第二十九篇:Gettysburg Address 葛底斯堡演說(shuō)
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 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, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
譯文:
在葛底斯堡的演說(shuō)
87年前,我們的先輩們?cè)谶@個(gè)大陸上創(chuàng)立了一個(gè)新國(guó)家,它孕育于自由之中,奉行一切人生來(lái)平等的原則。現(xiàn)在我們正從事一場(chǎng)偉大的內(nèi)戰(zhàn),以考驗(yàn)這個(gè)國(guó)家,或者任何一個(gè)孕育于自由和奉行上述原則的國(guó)家是否能夠長(zhǎng)久存在下去。我們?cè)谶@場(chǎng)戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)中的一個(gè)偉大戰(zhàn)場(chǎng)上集會(huì)。烈士們?yōu)槭惯@個(gè)國(guó)家能夠生存下去而獻(xiàn)出了自己的生命,我們來(lái)到這里,是要把這個(gè)戰(zhàn)場(chǎng)的一部分奉獻(xiàn)給他們作為最后安息之所。我們這樣做是完全應(yīng)該而且是非常恰當(dāng)?shù)摹?/span>
但是,從更廣泛的意義上來(lái)說(shuō),這塊土地我們不能夠奉獻(xiàn),不能夠圣化,不能夠神化。那些曾在這里戰(zhàn)斗過(guò)的勇士們,活著的和去世的,已經(jīng)把這塊土地圣化了,這遠(yuǎn)不是我們微薄的力量所能增減的。我們今天在這里所說(shuō)的話,全世界不大會(huì)注意,也不會(huì)長(zhǎng)久地記住,但勇士們?cè)谶@里所做過(guò)的事,全世界卻永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)忘記。毋寧說(shuō),倒是我們這些還活著的人,應(yīng)該在這里把自己奉獻(xiàn)于勇士們已經(jīng)如此崇高地向前推進(jìn)但尚未完成的事業(yè)。倒是我們應(yīng)該在這里把自己奉獻(xiàn)于仍然留在我們面前的偉大任務(wù)——我們要從這些光榮的死者身上汲取更多的獻(xiàn)身精神,來(lái)完成他們已經(jīng)完全徹底為之獻(xiàn)身的事業(yè);我們要在這里下定最大的決心,不讓這些死者白白犧牲;我們要使國(guó)家在上帝福佑下得到自由的新生,要使這個(gè)民有、民治、民享的政府永世長(zhǎng)存。