(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Today, we begin the story of America's thirty-seventh president, Richard Nixon. Richard Nixon was sworn-in as president in January nineteen sixty-nine. It was a difficult time in the United States. American forces, allied with the army of South Vietnam, were continuing to fight against the communist forces of North Vietnam. Thousands of soldiers and civilians were dying. Yet the Americans and South Vietnamese were making little progress. Critics of the war said they were making no progress at all. At home, there were demonstrations against the war. There were demonstrations against racial injustice. Friends and families were in dispute as they took opposing positions on these issues. Fighting the war also meant there was less government money to spend on social problems.
Former President Lyndon Johnson had proposed new legislation to help poor people and minorities. In some cases, Congress approved less money than he had requested. In other cases, lawmakers did not approve any money at all. Richard Nixon seemed well prepared to deal with the difficulties of being president. He was known for his ability to fight, to lose, and to keep trying. Nixon was born in California. His family was poor. When he was about ten years old, he harvested vegetables to help earn money for his family. He earned the money he needed to go to college. Then he decided to study law. He was among the top students in his class. During World War Two, he served in the United States Navy in the Pacific battle area. When he came home, he campaigned for and won a seat in the Congress. As a member of the House of Representatives, Nixon became known throughout the nation for his part in the Alger Hiss case. Alger Hiss was a former official in the State Department. He had been accused of helping provide secret information to the Soviet Union. He denied the accusation.
Nixon demanded a congressional investigation of the case. Other members of the House thought it should be dropped. Nixon succeeded and led the investigation. Later, Hiss was tried and found guilty of lying to a grand jury. He was sentenced to prison. Some Americans disliked Richard Nixon for the way he treated people during the investigation. They felt that some of his attacks were unjust. Fear of communism was very strong at that time. They thought he was using the situation to improve his political future. The future did, in fact, bring him success. In nineteen fifty, he ran for the Senate. He competed against Helen Gahagan Douglas. He accused her of not recognizing the threat of Communism in America. Nixon won the election. In nineteen fifty-two, the Republican Party chose him as its candidate for vice president. Dwight Eisenhower was the candidate for president. Eisenhower and Nixon won a huge victory over the candidates of the Democratic Party. They won again in nineteen fifty-six.
During his eight years as vice president, Nixon visited sixty countries. He faced violent protesters during a visit to South America in nineteen fifty-eight. He was praised for acting bravely under dangerous conditions. A year later, he visited the Soviet Union. He and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev had a famous debate about world peace. Nixon became very angry. At one point, he said to Khrushchev: "You do not know everything."In nineteen sixty, Nixon accepted the Republican Party's nomination for president. He had many years of political experience and had gained recognition as vice president. Many people thought he would win the national election easily. But he lost to the young John Kennedy. It was the closest presidential election in American history since eighteen eighty-four. After losing to Kennedy, Nixon moved back to California. He worked as a lawyer. In nineteen sixty-two, he ran for governor, and lost. It seemed that Nixon's political life was over. He moved again, this time to New York City. He worked as a lawyer. But he made it clear that he would like to return to public life some day.
Many Republicans began to see Richard Nixon as the statesman they wanted in the White House. By then, President Johnson had decided not to run for re-election. His Democratic Party was divided. The Republicans believed they had a good chance to win the election of nineteen sixty-eight. Nixon campaigned hard against the Democratic candidate, Hubert Humphrey. Humphrey was vice president under President Johnson. Throughout the campaign, he had to defend the policies of the Johnson administration. The policies on Vietnam had become very unpopular. Some Americans felt the war should be expanded. Many others demanded an immediate withdrawal. Both Humphrey and Nixon promised to work for peace in Vietnam. On election day, voters chose Nixon. He won by a small number of popular votes. But he won many more electoral votes than Humphrey.
On the day after his victory, he spoke to a gathering of supporters."I saw many signs in this campaign. Some of them were not friendly. Some were very friendly. But the one that touched me the most was -- a teenager held up the sign 'bring us together.' And that will be the great objective of this administration, at the outset, to bring the American people together."Once in office, President Nixon proposed legislation to deal with problems at home. He called his proposals the "New Federalism." One proposal was for revenue sharing. Under this plan, the federal government would share tax money with state and local governments. For three years, Congress blocked its passage. In nineteen seventy-two, the revenue sharing plan was finally approved. Lawmakers also approved legislation for some of President Nixon's other ideas. One changed the way American men were called into military service.
The new law said young men would now be called to serve by chance, with a lottery. This was a big change. Many people had criticized the earlier system. They said it had taken too many poor men and too many men from minority groups. These were the men who were fighting, and dying, in Vietnam. Congress also approved a change to the Constitution. The amendment would permit younger people to vote. It decreased the voting age from twenty-one years to eighteen years. Supporters of the amendment said that if citizens were old enough to fight and die in the nation's wars, they were old enough to vote in the nation's elections, too. The amendment became law when three-fourths of the states approved it in nineteen seventy-one. One of President Nixon's most important proposals was to build a system to defend against enemy missiles.
