(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION - American history in VOA Special English. John Quincy Adams was sworn in as president of the United States on March fourth, eighteen twenty-five. A big crowd came to the Capitol building for the ceremony. All the leaders of government were there: senators, congressmen, Supreme Court justices and James Monroe, whose term as president was ending. This week in our series, Steve Ember and Shirley Griffith talk about John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States. John Quincy Adams spoke to the crowd. The main idea in his speech was unity. Adams said the Constitution and the representative democracy of the United States had proved a success. The nation was free and strong. And it stretched from the Atlantic Ocean across the continent of North America to the Pacific Ocean. During the past ten years, he noted, political party differences had eased. So now, he said, it was time for the people to settle their differences to make a truly national government. Adams closed his speech by recognizing that he was a minority president. He said he needed the help of everyone in the years to come. Then he took the oath that made him the sixth president of the United States.
John Quincy Adams had been raised to serve his country. His father was John Adams, the second president of the United States. His mother, Abigail, made sure he received an excellent education. There were three major periods in John Quincy Adams's public life. The period as president was the shortest. For about twenty-five years, Adams held mostly appointed jobs. He was the United States ambassador to the Netherlands, Germany, Russia, and Britain. He helped lead the negotiations that ended the War of Eighteen Twelve between Britain and the United States. And he served eight years as secretary of state. He was president for four years after that. Then he served about seventeen years in the House of Representatives. He died in eighteen forty-eight. As secretary of state, Adams had two major successes. He was mostly responsible for the policy called the Monroe Doctrine. In that policy, President James Monroe declared that no European power should try to establish a colony anywhere in the Americas. Any attempt to do so would be considered a threat to the peace and safety of the United States.
Adams's other success was the Transcontinental Treaty with Spain. In that treaty, Spain recognized American control over Florida. Spain also agreed on the line marking the western American frontier. The line went from the Gulf of Mexico to the Rocky Mountains. From there, it went to the Pacific Ocean, along what is now the border between the states of Oregon and California. John Quincy Adams did not care for political battles. Instead, he tried to bring his political opponents and the different parts of the country together in his cabinet. His opponents, however, refused to serve. And, although his cabinet included southerners, he did not really have the support of the South. Others in his administration tried to use the political power that he refused to use. One was Vice President John C. Calhoun of South Carolina. Calhoun hoped to be president himself one day. He tried to influence Adams's choices for cabinet positions. Adams rejected Calhoun's ideas and made his own choices. Senator James Barbour, a former governor of Virginia, became secretary of war. Richard Rush of Pennsylvania became secretary of the treasury. And William Wirt of Maryland continued as attorney general. Adams thought he had chosen men who would represent the different interests of the different parts of the country.
In his first message to Congress, President Adams described his ideas about the national government. The chief purpose of the government, he said, was to improve the lives of the people it governed. To do this, he offered a national program of building roads and canals. He also proposed a national university and a national scientific center. Adams said Congress should not be limited only to making laws to improve the nation's economic life. He said it should make laws to improve the arts and sciences, too. Many people of the West and South did not believe that the Constitution gave the national government the power to do all these things. They believed that these powers belonged to the states. Their representatives in Congress rejected Adams's proposals. The political picture in the United States began to change during the administration of John Quincy Adams. His opponents won control of both houses of Congress in the elections of eighteen-twenty-six. These men called themselves Democrats. They supported General Andrew Jackson for president in the next presidential election in eighteen twenty-eight.
A major piece of legislation during President Adams's term involved import taxes. A number of western states wanted taxes on industrial goods imported from other countries. The purpose was to protect their own industries. Southern states opposed import taxes. They produced no industrial goods that needed protection. And they said the Constitution did not give the national government the right to approve such taxes. Democrats needed the support of both the West and South to get Andrew Jackson elected president. So they proposed a bill that appeared to help the West, but was sure to be defeated. They thought the West would be happy that Democrats had tried to help. And the South would be happy that there would be no import taxes. To the Democrats' surprise, many congressmen from the Northeast joined with congressmen from the West to vote for the bill. They did so even though the bill would harm industries in the Northeast. Their goal was to keep alive the idea of protective trade taxes. The bill passed in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. This left President Adams with a difficult decision. Should he sign it into law? Or should he veto it? If he signed the bill, it would show he believed that the Constitution permitted protective trade taxes. That would create even more opposition to him in the South. If he vetoed it, then he would lose support in the West and Northeast. Adams signed the bill. But he made clear that Congress was fully responsible for it.
