1969年7月21日凌晨，遥远的星星上传来了——的话。这是一个人的一小步，但也是人类的一大步(that's one small step for a man，one giant leap for mankind)。

阿姆斯特朗在踏上月球的一瞬间，没有感谢USA，没有感谢某个党派，没有感谢美国人民，没有感谢NASA，他只是淡淡的将人类文化中的一对二元概念拿了出来，“个体——全体”，一方面他代表个人，登月是一个独立的行为，另一方面他代表了全体人类，走向了一个新的时代。

如果历史并没有按照期待的剧本发展的话，如果登月任务失败，阿姆斯特朗永远也没有机会说出那句话，呈现给世界的可能是另一个结局——

尼克松总统首先致电两位宇航员的遗孀，随后向世界发出如下演讲：

对于这些前往月球去探寻和平的人们，命运已无法改变，他们将在月球上安息长眠。这些勇士，尼尔·阿姆斯特朗和埃德温·奥尔德林，知道他们无望返回，但他们也知道，他们的牺牲中蕴含了人类的希望。

家人和朋友将哀悼他们；国人将哀悼他们；整个世界将哀悼他们；地球母亲将她的两个儿子送往未知，她将哀悼他们。他们的探索，让全世界团结一致；他们的牺牲，让全人类的手足情深。

在远古，人们仰望星空，在星座中看到英雄。在现代，我们做相同的事，但我们的英雄是有血有肉的伟人。他人会跟随，并且必定会安全返回。人类的探索不会被否定，但是这些先驱者，将永远被我们铭记。

每一个仰望月球的人都会知道，在另一个世界的某个角落，光辉的人性永远存在着。

在以上演讲结束时，NASA关闭通讯设备，牧师将按照海葬的程序，令他们的灵魂在最深处安息，以主祷文作为结束。

在美国登月计划结束后，至今50年的时间里，在没有任何一个地球人踏上那片土地。如今回顾，人们都会惊叹于50年前美国的科技水平。但除却科技支撑起来的登月实力之外，在影响美国人乃至全世界人的思想表达方面，那个时代的美国的文案也是熠熠生辉。

在失败预案的演讲中，美国的失败，变成了人类探索历程当中的一个插曲；两名丧生的宇航员，变成了地球母亲的孩子，变成了有血有肉的英雄；月球上的那场爆炸，变成了人性光辉的彰显。失败的探索，比成功更具有激励后人一往无前的动能。

而谈到登月相关的文案，就不得不提到肯尼迪当年，在太空竞争中一直落后于苏联的背景下，旨在鼓励美国人民支持阿波罗计划所发表的著名演讲——我们选择登月。

在这篇演讲中，肯尼迪首先奠定了一个基调——

The greater our knowledge increases, the greaterour ignorance unfolds. 我们获取的知识越多，我们显露出的无知也就越多。

然后他将人类的5万年的历史压缩为50年，用一种更直观的类比让人发现人类进步与技术进步的节奏。

随后他回到美国人自身，强调——

This country was conquered by those who movedforward--and so will space. 这个国家是由那些不断前进的人所征服的，太空也是如此。

所以在进步的过程中，美国人就应该去征服困难。肯尼迪模拟了反对者的口吻，提出疑问：为什么要登月？

But why, some say, the moon? 但有人问，为什么选择登月？

Why choose this as our goal? 为什么选择登月作为我们的目标？

And they may well ask why climb the highestmountain? 那他们也许会问为什么我们要登上最高的山峰？

Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? 为什么，要在35年前，飞越大西洋？

Why does Rice play Texas? 为什么赖斯大学要与德克萨斯大学竞赛？

We choose to go to the moon. 我们决定登月。

肯尼迪在一种人类进步论的基调中，用“自由选择”来回应了为什么要登月。不因为别的，因为人类在进步，登月是必然的事情，我们作为人类的一员，我们主动去选择登月。随后他说出了那句著名的话——

We choose to go to the moon in this decade and dothe other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard. 我们决定在这十年间登上月球并实现更多梦想，并非它们轻而易举，而正是因为它们困难重重。

