亞伯拉罕·林肯 / Abraham Lincoln
亞伯拉罕·林肯（1809—1865），美國第十六屆總統。出身於肯塔基州一個農民家庭。從7歲開始就幫助父母放牛、耕地和打柴。當過雇農、船夫、小店鋪裏的夥計，後來又當過鄉村郵遞員和土地測量員。他一生在學校學習的時間加起來不到一年，但是他刻苦勤學，通過自學成為一位博學的人。他先後任過州議員、律師、眾議員，並於1856年加入共和黨。他反對奴隸製度，認為奴隸製度違反自由平等原則。但他又不是廢奴主義者，他隻是要求限製奴隸製向西部擴張。任內發表了《解放宣言》，提出“民有、民治、民享”的口號，並領導人民投入南北戰爭，重新統一了美國。1864年連任總統。1865年4月14日被南方奴隸主反對派指使的暴徒殺害。
Practicing for Better Learning
Read the following article carefully,and answer the questions below.
1.According to the author, what influences will the Civil War bring to America?
2.What does“the great task”imply?
Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new Nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.Now, we are engaged in a great Civil War, testing whether that Nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.We are met on a great battlefield of that war.We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that Nation might live.It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground.The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract.The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.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 from 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 died in vain; that this Nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the People, by the People, and for the People, shall not perish from the earth.