VOA建国史话(翻译+字幕+讲解):反奴隶制运动的兴起
日期:2019-04-16 16:09

(单词翻译:单击)

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听力文本

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Welcome to the MAKING OF A NATION – American history in VOA Special English. In eighteen forty, as the administration of Martin Van Buren came closer to an end, there was a widespread feeling that he had not been a strong president. He seemed unable to make the people understand his policies. The opposition Whig Party was happy over Van Buren's failures. This week in our series, Harry Monroe and Kay Gallant describe how the Whigs saw an excellent chance in the upcoming election. The Whig leader in the Senate was Henry Clay of Kentucky. Clay told a friend he was sure he would be called on to serve as the Whig candidate for president. Other Whig leaders were not so sure. They did not question Clay's ability to be president. But he had been a candidate both in eighteen twenty-four and eighteen thirty-two. And he had lost both times. Then there was a growing political force in the United States that would not be helpful to Clay's candidacy. That was the abolitionist movement, which opposed slavery. Abolitionists did not like Clay, because he owned slaves.
The dispute over slavery seemed to have been laid to rest for a time. But during the eighteen thirties, it rose to the surface again. A major reason why the dispute came alive again was cotton. Cotton plants spread across the states of the south. Cotton production had grown so heavily that it gave the south a one-crop economy. Cotton depended on the labor of slaves. By the eighteen thirties, cotton planters believed that without slavery, the whole economic system of the south would lie in ruins. To them, slavery was no longer just a question of right or wrong. It was a necessity for survival. Cotton made the agricultural south economically dependent on the industrial north. Northern ships carried southern cotton to the markets of Europe. Manufactured goods needed in the South came from the North. The South put so much time and energy into growing cotton, that it failed to give much thought to developing industries of its own. The situation deeply troubled the political leaders of the South. What made things worse was the fact that most of the federal government's financial aid for public works went to the North.
Then there was the old dispute over import taxes. Taxes on foreign goods mostly helped the manufacturers of the North. The taxes were to be lowered in eighteen forty-two. But that was some time in the future. No one could be sure what would happen then. Such was the general political and economic picture in the United States when the abolitionist movement began to make itself felt. In the beginning, the abolitionist movement was organized by religious groups. The members of these groups believed there could be no compromise with evil. They felt that slavery was evil. So slavery must go. The eighteen thirties saw the birth of anti-slavery societies in New York and New England. The societies published newspapers and pamphlets. They began to flood the country with pamphlets and anti-slavery petitions. The South tried to stop the flow of this anti-slavery literature across the borders of southern states. The Abolitionists, in turn, declared that such actions violated freedom of the press and the constitutional right of petition. This was the beginning of a long, bitter struggle. It lasted for twenty years. It finally split the Union.

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The abolitionists had not as yet received major support from the people of the North. Many northerners were hostile to them. But in eighteen thirty-six, the House of Representatives declared that it would not listen to any anti-slavery petitions. This became known as the "gag rule." The Senate did not pass such a rule. But the Senate still made it almost impossible for anti-slavery petitions to come before it. Former President John Quincy Adams, who was then a congressman, rose up in protest. He was not an abolitionist. But he led a campaign against the gag rule. Adams said the rule was a violation of the constitutional right to petition Congress. The gag rule made great numbers of people in the North very angry. Because of it, these people began to support the abolitionist movement. The increasing bitterness over the issue of slavery put Whig leader Henry Clay in a difficult position. Clay was under pressure to make a decision on slavery, on the abolitionists, and on the southern extremists.
Where did he stand? Senator Clay had always hated slavery, although he owned some slaves himself. In a Senate speech in eighteen thirty-three, he called slavery "this great evil ... the darkest spot in the map of our country." Clay feared that the dispute over slavery might destroy him as a political leader. And, what was worse, he was afraid that it might destroy the nation. Clay was an extremely strong believer in the Union. Clay opposed violent action. He thought the slow growth of public opinion was better than violence in bringing about a solution to slavery. Clay hated the abolitionists and the great noise they were beginning to make over slavery. He said they were interfering with a southern institution and were forcing slavery into politics. Slavery, he declared, did not belong in politics. Still, Clay was a national leader. He knew it would be bad to stand too strongly opposed to the growing abolitionist movement. Clay also opposed the southern senators who tried to prevent discussion of slavery. He said their position was emotional and extreme. It was as bad as that of the abolitionists. The Senate did, in fact, discuss slavery, in a general way. It was concerned about the legal position of the federal government in relation to slavery.

