Level 5-Day 23.Edward Kennedy: Remembering Martin Luther King

词汇提示

1.coalition 联盟

2.march 前进

3.anew 重新

4.destiny命运

5.ripple 涟漪

6.valiant 勇敢的

原文

Edward Kennedy 'Remembering Martin Luther King'

You and I have stood together many times, but no time has been more important than this.

The campaign that stretches before us now is a struggle for the souls and the future of America.

For we are more than a political coalition, more than a collection of programmes, more than the sum of our prospects and our strategy.

Most of all, we are the trustees of a dream.

Twenty years ago, in 1968, we lost two of the most powerful voices of that dream.

But they left us their vision, their values, and the hopes they awakened.

In the countless millions of people whose hearts they touched, we remember them now to remind ourselves that the American journey is unfinished, that we stand for change in order to march again towards enduring ideals, that we do not have to settle for things as they are.

Martin Luther King Jr told us something we need to hear anew.

He said, 'We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today.

We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now, in the unfolding life and history.

There is such a thing as being too late.

And Dr King also said, 'We must work unceasingly to lift this Nation to a higher destiny, to a new plateau of compassion.'

And in that time there was another voice, only briefly heard, but whose words too have outlasted all the loss in years.

Robert Kennedy said, 'Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope.

And crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.'

He was my brother.

But he and Dr King were also in the deepest sense brothers to us all.

These two, these valiant two, lived for the same dream and were gone only months apart.

And if they were here with us, two decades later, I think I know what they would say: 'Now is the time. Some men see things as they are and say, why? We dream things that never were and say, why not? Now is the time.'

翻译

爱德华·肯尼迪：《纪念马丁·路德·金》

你和我曾多次并肩作战，但没有什么比这一次更重要。
现在摆在我们面前的竞选是一场关乎灵魂和美国未来的斗争。
因为我们不仅仅是一个政治联盟，不仅仅是一系列计划的集合，不仅仅是我们的前景和战略的总和。
最重要的是，我们是梦想的受托人。
20年前，1968年，我们失去了这一梦想中两个最有力的声音。
但他们给我们留下了他们的愿景、他们的价值观和他们唤醒的希望。
我们缅怀他们，是为了提醒我们自己，美国的征途尚未完成，我们主张变革，是为了再次向持久的理想迈进，我们不必安于现状。
马丁·路德·金告诉我们一些我们需要重新听一遍的事情。
他说:“我们现在面对的事实是，明天就是今天。
在生活和历史的发展中，我们面临着现在的强烈紧迫性。
有一件事是太迟了。
金博士还说:“我们必须不断努力，把这个国家提升到一个更高的命运，提升到一个充满同情的新平台。”
在那段时间里，还有另一个声音，虽然只被短暂地听到，但他的话也比失去亲人的岁月更持久。
罗伯特·肯尼迪说过:“每当一个人为理想挺身而出，或为改善他人的命运而行动，或反对不公正时，他都会发出一丝希望的涟漪。”
这些涟漪从一百万个不同的能量和勇气中心相互交叉，形成一股水流，可以冲垮最强大的压迫和反抗之墙。”
他是我的兄弟。
但在最深刻的意义上，他和金博士也是我们所有人的兄弟。
这两个，这两个勇敢的人，为了同一个梦想而活，只相隔几个月就走了。
如果二十年后他们还在这里，我想我知道他们会说:‘现在是时候了。有些人看到事情本来的样子就会问，为什么?我们梦想着从未实现过的事情，然后说，为什么不呢?现在是时候了。”