In the Americas its impact has been irresistible.
民主在美洲一直有著不可抗拒的影響。
America has been the New World in all tongues, to all peoples, not because this continent was a new-found land,
美國歷來是操不同語言的各國人民心中的新世界,這倒不是因為它是一片新發(fā)現(xiàn)的大陸
but because all those who came here believed they could create upon this continent a new life—a life that should be new in freedom.
而是因為所有來到這里的人都相信,他們能夠在這片大陸上創(chuàng)造出新的生活——而且應(yīng)當(dāng)是自由的新生活。
Its vitality was written into our own Mayflower Compact, into the Declaration of Independence,
民主的生命力被記載在我們自己的五月花號公約中,被記載在獨立宣言、
into the Constitution of the United States, into the Gettysburg Address.
合眾國憲法和蓋茨堡演說中。
Those who first came here to carry out the longings of their spirit, and the millions who followed, and the stock that sprang from them
那些最先來到這里實現(xiàn)他們精神上的熱望的人們、那些成千上萬的后繼者,以及這些人的子孫后代
all have moved forward constantly and consistently toward an ideal which in itself has gained stature and clarity with each generation.
在堅定不移地、始終如一地奔向一個理想,而這個理想在每一代人中逐漸成長和明確起來。
The hopes of the Republic cannot forever tolerate either undeserved poverty or self-serving wealth.
為了實現(xiàn)共和國的希望,既不能永無休止地容忍不該有的貧窮,也不能永無休止地容忍自私自利的財富。
We know that we still have far to go; that we must more greatly build the security and the opportunity and the knowledge of every citizen,
我們知道,我們還要上很長的一段路;我們必須根批國家資源和能力的條件,為每一個公民創(chuàng)造出更大的安全
in the measure justified by the resources and the capacity of the land.
更好的機會和更多的知識。
But it is not enough to achieve these purposes alone.
但是,僅僅達到這些目的是不夠的。
It is not enough to clothe and feed the body of this Nation, and instruct and inform its mind.
使這個國家有衣穿和有飯吃是不夠的,使它得到教誨和知識也是不夠的。
For there is also the spirit. And of the three, the greatest is the spirit.
因為它還有精神。在身體、腦袋和精神三者中間,精神是最重要的。
Without the body and the mind, as all men know, the Nation could not live.
所有人都知道,沒有身體和腦袋,這個國家就不能生存。
But if the spirit of America were killed, even though the Nation's body and mind, constricted in an alien world, lived on, the America we know would have perished.
但是,如果美國精神遭到扼殺,我們所知道的美國就會滅亡,即使它的身體和腦袋蜷縮到完全不同的世界中依然生存。
That spirit—that faith—speaks to us in our daily lives in ways often unnoticed, because they seem so obvious.
那種精神——那種信念——在我們的日常生活中對我們說話。但它說話的方式常常不被注意,因為似乎太司空見慣了。