肯尼迪可能没想过，五十年后，在地球的这一端，有人将他这句话改成了一句鸡汤文——“做难且正确的事情”。

当然登月有很多的好处，也要付出很多的努力，肯尼迪在一一说明之后，还是回到一个无可辩驳的立意点，为什么要登月，因为它就在那——

Many years ago the great British explorer GeorgeMallory, who was to die on Mount Everest, was asked why did he want to climbit. He said, "Because it is there." 很多年前，伟大的英国探险家乔治·马拉里在攀登珠穆朗玛峰时遇难。曾经有人问他为什么要攀登珠峰，他回答说，“因为它就在那儿。”

在那个年代，地区之间比拼的不仅仅是物力财力、科技实力，更比拼着文化的底蕴，谁更能够代表人类，哪边是更好的制度，在这样的比拼之下，催生出超越时代的技术实力，也催生出影响后世的经典文案。

所以在美国登月技术的的背后，还可以看看当时的文案实力，看看那激励无数人的观念如何用语言和文字传达出来，再看看如今人们操着贫瘠的语言或无力的赞美或干瘪的指责，我们也许辜负了那一代人的希望。

附件：1962年9月，肯尼迪赖斯大学演讲——We Choose to Go to the Moon我们选择登月（中英全文）

President Pitzer, Mr.Vice President, Governor,Congressman Thomas, Senator Wiley, and Congressman Miller, Mr. Webb, Mr. Bell,scientists, distinguished guests, and ladies and gentlemen:

皮茨校长，副总统，州长，众议员托马斯，参议员维利，众议员米勒，韦伯先生，比尔先生，科学家们，尊敬的来宾，女士们先生们：

I appreciate your president having made me anhonorary visiting professor, and I will assure you that my first lecture willbe very brief.

我十分感激你们的校长授予我名誉客座教授的头衔，并且我向各位保证我的第一个演讲会十分简洁。

I am delighted to be here and I'm particularlydelighted to be here on this occasion.

我很高兴来到这里，特别是在这个时候来到这里。

We meet at a college noted for knowledge, in acity noted for progress, in a state noted for strength, and we stand in need ofall three, for we meet in an hour of change and challenge, in a decade of hopeand fear, in an age of both knowledge and ignorance.

我们在这个以知识闻名的大学，在这个以进步闻名的城市，在这个以实力闻名的州府相会。并且我们需要它们全部三者，因为我们正处于一个变化与挑战的时刻，希望与恐惧交织的十年，知识与愚昧并存的时代。

The greater our knowledge increases, the greaterour ignorance unfolds.

我们获取的知识越多，我们显露出的无知也就越多。

Despite the striking fact that most of thescientists that the world has ever known are alive and working today, despitethe fact that this Nation's own scientific manpower is doubling every 12 yearsin a rate of growth more than three times that of our population as a whole,despite that, the vast stretches of the unknown and the unanswered and theunfinished still far outstrip our collective comprehension.

尽管显著的事实表明：享誉世界的科学家们仍在艰苦工作，尽管我国的科研力量以每12年翻一倍的速度增长、总体超过了人口增长速度的三倍。尽管如此，宇宙中未知之域、未解之谜和未竟之事的范围之广，仍然远远超出了我们所有人的理解能力。

No man can fully grasp how far and how fast wehave come, but condense, if you will, the 50,000 years of man's recordedhistory in a time span of but a half-century.

没人能够断言我们能走多远，能走多快。但如果你愿意，将5万年的人类历史浓缩为短短的半个世纪。

Stated in these terms, we know very little aboutthe first 40 years, except at the end of them advanced man had learned to usethe skins of animals to cover them.

在这个时间跨度下，我们对于开始的40年知之甚少，除了在最后阶段我们学会了用兽皮遮体。

Then about 10 years ago, under this standard, manemerged from his caves to construct other kinds of shelter.

接下来，在此标准之下，10年前，人类走出洞穴，开始建造新的家园。

Only five years ago man learned to write and usea cart with wheels.

五年前人类才学会了写字和使用有轮子的车辆。

Christianity began less than two years ago.

