Many American presidents(总统)in the 19th century were born in poor families. They spent their childhood in little wooden rooms. They received little education (教育). Washington and Lincoln, for example, never went to school and they taught themselves. Lincoln once worked on a farm, in a shop and in a post office in his early years.
A large number of U. S. presidents had experiences in the army. The two best known were Ulysses Grant and Dwight D.Eisenhower. Grant was a general in the American Civil War, and Eisenhower was a hero (英雄) in the Second World War. It happened that they came from the same school―West Point Military Academy (西点军校). One may be surprised to learn that both of them did not do well in the school. Eisenhower, for example, was once fined (罚款)because he broke the rules of the school.
The jobs of U.S. presidents are tiring. They must keep an eye on everything important which happens both at home and abroad(国外).Every day,a lot of work waits for him to do and he has to make many important decisions(决定).When Franklin Roosevelt was a child,he was once brought to visit President Taft. The old president said to him,"When you grow up, you should not be a president. It"s a tiring job."