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But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that 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 an appalling condition.
但是，一百年后的今天，我們必須面對這樣的悲慘現實：黑人仍然沒有自由。一百年后的今天，黑人的生活仍然悲慘地套著種族隔離和種族歧視的枷鎖。一百年后的今天，黑人依然生活在貧窮的孤島上，而它的周圍卻是物質繁榮的遼闊海洋。一百年后的今天，黑人依然在美國社會的角落里苦苦掙扎，在自己的國土上成了流亡者。所以我們今天才到這兒來控訴這一駭人聽聞的狀況。
In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of ourrepublic 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 would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
從某種意義上說，我們來到我國的首都是要兌現一張支票。當我們共和國的締造者們寫下《憲法》和《獨立宣言》的莊嚴詞句時，他們便簽署了一張每一個美國人都可以繼承的期票。這張期票是一張字據，它保證所有的人都享有不可剝奪的生存權、自由權和追求幸福的權利。