基督教产生于不到两年前。

The printing press came this year, and then lessthan two months ago, during this whole 50-year span of human history, the steamengine provided a new source of power.

印刷出版今年才出现。在人类历史的50年间，在不到两个月前，蒸汽机为我们提供了新的动力。

Newton explored the meaning of gravity.

牛顿发现了引力的意义。

Last month electric lights and telephones andautomobiles and airplanes became available.

上个月，电灯，电话，汽车和飞机成为了现实。

Only last week did we develop penicillin andtelevision and nuclear power, and now if America's new spacecraft succeeds inreaching Venus, we will literally reached the stars before midnight tonight.

仅仅上周我们才发明了盘尼西林（即青霉素，译者注），电视与核能。如果现在美国最新的飞船能够成功抵达金星，那么我们才真正算得上在今天午夜抵达其他星球了。

This is a breathtaking pace, and such a pacecannot help but create new ills as it dispels old, new ignorance, new problems,new dangers.

这是激动人心的一步，但迈出的这一步在驱散旧邪恶的同时，也会派生出新邪恶，新无知、新问题和新危险。

Surely the opening vistas of space promise highcosts and hardships, as well as high reward.

太空所展现的远景固然会得到巨大的回报，但同时也会伴随着巨大的困难与高昂的代价。

So it is not surprising that some would have usstay where we are a little longer to rest, to wait.

所以并不意外，有时我们会在裹足不前，焦急等待。

But this city of Houston, this state of Texas, thiscountry of the United States was not built by those who waited and rested andwished to look behind them.

但休斯敦市，德克萨斯州与美利坚合众国不是由那些止步不前，安于现状，甘愿落后的人建立的。

This country was conquered by those who movedforward--and so will space.

这个国家是由那些不断前进的人所征服的，太空也是如此。

William Bradford, speaking in 1630 of thefounding of the Plymouth Bay Colony, said that all great and honorable actionsare accompanied with great difficulties, and both must be enterprised andovercome with answerable courage.

威廉·布拉德福德，曾在1630年的普利茅斯港殖民地的建立仪式上说，所有伟大而光荣的行动都伴随着巨大的困难，而完成这些行动必须具备不断进取的精神和与之相当的勇气。

If this capsule history of our progress teachesus anything, it is that man, in his quest for knowledge and progress, isdetermined and cannot be deterred.

如果说这段简短而充满进步的历史能给我们什么样的教训，那就是，人类在探求知识和进步的过程中是坚定不移，并无可阻挡的。

The exploration of space will go ahead, whetherwe join in it or not, and it is one of the great adventures of all time, and nonation which expects to be the leader of other nations can expect to staybehind in this race for space.

无论我们参加与否，太空探索终将继续。无论何时它都是一场伟大的冒险，没有任何一个期望领先世界的国家想在这场太空竞赛中止步。

Those who came before us made certain that thiscountry rode the first waves of the industrial revolution, the first waves ofmodern invention, and the first wave of nuclear power, and this generation doesnot intend to founder in the backwash of the coming age of space.

我们的先辈使这个国家掀起了工业革命的第一波浪潮，掀起了现代发明的第一波浪潮，掀起了核能技术的第一波浪潮。而我们这一代绝不会甘愿在即将到来的太空时代的浪潮中倒下。

We mean to be a part of it--we mean to lead it.

我们要加入其中――我们要领先世界。

For the eyes of the world now look into space, tothe moon and to the planets beyond, and we have vowed that we shall not see itgoverned by a hostile flag of conquest, but by a banner of freedom and peace.

为了如今仰望太空，注视月球和遥看繁星的人们，我们发誓，我们决不允许太空被那些敌对国家（原文为旗帜，译者注）所征服，我们会看到自由与和平的旗帜在飘扬。

We have vowed that we shall not see space filledwith weapons of mass destruction, but with instruments of knowledge andunderstanding.

我们发誓我们不会看到太空遍布大规模杀伤性武器，而是充满了获取知识的工具。

Yet the vows of this Nation can only be fulfilledif we in this Nation are first, and, therefore, we intend to be first.

