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Today, we also remember the longer history between Vietnamese and Americans that is too often overlooked. More than 200 years ago, when our Founding Father, Thomas Jefferson, sought rice for his farm, he looked to the rice of Vietnam, which he said had “the reputation of being whitest to the eye, best flavored to the taste, and most productive.” Soon after, American trade ships arrived in your ports seeking commerce.

今天，我们也要记住越南人和美国人之间更漫长的历史，这段历史经常被人们所忽视。200多年之前，当我们的建国之父托马斯-杰克逊为他的农场寻求大米时，他想获得越南大米。他说，越南大米有着“最白，口味最好，最高产”的声誉。不久之后，美国贸易商船抵达了你们的港口，试图进行贸易。

During the Second World War, Americans came here to support your struggle against occupation. When American pilots were shot down, the Vietnamese people helped rescue them. And on the day that Vietnam declared its independence, crowds took to the streets of this city, and Ho Chi Minh evoked the American Declaration of Independence. He said, “All people are created equal. The Creator has endowed them with inviolable rights. Among these rights are the right to life, the right to liberty, and the right to the pursuit of happiness.”

在第二次世界大战期间，美国人来到这里以支持你们反占领的斗争。当美国飞行员被击落后，越南人民向他们施以援手。在越南宣布独立的当天，人群走上河内街头，胡志明援引了美国独立宣言。他说：“人人生而平等，造物主赋予他们若干不可让与的权利，其中包括生存权、自由权和追求幸福的权利。”

In another time, the profession of these shared ideals and our common story of throwing off colonialism might have brought us closer together sooner. But instead, Cold War rivalries and fears of communism pulled us into conflict. Like other conflicts throughout human history, we learned once more a bitter truth -- that war, no matter what our intentions may be, brings suffering and tragedy.

在另一个时代，对这些共同理想的表述和我们抛弃殖民主义的共同故事可能会更早一些地使我们的关系更加密切，但是，冷战的对抗使我们陷入了冲突。与人类历史的其它冲突一样，我们再次明白了一个苦涩的事实：不管我们的意图如何，战争带来了苦难和悲剧。

At your war memorial not far from here, and with family altars across this country, you remember some 3 million Vietnamese, soldiers and civilians, on both sides, who lost their lives. At our memorial wall in Washington, we can touch the names of 58,315 Americans who gave their lives in the conflict. In both our countries, our veterans and families of the fallen still ache for the friends and loved ones that they lost. Just as we learned in America that, even if we disagree about a war, we must always honor those who serve and welcome them home with the respect they deserve, we can join together today, Vietnamese and Americans, and acknowledge the pain and the sacrifices on both sides.

在你们距这里不太远的战争纪念馆和全国各地的家庭牌位，你们纪念着3百万越南人，双方在战争中丧生的士兵和平民。在我们华盛顿的越战纪念墙上，我们可以触摸58315位在越战中阵亡美军人员的名字。在我们两个国家里，我们的退伍老兵和阵亡人员家属仍然为失去朋友和亲人而感到悲痛。正如我们在美国明白的那样，即便我们对战争抱有不同看法，我们必须总是要尊重那些服役人员，给予他们应得的尊重，欢迎他们回家。我们今天可以在一起，越南人和美国人，承认双方人员所承受的痛苦和牺牲。

More recently, over the past two decades, Vietnam has achieved enormous progress, and today the world can see the strides that you have made. With economic reforms and trade agreements, including with the United States, you have entered the global economy, selling your goods around the world. More foreign investment is coming in. And with one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia, Vietnam has moved up to become a middle-income nation.

最近，在过去二十年里，越南取得了巨大的进步，世界今天看到你们所取得的巨大成就。你们进行了经济改革，与包括美国在内的国家签署了贸易协议，越南进入了全球经济体，向世界各地出售你们的商品。许多外国投资进入越南。作为亚洲经济发展最快的国家之一，越南已升级成为一个中等收入国家。