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VOA慢速英语2010年-THIS IS AMERICA - Lincoln's Cottage: A

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

BARBARA KLEIN: And I'm Barbara Klein. This week on our program, we take you to President Lincoln's Cottage in Washington.

(MUSIC)

STEVE EMBER: Our story begins on the evening of Wednesday, September seventeenth, eighteen sixty-two.

The Civil War between the Union North and Confederate South is in its second year. The first major battle on Northern territory has just been fought that day a hundred kilometers from Washington. Union troops defeated a rebel invasion in the Battle of Antietam in the state of Maryland.

In all, more than twenty thousand soldiers were killed or wounded. September seventeenth, eighteen sixty-two, becomes the single bloodiest1 day in American military history.

President Abraham Lincoln is fighting to keep the Southern states of the Confederacy from leaving the Union. But from his office in the White House, he must also attend to his other duties as president of the United States.

BARBARA KLEIN: In summertime, which can get very hot in Washington, President Lincoln used a country house. It was about five kilometers from the White House. Each morning and evening, Lincoln rode between the two houses on horseback, unguarded.

Buildings would give way to farmland as he rode north out of the city. In about thirty minutes, he would arrive at the grounds of the Soldiers' Home.

Just inside the gate was a large house used by the president and his family. This house was on much higher ground than the White House, so the wind kept it cooler. It was also quiet -- a place to think.

STEVE EMBER: On this day we imagine Lincoln climbing the stairs to his study on the second floor. He places his tall black hat on his desk and opens a large window. He feels cooler already. He lights two lamps and sits down at the desk.

An important document that he has been writing, and rewriting, waits for him. He began working on it soon after he became president in eighteen sixty-one.

Lincoln has been thinking long and hard to develop his ideas and capture them in words. What he is writing sounds like it was written by a lawyer. He was, after all, a lawyer in Illinois before he became president. But this is different. It involves the war, the ownership of human beings and the future of the divided nation.

He knows that some people will support it, some will reject it and some will say it changes nothing. It will free the slaves, but only in areas where Lincoln has no power.

BARBARA KLEIN: Slavery was legal in the Confederate States of America -- the South. But it was also legal in several neighboring states that remained loyal to the Union.

Many Americans wanted Lincoln to free all the slaves. Lincoln opposed slavery. But he needed the continued loyalty2 of those border states, like Maryland and Kentucky, or risk losing the Civil War.

STEVE EMBER: The sixteenth president looks again at what he has written. Lincoln feels that what he is doing will give the war effort new meaning. He feels that in time it will lead to the end of slavery in the United States.

On this day, September seventeenth, he has finished his second draft of the preliminary Emancipation3 Proclamation. Soon he will share it with his cabinet.

(MUSIC)

BARBARA KLEIN: Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary version five days later, on September twenty-second, eighteen sixty-two. It declared that slaves would be free anywhere that was still in rebellion on January first, eighteen sixty-three.

The final version of the Emancipation Proclamation came on January first, declaring: " ... all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free ... "

The document would become one of the most important in American history. The Emancipation Proclamation is in the National Archives in Washington, and it can be seen online at archives.gov.

STEVE EMBER: Lincoln was right that it would not be very popular. But he was also right that it would be the first step toward ending slavery in the United States.

The proclamation also welcomed freed slaves to serve in the Union Army and Navy. By the end of the war, more than two hundred thousand blacks had joined the armed services.

(MUSIC)

BARBARA KLEIN: The Civil War lasted from eighteen sixty-one to eighteen sixty-five. Troops were stationed at the Soldiers' Home to protect President Lincoln during the war. At first he did not welcome them. He did not think he needed their protection. But he began to enjoy talking to them. In fact, much of what historians know about the president's time at the house is from stories told by those soldiers.

One soldier told of guarding the president's house on a day when Lincoln was sitting on the porch with his young son Tad. They were playing a game of checkers. The president asked the solder4 to put down his rifle and join them.

The young soldier was confused. He was supposed to guard the president, not play a game. But the president was also commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy. The soldier decided5 he could not refuse the request. He spent the afternoon playing checkers with the president.

STEVE EMBER: Not far from the house was a military hospital. The president would sometimes watch the wagons6 arriving with soldiers wounded in the war. He would sometimes talk with the soldiers. The man with the long, sad face wanted to hear news about the battles they had been fighting. He said it helped him understand their experiences.

