Abraham Lincoln
伟大的解放者——亚伯拉罕·林肯

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Lincoln led the United States through its Civil War — its bloodiest war and its greatest moral, constitutional and political crisis. In doing so, he preserved the Union, abolished slavery, strengthened the federal government, and modernized the economy.
亚拉伯罕·林肯(1809—1865)，美国第十六任总统，任期自1861年3月至1865年4月他被刺杀。林肯领导美国人民经历了南北战争——一场最血腥的战争，一场道德的、宪政的与政治的重大危机。他保卫了国家，废除了奴隶制，强化了联邦政府权力，使美国经济进入现代化。

Reared in a poor family on the western frontier, Lincoln was a self-educated lawyer in Illinois, a Whig Party leader, state legislator during the 1830s, and a one-term member of the Congress during the 1840s. Lincoln, a moderate from a swing state, secured the Republican Party presidential nomination in 1860. With very little support in the slave states, Lincoln swept the North and was elected president in 1860. His election prompted seven southern slave states to form the Confederacy before he took the office. No compromise or reconciliation was found regarding slavery.
出身于西部边陲一户贫困家庭的林肯是伊利诺伊州一名自学成才的律师，于19世纪30年代成为辉格党的领导人和州众议员，于19世纪40年代担任国会的一任议员。作为一名来自“摇摆州”(指竞选双方势均力敌)的温和派，林肯在1860年时获得了共和党总统的提名。尽管几乎没有得到来自奴隶制州的任何支持，但几乎得到北方所有支持的林肯还是成功地在1860年的选举中当选总统。他的当选，直接导致了七个南部的奴隶制州在他就职之前即脱离联邦建立南部邦联。在奴隶制的问题上，没有任何妥协或和解的可能。

Lincoln has been consistently ranked both by scholars and the public as one of the greatest U.S. Presidents. And the most famous and most visited memorials for Abraham Lincoln are the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.; Lincoln's sculpture on Mount Rushmore; Ford's Theatre and Petersen House (where he died) in Washington and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, located in Springfield, Illinois, not far from Lincoln's home and his tomb.
林肯时常被美国学者和公众称作美国历史上最伟大的总统之一。为纪念林肯，人们修建了诸多纪念馆，其中最为著名的和参观人数最多的有：华盛顿特区的林肯纪念堂、拉什莫尔山的林肯像、华盛顿的福特剧院(林肯被刺杀地)和彼得森住所，以及伊利诺伊州斯普林菲尔德的亚拉伯罕·林肯总统图书馆和博物馆，包括其附近林肯的住宅及陵墓。