第一篇:林肯两次经典演说
一、葛底斯堡演说词
亚伯拉罕·林肯
八十七年前,我们的先辈在这个大陆上建立起一个崭新的国家。这个国家以自由为理想,奉行所有人生来平等的原则。
我们正在进行一场伟大的国内战争。我们的国家或任何一个有着同样理想与目标的国家能否长久存在,这次战争是一场考验。现在我们——在这场战争的一个伟大战场[3]上——聚会在一起,将这战场上的一小块土地奉献给那些为国家生存而英勇捐躯的人们,作为他们最后的安息之地。我们这样做是完全适当的、应该的。
然而,从深一层的意义上说来,我们没有能力奉献这块土地,没有能力使这块土地变得更为神圣。因为在这里进行过斗争的、活着的和已经死去的勇士们,已经使这块土地变得这样圣洁,我们的微力已不足以对它有所扬抑。我今天在这里说的话,也许世人不会注意也不会记住,但是这些英雄的业绩,人们会永世不忘。
我们后来者应该做的,是献身于英雄们曾在此为之奋斗、努力推进但尚未完成的工作。我们应该献身于他们遗留给我们的伟大任务。我们的先烈已将自己的全部精诚赋予我们的事业,我们应从他们的榜样中汲取更多的精神力量,决心使他们的鲜血不至白流。在上帝的护佑下,我们的国家将获得自由的新生。我们这个民有、民治、民享的政府将永存于世上。(简介:这是林肯1863年11月19[4]日在葛底斯堡阵亡将士公墓落成仪式上发表的演说,是公认的英语演讲的最高典范。)
The Gettysburg Address
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
November 19, 1863
-Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.-Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.We are met on a great battle-field of that war.We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives.That nation might live.It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.-But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground.The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.-It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before usthat cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotionthat these dead shall not have died in vainand that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.(By Abraham Lincoln)
二、林肯第二次就职演说
(1865年3月4日)
各位同胞:
在这第二次的宣誓就职典礼中,不像第一次就职的时候那样需要发表长篇演说。在那个时候,对于当时所要进行的事业多少作一详细的说明,似乎是适当的。现在四年任期已满,在这段战争期间的每个重要时刻和阶段中——这个战争至今仍为举国所关怀,还且占用了国家大部分力量——都经常发布文告,所以现在很少有什么新的发展可以奉告。我们的军事进展,是一切其它问题的关键所在,各界人士对此情形是跟我一样熟悉的,而我相信进展的情况,可以使我们全体人民有理由感到满意和鼓舞。既然可以对将来寄予极大的希望,那么我们也就用不着在这一方面作什么预言了。
四年前在与此同一场合里,所有的人都焦虑地注意一场即将来临的内战。大家害怕它,想尽了方法去避免它。当时我正在这里作就职演说,竭尽全力想不用战争方法而能保存联邦,然而本城的反叛分子的代理人却没法不用战争而破坏联邦——他们力图瓦解联邦,并以谈判的方法来分割联邦。双方都声称反对战争,可是有一方宁愿打仗而不愿让国家生存,另一方则宁可接受这场战争,而不愿国家灭亡,于是战争就来临了。
我们全国人口的八分之一是黑奴,他们并非遍布整个联邦,而是局部地分布于南方。这些奴隶构成了一种特殊而重大的权益。大家知道这种权益可说是这场战争的原因。为了加强、保持及扩大这种权益,反叛分子会不惜以战争来分裂联邦,而政府只不过要限制这种权益所在地区的扩张。当初,任何一方都没有想到这场战争会发展到目前那么大的范围,持续那么长的时间。也没有料到冲突的原因会随冲突本身的终止而终止,甚至会在冲突本身终止以前而终止。双方都在寻求一个较轻易的胜利,都没有期望获致带根本性的和惊人的结果。双方念诵同样的圣经,祈祷于同一个上帝,甚至于每一方都求助同一上帝的援助以反对另一方,人们竟敢求助于上帝,来夺取他人以血汗得来的面包,这看来是很奇怪的。可是我们不要判断人家,免得别人判断我们。
我们双方的祈祷都不能够如愿,而且断没全部如愿以偿。上苍自有他自己的目标。由于罪恶而世界受苦难,因为罪恶总是要来的;然而那个作恶的人,要受苦难」假使我们以为美国的奴隶制度是这种罪恶之一,而这些罪恶按上帝的意志在所不免,但既经持续了他所指定的一段时间,他现在便要消除这些罪恶;假使我们认为上帝把这场惨烈的战争加在南北双方的头上,作为对那些招致罪恶的人的责罚,难道我们可以认为这件事有悖于虔奉上帝的信徒们所归诸上帝的那些圣德吗? 我们天真地希望着,我们热忱地祈祷着,希望这战争的重罚可以很快地过去。可是,假使上帝要让战争再继续下去,直到二百五十年来奴隶无偿劳动所积聚的财富化为乌有,并像三千年前所说的那样,等到鞭笞所流的每一滴血,被刀剑之下所流的每一滴血所抵消,那么我们仍然只能说,「主的裁判是完全正确而且公道的。
我们对任何人都不怀恶意,我们对任何人都抱好感,上帝让我们看到正确的事,我们就坚定地信那正确的事,让我们继续奋斗,以完成我们正在进行的工作,去治疗国家的创伤,去照顾艰苦作战的志士和他的孤儿遗孀,尽力实现并维护在我们自己之间和我国与各国之间的公正和持久的和平。
