VOA慢速英语2009-THIS IS AMERICA - The Complex Story of Abraham L

VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Barbara Klein. This week on our program, we remember President Abraham Lincoln. This Thursday is the two hundredth anniversary of his birth.

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VOICE ONE:
　
Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln is the only president in American history to lead a nation divided by civil war.

At the heart of the issues that divided the South from the North was slavery. Southern states withdrew from the Union because they saw a threat to their way of life. Their agricultural economy depended on the labor¹ of slaves originally brought from Africa. The states thought the federal government would free the slaves.

South Carolina was the first to leave. It did so shortly after Lincoln's election in November of eighteen sixty. Six other states followed by the time he took office in March of eighteen sixty-one. In his inaugural² speech, Lincoln begged southern states not to leave the Union.

READER:

We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.

VOICE TWO:

Abraham Lincoln did not receive a majority of the popular vote in the eighteen sixty election. But he won enough electoral votes to become president.
　
A Confederate soldier killed at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, photographed by Alexander Gardner in July 1863

Lincoln fought to keep the Union together. He led a civil war in which more than six hundred thousand Americans were killed. And, in leading that war, he took the first steps that would destroy the institution of slavery.

(MUSIC: "Battle Hymn³ of the Republic")

VOICE ONE:

Most whites did not consider blacks -- or negroes, as they called them -- to be their equal. Lincoln was no different. But he believed that slavery was wrong.

Yet he thought that slavery would die out naturally over time -- and that outsiders should not force southerners to end slavery. He explained his position many times in speeches, debates and letters, including this one written in eighteen fifty-eight:

READER:

I have made it equally plain that I think the negro is included in the word "men" used in the Declaration of Independence.

I believe the declaration that "all men are created equal" is the great fundamental principle upon which our free institutions rest; that negro slavery is violative of that principle; but that, by our frame of government, that principle has not been made one of legal obligation; that by our frame of government, the states which have slavery are to retain it, or surrender it at their own pleasure; and that all others — individuals, free states and national government — are constitutionally bound to leave them alone about it.

VOICE TWO:
　
Mary Todd Lincoln

But Lincoln changed his mind. Some historians think the death of his eleven-year-old son Willie had an influence. The president and his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, had four children, all sons. Three got sick and died. Only one lived past the age of eighteen.

Tom Schwartz is the Illinois state historian and an expert on Abraham Lincoln. He says the president began to think seriously about the meaning of life after Willie died in eighteen sixty-two. Lincoln never joined a church, but he believed in a supreme⁵ being who created every person with a purpose in life.

After his son's death, Lincoln decided⁶ that one of his purposes was to be an emancipator⁷ -- to begin the process of freeing the slaves. A few months later, he wrote the Emancipation⁸ Proclamation.

VOICE ONE:

Many people think the Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves. It did not. It only declared slaves in the Confederacy to be free. In other words, only slaves in the southern states that did not recognize Lincoln as president.

Lincoln read the first draft of the document to his cabinet in July of eighteen sixty-two, five months after Willie's death.

A new stage play has been written about those five months in Lincoln's life. "The Heavens Are Hung In Black" by James Still is the first play being presented in the newly redecorated Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. That is the same theater where President Lincoln was shot in eighteen sixty-five.

VOICE TWO:
　
"First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation of President Lincoln" by Francis Bicknell Carpenter

Historians say that by writing the Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln established a moral purpose for the war. No longer was the purpose simply to bring the southern states back into the Union. Now his declaration made freeing the slaves a long-term goal of the conflict.

It put the Confederate states in the position of fighting for slavery -- even though most of the soldiers were too poor to own slaves. And it increased the military strength of the Union by making it possible for free blacks to serve in the northern army.

VOICE ONE:

Political opponents and the press criticized actions taken by President Lincoln.

The First Amendment⁹ to the Constitution guarantees free speech and a free press. Yet Lincoln briefly¹⁰ closed some newspapers.

Another action that he took was to suspend the right of habeas corpus. Habeas corpus is a legal term for the right to have a judge decide if a person is being detained lawfully¹¹. The request is made to the court in a written document called a writ⁴.

The Constitution, in setting limits on Congress, says in Article One: "The privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it."

VOICE TWO:

Suspending habeas corpus means that a prisoner can be held without trial for as long as the government wants.

Abraham Lincoln or his cabinet officers suspended that right several times. They believed they were acting¹² within the Constitution.