(MUSIC)

BARBARA KLEIN: Today the house at the Soldiers' Home is known as President Lincoln's Cottage. But Lincoln was not the first president to use it. That was James Buchanan, the president just before him. Later, presidents Rutherford Hayes and Chester Arthur also used it.

A Washington banker named George Washington Riggs built the house in eighteen forty-two. In eighteen fifty-one, he sold the house and the land around it to the federal government.

The government later expanded the house and used the land to build the Soldiers' Home for veterans. Today it is called the Armed Forces Retirement7 Home. More than one thousand retired8 service members live there.

STEVE EMBER: The location of President Lincoln's Cottage has not changed since Lincoln's day. But the city of Washington has. The house is now within the city limits.

Historians have compared it to the modern presidential retreat in the mountains of Maryland. They call it a kind of nineteenth century Camp David.

The thirty-four room house opened to the public in February of two thousand eight after fifteen million dollars in work. The National Trust for Historic Preservation9 has restored the building so it looks as it did when Lincoln and his family lived there.

For example, workers removed more than twenty layers of paint from one room. The paint hid the wooden walls of what was Lincoln's library. Visitors can see lines left by bookshelves on the walls.

BARBARA KLEIN: Guides tell visitors that Lincoln lived at the house for one-fourth of his time as president. He and his family would go to the house in June or early July and stay until early November. They did this in eighteen sixty-two, sixty-three and sixty-four.

Records show that one year, White House workers moved nineteen wagonloads of belongings10 to the house. These included toys, clothing and furniture.

STEVE EMBER: One night in eighteen sixty-four, President Lincoln survived an assassination11 attempt. He was alone, returning on horseback from Washington. Someone shot at him. It happened near the house. His tall hat flew off and soldiers found it on the ground with a bullet hole through it. He was not injured.

After that, the War Department increased his protection. But it was not enough to save his life.

Records show that he visited his country house for the last time on April thirteenth, eighteen sixty-five. The next day, John Wilkes Booth, an actor and supporter of the defeated Confederacy, shot President Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington.

(MUSIC)

STEVE EMBER: Our program was written by Nancy Steinbach and produced by Caty Weaver12. I'm Steve Ember.

BARBARA KLEIN:

And I'm Barbara Klein. Internet users can learn more about President Lincoln's Cottage at lincolncottage.org. For a link, and for transcripts13, MP3s and podcasts of our programs, go to voaspecialenglish.com. We hope you can join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.
 


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 bloodiest 2f5859cebc7d423fa78269725dca802d     
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
2 loyalty gA9xu     
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。
3 emancipation Sjlzb     
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》
4 solder 1TczH     
v.焊接,焊在一起;n.焊料,焊锡
参考例句:
  • Fewer workers are needed to solder circuit boards.焊接电路板需要的工人更少了。
  • He cuts the pieces and solders them together.他把那些断片切碎,然后把它们焊在一起。
5 decided lvqzZd     
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。
6 wagons ff97c19d76ea81bb4f2a97f2ff0025e7     
n.四轮的运货马车( wagon的名词复数 );铁路货车;小手推车
参考例句:
  • The wagons were hauled by horses. 那些货车是马拉的。
  • They drew their wagons into a laager and set up camp. 他们把马车围成一圈扎起营地。
7 retirement TWoxH     
n.退休,退职
参考例句:
  • She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
  • I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。
8 retired Njhzyv     
adj.隐退的,退休的,退役的
参考例句:
  • The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
  • Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。
9 preservation glnzYU     
n.保护,维护,保存,保留,保持
参考例句:
  • The police are responsible for the preservation of law and order.警察负责维持法律与秩序。
  • The picture is in an excellent state of preservation.这幅画保存得极为完好。
10 belongings oy6zMv     
n.私人物品,私人财物
参考例句:
  • I put a few personal belongings in a bag.我把几件私人物品装进包中。
  • Your personal belongings are not dutiable.个人物品不用纳税。
11 assassination BObyy     
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。
12 weaver LgWwd     
n.织布工;编织者
参考例句:
  • She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快,而且布的质量很好。
  • The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。
13 transcripts 525c0b10bb61e5ddfdd47d7faa92db26     
n.抄本( transcript的名词复数 );转写本;文字本;副本
参考例句:
  • Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样,都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
  • You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书,你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句

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