Our Responsibility Is Heavy
西奧多·羅斯福 / Theodore Roosevelt
西奧多·羅斯福（1858—1919），共和黨人，美國總統，畢業於哈佛大學。曾組織誌願騎兵團參加美西戰爭，1900年任副總統，次年麥金利總統遇刺身亡，繼任總統，時年42歲。任期內推出多項改革，以“改革家”麵貌治國，對外則實行“大棒”政策。
Practicing for Better Learning
Listen to the following article twice， and fill in the blanks with appropriate words.
1. We have not been ________ to fight for our existence against any alien race；and yet our life has called for the vigor and effort without which the manlier and hardier ________ wither away.
2. We must show not only in our words， but in our deeds， that we are ________ desirous of securing their good will by acting toward them in a spirit of just and ________________ of all their rights.
My fellow-citizens， no people on earth have more cause to be thankful than ours， and this is said reverently， in no spirit of boastfulness in our own strength， but with gratitude to the Giver of Good who has blessed us with the conditions which have enabled us to achieve so large a measure of well-being and of happiness. To us a people it has been granted to lay the foundations of our national life in a new continent. We are the heirs of the ages， and yet we have had to pay few of the penalties which in old countries are exacted by the dead hand of a bygone civilization. We have not been obliged to fight for our existence against any alien race and yet our life has called for the vigor and effort without which the manlier and hardier virtues wither away. Under such conditions it would be our own fault if we failed and the success which we have had in the past， the success which we confidently believe the future will bring， should cause in us no feeling of vainglory， but rather a deep and abiding realization of all which life has offered us a full acknowledgment of the responsibility which is ours and a fixed determination to show that under a free government a mighty people can thrive best， alike as regards the things of the body and the things of the soul.