you are the representatives. i did not know that i was to speak to you today at the senate except to say, “how do you do? i am so very glad to see you, and to bring the greetings to my people to the people of america. however, just before coming here, the vice president told me that he would like to have me say a few words to you.

i am not a very good extemporaneous speaker; in fact, i am no speaker at all; but i am not so very much discouraged, because a few days ago i was at hyde park, and went to the president’s library. something i saw there encouraged me, and made me feel that perhaps you will not expect overmuch of me in speaking to you extemporaneously. what do you think i saw there? i saw many things. but the one thing which interested me most of all was that in a glass case there was the first draft of tone of the president’s speeches, a second draft, and on and on up to the sixth draft. yesterday i happened to mention this fact to the president, and told him that i was extremely glad that he had to write so many drafts when he is such a well-known and acknowledgedly fine speaker. his reply to me was that sometimes he writes 12 drafts of a speech. so, my remarks here today, being extemporaneous, i am sure you will make allowances for me.

the traditional friendship between your country and mine has a history of 160 years. i feel, and i believe that i am now the only one who feels this way, that there are a great many similarities between your people and mine, and that these similarities are the basis of our friendship.

i should like to tell you a little story which will illustrate this belief. when general doolittle and his men went to bomb tokyo, on their return some of your boys had to bail out in the interior of china. one of them later told me that he had to mail out of his ship. and that when he landed on chinese soil and saw the populace running toward him, he just waved his arm and shouted the only chinese word he knew, “mei-kuo, mei-kuo, which means “america, [applause.] literally translated from the chinese it means “beautiful country. this boy said that our people laughed and almost hugged him, and greeted him like a long lost brother. he further told me that the thought that he had come home when he saw our people; and that was the first time he had ever been to china. [applause.]

【宋美龄在美国参议院英语演讲稿】