VOA慢速英语2013 The American Civil War: Who Should Memorials Honor?

 

The American Civil War: Who Should Memorials Honor?

Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC¹.

I’m June Simms.

On the show today, we hear music from some of the performers at the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas.

We talk about efforts to remember the many Americans killed in the nation’s Civil War in the 1860s. And we tell about efforts against some of the Civil War memorials that already exist.

Civil War Trees

The Civil War was the bloodiest² war in the history of the United States. From 1861 to 1865, at least 620,000 soldiers died in the fighting. It began after several southern states broke away from the North, mainly over the issue of slavery. The southern states declared independence and set up the Confederate States of America, also known as the Confederacy.

Now, 150 years later, a living memorial is being created to honor the war dead. Jim Tedder³ has more on the project.

The non-profit group Journey through Hallowed Ground is leading the effort. It plans to plant a tree, or recognize an existing tree, for each soldier killed in the war. The memorial will come to life along an almost 300 hundred kilometer road that passes through four states. It will start in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where the most famous Civil War battle took place. It will end at the Charlottesville, Virginia, home of Thomas Jefferson, America’s third president.

Beth Erickson is with Journey through Hallowed Ground.

“As you see these trees, one after another, it will truly make an impact.”

The first trees were planted in November on the grounds of a large, old Virginia home and farm called Oatlands. An historic⁴ trust now owns the former plantation⁵. Andrea McGimsey is the Executive⁶ Director of Oatlands. She says the former plantation was a good place to start.

“Oatlands has some very old trees and they were here during the civil war time. Many of them are actually going to be adopted as part of the project.”

She adds that Oatlands is a part of Civil War history.

“Oatlands had 128 slaves in 1860, right before the Civil War started. And also the family who lived here had two sons who joined the Confederate Army.”

Richard Williams is a member of the last family to live at Oatlands. His family still owns property next to the home. And they are involved in planting the trees.

“We’re hoping that as private landowners we can also show it’s a great success and encourage some other private landowners.”

Private donations are expected to pay for the 65 million dollar tree planting project. The cost of an individual tree donation is 100 dollars.

The trees will be especially interesting for Smart Phone users. Special markings on the trees can connect users with the stories of individual Civil War soldiers.

Beth Erickson explains.

“These trees will be able to have a number associated with a person. They can use GPS technology to be able to find out who these people were.”

Eleanor Adams has donated a tree in honor of her ancestor Joseph McGowan. He was from Alabama and fought for the South. He was 23 when he was shot and killed. Eleanor Adams says the young soldier wrote letters to his family about life on the battlefield.

“He talks about sickness, the heat in the summertime, the bad food – really a tough time being a soldier in those days.”

She says she hopes other family members will join her in planting trees for other McGowans who died in the Civil War.

Civil War Parks in the South

Other memorials to Civil War forces are currently⁷ a subject of dispute. Like parks named after Confederate soldiers.

Nathan Bedford Forrest was a famous fighter for the Confederacy. A park in the city of Memphis, Tennessee, has a statue of him sitting on a horse. The park is named in honor of Forrest, whom many southerners have praised for his defense⁸ of the South in the Civil War. Others have criticized his slave-trading past and ties to the secretive Ku Klux Klan.

Earlier this week, the Memphis City Council voted to remove Forrest’s name from the park and call it Health Sciences Park. Council members also voted to rename Confederate Park as Memphis Park, and Jefferson Davis Park as Mississippi River Park. The latter was named for a leader of the Confederacy.

The changes have won praise from those who said the Old South is gone. But critics have likened the Council’s actions to rewriting history.

Kenneth Van Buren is a local African-American civil rights activist⁹. He agrees with changing park names tied to the Confederacy. In his words, “how can we have unity¹⁰ in the nation when we have one city, right here in Memphis, which fails to be unified¹¹?”

Most of the emotion over the council’s action has involved Nathan Bedford Forrest. Many of his defenders¹² are white. They note his successes as a government official, businessman and military leader. But his critics, white and black, say honoring Forrest celebrates his days as a slave trader and membership¹³ in the Ku Klux Klan.

Katherine Blaylock lives in Memphis and opposes the name changes. She says the city has always been racially divided. She accuses city officials of wanting to rewrite history.          

Forrest lived in Memphis before the Civil War. He worked as a cotton farmer and slave trader. He lacked traditional military training, but rose to the position of lieutenant¹⁴ general in the Confederate Army. He became famous for fast horseback raids¹⁵ that broke the Union’s supply line and communications.

Forrest later joined the Ku Klux Klan, which threatened southern blacks. His level of involvement in the Klan is a source of argument. He is believed to have helped break the earliest version of the group in 1869.

