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On November 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln went to Gettysburg in Pennsylvania to speak at the National Soldiers Cemetery. The Civil War was still going on. There was much criticism of Presi-dent Lincoln at the time. He was not at all popular. He had been invited to speak at Gettysburg on-ly out of politeness. The principal speaker was to be Edward Everett, a famous statesman and speaker of the day. Everett was a handsome man and ve.ry popular everywhere.
It is said that Lincoln prepared his speech on the train while going to Gettysburg. Late that night, alone in his hotel room and tired out, he again worked briefly on the speech. The next day Everett spoke first. He spoke for an hour and 57 minutes. His speech was a perfect example of the rich oratory of the day. Then Lincoln rose. The crowd of 15,000 people at first paid little attention to him. He spoke for only nine minutes. At the end there was little applause. Lincoln turned to a friend and remarked,"I have failed again". On the train back to Washington, he said sadly, "That
speech was a fiat failure, and the people are disappointed".
Some newspapers at first criticized the speech, but little by little as people redid the speech they began to understand better. They began to appreciate its simplicity and its deep meaning. It was a speech which only Abraham Lincoln could have made.
Today, every American school child learns Lincoln' s Gettysburg Address by heart. Now eve-ryone thinks of it as one of the greatest speeches ever given in American history.
11. In 1863, Abraham Lincoln was__________.
A. very critical
B. unpopular
C. very popular
D. very courteous
答案：D
12. Lincoln was invited to speak at the National Soldiers Cemetery because he was__________.
A. a famous speaker
B. a very handsome man
C. President of the country
D. a popular statesman
答案：B
13. It can be inferred from the text that__________.
A. Lincoln prepared his speech very carefully before he went to Gettysburg
B. Lincoln was very busy at the time and didn' t have much time to prepare his speech
C. Lincoln' s speech was full of rich words
D. Lincoln' s speech was very long
答案：C
14. It was a fact that Lincoln' s speech was__________.
A. an immediately success
B. warmly applauded
C. a total failure
D. not well-received at first
答案：A
15. Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?
A. Lincoln' s Gettysburg Address has deep meaning.
B. Lincoln' s Gettysburg Address is simple in style.
C. Lincoln' s Gettysburg Address is memorized by every American school child.
D. Lincoln' s Gettysburg Address is the greatest speech ever delivered in the United States.
答案：B
