美国独立宣言

The Declaration of Independence

独立宣言（1776年7月4日，完整中英对照）

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

THE UNANIMOUS DECLARATION OF THE THIRTEEN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

大陆会议，1776年7月4日

美利坚合众国十三州一致宣言

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.

在人类事务发展的进程之中，当一个民族必须解除其与另一个民族之间维系的政治纽带，并在世界列国之中取得那自然法则与自然之神所赋予他们的独立而平等的地位时，出于对人类公意的尊重，他们必须宣告迫使自己独立的缘由。

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.

我们认为以下真理不言而喻：人人生而平等，造物主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。

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,

为保障这些权利，人类才建立政府，政府的正当权力，来自被统治者的同意。

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.

任何形式的政府一旦破坏这些目标，人民便有权改变或废除它，建立新政府；新政府赖以奠基的原则、组织权力的方式，务必使人民认为唯有这样才最可能保障他们的安全与幸福。

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.

诚然，审慎之心告诉我们，长久建立的政府不应因微小、短暂的理由而变更；过往一切经验也表明，只要苦难尚可忍受，人类宁愿忍耐，也不愿废除早已习惯的政体来争取自身权益。

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.

然而，当一连串滥用职权与巧取豪夺，始终追逐同一目标，暴露出意图将人民置于绝对专制统治之下时，人民就有权、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。

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 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.

这就是这些殖民地长久隐忍的遭遇，也是如今迫使他们改变旧政府体制的缘由。当今大不列颠国王的历史，就是一部接连伤害、掠夺的历史，其直接目的就是要在各州建立绝对的暴政。为证明此言，现将事实公之于公正的世人。

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

他拒绝批准那些对公共福利最为有益且必要的法律。

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.

他禁止殖民地总督颁布紧急且至关重要的法案，除非法案暂缓生效直至获得他的批准；而法案被搁置后，他又完全置之不理。

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.

他拒绝颁布惠及广大民众的其他法律，除非民众放弃在立法机构中的代表权——这项权利对民众无比珍贵，却唯独令暴君畏惧。

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.

他将立法机构召集在偏僻、不便、远离公共档案存放地的地方开会，唯一目的就是消耗议员精力，迫使他们顺从他的政令。

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

只要议会坚定果敢地反对他侵犯人民权利，他便屡次解散议会。

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.

解散议会之后，他长期拒绝重新选举新议会；于是立法权无法被彻底消灭，只能交还全体人民行使；与此同时，各州时刻面临外敌入侵与内部动乱的种种危机。

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.

他竭力遏制各州人口增长：为此阻挠外来移民入籍法案的通过，拒绝颁布鼓励移民迁入的法令，并抬高新土地分配的门槛。

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

他拒绝批准设立司法机构的法案，从而阻挠司法的执行。

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

法官的任职期限、薪俸数额与发放，全都由他一人的意志决定。

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

他增设大量新官职，派遣大批官吏前来骚扰民众，搜刮民脂民膏。

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

和平时期，他未经我们议会同意，就在本土驻扎常备军。

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

他刻意让军队独立于民政权力之上，甚至凌驾于民政权力。

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:

他勾结他人，迫使我们接受一套既违背我们宪章、也不被我国法律承认的域外司法权；他批准了他们那些虚假的立法法案：

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

强迫我们为大批武装士兵提供营房；

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

通过虚假审判包庇士兵，使他们在各州犯下的谋杀罪行免于惩处；

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

切断我们与世界各地的贸易；

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

未经我们同意便向我们强行征税；

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

在诸多案件中剥夺我们接受陪审团审判的权利；

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences

将我们押送海外，以莫须有的罪名审判；

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:

在邻近的省份废除英国法律的自由体系，在那里建立专制政府，并扩大其疆界，企图把它当作样板与工具，向我们这些殖民地推行同样的专制统治；

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

剥夺我们的特许状，废除我们最宝贵的法律，从根本上改变我们的政体；

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

解散我们的议会，宣称他们拥有全权，可以在任何事务上替我们立法。

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

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 & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

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.

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