The National Mall,October 16th,2011
This is a country where ordinary people find in their hearts the courage to do extraordinary things;the courage to stand up in the face of the fiercest resistance and despair and say this is wrong,and this is right;we will not settle for what the cynics tell us we have to accept and we will reach again and again,no matter the odds,for what we know is possible.
在这个国家中,普通人能够靠心中的勇气做非凡之举;有勇气面对最顽固的阻力和绝望,明辨是非,坚持正义;我们不会接受那些旁观者做出的裁判,我们会突破艰难险阻,为我们
所知并有可能成就的事业坚持努力,永不放弃。
Barack Obama
背景故事
马丁·路德·金,是著名的民权领袖,他推动了美国的民权运动,他的非暴力理念呼吁结束种族隔离。近半个世纪之后,数千名群众聚集在华盛顿的国家大草坪对他的新落成的纪念园致意。美国历史上第一位黑人总统奥巴马参加这个耗资1.2亿美元的马丁·路德·金雕像和纪念公园的落成典礼,纪念这位被杀害的民权运动领袖。马丁·路德·金为他和美国的其他许多人铺平了道路。
“因为那充满希望的视野,因为金博士的道德想象,障碍开始瓦解,偏执开始消失。崭新的机会大门为整整一代人展开。是的,法律改变了,但是人们的心和思想也改变了。”奥巴马站在10米高的金博士前说道。他提醒世界,马丁·路德·金曾为公平而奋斗。他的最终信念、伟大梦想是能够实现的。
名人简介
贝拉克·奥巴马(Barack Obama)1961年8月4日出生在美国夏威夷州檀香山市,中学毕业后,他进入加利福尼亚州西方文理学院学习,2年后转入哥伦比亚大学学习,1983年毕业,获国际关系专业学士学位。1985年,他来到芝加哥,从事社区工作。1988年,他进入哈佛大学法学院学习。1991年在获得哈佛大学法学博士学位后,他曾在芝加哥一家律师事务所工作,后在芝加哥大学法学院教授宪法。2007年2月,奥巴马正式宣布竞选总统。
挪威诺贝尔委员会将2009年诺贝尔和平奖授予奥巴马,以表彰他在促进国际外交和各国人民合作所作出的非凡努力。对于奥巴马获诺贝尔和平奖,多数观点持肯定态度,认为他作为世界上最强大军事力量的领导者以及他所倡导的无核化理念,是全球和平的希望,还指出他是唯一一位向穆斯林国家表示友善的美国总统。
演讲赏析
Faith
Barack Obama,the President of the United States
The National Mall,October 16th,2011
Thank you very much.(Applause.)Thank you.(Applause.)Please be seated.
An earthquake and a hurricane may have delayed this day,but this is a day that would not be denied.
For this day,we celebrate Dr.Martin Luther King,Jr.’s return to the National Mall.In this place,he will stand for all time,among monuments to those who fathered this nation and those who defended it;a black preacher with no official rank or title who somehow gave voice to our deepest dreams and our most lasting ideals,a man who stirred our conscience and thereby helped make our union more perfect.
And Dr.King would be the first to remind us that this memorial is not for him alone.The movement of which he was a part depended on an entire generation of leaders.Many are here today,and for their service and their sacrifice,we owe them our everlasting gratitude.This is a monument to your collective achievement.(Applause.)
Some giants of the civil rights movement-like Rosa Parks and Dorothy Height,Benjamin Hooks,Reverend Fred Shuttles Worth-they‘ve been taken from us these past few years.This monument attests to their strength and their courage,and while we miss them dearly,we know they rest in a better place.
And finally,there are the multitudes of men and women whose names never appear in the history books——those who marched and those who sang,those who sat in and those who stood firm,those who organized and those who mobilized-all those men and women who through countless acts of quiet heroism helped bring about changes,few thought were even possible.“By the thousands,”said Dr.King,“faceless,anonymous,relentless young people,black and white……have taken our whole nation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the founding fathers in the formulation of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.”To those men and women,to those foot soldiers for justice,know that this monument is yours,as well.
Nearly half a century has passed since that historic March on Washington,a day when thousands upon thousands gathered for jobs and for freedom.That is what our schoolchildren remember best when they think of Dr.King-his booming voice across this Mall,calling on America to make freedom a reality for all of God’s children,prophesying of a day when the jangling discord of our nation would be transformed into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.
