林肯養(yǎng)成記

Abraham Lincoln became proficient with an ax when he helped his father, Thomas, clear the forest and build a cabin on the land the Lincolns had bought in Indiana after moving from Kentucky in 1816. Lincoln also learned basic carpentry from his father and became adept at building simple furniture (e.g., three-legged stools).

亞伯拉罕·林肯在1816從肯塔基州搬到印第安納州后，幫助他的父親托馬斯清理森林，并在印第安納州林肯家族買的土地上建造了一座小屋，這使他熟于使用斧頭。林肯還從他父親那里學到了基本的木工手藝，擅于制作簡單的家具(例如三條腿的凳子)。

In a political campaign biography he prepared years later, Lincoln remarked that he “had an ax put into his hands [at age seven]; and from that to within his twenty-third year, he was almost constantly handling that most useful instrument.” During those years he developed the muscle coordination needed for a powerful swing, and he grew in size and strength such that he could fell trees that were four to six feet in diameter.

在他幾年后準備的一本政治競選傳記中，林肯提到“七歲，他第一次接觸斧頭;從那以后直至他二十三歲，他一直都與之為伴。”在那些年里，因為要不斷大力揮動斧頭，他培養(yǎng)了不錯的肌肉協調能力，并且他的體型和力量都在增長，以至于他可以砍倒直徑達六英尺的樹木。

Even in the best of times, life for the Lincoln family on the Indiana frontier was hard. In October of 1818, young Abe (then nine years old) lost his beloved mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, at the age of 34 to “milk sickness,” a disease contracted by drinking the milk from a cow. The animal had eaten a poisonous snakeroot plant while grazing.

即使在最好的時代，林肯家族在印第安納州邊境上的生活也很艱難。1818十月，年幼的林肯(當時九歲)失去摯愛的母親，34歲的Nancy Hanks Lincoln，死于“牛奶病”，一種通過喝牛奶而傳染的疾病。這只奶牛在吃草的時候誤食了一株有毒的蛇根馬兜鈴(一種植物，它的根能治療蛇的咬傷)。

Lincoln later described his mother’s death as the saddest day in his life, but he refrained from mentioning her in any of his autobiographical writing. Some Lincoln scholars have surmised that the pain of Lincoln’s mother’s death remained a lingering sadness throughout Lincoln’s life. More pain and sadness would follow when ten years after the death of his mother, Lincoln’s older sister, Sarah Lincoln Grigsby, died at the age of 20 while giving birth to a stillborn baby boy.

林肯后來回憶說母親去世的那天是他一生中最灰暗的一天，但他在自傳體作品中沒有提到她。一些研究林肯的學者推測，林肯母親的去世在林肯的一生中始終是一種揮之不去的悲傷。他母親去世十年后，他二十歲的姐姐Sarah Lincoln Grigsby也在生下一個死嬰后撒手人寰，這更是加劇了林肯的傷痛。

Thirteen months after Mrs. Lincoln’s death, Thomas Lincoln married Sara Bush, herself a widow, who brought order, love, and encouragement to the Lincoln household. She also brought three children of her own from her earlier marriage. Many years later, also in a political campaign autobiography, Lincoln commented that his stepmother “proved a good and kind mother to A,” the “A” Lincoln’s shorthand way of referring to himself. Sara Bush Lincoln also supported and encouraged Lincoln’s ongoing and persistent efforts at self-education.

林肯的母親去世十三個月后，托馬斯·林肯娶了Sara Bush，她本人是個寡婦，她給林肯家?guī)砹酥刃颉酆凸膭?。她還帶了三個自己的孩子。許多年后，也是在一本政治競選自傳中，林肯評論說，他的繼母“事實證明，對于A來說她是一個好母親”，“A”是林肯的速記中指代自己的符號。她還支持并鼓勵林肯不斷地、堅持不懈地進行自我學習。

When Lincoln would encounter a passage in his reading that he thought important, he would methodically write it down in a “copy book” constructed from loose pieces of paper. Lincoln used such books to help him memorize the poetry and prose passages he had identified and copied. He also use the copy books to record his personal poetry and prose efforts.

當林肯在他的閱讀中邂逅一段他認為不錯的段落時，他會有條不紊地把它們摘錄在一本由松散的紙裝訂的“摘抄本”中。林肯用這些本子輔助他記住他摘錄的詩歌和散文段落。他還用這些摘抄本來記錄他個人的詩歌和散文創(chuàng)作。

As he grew in maturity and strength, Lincoln began taking for-hire jobs, often working for $.25 a day clearing land, plowing fields, felling trees, and building fences. He also spent time at the local general store and nearby grain mills where he liked to listen to stories and, over time, to contribute his own often humorous stories. He continued to read widely and to borrow books from others and became acquainted with some local lawyers who likely planted the seed in his mind that law could be a worthwhile and interesting profession. Lincoln made a trip to New Orleans with a local businessman by flat boat down the Mississippi River. He earned eight dollars (a significant sum in those days) for the round trip, and he may have seen his first slave market while in the Deep South.

隨著他的成熟和力量的增長，林肯開始接受雇用工作，通常做一些清理土地、犁地、伐木、建造柵欄的工作，一天差不多可以掙0.25美元。他還在當地的普通商店和附近的糧廠呆了一段時間，在那里他喜歡聽故事，而且，隨著時間的推移，他也貢獻不少自己幽默的故事。他向他人借書繼，續(xù)廣泛閱讀，他認識了一些當地的律師，與這些人的相識在他的腦海中埋下了一顆種子，認為法律可能是一個有價值、有趣的職業(yè)。林肯和當地一位商人乘船沿著密西西比河去了新奧爾良。他在往返期間賺了8美元(那時候8美元是很大一筆錢)，他在南方深處的時候第一見到奴隸市場。

After living and farming in southern Indiana for 14 years, Thomas Lincoln moved his family to central Illinois in 1830 when his son Abraham was 21 years old. Both Kentucky and Indiana had important and lasting effects on the future president, but it would be in Illinois that Abraham Lincoln would excel and develop the national reputation that would propel him to the White House as our 16th president.

在印第安納州南部生活和耕作長達14年后，托馬斯·林肯于1830年，也就是亞伯拉罕·林肯21歲的時候，搬到伊利諾斯州中部。在肯塔基州和印第安納州的生活對這個未來總統的產生了深遠的影響，但是，在伊利諾斯的生活使亞伯拉罕·林肯更加出類拔萃，提高了他在全國的聲望，更是在不久的將來將他推向白宮成為美國第十六任總統。

The Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial, located near Gentryville, Indiana, preserves both the site of the farm, where the future president spent many of his formative years, and the traditional gravesite of Lincoln’s mother.

林肯少年國家紀念館位于印第安納州的溫特維爾附近，它保留了農場的遺址。這是林肯總統度過多年成長歲月的地方，林肯母親的傳統墓地也被保存了下來。