It is a rare honor in this life to follow one of your heroes. And John Lewis is one of my heroes. 在人的一生中，能够追随自己心目中的英雄之一，是一种难得的荣幸。而约翰·刘易斯就是我心目中的英雄之一。
Now, I have to imagine that when a younger John Lewis woke up that morning 50 years ago and made his way to Brown Chapel, heroics were not on his mind. A day like this was not on his mind. Young folks with bedrolls and backpacks were milling about. Veterans of the movement trained newcomers in the tactics of non-violence -- the right way to protect yourself when attacked. A doctor described what tear gas does to the body, while marchers scribbled down instructions for contacting their loved ones. The air was thick with doubt, anticipation and fear. 我可以想象，五十年前的那个早晨，当年轻的约翰·刘易斯醒来，前往布朗教堂时，他心里想的并不是要成为英雄。他没有想到会有这样一天。背着铺盖卷和背包的年轻人在教堂里转来转去。运动的老兵们向新来者传授非暴力策略——遭到攻击时保护自己的正确方法。一位医生描述了催泪瓦斯对人体的作用，游行者们则匆匆记下联系亲人的方式。空气中弥漫着疑虑、期待和恐惧。
And they comforted themselves with the final verse of the final hymn they sung: 他们用所唱的最后一首圣歌的最后一节来安慰自己：
No matter what may be the test, God will take care of you; lean, weary one, upon His breast, God will take care of you. 无论考验如何，上帝必眷顾你；疲惫的人啊，倚靠祂的胸怀，上帝必眷顾你。
And then, his knapsack stocked with an apple, a toothbrush, and a book on government -- all you need for a night behind bars -- John Lewis led them out of the church on a mission to change America. 然后，约翰·刘易斯的背包里装着一个苹果、一支牙刷和一本关于政府的书——这些是你在铁窗后度过一夜所需的全部——他带领他们走出教堂，踏上了改变美国的使命。
President and Mrs. Bush, Governor Bentley, Mayor Evans, Sewell, Reverend Strong, members of Congress, elected officials, foot soldiers, friends, fellow Americans: 布什总统及夫人，本特利州长，埃文斯市长，休厄尔，斯特朗牧师，各位国会议员，各位民选官员，各位民权战士，朋友们，同胞们：
As John noted, there are places and moments in America where this nation's destiny has been decided. Many are sites of war -- Concord and Lexington, Appomattox, Gettysburg. Others are sites that symbolize the daring of America's character -- Independence Hall and Seneca Falls, Kitty Hawk and Cape Canaveral. 正如约翰所指出的，在美国，有一些地方和时刻决定了这个国家的命运。许多是战争遗址——康科德和列克星敦，阿波马托克斯，葛底斯堡。还有一些地方象征着美国精神的勇敢——独立厅和塞尼卡福尔斯，基蒂霍克和卡纳维拉尔角。
Selma is such a place. In one afternoon 50 years ago, so much of our turbulent history -- the stain of slavery and anguish of civil war; the yoke of segregation and tyranny of Jim Crow; the death of four little girls in Birmingham; and the dream of a Baptist preacher -- all that history met on this bridge. 塞尔玛就是这样一个地方。五十年前的一个下午，我们动荡历史中的太多篇章——奴隶制的污点和内战的痛苦；种族隔离的枷锁和吉姆·克劳的暴政；伯明翰四个小女孩的死亡；以及一位浸信会牧师的梦想——所有这些历史都在这座桥上交汇。
It was not a clash of armies, but a clash of wills; a contest to determine the true meaning of America. And because of men and women like John Lewis, Joseph Lowery, Hosea Williams, Amelia Boynton, Diane Nash, Ralph Abernathy, C.T. Vivian, Andrew Young, Fred Shuttlesworth, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and so many others, the idea of a just America and a fair America, an inclusive America, and a generous America -- that idea ultimately triumphed. 这不是军队的冲突，而是意志的较量；一场决定美国真正意义的竞赛。因为有了约翰·刘易斯、约瑟夫·洛里、霍齐亚·威廉姆斯、阿米莉亚·博因顿、黛安·纳什、拉尔夫·阿伯内西、C.T.维维安、安德鲁·杨、弗雷德·沙特尔沃斯、马丁·路德·金博士等许许多多的人，一个公正的美国、公平的美国、包容的美国、慷慨的美国——这一理想最终取得了胜利。
As is true across the landscape of American history, we cannot examine this moment in isolation. The march on Selma was part of a broader campaign that spanned generations; the leaders that day part of a long line of heroes. 纵观美国历史，我们不能孤立地审视这个时刻。塞尔玛游行是一场跨越几代人的更广泛运动的一部分；那天的领袖们是一长串英雄中的一员。