这个承诺只有在我国领先的情况下才能履行。因此，我们即将付诸行动。

In short, our leadership in science and industry,our hopes for peace and security, our obligations to ourselves as well asothers, all require us to make this effort, to solve these mysteries, to solvethem for the good of all men, and to become the world's leading space-faringnation.

简而言之，我们在科学和工业上的领导地位，我们对于和平与安全的渴望，我们对于自身和他人的责任，它们要求我们做出努力，为了全人类的利益而努力解开这些谜团，成为世界领先的航天国家。

We set sail on this new sea because there is newknowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, and they must be won and usedfor the progress of all people.

为了获取新知识，赢得新权利，我们在这全新的领域内扬帆起航。我们必须获取并运用权利。为了全人类的进步，我们踏上新的航程。

For space science, like nuclear science and alltechnology, has no conscience of its own.

空间科学，正如核科学以及其他一切科技，本身并无道德可言。

Whether it will become a force for good or illdepends on man, and only if the United States occupies a position ofpreeminence can we help decide whether this new ocean will be a sea of peace ora new terrifying theater of war.

它的善恶完全取决于人类。并且只有当美利坚合众国获得一个卓越的地位之时，才能帮助决定这片新的领域最终成为和平的海洋还是变成另一个恐怖的战争悲剧。

I do not say that we should or will gounprotected against the hostile misuse of space any more than we go unprotectedagainst the hostile use of land or sea, but I do say that space can be exploredand mastered without feeding the fires of war, without repeating the mistakesthat man has made in extending his writ around this globe of ours.

我不认为我们应该或者必须对敌人滥用太空比对敌人滥用陆地和海洋更加无动于衷。但是我确实要说，太空能够避免在被战火吞噬的情况下，在不重蹈战争覆辙的情况下开发和利用。

There is no strife, no prejudice, no nationalconflict in outer space as yet.

在太空还没有竞争，偏见和国家冲突。

Its hazards are hostile to us all.

我们所有人都要面对太空的危险。

Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind,and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation may never come again.

太空值得全人类尽最大的力量征服，而且和平合作的机会可能永远不会重来。

But why, some say, the moon?

但有人问，为什么选择登月？

Why choose this as our goal?

为什么选择登月作为我们的目标？

And they may well ask why climb the highestmountain?

那他们也许会问为什么我们要登上最高的山峰？

Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic?

为什么，要在35年前，飞越大西洋？

Why does Rice play Texas?

为什么赖斯大学要与德克萨斯大学竞赛？

We choose to go to the moon.

我们决定登月。

We choose to go to the moon in this decade and dothe other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, becausethat goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies andskills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we areunwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.

我们决定在这十年间登上月球并实现更多梦想，并非它们轻而易举，而正是因为它们困难重重。因为这个目标将促进我们实现最佳的组织并测试我们顶尖的技术和力量，因为这个挑战我们乐于接受，因为这个挑战我们不愿推迟，因为这个挑战我们志在必得，其他的挑战也是如此。

It is for these reasons that I regard thedecision last year to shift our efforts in space from low to high gear as amongthe most important decisions that will be made during my incumbency in theoffice of the Presidency.

正是因为这些理由，我决定将去年关于提升航天计划的决定作为我在本届总统任期内最重要的决定之一。

In the last 24 hours we have seen facilities nowbeing created for the greatest and most complex exploration in man's history.

在过去的24小时里我们看到一些设施已经为人类历史上最伟大而复杂的探险而建立起来。

We have felt the ground shake and the airshattered by the testing of a Saturn C-1 booster rocket, many times as powerfulas the Atlas which launched John Glenn, generating power equivalent to 10,000automobiles with their accelerators on the floor.

我们感受到了土星C-1火箭试验产生的震动和冲击，它比把约翰·格伦送入太空的擎天神火箭还要强大好几倍，可以产生相当于1万辆汽车的功率。

We have seen the site where five F-1 rocketengines, each one as powerful as all eight engines of the Saturn combined, willbe clustered together to make the advanced Saturn missile, assembled in a newbuilding to be built at Cape Canaveral as tall as a 48-storey structure, aswide as a city block, and as long as two lengths of this field.

