TEXT:Now this new powerhouse will face another revolution. October 1818. A nine-year -old boy comforts his mother as she lies on her deathbed. Milk sickness kills thousands of pioneers every year. The cause: White Snakeroot eaten by cattle, the deadly poison passed in milk to humans.
At 18, the boy becomes a man, but he has been working like a man for years, battling for existence in this harsh environment. It was a wild region, with many bears and other wild animals still in the woods. There I grew up. I had an ax in my hand from my eighth to my 20t h year. This is the life of American settler stock.
The young man's grandfather followed Daniel Boone's Wilderness Road into Kentucky. His father pushed further into the primeval forests of Indiana. Settler families of ten or more live in log cabins built from scratch. Single roomed, basic. The trailer homes of the day. The wilderness provides everything. They make their own rakes, forks, shovels, build their own furniture. And they bury their dead. In bad years, malaria kills one in eight of the settlers. Life expectancy is half of what it is today. But from adversity comes strength. This settler's name is Abraham. Abraham Lincoln.
译文:这个新兴的强大国家将面临另一场革命。1818年10月,一名9岁男孩安抚着躺在病榻上将不久于人世的母亲,牛奶病每年夺去数千拓荒者的生命。病因来自牛吃的一种叫荨麻叶佩兰的植物,毒素通过牛奶传入了人体中。
18岁时,他终于长大成人,此时他承担起养家的责任已有数年,在艰辛的世道中为生计拼搏奋斗。这是一片荒野之地,树林里还有许多熊和其他野生动物,我就是在这样的环境中长大的。从8岁到20岁,我一直斧不离手,这就是美国拓荒者一代又一代的生活。
这个年轻人的祖父,循着丹尼尔·布恩开辟的荒野之路来到了肯塔基,他父亲继续前行到了印第安纳的原始森林。拓荒者通常一家十口或更多,都住在自己亲手搭建的圆木小屋,通常只有一间房,十分简陋,类似于今天的活动房。一切资源皆取材于大自然,他们自制耙子、叉子、铁锨,自己动手打造家具并安葬他们逝去的亲人。疟疾肆虐的年份,八个人就有一个失去生命,平均寿命只有今天的一半。但困境能磨练人的意志,这名拓荒者的名字是亚伯拉罕,亚伯拉罕·林肯。