[Abraham Lincoln 亚伯拉罕．林肯（1809－1865），美国第十六任总统（1861－1865）。他自修法律，以反对奴隶制的纲领当选为总统，导致南方诸州脱离联邦。在由此引起的南北战争（1861－1865）中，他作为总统，发挥了美国历史上最有效、最鼓舞人心的领导作用，以其坚定的信念、深远的眼光和完美无缺的政治手腕，成功地引导一个处于***的国家度过了其历史上流血最多的内战，从而换救了联邦。他致力于推进全人类的民主、自由和平等，以最雄辩的语言阐述了人道主义的思想，不失时机地发表《解放黑奴宣言》，因而被后人尊称为“伟大的解放者”。林肯不仅是一个伟大的总统，更是一个伟人。他出生于社会低层，具有勤劳简朴、谦虚和诚恳的美德。在美国历届总统中，林肯堪称是最平易近人的一位。林肯的著作主要是演讲词和书信，以朴素庄严、观点明确、思想丰富、表达灵活、适应对象并具有特殊的美国风味见称。此篇演讲是美国文学中最漂亮、最富有诗意的文章之一。虽然这是一篇庆祝军事胜利的演说，但它没有好战之气。相反，这是一篇感人肺腑的颂辞，赞美那些作出最后牺牲的人们，以及他们为之献身的那些理想。其中“政府应为民有、民治、民享”的名言被人们广为传颂。]
英文原文：
The Gettysburg Address
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
November 19, 1863
Fourscore and seven years ago,our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation,conceived and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are egaged in a great civil war,testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and dedicated can long endure.We are met on the battelfield of that war.We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final-resting place for those who gave their lives that the nation might live.It is altogether and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense,we can not dedicate,we can not consecrate,we can not hallow this ground.The brave men,living and dead,have consecrated it far above our power to add or detract.The world will little note what we say here,but it can never forget what they did here.It is for us,the living,rather to be dedicated to the great task remaining before us,that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion,that the nation shall have a new birth of freedom,that the goverment of the people by the people and for the people shall not perish from the earth.
