15 Address at Gettysburg 葛提斯堡演说
Abraham Lincoln 亚伯拉罕·林肯
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. (2)
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated(3), can long endure. We are met(4) 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(5). It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
八十年前，我们的先辈在这块大陆上创建了一个新的国家。他孕育了自由之中，奉行一切人生来平等的原则。现在，我们正从事于一场伟大的内战，以考验这个国家，或者说，以考验任何孕育于自由并奉行上述原则的国家能否长久生存。我们聚集在这场战争中的一个伟大的战场上。我们在此集会，是为了把这战场的一部分奉献给那些为这个国家的生存而献身的烈士，作为他们的最后安息之所。我们这样做，是理所当然、恰如其分的。
But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate -- we cannot consecrate -- we cannot hallow(6) -- 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 honoured 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 Cod, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of tile people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth(7).
但是，从更为广泛的意义上来说，我们无法奉献、无法圣化、无法神化这块土地。那些曾在这里战斗过的勇敢的生者与死者已经将这块土地圣化，这远不是我们微薄的力量所能增减的。全世界不会注意，也不会长久记住我们今天在这里所讲的话。但是，全世界永远不会忘记这些勇士在这里做过的事。对我们这些活着的人来说，倒是应该把自己奉献于勇士们以崇高的精神向前推进而尚未完成的事业，应该把自己奉献于依然摆在我们面前的伟大任务--我们要从这些可敬的死者身上汲取更多的献身精神，来完成他们为之献出全部忠诚的事业；我们要在这里下定最大的决心，不让烈士们的鲜血白流；要在上帝的保佑下，使我们的国家获得自由的新生；要使我们这个民有、民治、民享的政府永世长存。
英文注释：
(1) Gettysburg： 葛提斯堡。美国宾夕法尼亚州南部边境的小镇。美国内战史上南、北军之间规模量大的关键一仗在此发生，双方死伤各约二万五千人．林肯总统于1863年11月19日在葛提斯堡国家烈土公墓落成典礼上作了这一篇著名的演讲．
(2)"All men are created equal"： "一切人生来平等"，是美国第三，四届总统杰佛逊在美国"独立宣言’中写下的名言。
(3) so conceived and so dedicated： 指第一句中的conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal。so是副词，意为，这样地，如上所述那样地。
(4)are met： 集会。
(5)who here gave their lives that that nation might live： 为了这个国家的生存而献身的……。定语从句，其中第一个that是连词，引导目的状语，第二个that是指示代词．修饰nation。
(6) we cannot..： 我们无法……。这里we cannot重复了三次，以加深印象井抒发强烈的情感。这种修饰法称为句首重复(Anaphora)．常用于演说和诗歌。
(7)--that from these honoured dead we take increased devotion...shall not perish from the earth： 破折号后面以分号隔开的四个以that引导的从句是 the great task的同位语并列结构。 |