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
110
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.
Why does the author mention the American civil war in the passage?
选项
答案
The author mentions the Americans civil war is to show that as old generation died, history will be forgotten, political institutions will face big challenges in the future, the nation may not continue to hold together as the founding generation is gone.
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/cfSO777K
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
Americans,increasinglyconsumedbyfearswhatChinaposesacommercialandmilitarythreat,shouldbemindfulofcompetitionfo
1986年全国人大常委会副委员长班禅喇嘛在西康地区大法会上教诲信徒们,要爱惜民族团结,维护祖国统一。在中国,公民的信仰自由受到法律保护。目前全西藏在寺僧尼约有14,000多人,另有800位宗教界人士在各级人大、政协、佛教协会和政府部门中工作。
下面你将听到外国媒体就中国艾滋病问题的一段评论。HIV/AIDSisnowrecognizedclearlyasagrowingthreattoChina.AccordingtoofficialChineseesti
女士们、先生们:我非常高兴能利用英中贸协年会的机会向英国工商界朋友们致以诚挚的问候。多年来,英中贸协一直关心和支持中英关系发展,是堪称两国友好交流的桥梁和互利合作的纽带。在此,我谨对英中贸协及诸位长期为促进中英经贸合作所做的不懈努力和杰出贡献表示
海洋是全球生命支持系统的一个不可缺少的组成部分。海洋不仅是自然资源的宝库,同时也是我们人类居住环境的重要调节器。中国政府高度重视海洋的开发和保护,不断加强海洋综合管理,促进海洋产业的协调发展。中国已经形成了具有区域特征的多学科的海洋科学体系。国家
各位团长,各位同事:我谨在此宣布,第二轮北京六方会谈现在开幕。作为东道主,我们热烈欢迎各方代表团的再次到来。//半年前,也是在这间大厅里,我们成功启动了六方会谈进程,确立了和平解决核问题的方向。半年来,各方之间开展了不间断的对
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、colorB、qualityC、weightD、shapeD根据题干关键词可找寻到原文相关信息处第二段第三句“theyrefused,forinstance,toconcedethatquantityisunchangeda
Whichcountryexertsmosteffortsineducationalreform?
ChinaandGermanyshouldmakecommoneffortstoeliminatedifferencesbetweenthemsoastodeepentheirrelations.
随机试题
骨盆骨折最为重要的体征是
下列关于建设方案设计的表述,正确的是()。
绿色施工是指通过科学管理和技术进步,最大限度地节约资源并减少对环境负面影响的施工活动,从而实现()和环境保护。
单位内部会计管理制度中的内部牵制制度的原则有()。
按是否剔除通货膨胀因素来划分,利率可分为()。
下列程序中,与营业收入发生认定最相关的是()。
(2013年真题)下列关于我国法律渊源的说法,正确的有()。
西周时期,买卖兵器、珍异等小件物品使用的契券,称为()
下列不属于Window98操作系统中多媒体应用的体系结构的应用程序编程接口(API)的是______。
PreparingforTestsIdeallyitshouldbeloveoflearning,achievement,andself-improvementthatpromptsalllearning.But
最新回复
(
0
)