[ti:Lincoln's Cottage: a Country House for the President]
[by:www.21voa.com]
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[00:00.04]About five kilometers
[00:03.00]from the White House in Washington, D.C.,
[00:06.52]stands an historic building
[00:09.36]closely linked to one of America's most
[00:12.92]famous presidents: Abraham Lincoln.
[00:17.04]The building, known as President Lincoln's Cottage,
[00:21.40]is where Lincoln spent about one-fourth
[00:24.44]of his time while in office.
[00:27.60]And he made some very
[00:29.56]important decisions while there.
[00:33.32]Summertime can get very hot
[00:35.64]in Washington, D.C.
[00:38.00]So, President Lincoln used a country house
[00:42.40]to escape the worst of the heat.
[00:45.28]Each morning and evening, Lincoln rode
[00:48.96]between the two houses on horseback, unguarded.
[00:53.96]The trip took about thirty minutes.
[00:57.08]The large house he rode to was on the grounds
[01:00.76]of the Soldiers' Home.
[01:03.00]The house stood on much higher ground
[01:06.12]than the White House, so the wind kept it cooler.
[01:10.44]It was also quiet -- a place to think.
[01:15.08]Lincoln spent much of his time there writing.
[01:19.20]That work included early versions
[01:22.40]of what would become one of
[01:24.32]the most important documents in American history:
[01:28.28]The Emancipation Proclamation.
[01:32.36]The Emancipation Proclamation
[01:35.04]came during the Civil War in the United States.
[01:39.44]The proclamation declared people held as slaves
[01:43.48]in the rebellious states were free.
[01:47.48]The Civil War lasted from 1861 to 1865.
[01:55.00]Troops remained at the Soldiers' Home
[01:57.92]to protect President Lincoln during the war.
[02:02.08]At first, Lincoln did not welcome the soldiers.
[02:06.32]He did not think he needed their protection.
[02:10.72]But he began to enjoy talking to them.
[02:14.24]In fact, much of what historians know
[02:17.88]about the president's time at the house
[02:21.08]is from stories told by those soldiers.
[02:25.68]One night in 1864,
[02:28.52]President Lincoln survived a murder attempt.
[02:32.24]He was alone and on horseback
[02:35.40]near the country house
[02:37.44]when someone shot at him.
[02:40.12]His tall hat flew off his head.
[02:43.64]Soldiers found the hat
[02:46.16]and saw that a bullet had torn through it.
[02:50.32]The president was not injured in the attack.
[02:54.12]After that, the War Department
[02:57.12]increased protection for Lincoln.
[02:59.88]But it was not enough to save his life.
[03:04.08]Records show that he visited his country house
[03:07.56]for the last time on April 13, 1865.
[03:13.16]The next day, John Wilkes Booth,
[03:16.72]an actor and supporter of the defeated Confederacy,
[03:21.60]shot President Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington.
[03:26.76]President Lincoln's Cottage
[03:28.88]opened to the public in 2008.
[03:32.48]I'm John Russell. 更多听力请访问21VOA.COM