There were other attempts by Democrats in Congress to weaken support for President Adams. For example, they claimed that Adams was misusing government money. They tried to show that he, and his father before him, had become rich from government service. Others accused him of giving government jobs to his supporters. This charge was false. Top administration officials had urged Adams to give government jobs only to men who were loyal to him. Adams refused. He felt that as long as a government worker had done nothing wrong, he should continue in his job. During his four years as president, he removed only twelve people from government jobs. In each case, the person had failed to do his work or had done something criminal. Adams often gave jobs to people who did not support him politically. He believed it was completely wrong to give a person a job for political reasons. Many of Adams's supporters, who had worked hard to get him elected, could not understand this. Their support for him cooled.
The political battle between Adams's Republican Party and Jackson's Democratic Party was bitter. Perhaps the worst fighting took place in the press. Each side had its own newspaper. The Daily National Journal supported the administration. The United States Telegraph supported Andrew Jackson. At first, the administration's newspaper called for national unity and an end to personal politics. Then it changed its policy. The paper had to defend charges of political wrongdoing within the Republican Party. It needed to turn readers away from these problems. So it printed a pamphlet that had been used against Andrew Jackson during an election campaign. The pamphlet accused Jackson of many bad things. The most damaging part said he had taken another man's wife. That will be our story on the next program of THE MAKING OF A NATION.
重点解析
1.take the oath 宣誓，发誓
The kids emerge from the Capitol onto the inauguration stand to watch their father take the oath of office on Tuesday morning.
星期二早上，孩子们从国会通道走向就职典礼台观看她们的爸爸正式宣誓成为新的美国总统。
2.make sure 确保，查明
But she must make sure that this will not harm her by consulting a specialized physician.
但她咨询专业医师确定这不会对她造成伤害。
3.agreed on 达成协议，意见一致
We fail to understand why you bring up the subject now since both parties agreed on all the terms and conditions three week ago.
我们不理解贵方为何现在提及此事，因为三周前双方已同意全部条件。
4.as long as 只要，如果
He is up to the job without doubt as long as he would give his mind to it.
