VOA常速英语:Presidential Pardon for Thanksgiving Turkey Has Long Tradition

There are a lot of stories about the beginning of turkey pardoning for Thanksgiving says the chief historian of the White House Historical Association Edward Langham.
感恩节火鸡赦免的开始有很多故事，白宫历史协会首席历史学家Edward Langham如是说。

Some of them he says date back to Abraham Lincoln during America’s Civil War.
其中一些可以追溯到美国内战林肯执政的时代。

He had a son named Tad who joked with Abraham Lincoln about this pet turkey that he had who was strolling around the voting booths in 1864and Abraham Lincoln asked him why is he strutting around is he here to vote.
他有一个叫塔德的儿子，他拿宠物火鸡和亚伯拉罕·林肯开玩笑，1864年他曾经在投票站周围闲逛，亚伯拉罕·林肯问他为什么要在这里，难道是为了投票。

Dad answered that is turkey could not vote because he was too young.
爸爸回答，火鸡是不会投票的，因为太小了。

Therefore Abraham Lincoln pardoned this turkey and forgave from the possibility of being killed for the thanksgiving table.
因此，亚伯拉罕·林肯赦免了这只火鸡，并且免除了这只鸡因为感恩节而被杀的可能性。

When Harry Truman was president in the 1940s. he began letting the thanksgiving turkey go free almost 20 years later in a well-documented occasion.President John F Kennedy decided to spare a turkey brought to the White House for the Thanks giving table.
在20世纪40年代，杜鲁门就任时，开始赦免感恩节火鸡，据记载赦免了20多年。肯尼迪决定赦免一只要被送上白宫感恩节餐桌的火鸡。

Kennedy said I think I’ll pardon this turkey and let it grow.
但肯尼迪说，我想赦免这只火鸡，让它自由成长。

We know that John F Kennedy definitely began this tradition has continued on and off ever since.
我们知道肯尼迪肯定是从此开始这个传统一直持续下去的。

Today the White House gets turkeys with help from the national Turkey Federation.
今天，白宫在全国火鸡联邦的帮助下获得了火鸡。

There’s been an official White House turkey reception ceremony really since Harry Truman was the first to have a public ceremony.
自杜鲁门第一次举行公开仪式以来，真正的白宫火鸡接待仪式正式开始。

The procured turkeys are pardon and often center petting zoo in the vicinity,but the turkey cooked for the president’s meal is bought with his own money and prepared according to his taste and that of his family.
一些买来的火鸡被放生被养在附近的动物园里，但为总统吃的火鸡是用自己的钱买来的，并根据自己和家人的口味准备。

Nicoletta Ilic VOA Washington DC.
美国之音，Nicoletta Ilic华盛顿报道