?經(jīng)典推薦｜英語(yǔ)名篇佳作100篇背誦手冊(cè)（15）
15 Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln, sixteenth president of the United States, was born in Kentucky in 1809, and died in Washington in 1865, the day after he had been shot by a Southern sympathizer. He is classed with Washington in greatness of deeds, but is nearer the hearts of all Americans because he sprang from the ranks of the common people, and rose from the log hut of birth to the White House. Because his family were pioneers in the newly settled West, he had practically no regular education, but he held firmly to his purpose to secure knowledge in every possible way. Stories are told of how he walked miles to secure a book, and studied by the light of the hearth fire at night after a hard day at farm work. After a hard struggle as clerk, village postmaster, and surveyor, he succeeded in passing the bar examinations, and became a lawyer in Springfield, Illinois. In 1846, he was elected to Congress. In 1858, he might have gained his place in the United States Senate had he not taken his stand against slavery in the famous debates which he entered with Stephen A. Douglas. These debates spread his fame throughout the country and led the way for his election to the presidency in 1860. Very shortly after his election the secession of certain Southern states led to the Civil War, which in turn induced Lincoln to free the slaves on January 1, 1863, by the Emancipation Proclamation. His second inaugural speech gave his plan for building up the peace of the nation, but he did not live to accomplish his desire. Many comparisons have been made of Washington and Lincoln. Each was in the highest sense a providential man raised up for his era, and filled with those eminent qualities that enabled him to do the great work of the hour.
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15亞伯拉罕·林肯
美國(guó)第16任總統(tǒng)亞伯拉罕·林肯，1809年出生于肯塔基州，1865年被一名南方聯(lián)邦支持者所刺，并于第二天逝于華盛頓。由于他的杰出貢獻(xiàn)，人們將他和華盛頓總統(tǒng)相提并論，但是在所有美國(guó)人民的心中，生于木屋，出身平民，最終入主白宮的他更親近美國(guó)人民的心。當(dāng)時(shí)西部剛剛有人定居，他的家庭就是最早的移民，所以他幾乎沒(méi)有受過(guò)正規(guī)教育，然而他堅(jiān)持不懈，通過(guò)各種可能的途徑獲取知識(shí)。許多故事描述了他如何步行幾里路去買一本書(shū)，以及在農(nóng)場(chǎng)辛苦勞作一天后還在壁爐邊的燈光下學(xué)習(xí)的情景。經(jīng)過(guò)一段艱苦奮斗，擔(dān)任過(guò)辦事員、鄉(xiāng)村郵遞員和測(cè)量員等職位后，他成功地通過(guò)了律師資格考試，成為伊利諾斯州普林菲爾得市的一名律師。1846年，林肯當(dāng)選進(jìn)入國(guó)會(huì)。1858年，如果不是在同史蒂芬斯·A·道格拉斯幾場(chǎng)著名的辯論中，他主張廢除農(nóng)奴制，他原本可以入選參議院。但這些辯論卻使他聞名全國(guó)，也為他在1860年當(dāng)選總統(tǒng)鋪平了道路。林肯上任不久，南方某些州脫離了聯(lián)邦政府，引發(fā)了內(nèi)戰(zhàn)。結(jié)果這場(chǎng)戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)促使林肯于1863年1月1日頒布了《解放宣言》，解放了黑奴。在他的第二篇就職演說(shuō)中，林肯闡述了要在全國(guó)建立和平的計(jì)劃，但是在他生前，這個(gè)愿望沒(méi)有實(shí)現(xiàn)。人們?cè)谌A盛頓和林肯之間做了多種比較。就最高意義而言，他們都是各自時(shí)代的天佑的偉人。他們憑借杰出的才華造就了當(dāng)時(shí)最偉大的事業(yè)。
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