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Senator John C. Calhoun of South Carolina offered a resolution for consideration. This is what he said: The Union was created by an agreement among the states. Each state had the constitutional right to complete control over its own institutions. It was the job -- the duty -- of the government in Washington to protect that right. That meant protection against any interference in the institution of slavery. Calhoun was most forceful when it came to slavery in the District of Columbia and in the territories. He declared that any federal, state, or private interference with slavery in those places was a direct and dangerous attack on the interests of slave states. Calhoun said the South must not surrender an inch to the abolitionist movement. "If we do," he said, "we are gone." Senator Clay did not like such extreme talk about states' rights. He became especially angry when states talked about separating from the Union, instead of trying to solve problems together. "Separation," Clay said, "is a terrible word. One's ears should not accept it. I desire to see -- in continued safety and prosperity -- this Union, and no other Union. I am opposed to all separate confederacies and to all sectional conventions. This Union, this government, will do nothing to attack the rights and security of the slave-holding states."
Clay then offered his own resolution for Senate consideration. This is what he said: Congress had no legal power over slavery within the states. Therefore, petitions for the abolition of slavery must be rejected, because Congress had no constitutional right to act on them. The Senate approved Clay's resolution. It rejected the one offered by Calhoun. Clay had acted as he did because he wanted to settle the dispute, and because he loved the Union. He did so for personal political reasons, too. Clay had defended the constitutional right of petition. That pleased the North. But he also had used a legal move to block the Abolitionist Movement from bringing anti-slavery petitions before Congress. That pleased the South. Clay believed he had protected his national position. He told a friend: "I have acted in such a way that I lost nothing, either in the South or the North." As the national election of eighteen forty got closer, the Whig Party felt more hopeful. They began to believe they could defeat President Van Buren in his attempt to win a second term. But they also began to turn away from Henry Clay as a presidential candidate. The election of eighteen forty will be our story next week.

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重点解析

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1.lay to rest 完全消除;搁置

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It must lay to rest worries of vulnerability.

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必须消除对于脆弱性的担忧&Sim*T;*g3~Q9%T(

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2.be opposed to 反对;与…相对

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How can anyone be opposed to that?

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怎么可能有人会反对它呢?

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3.attempt to 试图;尝试

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He made no attempt to conceal his dislike of me.

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他毫不掩饰对我的厌恶!5fa-i4O8R=&hp

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4.turn away 回避;转变方向

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Kennedy exhorted his listeners to turn away from violence.

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肯尼迪劝诫听众远离暴力uH8HEy(xaPhy|eD@sI

