(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Today, we complete the story of the thirty-seventh president of the United States, Richard Nixon. Richard Nixon's first term as president ended with hope for complete American withdrawal from the fighting in Vietnam. Yet Americans still were very angry about the war and its effects on life at home. Paying for it was difficult. Inflation was high. Unemployment was high, too. Some political observers thought the president would not be elected to a second term. Nixon, however, was sure the American people would support him. He did not campaign in the local primary elections before the Republican convention. Instead, in the winter and spring of nineteen seventy-two, he visited China, Canada, Iran, Poland, and the Soviet Union. On June seventeenth, nineteen seventy-two, something happened in Washington, D.C.
It was a small incident. But it would have a huge effect on the United States. Five men broke into a center of the National Committee of the Democratic Party. The building was called the Watergate. That name would become a symbol of political crime in the nation's highest office. At the time, the incident did not seem important. Police caught the criminals. Later, however, more was learned. The men had carried papers that linked them to top officials in the administration. The question was: Did President Nixon know what was going on? He told reporters he was not involved. In time, though, the Watergate case would lead to a congressional investigation of the president. For a while, the political conventions of the summer of nineteen seventy-two pushed the story of the Watergate break-in out of the major news of the day. The Democratic Party met and chose George McGovern as its candidate for president. McGovern was a senator from the state of South Dakota. The choice of the Republican Party was no surprise. Delegates re-nominated Richard Nixon. McGovern attacked Nixon for his policies about Vietnam. McGovern's anger made many voters see him as an extremist. Nixon won the election of nineteen seventy-two by a huge popular vote. He would not be able to complete his second term, however. This was because Watergate would not go away.
Early in nineteen seventy-three, reporters found the evidence that linked the Watergate break-in to officials in the White House. The evidence also showed that the officials tried to use government agencies to hide the connection. Pressure grew for a complete investigation. In April, President Nixon ordered the Justice Department to do this. A special prosecutor was named to lead the government's investigation. A special Senate committee began its own investigation in May. A former White House lawyer provided the major evidence. By July, it was learned that President Nixon had secretly made tape recordings of some of his discussions and telephone calls. The Senate committee asked him for some of the tapes. Nixon refused. He said the president of the United States has a Constitutional right to keep such records private. A federal judge ordered the president to surrender the tapes. Lawyers for the president took the case to the nation's highest court. The Supreme Court supported the decision of the lower court.
After that, pressure increased for Nixon to cooperate. In October, he offered to provide written versions of the most important parts of the tape recordings. The special prosecutor rejected the offer. So, Nixon ordered the head of the Justice Department to dismiss him. The Attorney General refused to do this, and resigned. President Nixon had another political problem, in addition to Watergate. In late nineteen seventy-three, his vice president, Spiro Agnew, was forced to resign. A court had found Agnew guilty of violating tax laws. President Nixon asked Gerald Ford to become the new vice president. Ford was a long-time member of Congress from the state of Michigan. By that time, some members of Congress were talking about removing President Nixon from office. This is possible under American law if Congress finds that a president has done something criminal. Was Richard Nixon covering up important evidence in the case? Was he, in fact, guilty of wrong doing? In April nineteen seventy-four, Nixon surrendered some of his White House tape recordings. However, three important discussions on the tapes were missing.
The Nixon administration explained. The tape machine had failed to record two of the discussions, it said. The third discussion had been destroyed accidentally. Many Americans did not believe these explanations. Two months later, the Supreme Court ruled that a president cannot hold back evidence in a criminal case. It said there is no presidential right of privacy in such a case. A committee of the House of Representatives also reached an historic decision in July nineteen seventy-four. It proposed that the full House put the president on trial. If Richard Nixon were found guilty of crimes involved in the Watergate case, he would be removed from office. Finally, Nixon surrendered the last of the documents. They appeared to provide proof that the president had ordered evidence in the Watergate case to be covered up. The rights of citizens, as stated in the Constitution, are the basis of American democracy.
