Today in History-June 26

英语自学网

　　President Kennedy's visit to West Berlin was eagerly awaited
        　　1963: Kennedy: 'Ich bin ein Berliner'
        　　England have
        　　The US President, John F Kennedy, has made a ground-breaking speech in
Berlin offering American solidarity to the citizens of West Germany.
        　　A crowd of 120,000 Berliners gathered in front of the Schoneberg Rathaus
(City Hall) to hear President Kennedy speak.
        　　They began gathering in the square long before he was due to arrive, and
when he finally appeared on the podium they gave him an ovation of several
minutes.
        　　The president had just returned from a visit on foot to one of the Berlin
Wall's most notorious crossing points, Checkpoint Charlie.
        　　He was watched from the other side of the border by small groups of East
Berliners unable even to wave because of the presence of large groups of the
East German People's Police.
        　　"All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and
therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words, 'Ich bin ein
Berliner'."President John F Kennedy said.
        　　In an impassioned speech, the president told them West Berlin was a symbol
of freedom in a world threatened by the Cold War.
        　　"Two thousand years ago," he told the crowd, "the proudest boast in the
world was 'civis Romanus sum'.
        　　"Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is 'Ich bin ein
Berliner.'"
        　　"Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect," he continued.
"But we never had to put up a wall to keep our people in."
        　　His speech waspunctuatedthroughout by rapturous cheers of approval.
        　　He ended on the theme he had begun with:
        　　"All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and
therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words, 'Ich bin ein
Berliner.'"
        　　After the speech, the mayor of West Berlin, Willi Brandt, spoke out for the
citizens of East Germany, saying they would be brought out in a few days to
greet the Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, whether they wanted to or not.
        　　"But they would much rather be with us, freely gathered here," he said.
        　　"We tell them, we will not give up. Berlin is true to those behindbarbed
wireas to fellow countrymen in the West and friends in the whole world."
        　　His words were followed by the tolling of the Freedom Bell from the belfry
of the Rathaus in remembrance of those in East Germany.
        　　For the first time that day, the massive crowd fell silent.
        　　The Queen and President were on the Royal Yacht Britannia for the opening
ceremony
        　　1959: Queen and Eisenhower open seaway
        　　Artificially 1969:
        　　The The Queen and US President Dwight D Eisenhower have inaugurated the St
Lawrence Seaway in Canada that links the Atlantic with the Great Lakes in North
America.
        　　Crowds cheered and waved flags, church bells rang out, sirens wailed and
bands played as the Royal Yacht Britannia began the first leg of the 2,300-mile
journey from Montreal harbour to the Atlantic Ocean.
        　　On board were the Queen, representing Canada, and President Eisenhower who
could be seen chatting together on deck and waving to the crowds.
        　　Balloons and fireworks were released when the ship's bow passed a symbolic
gate at St Lambert Lock made of old timbers from the lock of the Lachine canal
which was built to bypass the Lochine rapids. The seaway takes a different route
avoiding the rapids and rendering the Lochine canal obsolete.
        　　Then all the whistles and sirens of ships in Montreal harbour went off.
        　　'In love with the Queen'
        　　At one point an American congressman called to the president from the lock
side: "We have all fallen in love with the Queen, Ike!"
        　　Earlier, the Queen as head of the Commonwealth welcomed President
Eisenhower to Canada at Montreal airport.
        　　After inspecting a Royal Canadian Air Force guard of honour they took an
open-top car to the St Lawrence River.
        　　There the two heads of state were each presented with a commemorative book
with the names of the men who built the seaway.
        　　The Queen then made a speech welcoming the president and his wife to Canada
to mark the inauguration of a "great joint enterprise between our two
countries".
        　　She acknowledged the project would open up the centre of America to world
trade and enhance Canadian commerce in the process.
        　　Vocabulary:
        　　punctuate:to interrupt periodically(不时打断)
        　　barbed wire:带刺铁丝网