Who Was Abraham Lincoln 林肯 Chapter 6 Civil War

Lincoln was in trouble before he even took office. The slave states hated him. Almost no one in the South had voted for him. As soon as the news came of his election, seven states seceded¹ from the Union. They said they were no longer part of the United States. Lincoln was not their president. Soon, four more states joined them. They called their new country the Confederate States of America. They elected Jefferson Davis as their president.
JEFFERSON DAVIS
In his brief inauguration² speech, Lincoln spoke³ to a huge crowd gathered in front of the capitol. He told them he would not let the nation become two countries, no matter what. He avoided talking about slavery. He had a good reason for this. Four states where slavery was legal—Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri—had not left the Union. Lincoln didn’t want to anger these states and lose them, too.
But despite Lincoln’s wishes, the country was soon torn in two. A month later, on April 12, 1861, Southern soldiers fired on Union soldiers at Fort⁴ Sumter in South Carolina. The Civil War had begun.
FORT SUMTER
FREDERICK DOUGLASS
FREDERICK DOUGLASS WAS A SLAVE WHO ESCAPED AS A YOUNG MAN. HE BECAME An INSPIRING LECTURER And AUTHOR. DOUGLASS BELIEVED In FREEDOM And EQUALITY FOR ALL PEOPLE, INCLUDING WOMEN. HE DID NOT ALWAYS SUPPORT LINCOLN. HE BELIEVED LINCOLN WAS MUCH TOO CAUTIOUS⁵ ABOUT ENDING SLAVERY. AFTER THE EMANCIPATION⁶ PROCLAMATION, DOUGLASS BEGAN TO THINK BETTER OF THE PRESIDENT. ONCE THEY MET, HE WAS COMPLETELY WON OVER. DOUGLASS SAID LINCOLN TREATED HIM EXACTLY AS HE WOULD HAVE TREATED ANY MAN, DESPITE THE DIFFERENCE In THEIR SKIN COLOR.
More than eighty years earlier, the American colonies, north and south, had united to break away from England and become a new country. Now Americans would be fighting Americans. Families were divided—even Lincoln’s own family. His wife, Mary, had relatives in the South who owned slaves. They fought on the other side.
Lincoln had no trouble getting volunteers for the army. People in the North supported the war, and everyone thought it would be over soon. Lincoln believed that to fight a war, the president needed more power than in peacetime. There are some things the president is not supposed to do without the approval of Congress. Lincoln went ahead and did them, anyway—he built up the army and spent money on weapons. He also limited freedoms that were set down in the Constitution. He said that people who threatened the war effort could be sent to prison without a trial. They didn’t even have to be told what their crime was. Because the war was so popular, Congress let Lincoln get away with it.
The war did not end quickly. On both sides, soldiers died in bloody⁷ battles that didn’t accomplish anything. Lincoln’s army didn’t seem to have a plan for winning the war. People began to wonder if Lincoln was up to the job. The president is the commander in chief of the army, but Lincoln had never fought in any battles. He needed to teach himself about winning a war. Until he did, he would have to rely on his generals to advise him. And, unfortunately, some of his generals weren’t very good.
Lincoln needed an army. What he had was a bunch of eager, inexperienced volunteers. He chose General George B. McClellan to turn them into real soldiers.
GENERAL GEORGE B. Mc CLELLAN
In some ways, McClellan was a very smart choice. He was organized and good at details. The soldiers trusted him to take care of them. Unfortunately, he wasn’t very good at actually fighting battles. He was too cautious. He kept refusing to attack the Confederate army. He was afraid his army wasn’t ready. He was afraid the Confederate army was too strong. He lost chances to win battles that could have ended the war. Finally Lincoln became impatient. “If General McClellan does not want to use the army,” he said, “I would like to borrow it for a time.”
THE WHITE HOUSE
