英语名篇诵读 葛底斯堡演说的故事（在线收听）

The Story of the Gettysburg Address

葛底斯堡演说的故事

Leslie W. Leavitt(莱斯利·W. 莱维特)

One of the great and bloody battles of the war was the battle of Gettysburg. Here the Southern armies were beaten and driven back into the South, but not until many thousands of brave men on both sides had lost their lives. They were buried where they fell. Later a great meeting was held on the battlefield of Gettysburg to honour the brave dead. Thousands of people came from miles around to the meeting, and to hear the two speakers, Mr. Everett and President Lincoln. Mr. Everett was a man of wide experience, the president of a college, one who had travelled much, a fine speaker. He spoke for two hours. Lincoln rose to speak. He had given but little thought and time to what he was to say, and had only just finished writing the end of his speech before riding out to the field. He stood before the great crowd, tall and thin, his sad face showing the sorrow of the war. He was silent for a moment, and then, as though he did not see the crowd, he spoke slowly, in a high voice, for three minutes. Its simple and beautiful English, its noble meaning and forgiving spirit, make it one of the greatest speeches of the world. Its famous ending is well known: “...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.”

战争中最伟大最血腥的战役之一就是葛底斯堡战役。在这里南方军被打败，赶回了南方，但这一切是在双方成千上万的勇士们牺牲之后。他们倒下后，就地埋葬了。后来在葛底斯堡战地举行了盛大的悼念仪式，向勇敢的死者致敬。成千上万的人从周围数英里外赶来听埃弗雷特先生和林肯总统的演说。埃弗雷特先生是一所大学的校长，经验丰富，游历很广，是一位优秀的演说家。他讲了两个小时。接着林肯起身讲话。事先他考虑得很少，也没有多少时间考虑自己要讲什么，刚刚写完演说稿的结尾，就骑马赶来了。他站在众人面前，高大而瘦削，面带悲伤，分明是战争带来的痛苦。他沉默了片刻，仿佛没有看到面前的人群，然后缓缓演讲，声音洪亮，历时仅三分钟。演讲用词简单而优美，意蕴崇高，态度宽容，使之成为人类最伟大的演说之一。演说中那段著名的结尾已成为经典：“在上帝保佑之下，这个国家的自由将获得新生；民有、民治、民享的政体不会从地球上消亡。”