We gather here to celebrate them. We gather here to honor the courage of ordinary Americans willing to endure billy clubs and the chastening rod; tear gas and the trampling hoof; men and women who despite the gush of blood and splintered bone would stay true to their North Star and keep marching towards justice. 我们聚集在这里，是为了颂扬他们。我们聚集在这里，是为了致敬那些普通美国人的勇气——他们甘愿承受警棍和皮鞭的抽打，催泪瓦斯和铁蹄的践踏；这些男男女女，尽管鲜血喷涌、骨头碎裂，却依然忠于他们的北极星，继续朝着正义前进。
They did as Scripture instructed: "Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer." And in the days to come, they went back again and again. When the trumpet call sounded for more to join, the people came -- black and white, young and old, Christian and Jew, waving the American flag and singing the same anthems full of faith and hope. A white newsman, Bill Plante, who covered the marches then and who is with us here today, quipped that the growing number of white people lowered the quality of the singing. 他们正如圣经所教导的那样："在指望中要喜乐，在患难中要忍耐，祷告要恒切。"在接下来的日子里，他们一次又一次地回来。当号角吹响，召唤更多人加入时，人们来了——黑人和白人，年轻人和老人，基督徒和犹太人，挥舞着美国国旗，唱着同样充满信仰和希望的赞歌。一位当时报道游行的白人记者比尔·普兰特今天也来到了这里，他曾打趣说，越来越多的白人加入后，唱歌的水平下降了。
To those who marched, though, those old gospel songs must have never sounded so sweet. 然而，对于那些游行者来说，那些古老的福音歌曲一定从未如此动听过。
In time, their chorus would well up and reach President Johnson. And he would send them protection, and speak to the nation, echoing their call for America and the world to hear: "We shall overcome." What enormous faith these men and women had. Faith in God, but also faith in America. 随着时间的推移，他们的歌声逐渐高涨，传到了约翰逊总统耳中。他派遣了保护部队，并向全国发表讲话，呼应他们的呼吁，让美国和全世界都听到："我们终将胜利。"这些男男女女有着多么巨大的信念啊。对上帝的信仰，也是对美国的信仰。
The Americans who crossed this bridge, they were not physically imposing. But they gave courage to millions. They held no elected office. But they led a nation. They marched as Americans who had endured hundreds of years of brutal violence, countless daily indignities -- but they didn't seek special treatment, just the equal treatment promised to them almost a century before. 走过这座桥的美国人，他们的身体并不强壮。但他们给了数百万人勇气。他们没有担任公职。但他们领导了一个国家。他们作为美国人游行——这些人忍受了数百年的残暴暴力，无数日常的屈辱——但他们并不寻求特殊待遇，只寻求近一个世纪前就承诺给他们的平等对待。
What they did here will reverberate through the ages. Not because the change they won was preordained; not because their victory was complete; but because they proved that nonviolent change is possible, that love and hope can conquer hate. 他们在这里所做的一切将在岁月中回响。不是因为他们赢得的改变是命中注定的；不是因为他们的胜利是圆满的；而是因为他们证明了非暴力变革是可能的，爱与希望能够战胜仇恨。
As we commemorate their achievement, we are well-served to remember that at the time of the marches, many in power condemned rather than praised them. Back then, they were called Communists, or half-breeds, or outside agitators, sexual and moral degenerates, and worse -- they were called everything but the name their parents gave them. Their faith was questioned; their lives were threatened; their patriotism challenged. 当我们纪念他们的成就时，我们应当记住，在游行发生的那个年代，许多当权者谴责而非赞扬他们。那时候，他们被称为共产主义者、混血儿、外来煽动者、性变态和道德败坏者，等等——除了父母给他们的名字，什么难听的称呼都有。他们的信仰受到质疑；他们的生命受到威胁；他们的爱国精神遭到挑战。
And yet, what could be more American than what happened in this place? What could more profoundly vindicate the idea of America than plain and humble people -- unsung, the downtrodden, the dreamers not of high station, not born to wealth or privilege, not of one religious tradition but many, coming together to shape their country's course? 然而，还有什么比这里发生的事情更具美国精神呢？还有什么能比平凡而谦逊的人们——无名的、受压迫的、梦想家们，没有显赫的地位，不是生来富贵或享有特权，不只有一种宗教传统而是多种宗教传统，汇聚在一起塑造他们国家的进程——更能深刻地证明美国的理想呢？
