(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION – American history in VOA Special English. By the summer of eighteen sixty-two, the American Civil War had been going on for more than a year. The Union had won some battles. The Confederacy had won others. But neither side was in a position to win the war. President Abraham Lincoln needed a major victory. He was losing the support of both politicians and the public. A major victory would not only help him that way. It also would make it easier for him to make an important announcement. For a number of months, he had been planning an announcement about the black people held as slaves in the South. It would come to be known as the Emancipation Proclamation. Today, Kay Gallant and Harry Monroe tell about Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.
At the end of August, eighteen sixty-two, Confederate troops under the command of Robert E. Lee defeated the main Union army at Manassas, Virginia. The battlefield was less than fifty kilometers from Washington. The year before, Confederate troops had sent the Union army fleeing from that same battlefield. Now they had done it again. With this latest victory, General Lee decided on a major move. He would carry the war into the northern states. Lee took his army of sixty thousand men across the Potomac River into Maryland. He ordered some of his men to capture the Union position at Harpers Ferry. He moved the others to Sharpsburg, a town on the Potomac River. He put his men into position along Antietam Creek, just outside of town. His lines extended almost three kilometers. There, at Antietam, he would make his stand. He was still close enough to Virginia to withdraw, if the Union force following him proved too strong. The Union force arrived in the middle of September. It did not attack immediately. It spent one full day getting into position along Antietam Creek across from the Confederate army.
It attacked the following day at sunrise. The Union general, George McClellan, planned to attack all along the Confederate line at the same time. But this did not happen. First, Union troops attacked one end of the line, which extended into a field full of tall corn plants. Then they attacked the center of the line, which was in an old, deeply sunken road that gave it good protection. Finally, they attacked at the other end of the line. For each northern attack, General Lee was able to move men to where they were needed. The northern troops got within twenty-five meters of the Confederate line. But they could not break through anywhere. On the first day of battle at Antietam, Lee lost twenty-five percent of his men. On the second day, the two armies faced each other without firing. They were too tired to fight. As they rested, however, fresh Union soldiers moved into position. Lee knew they would attack with full force the next day. He knew he could not win. Sadly, he ordered his men back to Virginia. It was now clear: Antietam was a northern victory. It was not a complete victory. The Union army could have chased the Confederate army and destroyed it.
But General McClellan did not do this. He was satisfied that he had stopped the invasion. In Washington, President Lincoln welcomed the news. He had waited a long time for a northern victory. A few days after the battle, Lincoln held a special meeting with his cabinet. He talked about the declaration on slavery which he had prepared. It would free Negro slaves in the rebel states of the South. "As you remember," he said, "I put the declaration aside several weeks ago, until I could issue it supported by a military victory. The action of the army against the rebels has not been exactly what I should have liked. But the rebels have been driven out of Maryland. And Pennsylvania is no longer in danger of invasion." President Lincoln said he thought the time was right to announce the Emancipation Proclamation. The cabinet made some minor changes in the document, and Lincoln signed it. Newspapers printed the proclamation.
This is what it said:"I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States and Commander-in-Chief of the army and navy, do hereby declare that on the first day of January, eighteen-sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any state then in rebellion against the United States, shall then become and be forever free. "The government of the United States, including the military and naval forces, will recognize and protect the freedom of such persons, and will interfere in no way with any efforts they may make for their actual freedom." President Lincoln had tried to keep the question of slavery out of the Civil War. To him, there was just one reason for fighting: to save the Union. Nothing meant more to him than preventing the nation from splitting up. Lincoln feared that the issue of slavery would weaken the northern war effort. Many men throughout the north would fight to save the Union. They would not fight to free the slaves. Lincoln also needed the support of the four slave states that did not leave the Union: Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri. He could not be sure of their support if he declared that the purpose of the war was to free the slaves.
As Lincoln waited for a Union victory to announce his Emancipation Proclamation, he wrote a letter to the "New York Tribune" newspaper. The letter was to prepare the public for what was to come. This is what Lincoln said: "My chief object in this struggle is to save the Union. It is not either to save or destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it. And if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it. And if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that. "What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union. This is how I see my official duty. It does not change my wish -- as a person -- that all men everywhere could be free." President Lincoln failed to keep the question of slavery out of the Civil War. As the war went on, month after long month, people in the North began to see it as more than a struggle for national unity. They began to see it as a struggle for human freedom.
