2015-09-06
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1. rebellious – мятежный, взбунтовавшийся;
2. to store – хранить (на складе);
3. to bar the way – преградить путь;
4. to fire a shot – произвести выстрел;
5. to set up an army – создать армию;
6. to seek aid – зд. искать поддержки;
7. inevitable – неизбежный.
Fighting for Independence
On the night of April 18, 1775, 700 British soldiers marched silently out of
Boston. Their orders were to seize weapons and ammunition that rebellious colonists had stored in Concord, a nearby town.
But the colonists were warned that the soldiers were coming. Signal lights were hung from the spire of Boston’s tallest church and two fast riders, Paul
Revere and William Daves, jumped into their saddles and galloped off with the news.
In the village of Lexington the British found seventy American militiamen, farmers and tradesmen, barring their way. These part-time soldiers were known
as “Minutemen.” This was because they had promised to take up arms immediately – in a minute – whenever they were needed.
The British commander ordered the Minutemen to return to their homes.
They refused. Then someone, nobody knows who, fired a shot. Other shots came from the lines of British soliders. Eight Minutemen fell dead. The first shots had been fired in what was to become the American War of Independence.
The British soldiers reached Concord a few hours later and destroyed some of the weapons and gunpowder there. But by the time they set off to return to Boston hundreds more Minutemen had gathered. From the thick woods on each
side of the Boston road they shot down, one by one, 273 British soldiers. The soldiers were still under attack when they arrived back in Boston. A ring of armed Americans gathered round the city.
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The next month, May 1775, a second Continental Congress met in
Philadelphia and began to act as an American national government. It set up an army of 17,000 men under the command of George Washington. The Continental Congress also sent representatives to seek aid from friendly European nations – especially from France, Britain’s old enemy.
On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress finally took the step that many
Americans believed was inevitable. It cut all political ties with Britain and declared that “these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and
independent states.” Two days later, on July 4, it issued the Declaration of
Independence.
Read and translate the following text with the help of a dictionary.