What greater expression of faith in the American experiment than this, what greater form of patriotism is there than the belief that America is not yet finished, that we are strong enough to be self-critical, that each successive generation can look upon our imperfections and decide that it is in our power to remake this nation to more closely align with our highest ideals? 还有什么比这更能表达对美国实验的信念，还有什么比相信美国尚未完成、相信我们有足够的力量进行自我批评、相信每一代人都能审视我们的不完美并决定我们有能力重塑这个国家以更接近我们的最高理想，更崇高的爱国主义形式呢？
That's why Selma is not some outlier in the American experience. That's why it's not a museum or a static monument to behold from a distance. It is instead the manifestation of a creed written into our founding documents: "We the People...in order to form a more perfect union." "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." 这就是为什么塞尔玛不是美国经历中的异类。这就是为什么它不是一座博物馆，也不是一座从远处瞻仰的静态纪念碑。相反，它是写在我们建国文件中的信条的体现："我们人民……为了组成一个更完善的联邦。""我们认为这些真理不言而喻，人人生而平等。"
These are not just words. They're a living thing, a call to action, a roadmap for citizenship and an insistence in the capacity of free men and women to shape our own destiny. For founders like Franklin and Jefferson, for leaders like Lincoln and FDR, the success of our experiment in self-government rested on engaging all of our citizens in this work. And that's what we celebrate here in Selma. That's what this movement was all about, one leg in our long journey toward freedom. 这些不仅仅是文字。它们是活生生的事物，是行动的号召，是公民身份的路线图，是对自由男女塑造自己命运能力的坚持。对于富兰克林和杰斐逊这样的建国者，对于林肯和罗斯福这样的领袖来说，我们自治实验的成功取决于让所有公民参与这项工作。这就是我们在塞尔玛庆祝的。这就是这场运动的全部意义——我们通往自由的漫长旅程中的一步。
The American instinct that led these young men and women to pick up the torch and cross this bridge, that's the same instinct that moved patriots to choose revolution over tyranny. It's the same instinct that drew immigrants from across oceans and the Rio Grande; the same instinct that led women to reach for the ballot, workers to organize against an unjust status quo; the same instinct that led us to plant a flag at Iwo Jima and on the surface of the Moon. 引领这些年轻男女拿起火炬、走过这座桥的美国本能，与促使爱国者选择革命而非暴政的本能是一样的。正是这种本能，吸引了来自大洋彼岸和里奥格兰德河的移民；正是这种本能，促使妇女争取投票权，工人们组织起来反对不公正的现状；正是这种本能，引领我们在硫磺岛和月球表面插上旗帜。
It's the idea held by generations of citizens who believed that America is a constant work in progress; who believed that loving this country requires more than singing its praises or avoiding uncomfortable truths. It requires the occasional disruption, the willingness to speak out for what is right, to shake up the status quo. That's America. 这是一代又一代公民所持有的信念：美国是一个不断进步的事业；他们相信，热爱这个国家不仅仅是歌颂它的赞美或回避令人不安的真相。它需要偶尔的打破陈规，需要敢于为正义发声，需要敢于撼动现状。这就是美国。
That's what makes us unique. That's what cements our reputation as a beacon of opportunity. Young people behind the Iron Curtain would see Selma and eventually tear down that wall. Young people in Soweto would hear Bobby Kennedy talk about ripples of hope and eventually banish the scourge of apartheid. Young people in Burma went to prison rather than submit to military rule. They saw what John Lewis had done. 这就是我们的独特之处。这就是我们作为机遇灯塔的声誉得以巩固的原因。铁幕背后的年轻人会看到塞尔玛，并最终推倒那堵墙。索韦托的年轻人会听到鲍比·肯尼迪谈论希望的涟漪，并最终消除种族隔离的祸害。缅甸的年轻人宁愿入狱也不屈服于军事统治。他们看到了约翰·刘易斯所做的一切。
From the streets of Tunis to the Maidan in Ukraine, this generation of young people can draw strength from this place, where the powerless could change the world's greatest power and push their leaders to expand the boundaries of freedom. 从突尼斯的街头到乌克兰的独立广场，这一代年轻人可以从这个地方汲取力量——在这里，无权无势的人能够改变世界上最强大的国家，并推动他们的领导人扩大自由的边界。
