新SAT阅读---《林肯第二次就职演说》

新SAT阅读---《林肯第二次就职演说》

Second Inaugural Address

Fellow-Countrymen:

同胞们：

At this second appearing to take the oath of the presidential office there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of his great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the publicans to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.

在第二次宣誓就职总统的时候，我不必像第一次那样作长篇的演讲了。第一次就职典礼上，较为详尽地叙述我们要采取的方针和道路，看来是合适与恰当的。现在，在我的四年任期结束之时，有关这场至今仍为举国瞩目与致力的大斗争的每个方面，时时有公开的宣告，因此没有新的内容向各位奉告了。我们的一切都依靠武装力量，这方面的进展，大家知道得和我一样清楚。我相信，大家对此颇感满意和鼓舞。我们对未来抱有很大希望，在军事方面就无庸多作预测。

On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it; all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union delivered from this urgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war-seeking to dissolve the Union and divide effects by negotiation. Both

parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came.

四年前我初次就职之际，全国思虑都集中在即将爆发的内战之上。大家对内战都怀有恐惧，都设法避免这场内战的发生。当时我在这个讲坛上发表的就职演说，全部内容就是为了不战而拯救联邦。当时城里的叛逆分子却企图不用战争而摧毁联邦，企图通过谈判来瓦解联邦，瓜分国家所有。双方都反对战争，但其中一方却宁愿战争也不愿联邦毁灭，于是内战爆发。

One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. Their slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war, while the Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration, which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other.

我国黑奴占人口八分之一，他们不是普遍分布于全国各地，而是集中在南部。这些黑奴，构成一种特殊而重要的利益。尽人皆知，这种利益迟早会成为战争的起因。叛逆分子不惜发动战争分裂联邦，以达到增大、扩展这种利益、使之永存的目的，政府却除去要求将奴隶制限于原来区域，不使扩大之外，不要求其他任何权利，双方都不曾预料到战争会有这样大的规模，持续这样久，不曾预料到引起冲突的原因在冲突停止前会消失。双方都寻求轻而易举的胜利，不求彻底或惊人的结果。双方信奉同一宗教。敬拜同一上帝，都诉求上帝帮助战胜对方。

It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own