After the Battle of Gettysburg, it was decided to hold a grand funeral for the dead martyrs. The funeral committee issued a general invitation to the President. They thought he wouldn't come, but Lincoln agreed. Now that the president has come, he must make a speech, but they invited the famous speaker Everett to do it. So, they wrote a letter to Lincoln, saying that after Everett's speech, they hoped that he would "say a few words casually." It was an insult, but Lincoln accepted it calmly.
Within two weeks, he was thinking about how to make a speech while dressing, shaving and eating snacks. The speech was revised two or three times, but he was still not satisfied. The night before the funeral, he was still making the final revision, and then found a colleague to read aloud in the middle of the night. When he entered the meeting, he rode on a horse, still lowering his head to his chest to meditate on his speech.
Everett spoke for more than two hours. Near the end, Lincoln nervously took out his old glasses and read his speech again. His speech began, a reporter set up a tripod to take pictures, everything was ready, and Lincoln had stepped off the platform. This time was only two minutes, but the applause lasted 10 minutes. This speech, which was highly praised by later generations, translated into today's Chinese, is only 400 words.
Abraham's Gettysburg Address
Lincoln delivered it on 1 1 month 9, 1863 cemetery hill,
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Eighty-seven years ago, our forefathers created a new country on this continent, which was conceived in freedom and pursued the principle that all men are created equal.
Now, we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether this country, or any country that was born here and pursues this road, can exist for a long time. We met on a great battlefield of that war. We are here to dedicate a part of this battlefield to those who gave their lives for the survival of this country as their final resting place. It is entirely appropriate for us to do so.
However, in a broader sense, we cannot dedicate, sanctify or deify this land. The brave men who fought here, living and dead, have made this land sacred, which is far beyond our meager strength to increase or decrease. The world will not notice or remember what we said here for a long time, but it will never forget what they did here. On the contrary, we living people should devote ourselves here to the unfinished business that those who have fought here have so nobly advanced. We should devote ourselves to the great task before us here-from these glorious dead, we love the cause for which they gave their final dedication all the more-and we are determined here that these dead people will not die in vain-this country will get a new life of freedom under the protection of God-this government of the people, by the people and for the people will not disappear from the earth.
The address of Gettysburg, abraham lincoln.
Eighty-seven years ago, our forefathers established a new country on this continent, which was conceived in freedom and pursued the principle that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war to test whether this country, or any country conceived in freedom and practicing the above principles, can last for a long time. We are gathered on the great battlefield of this war. The martyrs gave their lives for the survival of this country, and we are here to dedicate part of this battlefield to them as the final resting place. It is entirely appropriate and appropriate for us to do so.
However, in a broader sense, we cannot dedicate, deify or deify this land. Those brave men who fought here, living and dead, have consecrated this land, which is far beyond our meager strength. What we say here today will not be noticed by the whole world, nor will it be remembered for a long time, but what the brave men did here will never be forgotten by the whole world. On the contrary, those of us who are still alive should devote ourselves here to the unfinished business that the warriors have so nobly advanced. On the contrary, we should devote ourselves to the great task still before us here-we should draw more dedication from these glorious dead to complete the cause to which they have devoted themselves completely and thoroughly; We must make the greatest determination here and not let these dead people die in vain; We hope that this country will be reborn under the blessing of God, and this government of the people, by the people and for the people will exist forever.
To annotate ...
(1) Cettysburg: Gettysburg. A small town on the southern border of Pennsylvania, USA. The largest key battle between the North and the South in the history of the American Civil War took place here, with about 25,000 casualties on both sides. President Lincoln delivered this famous speech at the inauguration ceremony of the National Martyrs Cemetery in Gettysburg in June 1863+0 19 10/9.
(2) "All men are created equal": "All men are created equal" is a famous saying written by Jefferson, the third and fourth president of the United States, in the American Declaration of Independence.
