TEXT：Now this new powerhouse will face another revolution. October 1818. A nine-year -old boy comforts his mother as she lies on her deathbed. Milk sickness kills thousands of pioneers every year. The cause: White Snakeroot eaten by cattle, the deadly poison passed in milk to humans.

At 18, the boy becomes a man, but he has been working like a man for years, battling for existence in this harsh environment. It was a wild region, with many bears and other wild animals still in the woods. There I grew up. I had an ax in my hand from my eighth to my 20t h year. This is the life of American settler stock.

The young man's grandfather followed Daniel Boone's Wilderness Road into Kentucky. His father pushed further into the primeval forests of Indiana. Settler families of ten or more live in log cabins built from scratch. Single roomed, basic. The trailer homes of the day. The wilderness provides everything. They make their own rakes, forks, shovels, build their own furniture. And they bury their dead. In bad years, malaria kills one in eight of the settlers. Life expectancy is half of what it is today. But from adversity comes strength. This settler's name is Abraham. Abraham Lincoln.

譯文:這個(gè)新興的強(qiáng)大國家將面臨另一場(chǎng)革命。1818年10月，一名9歲男孩安撫著躺在病榻上將不久于人世的母親，牛奶病每年奪去數(shù)千拓荒者的生命。病因來自牛吃的一種叫蕁麻葉佩蘭的植物，毒素通過牛奶傳入了人體中。

18歲時(shí)，他終于長(zhǎng)大成人，此時(shí)他承擔(dān)起養(yǎng)家的責(zé)任已有數(shù)年，在艱辛的世道中為生計(jì)拼搏奮斗。這是一片荒野之地，樹林里還有許多熊和其他野生動(dòng)物，我就是在這樣的環(huán)境中長(zhǎng)大的。從8歲到20歲，我一直斧不離手，這就是美國拓荒者一代又一代的生活。

這個(gè)年輕人的祖父，循著丹尼爾·布恩開辟的荒野之路來到了肯塔基，他父親繼續(xù)前行到了印第安納的原始森林。拓荒者通常一家十口或更多，都住在自己親手搭建的圓木小屋，通常只有一間房，十分簡(jiǎn)陋，類似于今天的活動(dòng)房。一切資源皆取材于大自然，他們自制耙子、叉子、鐵锨，自己動(dòng)手打造家具并安葬他們逝去的親人。瘧疾肆虐的年份，八個(gè)人就有一個(gè)失去生命，平均壽命只有今天的一半。但困境能磨練人的意志，這名拓荒者的名字是亞伯拉罕，亞伯拉罕·林肯。