The Gettysburg Addre
Abraham Lincoln
Fourscore and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.We are met on a great battlefield of that war.We have come to dedicate a portion of it as the final resting place of those who here gave their lives that that nation might live.It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this, but in a larger sense we cannot dedicate –we cannot consecrate –we cannot hallow this ground.The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract.The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work that they have thus far so nobly advanced.It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us,that from those honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
最后一句参考译文如下：
在此，我们将献身于有待我们去完成的伟大事业，即我们将更加致力于完成先烈们曾为之献身的这一事业，即在此我们将下定决心，不使先烈的鲜血白流，即这个国家在上帝的庇佑之下，必将得到自由的新生,一个民有、民治、民享的政府，必将永世长存。
这一段是这样翻译出来的：
(1)It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us─(2)that from those honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause (3)for which they gave the last full measure of devotion─(2)that we here highly resolve
(3)that these dead shall not have died in vain─(2)that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom─(2)and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perishfrom the earth.
分析：
这是林肯总统的“Gettysburg Addre”中最后、最重要、也是最长的一句话。词句虽稍长，并列结构多，但层次还是清楚的，一目了然。层次也不是很复杂，全句只有三个层次：主句，在全句的开始，前面标有（1）；从句，在每个“──”号之后，前面标有（2），表示第二个层次，共有四个；从句中的从句，前面标有（3），表示第三个层次，共有两个。关键是弄清这几层之间的关系：第二层次的四个并列从句皆为task 的同位语从句；第一个第三层次的从句为 cause 的定语从句，第二个则为 resolve 的宾语从句。每个层次还有一些其它结构，如 government 后就有三个著名于世的并列的 of 短语作定语，就不一一分析了。注意全句末尾反译（反面正译）手段的运用，比较原句反面的表达：“必不致从地球上消灭。”
参考译文：
主讲：亚伯拉罕·林肯
时间：1863年11月19日
地点：美国，宾夕法尼亚，葛底斯堡
八十七年以前，我们的祖先在这大陆上建立了一个国家，它孕育于自由，并且献身给一种理念，即所有人都是声来平等的。
当前，我们正在从事一次伟大的内战，我们在考验，究竟这个国家，或任何一个有这种主张和这种信仰的国家，是否能长久存在。我们在那次战争的一个伟大的战场上集会。我们来到这里，奉献那个战场上的一部分土地，作为在此地为那个国家的生存而牺牲了自己生命的人的永久眠息之所。我们这样做，是十分合情合理的。
可是，就更深一层意义而言，我们是无从奉献这片土地的--无从使它成为圣地--也不能把它变为人们景仰之所。那些在这里战斗的勇士，活着的和死去的，已使这块土地神圣化了，远非我们的菲薄能力所能左右。世人会不大注意，更不会长久记得我们在此地所说的话，然而他们将永远忘不了这些人在这里所做的事。相反，我们活着的人应该献身于那些曾在此作战的人们所英勇推动而尚未完成的工作。我们应该在此献身于我们面前所留存的伟大工作--由于他们的光荣牺牲，我们要更坚定地致力于他们曾作最后全部贡献的那个事业--我们在此立志宣誓，不能让他们白白死去--要使这个国家在上帝的庇佑之下，得到新生的自由--要使那民有、民治、民享的政府不致从地球上消失。(翻译可能不很准确，如要准确，请查询专业书籍)
