独立宣言（在线收听）
The Declaration of Independence
最近看了尼古拉斯·凯奇主演的新片《国家财富》(National Treasure)，本来是一个颇为老套的根据藏宝图寻宝的故事。此片的新奇却在这次的藏宝图不是别的，而正是两百多年前签署的独立宣言的原本。
英国与其美洲殖民地之间的战争于一七七五年四月开始。随著战争的延续，和解的希望逐渐消失，完全独立已成为殖民地的目标。一七七六年六月七日，在大陆会议的一次集会中，维吉尼亚的理查．亨利．李提出一个议案，宣称：“这些殖民地是自由和独立的国家，并且按其权利必须是自由和独立的国家。”六月十日大陆会议指定一个委员会草拟独立宣言。实际的起草工作由托马斯．杰佛逊负责。七月四日独立宣言获得通过，并分送十三州的议会签署及批准。
独立宣言包括三个部分：第一部分阐明政治哲学——民主与自由的哲学，内容深刻动人；第二部分列举若干具体的不平事例，以证明乔治三世破坏了美国的自由；第三部分郑重宣布独立，并宣誓支持该项宣言。
在《国家财富》(National Treasure)一片中，尼古拉斯·凯奇正是在阅读“独立宣言”的时候获得了启发，决定奋起保护国家与人民的财富免受贪婪之徒的攫取。让我们先来看看这段“独立宣言”中的经典：
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
但是，当政府长期滥用职权和强取豪夺，而且一意孤行地追求此一目标；这些都证明政府企图把人民置于专制统治之下时，那么人民就有权利，也有义务推翻这个政府，并为他们未来的安全建立新的保障。
In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
大陆会议 （一七七六年七月四日）
美利坚合众国十三个州一致通过的独立宣言
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
在有关人类事务的发展过程中，当一个民族必须解除其和另一个民族之间的政治联系并在世界各国之间依照自然法则和上帝的意旨，接受独立和平等的地位时，出於对人类舆论的尊重，必须把他们不得不独立的原因予以宣布。
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. —Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain [George III] is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
我们认为下面这些真理是不证自明的：人人生而平等，造物者赋予他们若干不可剥夺的权利，其中包括生命权、自由权和追求幸福的权利。为了保障这些权利，人类才在他们之间建立政府，而政府之正当权力，是经被治理者的同意而产生的。当任何形式的政府对这些目标具破坏作用时，人民便有权力改变或废除它，以建立一个新的政府；其赖以奠基的原则，其组织权力的方式，务使人民认为唯有这样才最可能获得他们的安全和幸福。为了慎重起见，成立多年的政府，是不应当由於轻微和短暂的原因而予以变更的。过去的一切经验也都说明，任何苦难，只要是尚能忍受，人类都宁愿容忍，而无意为了本身的权益便废除他们久已习惯了的政府。但是，当追逐同一目标的一连串滥用职权和强取豪夺长期发生，证明政府企图把人民置於专制统治之下时，那么人民就有权利，也有义务推翻这个政府，并为他们未来的安全建立新的保障——这就是这些殖民地过去逆来顺受的情况，也是它们现在不得不改变以前政府制度的原因。当今大不列颠国王的历史，是接连不断的伤天害理和强取豪夺的历史，这些暴行的唯一目标，就是想在这些州建立专制的暴政。为了证明所言属实，现把下列事实向公正的世界宣布：
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
他拒绝批准对公众利益最有益、最必要的法律。
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
他禁止他的总督们批准迫切而极为必要的法律，要不就把这些法律搁置起来暂不生效，等待他的同意 ;而一旦这些法律被搁置起来，他对它们就完全置之不理。
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
他拒绝批准便利广大地区人民的其他法律，除非那些人民情愿放弃自己在立法机关中的代表权; 但这种权利对他们有无法估量的价值，而且只有暴君才畏惧这种权利。
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
他把各州立法团体召集到异乎寻常的、极为不便的、远离它们档案库的地方去开会，唯一的目的是使他们疲於奔命，不得不顺从他的意旨。
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
他一再解散各州的议会，因为它们以无畏的坚毅态度反对他侵犯人民的权利。
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
他在解散各州议会之後，又长期拒绝另选新议会; 但立法权是无法取消的，因此这项权力仍由一般人民来行使。其时各州仍然处於危险的境地，既有外来侵略之患，又有发生内乱之忧。
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
他竭力抑制我们各州增加人囗; 为此目的，他阻挠外国人入籍法的通过，拒绝批准其地鼓励外国人移居各州的法律，并提高分配新土地的条件。
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
他拒绝批准建立司法权力的法律，藉以阻挠司法工作的推行。
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
他把法官的任期、薪金数额和支付，完全置於他个人意志的支配之下。
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.