Every president promises to protect and defend these Constitutional rights. During the congressional investigation of Watergate, lawmakers said that President Nixon had violated these rights. They said he planned to delay and block the investigation of the Watergate break-in and other unlawful activities. They said he repeatedly misused government agencies in an effort to hide wrongdoing and to punish his critics. And they said he refused repeated orders to surrender papers and other materials as part of the investigation. Richard Nixon's long struggle to remain in office was over. He spoke to the nation on August eighth. "Throughout the long and difficult period of Watergate, I have felt it was my duty to persevere, to make every possible effort to complete the term of office to which you elected me. In the past few days, however, it has become evident to me that I no longer have a strong enough political base in the Congress to justify continuing that effort. Therefore, I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow."Never before had a president of the United States resigned. And never before did the United States have a president who had not been elected. Gerald Ford had been appointed to the office of vice president. Now, he would replace Richard Nixon.
On August ninth, nineteen seventy-four, he was sworn-in as the nation's thirty-eighth president. Soon after becoming president, Gerald Ford made a surprise announcement. He pardoned Richard Nixon. Many Americans criticized Ford for doing this. But he believed he had good reasons. Ford wanted to move ahead and deal with the other problems that faced the nation. He did not want Watergate to go on and on. The case did go on, however. Several top officials in the Nixon administration were tried, found guilty, and sent to prison. The effects of the case went on, too. Watergate influenced government policy and public opinion for years. For example, laws were passed to prevent an administration from using its power to punish opposition political groups. Intelligence agencies were forced to provide Congress with more information about their activities. And rules were approved to restrict the activities of public officials. The American public, and especially the press, felt the effects of Watergate. Many citizens and reporters felt less able to believe their government. As one writer said, "Never again will we trust our public officials in quite the same way."
重点解析
1.Constitutional right宪法权利
A federal judge ordered the temporary halt after tobacco companies argued it would violate their constitutional right to free speech.
在烟草公司抗议此举将违反其言论自由的宪法权利后，一位联邦法官颁布了这条临时暂停令。
2.criticized for批评
