2007年VOA标准英语-US Civil War Remembered and Re-enacted

By Tom Hendrick
Keokuk, Iowa
19 June 2007
 

Civil War re-enactors prepare to re-create a local battle

Every summer tens of thousands of Americans return to old battlefields where their ancestors fought a bloody¹ civil war from 1861 to 1865. They fight as if they are in combat.  But no one gets hurt. So what's going on? VOA's Tom Hendrick takes you out to the front lines.

America's 19th century civil war – known as 'the war between the states' – accounted for more casualties than all other U.S. wars combined: more than 700,000 lives.

Some were called "Yankees" – those dressed in blue represent the northern states where most people favored a strong central government and were against the slavery common in south states.

Re-enactor John Gunter says re-enactments of battles occur every summer with the same sound and fury and strategy. "The rain, the smoke, the boom, it kind of gives you an idea of what my ancestors went through."

But of course there are no actual bullets or cannonballs fired.  Still, in many ways, the fights are authentic². The uniforms, the weapons are vintage, made to look like and sound as they did some 150 years ago.

Bob Welch, a re-enactor tells us, "I've been doing this a few years but I've had interest in Civil War since I was ten years old. I lived in Missouri and we were digging in the garden one day [and] we discovered artifacts in the garden. [We] started digging up coins dated 1862, 1863, and a tintype photo of a solider."

Rich Birkemeier and others see parallels with the sectarian strife³ that exists in some countries today. “We [the United States] see ourselves as different from the rest of the world, and yet this happened. How do you explain this?

Bob Sutton, a National Park Service employee, offered this explanation: "It was a very nationalistic period. The people in north were interested in having the union survive. People in the south were interested in protecting their culture. It was more important for them to go home a dead hero than to go home and be considered a coward."

Max Danial plays the role of Abraham Lincoln, who was the U.S. president during the Civil War

America's civil war was not a religious conflict, but it was fought with religious zeal⁴. Re-enactor Max Danial plays the part of the assassinated⁵ Union President Abraham Lincoln. "Please don't think we're glorifying⁶ war. We point out the horror. We almost committed suicide during those four years."

"It was certainly the biggest tragedy this country has every undergone,” says participant Buck⁷ Ashburn. “It was brother against brother, families against one another we've never seen such a splitting of the country since."

These days there are no casualties in the spirited contests between north and south, as front lines, where once there was so much death, come to life.

1 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。

2 authentic   

a.真的，真正的；可靠的，可信的，有根据的

参考例句：

• This is an authentic news report. We can depend on it. 这是篇可靠的新闻报道, 我们相信它。
• Autumn is also the authentic season of renewal. 秋天才是真正的除旧布新的季节。

3 strife   

n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争

参考例句：

• We do not intend to be drawn into the internal strife.我们不想卷入内乱之中。
• Money is a major cause of strife in many marriages.金钱是造成很多婚姻不和的一个主要原因。

4 zeal   

n.热心，热情，热忱

参考例句：

• Revolutionary zeal caught them up,and they joined the army.革命热情激励他们，于是他们从军了。
• They worked with great zeal to finish the project.他们热情高涨地工作，以期完成这个项目。

5 assassinated   

v.暗杀( assassinate的过去式和过去分词 )；中伤；诋毁；破坏

参考例句：

• The prime minister was assassinated by extremists. 首相遭极端分子暗杀。
• Then, just two days later, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. 跟着在两天以后，肯尼迪总统在达拉斯被人暗杀。 来自辞典例句

6 glorifying   

赞美( glorify的现在分词 )； 颂扬； 美化； 使光荣

参考例句：

• I had no intention of either glorifying or belittling Christianity, merely the desire to understand it. 我并没有赞扬基督教或蔑视它的立意，我所想的只是了解它。
• You are glorifying a rather mediocre building. 你正在美化一栋普普通通的建筑。

7 buck   

n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃

参考例句：

• The boy bent curiously to the skeleton of the buck.这个男孩好奇地弯下身去看鹿的骸骨。
• The female deer attracts the buck with high-pitched sounds.雌鹿以尖声吸引雄鹿。