(简介:一八**年当林肯再度当选连任总统职位时,美国仍为内战所分裂。当时战争的结果仍不能确定,而林肯的再度当选,成为北方人民决心作战到底争取最后胜利的一个令人振奋的表现。一八六五年三月四日当林肯宣誓就职时,局势清楚显示北方即将战胜,战争行将结束。在这篇就职演讲词中,林肯致力于讨论战后美国人民将面临的重大课题。林肯希望避免一切过错与惩罚的问题。当他准备实施这项政策时,一个刺客的枪弹葬送了他的崇高理想。)
Second Inaugural Address
by Abraham Lincoln March 4, 1865
Fellow-Countrymen:
At this second appearing to take the oath of the presidential office there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first.Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued seemed fitting and proper.Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of his great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented.The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all.With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war.All dreaded it;all sought to avert it.While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving teing delivered from thisurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war-seeking to dissolve the Union and divide effects by negotiation.Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came.One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it.Their slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest.All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war.To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war, while the Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it.Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration, which it has already attained.Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease.Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding.Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other.It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged.That of neither has been answered fully.The Almighty has His own purposes.“Woe unto the world because of offenses;for it must need be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comet.”
If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern there in any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him?
Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray that thi——ighty scourge of war may speedily pass away? Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago so still it must be said “The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”
With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the might, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.
第二篇:林肯演说三民主义
民有、民治、民享
林肯的这篇《葛底斯堡的演说》,全文仅10个句子、272个词。但对美国民主制度和政治理想却作了十分准确的概括。
第一,这篇演说重申了美国的自由原则和传统:“八十七年前,我们的先辈们在这个大陆上缔造了一个新的国家,它孕育于自由之中,奉行人人生而平等的原则。”
第二,把内战看成是对民主和自由制度的考验。“现在我们正从事于一场伟大的内战,以考验这个国家,或者任何一个孕育和奉行这一原则的国家,是否能够长久存在下去。”
第三,对美国的民主理想作了简明的概括。“全世界将很少注意到、也不会长久记住我们在这里所说的话,但却永远不会忘记阵亡将士在这里做过的事。倒是我们这些活着的人,应该在这里把自己奉献给曾在这里战斗过的人们一直致力推向前进但尚未完成的事业。„„我们要使这个国家在上帝的护佑下得到自由的新生;我们要使这个民有、民治、民享的政府永世长存。”
此刻,距1787年9月17日在费城举行的联邦宪法签署仪式已有76年。但“民有、民治、民享”的宪政国家源流却可以追溯到美国建国之初。
