The test was not, and never has
been, whether the doors of opportunity are cracked a bit wider for a few. It was whether our economic system provides a
fair shot for the many -- for the black custodian and the white steelworker,
the immigrant dishwasher and the Native American veteran. To win that battle, to answer that call --
this remains our great unfinished business.
检验标准不是，也从来不是，机会之门是否仅为少数人多打开了一点，
而是我们的经济体系是否为许多人——为黑人管理员和白人钢铁工人、移民洗碗工和美国原住民退伍军人——提供公平的机会。赢得这场斗争，响应这个召唤——仍然是我们未竟的伟大事业。
We shouldn’t fool ourselves. The task will not be easy. Since 1963, the economy has changed. The twin forces of technology and global
competition have subtracted those jobs that once provided a foothold into the
middle class -- reduced the bargaining power of American workers. And our politics has suffered. Entrenched interests, those who benefit from an
unjust status quo, resisted any government efforts to give working families a
fair deal -- marshaling an army of lobbyists and opinion makers to argue that
minimum wage increases or stronger labor laws or taxes on the wealthy who could
afford it just to fund crumbling schools, that all these things violated sound
economic principles. We’d be told that
growing inequality was a price for a growing economy, a measure of this free
market; that greed was good and compassion ineffective, and those without jobs
or health care had only themselves to blame.
我们不应自欺欺人，这项任务不可能轻而易举。自1963年以来，经济已经发生了变化。技术和全球竞争的双重力量已经削减了曾经为人们迈入中产阶级行列提供立足点的工作——降低了美国劳工的谈判能力。同时，我们的政治也已深受其害。既得利益集团，那些受益于不公正现状的人，抵制政府为工薪家庭获得公平待遇付出的努力——动员了大批说客和舆论制造者，声称提高最低工资标准，或制定更严格的劳工法，或向能够负担得起的富人征税以资助摇摇欲坠的学校，所有这一切违反了健全的经济原则。有人告诉我们，所谓日益严重的不平等是经济增长的代价，是这个自由市场的检验标准；所谓贪婪是好事，同情心不起作用，那些没有工作或医疗保健的人只能怪他们自己。
And then, there were those elected
officials who found it useful to practice the old politics of division, doing
their best to convince middle-class Americans of a great untruth -- that
government was somehow itself to blame for their growing economic insecurity;
that distant bureaucrats were taking their hard-earned dollars to benefit the
welfare cheat or the illegal immigrant.
还有，一些民选官员认为重操昔日政治分化的故技会奏效，竭尽全力要让美国中产阶级相信一个巨大的谎言，即政府本身反倒是造成他们日益缺少经济保障的原因；冷漠的官僚在将他们的辛苦所得用于让福利骗子或非法移民受益。
And then, if we’re honest with
ourselves, we’ll admit that during the course of 50 years, there were times
when some of us claiming to push for change lost our way. The anguish of assassinations set off
self-defeating riots. Legitimate
grievances against police brutality tipped into excuse-making for criminal
behavior. Racial politics could cut both
ways, as the transformative message of unity and brotherhood was drowned out by
the language of recrimination. And what
had once been a call for equality of opportunity, the chance for all Americans
to work hard and get ahead was too often framed as a mere desire for government
support -- as if we had no agency in our own liberation, as if poverty was an
excuse for not raising your child, and the bigotry of others was reason to give
up on yourself.
还有，如果我们坦诚扪心自问，我们会承认，在过去50年里，有时候，我们中一些自称努力推动变革的人迷失了方向。暗杀事件造成的悲痛引发了自我伤害的骚乱。对警察暴行产生的合理不满转化为犯罪的借口。种族政治是一把双刃剑，包含团结和兄弟情谊的变革信息被淹没在相互间的斥责声中。曾经呼吁机会平等、让所有美国人能够通过努力工作取得成功的号召，往往被说成不过是想获得政府的扶持——好像我们没有解放自己的动力，好像贫穷是不抚养孩子的借口，而他人的偏见成为你自暴自弃的理由。
All of that history is how
progress stalled. That’s how hope was
diverted. It’s how our country remained
divided. But the good news is, just as
was true in 1963, we now have a choice. We can continue down our current path,
in which the gears of this great democracy grind to a halt and our children
accept a life of lower expectations; where politics is a zero-sum game where a
few do very well while struggling families of every race fight over a shrinking
economic pie -- that’s one path. Or we
can have the courage to change.
