独立宣言中英对照.doc

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.
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 Rights 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 forms, 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.
在人类事件的进程中，当一个民族必须解除其与另一个民族之间业已存在的政治联系，并依照自然的法则和自然之神的意旨，在世界列国中接受独立和平等的地位时，出于对人类公意的应有尊重，需要把他们不得不独立的原因公布于众。
我们认为这些真理是不言而喻的：人人生而平等，造物主赋予他们某些不可剥夺的权利，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，才在人们中间成立政府，而政府的正当权力则来自被治理者的赞同。每当任何形式的政府损害这些目标时，人民就有权改变它或废除它，以建立新的政府；这新政府必须建立在这样的原则基础上，并按照这样的方式来组织其权力机关，以便在人民看来它最能保障他们的安全和幸福。诚然，出于谨慎的考虑，建立已久的政府不应由于无关紧要的、一时的原因而予以变更。过去的一切经验也正表明，任何苦难只要还能忍受，人类都宁愿忍受下去，而不愿废除他们久已习惯的政府以恢复自己的权益。