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参考译文

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欢迎收听VOA慢速英语之建国史话节目nOb!Ed|]D+w7F#,BSG6+。期接近尾声,人们普遍认为他并不是一位强大的总统DnFI7&0e8k)XS%xjtr。他似乎无法让人们理解他的政策,反对派辉格党对范布伦的种种尝试失败感到高兴W%u^uUJ-1bhO。在本周的系列故事中,哈里·门罗和凯·格兰特将为我们讲述辉格党在即将到来的选举中看到的大好时机T,|tRB@NfK4aV|tX6(9~。辉格党在参议院中的领袖是肯塔基州的亨利·克莱,克莱对一位朋友说,他确信他会被推举出来担任辉格党总统候选人U8=G5rz;k1^4.1。其他辉格党领导人对此并不那么确定oEwT4B&PHtKB7z|n4V。他们不质疑克莱担任总统的能力,但他在1824年和1832年都曾是候选人,而他在这两次竞选中都以失败告终(TMMu5r(B%(。当时,美国有一股政治力量正在日益壮大,即反对奴隶制的废奴运动,而这对克莱的竞选没有一点帮助b1fC31e!_xKN=。废奴主义者不喜欢克莱,因为克莱拥有奴隶jHCuHX~AI^
关于奴隶制的争论似乎已经平息了一段时间,但在十八世纪三十年代,这一问题再次浮出水面%zL[axICfKhrqiId|+。争论再次活跃的一个主要原因是棉花,当时棉花遍布南方各州ZSZR1I8Dr3Lm18lhc。棉花产量迅猛增长,使南部地区实现了单一作物经济ZWiTyAoay,。棉花的种植依仗奴隶的劳动hIZAqVqc76H。到十八世纪三十年代时,棉花种植者认为,如果没有奴隶制,南方的整个经济体系将变为一片废墟GQvfbrEtEm[wS。 对他们来说,奴隶制不再只是一个对错的问题,而是生存的必需品WQE&78QroRDbX。棉花产业使南方农业在经济上依赖北方工业,南方的棉花种植者需要用北方的船只把棉花运往欧洲市场)-Xx-|V#N|@RsQmI#。南方需要的制成品来自北方,南方人在种植棉花上投入了大量的时间和精力,根本没有考虑要去发展自有产业cbu(,&8,H1zub]n=I。这样的局势让南方政治领导人深感不安e2|+Ieafv^nX0J。更糟的是,联邦政府为公共工程提供的大部分财政援助都流向了北方KP01T^-qgx,6Q5bc
关于进口税的争议也依然存在,外国商品税主要帮助北方的制造商6Q4by)fdm3B。税收将在1842年下调, 但具体时间还不确定5-D!3JODFBf-G(0m。没人能确定接下来会发生什么qqDs)1M0Sq@L#。这就是废奴运动开始时美国的政治和经济现状cBF.MntySiKn=^c。起初,废奴运动由宗教团体组织,其团体成员认为不能向邪恶势力妥协VP9IiQ74_]。他们觉得奴隶制是邪恶的,所以必须废除Hq@_ogM!]-=5gaz6A2jo。十八世纪三十年代,纽约和新英格兰出现了反奴隶制社团t-*+qE[EpB1B5oB*[9,。这些协团出版报纸和小册子,他们开始向国民散发小册子和反奴隶制请愿书VHv[q5Jc-N2RfNXi。南方试图阻止这种反奴隶制的出版物进入南部各州rf)E[Yyow@q-6gn*y。废奴主义者进而宣称,这种行为侵犯了新闻自由和宪法规定的请愿权LksxJIToNVyT[o。由此开始了一场漫长而痛苦的斗争,这场斗争持续了二十年,它最终使美国各州的联盟四分五裂分裂h(XS+vxpH5O|kQt
到目前为止,废奴主义者还未能得到北方人民的大力支持DFy3~yUaAd+Iy;csyl!W。许多北方人对他们怀有敌意;!0PHVRZ9jk。但在1836年,众议院宣布不会听取任何有关反奴隶制的请愿,人们称其为“遏制政策”6)gIjoF._xJB。参议院并未通过该项政策,但是参议院还是让反对奴隶制的请愿书几乎无法递交上来l+K6;rOC@(mw。当时的国会议员,前总统约翰·昆西·亚当斯站出来抗议,他不是废奴主义者,但他领导了一场反对遏制政策的运动z7XIHC&gvE7mm@H。亚当斯说,这项政策侵犯了宪法赋予人民向国会请愿的权利B69WsUxbjK#]。遏制政策使许多北方人非常愤怒,因此,这些人开始支持废奴运动|A=,zks@CFFE8Y。在奴隶制问题上日益加剧的怨恨使辉格党领袖亨利·克莱处境艰难,克莱迫于压力,不得不就奴隶制、废奴主义者和南方极端分子等问题作出决定^;-2QqLMM0LTJ%KL
