Who Was Abraham Lincoln 林肯 Chapter 1 Life in a Log Cabin

The man who is often called America’s greatest president was born on February 12, 1809, in a crude log cabin in Kentucky. Eighteen feet long and sixteen feet wide, it had a dirt floor and no windows.
LOG CABIN
CABIN INTERIOR ONE ROOM PLUS A LOFT¹
His father, Thomas Lincoln, was hardworking and quiet, and famous for his honesty. He’d had little schooling²—just enough to sign his name. Abraham’s mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, was intelligent and curious. She could read a little, but couldn’t write at all.
The Lincolns were poor. They moved from one small farm to another, trying to scratch out a living. When Abraham was seven, the family moved from Kentucky to Indiana.
One reason for the move was that Kentucky was a “slave state,” while Indiana was a “free state.” The Lincoln family hated slavery. Abraham later said that he was “naturally antislavery” as far back as he could remember. Eventually, the Lincolns ended up on a tiny farm in Illinois.
Even as small children, Abraham and his older sister, Sarah, worked hard. Abraham was tall and strong for his age. By the time he was eight, he could pick up an ax and split wood as well as any man. He also helped with the plowing³ and harvesting. But not hunting—when he was seven years old, he shot a wild turkey and discovered that he hated killing⁴ things.
When Abraham was nine, his mother died. It was a terrible loss for him and his sister. Thomas Lincoln couldn’t raise the children by himself. Their home was miles from most other people. So he went back to Kentucky and returned with a new wife.
Sarah Bush Johnston was a widow with three children. She brought her furniture with her—real beds, a table, and chairs that seemed like amazing luxuries to the Lincoln children. Much as he missed his own mother, Abraham quickly came to love Sarah. She encouraged all his interests. He called her “Mama” and was much closer to her than to his own father. Because of Sarah, Abraham remembered his childhood as a happy time.
With so much work to do, there wasn’t much time for schooling. Anyway, out in the wilderness⁵ there weren’t many schools. In Kentucky, Abraham had gone to an “A, B, C school,” where he had learned the alphabet, but not how to read or write. In Indiana, he sometimes went to a “blab school”—a place where all the students said their lessons out loud together. The schoolmaster listened and tried to pick out their mistakes through the noise.
Abraham finished with school for good at the age of fifteen. Altogether, he had gone for only about a year. But he had learned how to read. Now he could teach himself anything he wanted. He read every book he could find. He once walked twenty miles to borrow one.
It took him a long time to finish a book. Many people thought he seemed slow and plodding⁶. But his stepmother understood why he took so long to learn. He wanted to be sure he really understood everything. Sometimes he’d learn part of a book by heart. Because paper was expensive and hard to get, he wrote out passages on a piece of wood. When the wood got so black he couldn’t see what he was writing, he would shave it off. Then he would start over again.
LINCOLN’S BOOKS
MOST OF THE BOOKS ABRAHAM LINCOLN READ AS A CHILD WERE ONES HIS STEPMOTHER, SARAH, BROUGHT WITH HER WHEN SHE MARRIED HIS FATHER. THERE WAS THE BIBLE, OF COURSE, And ALSO AESOP’S FABLES⁷. HE LOVED THESE FABLES, WHICH TAUGHT HIM HOW TO USE FUNNY LITTLE STORIES TO MAKE IMPORTANT POINTS. HE MEMORIZED PASSAGES FROM SHAKESPEARE, And COULD STILL RECITE THEM WHEN HE WAS PRESIDENT. ANOTHER FAVORITE BOOK WAS A BIOGRAPHY OF GEORGE WASHINGTON. AS A CHILD, THOUGH, LINCOLN COULdN’T HAVE KNOWN THAT SOMEDAY HE WOULD BE CONSIDERED JUST AS GREAT A PRESIDENT!
People liked Abraham. He was so good at telling funny stories. He was also famous for practical jokes. He once managed to have two men who were getting married on the same day delivered to the wrong brides. People were still talking about this joke years later.

1 loft   

n.阁楼，顶楼

参考例句：

• We could see up into the loft from bottom of the stairs.我们能从楼梯脚边望到阁楼的内部。
• By converting the loft,they were able to have two extra bedrooms.把阁楼改造一下，他们就可以多出两间卧室。

2 schooling   

n.教育；正规学校教育

参考例句：

• A child's access to schooling varies greatly from area to area.孩子获得学校教育的机会因地区不同而大相径庭。
• Backward children need a special kind of schooling.天赋差的孩子需要特殊的教育。

3 plowing   

v.耕( plow的现在分词 )；犁耕；费力穿过

参考例句：

• "There are things more important now than plowing, Sugar. "如今有比耕种更重要的事情要做呀，宝贝儿。 来自飘（部分）
• Since his wife's death, he has been plowing a lonely furrow. 从他妻子死后，他一直过着孤独的生活。 来自辞典例句

4 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

5 wilderness   

n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

6 plodding   

a.proceeding in a slow or dull way

参考例句：

• They're still plodding along with their investigation. 他们仍然在不厌其烦地进行调查。
• He is plodding on with negotiations. 他正缓慢艰难地进行着谈判。

7 fables   

n.寓言( fable的名词复数 )；神话，传说

参考例句：

• Some of Aesop's Fables are satires. 《伊索寓言》中有一些是讽刺作品。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Little Mexican boys also breathe the American fables. 墨西哥族的小孩子对美国神话也都耳濡目染。 来自辞典例句