【英语语言学习】葛底斯堡演说

Hello, and welcome back to As It Is from VOA Learning English.

 

I’m Jerilyn Watson in Washington.

 

Today on our program, we note the 150th anniversary of The Gettysburg Address. It is one of the most famous and most beautiful speeches ever given in the English language. It is also one of the most important speeches in American history.

 

We begin in the summer of 1863 in Gettysburg -- then a small farming and market town in the eastern state of Pennsylvania.

 

On July 1st, 2nd and 3rd, two huge armies clashed in Gettysburg. They fought one of the most important battles of the American Civil War. Because of that battle, Gettysburg became an extremely important part of American history.

 

Five months earlier, General Robert E. Lee had marched the Southern army of the Confederate states from Virginia into Pennsylvania. He went into the North in hopes of winning a major victory -- a victory that might help the Confederate cause.

 

Southern states -- where slavery was legal -- were trying to form their own country. They wanted the right to govern themselves. Northern states did not want to let them leave the Union.

 

Little Round Top, Cemetery¹ Ridge², the Devil’s Den³, Pickett’s Charge… American history books are filled with the names of places in and around Gettysburg where the soldiers fought. These were the places where thousands of them died defending the idea of a United States of America.

 

General Lee and the Confederate Army fought fiercely at the Battle of Gettysburg. But they went down to defeat. The Northern soldiers refused to break. Lee, at last, had to stop fighting. The Confederate army suffered great losses and was forced to return to the South.

 

Many more battles would be fought during the Civil War. Some were just as terrible as the one at Gettysburg. Yet few are remembered so well.

 

Gettysburg was the largest and bloodiest⁴ battle ever fought on the North American continent. More than 3,000 Confederate soldiers had been killed. Two thousand five hundred Union soldiers were killed. Many thousands on both sides were wounded. The terrible job of clearing the battlefield was left to the Union soldiers who had won the battle.

Five months later, the president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, gave his memorable⁵ speech at the Gettysburg cemetery.

 

President Lincoln felt it was his duty to speak at the dedication⁶ ceremony. He hoped his words might ease the sorrow over the loss of so many. He knew he needed to lift the spirits of the nation.

 

For a few moments, let us imagine that it is November 19th, 1863. The weather is cool. There are clouds in the sky. A huge crowd awaits the ceremony. Military bands play. 

 

It is almost noon. We have arrived at the Gettysburg cemetery. Fifteen thousand people have come to hear a famous speaker -- Edward Everett -- and President Abraham Lincoln. A prayer is said, and Mr. Everett begins to speak. For two hours, he speaks. He talks of ancient burial ceremonies. He tells how the young soldiers who had died here should be honored. At last, Edward Everett finishes.

 

Moments later a man stands and announces: “Ladies and Gentlemen, His Excellency, the President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln.”

 

The president leaves his chair and walks slowly forward. He looks out over the valley, then down at the papers in his hand. The huge crowd becomes silent. Abraham Lincoln begins to speak.

“Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth⁷ on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated⁸ to the proposition that all men are created equal.

 

“Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war.

 

“We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

 

“But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate⁹, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated¹⁰ it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here. But it can never forget what they did here.

 

“It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work for which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.

 

“It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us: That from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion.

 

“That we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain. That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom And that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

 

People applauded for several minutes. The president turned to a friend. He said he feared his speech had been a failure. He said he should have prepared it more carefully.

 

But Edward Everett, the great speaker, knew he had heard a speech that expressed difficult thoughts and ideas clearly and simply. Mr. Everett recognized the power and the beauty of President Lincoln’s words. Later, he wrote to the president. He said Mr. Lincoln had said in two minutes what he had tried to say in two hours.

 

One newspaper said “The few words of the president were from the heart, to the heart. They cannot be read without emotion.”

 

Mr. Lincoln went back to Washington that night. Within a week, his secretary announced that the president was suffering from smallpox¹¹.

 

Edward Everett asked President Lincoln if he could have a copy of the speech. The president wrote a copy and sent it to him. The Everett copy is one of five known copies that President Lincoln wrote by hand.

?The speech is carved into the stone walls of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. Many who visit the memorial from around the world stand before the huge statue of Abraham Lincoln and read the president’s Gettysburg Address.

 

And that’s our program for today. I’m Jerilyn Watson.

1 cemetery   

n.坟墓，墓地，坟场

参考例句：

• He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
• His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。

2 ridge   

n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭

参考例句：

• We clambered up the hillside to the ridge above.我们沿着山坡费力地爬上了山脊。
• The infantry were advancing to attack the ridge.步兵部队正在向前挺进攻打山脊。

3 den   

n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室

参考例句：

• There is a big fox den on the back hill.后山有一个很大的狐狸窝。
• The only way to catch tiger cubs is to go into tiger's den.不入虎穴焉得虎子。

4 bloodiest   

adj.血污的( bloody的最高级 )；流血的；屠杀的；残忍的

参考例句：

• The Russians were going to suffer their bloodiest defeat of all before Berlin. 俄国人在柏林城下要遭到他们的最惨重的失败。 来自辞典例句
• It was perhaps the bloodiest hour in the history of warfare. 这也许是战争史上血腥味最浓的1个小时。 来自互联网

5 memorable   

adj.值得回忆的，难忘的，特别的，显著的

参考例句：

• This was indeed the most memorable day of my life.这的确是我一生中最值得怀念的日子。
• The veteran soldier has fought many memorable battles.这个老兵参加过许多难忘的战斗。

6 dedication   

n.奉献，献身，致力，题献，献辞

参考例句：

• We admire her courage,compassion and dedication.我们钦佩她的勇气、爱心和奉献精神。
• Her dedication to her work was admirable.她对工作的奉献精神可钦可佩。

7 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

8 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

9 consecrate   

v.使圣化，奉…为神圣；尊崇；奉献

参考例句：

• Consecrate your life to the church.把你的生命奉献给教堂吧。
• The priest promised God he would consecrate his life to helping the poor.牧师对上帝允诺他将献身帮助穷人。

10 consecrated   

adj.神圣的，被视为神圣的v.把…奉为神圣，给…祝圣( consecrate的过去式和过去分词 )；奉献

参考例句：

• The church was consecrated in 1853. 这座教堂于1853年祝圣。
• They consecrated a temple to their god. 他们把庙奉献给神。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 smallpox   

n.天花

参考例句：

• In 1742 he suffered a fatal attack of smallpox.1742年，他染上了致命的天花。
• Were you vaccinated against smallpox as a child?你小时候打过天花疫苗吗？