Abraham Lincoln:Martyr

VOA Learning English presents America’s Presidents.
美国之音慢速英语介绍美国总统栏目。

Today we are talking about Abraham Lincoln.
今天，我们来谈论亚伯拉罕·林肯。

He was the 16^th president of the United States. Many Americans consider him one of country’s greatest leaders.
他是美国第16届总统。大部分美国人将他视为美国最伟大的总统之一。

Yet people alive when Lincoln was elected in 1860 would probably be surprised by modern-day opinions about him. He had little formal¹ education or government experience.
1860年林肯被选为总统，然而，生活在那个年代的人们也许会对如今人们关于林肯的看法感到惊讶。他的正式教育程度不高，担任公职的经验也少。

During the presidential campaign, critics made fun of his appearance and his simple way of talking. They warned that he was not very intelligent and would harm the nation’s image.
总统竞选期间，评论家取笑林肯的容貌和他简单的交流方式。他们警告说，他不够聪明，会有损国家的形象。

Some of his opponents – especially in Southern states – had even bigger concerns. They were afraid Lincoln would use the power of the federal government to end slavery in their states.
一些反对者——尤其是在南方各州——有着更大的顾虑。他们害怕林肯会动用联邦政府的权利来废除奴隶制。

They were right.
他们的顾虑对了。

Early life 早年经历

Abraham Lincoln was born in the frontier² state of Kentucky. His family was very poor and had a simple home: a log cabin³.
亚伯拉罕·林肯出生在肯塔基州边界。他的家庭很贫困，住在一个简陋的小木屋里。

Lincoln had to support his parents and his sister by working, so he rarely went to school. Instead, he taught himself by reading books.
林肯要通过劳动来帮助父母和姐妹。所以，他几乎没上过学。然而，他自己通过阅读来自学。

Eventually, he became a lawyer in the state of Illinois.
最终，他在伊利诺伊州成为一名律师。

As a young man, Lincoln was known for several qualities. He was tall and thin. He was very strong – his neighbors remembered him cutting down trees. And he was honest. The people he defended in court called him “Honest Abe.”
年轻时的林肯由于诸多特质为人所知，他高高瘦瘦，但很强壮——邻居记得他曾经砍过树，他也很诚实。他在法庭上辩护过的人称他为“诚实的亚伯”。

In time, Lincoln was elected to the Illinois General Assembly, the state’s legislature. He also served one term as a congressman in the U.S. House of Representatives.
最终，林肯入选伊利诺伊州议会，该州的立法机构。他还担任过一届国会众议员。

But he was not popular there. Voters did not like his opposition to the country’s war with Mexico.
但在那他不受欢迎。选民不喜欢他反对与墨西哥的战争。

So Lincoln withdrew from politics and turned his attention to his family. He had married a Southern belle⁴ named Mary Todd in 1842. They had four sons. But two died when they were very young.
所以，林肯退出了政治舞台，将注意力转向了家庭。1842年，他和南方的一位名叫玛丽·托德的美女结婚。他们婚后养育了四个儿子，但两个在很小的时候就去世了。

Lincoln also developed his legal career representing railroad companies. Some people thought he might become the best railroad lawyer in the country. But that is not what happened.
林肯也发展了他在铁路公司的律师事业。有些人认为他可能会成为全国最好的铁路律师。然而事实并非如此。

Election of 1860 1860年大选

In the 1850s, Lincoln returned to national politics. The division over the issue of slavery was deepening. Lincoln was not an anti-slavery activist, an abolitionist⁵. But he did not support the country’s policies on slavery.
1850年代，林肯再次从政。奴隶制问题的分歧一直在加深。林肯不是一位禁奴分子，也不是废奴主义者。但是，他不支持国家关于奴隶制的政策。

Lincoln believed slavery violated the American Declaration of Independence, which said all men had the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
林肯认为奴隶制违背了美国独立宣言，宣言称所有人都有生存权，自由权和追求幸福的权利。

To be clear, Lincoln did not believe that black people should have the same rights as white U.S. citizens. But he did not agree that one person should own other people, or profit from their work while they earned nothing and were held captive.
具体一点就是，林肯并不认为黑人应该拥有和白人一样的公民权利，但他不同意一个人应该拥有其他人，或者从他们的劳动中获利，然而他们什么都不能得到，而且还被俘虏。

Lincoln decided to compete in elections for a seat in the U.S. Senate. He was chosen as the candidate of a new, anti-slavery party. Members called themselves Republicans.
林肯决定竞选参议员席位。他入选为一个新成立的反对奴隶制党派的候选人，内部党员称他们自己为共和党。

During the election campaign, Lincoln famously discussed the issue of slavery in a series of debates with Stephen Douglas, the Democratic Party’s candidate.
选举期间，林肯与民主党候选人史蒂夫·道格拉斯讨论了关于奴隶制问题的一些列争论。

Lincoln’s words moved some voters. But they did not earn him enough votes to get elected.
林肯的话语感染了很多选民，但并没有为他获得足够的选票。

So, while Douglas took the seat in the Senate, Lincoln prepared to run for president. Lincoln said that, if he were elected, he would not expand slavery to new territories in the country’s west. But he promised not to interfere with slavery in the Southern states, where it already existed.
所以，当道格拉斯获得参议院席位时，林肯准备竞选总统了。林肯说道，如果他当选，他不会在西部新领地扩大奴隶制。但他承诺不会干预南方诸州已经存在的奴隶制。