It is right that we honor that march,that we lift up Dr.King‘s“I Have a Dream”speech——for without that shining moment,without Dr.King’s glorious words,we might not have had the courage to come as far as we have.Because of that hopeful vision,because of Dr.King‘s moral imagination,barricades began to fall and bigotry began to fade.New doors of opportunity swung open for an entire generation.Yes,laws changed,but hearts and minds changed as well.
Look at the faces here around you,and you see an America that is more fair and more free and more just than the one Dr.King addressed that day.We are right to savor that slow but certain progress-progress that’s expressed itself in a million ways,large and small,across this nation every single day,as people of all colors and creeds live together,and work together,and fight alongside one another,and learn together,and build together,and love one another.
So it is right for us to celebrate today Dr.King‘s dream and his vision of unity.And yet it is also important on this day to remind ourselves that such progress did not come easily;that Dr.King’s faith was hard-won;that it sprung out of a harsh reality and some bitter disappointments.
It is right for us to celebrate Dr.King‘s marvelous oratory,but it is worth remembering that progress did not come from words alone.Progress was hard.Progress was purchased through enduring the smack of Billy clubs and the blast of fire hoses.It was bought with days in jail cells and nights of bomb threats.For every victory during the height of the civil rights movement,there were setbacks and there were defeats.
We forget now,but during his life,Dr.King wasn’t always considered a unifying figure.Even after rising to prominence,even after winning the Nobel Peace Prize,Dr.King was vilified by many,denounced as a rabble rouser and an agitator,a communist and a radical.He was even attacked by his own people,by those who felt he was going too fast or those who felt he was going too slow;by those who felt he shouldn‘t meddle in issues like the Vietnam War or the rights of union workers.We know from his own testimony the doubts and the pain this caused him,and that the controversy that would swirl around his actions would last until the fateful day he died.
I raise all this because nearly 50years after the March on Washington,our work,Dr.King’s work,is not yet complete.We gather here at a moment of great challenge and great change.In the first decade of this new century,we have been tested by war and by tragedy;by an economic crisis and its aftermath that has left millions out of work,and poverty on the rise,and millions more just struggling to get by.Indeed,even before this crisis struck,we had endured a decade of rising inequality and stagnant wages.In too many troubled neighborhoods across the country,the conditions of our poorest citizens appear little changed from what existed 50years ago——neighborhoods with underfunded schools and broken-down slums,inadequate health care,constant violence,neighborhoods in which too many young people grow up with little hope and few prospects for the future.
Our work is not done.And so on this day,in which we celebrate a man and a movement that did so much for this country,let us draw strength from those earlier struggles.First and foremost,let us remember that change has never been quick.Change has never been simple,or without controversy.Change depends on persistence.Change requires determination.It took a full decade before the moral guidance of Brown v.Board of Education was translated into the enforcement measures of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act,but those 10long years did not lead Dr.King to give up.He kept on pushing,he kept on speaking,he kept on marching until change finally came.(Applause.)
And then when,even after the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act passed,African Americans still found themselves trapped in pockets of poverty across the country,Dr.King didn‘t say those laws were a failure;he didn’t say this is too hard;he didn‘t say,let’s settle for what we got and go home.Instead he said,let‘s take those victories and broaden our mission to achieve not just civil and political equality but also economic justice;let’s fight for a living wage and better schools and jobs for all who are willing to work.In other words,when met with hardship,when confronting disappointment,Dr.King refused to accept what he called the“isness”of today.He kept pushing towards the“oughtness”of tomorrow.
And so,as we think about all the work that we must do——rebuilding an economy that can compete on a global stage,and fixing our schools so that every child-not just some,but every child-gets a world-class education,and making sure that our health care system is affordable and accessible to all,and that our economic system is one in which everybody gets a fair shake and everybody does their fair share,let us not be trapped by what is.(Applause.)We can‘t be discouraged by what is.We’ve got to keep pushing for what ought to be,the America we ought to leave to our children,mindful that the hardships we face are nothing compared to those Dr.King and his fellow marchers faced 50years ago,and that if we maintain our faith,in ourselves and in the possibilities of this nation,there is no challenge we cannot surmount.
And just as we draw strength from Dr.King‘s struggles,so must we draw inspiration from his constant insistence on the oneness of man;the belief in his words that“we are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality,tied in a single garment of destiny.”It was that insistence,rooted in his Christian faith,that led him to tell a group of angry young protesters,“I love you as I love my own children,”even as one threw a rock that glanced off his neck.