Supporters praise him for offering to free 45 of his own slaves if they would serve in the Confederacy. They also say he was unwilling¹⁶ to divide families when he bought slaves.

Forrest died in 1877. His body was moved to Forrest Park in the early 1900s. The park is filled with trees and about the size of a city street. It is just a short distance from the old Lorraine Hotel, where civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered in 1968.

This is not the first time Forrest Park has led to a heated debate. Memphis officials rejected an effort to rename it in 2005.

SXSW Fest

The Austin, Texas based music and media festival, South by Southwest opened a few hours ago. The ten-day long festival brings hundreds of artists, entertainers and media interests to town. Christopher Cruise¹⁷ plays music from some of this year’s guests.

That is the band Green Day performing “Oh, Love” from last year’s hit album “Uno.” Green Day is performing at South by Southwest for the first time ever.

Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt formed the band in 1987. They were 15-year-old Californians at the time. Now, the band has eleven albums, five Grammy awards, and three American Music Awards. Their albums have sold millions and millions of copies.

Also performing at South by Southwest this year is the very popular musical team Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. Their song “Thrift Shop” is currently number two on Billboard¹⁸ magazine’s Hot One Hundred singles list.

The American rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs will also play at the festival this year. Their third and most recent album, “It’s Blitz!” was released in 2009. However, they are expected to release another called “Mosquito” next month. We leave you with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs performing, “Runaway,” from “It’s Blitz.”

1 mosaic   

n./adj.镶嵌细工的，镶嵌工艺品的，嵌花式的

参考例句：

• The sky this morning is a mosaic of blue and white.今天早上的天空是幅蓝白相间的画面。
• The image mosaic is a troublesome work.图象镶嵌是个麻烦的工作。

2 bloodiest   

adj.血污的( bloody的最高级 )；流血的；屠杀的；残忍的

参考例句：

• The Russians were going to suffer their bloodiest defeat of all before Berlin. 俄国人在柏林城下要遭到他们的最惨重的失败。 来自辞典例句
• It was perhaps the bloodiest hour in the history of warfare. 这也许是战争史上血腥味最浓的1个小时。 来自互联网

3 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

4 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。

5 plantation   

n.种植园，大农场

参考例句：

• His father-in-law is a plantation manager.他岳父是个种植园经营者。
• The plantation owner has possessed himself of a vast piece of land.这个种植园主把大片土地占为己有。

6 executive   

adj.执行的，行政的；n.执行者，行政官，经理

参考例句：

• A good executive usually gets on well with people.一个好的高级管理人员通常与人们相处得很好。
• He is a man of great executive ability.他是个具有极高管理能力的人。

7 currently   

adv.通常地，普遍地，当前

参考例句：

• Currently it is not possible to reconcile this conflicting evidence.当前还未有可能去解释这一矛盾的例证。
• Our contracts are currently under review.我们的合同正在复查。

8 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

9 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

10 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

11 unified   

(unify 的过去式和过去分词)； 统一的； 统一标准的； 一元化的

参考例句：

• The teacher unified the answer of her pupil with hers. 老师核对了学生的答案。
• The First Emperor of Qin unified China in 221 B.C. 秦始皇于公元前221年统一中国。

12 defenders   

n.防御者( defender的名词复数 )；守卫者；保护者；辩护者

参考例句：

• The defenders were outnumbered and had to give in. 抵抗者寡不敌众，只能投降。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• After hard fighting,the defenders were still masters of the city. 守军经过奋战仍然控制着城市。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 membership   

n.成员资格，会员全体，从属关系

参考例句：

• I must renew my membership of the sailing club.我必须延续我的航海俱乐部会员的资格。
• He made up his mind to apply for membership in the Party.他决心申请入党。

14 lieutenant   

n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员

参考例句：

• He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
• He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官，递上了一张简短的便条进去。

15 raids   

突然袭击( raid的名词复数 )； 劫掠，劫夺； 突然查抄[搜捕]

参考例句：

• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。
• We can annoy the enemy by raids. 我们可以用空袭骚扰敌人。

16 unwilling   

adj.不情愿的

参考例句：

• The natives were unwilling to be bent by colonial power.土著居民不愿受殖民势力的摆布。
• His tightfisted employer was unwilling to give him a raise.他那吝啬的雇主不肯给他加薪。

17 cruise   

v.巡航，航游，缓慢巡行；n.海上航游

参考例句：

• They went on a cruise to Tenerife.他们乘船去特纳利夫岛。
• She wants to cruise the canals of France in a barge.她想乘驳船游览法国的运河。

18 billboard   

n.布告板，揭示栏，广告牌

参考例句：

• He ploughed his energies into his father's billboard business.他把精力投入到父亲的广告牌业务中。
• Billboard spreads will be simpler and more eye-catching.广告牌广告会比较简单且更引人注目。