VOA慢速英语-THIS IS AMERICA - 'New Birth of Freedom' Guides New

Largest battle ever fought in North America took place in Pennsylvania 145 years ago this week. Transcript¹ of radio broadcast:
29 June 2008

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Barbara Klein. This week on our program, we visit Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. This small town in the Northeast is one of the most important places in American history.

(SOUND)

VOICE ONE:

Much of the area around Gettysburg still looks like it did in the eighteen sixties, during the Civil War. We arrive in the middle of farming country. All around are fields of wheat, corn and other crops. Cows chew on grass under a warm morning sun.

Roads that pass through town lead to Baltimore, Washington and other cities. But one hundred forty-five years ago this week, they served another purpose. They brought two opposing armies to Gettysburg.

VOICE TWO:

One was the United States Army of the Potomac, commanded by General George Gordon Meade. The other was the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia led by General Robert E. Lee.

Lee and his troops had moved north into Pennsylvania from Virginia. There, they had won a series of battles. Now they were on the move to defeat Meade's army.

Lee believed that a Southern victory on Northern soil would force a negotiated² settlement of the war. This would mean independence for the Confederate states that were attempting to leave the Union.

VOICE ONE:

The battle of Gettysburg began on July first, eighteen sixty-three. More than one hundred seventy thousand soldiers fought for three days. It was the largest battle ever fought in North America.

When it ended on July third, more than fifty thousand soldiers were dead, wounded or missing. Many more would die later from their wounds.

In the end, General Lee's army lost the battle. The Civil War would continue for two more years. But Confederate hopes for independence were never again as high as they had been at Gettysburg.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:
　

[Detail] President Lincoln's handwritten copy of the Gettysburg Address. The speech is considered one of the most memorable3 in United States history.

Soon after the great battle, people began to visit Gettysburg to try to understand what happened there. One of those visitors, on November nineteenth, eighteen sixty-three, was President Abraham Lincoln. He was invited to help dedicate⁴ a cemetery⁵ for Union soldiers killed in the battle.

Lincoln spoke⁶ for just two minutes. The speech began this way:

READER: "Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth⁷ on this continent a new nation, conceived⁸ in liberty and dedicated⁹ to the proposition¹⁰ that all men are created equal."

VOICE ONE:

President Lincoln had never been satisfied with the reality of American life at that time. The Declaration¹¹ of Independence in seventeen seventy-six had declared all men equal. Yet in the South, and earlier in the North as well, black men and women were held as slaves.

In his address at Gettysburg, Lincoln described a new future for a nation that would be reunited. Our reader is Jim Tedder¹².

READER: "It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that for these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- "

VOICE TWO:
　

Gettysburg Museum and Visitor Center

This idea, a new birth of freedom after the Civil War, guides the newly built Gettysburg Museum and Visitor Center. It opened on April fourteenth at Gettysburg National Military Park.

April fourteenth, eighteen sixty-five, was the day Lincoln was shot. He was killed by John Wilkes Booth, an actor from Maryland, just days after a Confederate surrender ended the war.

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VOICE ONE:

Gettysburg National Military Park was established in eighteen ninety-five, thirty-two years after the battle. Gettysburg is the most visited of the Civil War battlefields. Every year about two million people visit the park from around the country and the world.

Park officials say the new museum will better prepare visitors to see the battlefield through the soldiers' eyes. The battlefield covers more than two thousand four hundred hectares.
　

Pennsylvania monument on the battlefield at Gettysburg

Visitors can find more than one thousand three hundred outdoor sculptures around the battlefield. These are monuments and memorials placed by soldiers' groups and state militias¹³ in areas where their troops fought.

VOICE TWO:

Volunteer guides explain what happened in each area of the battlefield. A guide at the high ground called "Little Round Top" describes an action involving Union troops led by a general named Daniel Sickles¹⁴.

