陶傑教英語: ''I have a Dream'' -- 馬丁路德金

I have a Dream 

by Martin Luther King, Jr. by Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Delivered on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963 

  Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.

  But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition. 

  In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 

  It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check -- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. 

  It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Negro. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges. 

  But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. 

  We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone. 

  And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.  

  I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

  Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. 

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. 

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. 

I have a dream that my four 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 the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers. 

I have a dream today. 

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, 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. This is the faith with which I return to the South. 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.

  This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a 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. 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 snowcapped Rockies of Colorado! 

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks 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 every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.  

  When we let 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!"

馬丁路德金 -- 「I have a Dream」https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vDWWy4CMhE


  在林肯之後大約一百年，美國又出現一位偉大的演說家--六十年代黑人民權運動家馬丁路德金（Martin Luther King），這次要介紹的是他一篇傳頌千古、光芒四射的演說《我有一個夢想》（I have a Dream）
。

  馬丁路德金也用了和林肯一樣的技巧，不斷重覆I have a dream這句子。夢想（Dream）雖然也虛無飄渺，但"Dream"是一個實物名詞，即中文的形像思維，由於每個人都會做夢，用它來代表理想（Ideal）和 希望（Hope），比後兩者來得更有力。事實上，我們無論富貧，每個人都會有夢想，或希望中六合彩，或希望家庭和諧。馬丁路德金對著千萬聽眾，重覆I have a dream不下十多次，就像林肯在蓋提斯堡演說中，重覆Dedicated這個字眼一樣，對群眾產生很大的煽動力︰I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the Americandream. 

 American dream即美國夢， 人共同的夢想。馬丁路德金很技巧地不斷重覆Dream這個字眼，喚起美國人的記憶。

  演說中，馬丁路德金也善用重覆的技巧於其他字眼身上，例如︰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. 可以設想，馬丁路德金當日用雄渾的黑人聲腔，在廣場上對著萬千黑人和白人，不斷重覆Together這個字，加上他有力的雙臂，煽動力之強可想而知。難怪美國政府也不能容忍，於是，沒有人知道為什麼，一名刺客在一間汽車酒店中，用一顆子彈奪去了他的生命。 

  馬丁路德金的演講對象主要是黑人，當時黑人一般教育程度不高，因此他在演說中沒有引用什麼名人、哲學家的金句，反而很聰明地引用了一首黑人很熟悉的兒歌，令聽眾產生認同感，從而加強其演說的威力︰ 

  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. 

  馬丁路德金在演講的最後部分成功控制節奏，將演講推向口號的高潮︰Free at last! free at last! thank God almighty, we are free at last! 演講本來不宜使用口號，但如果運用得當，卻可以將民眾的情緒推向高峰。

馬丁路德金利用顯淺的英文表達偉大的意念，對政治人物有不少有用的啟示。如香港特區政府的領導人曾說，希望可以超倫敦趕紐約，將香港變成像倫敦和紐約一樣的國際大都市，不少人引為笑柄。其實這完全是表達的問題，如果他們可以借鑒馬丁路德金的演說，用這樣的句子表達︰I have a dream that one day Hong Kong will become as prosperous as London and as multicultural as New York. 

  用I have a dream開始，就可以把香港六百萬人的視線提高，引領到像星空一樣高的層次。一位懂得表達的領袖，確實可大大提升自己的形像，面對香港目前充滿爭拗和分化的處境，他也可以這樣說︰I have a dream that one day the 6 million people will hold hand together and rebuild Hong Kong into a new home. 用 I have a dream開頭，大家聽起來的感覺一定會大大不同