It was that insistence,that belief that God resides in each of us,from the high to the low,in the oppressor and the oppressed,that convinced him that people and systems could change.It fortified his belief in non-violence.It permitted him to place his faith in a government that had fallen short of its ideals.It led him to see his charge not only as freeing black America from the shackles of discrimination,but also freeing many Americans from their own prejudices,and freeing Americans of every color from the depredations of poverty.
And so at this moment,when our politics appear so sharply polarized,and faith in our institutions so greatly diminished,we need more than ever to take heed of Dr.King’s teachings.He calls on us to stand in the other person‘s shoes;to see through their eyes;to understand their pain.He tells us that we have a duty to fight against poverty,even if we are well off;to care about the child in the decrepit school even if our own children are doing fine;to show compassion toward the immigrant family,with the knowledge that most of us are only a few generations removed from similar hardships.(Applause.)
To say that we are bound together as one people and must constantly strive to see ourselves in one another,is not to argue for a false unity that papers over our differences and ratifies an unjust status quo.As was true 50years ago,as has been true throughout human history,those with power and privilege will often decry any call for change as“divisive”.They’ll say any challenge to the existing arrangements are unwise and destabilizing.Dr.King understood that peace without justice was no peace at all;that aligning our reality with our ideals often requires the speaking of uncomfortable truths and the creative tension of non-violent protest.
But he also understood that to bring about true and lasting change,there must be the possibility of reconciliation;that any social movement has to channel this tension through the spirit of love and mutuality.
If he were alive today,I believe he would remind us that the unemployed worker can rightly challenge the excesses of Wall Street without demonizing all who work there;that the businessman can enter tough negotiations with his company‘s union without vilifying the right to collectively bargain.He would want us to know we can argue fiercely about the proper size and role of government without questioning each other’s love for this country-(applause)-with the knowledge that in this democracy,government is no distant object but is rather an expression of our common commitments to one another.He would call on us to assume the best in each other rather than the worst,and challenge one another in ways that ultimately heal rather than wound.
In the end,that‘s what I hope my daughters take away from this monument.I want them to come away from here with a faith in what they can accomplish when they are determined and working for a righteous cause.I want them to come away from here with a faith in other people and a faith in a benevolent God.This sculpture,massive and iconic as it is,will remind them of Dr.King’s strength,but to see him only as larger than life would do a disservice to what he taught us about ourselves.He would want them to know that he had setbacks,because they will have setbacks.He would want them to know that he had doubts,because they will have doubts.He would want them to know that he was flawed,because all of us have flaws.
It is precisely because Dr.King was a man of flesh and blood and not a figure of stone that he inspires us so.His life,his story,tells us that change can come if you don‘t give up.He would not give up,no matter how long it took,because in the smallest hamlets and the darkest slums,he had witnessed the highest reaches of the human spirit;because in those moments when the struggle seemed most hopeless,he had seen men and women and children conquer their fear;because he had seen hills and mountains made low and rough places,made plain,and the crooked places made straight and God make a way out of no way.
And that is why we honor this man——because he had faith in us.And that is why he belongs on this Mall——because he saw what we might become.That is why Dr.King was so quintessentially American-because for all the hardships we’ve endured,for all our sometimes tragic history,ours is a story of optimism and achievement and constant striving that is unique upon this Earth.And that is why the rest of the world still looks to us to lead.This is a country where ordinary people find in their hearts the courage to do extraordinary things;the courage to stand up in the face of the fiercest resistance and despair and say this is wrong,and this is right;we will not settle for what the cynics tell us we have to accept and we will reach again and again,no matter the odds,for what we know is possible.
That is the conviction we must carry now in our hearts.(Applause.)As tough as times may be,I know we will overcome.I know there are better days ahead.I know this because of the man towering over us.I know this because all he and his generation endured-we are here today in a country that dedicated a monument to that legacy.
And so with our eyes on the horizon and our faith squarely placed in one another,let us keep striving;let us keep struggling;let us keep climbing toward that promised land of a nation and a world that is more fair,and more just,and more equal for every single child of God.
Thank you,God bless you,and God bless the United States of America.(Applause.)
