(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
In the spring of eighteen twelve, the United States and Britain were moving closer to war. Congress had approved a ninety-day embargo to stop American ships from leaving home. And American ships in foreign ports and at sea were ordered to return to the United States. President James Madison requested the embargo to prevent the capture of these ships once a war started. Today, Maurice Joyce and Stuart Spencer begin the story of the War of Eighteen Twelve. The president was sure there would be war. He had seen the instructions from London to British minister Augustus Foster. The British foreign minister warned Foster to say nothing about any compromise. He wanted the United States to see how firmly Britain would continue its orders against neutral trade with the enemies of Britain. President Madison had hoped for some sign of compromise. But there was none. Congress continued to prepare the nation for war. Lawmakers voted to increase the size of the army and to borrow money to pay for things the larger army would need. But not all members of Congress wanted war with Britain.Many Federalists, especially, opposed it. Some of them tried to end the embargo only a month after it began. Congressman Hermanus Bleecker showed the House a list of hundreds of names from his area of New York. He said all these people opposed the embargo and the idea of war with Britain. "It is impossible," he said, "that we can go to war when the embargo ends, sixty days from now. Where are our armies? Our navy? Have we the money to fight a war? Why, it would be treason to go to war this soon, so poorly prepared." Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin was having a difficult time finding money to borrow. He could get almost no money at all from Federalist New England banks. Congress had approved borrowing eleven million dollars. But Gallatin found the banks would lend only six million to the United States government. The Federalists charged that Gallatin's difficulties showed the people did not want war, especially the people of New England. If the people of the West and the South wanted to fight, then let them pay for the war. Republican John Randolph also spoke against the war.
"How could the administration speak of war when it did not even have the courage to order taxes to raise money? Are we to go to war without money, without men, without a navy? The people will not believe it." John C. Calhoun answered Randolph. "So far from being unprepared, sir, I believe that four weeks from the time war is declared, we will have captured much of British Canada." Sure that Britain would not change its hostile policies, President Madison sent a secret message to Congress on June first, proposing that war be declared. Madison listed the reasons for war: British warships had violated the American flag at sea. The British navy had seized and carried off persons protected by this flag. British warships also violated United States waters, interfering with American ships as they entered and left port. Another reason, he said, was Britain's orders against trade with France or allies of France.
British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval, under great political pressure, had decided to end the British orders on neutral trade. Businessmen and traders were loudly protesting that the orders were destroying England's economy. On May eleventh, before Perceval could act, he was shot to death. Not until June eighth was agreement reached on a new prime minister, Lord Liverpool. Eight days later, his government announced that the orders were ended immediately. This was only two days before war was to be declared in Washington. And, with ships the only method of communication, the British action was not learned of in time. If the United States had had a minister in London during the spring of eighteen twelve, he would have been able to report progress toward ending the orders. But the American minister, William Pinkney, had returned home a year earlier. On the day that war was declared, the United States was far from ready to fight. There were only about eight thousand American soldiers.
And most of them were serving in the West. The United States had only a few warships and gunboats with which to face the British navy -- the most powerful naval force in the world. Worst of all was the division among the people of the United States about the war. It was strongly opposed in the Northeast. Church bells were rung and flags lowered in New England when the declaration of war was announced. Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut refused to let their state soldiers follow the orders of the national government. The United States could not have lasted long against the military power of Britain had it not been for the war in Europe. Most of Britain's forces were battling the soldiers of Napoleon Bonaparte. Britain could send only small forces to fight the Americans. The United States tried to increase the size of its army. But the United States had not fought a war, or needed an army, for a long time. The officers who led troops in the Revolutionary War were old men, and tired.The young men had never fought and knew little about the ways of war. Two top generals were named by President Madison: sixty-two-year-old Henry Dearborn, and Thomas Pinckney, sixty-three. Most of the other generals were almost as old. There also was the problem of getting enough men to serve as soldiers. Congress had approved an increase of twenty-five thousand men. Only five thousand agreed to serve. Members of Congress from the western states had spoken proudly of how their people would rush to fight the British. This did not happen. The first request to Kentucky for soldiers produced only four hundred men. The United States decided the first attacks should be made against Canada. There were only about twenty-five hundred British soldiers guarding the border between the United States and Canada. Four campaigns were planned. The first of these was led by an old Revolutionary War soldier, General William Hull. General Hull and his two thousand men were ordered to march from southern Ohio to the city of Detroit, in the Michigan territory.
