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We know it because, if we look below the surface, we sense it still spreading on every continent
我们知道民主不会死亡．因为如果我们透过表面看问题、就会感觉到它仍在每一片大陆上扩展,
for it is the most humane, the most advanced, and in the end the most unconquerable of all forms of human society.
因为它是最人道、最先进，说到底也是最不可征服的人类社会形式。
A nation, like a person, has a body—a body that must be fed and clothed and housed, invigorated and rested, in a manner that measures up to the standards of our time.
国家象人一样有一个身体——它必须以我们时代的目标为标准，得到吃、穿、住、活动和休息。
A nation, like a person, has a mind—a mind that must be kept informed and alert, that must know itself,
国家象人一样有一个脑袋——它必须了解情况和处于戒备状态。它必须了解自己，
that understands the hopes and the needs of its neighbors all the other nations that live within the narrowing circle of the world.
了解邻居的希望和需要，这个邻居就是生活在这个狭小世界范围内的所有其他国家。
And a nation, like a person, has something deeper, something more permanent, something larger than the sum of all its parts.
国家象人一样不止是各个部分的总和，它还有更深、更广、更持久的东西。
It is that something which matters most to its future which calls forth the most sacred guarding of its present.
这就是最关系到它的前途的东西——唤起民众最神圣地保卫其现在的东西。
It is a thing for which we find it difficult even impossible to hit upon a single, simple word.
对这件东西，我们发觉很难，甚至不可能用一句简单的话来表达。
And yet we all understand what it is the spirit the faith of America.
不过，我们都了解它是什么——它是精神——它是美国的信念。
It is the product of centuries. It was born in the multitudes of those who came from many lands some of high degree,
它是好几个世纪的结晶。它是在大批群众中产生的、他们来自世界上的许多地方,有一些人层次较高、
but mostly plain people, who sought here, early and late, to find freedom more freely.
但大多数是普通人，他们在此致力于总有一天能更不受约束地寻找自由。
The democratic aspiration is no mere recent phase in human history. It is human history.
在人类历史上，渴望民主并不是最近阶段的事情．它本身就是一部人类史。
It permeated the ancient life of early peoples. It blazed anew in the middle ages. It was written in Magna Charta.
这样的例子在古代各国人民的生活中俯拾即是。它在中世纪重新燃起了火炬。它被载入了英国大宪章。