GUIDE: "He sent some Maine infantry¹⁵ and some U.S. sharpshooters over there into the trees to the right of that tower. And they were out there looking for troops, for possible threats. They found 'em. They got into a fight with Confederate troops, but not the same ones who were going to be marching down here, not the fourteen thousand under a general named James Longstreet."

VOICE ONE:

One part of the new Gettysburg Museum and Visitor Center will not open to the public until September: a complete cyclorama painting. This kind of artwork surrounds the people looking at it.

The painting shows the final attack in the Battle of Gettysburg: Pickett's Charge. George Pickett was a Confederate general. On July third, eighteen sixty-three, he led a charge against stronger Union forces. It was a disaster for the Confederate soldiers.

The painting is one hundred fourteen meters long. French painter Paul Philippoteaux and a team of twenty artists created it in eighteen eighty-four.

VOICE TWO:
　

An artist repairs part of the cyclorama at Gettysburg National Military Park

The cyclorama has always been one of the most popular parts of the Gettysburg experience. But the painting was in bad shape after all these years. So a restoration project began in two thousand three. The painting was cleaned and separated into its fourteen parts, and later moved into the new center.

There, the original canvas¹⁶ was sewn onto new cloth made in China. Park service officials say China was one of the few countries able to produce cloth in the sizes needed. Then each part was hung and sewn together.

A team of cyclorama experts from Poland has been working on the project in Gettysburg since two thousand seven.

Artists are now repairing the painting to make it look almost like new.

(MUSIC)


VOICE ONE:
　

Katie Lawhon

Katie Lawhon, a spokeswoman for Gettysburg National Military Park, says the new museum and visitor center was built with four goals.

KATIE LAWHON: "One was to take better care of the artifacts and the archives of this park because Gettysburg has the largest publicly owned Civil War collection. We have over one million items, everything from soldiers' diaries and uniforms to original maps of the battlefield and the documentation of the creation¹⁷ of the national cemetery in the park.

"The second goal is to take better care of the cyclorama painting. Number three was improve the museum experience for our visitors.

"The fourth and final goal is one that a lot of people find very compelling, which is [that] our facilities were not big enough. They weren't wheelchair-accessible. We had a lot of problems with them. But one of the most serious problems we had with them is they were built on the Union army's battle line. Where we had two buildings and two parking lots there was major battle action and we know over nine hundred seventy soldiers were killed, wounded or captured where we had concrete asphalt and bricks. So this new building is two-thirds of a mile away and it's close to but not on the battle line. And it's going to allow us this fall to take out the old buildings and bring the battlefield back to the way it looked at the time of the fighting."

VOICE TWO:

Visits to the museum begin with a twenty-two minute film called "A New Birth of Freedom." It provides historic¹⁸ background for the war, the battle and its effects as a turning point in the Civil War.

The museum has eleven galleries designed around the words of the Gettysburg Address. One gallery is called "Now We Are Met on a Great Battlefield of That War." It explores what happened on each day of the Battle of Gettysburg.

Another gallery, "The Brave Men Living and Dead," presents information about what happened after the fighting ended. It also tells about the effects of the battle on the town of Gettysburg.

The museum also has computers where visitors can research information about the battle.

VOICE ONE:

The new Gettysburg Museum and Visitor Center is a joint¹⁹ project of the Gettysburg Foundation and the National Park Service. The foundation, a nonprofit educational group, raised the one hundred seven million dollars that made it possible.

The foundation plans to own the center for twenty years, then donate the building and the land to the federal government.

VOICE TWO:

The president of the foundation, Robert Wilburn, says Gettysburg is a reminder²⁰ that Americans can come together as a nation even after the most divisive of conflicts. He calls it the place where America was saved.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Our program was written by Nancy Steinbach and produced by Caty Weaver²¹. I'm Steve Ember.


