FROM THE start, 250 years ago, America’s founders believed that their republic would shine out(脱颖而出，光彩夺目) as an example to all humanity. But the republic was also an experiment, and they feared that it could soon collapse into disorder or tyranny. Such has been the dance throughout America’s extraordinary history. Slavery and xenophobia, corruption and robber barons(强盗大亨（指19世纪美国垄断资本家）), civil war and world war have all jostle(推挤，争夺)d the republic even as America rose to become the beacon of the free world(自由世界的灯塔).
250年前，自建国之初，美国的开国先贤们就坚信他们的共和国将为全人类树立光辉典范。但共和国也是一场实验，他们担心它可能很快陷入混乱或暴政。在美国非凡的历史中，这种担忧始终如影随形。奴隶制与仇外心理、腐败与强盗大亨、内战与世界战争，所有这些都曾冲击着共和国，而美国正是在此过程中崛起为自由世界的灯塔。
On July 4th Americans are celebrating their semiquincentennial(250周年纪念). All those syllables rebut the founders’ gloom. Far from succumbing to tyranny, America saved the world from tyrants three times over(不止三次，三次之多). Glorious disorder created a dynamism that has long sustained America as a superpower. Dominance comes with temptations, but the United States has by and large held out(坚守，提供) republican virtues as the salvation of people everywhere.
7月4日，美国人正在庆祝他们的250周年纪念。所有这些复杂的音节反驳了先贤们的悲观。美国远未屈服于暴政，反而三次将世界从暴君手中拯救出来。光荣的混乱创造了一种活力，使美国长期保持超级大国地位。霸权伴随着诱惑，但总体而言，美国一直坚守共和美德，将其视为各地人民的救赎。
Yet this birthday comes at another anxious moment in America’s story. Virtue is under threat and talk of decline is in the air(弥漫，流传). Even as citizens celebrate together, public life is scarred(留下伤痕，受损) by division. America is demolishing the world order that it created after the defeat of fascism in 1945. The restless republic is opening a new chapter, but does that signal retreat, as some Americans worry, or instead herald(预告，预示) a renewal?
然而，这个生日正值美国历史上的又一个焦虑时刻。美德受到威胁，衰落的论调不绝于耳。即使公民们一同庆祝，公共生活也因分裂而伤痕累累。美国正在摧毁它1945年击败法西斯后创立的国际秩序。这个不安分的共和国正在打开新篇章，但这是否意味着退缩——正如一些美国人所担心的——还是预示着复兴？
Present at the destruction
在毁灭之时见证