They saw that idea made real right here in Selma, Alabama. They saw that idea manifest itself here in America. 他们看到这个理想在阿拉巴马州塞尔玛成为现实。他们看到这个理想在美国成为现实。
Because of campaigns like this, a Voting Rights Act was passed. Political and economic and social barriers came down. And the change these men and women wrought is visible here today in the presence of African Americans who run boardrooms, who sit on the bench, who serve in elected office from small towns to big cities; from the Congressional Black Caucus all the way to the Oval Office. 因为有了这样的运动，《投票权法案》得以通过。政治、经济和社会壁垒被推倒。这些男男女女带来的变化，今天在这里清晰可见——非洲裔美国人经营着公司董事会，坐在法官席上，从小镇到大城担任民选公职；从国会黑人核心小组一直到椭圆形办公室。
Because of what they did, the doors of opportunity swung open not just for black folks, but for every American. Women marched through those doors. Latinos marched through those doors. Asian Americans, gay Americans, Americans with disabilities -- they all came through those doors. Their endeavors gave the entire South the chance to rise again, not by reasserting the past, but by transcending the past. 因为他们所做的一切，机遇之门不仅为黑人敞开，也为每一个美国人敞开。妇女走过了那些门。拉丁裔走过了那些门。亚裔美国人、同性恋美国人、美国残疾人——他们都走过了那些门。他们的努力让整个南方有了再次崛起的机会——不是通过重申过去，而是通过超越过去。
What a glorious thing, Dr. King might say. And what a solemn debt we owe. Which leads us to ask, just how might we repay that debt? 金博士可能会说，这是多么光荣的事情。而我们又欠下了多么庄严的债务。这让我们不禁要问，我们该如何偿还这笔债务？
First and foremost, we have to recognize that one day's commemoration, no matter how special, is not enough. If Selma taught us anything, it's that our work is never done. The American experiment in self-government gives work and purpose to each generation. 首先，我们必须认识到，一天的纪念活动，无论多么特别，都是不够的。如果说塞尔玛教会了我们什么，那就是我们的工作永远不会完成。美国的自治实验赋予了每一代人工作和目标。
Selma teaches us, as well, that action requires that we shed our cynicism. For when it comes to the pursuit of justice, we can afford neither complacency nor despair. 塞尔玛还告诉我们，行动要求我们摆脱犬儒主义。因为在追求正义的道路上，我们既不能自满，也不能绝望。
Just this week, I was asked whether I thought the Department of Justice's Ferguson report shows that, with respect to race, little has changed in this country. And I understood the question; the report's narrative was sadly familiar. It evoked the kind of abuse and disregard for citizens that spawned the Civil Rights Movement. But I rejected the notion that nothing's changed. What happened in Ferguson may not be unique, but it's no longer endemic. It's no longer sanctioned by law or by custom. And before the Civil Rights Movement, it most surely was. 就在本周，有人问我，我是否认为司法部的弗格森报告表明，在种族问题上，这个国家几乎没有什么改变。我理解这个问题；报告中的叙述令人遗憾地似曾相识。它让人想起了那种催生民权运动的对公民的虐待和漠视。但我拒绝接受什么都没有改变的说法。弗格森发生的事情可能并非独一无二，但它已不再普遍存在。它不再得到法律或习俗的认可。而在民权运动之前，情况肯定是这样的。
We do a disservice to the cause of justice by intimating that bias and discrimination are immutable, that racial division is inherent to America. If you think nothing's changed in the past 50 years, ask somebody who lived through the Selma or Chicago or Los Angeles of the 1950s. Ask the female CEO who once might have been assigned to the secretarial pool if nothing's changed. 如果我们暗示偏见和歧视是不可改变的，种族分裂是美国固有的，那就是对正义事业的伤害。如果你认为过去五十年什么都没有改变，那就去问问经历过五十年代塞尔玛、芝加哥或洛杉矶的人。去问问那位曾经可能被分配做秘书工作的女性首席执行官，看看是否什么都没有改变。
Ask your gay friend if it's easier to be out and proud in America now than it was thirty years ago. To deny this progress, this hard-won progress -- our progress -- would be to rob us of our own agency, our own capacity, our responsibility to do what we can to make America better. 去问问你的同性恋朋友，现在在美国公开出柜并感到自豪是否比三十年前更容易。否认这一进步，这一来之不易的进步——我们的进步——就是剥夺我们自己的能动性、我们自己的能力、以及我们尽己所能让美国变得更好的责任。
