重温美国独立宣言 - Declaration of Independence


anonymous-114  04/19   7462  
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We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

我们认为下面这些真理是不言而喻的:人人生而平等,造物者赋予他们若干不可剥夺的 权利,其中包括生命权、自由权和追求幸福的权利。

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

为了保障这些权利,人类才在他们之间建立政府,而政府之正当权力,是经被治理者的 同意而产生的。

That whenever any form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience has shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

当任何形式的政府对这些目标具破坏作用时,人民便有权力改变或废除它,以建立一个 新的政府;其赖以奠基的原则,其组织权力的方式,务使人民认为唯有这样才最可能获 得他们的安全和幸福。为了慎重起见,成立多年的政府,是不应当由于轻微和短暂的原 因而予以变更的。过去的一切经验也都说明,任何苦难,只要是尚能忍受,人类都宁愿 容忍,而无意为了本身的权益便废除他们久已习惯了的政府。但是,当追逐同一目标的 一连串滥用职权和强取豪夺发生,证明政府企图把人民置于专制统治之下时,那么人民 就有权利,也有义务推翻这个政府,并为他们未来的安全建立新的保障。