这是美国总统林肯的一段名言。其英文原文是(大抵如此,可能有些出入):
(The government)of the people, by the people, for the people(will never die).有人就译成:(这个)民有、民治、民享(的政府永不会消失)。
从这里看到,英文的原文非常精练,含义也比中文译文更深刻。
三个介词生动地体现了这个政府的性质:
of: 表归属,说明政府属于人民所有,而不是人民属于政府所有;
by: 表执行者,说明在这个政府一切的行事,包括运用(就是“治”)和不运用(不属于“治”)政治权力的时候,是人民(或其公选的代表),而不是官员来执行;
for: 表目的,这个政府以人民的目的为目的,而不是人民以政府的目的为目的。并且,人民愿意“享”这个政府就“享”;不愿意“享”,政府无权要求人民去“享”,否则就违反了“以人民的目的为目的”的原则。
显然by和for两个词,都比中文的“治”和“享”含义更丰富,更深刻。
最后,林肯用了people(人民)一词,而不是采用西方常用的citizen(公民)。
有人说,“人民”的含义比“公民”窄,因为“人民”的对立面是“敌人”,而“公民”仍然可能被划为“敌人”。其实,这不过是在“中国国情”下特有的一种误解。
在西方,citizen的最原始含义是指向政府纳税的那部分人,所谓公民权首先决定于有无纳税,纳税多少。
但显然,未成年人、老年人和种种原因失去部分或全部劳动能力的人也是现代国家的“公民”,但他们不纳税或很少纳税,还享受国家福利救济。
林肯其实是说,我们的国家的公民不仅包括纳税人,也包括(按法律)不需要纳税的那些人。为避免歧义,他就使用了一个认为是中性而广泛的词:people, 人民。
林肯的民有民享民治:of the people, for the people,by the people,(葛底斯堡演说的最后部分:
但,于更大意义之上,吾等无法致力、无法奉上、无法成就此土之圣。这群勇者,无论生死,曾于斯奋战到底,早已使其神圣,而远超过吾人卑微之力所能增减。这世间不曾丝毫留意,也不长久记得吾等于斯所言,但永不忘怀彼人于此所为。吾等生者,理应当然,献身于此辈鞠躬尽瘁之未完大业。吾等在此责无旁贷献身于眼前之伟大使命:自光荣的亡者之处吾人肩起其终极之奉献—吾等在此答应亡者之死当非徒然—此国度,于神佑之下,当享有自由之新生—民有、民治、民享之政府当免于凋零。
附:演讲中英文版
八十七年以前,我们的祖先在这大陆上建立了一个新的国家,它孕育于自由,并且献身给一种理念,即所有人都是生来平等的。
当前,我们正在从事一次伟大的内战,我们在考验,究竟这个国家,或任何一个有这种主张和这种信仰的国家,是否能长久存在。我们在那次战争的一个伟大的战场上集合。我们来到这里,奉献那个战场上的一部分土地,作为在此地为那个国家的生存而牺牲了自己生命的人永久眠息之所。我们这样做,是十分合情合理的。
可是,就更深一层意义而言,我们是无从奉献这片土地的--无从使它成为圣地--也不可能把它变为人们景仰之所。那些在这里战斗的勇士,活着的和死去的,已使这块土地神圣化了,远非我们的菲薄能力所能左右。世人会不大注意,更不会长久记得我们在此地所说的话,然而他们将永远忘不了这些人在这里所做的事。相反,我们活着的人应该献身于那些曾在此作战的人们所英勇推动而尚未完成的工作。我们应该在此献身于我们面前所留存的伟大工作--由于他们的光荣牺牲,我们要更坚定地致力于他们曾作最后全部贡献的那个事业--我们在此立志誓愿,不能让他们白白死去--要使这个国家在上帝庇佑之下,得到新生的自由--要使那民有、民治、民享的政府不致从地球上消失。
The Gettysburg Address
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
November 19, 1863
Fourscore and seven years ago,our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation,conceived and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.Now we are egaged in a great civil war,testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and dedicated can long endure.We are met on the battelfield of that war.We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final-resting place for those who gave their lives that the nation might live.It is altogether and proper that we should do this.But, in a larger sense,we can not dedicate,we can not consecrate,we can not hallow this ground.The brave men,living and dead,have consecrated it far above our power to add or detract.The world will little note what we say here,but it can never forget what they did here.It is for us,the living,rather to be dedicated to the great task remaining before us,that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion,that the nation shall have a new birth of freedom,that the goverment of the people by the people and for the people shall not perish from the earth.
