I Have a Dream
delivered 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.
I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
今天，我很高兴与你们一起参加这场将被载入史册的、我国历史上最伟大的争取自由的示威活动。
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.
一百年前，一位伟大的美国人签署了《解放奴隶宣言》，今天我们就站在他象征性的影子下。这一重大法令的颁布，犹如一盏巨大的灯塔之光，给千百万在不公正的火焰中焦灼的黑奴带来了希望。它的到来犹如欢乐的黎明，结束了囚禁他们的漫漫长夜。
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we’ve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
但一百年后的今天，黑人仍然没有获得自由。一百年后的今天，黑人的生活仍然在种族隔离的镣铐和种族歧视的枷锁下悲惨地残废着。一百年后的今天，黑人仍然生活在物质繁荣的汪洋大海中的一座贫穷的孤岛上。一百年后的今天，黑人仍然在美国社会的角落里苦苦挣扎，感到自己是故土上的流亡者。因此，我们今天来到这里，要把这一可耻的状况公诸于众。
In a sense we’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the “unalienable Rights” of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.”
从某种意义上说，我们来到国家的首都是为了兑现一张支票。当我们共和国的缔造者们写下《宪法》和《独立宣言》中壮丽的文字时，他们签署了一张每个美国人都将继承的期票。这张期票向所有人承诺，无论白人还是黑人，都享有“不可剥夺的生存权、自由权和追求幸福的权利”。今天，就有色人种公民而言，美国显然没有兑现这张期票。美国没有履行这项神圣的义务，而是给黑人开了一张空头支票，一张盖着“资金不足”的邮戳被退回的支票。
But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we’ve come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.
但我们拒绝相信正义的银行已经破产。我们不相信这个国家巨大的机会宝库中资金不足。因此，我们来兑现这张支票，这张支票将给予我们宝贵的自由和正义的保障。
We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.
我们来到这块圣地也是为了提醒美国，现在是非常紧迫的时刻。现在不是侈谈冷静下来或服用渐进主义镇静剂的时候。现在是实现民主承诺的时候了。现在是走出黑暗荒凉的种族隔离山谷，走上种族平等的阳光大道的时候了。现在是把我们的国家从种族不平等的流沙中拉到兄弟情谊的磐石上的时候了。现在是为上帝的所有儿女实现正义的时候了。
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
忽视这一时刻的紧迫性对国家来说将是致命的。在自由和平等的令人振奋的秋天到来之前，这个黑人合理不满的闷热夏天不会过去。1963年不是一个结束，而是一个开始。那些希望黑人需要发泄一下，现在就会感到满足的人，如果国家一切照旧，将会大失所望。在黑人获得公民权之前，美国既不会安宁，也不会安宁。反抗的旋风将继续动摇我们国家的基础，直到光明的正义之日出现。
But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.
但是，对于站在通往正义宫殿的温暖门槛上的人民，我必须说:在争取我们合法地位的过程中，我们绝不能犯错误。让我们不要为了满足我们对自由的渴望而喝下苦涩和仇恨的苦酒。我们必须永远在尊严和纪律的高度上进行斗争。我们绝不能让我们富有创造性的抗议沦为暴力。我们必须一次又一次地上升到以灵魂力量对抗物质力量的崇高高度。
The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.
席卷黑人社会的令人惊奇的新的战斗精神不应导致我们对所有白人的不信任，因为我们的许多白人兄弟已经认识到，他们的命运与我们的命运紧密相连，他们今天来到这里就是明证。他们已经认识到，他们的自由与我们的自由是密不可分的。
We cannot walk alone.
And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.
We cannot turn back.
我们不能单独行动。
当我们行动的时候，我们必须保证永远向前迈进。
我们不能回头。
There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. **We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: “For Whites Only.”** We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until “justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
有人问热心民权运动的人:“你们什么时候会感到满意?”只要黑人仍然是警察残暴行径难以形容的恐怖的受害者，我们就决不会满意。只要我们因旅行而疲惫不堪的身体不能在高速公路旁的汽车旅馆和城市里的旅馆住宿，我们就决不会满意。只要黑人的基本流动性是从较小的贫民窟到较大的贫民窟，我们就不会满意。只要我们的孩子被“白人专用”的标语剥夺了自我，剥夺了尊严，我们就永远不会满意。只要密西西比州的一个黑人不能投票，只要纽约州的一个黑人认为他没有什么可投票的，我们就不会满意。不，不，我们不满足，我们不会满足，直到“公平如水滚滚，公义如江河奔流”。
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest — quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.