VOICE ONE:

President Lincoln knew that he would be criticized for issuing such orders without waiting for congressional approval. Yet he himself was not sure what powers he had in many situations. American history could offer no guide. After all, the country had never before had a civil war.

Lincoln made his orders temporary. And he made sure the country held its next presidential election as planned in eighteen sixty-four, when he was re-elected.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Abraham Lincoln was born into a poor family in Kentucky. He grew up in Indiana and later moved to Illinois. He loved to learn. He was a self-taught lawyer who served for eight years as an Illinois state representative.

But he also suffered from depression all his life. Doctors at that time called it melancholia. He wrote letters about killing¹³ himself and saying that he was the "most miserable¹⁴ man alive."

Lincoln was a tall man with a long face, long arms and large hands. Political opponents called him names like "gorilla¹⁵." Many said he was unqualified to be president because of his limited experience in national government. Lincoln had served only two years in Congress before his election to the White House.

VOICE ONE:

Yet Abraham Lincoln is often called America's greatest president. He is remembered as the man who saved the Union and re-invented it at the same time.

By including blacks, Lincoln expanded "the borders of freedom," says historian Tom Schwartz. Lincoln himself said his purpose was to provide "an open field and a fair chance in life." He succeeded in beginning that process, though black Americans did not gain full civil rights until the nineteen sixties.

VOICE TWO:

Abraham Lincoln was the first presidential candidate of the modern Republican Party. He included political opponents in his cabinet, which is unusual. Doris Kearns Goodwin wrote about this in her two thousand five book "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln."

But some historians suggest that the inclusion of opponents may not have been as smart an idea as Lincoln had hoped. In fact, they say that in some cases it may have created more problems than it solved.

VOICE ONE:
　
John Wilkes Booth

But Lincoln was the leading force behind the Thirteenth Amendment which officially ended slavery in the United States. It became law in December of eighteen sixty-five.

By then, Lincoln was dead. On April fourteenth, eighty sixty-five, Southern sympathizer and actor John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln in Ford's Theatre. It happened five days after the South surrendered and the Civil War ended.

VOICE TWO:

Not surprisingly, America's sixteenth president is a hero of another former Illinois lawmaker. Barack Obama has spoken repeatedly of Lincoln's influence in making it possible for the country to have its first African-American president.

President Obama will return to Illinois to celebrate Abraham Lincoln's two hundredth birthday at a big dinner in Springfield this Thursday.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Our program was written by Nancy Steinbach and produced by Mario Ritter. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Barbara Klein. Doug Johnson was our reader. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

1 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

2 inaugural   

adj.就职的；n.就职典礼

参考例句：

• We listened to the President's inaugural speech on the radio yesterday.昨天我们通过无线电听了总统的就职演说。
• Professor Pearson gave the inaugural lecture in the new lecture theatre.皮尔逊教授在新的阶梯讲堂发表了启用演说。

3 hymn   

n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌

参考例句：

• They sang a hymn of praise to God.他们唱着圣歌，赞美上帝。
• The choir has sung only two verses of the last hymn.合唱团只唱了最后一首赞美诗的两个段落。

4 writ   

n.命令状，书面命令

参考例句：

• This is a copy of a writ I received this morning.这是今早我收到的书面命令副本。
• You shouldn't treat the newspapers as if they were Holy Writ. 你不应该把报上说的话奉若神明。

5 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

6 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。

7 emancipator   

n.释放者；救星

参考例句：

• Lincoln is known as the Great Emancipator. 林肯是著名的伟大的解放者。 来自互联网
• The strategy of intervention and the role of the emancipator are strongly inspired by critical theory. 理论研究大大地激发了人为的干预政策和对释放者的扮演。 来自互联网

8 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》

9 amendment   

n.改正，修正，改善，修正案

参考例句：

• The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
• The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。

10 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

11 lawfully   

adv.守法地，合法地；合理地

参考例句：

• Lawfully established contracts shall be protected by law. 依法成立的合同应受法律保护。 来自口语例句
• As my lawfully wedded husband, in sickness and in health, till death parts us. 当成是我的合法丈夫，无论疾病灾难，直到死亡把我们分开。 来自电影对白

12 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

13 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

14 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

15 gorilla   

n.大猩猩，暴徒，打手

参考例句：

• I was awed by the huge gorilla.那只大猩猩使我惊惧。
• A gorilla is just a speechless animal.猩猩只不过是一种不会说话的动物。