他建立新官署，派遣大批官员，骚扰我们人民，并耗尽人民必要的生活物质。
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the consent of our legislatures.
他在和平时期，未经我们的立法机关同意，就在我们中间维持常备军。
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
他力图使军队独立於民政之外，并凌驾於民政之上。
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
他同某些人勾结起来把我们置於一种不适合我们的体制且不为我们的法律所承认的管辖之下 ; 他还批准那些人炮制的各种伪法案来达到以下目的 :
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
在我们中间驻扎大批武装部队
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
用假审讯来包庇他们，使他们杀害我们各州居民而仍然逍遥法外
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
切断我们同世界各地的贸易
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
未经我们同意便向我们强行徵税
For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
在许多案件中剥夺我们享有陪审制的权益
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
编造罪名押送我们到海外去受审
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
在一个邻省废除英国的自由法制，在那里建立专制政府，并扩大该省的疆界，企图把该省变成既是一个样板又是一值得心应手的工具，以便进而向这里的各殖民地推行同样的极权统治
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
取消我们的宪章，废除我们最宝贵的法律，并且根本上改变我们各州政府的形式
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
中止我们自己的立法机关行使权力，宣称他们自己有权就一切事宜为我们制定法律。
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
他宣布我们已不属他保护之列，并对我们作战，从而放弃了在这里的政务。
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
他在我们的海域大肆掠夺，蹂躏我们沿海地区，焚烧我们的城镇，残害我们人民的生命。
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
他此时正在运送大批外国佣兵来完成屠杀、破坏和肆虐的勾当，这种勾当早就开始，其残酷卑劣甚至在最野蛮的时代都难以找到先例。他完全不配件为一个文明国家的元首。
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
他在公海上俘虏我们的同胞，强迫他们拿起武器来反对自己的国家，成为残杀自己亲人和朋友的创子手，或是死於自己的亲人和朋友的手下。
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
他在我们中间煽动内乱，并且竭力挑唆那些残酷无情、没有开化的印第安人来杀掠我们追撞的居民 ; 而众所周知，印第安人的作战规律是不分男女老幼，一律格杀勿论的。
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
在这些压迫的每一阶段中，我们都是用最谦卑的言辞请求改善；但屡次请求所得到的答覆是屡次遭受损害。一个君主，当他的品格已打上了暴君行为的烙印时，是不配作自由人民的统治者的。
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
我们不是没有顾念我们英国的弟兄。我们时常提醒他们，他们的立法机关企图把无理的管辖权横加到我们的头上。我们也曾把我们移民来这里和在这里定居的情形告诉他们。我们曾经向他们天生的正义感和雅量呼吁，我们恳求他们念在同种同宗的份上，弃绝这些掠夺行为，以免影响彼此的关系和往来。但是他们对於这种正义和血缘的呼声，也同样充耳不闻。因此，我们实在不得不宣布和他们脱离，并且以对待世界上其他民族一样的态度对待他们：和我们作战，就是敌人；和我们和好，就是朋友。
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by the Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
因此，我们，在大陆会议下集会的美利坚合众国代表，以各殖民地善良人民的名义，非经他们授权，向全世界最崇高的正义呼吁，说明我们的严正意向，同时郑重宣布；这些联合一致的殖民地从此是自由和独立的国家，并且按其权利也必须是自由和独立的国家，它们取消一切对英国王室效忠的义务，它们和大不列颠国家之间的一切政治关系从此全部断绝，而且必须断绝；作为自由独立的国家，它们完全有权宣战、缔和、结盟、通商和采取独立国家有权采取的一切行动。为了支持这篇宣言，我们坚决信赖上帝的庇佑，以我们的生命、我们的财产和我们神圣的名誉，彼此宣誓。
The signers of the Declaration represented the new states as follows:
New Hampshire
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts
John Hancock, Samual Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
New York
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
Pennsylvania
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Maryland
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
North Carolina
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Georgia
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton