Nov．19, 1863
Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth5 on this continent a new nation, conceived6 in liberty and dedicated to the proposition7 that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged8 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 of9 that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that this nation might live. It is altogether10 fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate—we cannot consecrate11—we cannot hallow12—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or to detract13. 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 vain14, 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 perish15 from the earth.
1863年11月19日
87年前，我们的先辈们在这块大陆上建立了一个新国家，它孕育于自由之中，奉行人生来平等的原则。
现在我们正从事一场伟大的内战，以考验这个国家，或者任何一个孕育于自由和奉行上述原则的国家是否能够长久存在下去。我们在这场战争中的一个伟大战场上集会。烈士们为了这个国家的生存，献出了自己的生命，我们来到这里，是要把这个战场的一部分奉献给他们作为最后安息之所。我们这样做是完全应该而且是非常恰当的。
但是，从更广泛的意义上来说，这块土地我们无法奉献、无法圣化、无法神化。那些曾在这里战斗过的勇士们，包括活着的和去世的，已经把这块土地圣化了，这远不是我们微薄的力量所能增减的。我们今天在这里所说的话，世界不会太注意，也不会长久地记住，但勇士们在这里的壮举，全世界永远不会忘记。倒是我们这些还活着的人，应该在这里把自己奉献于已被勇士们如此崇高地向前推进但尚未完成的事业。倒是我们应该在这里把自己奉献于留在我们面前的伟大任务——我们要从这些光荣的勇士身上汲取更多的献身精神，来完成他们为之彻底献身的事业；我们要在这里下定最大的决心，不让这些烈士白白牺牲；我们要使国家在上帝福佑下得到自由的新生，要使这个民有、民治、民享的政府永世长存。
Abraham Lincoln (1809—1865) became the 16th president of the USA in 1860. During his presidency, the Civil War between the North and the South broke out, which began in April 1861 and lasted four years. One of the most terrible battles was fought at Gettysburg in July 1863. About 20,000 men died in the battle. In November of that year, a portion of the battlefield1 was set apart for a final resting-place for those men of the armies who died there. Great preparations were made for the opening ceremony of the cemetery2. Lincoln was asked to say a few words on the occasion. He had written the notes for his speech on an envelope. He was not the main speaker. When his turn came, he spoke for only two or three minutes. The speech was over almost before the hearers realized it had begun. But Lincoln's Gettysburg speech becomes one of the greatest speeches ever made in USA, and one of the world's immortal3 pieces of literature4.
1． battlefield n． 战场
2． cemetery n． 公墓，墓地
3． immortal adj． 不朽的，流芳百世的
4． literature n． 文学作品
5． bring forth 产生
6． conceive v． 设想；怀孕
7． proposition n． 主张；建议
8． be engaged in sth． 参加某事或从事某事
9． a portion of ……的一部分
10． altogether adv． 完全地
11． consecrate v． 使神圣，使圣化
12． hallow v． 使神圣
13． detract v． 减，去掉
14． in vain 徒然，枉然
15． perish v． 灭亡