所有这些经历都说明进步为何停滞，希望为何转向，我们的国家为何继续分化。但好消息是，如1963年一样，我们现在有一个选择。我们可以继续沿着当前的道路走下去，而这将使这一伟大民主政体的车轮停止不前，使我们的后代降低对生活的期望；将使政治成为零和游戏，只有极少人飞黄腾达，而每一个种族难以为生的家庭要为分得一块不断缩小的经济蛋糕苦苦挣扎——这是一条道路。然而我们可以鼓起勇气进行变革。
The March on Washington teaches
us that we are not trapped by the mistakes of history; that we are masters of
our fate. But it also teaches us that
the promise of this nation will only be kept when we work together. We’ll have to reignite the embers of empathy
and fellow feeling, the coalition of conscience that found expression in this
place 50 years ago.
华盛顿大游行告诉我们，我们不受历史错误的禁锢，我们是主宰自己命运的主人。但它同时告诫我们，只有在我们携手共进时，才能兑现这个国家的承诺。我们将必须重新点燃同情心和手足情，以及于50年前在此处展示的共同的良知。
And I believe that spirit is
there, that truth force inside each of us.
I see it when a white mother recognizes her own daughter in the face of
a poor black child. I see it when the
black youth thinks of his own grandfather in the dignified steps of an elderly
white man. It’s there when the
native-born recognizing that striving spirit of the new immigrant; when the
interracial couple connects the pain of a gay couple who are discriminated
against and understands it as their own.
我相信这种精神的存在，真理的力量存在于我们每一个人的心中。
当一位白人母亲能在一个贫苦黑孩子的脸上看见自己的女儿时，我看到了这种精神。 当一个黑人青年能够通过一位老年白人有尊严的步履联想到他自己的祖父时，我看到了这种精神。
当本地出生的人能够认识到新移民的奋斗精神时，当跨族通婚的夫妇理解被歧视的同性恋伴侣的痛苦并视之为切身之痛时，我看到了这种精神。
That’s where courage comes from
-- when we turn not from each other, or on each other, but towards one another,
and we find that we do not walk alone.
That’s where courage comes from. (Applause.)
这就是勇气的来源——当我们不是背离彼此或攻击彼此，而是接近彼此时，我们会发现，我们并非踽踽独行。这就是勇气的来源。（掌声）
And with that courage, we can
stand together for good jobs and just wages.
With that courage, we can stand together for the right to health care in
the richest nation on Earth for every person.
(Applause.) With that courage, we
can stand together for the right of every child, from the corners of Anacostia
to the hills of Appalachia, to get an education that stirs the mind and
captures the spirit, and prepares them for the world that awaits them. (Applause.)
依靠这种勇气，我们能共同争取良好的工作和公平的工资。依靠这种勇气，我们能共同在全球最富裕的国家为每位公民争取医疗保健权利。（掌声）依靠这种勇气，我们能共同为每个孩子——从阿纳科斯蒂亚的角落到阿巴拉契亚的山间——争取接受教育的权利，启迪心灵，注入精神，帮助他们作好迎来未来世界的准备。
（掌声）
With that courage, we can feed
the hungry, and house the homeless, and transform bleak wastelands of poverty
into fields of commerce and promise.
依靠这种勇气，我们能让食不果腹的人有饭吃，让无家可归者有房住，将贫穷的荒原改造成商业和希望的良田。
America, I know the road will be
long, but I know we can get there. Yes,
we will stumble, but I know we’ll get back up.
That’s how a movement happens.
That’s how history bends. That’s
how when somebody is faint of heart, somebody else brings them along and says,
come on, we’re marching. (Applause.)
美国，我知道道路将会漫长，但我知道我们能够到达。是的，我们会有磕绊，但我知道，我们会重新站起。运动就是这样出现，历史就是这样转弯，当一个人感到怯弱时，其他人就是这样携腕而上说，来吧，让我们向前进。（掌声）
There’s a reason why so many who
marched that day, and in the days to come, were young -- for the young are
unconstrained by habits of fear, unconstrained by the conventions of what is. They dared to dream differently, to imagine
something better. And I am convinced
that same imagination, the same hunger of purpose stirs in this generation.
