THE SECRETARY-GENERAL'S VIDEO MESSAGE FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM

My dear friends all over the world,


Today we celebrate a special New Year with a momentous number: the Year Two Thousand.


As we move into a new Millennium, many of us have much to be thankful for. Most of the world is at peace. Most of us are better educated than our parents or grandparents, and can expect to live longer lives, with greater freedom and a wider range of choices.


A new century brings new hope, but can also bring new dangers - or old ones in a new and alarming form.


Some of us fear seeing our jobs and our way of life destroyed by economic change. Others fear the spread of bigotry, violence or disease. Others still are more worried that human activities may be ruining the global environment on which our life depends.


No one knows for sure how serious each of these dangers will be. But one thing they have in common: they do not respect state frontiers.


Even the strongest state, acting alone, may not be able to protect its citizens against them.


More than ever before in human history, we all share a common destiny. We can master it only if we face it together.


And that, my friends, is why we have the United Nations.


Through the United Nations, we are working together to preserve peace; to outlaw weapons that kill and maim indiscriminately; to bring mass murderers and war criminals to justice.


Through the United Nations, we are working together to defeat AIDS and other epidemics; to control climate change; to make clean air and water available to everyone.


Through the United Nations, we are working together to ensure that the global market benefits all of us, freeing the poor to lift themselves out of poverty.


Through the United Nations, we are working together to make human rights a reality for everyone, to give all human beings real choices in life, and a real say in decisions that affect their lives.


In all these areas and more, the United Nations is working for you. But it can do little without you. After all, it belongs to you, to the peoples of the world. And therefore it can work much better with your help and your ideas.


My friends, the new millennium need not be a time of fear or anxiety. If we work together and have faith in our own abilities, it can be a time of hope and opportunity. It's up to us to make it so.


Happy New Year!


联合国秘书长新千年全球电视献辞


(1999年12月31日)


全世界亲爱的朋友们:


今天,我们庆祝一个特殊的新年,它的年号不同凡响,是2000年。


走进新千年之际,有许多事是我们许多人都应该感恩的。世界大部分地区平安无事。我们大多数人比自己的父母和祖父母受的教育多,预期寿命长,享有更大的自由和更广泛的选择。


新世纪带来新的希望,但也可能带来新的危险,或者是老危险换上了可怕的新形式。


有些人担心,经济变化会毁掉我们的就业机会和生活方式。又有些人担心偏见、暴力或疾病会蔓延。还有一些人担心,人类活动可能毁掉生命赖以存在的全球环境。


谁也不能确实知道,这每一种危险到底有多么严重。但是我们知道,这些危险有一个共同点:它们都是不尊重国界的。


即便是最强大的国家,如果单独行动,或许也无法保护其公民免受这些危险之害。


在人类历史上,我们从未像现在这样休戚与共。只有共同面对,我们才能掌握自己的命运。


朋友们,这就是成立联合国的原因。


通过联合国,我们共同努力维护和平,禁止滥杀滥伤的武器,把大屠杀的凶手和战争罪犯绳之以法。


通过联合国,我们共同努力战胜艾滋病和其他流行病,控制气候变化,让每个人都能享受到洁净的空气和饮水。


通过联合国,我们共同努力确保全球市场让人人获益,使穷人摆脱贫困。