Of course, a more common mistake is to suggest that Ferguson is an isolated incident; that racism is banished; that the work that drew men and women to Selma is now complete, and that whatever racial tensions remain are a consequence of those seeking to play the "race card" for their own purposes. We don't need the Ferguson report to know that's not true. We just need to open our eyes, and our ears, and our hearts to know that this nation's racial history still casts its long shadow upon us. 当然，一个更常见的错误是认为弗格森是一个孤立事件；种族主义已经被根除；吸引男男女女来到塞尔玛的工作已经完成，而任何残留的种族紧张局势都是那些为了自己的目的打"种族牌"的人造成的。我们不需要弗格森报告来知道这不是真的。我们只需要睁开眼睛，竖起耳朵，敞开心扉，就会知道这个国家的种族历史仍然在我们身上投下长长的阴影。
We know the march is not yet over. We know the race is not yet won. We know that reaching that blessed destination where we are judged, all of us, by the content of our character requires admitting as much, facing up to the truth. "We are capable of bearing a great burden," James Baldwin once wrote, "once we discover that the burden is reality and arrive where reality is." 我们知道，游行还没有结束。我们知道，这场竞赛还没有胜利。我们知道，要到达那个有福的目的地——在那里我们所有人都以品格受到评判——需要我们承认这一点，直面真相。詹姆斯·鲍德温曾写道："我们能够承受巨大的负担，一旦我们发现负担就是现实，并到达现实所在之处。"
There's nothing America can't handle if we actually look squarely at the problem. And this is work for all Americans, not just some. Not just whites. Not just blacks. If we want to honor the courage of those who marched that day, then all of us are called to possess their moral imagination. All of us will need to feel as they did the fierce urgency of now. 如果我们真正正视问题，美国没有什么是处理不了的。这是所有美国人的工作，而不仅仅是一部分人。不仅仅是白人。不仅仅是黑人。如果我们要纪念那天游行的人们的勇气，那么我们所有人都被召唤去拥有他们的道德想象力。我们所有人都需要像他们那样感受到当下的迫切性。
All of us need to recognize as they did that change depends on our actions, on our attitudes, the things we teach our children. And if we make such an effort, no matter how hard it may sometimes seem, laws can be passed, and consciences can be stirred, and consensus can be built. 我们所有人都需要像他们那样认识到，改变取决于我们的行动、我们的态度、我们教给孩子的东西。如果我们做出这样的努力，无论有时看起来多么艰难，法律可以通过，良知可以被唤醒，共识可以建立。
With such an effort, we can make sure our criminal justice system serves all and not just some. Together, we can raise the level of mutual trust that policing is built on -- the idea that police officers are members of the community they risk their lives to protect, and citizens in Ferguson and New York and Cleveland, they just want the same thing young people here marched for 50 years ago -- the protection of the law. 通过这样的努力，我们可以确保我们的刑事司法系统为所有人服务，而不仅仅是一部分人。我们可以共同提高警务工作所依赖的相互信任水平——即警察是他们冒着生命危险保护的社区的一员，而弗格森、纽约和克利夫兰的公民，他们想要的只是五十年前这里的年轻人为之游行的同样东西——法律的保护。
Together, we can address unfair sentencing and overcrowded prisons, and the stunted circumstances that rob too many boys of the chance to become men, and rob the nation of too many men who could be good dads, and good workers, and good neighbors. 我们可以共同解决不公正的量刑和人满为患的监狱问题，以及那些剥夺了太多男孩成为男人的机会、剥夺了国家太多本可以成为好父亲、好工人、好邻居的男性的恶劣环境。
With effort, we can roll back poverty and the roadblocks to opportunity. Americans don't accept a free ride for anybody, nor do we believe in equality of outcomes. But we do expect equal opportunity. And if we really mean it, if we're not just giving lip service to it, but if we really mean it and are willing to sacrifice for it, then, yes, we can make sure every child gets an education suitable to this new century, one that expands imaginations and lifts sights and gives those children the skills they need. 通过努力，我们可以减少贫困，清除机遇之路上的障碍。美国人不接受任何人搭便车，我们也不相信结果平等。但我们确实期望机会平等。如果我们是认真的，如果我们不只是口头上说说，而是真心实意并愿意为之牺牲，那么是的，我们可以确保每个孩子都能接受适合这个新世纪的教育——一种拓展想象力、提升视野、赋予孩子们所需技能的教育。