Abolitionists were active. In speeches and writings, they said over and over again that slavery was evil. As public opinion began to change, anti-slavery members of Congress gained more power. By the summer of eighteen sixty-two, they had enough support to pass laws ending slavery in Washington, D.C. and United States territories. They also pushed through Congress a bill that would do much to end slavery in the states. The bill was called the Confiscation Act. It gave the federal government the power to confiscate, or seize, the property of all persons who supported the southern rebellion. Slaves were considered property. So any slaves seized under the act would become free immediately. Slaves who escaped from rebel slave owners also would be free. The bill would not affect slaves owned by persons who supported the Union. President Lincoln did not like the Confiscation Act. He thought it interfered with his wartime powers as Commander-in-Chief. However, Lincoln was under great pressure from Abolitionists. So he signed the new law. But he did not plan to enforce it. He still hoped for a plan that would free the slaves slowly, over time. He proposed such a plan, but only for the border states between north and south. Under his plan, the federal government would buy slaves in the border states and free them. Lawmakers from the border states rejected Lincoln's plan. And that is when he decided to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. We will tell about the effects of that decision next week.
重点解析
1.be known as 被称作；被认为是
You wanna be known as a coward or as a hero?
你想是个懦夫还是个英雄？
2.full of 充满；装满
I set off, full of optimism.
我无比乐观地出发了。
3.split up 分开；分裂
Did the two of you split up in the woods?
你们俩是在树林里分开的吗？
4.interfere with 妨碍；干扰
It will seriously interfere with the progress of the work.
它将严重干扰工作的进展。
参考译文
欢迎收听VOA慢速英语之建国史话节目。到1862年夏天，美国内战已经持续了一年多。联邦军和联盟国分别赢得了一些战役，但双方都无法获得这场战争的胜利。总统亚伯拉罕·林肯需要赢得一场重大的胜利，他正在失去政治家和公众的支持。一场重大胜利不仅会帮助他实现这一目标，也会使他更容易发表重要的声明。几个月来，他一直在计划宣布一项关于南方黑奴的声明，这就是后来的《解放黑人奴隶宣言》。今天，凯·格兰特和哈里·门罗将讲述亚伯拉罕·林肯的《解放黑人奴隶宣言》。