第三篇:林肯的哥斯堡演说
林肯葛底斯堡演讲
The Gettysburg Address
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
November 19, 186
3Fourscore and seven years ago,our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation,conceived and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.Now we are egaged in a great civil war,testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and dedicated can long endure.We are met on the battelfield of that war.We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final-resting place for those who gave their lives that the nation might live.It is altogether and proper that we should do this.But, in a larger sense,we can not dedicate,we can not consecrate,we can not hallow this ground.The brave men,living and dead,have consecrated it far above our power to add or detract.The world will little note what we say here,but it can never forget what they did here.It is for us,the living,rather to be dedicated to the great task remaining before us,that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion,that the nation shall have a new birth of
freedom,that the goverment of the people by the people and for the people shall not perish from the earth.主讲:亚伯拉罕·林肯
时间:1863年11月19日
地点:美国,宾夕法尼亚,葛底斯堡
八十七年前,我们先辈在这个大陆上创立了一个新国家,它孕育于自由之中,奉行一切人生来平等的原则。
我们正从事一场伟大的内战,以考验这个国家,或者任何一个孕育于自由和奉行上述原则的国家是否能够长久存在下去。我们在这场战争中的一个伟大战场上集会。烈士们为使这个国家能够生存下去而献出了自己的生命,我们来到这里,是要把这个战场的一部分奉献给他们作为最后安息之所。我们这样做是完全应该而且非常恰当的。
但是,从更广泛的意义上说,这块土地我们不能够奉献,不能够圣化,不能够神化。那些曾在这里战斗过的勇士们,活着的和去世的,已经把这块土地圣化了,这远不是我们微薄的力量所能增减的。我们今天在这里所说的话,全世界不大会注意,也不会长久地记住,但勇士们在这里所做过的事,全世界却永远不会忘记。毋宁说,倒是我们这些还活着的人,应该在这里把自己奉献于勇士们已经如此崇高地向前推进但尚未完成的事业。倒是我们应该在这里把自已奉献于仍然留在我们面前的伟大任务——我们要从这些光荣的死者身上吸取更多的献身精神,来完成他们已经完全彻底为之献身的事业;我们要在这里下定最大的决心,不让这些死者白白牺牲;我们要使国家在上帝福佑下自由的新生,要使这个民有、民治、民享的政府永世长存。
Abraham Lincoln 亚伯拉罕.林肯(1809-1865),美国第十六任总统(1861-1865)。他自修法律,以反对奴隶制的纲领当选为总统,导致南方诸州脱离联邦。在由此引起的南北战争(1861-1865)中,他作为总统,发挥了美国历史上最有效、最鼓舞人心的领导作用,以其坚定的信念、深远的眼光和完美无缺的政治手腕,成功地引导一个处于分裂的国家度过了其历史上流血最多的内战,从而换救了联邦。他致力于推进全人类的民主、自由和平等,以最雄辩的语言阐述了人道主义的思想,不失时机地发表《解放黑奴宣言》,因而被后人尊称为“伟大的解放者”。林肯不仅是一个伟大的总统,更是一个伟人。他出生于社会低层,具有勤劳简朴、谦虚和诚恳的美德。在美国历届总统中,林肯堪称是最平易近人的一位。林肯的著作主要是演讲词和书信,以朴素庄严、观点明确、思想丰富、表达灵活、适应对象并具有特殊的美国风味见称。此篇演讲是美国文学中最漂亮、最富有诗意的文章之一。虽然这是一篇庆祝军事胜利的演说,但它没有好战之气。相反,这是一篇感人肺腑的颂辞,赞美那些作出最后牺牲的人们,以及他们为之献身的那些理想。其中“政府应为民有、民治、民享”的名言被人们广为传颂
第四篇:林肯葛底斯堡演说
林肯葛底斯堡演说.txt你妈生你的时候是不是把人给扔了把胎盘养大?别把虾米不当海鲜。别把虾米不当海鲜。Abraham Lincoln,Delivered on the 19th Day of November,1863,Cemetery Hill, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure.We are met on a great battlefield of that war.We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that the nation might live.It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground.The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract.The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.主讲:亚伯拉罕·林肯 时间:1863年11月19日 地点:美国,宾夕法尼亚,葛底斯堡
八十七年前,我们的先辈们在這个大陸上建立了一個孕育自由、尊崇“人人生而平等”的新國家。現在我們正从事一場伟大的內戰,一场检验这个国家或者任何拥有这种信念和原则的国家是否能够长期生存的内战。
我們今天在這场內戰的一个伟大的戰場上聚会,我们要獻出这个战场的一部分,給那些為這個國家的長存而付出了生命的人作為他們最後的安息之所。尽管這樣做是適當的、應該的,但在更大的意義上說,我们不能奉献这片土地,我们不能使之神圣,我们不能使之尊严,因为那些曾经在这里奋斗过,活着的和已经牺牲的勇士们,已经使这块土地神圣化了,远非我们的微薄能力所能再增减(这里的神圣与尊严)。
我们今天在这里所说的话,全世界也许不大会注意,也不会长久地记住,但勇士们在这里所做过的事,全世界却永远不会忘记。对于我們还活着的人们下面應該做的,是繼續去完成勇士们已经取得了輝煌战績但还未完成的事业
我们应该从那些为这个事业已经付出了一切的死者身上获得更坚定的信念,我们应该在这里
下定最大的决心一定要让那些死难者不致于白白牺牲,我们要让这个民族在上帝的庇佑下,获得自由的新生,让这个属于人民、依靠人民、为人民服务的政府与世长存!
