Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address in Chinese and English

Lincoln's speech is a famous chapter in the history of speeches. Its profound thoughts, rigorous writing, and refined language are indeed worthy of being a masterpiece that will shine through in history.

After the Battle of Gettysburg, it was decided to hold a grand funeral for the fallen martyrs. The burial committee sent the president a plain invitation. They thought he would not come, but Lincoln agreed. Since the president is here, he must give a speech, but they have already invited the famous orator Everett to do this. Therefore, they wrote another letter to Lincoln, saying that after Everett finished his speech, they hoped that He "said a few appropriate words." It was an insult, but Lincoln accepted it calmly.

For two weeks, he was thinking about how to speak while dressing, shaving, and eating snacks. The speech was revised two or three times, but he was still not satisfied. On the night before the funeral, he was still making final revisions, and then found his colleagues to read loudly in the middle of the night. When he entered the venue, he was still sitting on his horse with his head lowered to his chest and meditating on his speech.

The Everett lectured for more than two hours. Near the end, Lincoln uneasily took out his old glasses and looked at his speech again. His speech began, and a reporter set up a tripod to take photos. When everything was ready, Lincoln had already stepped off the podium. This period was only two minutes long, but the applause lasted for 10 minutes. That speech, which was highly praised by later generations, is only 400 words translated into Chinese today.

GETTYSBURG ADDRESS Abraham

Lincoln Delivered on the 19th Day of November, 1863 Cemetery Hill,

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

Four score and Seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged 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 battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. 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 vain -- 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 perish from the earth.

The Gettysburg Address Abraham Lincoln, November 19, 1963

Eighty-seven years ago, our forefathers founded a new nation on this continent. It is conceived in freedom and upholds the principle that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, which will test whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and dedicated to these principles, can long endure. We meet on a great battlefield in this war. We are here to dedicate a portion of that battlefield as a final resting place for the martyrs who gave their lives that this nation might survive. It is entirely appropriate and appropriate for us to do this.

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who fought here have consecrated this land more than our poor power can add or detract from. The world will seldom pay attention to what we say here today, nor will it long be remembered, but the world will never forget what the brave men and women did here. Rather, it is for us, the living, who should be here devoting ourselves to the unfinished work which the brave men have so nobly advanced. It is rather that we should devote ourselves here to the great task that still remains before us - that we should draw yet more devotion from these glorious dead to the cause to which they had so thoroughly and utterly devoted themselves; We must make the utmost determination not to let these dead sacrifices be in vain; we must give our country a new life of freedom under the blessing of God, and let this government of the people, by the people, and for the people endure forever.

Notes

(1) Cettysburg: Gettysburg. A small town on the southern border of Pennsylvania, USA. The largest and most critical battle in the history of the American Civil War between the South and the North took place here, with approximately 25,000 casualties on both sides. President Lincoln delivered this famous speech at the dedication ceremony of the Gettysburg National Cemetery on November 19, 1863.

(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 "Declaration of Independence" of the United States.

(3) so conceived and so dedicated: refers to conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposititon that all men are created equal in the first sentence. so is an adverb, meaning: in this way; as mentioned above That way.

(4) are met: assembly.

(5) who here gave their lives that that mation might live: those who devoted their lives for the survival of this country... Attributive clause, the first that is a conjunction, guiding the adverbial of purpose, and the second that is a demonstrative pronoun, modifying nation.

(6) we cannot...: We cannot....

Here we cannot is repeated three times to deepen the impression and express strong emotions. This modification is called anaphora and is often used in speeches and poetry.

(7) -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion ... shall not perish from the earth: The four clauses preceded by that separated by semicolons after the dash are the great task The appositive parallel structure of .

Translation 1: Zhang Peiji: "English-Chinese Translation Tutorial", Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press 1980 Gettysburg Address Abraham Lincoln Eighty-seven years ago, our ancestors founded the A new nation, conceived in liberty and committed to the principle that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, which will test the long existence of this nation, or of any nation conceived with liberty and devoted to these principles. We meet on one of the great battlefields of this war. We gather here to dedicate a portion of that battlefield as a final resting place for the martyrs who gave their lives that this nation might survive. It is entirely appropriate and appropriate for us to do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not deify, this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who fought here have consecrated this land far above our feeble power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here today, but the world can never forget what they did here. Wu Ning said that it is us who are still alive who should dedicate ourselves here to the unfinished cause that the warriors have so nobly advanced. Rather, we should devote ourselves here to the great task that still remains before us, that we may draw from these glorious dead the more devotion to the cause to which they gave their complete and utter devotion; that we may in our The utmost determination is here made that these dead shall not be sacrificed in vain; that the country may, under the blessing of God, receive a new life of freedom, and that this government of the people, by the people, and for the people may endure forever.

Translation 2: Zhu Zengwen’s Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln Eighty-seven years ago, our forefathers created a new country on this continent, conceived in freedom, Adhere to the principle that all people are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, which will test whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and dedicated to these principles, can long endure. We meet on one of the great battlefields of this war. We are here to dedicate a portion of that battlefield as a final resting place for the martyrs who gave their lives that this nation might survive. It is absolutely appropriate and appropriate for us to do this. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who fought here have consecrated this land more than our poor power can add or detract from. The world will little note what we say here today, nor will it long be remembered, but what the brave men did here will never be forgotten by the world. Rather, it is for us, the living, who should be here devoting ourselves to the unfinished work which the brave men have so nobly advanced. It is rather that we should devote ourselves here to the great task that still remains before us - that we should draw yet more devotion from these glorious dead to the cause to which they had so thoroughly and utterly devoted themselves; We must make the utmost determination not to let these dead sacrifices be in vain; we must give our country a new life of freedom under the blessing of God, and let this government of the people, by the people, and for the people endure forever.

Translation 3: Hong Lizhu, Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln Eighty-seven years ago, our ancestors created a new country on this continent, believing in freedom and committed to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war that tests whether this nation, or any nation that shares its beliefs or stands for the same things, can long endure. We gathered on a major battlefield of this war to dedicate part of this land to those soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the survival of the country as a final resting place. It is quite appropriate that we should do so. But, in a larger sense, we have no right to consecrate this ground as a hallowed ground. The brave men and women who fought here, living and dead, have glorified this land far more than our meager strength can add or detract. The world will little heed or long remember what we say here today, but it can never forget what they did here. We living people would rather dedicate ourselves to the unfinished work they fought here and are still brilliantly carrying out. We would rather dedicate ourselves to these great tasks before us - from these martyrs, we will invest more sacrifices and fight for the ideals they made the greatest sacrifice to uphold; we are here to firmly believe that their sacrifices will not be in vain; this country is in Under the witness of God, freedom will be reborn; this country of the people, by the people, and for the people will not disappear from the earth!