《独立宣言》是美国独立战争时期的一份重要文件,下面对其英文语法进行简单的分析:
In Congress, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
这段开头是介绍和背景,使用了大量的从句和修饰语,以及复杂的句子结构,表达了一定的庄严和正式感。
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
这段话是《独立宣言》中最著名的一段,表达了人人平等、生命自由、追求幸福这些被认为是不可剥夺的权利,以及政府的合法性和权力来源,使用了大量的并列句和长句,使语言更加严谨和精练。
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
这段话是宣言中的一个分论点,说明了政府权力的限制和人民反抗的权利,使用了长句和从句,表达了作者的观点和态度。
总的来说,《独立宣言》使用了大量的复杂句式和从句,语言庄重严谨,表达了作者的观点和态度,同时也呼吁人们对自由和平等的重视,是一份具有历史和文学价值的重要文献。