We can make sure every person willing to work has the dignity of a job, and a fair wage, and a real voice, and sturdier rungs on that ladder into the middle class. 我们可以确保每个愿意工作的人都有工作的尊严、公平的工资、真正的发言权，以及通往中产阶级的阶梯上更坚实的台阶。
And with effort, we can protect the foundation stone of our democracy for which so many marched across this bridge -- and that is the right to vote. Right now, in 2015, 50 years after Selma, there are laws across this country designed to make it harder for people to vote. As we speak, more of such laws are being proposed. Meanwhile, the Voting Rights Act, the culmination of so much blood, so much sweat and tears, the product of so much sacrifice in the face of wanton violence, the Voting Rights Act stands weakened, its future subject to political rancor. 通过努力，我们可以保护我们民主的基石——为了它，如此多的人走过了这座桥——那就是投票权。就在现在，2015年，塞尔玛事件过去五十年后，全国各地都有旨在让人们更难投票的法律。就在我们说话的时候，更多这样的法律正在被提出。与此同时，《投票权法案》——这是如此多鲜血、汗水和泪水的结晶，是面对肆意暴力时如此多牺牲的产物——《投票权法案》的效力被削弱，其未来受制于政治纷争。
How can that be? The Voting Rights Act was one of the crowning achievements of our democracy, the result of Republican and Democratic efforts. President Reagan signed its renewal when he was in office. President George W. Bush signed its renewal when he was in office. 这怎么可能？《投票权法案》是我们民主的最高成就之一，是共和党和民主党共同努力的结果。里根总统在任时签署了它的延期法案。小布什总统在任时签署了它的延期法案。
One hundred members of Congress have come here today to honor people who were willing to die for the right to protect it. If we want to honor this day, let that hundred go back to Washington and gather four hundred more, and together, pledge to make it their mission to restore that law this year. That's how we honor those on this bridge. 今天有一百名国会议员来到这里，向那些愿意为保护这项权利而死的人们致敬。如果我们要纪念这一天，就让这一百人回到华盛顿，再召集四百人，共同承诺今年以恢复这项法律为己任。这就是我们纪念这座桥上的人们的方式。
Of course, our democracy is not the task of Congress alone, or the courts alone, or even the President alone. If every new voter-suppression law was struck down today, we would still have, here in America, one of the lowest voting rates among free peoples. Fifty years ago, registering to vote here in Selma and much of the South meant guessing the number of jellybeans in a jar, the number of bubbles on a bar of soap. It meant risking your dignity, and sometimes, your life. 当然，我们的民主不只是国会的任务，也不只是法院的任务，甚至不只是总统的任务。即使今天每一项新的选民压制法都被推翻，在美国，我们的投票率仍然是自由民族中最低的之一。五十年前，在塞尔玛和南方大部分地区登记投票意味着猜测罐子里有多少软糖，一块肥皂上有多少气泡。那意味着冒着你的尊严，有时甚至是你的生命的风险。
What's our excuse today for not voting? How do we so casually discard the right for which so many fought? How do we so fully give away our power, our voice, in shaping America's future? Why are we pointing to somebody else when we could take the time just to go to the polling places? We give away our power. 今天我们不投票的借口是什么？我们怎么能如此随意地抛弃那么多人为之奋斗的权利？我们怎么能如此彻底地放弃我们塑造美国未来的权力、我们的声音？为什么我们要指着别人，而我们本可以花时间去投票站？我们放弃了我们的权力。
Fellow marchers, so much has changed in 50 years. We have endured war and we've fashioned peace. We've seen technological wonders that touch every aspect of our lives. We take for granted conveniences that our parents could have scarcely imagined. But what has not changed is the imperative of citizenship; that willingness of a 26-year-old deacon, or a Unitarian minister, or a young mother of five to decide they loved this country so much that they'd risk everything to realize its promise. 同胞们，五十年来发生了太多变化。我们经历了战争，缔造了和平。我们见证了触及我们生活方方面面的科技奇迹。我们把我们的父母几乎无法想象的便利视为理所当然。但没有改变的是公民的责任；一个二十六岁的执事，或一位一神论牧师，或一位有五个孩子的年轻母亲，决定他们如此热爱这个国家，愿意冒着一切风险去实现它的承诺。
