首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Lincoln expected that America would become a nation doubtful about its heroes and its history. In his astonishing address to the
Lincoln expected that America would become a nation doubtful about its heroes and its history. In his astonishing address to the
admin
2017-03-15
98
问题
Lincoln expected that America would become a nation doubtful about its heroes and its history. In his astonishing address to the Young Men’s Lyceum of Springfield, Ill., on Jan. 27,1838, on "the perpetuation of our political institutions", the 28-year-old Lincoln foresaw the inevitable rise in a modern democracy like ours of skepticism and worldliness. Indeed, he worried about the fate of free institutions in a maturing nation no longer shaped by a youthful, instinctive and (mostly) healthy patriotism.
Such a patriotism is natural in the early years after a revolutionary struggle for independence. To the generation that experienced the Revolution and the children of that generation, Lincoln explained, the events of the Revolution remained "living history", and those Americans retained an emotional attachment to the political institutions that had been created. But the living memories of the Revolution and the founding could no longer be counted on. Those memories "were a fortress of strength; but what invading foemen could never do, the silent artillery of time has done; the leveling of its walls". So, Lincoln concluded, the once mighty "pillars of the temple of liberty" that supported our political institutions were gone.
Lincoln implored his fellow citizens in 1838 to replace those old pillars with new ones constructed by "reason, cold, calculating, unimpassioned reason". He knew that such a recommendation—such a hope—was problematic. In politics, cold, calculating reason has its limits. In the event, it was Lincoln’s foreboding of trouble, not his hope for renewal, that turned out to be correct. The nation held together for only one more generation. Twenty-three years after Lincoln’s speech, the South seceded, and civil war came.
Lincoln managed, of course, in a supreme act of leadership, to win that war, preserve the union and end slavery. He was also able to interpret that war as producing a "new birth of freedom," explaining its extraordinary sacrifices in a way that provided a renewed basis for attachment to a nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Perhaps the compromises made by the founding generation with the institution of slavery would have proved fatal in any case. Still, the fact is that the US was unable to perpetuate its political institutions peacefully after those who had lived through the Revolution died and even secondhand memories of America’s founding faded.
Now we find ourselves in a situation oddly similar to the one Lincoln faced in 1838. Lincoln delivered his Lyceum Address 62 years after the Declaration of Independence. We are now the same time span from the end of World War II. Our victory in that war—followed by our willingness to quickly assume another set of burdens in the defense of freedom against another great tyranny—marked the beginning of the US’s role as leader of the free world. Through all the ups and downs of the cold war and through the 1990s and this decade, the memories of World War II have sustained the US, as it did its duty in helping resist tyranny and expand the frontiers of freedom in the world.
The generation of World War II is mostly gone. The generation that directly heard tell of World War II from its parents is moving on. We have exhausted, so to speak, the moral capital of that war. Now we face challenges almost as daunting as those confronting the nation when Lincoln spoke. The perpetuation of freedom in the world is no more certain today than was the perpetuation of our free institutions then. Of course, we have the example of Lincoln to guide us. And Ferguson’s wry and sardonic account of the ways we remember him is heartening and even inspiring, almost despite itself or despite ourselves. But the failures of leadership of the 1840s and 1850s should also chasten us. Nations don’t always rise to the occasion. And the next generation can pay a great price when the preceding one shirks its responsibilities.
In what ways does our current situation resemble that of Lincoln’s time?
选项
答案
The same time span from the end of World War II as Lincoln’s address from the declaration of independence, the war generation’s gone, the nation faces challenges. It is time for leadership to take responsibility to preserve.
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/0fSO777K
本试题收录于:
NAETI高级口译笔试题库外语翻译证书(NAETI)分类
0
NAETI高级口译笔试
外语翻译证书(NAETI)
相关试题推荐
Asthefederalgovernmentshutdownapproachesthetwo-weekmark,it’sbecomepainfullyapparentthatthepubliccannolongerru
Asthenewepidemicspreadthroughoutthecountry,thegovernmentistryingto________thediseasewithinthatregion.
我国金融改革的不断深化将为外资银行与中资银行的合作带来新的机遇。银监会鼓励外资银行通过参股中资银行,在业务、客户和市场方面获得突破;同时,在公司治理、内控、风险管理和经营理念方面带来先进的经验和做法,使中、外资银行在合作中共同获得发展。作为深化金
上个世纪70年代末,我参加了第四次全国文代会,大会上小平同志致辞时获得的长时间的热烈掌声给我留下了极深的印象。这次大会是文艺界经历十年浩劫后的第一次盛会,也是小平同志复出后第一次代表党中央、国务院同广大文艺工作者见面。1960年的第三次文代会后,
我想谈一下全球经济增长与宏观政策作用之间的关系。我先来回顾一下全球经济。全球经济的表现比一年前人们所担心的要好得多了,现在预计全球经济增长今年将达到4.5%,为五年以来的最高水平。美国再一次成为全球经济增长的主动力,但是中国急速的工业化进程也刺激了全球的经
A、Lessthan6%.B、Morethan6%.C、Morethan3%.D、Lessthan3%.C根据题干对数字信息的要求找到原文有关部分“...theproportionofsuchbombsusedrose
A、Paycuts.B、Payfreezes.C、Bonusreduction.D、Job-hopping.D全文开篇就点明要讨论的中心话题是美国人所面临的工资缩水问题,并指出这一问题有各种表现方式,并在第一段中一一指出。将各选项内容与之对照
Whichcountryexertsmosteffortsineducationalreform?
随着今天伦敦市场的股价暴跌,华尔街也遭受了巨大损失,现存的金融银行的股价跌得最为厉害。“shareprice”股价;这句话里基本没有陌生单词。听的时候只要抓住关键词“shareprices”,“LondonMarket”,“fallensharpl
随机试题
《短歌行》中“周公吐哺”的“周公”指()
患者,女,58岁。因煤气中毒1天后入院。患者处于浅昏迷状态、脉搏130次/分、皮肤多汗、面色潮红、口唇呈樱桃红色。护士应给予吸氧。氧流量是
以下哪项不属于肺间质的组成
A、不溶性杂质B、遇硫酸易碳化的杂质C、水分及其他挥发性物质D、有色杂质E、硫酸盐杂质溶液颜色检查法是检查( )。
某工业企业2018年度全年销售收入为1000万元,转让无形资产所有权收入100万元,提供加工劳务收入150万元,变卖固定资产收入30万元,视同销售收入500万元,当年发生业务招待费12万元,则该企业2018年度所得税前可以扣除的业务招待费用为(
某企业2000年度共计拥有土地65000平方米,其中子弟学校占地3000平方米、幼儿园占地1200平方米、企业内部绿化占地2000平方米。2000年度的上半年企业共有房产原值4000万元,7月1日起企业将原值200万元、占地面积400平方米的一栋仓库出租给
管理可以分为很多种类的管理,人力资源管理、财务管理、生产管理属于()。
教师的职业素养包括_______、_______、_______、_______。
新民主主义革命时期,党内犯“左”倾错误的人和犯右倾错误的人分别提出“毕其功于一役”和“二次革命论”,这两种错误倾向实质是
ThewarmingoftheArcticisreleasinganewwaveofbannedtoxicchemicalsthathadbeentrappedintheiceandcoldwater,sci
最新回复
(
0
)