VOA慢速英语2018--A History of Presidents’ Day

 

The third Monday of February is known as Presidents’ Day in the United States. For nearly 100 years, America honored its first president, George Washington, on February 22. That was his birthday. But the date was not a national holiday until 1968.

That year, the U.S. Congress passed a measure known as the Uniform Monday Holiday Act. The measure meant that some public holidays would always fall on a Monday. Today, the country honors its first president on the third Monday in February -- and not on Washington’s real birthday.

And the holiday is now commonly called Presidents’ Day. Many say it also honors Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. The nation’s 16th president was born on February 12.

The federal government, however, still recognizes the holiday as “Washington’s Birthday.”

The Uniform Monday Holiday Act gives workers a three-day weekend. It also gives shops and marketers a chance to have special Presidents’ Day sales.

Presidential Facts and 'Firsts'

Last year, Donald J. Trump¹ made history when he took the oath of office as the 45th president of the United States. At 70 years old, he became the oldest elected president. Before Trump, Ronald Reagan was the oldest person to take office. He was 69 years old when he became president in 1981.

As the first billionaire president, Trump also replaced John F. Kennedy, the 35th president, as the richest man to serve as president.

Kennedy still holds the record for the youngest person to be elected president. He was 43 when he took office. Kennedy is also the youngest president to die in office. He was assassinated² in 1963 in Dallas, Texas. He was 46 years old.

Another presidential assassination³ actually put the youngest person in the office of the president. In 1901, Theodore Roosevelt, then the vice⁴ president, became president at the age of 42. He took office after William McKinley, the 25th president, was shot and killed in Buffalo⁵, New York.

The first president to die in office, though, was William Henry Harrison. The country’s ninth president only served 32 days, the shortest time of any president.

Another Roosevelt holds the record for the longest time in office. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd president, held office for 4,422 days. After his death, the 22nd amendment⁶ was passed. It limited a person to two four-year terms as president.

Most Americans know that the two Roosevelts were related. But they may not know how, exactly, they were related. Here it goes.

Franklin Roosevelt’s wife, Eleanor Roosevelt was also his fifth cousin once removed. And Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president, was Eleanor’s uncle. That makes the two presidents distant relatives.

But they were not the first relatives to both serve as president. That title belongs to the Adams. John Adams was America’s second president. His son, John Quincy Adams was elected as the nation’s sixth president.

The Bushes are the other father-son presidential pair. George Herbert Walker Bush was elected as the 41st president. His son, George W. Bush, was the country’s 43rd president.

Not everyone can run for president.

The U.S. Constitution says that a person must be at least 35 years old. A person must also have lived “within the United States” for at least 14 years. And they must be a “natural-born citizen.”

But the meaning of “natural-born citizen” is not exactly clear. People read the rule in different ways.

The first “natural-born” American president was not George Washington or John Adams. It was Martin Van Buren, the eighth president. He was born in 1782, six years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

All seven presidents before Van Buren, and William Henry Harrison, the ninth president, were not “natural-born” citizens. They were born before 1776, when the American states were still British colonies.

Words in This Story

uniform - n. staying the same

cousin - n. a child of your uncle or aunt

assassinated. - v. killed usually for political reasons

distant - adj. used to describe a relative who is not closely related

pair - n. two people who are related in some way or who do something together

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 assassinated   

v.暗杀( assassinate的过去式和过去分词 )；中伤；诋毁；破坏

参考例句：

• The prime minister was assassinated by extremists. 首相遭极端分子暗杀。
• Then, just two days later, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. 跟着在两天以后，肯尼迪总统在达拉斯被人暗杀。 来自辞典例句

3 assassination   

n.暗杀；暗杀事件

参考例句：

• The assassination of the president brought matters to a head.总统遭暗杀使事态到了严重关头。
• Lincoln's assassination in 1865 shocked the whole nation.1865年，林肯遇刺事件震惊全美国。

4 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

5 buffalo   

n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛

参考例句：

• Asian buffalo isn't as wild as that of America's. 亚洲水牛比美洲水牛温顺些。
• The boots are made of buffalo hide. 这双靴子是由水牛皮制成的。

6 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。