Declaration of Independence (1776)
独立宣言 (一七七六年)
The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America. When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds 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.
美利坚合众国十三个州一致通过的独立宣言。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，出于人类舆论的尊重，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 to 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 shown 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 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言而喻的：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，是不应当由于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发生，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－－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它法律，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于奔命，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 meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
他在解散各州议会之后，又长期拒绝另选新议会；但立法权是无法取消的，因此这项项权力仍由一般人民来行使。其实各州仍然处于危险的境地，既有外来侵略之患，又有发生内乱之忧。
He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.
他竭力抑制我们各州增加人口；为此目的，他阻挠外国人入籍法的通过，拒绝批准其它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，完全置于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 legislature.
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 civil power.
他力图使军队独立于民政之外，并凌驾于民政之上。
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于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 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征税；
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；
