言論、宗教、集會自由
Democracies are forms of government in which citizens are involved in making decisions. However, not all forms of democracies are the same.
民主政體是公民可參與決策的政府制度。然而，不是所有的民主政體都是相同的。
citizen (n.)公民,市民
According to one former secretary-general of the UN, “There are as many different forms of democracy as there are democratic nations in the world.”
根據一名前聯合國秘書長的說法：「世界上有多少民主國家就有多少種不同的民主政體。」
democratic (adj.)民主的
Despite this fact, there are some basic characteristics that they all share.
即便如此，它們還是有一些共同的基本特徵。
despite (prep.)儘管,雖然
According to Larry Diamond, a scholar of democratic studies, there are four main characteristics of all democracies.
根據民主學學者戴蒙的說法，所有的民主政體都有四個主要的特徵。
studies (n.)……學；social studies社會學
First, a democracy needs to have a system of free and fair elections for choosing the government.
第一，一個民主政體必須有自由且公平的政府選舉系統。
election (n.)選舉；elect (v.)選舉,推選
Next, citizens must be able to participate actively in both political and civic life.
其次，公民必須可以積極地參與政治和公民生活。
be able to+VR能夠~participate (v.)參與actively (adv.)積極地
Additionally, the government is required to protect the human rights of all citizens.
除此之外，政府必須保障所有公民的人權。
be required to VR 必須做~right (n.)權利；civil rights 公民權
Finally, there must be a rule of law that is applied to all citizens of society equally.
最後，必須有能平等地適用於社會上所有公民的法治。
apply to (法規,規章)適用於~
In addition to these four cornerstones of democracy, many democratic countries offer more rights to their citizens.
除了這四項民主基礎之外，很多民主國家提供更多權利給公民。
cornerstone (n.)基礎
These are usually personal freedoms that are given by a constitution, including freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of assembly among others.
這些通常是由憲法賦予的個人自由，包括言論自由、宗教自由、和集會自由等等。
constitution (n.)憲法among others 除了……還有其他,等等
While some democratic governments may share other characteristics, the most basic four must be present for a government to be called a democracy.
雖然有些民主政府可能還有其他共同特徵，一個政府必須要有最基本的四項特徵才能被稱為一個民主政體。
present (adj.)存在的,現在的