VOICE TWO:

And I'm Barbara Klein. Transcripts²² and MP3s of our programs are at voaspecialenglish.com. You can also find programs from THE MAKING OF A NATION, a weekly series all about American history. And join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 negotiated   

谈判，协商，议定( negotiate的过去式和过去分词 )； 兑现（支票等）； 通过，越过（险要路段）

参考例句：

• The government negotiated with the opposition party over the new law. 政府就新法与反对党进行了协商。
• By careful strategy she negotiated a substantial pay rise. 她精心策划后，谈妥了大幅增加工资的事。

3 memorable   

adj.值得回忆的，难忘的，特别的，显著的

参考例句：

• This was indeed the most memorable day of my life.这的确是我一生中最值得怀念的日子。
• The veteran soldier has fought many memorable battles.这个老兵参加过许多难忘的战斗。

4 dedicate   

vt.献身，致力于，把（时间、精力等）用于

参考例句：

• She vowed to herself that she would dedicate her life to scientific studies.她默默地发誓要献身于科学研究。
• To my father I dedicate this volume in token of affection and gratitude.我谨以此书献给我的父亲，以表示对他的爱戴和感激之情。

5 cemetery   

n.坟墓，墓地，坟场

参考例句：

• He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
• His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。

6 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

7 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

8 conceived   

想出( conceive的过去式和过去分词 )； 构想； 设想； 怀孕

参考例句：

• He conceived the idea of transforming the old power station into an arts centre. 他想出了一个把旧发电站改造为艺术中心的主意。
• She has conceived at last. 她终于怀孕了。

9 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

10 proposition   

n.建议，命题，主张；vt.向...提议，向...调情

参考例句：

• The two teams prepared to debate the given proposition.两个队准备就所给定的命题展开辩论。
• It is clearly illogical to maintain such a proposition.坚持这种主张显然是没有道理的。

11 declaration   

n.宣布，宣告，宣言，声明（书），申报

参考例句：

• We read the declaration posted on the bulletin board.我们读了贴在布告板上的声明。
• At the recent convention a declaration was adopted.在最近举行的大会上通过了一项宣言。

12 tedder   

n.（干草）翻晒者，翻晒机

参考例句：

• Jim Tedder has more. 吉姆？特德将给我们做更多的介绍。 来自互联网
• Jim Tedder tells us more. 吉姆？泰德给我们带来更详细的报道。 来自互联网

13 militias   

n.民兵组织，民兵( militia的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The troops will not attempt to disarm the warring militias. 部队并不打算解除战斗中的民兵武装。 来自辞典例句
• The neighborhood was a battleground for Shiite and Sunni militias. 那里曾是什叶派和逊尼派武装分子的战场。 来自互联网

14 sickles   

n.镰刀( sickle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Sickles and reaping hooks were used for cutting the crops. 镰刀和收割钩被用来收庄稼。 来自互联网
• Being short of sickles, they are reaping by hand. 由于缺少镰刀，他们在徒手收割庄稼。 来自互联网

15 infantry   

n.[总称]步兵(部队)

参考例句：

• The infantry were equipped with flame throwers.步兵都装备有喷火器。
• We have less infantry than the enemy.我们的步兵比敌人少。

16 canvas   

n.粗帆布，一块油画布

参考例句：

• The times that people used canvas boat have become history.人们用帆船的时代已成为历史。
• Smith painted an oil painting on the canvas.史密斯在画布上画了一幅油画。

17 creation   

n.创造，创造的作品，产物，宇宙，天地万物

参考例句：

• Language is the most important mental creation of man.语言是人类头脑最重要的产物。
• The creation of new playgrounds will benefit the local children.新游戏场的建立将有益于当地的儿童。

18 historic   

adj.历史上著名的，具有历史意义的

参考例句：

• This is a historic occasion.这是具有重大历史意义的时刻。
• We are living in a great historic era.我们正处在一个伟大的历史时代。

19 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

20 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

21 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

22 transcripts   

n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本

参考例句：

• Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
• You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句