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Franklin wasn’t a man to sit around（闲坐那里无所事事） and wonder what to do. In the first hundred days, he signed fifteen major laws bringing help. No president had ever gotten so much done so fast.（过去完成时）

Franklin not only dealt （原形deal）with the Depression, (完全省略but also)he led the country through the dark days of World War II.

What made him such a strong leader? Perhaps his strength came in part(局部的) from a personal crisis. It happened when he was thirty-nine years old. He was on summer vacation with his family. Over’night he was struck with（被打击） a disease called polio（小儿麻痹症）. Franklin never walked again. But he fought hard to stay strong and healthy. He never gave up. He ran the country with the same spirit and optimism.

Not everyone liked Franklin’s ideas. But most of the country loved him. Millions （代好几百万人）wept《weep v. (wept, wept) 哭泣》 as if he were part of their family when they learned of （获悉突发脑溢血）his sudden death. Many could not imagine the United States without FDR as president.

Vocabulary

sit around/about 闲坐，不干正经事

polio n. 脊髓灰质炎（小儿麻痹症）

weep v. (wept, wept) 哭泣