译文参考
信仰
——贝拉克·奥巴马在马丁·路德·金公园的演讲
非常感谢大家。(掌声)感谢大家。(掌声)请就座。
可能因为地震和飓风造成这个日子的推迟,但是这一天是势不可挡的。
这一天,我们欢迎马丁·路德·金博士重返国家大草坪。他将永远屹立在这里,在纪念这个国家的缔造者和捍卫者的丰碑之间。一位没有任何正式官衔或称号,但却表达出我们内心最深处的梦想和我们永恒理想的黑人牧师,一位唤醒了我们的良知,从而帮助我们的国家变得更加完美的人。
当然金博士会第一个提醒我们,这座纪念碑并不属于他一个人。他所组织的那场运动是依靠着一代领袖人物才成功的。其中很多人还健在,并来到这里。我们对他们的付出和奉献永远感激不尽。这座纪念碑也是纪念你们集体业绩的丰碑。(掌声)
民权运动的几位巨人——罗莎·帕克斯、多萝西·海特、本杰明·胡克斯和弗雷德·沙特尔斯沃思牧师等人——在近几年都相继离世。这座纪念碑也是他们的力量和勇气的见证,我们深深地怀念他们,但我们也知道他们长眠在一个更好的地方。
最后,还有一些从未被载入史册众多男女志士的名字——他们曾参与游行示威和高声唱诵,他们曾静坐抗议和意志坚定,他们曾组织和动员民众——所有这些男女志士通过数不胜数默默无闻的英勇行动帮助实现了大多数人认为不可能实现的变革。金博士曾说:“成千上万名默默无闻的、不具姓名的、坚持不懈的黑人和白人青年……带领我们整个国家回到了建国先父们在起草宪法和独立宣言的过程中深掘而成的伟大的民主源头。”男女志士们,为正义而战的普通斗士们,这座纪念碑也属于你们。
半个世纪以前,那次在华盛顿举行的具有历史意义的游行集会,有成千上万的人在那天汇集于此要求得到工作机会、要求得到自由。我们的中小学生们一提到金博士便会想到他那洪亮的声音回荡在大草坪上,呼吁美国要将上帝所有子孙应享有自由变成现实,并预见有一天我们会将喋喋不休的争执变成兄弟情谊的美丽合谐之音。
我们应该纪念那场游行集会,我们应该敬仰金博士《我有一个梦想》的演说——因为倘若没有那个闪光的时刻,没有金博士光辉的言词,我们可能就不会有勇气取得如此长足的进步。正是因为有了那个充满希望的构想,正是因为有金博士道义上的憧憬,屏障才开始倒塌,偏见才开始消退。新的机遇之门才向整整一代人敞开。的确,不仅法律改变了,而且人心和头脑也改变了。
环顾一下你身边的面孔,你会看到美国比金博士那天讲话时更加公平、更加自由、更加公正。我们应该细细品味这缓慢但确实实现的进步——以百万种方式体现出来的大大小小进步,每天遍及全国各地,各种肤色和信仰的人们生活在一起,工作在一起,并肩奋斗,共同学习,共同建设,彼此相爱。
所以,我们今天应该纪念金博士的梦想和他团结的愿景。但我们也需要在这一天提醒自己,让我们记住今天这些来之不易的进步;金博士的信念是靠奋斗而树立起来;它源于严酷的现实和一些令人沉痛的失望。
我们应当弘扬金博士精彩的演说,但值得记住的是,进步并不仅靠言辞。进步是艰苦的,进步是通过抗住警棍的殴打和消防水龙的喷射而换取的,进步是靠在牢笼里度日和受到炸弹夜袭的威胁来换取的。民权运动高潮中的每一个胜利,都有挫折、有失败。
现在我们已然忘记了,但在他的有生之年,金博士并不总被视为一个团结的形象。即使后来声望显赫,甚至在获得诺贝尔和平奖后,金博士仍受到许多人诬蔑,他被称作乌合之众的煽动者、挑唆者、共产主义分子和激进分子。他甚至受到自己人的攻击,他们有的人觉得他太冒进,有的人认为他太拖沓;有的人认为他不应该插手越南战争或工会工人权利这样的问题。我们从他自己的言词中知道这曾给他带来疑惑和痛苦,这些围绕他行动的争议持续到他去世的那一天。
我之所以要讲这些,源于在华盛顿游行近50年之后,我们的工作,金博士的工作,仍尚未完成。我们聚集在这里,正值一个充满巨大挑战和巨大变化的时刻。在这个新世纪的第一个10年,我们受到了战争和悲剧的考验;经济危机的后果使百万民众失业,贫困率还在上升,还有数百万的人在挣扎度日。事实上,在这场危机发生之前,我们就经历了10年之久的日益严重的不平等和工资停滞。在全国很多的贫穷社区,最贫穷的公民的状况与50年前相比几乎没什么变化——这些地方学校资金匮乏,是破烂的贫民窟,没有足够的医疗服务,暴力频发,有太多的年轻人没有希望未来,没有前途地长大。
