An excerpt from F. D. Roosevelt's Inaugural
Guidance for Reciting
This part is excerpted from the first one （in Jan. 20，1941）of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's three presidential inaugurals.
And yet our distress comes from no failure of substance. We are stricken by no plague of locusts. Compared with the perils which our forefathers conquered，because they believed and were not afraid，we have still much to be thankful for. Nature still offers her bounty and human efforts have multiplied it. Plenty is at our doorstep，but a generous use of it languishes in the very sight of the supply.
Notes
1.distress [di5stres] n. 痛苦，忧虑；贫困；不幸
2.failure [5feiljE] n. 失败，失败者，不足，缺乏，破产
3.stricken [5strikEn] a. 受打击的，负了伤的，衰老的，受灾的
4.plague [pleig] n. 瘟疫，祸害
5.bounty [5baunti] n. 慷慨，思索
F.D. 罗斯福就职演说摘录
诵读导言
这是富兰克林？罗斯福总统（Franklin Delano Roosevelt，第一位三次举行就职宣誓的美国总统）第一次就职演说的部分演讲词（1941年1月20日）。
但是，我们的苦恼决不是因为缺乏物资。我们没有遭到什么蝗虫的灾害。我们的先辈曾以信念和无畏一次次转危为安，比起他们经历过的险阻，我们仍大可感到欣慰。大自然仍在给予我们恩惠，人类的努力已使之倍增。富足的情景近在咫尺，但就在我们见到这种情景的时候，宽裕的生活却悄然离去。
口语点津
struck和stricken都是动词strike的过去分词，一般指“打击”，在现代英语中，它们的使用场合有所不同。struck用于一般打击、撞击、刺激，如：I was struck with a wonderful idea.（我忽然间想起了一个很好的主意。）Their eyes were struck by the awesome beauty of the landscape.（令人叹为观止的美丽风景把他们震慑住了。）
stricken指受打击、受煎熬，只用于负面场合，较struck富感情色彩，又多用于正式场合。比如Many people in backward countries are stricken with famine and epidemic disease.（在落后国家里，很多人受尽饥荒及瘟疫的煎熬。）