On November 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln went to Gettysburg in Pennsylvania to speak at the National Soldiers Cemetery. The Civil War was still going on. There was much criticism of Presi-dent Lincoln at the time. He was not at all popular. He had been invited to speak at Gettysburg on-ly out of politeness. The principal speaker was to be Edward Everett, a famous statesman and speaker of the day. Everett was a handsome man and ve.ry popular everywhere.
It is said that Lincoln prepared his speech on the train while going to Gettysburg. Late that night, alone in his hotel room and tired out, he again worked briefly on the speech. The next day Everett spoke first. He spoke for an hour and 57 minutes. His speech was a perfect example of the rich oratory of the day. Then Lincoln rose. The crowd of 15,000 people at first paid little attention to him. He spoke for only nine minutes. At the end there was little applause. Lincoln turned to a friend and remarked,"I have failed again". On the train back to Washington, he said sadly, "That
speech was a fiat failure, and the people are disappointed".
Some newspapers at first criticized the speech, but little by little as people redid the speech they began to understand better. They began to appreciate its simplicity and its deep meaning. It was a speech which only Abraham Lincoln could have made.
Today, every American school child learns Lincoln' s Gettysburg Address by heart. Now eve-ryone thinks of it as one of the greatest speeches ever given in American history.
26. In 1863, Abraham Lincoln was__________.
A. very critical
B. unpopular
C. very popular
D. very courteous
答案：B
27. Lincoln was invited to speak at the National Soldiers Cemetery because he was__________.
A. a famous speaker
B. a very handsome man
C. President of the country
D. a popular statesman
答案：C
28. It can be inferred from the text that__________.
A. Lincoln prepared his speech very carefully before he went to Gettysburg
B. Lincoln was very busy at the time and didn' t have much time to prepare his speech
C. Lincoln' s speech was full of rich words
D. Lincoln' s speech was very long
答案：B
29. It was a fact that Lincoln' s speech was__________.
A. an immediately success
B. warmly applauded
C. a total failure
D. not well-received at first
答案：D
30. Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?
A. Lincoln' s Gettysburg Address has deep meaning.
B. Lincoln' s Gettysburg Address is simple in style.
C. Lincoln' s Gettysburg Address is memorized by every American school child.
D. Lincoln' s Gettysburg Address is the greatest speech ever delivered in the United States.
答案：D
1863年11月19日，亚伯拉罕·林肯前往宾夕法尼亚州的葛底斯堡，在国家士兵公墓发表演讲。内战仍在继续。当时有很多人批评林肯总统。他一点也不受欢迎。出于礼貌，他被邀请在葛底斯堡发表演讲。首席演讲者将是当时著名的政治家和演讲者爱德华·埃弗里特。埃弗雷特是一个英俊的男人和一个富有魅力的人。它在世界各地都很受欢迎。
据说林肯在去葛底斯堡的火车上准备了他的演讲稿。那天深夜，他独自一人在酒店房间里，疲惫不堪，他又一次简短地做了演讲。第二天，埃弗雷特首先发言。他讲了一小时57分钟。他的演讲完美地展示了当时丰富的演讲技巧。然后林肯站了起来。一开始，15000人的人群几乎没有注意到他。他只讲了九分钟。最后几乎没有掌声。林肯转向一位朋友说：“我又失败了。”。在回华盛顿的火车上，他悲伤地说：“那
演讲失败了，人民感到失望”。
起初，一些报纸批评了这篇演讲，但随着人们对演讲的重读，他们开始更好地理解。他们开始欣赏它的简单和深刻意义。这是一次只有亚伯拉罕·林肯才能发表的演讲。
今天，每个美国学童都背诵林肯的葛底斯堡演说。现在伊芙·瑞恩认为这是美国历史上最伟大的演讲之一。
