新东方网英语讯：美国总统奥巴马20日宣誓就职，正式连任美国总统，不过因20日恰逢星期日，21日他还要再宣一次誓。当日中午前后，奥巴马携夫人米歇尔、女儿萨莎和玛利亚来到白宫蓝厅，在最高法院首席大法官约翰·罗伯茨的主持下宣誓就职。在罗伯茨的领诵下，奥巴马手抚一本米歇尔父母的《圣经》，诵读了美国《宪法》规定的总统就职誓词，中译文为：“我谨庄严宣誓，我一定忠实执行合众国总统职务，竭尽全力，恪守、维护和捍卫合众国宪法。” WHITE HOUSE — President Barack Obama has been formally sworn in for a second four-year term. Vice President Joe Biden also took the oath of office Sunday before Mondays public inauguration ceremony, to be witnessed by hundreds of thousands of people on the National Mall. Obama took the oath just before noon in a ceremony lasting about half a minute in the oval-shaped White House Blue Room, with views of the executive mansions South Lawn sweeping down to the Washington Monument. With First Lady Michelle Obama, daughters Malia and Sasha, and a small group of reporters looking on, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts administered the oath. Obama shook Roberts hand, kissed his wife and children, and said to his family, "I did it." This was the seventh time in U.S. history a president has taken the oath on Sunday, before a public ceremony the following day. The U.S. Constitution requires a presidents term to begin on January 20. Obama used a Bible that belonged to his wifes grandmother, LaVaughn Delores Robinson. In his public inauguration Monday at the U.S. Capitol, he will again lay his hand on the bible used by President Abraham Lincoln at his inauguration in 1861. Obama will also use a second bible, once owned by the late civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The ceremony occurs on the national holiday established to honor Dr. King. This year also marks the 50th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington for equal rights for African-Americans, and the 150th anniversary of President Lincolns Emancipation Proclamation that initiated the process of freeing slaves in America. President Obama and his family also attended a Sunday service at the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church, which has an important place in history for African-Americans.