革命尚未成功。因此,在这一天,在纪念为这个国家奉献如此之多的一个人和一场运动之际,让我们从这些早期斗争中汲取力量。首先,让我们记住变化从来不会瞬间到来。变化从来不是简单或毫无争议的。改革取决于坚持不懈。改革需要决心。布朗诉教育委员会一案经历了整整10年才转换为《民权法案》和《投票权法》的实施措施,但是金博士并没有因这漫长的10年而放弃。他不停地推动,他不停地疾呼,他不停地前进,直到最终实现改变。(掌声)
后来,甚至在《民权法案》和《投票权法》通过之后,非裔美国人仍然发现自己被困在各地的贫困地区,金博士没有说这是法律失败,他没有说这实在太难,他没有说,让我们满足已得到的收获,而且就此结束。相反,他说,让我们运用这些胜利,拓宽我们的使命,不仅实现公民权利和政治上的平等,而且还要在经济上取得公正;我们要为提高工资,得到更好的教育和为愿意工作的人提供就业机会而奋斗。换言之,当遇到艰难时,当面对失望时,金博士拒绝接受他称之为“如是”的今天。他不停地推动实现“应然”的明天。
所以,我们需要思考的是,我们在做各项工作的时候——重建一个可以在全球舞台上竞争的经济,修整我们的学校,使每一个孩子——不仅仅是某些孩子,而是每个孩子——获得世界一流的教育,确保我们的医疗制度能让所有人负担得起、享用得上,让我们的经济体系使每个人都能享受到公平的利益,每个人都尽自己应尽的力量,让我们不要被困于现状。(掌声)我们不能因为现状而感到气馁。我们必须不断进取让我们的子子孙孙记住我们所面对的艰辛,比起金博士和与他一起游行的同胞们在50年前所面对的,我们所做的是微不足道的,如果我们保有坚定的信念,相信我们自己,相信这个国家的潜能,就没有我们不能克服的挑战。
就像我们从金博士的奋斗中汲取力量一样,我们也要从他对人类团结的坚定不移中获得启示;他曾说“我们都在一张无可逃避的共同网络中,命运交织,休戚与共。”正是那份根植于基督教信仰的坚持,使他对一群愤怒的年轻抗议者说:“我爱你们如同爱我自己的孩子。”尽管其中一人向他投石头,险些击中他的脖颈。
正是由于这种坚持,相信无论高低贵贱,压迫者还是受压迫者,上帝都存在我们每个人心中,使他相信人和体制是可以改变的,并加强了他对非暴力的信念,使他对一个未能实现其理想的政府怀着信心。使他看到自己的使命不只是将美国黑人从歧视的枷锁下解放出来,而且也将美国人从自己的偏见中解放出来,并使各种肤色的美国人摆脱贫穷的桎梏。
因此,在这个我们的政情尖锐两极化的情况下,人民对我们体制的信心大幅动摇的时刻,我们比以往更需要记取金博士的教诲。他呼吁我们设身处地为别人着想,从他们的视角看世界,理解他们的痛苦。他告诉我们有责任消除贫穷,即使我们自身富裕;关怀落后学校内的学童,即使我们的孩子安康;对移民家庭寄予更多的同情,深知我们大多数人几代前也身处此境(掌声)。
说我们是彼此关联的一个国家的公民并且必须努力彼此认同和理解,并不是主张一种虚假的统一性来掩饰我们之间的差异和不公正的现状。就像50年前一样,就像整个人类历史一样,当权当势者通常会将变革的呼声斥责为“分裂”。而且对任何针对现状的挑战都会被他们说成是不智之举,会造成动荡不安。金博士的理解,没有正义的和平绝非和平;要使现实与我们的理想相吻合,往往就需要说出令人不快的真相,需要有非暴力抗议带来的富于创造性的压力。
但是,他也同样表现出理解,这也是为了带来真实而持久的变革,必须实现和解的可能;任何社会运动都必须通过爱与互助的精神来化解这种压力。
如果他今天仍然健在,我相信他会提醒我们,失业的劳工可以质疑华尔街的贪婪过度,但不会将那里的所有雇员妖魔化;商人可以和公司的工会进行激烈的谈判,但不会诋毁集体谈判的权利。他会让我们知道,我们可以对政府的规模和作用开展激烈的争辩,但不会质疑彼此对国家的热爱——(掌声)——民主体制中,政府并非一个遥远的物体,而是我们对彼此共同承诺的表现形式。他会呼吁我们要相信彼此最好的一面,而非最坏的一面,并且以最终能愈合而非伤害的方式挑战彼此。
这也是我希望我的女儿们能通过这座纪念碑所领会的最终含义。我希望,当她们离开这里的时候怀着对自己的信念,即她们只要有决心去为一桩正义的事业努力,就算是成功。我还希望,当她们离开这里的时候怀着对他人的信念,对仁慈的上帝的信念。这座宏伟的、令人崇敬的雕塑将使她们记住金博士的力量,但是,仅仅把他当作伟人敬奉那是会违背他关于我们如何认识自己的教诲的。他会希望她们知道他曾经遭受的挫折,因为她们也会遭受挫折。他会希望她们知道他曾经也有过动摇,因为她们也会经历动摇。他会希望她们知道他有缺陷,因为我们所有的人都有缺陷。
