central
a. chief; main; most important 主要的
tireless
a. never or rarely getting tired
writer
n. a person who writes esp. as a way of earning money 作家
publish
vt. have (a book, etc.) printed and put on sale 出版
volume
n. book, esp. one of a set of books 卷;册
thrill
vi. have a very exciting feeling 非常激动
self-evident
a. clear without proof 不言而喻的
create
vt. make (sth. that has not been made before) 创造
creation
n.
anniversary
n. the yearly return of a special date 周年纪念日
countryman
n. a person from one's own country 周胞
legacy
n. sth. that one person leaves to another when he dies 遗产
owe owe sth. to sb.
vt. 欠(债等);应把...归功于
debt
n. something owed to someone else 债(务)
educate educator教育者
vt. train; teach how to read, write, think, etc.
PHRASES & EXPRESSIONS
go out of one's way (to do sth.)
take particular trouble; make a special effort 特地 尽力的
leave...to
leave sb. in charge of 交托,委托
act on
act according to 按照...行事
leave behind
abandon; fall to take or bring 丢弃;留下,忘带
in existence
existing 存在
above all
most important of all 首先,尤其是
PROPER NAMES
Bruce Bilven
布鲁斯.布利文
Thomas Jefferson
托马斯.杰斐逊
George Washington
乔治.华盛顿
Abraham Lincoln
亚伯拉罕.林肯
the Declaration of Independence
《独立宣言》
the James River
詹姆斯河
Lafayette
拉斐特
France
法国
Heaven
上帝；天堂
Philadelphia
费城（美国港市）

Jefferson died long ago, but many of his ideas are still of great interest to us.

Lessons from Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States, may be less famous than George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, but most people remember at last one fact about him: he wrote the Declaration of Independence.
Although Jefferson lived more than 200 years ago, there is much that we learn from him today. Many of his ideas are especially interesting to modern youth. Here are some of the things he said and wrote:
Go and see. Jefferson believed that a free man obtains knowledge from many sources besides books and that personal investigation 个人调查活动is important. When still a young man, he was appointed to a committee to find out whether the South Branch of the James River was deep enough to be used by large boats. While the other members of the committee sat in the state capitol and studied papers on the subject, Jefferson got into a canoe and made on-the-spot-observations.