毎日読む英英辞典

久しぶりのこのコーナー。

決して忘れていたわけではな・・・（メールマガジンと同じフリはやめぃ）。

さぁ、久しぶりというだけあって、今度の説明文はボリュームたっぷりですよ。

頑張って、でも肩肘張らずに読んでみましょう。

a US politician in the Republican Party who was President of the US from 1861 to 1865. He won political support in the Northern US states because of his speeches against slavery, but this made him unpopular in the Southern states, where slaves did most of the farm work. The American Civil War started soon after he became President, when the Southern states decided to leave the US. In 1863 he announced the Emancipation Proclamation, by which all slaves in the US became free people. He also gave a famous speech known as the Gettysburg Address in 1863. A few days after the war ended, he was shot and killed in a theatre by an actor called John Wilkes Booth. Lincoln is one of the most important US presidents, and was sometimes called ‘Honest Abe’ because everyone admired his honesty.

いきなりこんなに英文が出てきてたまげた方も多いかもしれませんが、最初の一行だけ読めばどこの国の人かはわかりますね。

また、彼が大統領になってすぐ American Civil War が始まったとか、ゲティスバーグでの演説が有名だとか書かれています。

これは、リンカーンのことですね。エイブラハム・リンカーンです。

リンカーンの母親につながる子孫に俳優のトム・ハンクスがいるって聞いたことがあります。

ちょっと難しい単語たち

さすがにこれだけの文章となると、見慣れない単語も出てきます。

中ほどの Emancipation Proclamation はリンカーンが宣言したということですぐわかりますね。

emancipation は解放、proclamation は宣言・・・ということで奴隷解放宣言のことです。

また、普通に civil war というと内戦、内乱ということですが、 the (American) Civil War となるとアメリカの南北戦争のことを指します。

[the American Civil War]
a war that was fought in the US between 1861 and 1865 when 11 southern states rebelled against the federal government. The southern states were beaten, and as a result of the war, slaves became free.
(LDOCE)

ちなみに、最後の方に出てくる Honest Abe は「正直な阿部さん」ではありません。