By Martin Luther King,
Jr. 马丁•路德金
I am happy to join with you. today in what will go down in history ,as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation..
今天，我高兴地同大家一起，参加这次将成为我国历史上为了争取自由而举行的最伟大的示威集会。
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of bad captivity.
一百年前，一位伟大的美国人签署了解放黑奴宣言，今天我们就是在他的雕像前集会。这一庄严宣言犹如灯塔的光芒，给千百万在那摧残生命的不义之火中受煎熬的黑奴带来了希望。它的到来犹如欢乐的黎明，结束了束缚黑人的漫漫长夜。
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we’ve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
然而一百年后的今天，黑人还没有得到自由，一百年后的今天，在种族隔离的镣铐和种族歧视的枷锁下，黑人的生活备受压榨。一百年后的今天，黑人仍生活在物质充裕的海洋中一个贫困的孤岛上。一百年后的今天，黑人仍然萎缩在美国社会的角落里，并且意识到自己是故土家园中的流亡者。今天我们在这里集会，就是要把这种骇人听闻的情况公诸于众。
In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
就某种意义而言，今天我们是为了要求兑现诺言而汇集到我们国家的首都来的。我们共和国的缔造者草拟宪法和独立宣言的气壮山河的词句时，曾向每一个美国人许下了诺言，他们承诺给予所有的人以生存、自由和追求幸福的不可剥夺的权利。
It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.
就有色公民而论，美国显然没有实践她的诺言。美国没有履行这项神圣的义务，只是给黑人开了一张空头支票，支票上盖着“资金不足”的戳子后便退了回来。但是我们不相信正义的银行已经破产，我们不相信，在这个国家巨大的机会之库里已没有足够的储备。因此今天我们要求将支票兑现——这张支票将给予我们宝贵的自由和正义的保障。
We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.
我们来到这个圣地也是为了提醒美国，现在是非常急迫的时刻。现在决非侈谈冷静下来或服用渐进主义的镇静剂的时候。现在是实现民主的诺言时候。现在是从种族隔离的荒凉阴暗的深谷攀登种族平等的光明大道的时候，现在是把我们的国家从种族不平等的流沙中拯救出来，置于兄弟情谊的磐石上的时候。现在是向上帝所有的儿女开放机会之门的时候。
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
如果美国忽视时间的迫切性和低估黑人的决心，那么，这对美国来说，将是致命伤。自由和平等的爽朗秋天如不到来，黑人义愤填膺的酷暑就不会过去。１９６３年并不意味着斗争的结束，而是开始。有人希望，黑人只要撒撒气就会满足；如果国家安之若素，毫无反应，这些人必会大失所望的。黑人得不到公民的权利，美国就不可能有安宁或平静，正义的光明的一天不到来，叛乱的旋风就将继续动摇这个国家的基础。
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