They had completed the three hundred kilometer march before war was declared. Hull was given immediate orders to invade Canada. The old general crossed the border and attacked the British at Malden. But the British general there was prepared, and the attack failed. Hull retreated back to Detroit. He was chased by a smaller force of British soldiers and Indians. Although Hull had the stronger force and plenty of supplies, he surrendered Detroit to the British. After the war, Hull was tried by a military court on charges of cowardice. The court found him guilty and ordered him shot. The president, because of Hull's service during the Revolutionary War, permitted the old soldier to live.重点解析
1.Members of Congress 国会议员
I look forward to working with members of Congress in both chambers over the coming weeks to do exactly that.
我期待着在今后几个星期跟国会两院成员共同努力，完成这项工作。
2.plenty of 大量；很多；许多
You have plenty of time to read.
你有大量的时间读书。
3.tried to 试图 设法
They tried to huckster red socks to me.
他们企图强行向我推销红色短袜。
4.rush to 将…匆匆送往；匆匆到…
Then break your chain, my boat, and be free, and fearlessly rush to your wreck.
那么，挣断铁链，我的小船，摆脱羁绊，无畏地冲向你的毁灭吧！
参考译文
1812年春天，英美战火一触即发。国会通过了一项为期九十天的禁令——禁止美国船只离开美国本土。在外国港口和已经出海的美国船只被勒令返回美国。詹姆斯·麦迪逊总统要求禁运是为了防止战争爆发美国船只被扣押。今天，莫里斯·乔伊斯和斯图尔特·斯宾塞开始为您讲述1812年英美战争的故事。麦迪逊认为战争一定会爆发。他看到了伦敦给英国大使奥古斯都·福斯特的指示。英国外交大使警告福斯特，不要对任何妥协发表任何言论。他希望美国明白，英国会将反对与英国的敌人进行中立贸易的命令执行到底。麦迪逊总统曾希望看到一些妥协的迹象。但是没有。国会继续为战争备战。议员们决定投票增加陆军规模，并借钱来满足更大规模军队所需的开支。但并非所有国会议员都希望与英国开战，尤其是许多联邦主义者。其中一些国家在禁运开始一个月后就遭到了很多人的反对。国会议员赫尔马努斯· 布利克向众议院递交了一份名单，名单上的人都来自他所在的纽约地区。他说，所有这些人都反对禁运和与英国开战。他表示：“禁运令60天后结束时，我们不可能开战。我们的陆军在哪里?海军呢?我们有钱打仗吗?这么快就去打仗，一点都没咋准备，简直就是叛国。”