只要他专心，他一定能胜任这份工作。
参考译文
欢迎收听VOA慢速英语建国史话—美国历史。约翰·昆西·亚当斯于1825年3月4日宣誓就任美国总统。人群聚集到美国国会大楼前观看宣誓仪式。所有政治领袖全部出席，包括参议员、国会议员、最高法院大法官，以及任期已满的总统詹姆斯·门罗。在本周的系列节目中，史蒂夫·恩伯和雪莉·格里菲斯将讲述美国第六任总统约翰·昆西·亚当斯的故事。约翰·昆西·亚当斯向聚集的人群发表演讲，他演讲的主要观点是团结。亚当斯说美国宪法和代议制民主已经被证明是成功的，美国是自由而强大的国家。它的领土从大西洋横跨北美大陆直抵太平洋。亚当斯指出，在过去十年中政党分歧有所缓和。现在正是人们解决分歧，建立一个真正的中央政府的时机。亚当斯在演讲结尾处提及自己是少数派总统，需要所有人在未来的日子中给予他帮助。随后他宣誓就任美国第六任总统。
约翰·昆西·亚当斯似乎生来就是为他的国家服务的。他的父亲是美国第二任总统约翰·亚当斯。他的母亲阿比盖尔确保他接受优质的教育。约翰·昆西·亚当斯的主要政治生活分为三个时期，任职总统这段时间为期最短。在大约25年的时间里，亚当斯大部分工作都是接受任命就职。他是美国驻荷兰、德国、俄罗斯和英国的大使。他领导过终结1812年美英战争的谈判。亚当斯担任过八年的美国国务卿，之后做了四年美国总统，随后又在众议院任职约17年。他于1848年去世。出任国务卿期间，亚当斯取得了两项重大的功绩。他与“门罗主义”的政策形成有主要关系。在该政策中，詹姆斯·门罗总统宣称，任何欧洲国家都不应试图在美洲的任何地方建立殖民地，任何这样做的企图都将被视为是对美国和平与安全的威胁。
亚当斯的另一项功绩是与西班牙签订《横贯大陆条约》。在该条约中，西班牙承认美国控制佛罗里达州。西班牙也同意划定美国西部的边境线，这条边境线从墨西哥湾延伸到落基山脉。从那里沿俄勒冈州和加利福尼亚州之间的边境线伸向太平洋。约翰·昆西·亚当斯并不关心政治争斗。相反，他试图将反对派和不同地区的官员都纳入到内阁中。然而，他的反对派却拒绝在他的政府中任职。此外，尽管他的内阁成员中包括南方人，但他并未得到南方的支持。在他的政府中效命的其他人试图使用他拒绝采用的政治权力。其中一位是南卡罗来纳州的副总统约翰·C·卡尔霍恩。卡尔霍恩希望有一天自己能成为总统。他试图影响亚当斯对内阁职位的选定。亚当斯拒绝了卡尔霍恩的想法，做出了自己的决定。前弗吉尼亚州州长詹姆斯·巴伯参议员任命为作战部长。宾夕法尼亚州的理查德·拉什任命为财政部长。马里兰州的威廉·沃特继续担任司法部长。亚当斯认为，他选择了能代表来自国家不同地区不同利益的人任职。
亚当斯总统在给国会的第一份报告中描述了他对国家管理的看法。他说，政府的首要职责是提高它所统治的人们的生活。为此，他提出了建设道路和运河的国家计划。他还提议建立国立大学和国家科学中心。亚当斯说，国会不能只限于在改善国家经济生活方面立法，还应该在提升艺术和科学水平方面立法。许多西部和南部的人不认为宪法赋予了中央政府执行这些事宜的权力。他们认为这些权力属于各州。他们在国会的代表否决了亚当斯的提案。约翰·昆西·亚当斯执政期间，美国政治格局开始发生变化。他的对手在1826年的选举中赢得了国会两院的控制权。这些人自称为民主党人，他们在1828年的总统选举中支持安德鲁·杰克逊将军担任总统。
亚当斯总统任期内的一项主要立法涉及进口税问题，许多西方国家都想对进口的外国工业品征税，目的是保护本国的工业经济。南方各州反对征收进口税，因为他们不生产需要保护的工业品。他们说宪法没有赋予中央政府批准这种税收的权利。民主党人需要得到来自西部和南部的支持，以使安德鲁·杰克逊当选总统。因此，他们提出了一项有利于西部的法案，但这项法案肯定会失败。他们认为西部国民会因民主党人曾试图提供帮助而感到高兴，而南部则会因不实施进口税感到满意。令民主党人惊讶的是，许多来自东北部的议员同来自西部的议员联合投票赞成该项法案。即使该法案会损害东北部地区的工业，但他们还是这样做了。他们的目的是让保护性贸易税收的概念能够继续流传下去。该法案在众议院和参议院都得以通过。这让亚当斯总统面临一个艰难的抉择，应该签署生效吗？还是应该否决它呢？如果他签署该法案，就表明他认定宪法准许保护性贸易税，这将使更多南方人反对他。如果他否决该法案，那么他将失去西部和东北部的支持者。最终亚当斯还是签署了这项法案，但他明确表示国会对此负有全部责任。
国会中的民主党人还进行其他尝试来削弱对亚当斯总统的支持。例如，他们声称亚当斯滥用政府资金。他们试图证明亚当斯与其父亲都是因在政府中执政而发财的。其他人指责他把政府公职交任给他的支持者，该指控是伪造的。政府高级官员曾劝解亚当斯只让效忠他的人出任政府公职，但被亚当斯拒绝了。他觉得只要政府雇员没犯错，就应该继续工作。在亚当斯的四年总统任期中，他只免除了12个人的公职。每一次都是因为当事人未能履行职责或违法乱纪。亚当斯经常给那些在政治上不支持他的人工作。他认为出于政治原因授予工作是完全错误的，许多曾助力亚当斯当选总统的支持者都对此表示不解，对他的支持度也降低了。
亚当斯的共和党和杰克逊的民主党之间上演着激烈的政治斗争，或许最尖锐的斗争还是新闻大战。双方都发行自己的报纸，《全国日报》支持当前政府，而《合众国电报》则支持安德鲁·杰克逊。起初，政府发行的报纸呼吁国民团结，终止个人政治争斗。随后其改变了策略。报纸必须抵御来自共和党内部对政治不法行为的指控，它需要转移读者的注意力。因此，该报纸在竞选期间印制了一本对抗安德鲁·杰克逊的小册子。这本小册子指责杰克逊做过很多坏事。最诋毁他的部分是说他勾引别人的妻子。这将是下期建国史话要讲述的故事。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
