葛底斯堡演说

Gettysgueg Address

Fourscore and seven years ago,our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new Nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedi-cated 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 moral resting-place for those who gave their lives that Nation might live. It is altogether fit' ting 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 conse-crated it far above our power to add or detract.

The world will little note nor long re-member 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 we here highly revolve 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.

葛底斯堡演说

八十七年前，我们的先辈们在这个大陆上创立了一个新国家，它以自由为理想。致力实现人人享有天赋的平等权利为目标。现在我们正从事一场伟大的内战，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，此次战争就是一次考验。我们在这场战争中的一个伟大战场上聚集在一起。烈士们为使这个国家的生存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地。我们这样做是完全应该的，而且也是非常恰当的。但是，从更广泛的意义上来说，我们没有能力奉献这块土地，没有能力使得这块土地变得更为神圣。那些曾在这里战斗过的，活着的和去世的勇士们，已经把这块土地神圣化了，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，世人不大会注意，也不会长久地记住，但勇士们在这里所做过的事，全世界将永远不会忘记。我们这些后来者应该做的是献身于勇士们曾经在这里为之奋斗、努力推进但尚未完成的事业。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。我们要从这些先烈身上汲取更多的精神力量。来完成他们已经完全为之献身的事业，努力使他们的鲜血不白流；在上帝保佑下，自由将在我们国家得到新生。我们这个民有、民治、民享的政府将永世长存。