《胡敏读故事记单词考研英语词汇》由会员分享，可在线阅读，更多相关《胡敏读故事记单词考研英语词汇（7页珍藏版）》请在金锄头文库上搜索。
1、 1. The Time of LincolnAbraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States of America. He is remembered for many things, including his log-cabin home, his absurd looking clothing accessory, a top-hat, but Lincolns absolute most important contribution to Americas history was to abolish slaver
2、y, a very hard task to accomplish at that time. In the middle of the 19th century, America was split by an abstract border. The country was cut into two parts: the North and the South. There were an abundance of differences which caused this abnormal separation. For instance, the North held all of t
3、he Universities and Military Academies whereas in the South, access to such institutions was limited. Also, Northerners spoke standard American English while Southerners spoke with a Southern accent. But the largest difference that abound between the North and the South at that time was slavery and
4、all of the aspects that accompanied it.The North thought that the South should abandon slavery because mint most cases, slaves faced daily abuse from their owners. Most Northerners tried to abide by the rule that “All men are created equal.” These reasons largely account for the American Civil War.
5、The Civil War was a long, brutal war with a very high casualty rate. Many young men from both the North and the South were killed on the battlefield; the death toll was also accelerated by the fact that small Army hospitals could not accommodate so many wounded soldiers.The Civil War was filled with
6、 heroes on both sides of the battlefield. Names like U.S.Grant, General Sherman, and the acclaimed Southern General Robert E. Lee. All of these men fought bravely and made harrowing decisions on their own accord. But Lincoln is probably most often associated with his leadership of the country during
7、 this difficult period. He was a firm believer that slavery was wrong and he fought hard to stop it. In 1863, Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation which legally granted freedom to all slaves living in America. But in 1865, Lincolns life came to an abrupt ended while he was watching a play at
8、 Fords Theater in Washington D.C. His death was not an accident; he was assassinated by a man named John Wilkes Booth.Not long after Lincolns death, the North defeated the South and the Civil War was ended. The South was no longer thought of as another country, but part of America. And all of the sl
9、aves living and working in the South were freed and absorbed into society.2. Mike a Story of Personal ChangeMike could hardly be described as your typical adolescent. He would casually acknowledge to his few friends that he liked to watch DVDs, although perhaps a more accurate description was that h
10、e was a DVD addict. Over the last six months, Mike had accumulated thousands of DVDs. When he was not at school, he had become accustomed to spending his time wandering the streets of the city, acquiring more and more films. Indeed, it became a joke that if asked for his address, he would give the a
11、ddress of the DVD shop adjacent to our school since he spent so much time there.Mike hated attending school. In his eyes, its only advantage was its location. During lessons, he adopted a rather cool demeanor towards most of his classmates and was often accused of being aloof. All he seemed concerne
12、d about was adding to his DVD collection. In truth, Mike had not adapted to life at the school very well. Perhaps he felt that he still needed adequate time to adjust to a new environment although no one could work out why he harbored such an acute feeling of self-pity.As someone who also adores wat
13、ching films, I had slowly become acquainted with Mike. I had often seen him in the DVD shop which adjoined our school, yet it took a long time before he responded to my advances of friendship. Maybe it was an exaggeration to say we were actually friends, although he would at least acknowledge my pre
14、sence with a cursory nod of the head when he saw me.One day, I was asked to administrate our schools new film club. I was a little wary about asking Mike to help me select suitable films in case he said no. however, I neednt have worried. Mikes face lit up as he scrutinized a poster I had just adher
15、ed to the wall. The poster advertised the grand opening of the Film Club the following week. Hey David, he muttered excitedly, I want to be involved with that.The change in Mikes behavior over the next month was dramatic. I have no doubt that it was the Film Club which activated the turnaround. Once
16、 a boy who spent most of his time sulking, Mike was now a model student. Before each film was shown, he would give a very informative speech about the director and main actors. Everyone was impressed by his knowledge and passion for films and he suddenly became extremely popular at school.3. SaltNow that Billys parents were a little more affluent, the family had agreed that they could a cottage on the out skirts of town. Although the cot
