Fourscore and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on the continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives to that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
By Abraham Lincoln
［参考译文］
在葛底斯堡的演讲
亚伯拉罕·林肯
87年以前，我们的祖先在这大陆上建立了一个新的国家，这个国家信奉自由，忠实于“人人生来平等”这一信念。
当前，我们正在从事一次伟大的内战，这场战争考验着以上述信念立国的我国，或任何一个有这种主张和这种信仰的国家，是否能长期坚持下去。我们今天在这场内战的一个伟大的战场上聚会，把战场上的一小块土地奉献给那些为国家存续而英勇捐躯的烈士们作为他们最后的安息之地。这是我们应该做的。
但在更大的意义上说，我们无权奉献，也无法使这片土地成为神圣之地。是那些曾经在这里战斗过的活着的或死去的英雄们使之成为圣地，远非我们的微薄之力所能再增减。世人不会特别留意，更不会长久记得我们在此地所说的话，但那些勇士们在这里所做过的事，世界将永远不会忘记。对于我们这些活着的人来说，更应献身于英雄们曾在此为之奋斗、努力推进、但尚未完成的工作。我们更应献身于摆在我们面前未竟的伟大任务——我们要汲取光荣的烈士们的献身精神去完成他们为之献出全部身心的事业；我们在此宣誓：决不让烈士们的鲜血白流；在上帝庇佑之下，我们的国家将会获得自由的新生；我们的民有、民治、民享的政府将永存于世。
［注释］
fourscore and seven years ago : 87年前，此指1776年美国宣布独立时 eighty-seven years ago, here referring to the year 1776, when the United States of America declared its independence
-father [ˈfɑːðə] n. 祖先 forefather
brought forth : 缔造 gave birth to
conceived in liberty : 以自由为理想 having liberty as an ideal of the nation
dedicated to : 献身于 devoted to
-proposition [ˌprɒpəˈzɪʃən] n. 主张；信条 statement; assertion
that all men are created equal : 美国独立宣言明白揭示的真理：“人人生而平等” that all men are born equal, one of the self-evident truths mentioned in the Declaration of Independence
engaged in : 从事于 occupied in
-endure [ɪnˈdjʊə(r)] v. 持续 exist; last
a portion of that field : 那战场的一部分 a part of that battlefield
final resting-place : 墓地；安息之地 burial-place; cemetery
gave their lives : 献出生命 sacrificed themselves; died for their country
in a larger sense : 从广义上说 broadly speaking
-consecrate [ˈkɒnsɪkreɪt] v. 奉为神圣 set apart as sacred
-hallow [ˈhæləʊ] v. 尊为神圣 regard as holy
-detract [dɪˈtrækt] v. 减损 reduce in degree
thus far : 到如此地步 to this extent
gave the last full measure of devotion : 鞠躬尽瘁 gave the last, largest extent of devoutness
-perish [ˈperɪʃ] v. 毁灭 be destroyed or ruined
［作者简介］
亚伯拉罕·林肯（Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1865），美国第十六任总统。从青年时代起，林肯就热心政治活动，反对奴隶制扩大到新成立的州内。1860年11月，林肯当选为美国总统，1864年林肯再次在大选中获胜，连任美国总统，1865年4月14日林肯在华盛顿遇刺身亡。