Voters in Southern, slave-holding states did not trust Lincoln. Not a single Southern state supported him in the election of 1860.
南方蓄奴州选民并不相信林肯，1860年大选中没有一个南方州支持他。

But he won anyway. The support of anti-slavery Northerners gave him the presidency.
但他还是赢了，北方禁奴州给了他足够支持当选为总统。

In answer, seven Southern states withdrew from the Union. Four more later joined them. These states formed a new government, called the Confederate States of America – or, the Confederacy.
为了回应，七个南方州宣布脱离联邦，后来又有四个州加入。这些州成立了一个新政府，叫做美利坚联盟国，即南部邦联。

Confederate officials chose their own president and wrote their own constitution, which permitted each state control over its own laws – especially laws that protected slavery. Confederate officials said they no longer recognized the power of the U.S. federal government, or its chief executive.
联盟国官员选择了他们自己的总统，宣布了自己的宪法，宪法规定每个州可以控制自己的法律，尤其是保护奴隶制的法律。联盟国官员宣布不再承认美国联邦政府的权利以及它的总统。

As that chief executive, Lincoln would have to decide what to do.
作为总统，林肯必须决定做点什么。

Civil War 南北战争

President Lincoln’s first test came a little more than a month after he was sworn-in.
林肯总统的第一个考验在他宣誓就职的一个多月后就来了。

The event involved Fort Sumter, a federal military base on an island off the coast of South Carolina. Soldiers on the base needed food. Lincoln said he would send some by ship.
该事件是关于南卡罗莱纳州海岸线的一个岛屿上的联邦军事基地萨姆特堡。军事基地的士兵需要食物，林肯称会用船给他们送去。

But Confederate officials considered the fort part of South Carolina, which belonged to the Confederacy. They demanded that the Union soldiers leave the fort.
但邦联官员认为堡垒是南卡罗莱纳州的一部分，它应该属于邦联。他们要求联邦士兵撤出堡垒。

But Union forces and the U.S. president ignored the Confederates’ demands.
但联邦武装力量和美国总统无视了邦联的要求。

As promised, Lincoln sent the supply ships. As expected, Confederate soldiers attacked. A day and a half later, the fort’s Union soldiers surrendered.
正如承诺的那样，林肯派遣了补给船。也正如预期那样，邦联士兵发动了攻击。一天半后（36小时），联邦士兵（被迫）投降。

The clash did not last long, and no one was killed in the fighting. But the battle at Fort Sumter marked the official beginning of hostilities⁶ between the Union and the Confederacy.
这场冲突持续不久，也没有人死亡。但萨姆特堡战役标志着南北战争的爆发。

Lincoln immediately took action to answer the loss of Fort Sumter. He called on state militias for troops and asked for a special meeting of Congress.
林肯迅速采取行动来应对萨姆特堡的陷落。他呼吁国民军派兵，并要求召开国会特别会议。

The president was careful not to ask Congress to make an official declaration of war, in part because he did not want to recognize the Confederacy as a separate nation. Instead, he called the Southern states’ opposition a rebellion.
林肯总统很谨慎，没有要求国会正式宣战，部分原因是他不想承认邦联是一个独立的国家。相反，他称南部各州的行为为叛乱。

However, the conflict between the Southern Confederacy and the Northern Union was a civil war.
然而，南方邦联和北方联邦之间的冲突被称作美国内战。

Neither side expected the fighting to last very long – a few weeks or maybe months. Instead, the Civil War lasted four and a half years.
参战双方都不希望战争持续很久——数周或数月。然而，内战持续了四年半的时间。

Most of the major battles took place near Washington, DC, in the states of Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania. Soldiers and civilians also clashed in the west, in Tennessee, as well as in the southern states of Mississippi, South Carolina, and Georgia.
大部分主要战役都发生在华盛顿附近，马里兰，弗吉尼亚和宾夕法尼亚州。士兵和平民在西部，田纳西以及南方密西西比，南卡和佐治亚州也发生了战争。

But the war involved the entire⁷ country. At least 4 million men fought in it. Among the soldiers were African-American and Native-American men.
但战争波及了整个国家。至少四百万人参与了战争，士兵中有非裔美国人和本土美国人。

The conflict divided families. Brothers, fathers and sons fought against each other.
这场战争分裂了许多家庭。兄弟，父亲和儿子互相斗争。

Women in both the North and South also supported the war effort. They cooked meals, made and repaired clothing for the troops, served as nurses⁸ and cared for the soldiers. Both white and African-American women also took over the work of men who had left to fight.
南方和北方的妇女们也支持着这场战争。他们做饭，缝制衣服，当护士来照顾士兵。白人和非裔美国人妇女都接管了参加战争的男人的工作。

And more than 620,000 men died – recent scholarship says as many as 750,000. The Civil War remains the bloodiest war in American history.
超过620000的男人死去——近期的学术表明有750000人。内战仍旧是美国历史上最血腥的战争。

And it changed the country. The war radically⁹ affected American politics, economics, and society.
它也改变了国家命运。这场战争从根本上影响了美国的政治，经济以及社会。

Abraham Lincoln was the U.S. president through all of it.
亚伯拉罕·林肯在整个内战期间都担任着美国总统。

Next week’s article will discuss Lincoln’s presidency and legacy.
下周的文章会讨论林肯的总统任期和遗产。

原文链接

https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/americas-presidents-abraham-lincoln/3884227.html

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