1862年8月底，罗伯特·E·李将军指挥的联盟国军队在弗吉尼亚州的马纳萨斯击败了联邦军的主要兵力。战场离华盛顿不到五十公里。前一年，联盟国军队派出从同一战场逃离的联邦军队，现在他们又效仿之前的做法。因为最近取得的胜利，李将军决定采取重大行动，他将把战争带到北方各州。李将军率六万人跨过波托马克河进入马里兰州，他命令部分士兵在哈普斯渡口夺取联邦军所在的战地。然后把其他人转移到波托马克河上的夏普斯堡镇。他把士兵驻扎在镇外的安提坦河沿岸，战线延伸了近三公里，他要在安提坦开战。他离维吉尼亚州还很近，如果追击他的联邦军力太过强大，他可以撤退。联邦军于9月中旬抵达，它并没有立即进攻，而是花了整整一天时间，沿着联盟国军队对面的安提坦河部署部队。
第二天日出时分，他们发动了袭击。联邦军将军乔治·麦克莱伦计划同时沿联盟国战线发起进攻，但他并没有这么做。联邦军先是袭击了这条战线的一端，这条战线延伸到一片长满了大棵玉米的田地。然后，他们袭击了中线，这是一条深深下陷的古路，这样的地势给了它绝佳的防御能力。最后，他们攻击了战线的另一端。每次北方进攻，李将军都能把士兵转移到需要的地方。北方军队到达距离联盟国战线25米以内的地方。但是，他们却无从突破。在安提坦战役的第一天，李将军损失了25%的兵力。第二天，双方都没有开枪。士兵们太累了，无法作战。然而，当他们休息时，新的联邦士兵进入了阵地。李将军知道他们第二天会全力进攻，自己的军队无法获胜。令人遗憾的是，他命令部下撤回到维吉尼亚州。现在，局势很明了：安提坦之战，北方获胜。这并非一次全面的胜利，联邦军本可以追击、并摧毁联盟国军队。
但是，麦克莱伦将军没有这样做，他很满意自己已经阻止了敌军入侵。在华盛顿，总统林肯对这个消息表示欢迎，这场北方胜利让他等待已久。战后几天，林肯与内阁举行了一次特别会议。他谈到了自己准备的关于奴隶制的声明。这份声明将解放南方反叛各州的黑人奴隶。 “你们都记得，”他说，“我几周前先把此事放在一边，直到我军获胜，我才能发表该声明。我其实并不喜欢军队对叛乱分子采取的打击措施，不过叛军已经被赶出马里兰州。宾夕法尼亚州不再有敌军入侵的危险。”总统林肯说，他认为现在是宣布《解放黑人奴隶宣言》的时候了。内阁对宣言内容做出一些局部改动，林肯在文件上签字。
报纸刊登了该份宣言。其内容是：“本人，亚伯拉罕·林肯，任美国总统，兼陆、海军总司令，特在此郑重声明，1863年1月1日，在任何一个反抗美国的州内，作为奴隶被关押起来的人，都将成为自由人，并永远保持自由。美国政府，包括武装力量和海军，将承认并保护这些人的自由，决不干涉他们为获得自由所做出的任何努力。总统林肯曾试图将奴隶制问题排除在内战之外。对他来说，战斗的原因只有一个：拯救联邦，没有什么比阻止国家分裂更重要了。林肯担心，奴隶制问题会削弱北方为战争做出的努力。北方的许多人都会为拯救联邦而战，但他们不会为解放奴隶而战。林肯还需要四个没有脱离联邦的奴隶州的支持：特拉华州、肯塔基州、马里兰州和密苏里州。如果他宣布战争的目的是解放奴隶，他就无法确定他们是否还会支持战争。
林肯在等待联邦获胜，以宣布他的解放宣言时，他给《纽约论坛报》写了一封信。这封信是为了让公众对即将到来的事情做好准备。林肯是这样写的：“在这场战斗中，我的主要目标是拯救联邦，而不是拯救或消灭奴隶制。如果我能在不释放任何奴隶的情况下拯救联邦，我会这样做的。如果我能通过解放所有奴隶来拯救联邦，我会这样做的。如果我能通过释放部分奴隶来拯救联邦，我也会这样做的。“我所做的关于奴隶制和有色人种的事，是因为我相信，这样做有助于拯救联邦。这就是我看待自己职责的方式。作为一个人，我的愿望并没有改变，那就是所有人都是自由的。”总统林肯未能将奴隶制问题排除在内战之外。随着战争一月一月的推进，北方人民开始把它看作比争取民族团结的斗争更重要，他们开始认为这是一场争取自由的斗争。
废奴主义者很活跃。他们在发表演讲和撰写的文章中，一遍一遍地控诉奴隶制的邪恶。随着公众舆论的变化，反奴隶制的国会议员获得了更多的权力。到1862年夏天，他们获得了足够的支持，通过了在华盛顿特区和美国领土内终结奴隶制的法律。他们还推动国会通过一项法案，该法案将在很大程度上结束美国的奴隶制。这项法案称为《没收法》，它赋予联邦政府没收或扣押所有支持南方叛乱者财产的权力。奴隶是一种财产。因此，根据该法案，被扣押的任何奴隶都将立即获得自由。从叛军奴隶主手中逃走的奴隶也将获得自由。该法案不会影响支持联邦的人所拥有的奴隶。总统林肯不喜欢《没收法》，他认为这妨碍了他作为总司令的战时权力。然而，林肯受到了来自废奴主义者的巨大压力。所以，他签署了新法律。但他并不打算强制执行该项法律。他仍然希望随着时间的推移，能够通过一项方案慢慢地解放奴隶。他提出了这样一项方案，但只针对南北边境国家。根据他的计划，联邦政府将在边境各州购买奴隶并释放他们。来自边境各州的立法者拒绝了林肯的计划。就在那时，他决定发表《解放黑人奴隶宣言》。我们将在下周讨论该决定的影响。
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