适逢7月4日美国独立节前夕，一位到首都华盛顿旅游的女士在林肯纪念堂（Lincoln Memorial）放开歌喉，高唱美国国歌《星条旗》（The Star-Spangled Banner），顿时在网上走红。

这位女士名叫斯塔·斯温（Star Swain），今年34岁，是来自佛罗里达州他啦哈西(Tallahassee, Florida)的一位助理校长。她最近与朋友和家人一起参观林肯纪念堂，在他们的鼓动下，唱起国歌。

记录下当时场景的视频随即风靡网上，在脸书（Facebook）和其他社交媒体上的观看人数超过1000万。

斯温的朋友，也是她的教会长老，本尼·伯尔登（Benny Bolden）对《华盛顿邮报》（Washington Post）说，“原本是一个激将结果带来这一切”。

林肯纪念堂是许多著名演讲、歌唱会和游行活动的聚集地。其中最具历史性的是1963年8月美国民权领袖马丁·路德·金（Martin Luther King Jr.）在这里发表演说“我有一个梦想”，当时大约有25万在华盛顿举行示威游行，要求修改美国民权法律。

1939年，有75000多人来到林肯纪念堂，出席著名美国黑人女低音歌唱家玛丽安·安德森（Marian Anderson）举行的免费露天音乐会。安德森是在因种族原因被拒绝在美国革命女儿会礼堂（Daughters of the American Revolution’s auditorium）演出后，在林肯纪念堂举行了音乐会。

今天，对斯温来说，在这个有历史意义的场所唱国歌是转变人生的一个经历。她对《塔拉哈西民主人报》（Tallahassee Democrat）说，“人们对我说‘太棒了，谢谢你。有位女士眼里含着泪花。”自那时以来，斯温已经多次在美国数个电视节目中露面。她在脸书网页上放上了一首歌，感谢来自美国和世界各地人的良好祝愿。她写道:“我还在努力感悟这一切。”

The next star? Tourist sings national anthem at Lincoln Memorial. [video]

Just in time for the Fourth of July, a tourist to Washington became an internet sensation with her rendition of the U.S. national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner,” at the Lincoln Memorial.

Star Swain, a 34-year-old assistant principal from Tallahassee, Florida, visited the memorial recently with friends and relatives who encouraged her to sing the national anthem.

The video has gone viral, being viewed by more than 10 million Facebook users and on other social media.

“What started out as a dare turned into all of this,” Benny Bolden, a friend and elder at her church, told the Washington Post.

The Lincoln Memorial has been the setting for many famous speeches, songs and marches. One of the most historic was U.S. civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech in August 1963, when an estimated 250,000 people marched on Washington to demand changes in U.S. civil rights laws.

And in 1939, more than 75,000 people came to the Lincoln Memorial to hear famed African-American contralto Marian Anderson give a free open-air concert. She sang there after she was denied the opportunity to perform at the Daughters of the American Revolution’s auditorium because of her race.

For Swain, her song at that historic venue was a life-changing experience. “People just started saying, ‘That was awesome, thank you,'” she told the Tallahassee Democrat. “One lady had tears in her eyes.” Since then she has appeared on several TV shows in the United States. On her Facebook page, Swain posted a song thanking everyone in the United States and around the world for their well wishes. “I am still trying to take this all in,” she wrote.