That's what it means to love America. That's what it means to believe in America. That's what it means when we say America is exceptional. 这就是热爱美国的含义。这就是信仰美国的含义。这就是我们说美国是例外的时候的含义。
For we were born of change. We broke the old aristocracies, declaring ourselves entitled not by bloodline, but endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights. We secure our rights and responsibilities through a system of self-government, of and by and for the people. That's why we argue and fight with so much passion and conviction -- because we know our efforts matter. We know America is what we make of it. 因为我们诞生于变革。我们打破了旧的贵族制度，宣称我们的权利不是来自血统，而是造物主赋予我们某些不可剥夺的权利。我们通过一个民有、民治、民享的自治制度来保障我们的权利和责任。这就是为什么我们如此充满激情和信念地争论和战斗——因为我们知道我们的努力很重要。我们知道美国是我们塑造的。
Look at our history: 纵观我们的历史：
We are Lewis and Clark and Sacajawea, pioneers who braved the unfamiliar, followed by a stampede of farmers and miners, and entrepreneurs and hucksters. That's our spirit. That's who we are. 我们是刘易斯、克拉克和萨卡加维亚——勇敢面对未知的先驱，紧随其后的是成群的农民和矿工，以及企业家和小贩。这就是我们的精神。这就是我们。
We are Sojourner Truth and Fannie Lou Hamer, women who could do as much as any man and then some. And we're Susan B. Anthony, who shook the system until the law reflected that truth. That is our character. 我们是索杰纳·特鲁斯和范妮·卢·哈默——能做任何男人能做的事，甚至做得更多的女性。我们是苏珊·B·安东尼——她撼动了整个体制，直到法律反映了这一真理。这就是我们的品格。
We're the immigrants who stowed away on ships to reach these shores, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free -- Holocaust survivors, Soviet defectors, the Lost Boys of Sudan. We're the hopeful strivers who cross the Rio Grande because we want our kids to know a better life. That's how we came to be. 我们是那些躲在船上抵达这片海岸的移民，是渴望自由呼吸的芸芸众生——大屠杀幸存者、苏联叛逃者、苏丹的迷途男孩。我们是充满希望的奋斗者，我们跨过里奥格兰德河，因为我们希望我们的孩子能过上更好的生活。我们就是这样走来的。
We're the slaves who built the White House and the economy of the South. We're the ranch hands and cowboys who opened up the West, and countless laborers who laid rail, and raised skyscrapers, and organized for workers' rights. 我们是建造了白宫和南方经济的奴隶。我们是开拓了西部的牧场工人和牛仔，是无数铺设铁轨、建造摩天大楼、为工人权利而组织起来的劳动者。
We're the fresh-faced GIs who fought to liberate a continent. And we're the Tuskeegee Airmen, and the Navajo code-talkers, and the Japanese Americans who fought for this country even as their own liberty had been denied. 我们是为解放一个大陆而战的年轻士兵。我们是塔斯基吉飞行员，是纳瓦霍密码员，是那些即使自己的自由被剥夺仍为这个国家而战的日裔美国人。
We're the firefighters who rushed into those buildings on 9/11, the volunteers who signed up to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq. We're the gay Americans whose blood ran in the streets of San Francisco and New York, just as blood ran down this bridge. 我们是9/11时冲进那些大楼的消防员，是报名参加阿富汗和伊拉克战争的志愿者。我们是那些在旧金山和纽约街头流血的同性恋美国人，就像鲜血从这座桥上流下一样。
We are storytellers, writers, poets, artists who abhor unfairness, and despise hypocrisy, and give voice to the voiceless, and tell truths that need to be told. 我们是讲故事的人、作家、诗人、艺术家——我们憎恶不公，鄙视虚伪，为无声者发声，讲述需要被讲述的真相。
We're the inventors of gospel and jazz and blues, bluegrass and country, and hip-hop and rock and roll, and our very own sound with all the sweet sorrow and reckless joy of freedom. 我们是福音音乐、爵士乐和布鲁斯、蓝草音乐和乡村音乐、嘻哈乐和摇滚乐的发明者，是我们自己独特的声音——带着自由的甜美忧伤和奔放喜悦。
We are Jackie Robinson, enduring scorn and spiked cleats and pitches coming straight to his head, and stealing home in the World Series anyway. 我们是杰基·罗宾逊——忍受着蔑视、钉鞋和直冲头部的投球，却仍然在世界大赛中盗垒成功。