我们看到了5个F-1火箭引擎，每一个都相当于8个土星火箭引擎的功率，它们将会用于建造更先进的土星火箭，在卡纳维拉尔角即将兴建的48层大楼中组装起来。这幢建筑宽一个街区，长度超过我们现在所在的这个体育场的两倍。

Within these last 19 months at least 45satellites have circled the earth. Some 40 of them were made in the UnitedStates of America and they were far more sophisticated and supplied far moreknowledge to the people of the world than those of the Soviet Union.

在过去的19个月里至少有45颗卫星进入地球轨道，其中大约40颗标着“美利坚合众国制造”的标记，它们比苏联的卫星更加精密，能为世界人民提供更多的知识。

The Mariner spacecraft now on its way to Venus isthe most intricate instrument in the history of space science.

正在飞向金星的水手号飞船是空间科学史上最复杂的装置。

The accuracy of that shot is comparable to firinga missile from Cape Canaveral and dropping it in this stadium between the40-yard lines.

其精确程度比得上在卡纳维拉尔角发射的一枚导弹直接击中这个体育场的40码线之间。

Transit satellites are helping our ships at seato steer a safer course.

海事卫星将使海上的船只航行更加安全。

Tiros satellites have given us unprecedentedwarnings of hurricanes and storms, and will do the same for forest fires andicebergs.

气象卫星可以提前带给我们飓风与风暴预警，它同样也可以用于森林火灾与冰山预警。

We have had our failures, but so have others,even if they do not admit them.

我们经历过失败，但是别人也经历过，即便他们不会承认。

And they may be less public.

因此它们可能并不为人所知。

To be sure, we are behind, and will be behind forsome time in manned flight.

显然，我们正落后于人，并且在载人航天方面还将继续落后一段时间。

But we do not intend to stay behind, and in thisdecade, we shall make up and move ahead.

但是我们绝不会处于下风，在这十年间，我们将会迎头赶上。

The growth of our science and education will beenriched by new knowledge of our universe and environment, by new techniques oflearning and mapping and observation, by new tools and computers for industry,medicine, the home as well as the school.

我们在科学和教育获得的进展将丰富我们关于宇宙与环境的新知识，新经验，绘图与观测技术，用于工业，医学和家庭的新工具和计算机，所有的一切都将促进科学和教育的发展。

Technical institutions, such as Rice, will reapthe harvest of these gains.

像赖斯大学这样的技术院校将会因此受益。

And finally, the space effort itself, while stillin its infancy, has already created a great number of new companies, and tensof thousands of new jobs.

最终，尽管航天事业本身仍然处于童年，它已经催生了许多公司和数以千计的新兴工作。

Space and related industries are generating newdemands in investment and skilled personnel, and this city and this state, andthis region, will share greatly in this growth.

航天与其他相关工业对投资和特殊技术人员产生了新的需求。并且这个城市，这个州和这个地区将会极大地受益于这种增长。

What was once the furthest outpost on the oldfrontier of the West will be the furthest outpost on the new frontier ofscience and space.

西部的旧边界将会成为空间科学的新边界。

Houston, your city of Houston, with its MannedSpacecraft Center, will become the heart of a large scientific and engineeringcommunity.

休斯敦，你们的休斯敦市，以及它的载人航天中心，将会成为一个巨大的科学与工程共同体的命脉。

During the next 5 years the National Aeronauticsand Space Administration expects to double the number of scientists andengineers in this area, to increase its outlays for salaries and expenses to$60 million a year; to invest some $200 million in plant and laboratoryfacilities; and to direct or contract for new space efforts over $1 billion fromthis center in this city.

接下来5年，国家航空航天局希望这里的科学家和工程师数量翻倍，希望将工资和开支提高到每年6千万美元，希望在工厂和实验设施上得到2亿美元的投资，希望指导或与这个城市的航天中心签订超过10亿美元的合同。

To be sure, all this costs us all a good deal ofmoney.

显而易见，这些会花掉我们一大笔钱。

This year's space budget is three times what itwas in January 1961, and it is greater than the space budget of the previouseight years combined.

