希拉里在《亲历历史》一书中的前言。这次采用了分段的双语对照。。
In 1959, I wrote my autobiography for an assignment in sixth grade. In twenty-nine pages, most half-filled with earnest scrawl, I described my parents, brothers, pets, house, hobbies, school, sports and plans for the future. Forty-two years later, I began writing another memoir, this one about the eight years I spent in the White House living history with Bill Clinton. I quickly realized that I couldn’t explain my life as First Lady without going back to the beginning―how I became the woman I was that first day I walked into the White House on January 20, 1993, to take on a new role and experiences that would test and transform me in unexpected ways.
在1959年，我六年级的时候，写了一份自传的作业。在二十九页歪歪扭扭的内容中，我认真地写了我的父母、兄弟、宠物、家、爱好、学校、运动和未来的计划。四十二年以后，我开始了新的一份自传的撰写。这部传记是关于我和比尔•克林顿在白宫的真实经历。我迅速意识到，要讲清楚我作为第一夫人的故事，就不得不回到最初的时刻——我是怎么在1993年1月20日进入白宫，成为第一夫人，换上一个新的身份；这样的经历出乎意料地将考验我并改变我。
By the time I crossed the threshold of the White House, I had been shaped by my family upbringing, education, religious faith and all that I had learned before―as the daughter of a staunch conservative father and a more liberal mother, a student activist, an advocate for children, a lawyer, Bill’s wife and Chelsea’s mom.
在我跨进白宫的门槛时，我一直受到的是家庭培养，教育，宗教信仰和我之前了解的所有东西的塑造。我是一位坚定的保守的父亲和一位更加自由的母亲的女儿，是一个学生运动者，关于儿童问题的提倡者，一名律师，比尔的妻子，切尔西的母亲。
For each chapter, there were more ideas I wanted to discuss than space allowed; more people to include than could be named; more places visited than could be described. If I mentioned everybody who has impressed, inspired, taught, influenced and helped me along the way, this book would be several volumes long. Although I’ve had to be selective, I hope that I’ve conveyed the push and pull of events and relationships that affected me and continue to shape and enrich my world today.
受到篇幅限制，在每个章节里，我不能详尽地叙述我想表达的东西，提到想提到的人，描述去过的地点。如果我提到所有在我人生路上曾经影响我，启发我，教导我，影响我和帮助过我的人，这本书可能要几卷那么厚。尽管我需要选择性地筛选内容，但我希望我能传达各个事件对我施加的推力和拉力，描述好影响我，今天仍持续地塑造和丰富我的世界的各种关系。
Since leaving the White House I have embarked on a new phase of my life as a U.S. Senator from New York, a humbling and daunting responsibility. A complete account of my move to New York, campaign for the Senate and the honor of working for the people who elected me will have to be told another time, but I hope this memoir illustrates how my success as a candidate for the Senate arose out of my White House experiences.
离开白宫之后，我开始了我作为纽约的参议员的新生涯。这是一份需要谦虚和勇气的责任。关于我是怎么到的纽约，竞选参议员，光荣地为选举我的人民工作待到下次再讲。而我希望这次的自传能说明我在白宫的经历是怎样成为我成功成为参议员候选人的基础的。
During my years as First Lady, I became a better student of how government can serve people, how Congress really works, how people perceive politics and policy through the filter of the media and how American values can be translated into economic and social progress. I learned the importance of America’s engagement with the rest of the world, and I developed relationships with foreign leaders and an understanding of foreign cultures that come in handy today. I also learned how to keep focused while living in the eye of many storms.
我当第一夫人的时候，我认真了解了政府是如何服务人民的，国会是怎样真正运作的，人们是怎样通过媒体的过滤看待政治和政策的，美国的价值观是怎样反映到经济和社会进程中的。我了解了美国参与到世界事务中的重要性。我和外国的领导建立了关系，逐渐了解了我现在已经很清楚的外国文化。我也了解了怎样在暴风眼中保持专注。
I was raised to love my God and my country, to help others, to protect and defend the democratic ideals that have inspired and guided free people for more than zoo years. These ideals were nurtured in me as far back as I can remember. Back in 1959, I wanted to become a teacher or a nuclear physicist. Teachers were necessary to “train young citizens” and without them you wouldn’t have “much of a country” America needed scientists because the “Russians have about five scientists to our one.” Even then, I was fully a product of my country and its times, absorbing my family’s lessons and America’s needs as I considered my own future. My childhood in the 1950s and the politics of the 1960s awakened my sense of obligation to my country and my commitment to service. College, law school and then marriage took me into the political epicenter of the United States.
我从小被教育要热爱上帝和祖国，帮助他人，保护和保卫民主理想。这份理想，在过去200年里一直激励和引导着自由的人民。从我记事起，这些理想就根植在了我心里。回到1959年，当时我想成为一名老师或核物理学家。培养年轻的公民需要教师。没有教师，美国就不能拥有足够的科学家。因为那时苏联的科学家数量是美国的五倍。即时在那时，我就已经完全是我的国家和那个时代的产品。在考虑我自己的未来时受到家庭教育和美国国家需要的影响。二十世纪五十年代时我的童年，和六十年代时的政治，唤醒了我报国和献身服务的意识。大学，法学院和之后的婚姻带我走进了美国政治的中心。
A political life, I’ve often said, is a continuing education in human nature, including one’s own. My involvement on the ground floor of two presidential campaigns and my duties as First Lady took me to every state in our union and to seventy-eight nations. In each place, I met someone or saw something that caused me to open my mind and my heart and deepen my understanding of the universal concerns that most of humanity shares.
政治生活，我曾经说过，是对人性和个人的持续教育。我参加了两次总统选举的竞选运动，并履行了第一夫人的职责。这使得我了解了我们联邦里的每一个州，世界上的78个国家。每次到不同的地方，我经历的人与事都开阔了我的眼界，打开了我的内心，加深了我对人类普遍关心的事物的理解。
I always knew that America matters to the rest of the world; my travels taught me how the rest of the world matters to America. Listening to what people in other countries are saying and trying to under stand how they perceive their place in the world is essential to a future of peace and security at home and abroad. With this in mind, I have included voices we don’t hear often enough―voices of people in every corner of the globe who want the same things we do: freedom from hunger, disease and fear, freedom to have a say in their own destinies, no matter their DNA or station in life. I have devoted considerable space in these pages to my foreign travels because I believe that the people and places are important, and what I learned from them is part of who I am today.
我之前始终知道，美国对于世界来说很重要。我的出访教会我，世界对于美国来说同样重要。倾听其它国家人民的心声，尽力去了解他们怎么看待他们在世界中的位置，对于未来国内外的和平是很重要的。带着这一想法，我的写作中也提到了我们不曾经常听到的声音。那时来自世界每个角落的声音，他们做的事情和我们做的事情一样：摆脱饥饿，疾病和恐惧，掌握自己的命运，无论DNA和社会地位的不同。我用了很多篇章描述我的对外访问经历，因为我相信，这些人和地方很重要，我从他们身上学习到的同样塑造了今天的我。