(3) So conceived and so dedicated: This means that in the first sentence, so conceived freedom and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. So is the adverb, which means: as mentioned above.
(4) Satisfaction: assembly.
They gave their lives for the continuation of this battle: for the survival of this country. Attributive clauses, the first is a conjunction, which leads to the adverbial of purpose, and the second is a demonstrative pronoun, which modifies the nation.
We can't ...: we can't. We can't repeat it three times here to deepen our impression and express strong feelings. This modification is called anaphora and is often used in speeches and poems.
(7)- We get creative contributions from the glorious dead ... and will not perish from the earth: the four clauses separated by semicolons after dashes are the juxtaposition structure of great tasks.
Zhang Peiji: English-Chinese Translation Course, Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press 1980 Gettysburg Address abraham lincoln Eighty-seven years ago, our forefathers established a new country on this continent, which was conceived in freedom and pursued the principle that all men were created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war to test this country, or to test whether any country conceived in freedom and practicing the above principles can last for a long time. We are gathered on the great battlefield of this war. The martyrs gave their lives for the survival of this country, and we are gathered here to dedicate a part of this battlefield to them as the final resting place. It is entirely appropriate for us to do so. However, in a broader sense, we can't dedicate this land, can't deify it, let alone deify it. The brave men who fought here, living and dead, have consecrated this land, which is far from our meager strength to increase or decrease. For a long time, the world will rarely notice or remember what we said here today, but the world will never forget what the brave men did here. Ning Wu said that those of us who are still alive should devote ourselves here to the unfinished business that the brave men have so nobly advanced. On the contrary, we should devote ourselves to the great task still before us here, so that we can learn more dedication from these glorious dead to complete the cause they have devoted themselves to completely; In this way, we can make the greatest determination here and not let these dead die in vain; In this way, this country can be reborn freely under the blessing of God, and this government of the people, by the people and for the people will last forever.
Eighty-seven years ago, our forefathers established a new country on this continent, which was conceived in freedom and pursued the principle that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war to test whether this country, or any country conceived in freedom and practicing the above principles, can last for a long time. We are gathered on the great battlefield of this war. The martyrs gave their lives for the survival of this country. We are here to dedicate a part of this battlefield to them as a final resting place. It is entirely appropriate for us to do so. However, in a broader sense, we cannot dedicate, deify or deify this land. Those brave men who fought here, living and dead, have consecrated this land, which is far beyond our meager strength. What we say here today will not be noticed by the whole world, nor will it be remembered for a long time, but what the brave men did here will never be forgotten by the whole world. On the contrary, those of us who are still alive should devote ourselves here to the unfinished business that the warriors have so nobly advanced. On the contrary, we should devote ourselves to the great task still before us here-we should draw more dedication from these glorious dead to complete the cause to which they have devoted themselves completely and thoroughly; We must make the greatest determination here and not let these dead people die in vain; We hope that this country will be reborn freely under the blessing of God, and this government of the people, by the people and for the people will exist forever. Eighty-seven years ago, our forefathers founded a new country on this continent. They believed in freedom and devoted themselves to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war to test whether this country, or any country with the same beliefs or ideas, can exist for a long time. We gathered in a big field of this war, in order to dedicate a part of this land to the soldiers who died for the survival of the country as the final resting place. It is appropriate for us to do so. However, from a broader perspective, we are not qualified to dedicate this land and make it a sacred land. The brave people who have struggled here, whether alive or dead, have added luster to this land, far exceeding our meager strength. The world will not pay much attention to or remember what we say here today, but it will never forget what they do here. We living people would rather devote ourselves to the unfinished business that they fought here and are still doing well now. We would rather devote ourselves to these great tasks in front of us-from these martyrs, we should pay more sacrifices and strive for their greatest dedication to the ideals they safeguard; We firmly believe here that they will not die in vain; This country will be reborn freely under the witness of God. This country of the people, by the people and for the people will not disappear from the earth!