Spirit of Liberty
勒尼德·汉德 / Learned Hand
勒尼德·汉德（1872—1961），美国最伟大的法官之一，生于纽约州阿尔伯尼，在哈佛大学完成学业。1909年，被任命为联邦法官，1924年进入美国上诉法院。从1939年到1951年，作为该法院的首席法官，以其才学、智慧和对民主原则的深刻信念成为全国最有影响的法官之一。
Ace in the Hole
Understand these new words before you listen to this article.
1. liberty n. 自由，自主
2. define v. 精确地解释；界定；规定，确定
3. sparrow n. 麻雀
4. conscience n. 良心
5. unbridled adj. 不受约束的；不受控制的；放纵的
We have gathered here to affirm a faith, a faith in a common purpose, a common conviction, a common devotion.
Some of us have chosen America as the land of our adoption; the rest have come from those who did the same. For this reason we have some right to consider ourselves a picked group, a group of those who had the courage to break from the past and brave the dangers and the loneliness of a strange land. What was the object that nerved us, or those who went before us, to this choice? We sought liberty—freedom from oppression, freedom from want, freedom to be ourselves. This then we sought; this we now believe that we are by way of winning. What do we mean when we say that first of all we seek liberty? I often wonder whether we do not rest our hopes too much upon constitutions, upon laws, and upon courts. These are false hopes; believe me, these are false hopes. Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it; no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it. While it lies there, it needs no constitution, no law, no court to save it. And what is this liberty which must lie in the hearts of men and women? It is not the ruthless, the unbridled will; it is not freedom to do as one likes. That is the denial of liberty, and leads straight to its overthrow. A society in which men recognize no check upon their freedom soon becomes a society where freedom is the possession of only a savage few—as we have learned to our sorrow.
What, then, is the spirit of liberty?
I cannot define it; I can only tell you my own faith. The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right; the spirit of liberty is the spirit which seeks to understand the minds of those men and women; the spirit of liberty is the spirit which weighs their interest alongside its own without bias; the spirit of liberty remembers that not even a sparrow falls to earth unheeded; the spirit of liberty is the spirit of him who, near two thousand years ago, taught mankind that lesson it has never learned, but has never quite forgotten—that there may be a kingdom where the least shall be heard and considered side-by-side with the greatest. And now in that spirit, that spirit of an American which has never been, and which may never be—nay, which never will be except as the conscience and courage of Americans create it—yet in the spirit of America which lies hidden in some form in the aspirations of us all; in the spirit of that America for which our young men are at this moment fighting and dying; in that spirit of liberty and of America so prosperous, and safe, and contented, we shall have failed to grasp its meaning, and shall have been truant to its promise, except as we strive to make it a signal, a beacon, a standard to which the best hopes of mankind will ever turn; in confidence that you share that belief, I now ask you to raise your hand and repeat with me this pledge:
I pledge allegiance to the flag, of the United States of America, and to the republic for which stands—one nation, indevisible, with liberty and justice for all.
参考译文
我们在这里集会，是为了肯定一种信仰，一种对共同目的、共同信念和共同的献身精神的信仰。
我们中间的一些人已经选择美国作为自己的国家，另外一些人则是做出同样选择者的后代。因此，我们有权把自己看做一个精英群体，他的成员们勇于同过去决裂，勇于面对在一个陌生土地上遇到的危险和孤寂。激励我们或我们的先辈做出这一选择的目标是什么呢？我们追求自由：免遭压迫的自由，远离贫困的自由，独立自主的自由。我们那时努力追求这一目标，而今我们相信自己已经通过奋斗达到了这一目标。当我们说我们首要的目标是追求自由的时候，意旨何在呢？我常常怀疑人们是否对宪法、法律和法庭寄予了过多的希望。这些都是虚幻的希望，请相信我，这些真的是虚幻的希望。自由只存在于人们心中，如果它在人们心中死去，没有任何宪法、法律或法院能够挽救它，任何宪法、法律或法庭甚至对此无能为力。而当自由存在于人们心中时，没有必要用任何宪法、法律或法庭去挽救它。那么人们心中必须存在的自由是什么呢？它不是冷酷无情，不是恣意放纵的意志，不是为所欲为的自由。这些是对自由的否定，会直接毁灭自由的精神。假如在一个社会中，人们认为不应该对他们的自由加以控制，那么它很快会变成一个只让一小部分凶狠残暴的人拥有自由的社会——这是我们以痛苦的经验换来的一点教训。
什么是自由的精神？
我不能给它准确地定义，只能告诉你们我自己的信念：自由的精神就是反对唯我独尊的精神；自由的精神就是尽量去理解别人的精神；自由的精神就是不带任何偏见地将别人的利益与自己的利益一起考虑的精神；自由的精神就是即使一只麻雀落地也该引起关注的精神；自由的精神也就是基督的精神，他在大约两千年之前教给人类从未学过并且永远难忘的一课：有可能出现一个王国，在那里，人们对最伟大者和最渺小者不分贵贱，一视同仁。现在，这种精神，这种从未存在、或许永不会有的、唯独美国才具有的精神、唯独美国人的良知和勇气才能创造的精神，它以某种形式深藏在大家心中，它让我们的年轻人此刻正为之奋战和牺牲，它让我们看到一个自由、繁荣、安全和富足的美国——如果我们不能把人类所有美好的愿望当做信号、航标和准则，并为之奋斗不已，我们将不能抓住自由精神的真谛，我们将懈怠对自由精神的承诺。为了确定大家共同分享这一信仰，我请求大家举起手跟随我一起宣誓：
我宣誓效忠于星条旗，效忠于美利坚合众国——一个建立在团结、自由与公正之上的联邦国家。
历史链接
1944年5月21日，汉德应邀在纽约市中央公园一个大型集会演讲，以这篇纪念“我是一个美国人日”（I Am an American Day）。他在大战关键时期发表的演讲获得很大反响，被收入各种文集。
Practicing for Better Learning
Listen to the article again, and answer the questions below.
1. According to the sound recording, what’s the spirit of liberty defined as on
the speaker’s faith?
___________________________________________________________________________________
2. State the story happened two thousand years ago. What’s the unforgettable
lesson that it has never learned?
Chunks in Practice
Listen to the article once more and then fill in the blanks with
appropriate words.
1. __________ we have some right to consider ourselves a picked group, a group
of those who had the courage to break from the past and brave the dangers
and the loneliness of a strange land.
2. A society in which men recognize no check__________their freedom soon
becomes a society where freedom is the possession of only a savage few—as
we have__________our sorrow.
Now a Try
Translate the following sentences into English with the expressions in
the article.
1．我们的政府一直致力于给那些掌管公共财产的人以社会制约。
___________________________________________________________________________________
2. 全世界都在关注世界财富的分配问题。