正因为金博士是有血有肉的一个人,而不是一座石像,他才对我们具有如此巨大的号召力。因为他的生活和他的故事告诉我们,只要锲而不舍,变化就会来临。他不会放弃,哪怕旷日持久,因为即使在最小的村庄和最黑暗的贫民窟中,他也曾经见证人类精神的高度;在那些似乎挣扎无望的时刻,他曾看到男女老少战胜自己的恐惧;还因为他曾目睹山峦丘壑被迫低头,凸凹变平原,曲路化坦途,上帝在茫茫旷野中开出路来。
这就是我们纪念他的原因——因为他对我们满怀信心。这就是他属于这座广场的原因,因为他看到我们会成为什么样的人。这就是金博士代表了美国精神的原因,因为尽管我们历尽磨难,尽管我们的历史上有悲剧,但我们始终保持乐观,始终为事业而努力,积极进取,这种经历在世界上独一无二。这也是为什么世界上其他国家依然期待美国发挥领导作用的原因。在这个国家中,普通人能够靠心中的勇气做非凡之举;有勇气面对最顽固的阻力和绝望,明辨是非,坚持正义;我们不会接受那些旁观者做出的裁判,而会突破艰难险阻,为我们所知有可能成就的事业坚持努力,永不放弃。
那就是我们现在必须持有的信念。(掌声)尽管面临的是一个十分困难的时期,我知道我们一定会取得胜利。我知道好日子还在前头。我也知道这一切是因为我们身边的这位巨人。我知道这一切是因为他和他那一代人的曲折经历——我们今天在这个国家中为这项业绩树立一座丰碑。
因此,让我们放眼未来,让我们彼此以诚相待,奋力向前;让我们努力拼搏,朝那片神圣的地方继续攀登,那里是一个对上帝的每一个子民都更公平、更公正、更平等的国度与世界。
谢谢各位。愿主保佑你们,愿主保佑美利坚合众国。(掌声)
·For without that shining moment,without Dr.King‘s glorious words,we might not have had the courage to come as far as we have.
因为倘若没有那个闪光的时刻,没有金博士光辉的言词,我们可能就不会有勇气取得如此长足的进步。
·Because of that hopeful vision,because of Dr.King’s moral imagination,barricades began to fall and bigotry began to fade.New doors of opportunity swung open for an entire generation.正是因为有了那个充满希望的构想,正是因为有金博士的道义上的憧憬,屏障才开始倒塌,偏见才开始消退。新的机遇之门才向整整一代人敞开。
·Dr.King‘s faith was hard-won;that it sprung out of a harsh reality and some bitter disappointments.
金博士的信念是靠奋斗而树立起来;它源于严酷的现实和一些令人沉痛的失望。
·It is worth remembering that progress did not come from words alone.Progress was hard.进步并不仅靠言辞。进步是艰苦的。
·Progress was purchased through enduring the smack of billy clubs and the blast of fire hoses.It was bought with days in jail cells and nights of bomb threats.
进步是通过抗住警棍的殴打和消防水龙的喷射而换取的,进步是靠在牢笼里度日和受到炸弹夜袭的威胁来换取的。
·For every victory during the height of the civil rights movement,there were setbacks and there were defeats.