林肯在葛底斯堡的演讲
《林肯在葛底斯堡的演讲》是南北内战中为纪念在葛底斯堡战役中阵亡战士所做的一篇演讲。是林肯最出名的演讲,也是美国文学中最漂亮、最富有诗意的文章之一,用时不到2分钟1863年7月3日葛底斯堡战役是美国南北战争中最为残酷的一战,这是南北战争的转折点。这场战役交战双方共死了51000人,而当时美国只有几百万人口。四个月后林肯总统到葛底斯堡战场访问,为这场伟大战役的阵亡将士墓举行落成仪式。
这篇演说是在1863年11月19日发表的。这篇演讲被认为是英语演讲中的最高典范,尤其重要的是,林肯在演讲中表达了一个政府存在的目的——民有、民治、民享。其演讲手稿被藏于美国国会图书馆,其演说辞被铸成金文,长存于牛津大学。至今,人们也常在许多重要场合提起或朗诵它。
虽然这是一篇庆祝军事胜利的演说,但它没有好战之气。相反,这是一篇感人肺腑的颂辞,赞美那些作出最后牺牲的人们,以及他们为之献身的那些理想。
全文如下:
The Gettysburg Address
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
November 19, 1863
Fourscore and seven years ago,our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation,conceived and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are egaged in a great civil war,testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and dedicated can long endure.We are met on the battelfield of that war.We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final-resting place for those who gave their lives that the nation might live.It is altogether and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense,we can not dedicate,we can not consecrate,we can not hallow this ground.The brave men,living and dead,have consecrated it far above our power
to add or detract.The world will little note what we say here,but it can never forget what they did here.It is for us,the living,rather to be dedicated to the great task remaining before us,that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion,that the nation shall have a new birth of freedom,that the goverment of the people by the people and for the people shall not perish from the earth.主讲:亚伯拉罕·林肯
时间:1863年11月19日
地点:美国,宾夕法尼亚,葛底斯堡
八十七年前,我们先辈在这个大陆上创立了一个新国家,它孕育于自由之中,奉行一切人生来平等的原则。
我们正从事一场伟大的内战,以考验这个国家,或者任何一个孕育于自由和奉行上述原则的国家是否能够长久存在下去。我们在这场战争中的一个伟大战场上集会。烈士们为使这个国家能够生存下去而献出了自己的生命,我们来到这里,是要把这个战场的一部分奉献给他们作为最后安息之所。我们这样做是完全应该而且非常恰当的。
但是,从更广泛的意义上说,这块土地我们不能够奉献,不能够圣化,不能够神化。那些曾在这里战斗过的勇士们,活着的和去世的,已经把这块土地圣化了,这远不是我们微薄的力量所能增减的。我们今天在这里所说的话,全世界不大会注意,也不会长久地记住,但勇士们在这里所做过的事,全世界却永远不会忘记。毋宁说,倒是我们这些还活着的人,应该在这里把自己奉献于勇士们已经如此崇高地向前推进但尚未完成的事业。倒是我们应该在这里把自己奉献于仍然留在我们面前的伟大任务——我们要从这些光荣的死者身上吸取更多的献身精神,来完成他们已经完全彻底为之献身的事业;我们要在这里下定最大的决心,不让这些死者白白牺牲;我们要使国家在上帝福佑下自由的新生,要使这个民有、民治、民享的政府永世长存。
第五篇:林肯《葛底斯堡演说》
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure.We are met on a great battlefield of that war.We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live.It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground.The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract.The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.八十七年前,我们的父辈在这块大陆上创建了一个新的国家。这个新的国家在自由中孕育,信奉人人生而平等的主张。现在我们正在从事伟大的国内战争,来考验这个国家,或任何在自由中孕育,信奉人人生而平等的主张的国家,能否长久存在下去。
我们今天相聚在这场战争的一个伟大的战场上。我们相聚在这里是为了把这伟大战场的一部分奉献给那些为了我们国家的生存而献出了生命的烈士们作为最后的安息地。我们这样做完全是合情合理的。但在更广泛的意义上来说,我们不能奉献这块土地,我们不能使这块土地神圣,我们不能使这块土地光耀。那些勇敢的人们,那些曾经在这里战斗过的,活着和死去的人们,已经使这块土地神圣了,远非我们所能增加或减少。世界不大会注意,也不会永久记住我们今天在这里所说的话,但世界决不能忘记他们在这里所做过的事情。
我们这些活着的人,倒是应该在这里献身于他们长久以来如此高尚地推进的,尚未完成的工作。我们倒是应该在这里献身于留在我们面前的伟大任务:那就是继承这些光荣的先烈,对他们在这里作出最后全部贡献的事业,作出我们进一步的贡献;那就是我们在这里狠下决心,决不让这些先烈的死成为白白的牺牲;那就是我们的国家一定要在上帝底下获得新的自由;那就是决不让人民的政府,人民选举的政府,为了人民的政府从地球上消亡。