克莱的立场是什么?尽管参议员克莱自己也有一些奴隶,但他一直憎恨奴隶制zQryZ5Z-R;z&NOgy=。在1833年年的参议院演讲中,他称奴隶制为“我们的国土上最邪恶、最黑暗的污点-]7w.Iz2D%5。”克莱担心关于奴隶制的争论,可能会毁掉他作为政治领袖的地位suZ7Oj!d]%。更糟糕的是,他担心这会毁掉整个国家icd0#ekvqPz|_9,Hr,。克莱是联邦的坚定信徒X4X8j5js3n=e&DuNz1Hz。克莱反对暴力行为,他认为舆论造势要比使用暴力更能解决奴隶制问题(s[td8NLndl5。克莱痛恨废奴主义者和他们对奴隶制发表的各种言论myF|d6%~0Sc5。克莱说,这些废奴主义者防碍了南方的社会制度,并强行将奴隶制带进了政治领域VhQu=^j#jD%e3。他宣称,奴隶制不属于政治范畴#GJ5~O@Ax_。尽管如此,克莱仍然是国家领导人gNO^qB@x^Z%。他知道,过于坚决地反对日益壮大的废奴运动并不好O0n=ngNYK-8|GIuKi。克莱还反对那些试图阻止讨论奴隶制的南方参议员HP6CXbfq47C。他说他们的立场过于情绪化,而且太极端,FzoO&JpRe。这和废奴主义者一样糟糕-z227f2o|Lb4。事实上,参议院采用一种总论的方式讨论奴隶制问题,它关注的是联邦政府在奴隶制方面的法律地位Y|+C+C9%58u!9b@#Q
南卡罗来纳州参议员约翰·C·卡尔霍恩提出了一项供审议的决议,这就是他所说的:联邦由各州之间的协议所创建,宪法赋予各州完全控制自己社会制度的权利qcQW_L!qw3dLKh;J。而位于华盛顿的政府的职责,就是保护这一权利不受侵犯,这意味着要防止对奴隶制进行任何形式的干涉*#~Ccl7^SPEq;]tvdryq。卡尔霍恩在谈论哥伦比亚特区和领土上的奴隶制问题时,表现得最具说服力*JHE+p^V!0=NJF9V&.y。他宣称,任何联邦、州或私人干涉这些地方的奴隶制,都是对实施奴隶制的各州的利益进行的直接性攻击,极具危险性M;k!@CmSU_fA。卡尔霍恩说,南方决不能向废奴运动让步V1Y17^yJY=,。“如果这样做,”他说,“我们就完了Wp@4m9;+2A&Y2aDv。” 参议员克莱不喜欢这种关于各州权利的极端性谈话gCGRwmb5qqXwg。当各州谈到要脱离联邦时,他没有试图一起解决问题,而是变得非常气愤-Zewem8y8ELxe=。“脱离,”克莱说,“是一个可怕的词,让人无法接受RQu&ZWgJ~G@[.。我希望看到的是现有联邦拥有持久的安全和繁荣,没有其他联邦,lI.xLcLi]t7S7AK9S。我反对所有单独的联邦和某些群体的公约g+s~N4Q5-l^W5。现有联邦、现有政府将不会攻击实施奴隶制各州的权利和安全,5%_duOpnUxid。”
克莱随后提出了自己的决议,供参议院考虑wk1^tA@O6%4aQ(k。他是这样说的:国会对各州实施的奴隶制无法律控制权haC(=&t.TKrCck。因此,必须拒绝废除奴隶制的情愿,因为国会没有宪法权利对其采取行动(g4SQ+W,83.E0Et7KZ1。参议院批准了克莱的决议,而拒绝了卡尔霍恩提出的决议3CgvPg,u-[h。克莱的做法是因为他想解决争端,也是因为他热爱联邦vI6cxj,HQy4|r^|;FjCM。他这样做还包含个人政治原因.AjIQy2AX3=P2@p_f&。克莱为宪法赋予的请愿权进行辩护,这使北方人感到高兴rhlWiGkv5n;[BRtURD。但他也利用法律手段阻止废奴运动向国会提交反奴隶制请愿书,而这又让南方人很高兴gJq,k%jLi7eq2-x]o。克莱认为他保住了自己的国家地位,他告诉一位朋友:“无论是在南方还是在北方,我的做法都没有让我失去一丝一毫的支持1jJ!H&hNagoIjx。”随着1840年全国大选的临近,辉格党感到更加充满希望=(#;#(Zn5a。他们认为可以击败打算连任的总统范布伦,但他们也开始回绝让亨利·克莱作为总统候选人6*57IQhrF&Qo0]PNyzD。1840年的选举将是我们下周要讲述的故事cA5K39KEd6Hp

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译文为可可英语翻译,未经授权请勿转载!

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重点单词
  • preventv. 预防,防止
  • campaignn. 运动,活动,战役,竞选运动 v. 从事运动,参加竞
  • forcefuladj. 有力的,强烈的
  • districtn. 区,地区,行政区 vt. 把 ... 划分成区
  • understandvt. 理解,懂,听说,获悉,将 ... 理解为,认为
  • electionn. 选举
  • administrationn. 行政,管理,行政部门
  • petitionn. 祈求,请愿书,诉状 vi. 请愿,祈求 vt. 向
  • extremeadj. 极度的,极端的 n. 极端,极限
  • protectvt. 保护,投保