今年的航天预算是1961年元月的三倍，比过去八年的总和还要多。

That budget now stands at $5,400 million ayear--a staggering sum, though somewhat less than we pay for cigarettes andcigars every year.

预算现在保持在每年54亿美元――一个令人震惊的数目，尽管还稍小于我们在香烟和雪茄上所消耗的年消费额。

Space expenditures will soon rise some more, from40 cents per person per week to more than 50 cents a week for every man, womanand child in the United States, for we have given this program a high nationalpriority--even though I realize that this is in some measure an act of faithand vision, for we do not now know what benefits await us.

航天支出很快就会从全国人均每周40美分上升到每周50美分，因为我们赋予了这个计划极高的国家优先权――即使我认识到，目前这个目标从某种程度上来说还停留在信念与梦想中，因为我们无从知晓人们将会从中获得怎样的收益。

But if I were to say, my fellow citizens, that weshall send to the moon, 240,000 miles away from the control station in Houston,a giant rocket more than 300 feet tall, the length of this football field, madeof new metal alloys, some of which have not yet been invented, capable ofstanding heat and stresses several times more than have ever been experienced,fitted together with a precision better than the finest watch, carrying all theequipment needed for propulsion, guidance, control, communications, food andsurvival, on an untried mission, to an unknown celestial body, and then returnit safely to earth, re-entering the atmosphere at speeds of over 25,000 milesper hour, causing heat about half that of the temperature of the sun--almost ashot as it is here today--and do all this, and do it right, and do it firstbefore this decade is out--then we must be bold.

但是我想说，我的同胞们。让我们向那个距离休斯敦控制中心远隔24万英里的月球发射一枚超过 300 英尺高，与这个橄榄球场长度相当的火箭。这枚火箭采用了新型合金材料，其耐热性与抗压性比现在使用的材料强好几倍，只是个别部分还是未知数。其装配的精密程度堪比最精确的手表。它运载着用于推进，导航，控制，通讯，食品和维生的各种设备，肩负着前所未有的使命，登上那个未知的天体，之后安全返回地球。以超过2万5千英里的时速重返大气层，由此产生的高温大约是太阳温度的一半，像此时此地一样热――如果我们要在这10年间，正确地实现这些目标――那我们必须敢做敢为。

I'm the one who is doing all the work, so we justwant you to stay cool for a minute.

我一个人做了所有这些工作，所以我们想让你们冷静一会。

However, I think we're going to do it, and Ithink that we must pay what needs to be paid.

然而，我认为我们正在付诸实践，我们必须为所必为。

I don't think we ought to waste any money, but Ithink we ought to do the job.

我并不觉得我们应该浪费钱，但我认为我们应该付诸实践。

And this will be done in the decade of theSixties.

这些应该在60年代实现。

It may be done while some of you are still hereat school at this college and university.

它有可能在你们还在中学，这所学院或大学时实现。

It will be done during the terms of office ofsome of the people who sit here on this platform.

它将会在台上诸位的任期之内实现。

But it will be done. And it will be done beforethe end of this decade.

它必将完成，并且应当在这十年结束之前完成。

And I am delighted that this university is playinga part in putting a man on the moon as part of a great national effort of theUnited States of America.

我很高兴这所大学能够作为载人登月工程的一部分，能够作为美利坚合众国国家事业的一部分。

Many years ago the great British explorer GeorgeMallory, who was to die on Mount Everest, was asked why did he want to climbit. He said, "Because it is there."

很多年前，伟大的英国探险家乔治·马拉里在攀登珠穆朗玛峰时遇难。曾经有人问他为什么要攀登珠峰，他回答说，“因为它就在那儿。”

Well, space is there, and we're going to climbit, and the moon and the planets are there, and new hopes for knowledge andpeace are there.

好的，太空就在那儿，而我们将投入探索。月球和其他星球就在那儿，获得知识与和平的新希望就在那儿。

And, therefore, as we set sail we ask God'sblessing on the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on whichman has ever embarked.

因此，在我们启程之时，我们祈求上帝能够保佑这个人类有史以来所从事的最具风险，危险与最伟大的历险。

Thank you.

谢谢你们。