我有一个梦想
I Have a Dream
马丁·路德·金
By Martin Luther King
很高兴今天能和大家聚在这里。这次集会将作为我们国家历史上最伟大的自由集会而被载入史册。
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.
百年之前，一位伟大的美国人签署了《解放宣言》，从此黑奴解放了。现在我们就是站在他的灵魂安息的地方集会。这一庄严宣言就是灯塔的光芒，给千百万在那摧残生命的地狱里受煎熬的黑奴带来了光明。它就是欢乐的黎明，黑人受束缚的漫漫长夜一去不返。
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 their captivity.
可是一百年后的今天，我们必须正视黑人还没有得到自由这一悲惨的事实。一百年后的今天，依然存有种族隔离的镣铐和种族歧视的枷锁，黑人的生活饱受压榨。一百年后的今天，黑人仍生活在物质丰富的海洋中一个穷困的孤岛上。一百年后的今天，黑人依然被忽视在美国社会的角落里，并且很清楚地认识到自己是故土家园中的流亡者。如今我们在这里集会，就是要让大家看清楚这些骇人听闻的情况。
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. And so we’ve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
从某种意义上说，如今我们是为了要求兑现诺言而汇集到我们的首都来的。我们合众国的缔造者草拟《宪法》与《独立宣言》的气壮山河的词句时，曾经向每一个美国人许下了诺言。他们承诺会给所有的人，无论是黑人还是白人，以“生存、自由和追求幸福”的“不可剥夺的权利”。
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”.
对有色公民来说，祖国显然没有实践她的诺言。祖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，支票上盖上“资金不足”的戳子后便退了回来。可是我们不相信正义的银行已经倒闭；我们不相信，在这个国家庞大的机会之库里已没有足够的储备。所以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与正义的保障。
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 cheque, a cheque 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.
我们来到这个圣地也是为了提醒美国，现在是非常紧迫的时候。现在绝不是奢谈冷静下来或服用渐进主义的镇静剂的时候。现在应该是实现民主的诺言的时候。现在应该是从种族隔离的荒凉阴暗的深谷向种族平等的光明大道攀登的时候了；现在应该是向上帝所有的儿女开放机会之门的时候了；现在应该是把我们的国家从种族不平等的荒漠中拯救出来，置于兄弟情谊的磐石上的时候了。
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.
假如美国忽视时间的迫切性或者低估黑人的决心，那么，这对美国来讲，将会是致命伤。自由和平等的爽朗秋天如不到来，黑人满腔怒火的酷暑就不会过去。1963年并不就是斗争的结束，而是开始。有人希望，黑人只要撒撒气就会满足；如果国家不理不睬，毫无反应，这些人必会大失所望。黑人得不到公民的权利，美国就不会有安宁或平静；正义的光明一日不到来，叛乱的旋风就将继续动摇这个国家的根基。
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.
但是对于等候在正义之宫门口的心急如焚的人们，有些话我是必须要说的。在争取合法地位的过程中，我们不想采取错误的做法。我们不要为了满足对自由的渴望而抱着敌对和仇恨之杯痛饮。我们斗争时要永远记得举止得体，纪律严明。我们不允许我们具有崭新内容的抗议蜕变为暴力行动。我们将会不断地升华到以精神力量对付物质力量的崇高境界中去。
But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.
现在黑人社会充满着了不起的新的战斗精神，但是不能因此而不信任所有的白人。因为我们的许多白人兄弟已经认识到，他们的命运与我们的命运是紧密相连的，他们今天参加游行集会就是最好的明证。他们认识到他们的自由与我们的自由是密切相关的。
The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.
我们不能单独行动。
We cannot walk alone.
在行动时，我们要保证向前进，而不允许倒退。
And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back.
现在有人问热心民权运动的人：“你们什么时候才能满足？”
There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?”
只要黑人仍然遭受警察难以形容的野蛮迫害，我们就决不会满足。
We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality.
只要我们在外奔波而疲乏的身躯不能在公路旁的汽车旅馆和城里的旅馆找到住宿之所，我们就决不会满足。
We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.