美国财政部长加勒廷当时很难筹集到资金。他几乎无法从联邦主义的新英格兰银行获得任何资金。国会已经批准借款1100万美元。但是加勒廷发现，实际从银行只能借到600万美元。联邦党人指出，这恰恰说明大家，尤其是新英格兰人民，不希望战争。如果西部和南部的人民想打仗，那么就让他们为战争买单吧。共和党人约翰·伦道夫也反对战争。“政府甚至连下令征税筹集资金的勇气都没有，何谈打仗呢?难道我们要在没有军费，没有士兵，没有海军的情况下去打仗吗?百姓必然无法相信。”约翰·C·卡尔霍恩回答说：“长官，我们不是没有准备，我相信，从宣战的第四个星期起，我们就会占领英属加拿大的大部分地区。”因为确信英国不会改变其敌对政策，所以麦迪逊总统在6月1日向国会发送了一条秘密信息，建议宣战。麦迪逊列举了宣战的理由：英国军舰在海上侵犯了美国国旗，英国海军扣押并带走了美国人民。英国军舰还侵犯了美国水域，干涉美国船只进出港口。还有一个原因是，英国禁止美国跟法国或者盟友进行贸易。麦迪逊表示，根据国际法，英国无权下达这样的命令。麦迪逊还提到了西北部印第安人的反抗，话音里似乎指责英属加拿大帮助印第安人。麦迪逊的致密函提交给众议院外交事务委员会讨论。委员会主席约翰·C·卡尔霍恩两天后提出报告，建议众议院赞成宣战。众议院秘密召集会议，听取报告，联邦党人约西亚·昆西建议公开这场辩论。该提议被否决了。宣战的最后投票结果是79票赞成，49票反对。在参议院，投票结果更加接近：19票赞成，13票反对。6月18日，麦迪逊总统签署了该项法案。1812年战争开始了。华盛顿的领导人并不知道这一点，但两天前，英国终止了针对美国中立的贸易禁令。如果不是发生了一些事件，这些禁令可能早就取消了。在巨大的政治压力下，英国首相斯宾塞·珀西瓦尔决定取消禁令。商人们大声抗议说，这些禁令正在破坏英国的经济。5月11日，珀西瓦尔还没来得及行动，就被暗杀了。直到6月8日才达成协议，由首相利物浦勋爵担任。八天后，英国政府宣布立即取消贸易禁令。两天之后，美国宣战。而且，由于船只是唯一的通讯工具，所以美国并没有及时得到消息。如果1812年春天，美国在伦敦有使节的话，那么贸易禁令取消情况肯定能够传达至美国。但是早在一年前，美国大使威廉·平克尼就回国了。战争虽然开始了，美国还远没有做好战争的准备。当时，美国只有大约八千名士兵。他们中的大多数都在西部服役。美国只有为数不多的军舰和炮艇可以对抗英国海军，而英国拥有世界上最强大的海军力量。最糟糕的是美国人民在战争问题上存在分歧，在东北遭到强烈反对。当新英格兰宣战时，教堂的钟声响起，旗帜降下。
马萨诸塞州、罗德岛州和康涅狄格州拒绝让本土士兵服从联邦政府的命令。如果不是英法战争，美国不可能对抗英国的军事力量那么久。英国的大多数军队都在与拿破仑的士兵作战。英国只能派遣少量部队对抗美国。美国试图扩大军队规模。但是美国很久没有打过一场战争，也很久没有军队。革命战争中的领官都年老体衰。年轻人从未打过仗，对战争的方式也知之甚少。麦迪逊总统任命了两名高级将领：62岁的亨利·迪尔伯恩和63岁的托马斯·平克尼。其他多数将领几乎和他们不相上下。还有一个问题是兵源问题。国会批准增加2万5千名士兵。只有五千人愿意参军。西部各州的国会议员自豪地表示，西部人民将会奋起反抗英军。但是他们并没有反抗。肯塔基州第一次征募只招了四百名士兵。美国决定首先进攻加拿大。当时美加边境只有大约2500名英国士兵守卫着。美军策划了四次运动。首场运动是由革命战争时期的老兵威廉·赫尔将军指挥。赫尔将军和其两千名士兵奉命从俄亥俄州南部出发，向密西根州的底特律市进军。他们在宣战前完成了三百公里的行军，赫尔奉命入侵加拿大。赫尔越过边境，在莫尔登袭击了英军。但是英军早有准备，偷袭失败，赫尔撤回底特律，后面被一小群英国士兵和印第安人追赶着。尽管赫尔的供给和兵力都很充足，但还是没有守住底特律。战争结束后，因为怯懦被军事法庭审判，赫尔背叛罪名成立，被判处死刑。由于赫尔在独立战争期间服过役，所以麦迪逊免他一死。译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
