And there's no other American in our history

美国历史上再没有第二个人
who has been given credit

如亚拉伯罕·林肯一般
for more apocryphal quotations, than Abraham Lincoln.

有如此多被杜撰的名言
A little later in the course I'll use a few of them,

在之后的课上我会提到其中的一些
at the end of--when we get to the end of the war.

当我们讲到这场战争结尾的时候
But the problem with Lincoln is indeed his ambiguity,

解读林肯的难题是其思想人格的多重性
the reality of his historical ambiguity.

他的历史真实性是模凌两可的
There is a puzzling dualism about him.

让人困惑的是他在人们心中有两种形象
There are two, at least two,

至少有两种有关亚拉伯罕·林肯的形象
seemingly incompatible legends, if you want, about Abraham Lincoln.

它们之间看上去相互矛盾
One has him as the kind of awkward, amiable, storytelling,

一种形容他笨拙和蔼爱讲故事
rail splitting, frontier folk hero,

劈木围栏的边疆民间英雄