民权运动高潮中的每一个胜利,都有挫折、有失败。
·Let us remember that change has never been quick.Change has never been simple,or without controversy.Change depends on persistence.Change requires determination.
让我们记住变化从来不会瞬间到来。变化从来不是简单或毫无争议的。改革取决于坚持不懈。改革需要决心。
·Dr.King didn’t say those laws were a failure;he didn‘t say this is too hard;he didn’t say,let‘s settle for what we got and go home.Instead he said,let’s take those victories and broaden our mission to achieve not just civil and political equality but also economic justice;let’s fight for a living wage and better schools and jobs for all who are willing to work.
金博士没有说这是法律失败,他没有说这实在太难,他没有说,让我们满足已得到的收获,而且就此结束。相反,他说,让我们运用这些胜利,拓宽我们的使命,不仅实现公民权利和政治上的平等,而且还要在经济上的取得公正;我们要为提高工资,得到更好的教育和为愿意工作的人的就业机会而奋斗。
·And that if we maintain our faith,in ourselves and in the possibilities of this nation,there is no challenge we cannot surmount.
如果我们保有坚定的信念,相信我们自己,相信这个国家的潜能,就没有我们不能克服的挑战。
·He calls on us to stand in the other person‘s shoes;to see through their eyes;to understand their pain.He tells us that we have a duty to fight against poverty,even if we are well off;to care about the child in the decrepit school even if our own children are doing fine;to show compassion toward the immigrant family,with the knowledge that most of us are only a few generations removed from similar hardships.
他呼吁我们设身处地为别人着想;从他们的视角看世界;理解他们的痛苦。他告诉我们有责任消除贫穷,即使我们自身富裕;关怀落后学校内的学童,即使我们的孩子安康;对移民家庭寄予更多的同情,深知我们大多数人几代前也身处此。
·We are bound together as one people,and must constantly strive to see ourselves in one another,is not to argue for a false unity that papers over our differences and ratifies an unjust status quo.
我们是彼此关联的一个国家的公民并且必须努力彼此认同和理解,并不是主张一种虚假的统一性,去掩饰我们之间的差异和不公正的现状
·To bring about true and lasting change,there must be the possibility of reconciliation;that any social movement has to channel this tension through the spirit of love and mutuality.
这也是为了带来真实而持久的变革,必须实现和解的可能;任何社会运动都必须通过爱与互助的精神来化解这种压力。
·The unemployed worker can rightly challenge the excesses of Wall Street without demonizing all who work there;that the businessman can enter tough negotiations with his company’s union without vilifying the right to collectively bargain.
失业的劳工可以质疑华尔街的贪婪过度,但不会将那里的所有雇员妖魔化;商人可以和公司的工会进行激烈的谈判,但不会诋毁集体交易的权利。
·He would want them to know that he had setbacks,because they will have setbacks.He would want them to know that he had doubts,because they will have doubts.He would want them to know that he was flawed,because all of us have flaws.
他会希望她们知道他曾经遭受的挫折,因为她们也会遭受挫折。他会希望她们知道他曾经也有过动摇,因为她们也会经历动摇。他会希望她们知道他有缺陷,因为我们所有的人都有缺陷。
文化采撷
马丁·路德·金纪念园
马丁·路德·金纪念园,位于华盛顿国家广场区域及潮汐湖畔,距离美国国家纪念碑、林肯纪念堂、地标建筑物不远,于2011年10月16日开放。纪念园占地四英亩,其中包括一座450英尺的语录墙,上面刻有由一组历史学家从马丁·路德·金的文集、布道与演讲中精选出的十几段引语。美国总统奥巴马出席了开馆仪式并发表了讲话。
在与“绝望之山”相隔的“希望之石”上,屹立着30英尺(9米)高的马丁·路德·金雕像,令人想起他在一篇演讲中说过的一句话:在他的梦想和信念中,民权游行示威者将回到南方,“从绝望之山开出希望之石”。
纪念园入口处矗立一座主体雕塑,根据金的演讲取名“绝望之山”。雕塑顶部裂开的石头象征当年美国的种族分离。参观者从“山底”通道进入后,将看到一座由“希望之石”雕刻而成的金的塑像。作为园中核心,马丁·路德·金大型雕塑高9米,雕像抱臂于胸前,凝视远方。
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