While Lincoln was learning to be a president, his family was settling into their new home. The White House was much fancier than any place they had lived before, but it was dirty and rundown. Congress gave Mary some money to fix it up. She made it elegant⁸ and beautiful. However, she spent far too much money. Lincoln rarely lost his temper with his wife. Now he did. He needed money from Congress to pay for uniforms and blankets for soldiers. Yet he had to go and ask for more money for silly frills, as well. It had to stop, he told his wife.
Lincoln’s oldest son was away at college. But ten-year-old Willie and eight-year-old Tad had a wonderful time in Washington.
They made friends with soldiers who were quartered in the White House. They set up toy cannons⁹ on the roof and fired at the Confederate army only a few miles away.
It was unusual for children to be living in the White House. The presidents before Lincoln had only grown-up children. The whole country was interested in the Lincoln boys. People sent them presents, especially pets. They had a pony¹⁰ and two goats that ran around and destroyed the White House gardens. Sometimes the goats got inside the house. Tad once made a sled out of a chair and had a goat pull him right through the middle of an elegant party.
Lincoln never scolded the boys or tried to make them behave. Neither did Mary. They were allowed to burst into the president’s office—it didn’t matter who was there. Lincoln sometimes talked to his generals with one of the boys climbing up his chair and onto his shoulders. Sometimes they napped on the floor, overhearing¹¹ state secrets.
The boys had a soldier doll named Jack¹². One day they decided¹³ that Jack had gone to sleep on guard duty and had to be punished. They sentenced him to death. Then they ran to their father, interrupting a meeting, and asked him to pardon Jack. Lincoln listened gravely to their case. Then he wrote out an official pardon on White House stationery¹⁴.
Later, Tad also got Lincoln to free a turkey that was being fattened¹⁵ for Christmas dinner. Tad wanted to keep it as a pet. (He named the turkey Jack, too.) Lincoln didn’t mind these interruptions. In fact, he needed them. In the middle of this terrible war and with all his worries, Tad and Willie could make him smile.
His sons weren’t the only people interrupting Lincoln. Almost anyone who waited long enough outside his office was invited in. Most came to ask for favors. For example, they hoped Lincoln would find a government job for them. Sometimes there were such huge crowds that the staircase¹⁶ was completely blocked.
The most painful requests were from parents and wives begging Lincoln to pardon a soldier. Perhaps their son had been condemned¹⁷ to death for cowardice¹⁸ or neglecting his duties. Lincoln always tried to grant these requests. He understood that sometimes a man meant to be brave but just had “cowardly legs” that made him run away from battle. Lincoln’s openness to ordinary people earned him their loyalty¹⁹, even when the war seemed endless. They called him “Father Abraham.”
Lincoln’s sympathy with other parents was strengthened by his own loss. In 1862, eleven-year-old Willie Lincoln died of typhoid fever. His death was terribly hard on both parents. Of all their sons, Willie had been most like his father. Mary fell apart after Willie’s death. She couldn’t believe he was really gone. She began to hold séances, hoping the spirits of both her dead sons—little Eddie and Willie—would visit her.
A lot of people in Washington had never liked Mary. They thought she showed off. People whispered mean rumors²⁰. Some even said she was a Confederate spy. After all, she had brothers and sisters who sided with the South. The rumors were completely unfair. Mary may have been vain and irritating²¹, but she was always loyal to her husband and to the Union. Anyone who was Lincoln’s enemy was her enemy, too—even her own brother. But she was so unpopular that some people actually said maybe Willie’s death wasn’t all bad. It might stop Mary from making a fool of herself in public.
Lincoln was as brokenhearted over Willie’s death as Mary. Sometimes he hid in his room so he could weep in peace. But after the first day, he never broke down in public.