我并非没有注意到，你们中有些人是经历了巨大的考验和磨难才来到这里的。你们中有些人刚从狭小的牢房里出来。你们中的一些人来自因追求自由而遭受迫害风暴袭击和警察暴行肆虐的地区。你们是经历过创造性苦难的老兵。继续工作，相信不劳而获的痛苦是可以救赎的。回到密西西比去吧，回到阿拉巴马去吧，回到南卡罗来纳去吧，回到佐治亚去吧，回到路易斯安那去吧，回到我们北方城市的贫民窟和贫民区去吧，要知道这种情况是能够而且一定会改变的。
建议从此处背诵（
Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.
And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”
朋友们，今天我要对你们说，让我们不要陷入绝望的深渊。
因此，即使我们面临着今天和明天的困难，我仍然有一个梦想。这是一个深深植根于美国梦的梦想。
我梦想有一天，这个国家将站起来，实现其立国信条的真谛:“我们认为这些真理不言而喻:人人生而平等。”
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of “interposition” and “nullification” — one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today!
我梦想有一天，在乔治亚州的红色山岗上，昔日奴隶的儿子能够和昔日奴隶主的儿子同席而坐，亲如手足。
我梦想有一天，甚至连密西西比州，一个不公正和压迫的热浪逼人的州，也将变成自由和正义的绿洲。
我梦想有一天，我的四个孩子将生活在一个不是以皮肤的颜色，而是以品格的优劣来评价他们的国度里。
今天我有一个梦想!
我梦想有一天，在阿拉巴马州，尽管那里有恶毒的种族主义者，尽管那里的州长满口“反对”和“反对”的口号，但有一天，那里的黑人男孩和女孩能够像兄弟姐妹一样，与白人男孩和女孩携手共进。
今天我有一个梦想!）到此处。
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; “and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.”
This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.
我梦想有一天，每一个山谷都被填满，每一座丘陵和高山都被削平，崎岖之处变平坦，弯曲之处变直;”主的荣耀必然显现，凡有血气的，都要一同看见”
这是我们的希望，这是我将带着这个信念回到南方。
With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
And this will be the day — this will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning:
有了这个信念，我们就能从绝望之山凿出一块希望之石。有了这个信念，我们就能把我们国家刺耳的不和谐变成充满兄弟情谊的优美交响曲。有了这个信念，我们就能一起工作，一起祈祷，一起斗争，一起入狱，一起捍卫自由，因为我们知道，总有一天我们会获得自由。
总有一天——总有一天，上帝的所有孩子都能以新的含义高唱这首歌:
My country ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim’s pride, From every mountainside, let freedom ring!
And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.
And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.
我的祖国，美丽的自由之乡，我为你歌唱。这是我祖先长眠的地方，这是清教徒的骄傲之地，让自由之声响彻每一座山岗!
如果美国要成为一个伟大的国家，这必须成为现实。
因此，让自由之声响彻新罕布什尔州的巍峨山巅!
Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.
Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.
But not only that:
让自由之声响彻纽约的崇山峻岭!
让自由之声响彻宾夕法尼亚州的阿勒格尼山脉!
让自由之声响彻科罗拉多州白雪皑皑的落基山脉!
让自由之声响彻加利福尼亚州蜿蜒的山坡!
但不仅如此:
Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.
And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.
From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
让自由之声响彻佐治亚州的石山!
让自由之声响彻田纳西州的了望山!
让自由之声响彻密西西比州的每一座山丘和鼹鼠丘!
让自由之声响彻每一座山腰!
Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!
当这一切发生时，当我们让自由之声响彻大地时，当我们让自由之声从每一个大小村庄、每一个州和每一个城市响起时，我们将能够加速这一天的到来。那时，上帝的所有儿女，黑人和白人，犹太教徒和非犹太教徒，新教徒和天主教徒，都将手拉手，高唱那首古老的黑人灵歌:
终于自由了!终于自由了!
感谢全能的上帝，我们终于自由了!