Lincoln's Autobiography
本篇生词：
undistinguished adj. 不显赫的 reside vi. 居住 paternal adj. 父方的 laboring vi. 劳动
literally adv. 字面上 region n. 地区 qualification n. 资格 wizard n. 奇才
absolutely adv. 绝对地，完全地 ambition n. 大志，雄心 volunteer n. 自愿者 campaign n. 战役
biennial adj. 两年一度的 candidate n. 候选人 legislature n. 立法机关 assiduous adj. 小心谨慎的
repeal n. 废止，撤销 description n. 描述 desirable adj. 称心如意的 lean adj. 瘦的
complexion n. 肤色 coarse adj. 粗糙的
I was born on February 12, 1809, in Hardin County, Kentucky. My patents were both born in Virginia, of undistinguished families----second families, perhaps I should say. My mother, who died in my tenth year, was from a family named Hanks, some of whom now reside in Adams County, and others in Macon County, Illinoes. My paternal grandfather, about 1781 or 1782, from Virginia to Kentucky, where he was killed by the Indians a year or two later, not in battle, but when he was laboring to open a farm in the forest.
My father, at the death of his father, was six years old, and he grew up literally without education. He moved from Kentucky to Indiana when I was seven. We reached our new home about the time the state came into the Union. It was wild region, with many bears and other wild animals still in the woods. I grew up there. There were some so-called schools, but no other qualification was ever required of a teacher beyond "reading, writing, and adding." If a stranger supposed to understand Latin happened to reside for a time in the neighborhood, he was looked on as a wizard. There was absolutely nothing to excite ambition for education. Of course, when I came of age, I did not know much. Still, somehow, I could read, write, and add, but that was all. The little advance I have now made upon this store of education, I have picked up under the pressure of necessity.
I was raised to farm work, which I continued until I was twenty-two. At twenty-one, I came to Illinois. I remained in New Salem, Illinois for a year as a clerk in a store. Then the Black Hawk War came; I was elected a captain of volunteers, a success which gave me more pleasure than any I have had since. I went into the campaign, ran for the legislature the same year （1832）， and the three succeeding biennial elections I was elected to the legislature. I was not a candidate afterward. During that legislative period, I studied law, and moved to Springfield to practice it. In 1846 I was elected to the lower house of Congress. I was not a candidate for re-election. From 1894 to 1854 I practiced law more assiduously than ever before. I was losing interest in politics when the repeal of the Missouri Compromise aroused me again. What I have done since then is pretty well known.
If any personal description of me is thought desirable, it may be said that I am nearly six feet, Four inches in height; lean in flesh, weighing one hundred and eighty pounds on the average; I have a dark complexion, whit coarse hair and gray eyes, I have no other marks or brands.