I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."?
This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.
With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:
My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,
From every mountainside, let freedom ring!
And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.
And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.
Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of
Pennsylvania.
Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.
But not only that:
Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.
From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:
Free at last! free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!
我夢想有一天,我的四個小女兒將生活在一個不是以皮膚的顏色,而是以品格的優(yōu)劣作為評判標準的國家里。
我今天懷有一個夢。
我夢想有一天,亞拉巴馬州會有所改變——盡管該州州長現(xiàn)在仍滔滔不絕地說什么要對聯(lián)邦法令提出異議和拒絕執(zhí)行——在那里,黑人兒童能夠和白人兒童兄弟姐妹般地攜手并行。
我今天懷有一個夢。
我夢想有一天,深谷彌合,高山夷平,歧路化坦途,曲徑成通衢,上帝的光華再現(xiàn),普天下生靈共謁。
這是我們的希望。這是我將帶回南方去的信念。有了這個信念,我們就能從絕望之山開采出希望之石。有了這個信念,我們就能把這個國家的嘈雜刺耳的爭吵聲,變?yōu)槌錆M手足之情的悅耳交響曲。有了這個信念,我們就能一同工作,一同祈禱,一同斗爭,一同入獄,一同維護自由,因為我們知道,我們終有一天會獲得自由。
到了這一天,上帝的所有孩子都能以新的含義高唱這首歌:
我的祖國,
可愛的自由之邦,
我為您歌唱。
這是我祖先終老的地方,
這是早期移民自豪的地方,
讓自由之聲,
響徹每一座山崗。
如果美國要成為偉大的國家,這一點必須實現(xiàn)。因此,讓自由之聲響徹新罕布什爾州的巍峨高峰!
讓自由之聲響徹紐約州的崇山峻嶺!
讓自由之聲響徹賓夕法尼亞州的阿勒格尼高峰!
讓自由之聲響徹科羅拉多州冰雪皚皚的洛基山!
讓自由之聲響徹加利福尼亞州的婀娜群峰!
不,不僅如此;讓自由之聲響徹佐治亞州的石山!
讓自由之聲響徹田納西州的望山!
讓自由之聲響徹密西西比州的一座座山峰,一個個土丘!
讓自由之聲響徹每一個山崗!
當我們讓自由之聲轟響,當我們讓自由之聲響徹每一個大村小莊,每一個州府城鎮(zhèn),我們就能加速這一天的到來。那時,上帝的所有孩子,黑人和白人,猶太教徒和非猶太教徒,耶穌教徒和天主教徒,將能攜手同唱那首古老的黑人靈歌:“終于自由了!終于自由了!感謝全能的上帝,我們終于自由了!”