公眾人物畢業(yè)演講第11期:邁克爾·彭博哈佛大學(xué)2014畢業(yè)典禮演講(3)

Joined together

兩者結(jié)合在一起

they form a sacred trust that holds the basis of ourdemocratic society

構(gòu)成了維持民主社會根基的神圣信賴

But let me tell you that trust is perpetuallyvulnerable

但我要告訴大家 這種信賴是很脆弱的

to the tyrannical tendencies of monarchs, mobs, and majorities

特別是在君主 暴民 多數(shù)的專橫傾向下

And lately, we have seen those tendencies manifest themselves too often

最近 這種傾向經(jīng)常出現(xiàn)在

both on college campuses and in our society

我們的大學(xué)校園和社會中

That's the bad news

這是個壞消息

and unfortunately, I think both Harvard

而且很不幸的是 哈佛

and my own city of New York, have been witnesses to this trend

以及我自己的城市紐約 也都見證過這種趨勢

First, for New York City

首先 在紐約市

Several years ago, as you may remember

你們可能記得 幾年前

some people tried to stop the

有些人強烈反對

development of a mosque a few blocks from the World Trade Center site

在世貿(mào)中心舊址幾個街區(qū)遠(yuǎn)的地方建一座清真寺

It was an emotional issue

這是一個情感問題

and polls showed that

民意調(diào)查顯示

two-thirds of Americans were against a mosque being built there

超過2/3的美國人都反對在那里建清真寺

Even the Anti-Defamation League

即便是反誹謗聯(lián)盟

widely regarded as the country's most ardent defender of religious freedom

這一被公認(rèn)為全國宗教自由最熱情的捍衛(wèi)者

declared its opposition to the project

也毫不掩飾對該項目的反對

The opponents held rallies and demonstrations

反對者進(jìn)行著集會和示威

They denounced the developers

譴責(zé)開發(fā)者

and they demanded that city government stop its construction

要求市政府停止這項工程

That was their right and we protected their right to protest

這是他們的權(quán)利 我們保護他們的抗議權(quán)

But they could not have been more wrong

但他們的觀點絕對是錯誤的

And we refused to cave in to those demands

我們拒絕屈從

The idea that government would single out a particular religion

政府如果單獨選出某種宗教

and block its believers and only its believers

阻止而且只阻止其信徒

from building a house of worship in a particular area

在特定地點建立宗教活動場所

is diametrically opposed to the moral principles that gave rise to our great nation

這絕對是和偉大美國的道德原則背道而馳的

and the constitutional protections that have sustained it

這應(yīng)是憲法保護所不允許的

Our union of 50 states rests on the union of two values

美國這個五十州聯(lián)邦依賴于兩大價值的結(jié)合

freedom and tolerance

自由和寬容