这就是为什么在那天，以及在后来的岁月里，那么多游行者是年轻人——因为年轻人不受恐惧的约束，不受习俗惯例的约束。他们敢于有不同的梦想，憧憬更美好的景象。我坚信，同样的想像力，对目标的同样渴求，在激励着这一代人。
We might not face the same
dangers of 1963, but the fierce urgency of now remains. We may never duplicate the swelling crowds
and dazzling procession of that day so long ago -- no one can match King’s
brilliance -- but the same flame that lit the heart of all who are willing to
take a first step for justice, I know that flame remains. (Applause.)
我们可能不会面临与1963年相同的危险，但是强烈的紧迫感依然存在。我们可能永远不会复制那么多年前涌动的人群和耀眼的游行队伍——没有人能堪比金博士的辉煌，但是同样的火焰——它曾将所有愿意为争取正义迈出第一步的人的内心点燃，我知道那团火焰依然存在。（掌声）
That tireless teacher who gets to
class early and stays late and dips into her own pocket to buy supplies because
she believes that every child is her charge -- she’s marching. (Applause.)
一位不知疲倦的老师早出晚归，用自己的钱为学生购买学习用品，因为她认为每一个孩子都是自己的责任——她就是走在游行队伍中。（掌声）
That successful businessman who
doesn’t have to but pays his workers a fair wage and then offers a shot to a
man, maybe an ex-con who is down on his luck -- he’s marching. (Applause.)
一位成功的企业家虽本无须如此，但为员工支付公平的工资并为一个人提供了机会——那人也许是曾有前科，身陷逆境——他就是走在游行队伍中。（掌声）
The mother who pours her love
into her daughter so that she grows up with the confidence to walk through the
same door as anybody’s son -- she’s marching.
(Applause.)
一位母亲为女儿倾注全部爱心，使她可以自信地成长，像任何人的儿子一样走入同样的机会大门——她就是走在游行队伍中。（掌声）
The father who realizes the most
important job he’ll ever have is raising his boy right, even if he didn’t have
a father -- especially if he didn’t have a father at home -- he’s
marching. (Applause.)
一位父亲认识到自己最重要的工作就是正确地将儿子抚养成人，尽管他不曾有过父亲——特别是他父亲不曾在家中——他就是走在游行队伍中。（掌声）
The battle-scarred veterans who
devote themselves not only to helping their fellow warriors stand again, and
walk again, and run again, but to keep serving their country when they come
home -- they are marching. (Applause.)
那些身经百战的老兵不仅致力于帮助战友重新站立，重新行走，重新跑起来，而且在回到家乡后继续报效国家——他们就是在游行队伍中。（掌声）
Everyone who realizes what those
glorious patriots knew on that day -- that change does not come from
Washington, but to Washington; that change has always been built on our
willingness, We The People, to take on the mantle of citizenship -- you are
marching. (Applause.)
每一个认识到那些光荣的爱国之士在那天懂得的道理的人，即变革不是来自华盛顿，而是带到华盛顿；变革始终以我们——“我们人民”——愿意承担公民职责作基础——你们就是走在游行队伍中。（掌声）
And that’s the lesson of our past. That’s the promise of tomorrow -- that in the
face of impossible odds, people who love their country can change it. That when millions of Americans of every race
and every region, every faith and every station, can join together in a spirit
of brotherhood, then those mountains will be made low, and those rough places
will be made plain, and those crooked places, they straighten out towards
grace, and we will vindicate the faith of those who sacrificed so much and live
up to the true meaning of our creed, as one nation, under God, indivisible,
with liberty and justice for all.
(Applause.)
这就是我们历史的借鉴，这就是明天的希望——面对艰难险阻，热爱国家的人可以群起转变之。当每一种族和地区，每一信仰和岗位的千百万美国人能够情同手足携起手来时，高山将会低头，沟壑将化作平原，歧路将变成通向荣光的坦途，我们将证明那些付出巨大代价恪守我们理念的真正含义的人所持有的信念，即作为一个在上帝庇护下的国家，不可分割，人人享有自由和正义。（掌声） |
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