英语演说（Ronald Wilson Reagan Shuttle Challenger ）

挑战者号航天飞机的失事让全世界都很心痛，但是这并不代表对科学的探索。

Ladies and Gentlemen, I'd planned to speak to you tonight to report on the state of the 
Union, but the events of earlier today have led 
me to change those plans. Today is a day 
for mourning and remembering. Nancy and I are pained to the core by the 
tragedy of the 
shuttle Challenger. We know we share this pain with all of the people of our country. This 
is truly a national loss.


Nineteen years ago, almost to the day, we lost three 
astronauts in a terrible accident on 
the ground. But we've never 
lost an astronaut in flight. We've never had a tragedy like 
this. And perhaps we've forgotten the courage it took for the crew of the shuttle. But they, 
the Challenger Seven, were aware of the dangers, but overcame them and did their jobs 
brilliantly. We mourn seven heroes: Michael Smith, Dick Scobee, Judith Resnik, Ronald 
McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, and 
Christa McAuliffe. We mourn their loss as a nation together.

For the families of the seven, we cannot bear, as you do, the full 
impact of this tragedy. 
But we feel the loss, and we're thinking 
about you so very much. Your loved ones were 
daring and brave, and they had that special grace, that special spirit that says, "Give me a 
challenge, and I'll meet it with joy." They had a hunger to explore the universe and 
discover its truths. 
They wished to serve, and they did. They served all of us.



We've grown used to wonders in this century. It's hard to dazzle us. But for twentyfive 
years the United States space program has been doing just that. We've grown used to 
the idea of space, and, perhaps we forget that we've only just begun. We're still pioneers. 
They, the members of the Challenger crew, were pioneers.

And I want to say something to the schoolchildren of America who were watching the 
live coverage of the shuttle's takeoff. 
I know it's hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all 
part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part 
of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons. The future doesn't belong to the 
fainthearted. it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling 
us into the future,and we'll continue to follow them.

I've always had great faith in and respect for our space program. And what happened 
today does nothing to diminish it. We don't hide our space program. We don't keep 
secrets and cover things up. We do it all up front and 
in public. That's the way freedom is, 
and we wouldn't change it for a minute.

We'll continue our quest in space. There will 
be more shuttle flights and more shuttle 
crews and, yes, more volunteers, more civilians, more teachers in space. Nothing ends 
here. our hopes and our journeys continue.

I want to add that I wish I could talk to 
every man and woman 
who works for NASA, or 
who worked on this mission and tell them: "Your dedication and professionalism have 
moved and impressed us for decades. And we know of your anguish. We share it."

There's a coincidence today. On this day three hundred and ninety years ago, the great 
explorer Sir Francis Drake died aboard ship off the coast of Panama. In his lifetime the 
great frontiers were the oceans, and a historian later said, "He lived 
by the sea, died on it, 
and was buried in it." Well, today, we can say of the Challenger crew: Their dedication 
was, like Drake's, complete.

The crew of the space shuttle Challenger 
honored us by the manner 
in which they lived their lives. 
We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they 
prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and "slipped the surly bonds of earth" to 
"touch the face of God."

Thank you.