Although I would later be criticized for some of the pardons I granted, I was more concerned by a few I didn’t grant.
尽管以后我会因为一些我批准的赦免状而遭到批评，但我关心更多的是我没有批准的那几个。
3.It proposed that 提出
It proposed that the fight of our lives is just that, a fight, but a winnable one.
我们生命中的斗争，只是，一场斗争，但却是可以战胜的。
4.struggle to 竞争
If you really struggle to exercise in the evenings, how about fitting in a short workout in the morning, or during your lunch hour?
如果你真的挣扎晚上的锻炼，何不在早上或者午餐时间做些适合的简短的锻炼？
5.term of office 任期，任职期间
His term of office has run out.
他的任期已满。
参考译文
今天，我们讲述美国第三十七任总统理查德·尼克松执政最后的那点事儿。理查德·尼克松的第一个总统任期结束时，人们看到了美国从越南全部撤军的希望。然而，美国人仍然对战争及战争对国内生活的创伤感到愤怒。为此付出代价是困难的，通货膨胀率、失业率高居不下。一些政治观察员认为总统不会连任。然而，尼克松确信美国人民会支持自己。在共和党大会之前，他没有参加当地的初选。而在1972年的冬天和春天，他访问了中国、加拿大、伊朗、波兰和苏联。1972年6月17日，华盛顿特区发生了一件事。这件事虽然很小，但将对美国产生重大影响。五名男子闯入民主党全国委员会的中心。这座建筑被称为水门。“水门”将成为美国最高职位政治犯罪的象征。当时，这件事似乎不是什么重要的事儿，警察抓住了罪犯。然而，后来更多真相浮出水面，五名男子携带了与政府高官有关的文件。问题是：尼克松总统是否知情。他告诉记者此事与他无关。不过，国会最后就水门事件对总统展开调查。有一段时间，1972年夏天的政治会议将“水门事件”从当天的主要新闻报道中删除。民主党会面并选择乔治·麦戈文作为总统候选人。麦戈文是南达科塔州的参议员。共和党的选择并不令人意外，理查德·尼克松再次被提名。麦戈文抨击尼克松对越南的政策。麦戈文的愤怒使得许多选民相信，麦戈文是一个极端主义者。
1972年，尼克松以大额票数完胜选举。然而，他将无法继续他的第二个任期。因为“水门事件”不会就此停息。早在1973年，记者们就发现了白宫官员参与水门事件的证据。证据还显示，这些官员试图利用政府机构掩盖这一证据。要求全面调查“水门事件”的声音愈演愈烈。4月，尼克松总统命令司法部彻查此事。一名特别检察官被任命组织调查涉事官员。五月份，参议院特别委员会开始调查。前白宫律师约翰.迪恩提供重要证据。7月，据悉，尼克松的某些谈话和电话都有磁带录音。参议院委员会要尼克松交出磁带，但是遭到了尼克松的拒绝。他说，根据宪法，美国总统有权对这些磁带保密。一名联邦法官命令总统将录音带交出。总统律师把这个案子提交给了国家最高法院。最高法院支持下级法院的裁决。此后，尼克松面临的压力越来越大。10月，尼克松提出愿意提供录音的部分文字记录，特别检察官驳回这一提议。因此，尼克松命令司法部部长解除他的职务。司法部长断然拒绝，并随即提出了辞呈。除了水门事件，困扰尼克松总统的还有另一个政治问题。
1973年末，他的副总统斯皮罗·阿格纽被迫辞职。法院判定阿格纽违反税法。尼克松总统请杰拉尔德·福特担任新副总统。福特是来自密歇根州的长期国会议员。当时，一些国会议员正在讨论让尼克松总统下台。根据美国法律，如果国会发现总统做了违法的事情，总统结束任职是可能的。尼克松有没有掩盖水门一案的重要证据，是否违反了法律。1974年4月，尼克松交出了部分谈话录音磁带。但其中少了三个很重要的谈话。尼克松政府解释说有两次谈话没有录进去。第三次讨论的磁带在一次意外中遭到毁坏，许多美国人不相信这一解释。两个月后，最高法院裁定，在刑事案件调查中，总统不得拒不交出证据在这种情况下，总统没有隐私权。1974年7月，众议院委员会也做出了一个历史性的决定：他们建议让尼克松在参议院受审。如果证明尼克松跟水门事件有关，就必须下台。最后，尼克松不得不把剩下的一些文件交给了国会调查人员。从这些文件上可以看出，尼克松确实下令掩盖水门夜盗案的相关证据。宪法规定，公民权利是美国民主制度的基础。每位总统都承诺保护和捍卫这些宪法权利。国会调查水门事件期间，议员们声称尼克松总统侵犯了民主权利，他们表示，尼克松计划推迟并阻止水门事件及其他非法活动的调查，尼克松多次滥用政府机构，试图掩盖罪行，并惩罚批评自己的人士。他们还表示，尼克松多次拒绝要求交出涉案的文件和其他材料。理查德·尼克松长期的政治斗争已经结束。
8月8日，尼克松向全国人民发表讲话。“在水门事件漫长和艰难的调查过程中， 我觉得我有责任坚持下去，竭尽全力完成自己的总统任期。然而，在过去的几天里，很明显，我在国会中已经没有足够强大的政治支持，让我完成自己的使命。因此，我将于明天中午辞去总统职务。”尼克松是美国历史上第一位辞职的总统。在此之前，美国从来没有一个总统不是选举出来的。杰拉尔德·福特被任命为副总统，如今，他将取取代查德·尼克松。1974年8月9日，杰拉尔德·福特宣誓就任美国第38任总统。杰拉尔德·福特就任总统后不久，出人意料地做出了如下宣布。他原谅了理查德·尼克松。许多美国人批评福特此举，但是福特觉得自己这样做有他的理由。福特希望继续解决美国面临的其他问题。他不希望水门事件继续下去。然而，调查并没有停止，尼克松政府的几名高官被判刑入狱。此案的影响仍在继续，水门事件对日后的美国公众舆论和公共政策带来了持久影响。例如，美国国会后来通过法律，防止政府利用权力打压反对派，国会还下令各政府部门提供信息，解释自己搜集情报的活动。并批准了条例，来限制政府官员活动。美国公众，尤其是媒体，感受到了水门事件的影响。许多市民和记者觉得他们的政府不太可信。正如有人写的那样：“我们再也不会像这样信任我们的政府了。”
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