1 seceded   

v.脱离，退出( secede的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The Republic of Panama seceded from Colombia in 1903. 巴拿马共和国于1903年脱离哥伦比亚。
• One of the states has seceded from the federation. 有一个州已从联邦中退出。 来自辞典例句

2 inauguration   

n.开幕、就职典礼

参考例句：

• The inauguration of a President of the United States takes place on January 20.美国总统的就职典礼于一月二十日举行。
• Three celebrated tenors sang at the president's inauguration.3位著名的男高音歌手在总统就职仪式上演唱。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 fort   

n.要塞，堡垒，碉堡

参考例句：

• The fort can not be defended against an air attack.这座要塞遭到空袭时无法防御。
• No one can get into the fort without a pass.没有通行证，任何人不得进入要塞。

5 cautious   

adj.十分小心的，谨慎的

参考例句：

• We should not only be bold,but also be cautious.我们不仅要大胆，而且要谨慎。
• He was cautious about his work.他对工作非常谨慎。

6 emancipation   

n.（从束缚、支配下）解放

参考例句：

• We must arouse them to fight for their own emancipation. 我们必须唤起他们为其自身的解放而斗争。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They rejoiced over their own emancipation. 他们为自己的解放感到欢欣鼓舞。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。

8 elegant   

adj.优美的，文雅的，简练的，简结的

参考例句：

• She was an elegant and accomplished woman.她是位优雅的才女。
• She has a life of elegant ease.她过着风雅悠闲的生活。

9 cannons   

n.加农炮，大炮，火炮( cannon的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Cannons bombarded enemy lines. 大炮轰击了敌军阵地。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• One company had been furnished with six cannons. 某连队装备了六门大炮。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 pony   

adj.小型的；n.小马

参考例句：

• His father gave him a pony as a Christmas present.他父亲给了他一匹小马驹作为圣诞礼物。
• They made him pony up the money he owed.他们逼他还债。

11 overhearing   

串音

参考例句：

• He might be overhearing her inconsistent remarks. 也许他正在偷听她这些牛头不对马嘴的话呢。
• 'sorry, I cannot help overhearing; do you mention something about the accident? " 对不起，我是无意中听到的，你刚才好像提到了那次事故，是吗？ 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 口语

12 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

13 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

14 stationery   

n.文具；(配套的)信笺信封

参考例句：

• She works in the stationery department of a big store.她在一家大商店的文具部工作。
• There was something very comfortable in having plenty of stationery.文具一多，心里自会觉得踏实。

15 fattened   

v.喂肥( fatten的过去式和过去分词 )；养肥（牲畜）；使（钱）增多；使（公司）升值

参考例句：

• The piglets are taken from the sow to be fattened for market. 这些小猪被从母猪身边带走，好育肥上市。
• Those corrupt officials fattened themselves by drinking the people's life-blood. 那些贪官污吏用民脂民膏养肥了自己。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

16 staircase   

n.楼梯，楼梯间

参考例句：

• Footsteps on the staircase interrupted his train of thought.楼梯上传来脚步声，打断了他的思路。
• I crossed the staircase landing,and entered the room she indicated.我经过一个楼梯平台，走进她说的那个房间。

17 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

18 cowardice   

n.胆小，怯懦

参考例句：

• His cowardice reflects on his character.他的胆怯对他的性格带来不良影响。
• His refusal to help simply pinpointed his cowardice.他拒绝帮助正显示他的胆小。

19 loyalty   

n.忠诚，忠心

参考例句：

• She told him the truth from a sense of loyalty.她告诉他真相是出于忠诚。
• His loyalty to his friends was never in doubt.他对朋友的一片忠心从来没受到怀疑。

20 rumors   

n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷

参考例句：

• Rumors have it that the school was burned down. 有谣言说学校给烧掉了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Rumors of a revolt were afloat. 叛变的谣言四起。 来自《简明英汉词典》

21 irritating   

adj.使愤怒的；气人的；恼人的；v.使恼怒

参考例句：

• She found his preoccupation with money irritating.她对他一心只想着钱感到很厌烦。
• He has this irritating mannerism of constantly scratching his nose.他老是挠鼻子，这个习惯真让人不舒服。