We are the people Langston Hughes wrote of who "build our temples for tomorrow, strong as we know how." We are the people Emerson wrote of, "who for truth and honor's sake stand fast and suffer long;" who are "never tired, so long as we can see far enough." 我们是兰斯顿·休斯笔下"为明天建造我们的殿堂，竭尽所能地坚强"的人。我们是爱默生笔下"为真理和荣誉的缘故坚立不移、恒久忍耐"的人；是"永不疲倦，只要我们能看得足够远"的人。
That's what America is. Not stock photos or airbrushed history, or feeble attempts to define some of us as more American than others. We respect the past, but we don't pine for the past. We don't fear the future; we grab for it. America is not some fragile thing. We are large, in the words of Whitman, containing multitudes. We are boisterous and diverse and full of energy, perpetually young in spirit. That's why someone like John Lewis at the ripe old age of 25 could lead a mighty march. 这就是美国。不是库存照片，不是美化过的历史，也不是试图定义我们中某些人比其他人更像美国人的软弱企图。我们尊重过去，但我们不沉迷于过去。我们不惧怕未来；我们抓住未来。美国不是什么脆弱的东西。用惠特曼的话说，我们海纳百川。我们喧闹、多元、充满活力，精神上永远年轻。这就是为什么像约翰·刘易斯这样的人，在二十五岁的"高龄"就能领导一场伟大的游行。
And that's what the young people here today and listening all across the country must take away from this day. You are America. Unconstrained by habit and convention. Unencumbered by what is, because you're ready to seize what ought to be. 这就是今天在这里以及全国各地收听的年轻人必须从这一天带走的东西。你们就是美国。不受习惯和惯例的束缚。不为现状所累，因为你们准备好抓住应有的状态。
For everywhere in this country, there are first steps to be taken, there's new ground to cover, there are more bridges to be crossed. And it is you, the young and fearless at heart, the most diverse and educated generation in our history, who the nation is waiting to follow. 因为在这个国家的每一个地方，都有第一步要走，都有新天地要开拓，都有更多的桥要跨越。而你们，年轻无畏的心灵，我们历史上最多元化、最受教育的一代，国家正等待着追随你们。
Because Selma shows us that America is not the project of any one person. Because the single-most powerful word in our democracy is the word "We." "We The People." "We Shall Overcome." "Yes We Can." That word is owned by no one. It belongs to everyone. Oh, what a glorious task we are given, to continually try to improve this great nation of ours. 因为塞尔玛告诉我们，美国不是任何一个人的事业。因为我们民主中最有力量的词就是"我们"这个词。"我们人民。""我们终将胜利。""是的，我们可以。"这个词不属于任何人。它属于每一个人。啊，我们被赋予了多么光荣的任务，不断努力改进我们这个伟大的国家。
Fifty years from Bloody Sunday, our march is not yet finished, but we're getting closer. Two hundred and thirty-nine years after this nation's founding our union is not yet perfect, but we are getting closer. Our job's easier because somebody already got us through that first mile. Somebody already got us over that bridge. When it feels the road is too hard, when the torch we've been passed feels too heavy, we will remember these early travelers, and draw strength from their example, and hold firmly the words of the prophet Isaiah: 血腥星期日过去五十年了，我们的游行还没有结束，但我们正在接近。这个国家建国二百三十九年后，我们的联邦还不完善，但我们正在接近。我们的工作更容易了，因为有人已经帮我们走过了第一英里。有人已经帮我们过了那座桥。当道路感觉太艰难时，当传给我们的火炬感觉太沉重时，我们会想起这些先行者，从他们的榜样中汲取力量，并紧紧抓住先知以赛亚的话语：
Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not be faint. 那些等候耶和华的必从新得力。他们必如鹰展翅上腾。他们奔跑却不困倦，行走却不疲乏。
We honor those who walked so we could run. We must run so our children soar. And we will not grow weary. For we believe in the power of an awesome God, and we believe in this country's sacred promise. 我们致敬那些为我们能奔跑而行走的人。我们必须奔跑，好让我们的孩子能够飞翔。我们不会疲乏。因为我们相信伟大上帝的力量，我们相信这个国家的神圣承诺。
May He bless those warriors of justice no longer with us, and bless the United States of America. 愿上帝保佑那些已不在我们身边的正义战士，保佑美利坚合众国。
Thank you, everybody. 谢谢大家。