Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky on February 12, 1809. When he was a small boy, his family moved to Indiana. Here, his mother taught him to read and write. Lincoln had very little formal education, but he became one of the best-educated men of the Great West.
When Lincoln was a young man, his family moved to the new state of Illinois. Lincoln had to make a living at an early age, but in his spare time he studied law. He soon became one of the best-known lawyers in the state capital at Springfield, Illinois. It was here that Lincoln became famous for his debates with Stephen A. Douglas on the problem of slavery (奴隶制度).
In 1860, Lincoln was elected President of the United States. He was the candidate of the new Republican Party. This party is against the creation of new slave states. Soon after his election, some of the Southern states quit from the Union and set up the Confederate States of America(美利坚联盟国). This action resulted in the terrible Civil War which lasted from 1861 to 1865.
On January 1,1863, during the war, Lincoln published his famous Emancipation Proclamation(解放宣言). In this file, Lincoln announced that all the slaves were to be free from that day. In 1865, after the war ended, another file was added to end the slavery everywhere in the United States. Early in 1865, the Civil War came to an end with the defeat of the South by the North.
Only a few days after the end of the War, Lincoln was shot by an actor named John Wilkes Booth. The President died on April 14, 1865. In his death, the world lost one of the greatest men of all time.
小题1:Who taught Lincoln to read and write in his childhood? (no more than 10 words) (2 marks)
小题2:When did Lincoln become the president of the U.S.? (no more than 3 words) (2 marks)
小题3:What does the underlined phrase “this action” in Paragraph Three refer to?
(no more than 20 words) (3 marks)
小题4:How did the Civil War come to an end? (no more than 10 words) (3 marks)