He said the system was needed to protect American missile bases. The issue caused much debate. Critics said it would add to the arms race with the Soviet Union. Congress approved the plan in August nineteen sixty-nine. Nixon's first appointments to the nation's highest court also caused much debate. He named two conservative judges from the southern United States to serve on the Supreme Court. Congress rejected the nomination of the first one, Clement Haynsworth. Lawmakers said his court decisions had been unfair to black Americans. Congress also rejected the nomination of the second one, G. Harold Carswell. Lawmakers said he was not prepared for the job. President Nixon faced these disappointments, and others. Yet he still had moments of great celebration during his first term. One came on July twentieth, nineteen sixty-nine. On that day, he and millions of people around the world watched as two American astronauts became the first humans to land on the moon. We will continue the story of Richard Nixon next week.
重点解析
1.Democratic 民主的;民主政治的;大众的
They pledged to fight for democratic rights.
他们誓为争取民主权利而斗争 。
2. prepared for 对…作好准备
They prepared for their wedding.
他们为婚礼做着准备 。
3. defend against 防卫,保卫;抵抗
For a full online defense, it is also vital to install a firewall application that can detect and defend against any type of manipulation to the code and content sitting on and behind the Web servers.
对于全面的在线防卫,同样至关重要的是安装可以检测并抵御任何对保存在 Web 服务器上,或其背后的代码和内容实施控制的防火墙应用程序 。
4. minority group 少数民族
The Tea Party proved itself, even if a minority group, to be organized both politically and monetarily, which allowed the group to effect change in the 2010 election.
虽然只是一个少数群体,但茶党已经证明了其在政治和资金方面的组织性,使得该团体能够改变2010年选举进程 。
5. amendment 修正案
They decided to tack an amendment to the bill.
他们决定在议案中附加一个修正案 。
参考译文
今天,我们为您讲述美国第37任总统理查德·尼克松的故事
作为众议院的一员,尼克松因为主持调查希斯而闻名阿尔杰·希斯是前国务院官员,被指控帮助向苏联透露机密信息,希斯对此否认
。尼克松要求国会对此案进行调查 。国会众议院的其他成员认为应该放任不管,尼克松成功主持了调查 。后来,希斯因向大陪审团做伪证被判入狱 。一些美国人对理查德·尼克松在调查中的做法很是不满 。他们认为他的一些攻击不够公正 。当时人们对共产主义的恐惧十分强烈 。他们认为尼克松是在利用人们的恐惧来谋取自己的政治前途 。事实上,未来他确实取得了成功 。1950年,尼克松竞选参议员,对手是海伦·加哈根·道格拉斯 。尼克松指责她对美国共产主义的威胁置若罔闻 。尼克松赢得了大选,1952年,共和党选择尼克松作为副总统候选人 。德怀特·艾森豪威尔是总统候选人 。艾森豪威尔和尼克松在民主党候选人中大获全胜 。1956年,尼克松和艾森豪威尔再次获胜 。尼克松在担任副总统的八年里,先后出访60个国家 。1958年,尼克松访问南美期间遇到暴力抗议者
在整个竞选过程中,他不得不为约翰逊政府的政策提出辩护
。对越南的政策变得非常不得人心 。一些美国人认为应该扩大战事,而其他人要求立即撤军 。汉弗莱和尼克松都承诺为越南和平而努力 。选举日,美国人民选择了尼克松,他以微弱优势赢得了竞选 。但他赢得的选举票数远超汉弗莱 。尼克松获胜的第二天,向支持者发表讲话 。“我在这次竞选中看到了很多迹象,他们中的一些人并不友好 。而有些人则非常友好 。但最让我感动的是一个十几岁的孩子举着牌子,上面写道‘让我们走到一起 。’一开始,将美国人民团结在一起就是本届政府的伟大目标 。”尼克松总统一上台就提出立法来解决国内的问题 。他称他的提议为“新联邦制”,其中一个提议是收入分成 。根据该计划,联邦政府将与州和地方政府分享税收收入三年来,国会一直阻止通过该计划 。1972年,收入分享计划最终获得批准 。议员们还批准了尼克松总统的一些其他立法 。其中一个是改变美国人的参军方式 。新法规定,年轻人将通过抽签的方式随机服役 。这个变化很大,许多人批评了早期的服兵役制度 。他们说,早期服役对象大多数是穷人和少数族裔 。这些人在越南作战,失去生命 。国会还批准修改宪法,修正案允许年轻人投票 。把投票年龄从21岁降低至18岁 。修正案的支持者说,如果公民到了上战场牺牲的年纪,他们也到了国家选举投票的年龄1971年,四分之三的州批准了该修正案
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