英語晨讀精華 Week 6 Day 1 Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address 林肯在蓋茨堡的演說
Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address
蓋茨堡位于美國賓夕法尼亞州。1863 年7 月1 日至3 日，北軍在此重創(chuàng)了南軍，扭轉(zhuǎn)了戰(zhàn)爭局勢。此戰(zhàn)役后這里修建了一個戰(zhàn)爭犧牲者的公墓。本篇是1863 年在公墓落成典禮上林肯的演說詞。
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 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.
[注釋]：
Lincoln: Abraham Lincoln (1809—1865), 16th president of the United States (1861—1865)
林肯，美國第十六任總統(tǒng)
fourscore and seven years ago: eighty-seven years ago, here referring to the year 1776, when
the United States of America declared its independence 87 年前，指1776 年美國宣布獨立時
father: forefather 祖先
brought forth: gave birth to 締造
conceived in liberty: having liberty as an ideal of the nation 以自由為理想
dedicated to: devoted to 獻(xiàn)身于
proposition : statement; assertion 主張；信條
that all men are created equal: that all men are born equal, one of the self-evident truths
mentioned in the Declaration of Independence 美國獨立宣言明白揭示的真理：人類生而平等
endure :exist; last 存續(xù)
a portion of that field: a part of that battlefield 那個戰(zhàn)場的一部分
final resting-place: burial-place; cemetery 葬地；墓地
in a larger sense: broadly speaking 從廣義上說
consecrate : set apart as sacred 奉為神圣
hallow : regard as holy 尊為神圣
detract : reduce in degree 減損
thus far: to this extent 到如此地步
gave the last full measure of devotion: gave the last, largest extent of devoutness 鞠躬盡瘁
perish : be destroyed or ruined 毀滅
