(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION – American history in VOA Special English. In March of eighteen sixty-eight, Congress tried to remove President Andrew Johnson from office. But the Senate failed in the effort by one vote. Andrew Johnson was a Democrat. Congress was controlled by radical members of the Republican Party. Most of the charges at Johnson's trial were based on his dismissal of the secretary of war. A new law said the president could not remove a cabinet officer without Senate approval. Johnson said the law was unconstitutional. The trial was an important turning point in the making of the nation. Removal from office would have established the idea that the president could serve only with the approval of Congress. The president would have become, in effect, a prime minister, requiring the support of Congress to remain in office. Andrew Johnson's victory kept alive the idea of an independent presidency. Although Congress failed to remove him, the vote did not end a conflict with the White House over the future of the South. But it did have an effect on efforts to rebuild the South following the war. Radical Republicans wanted to punish the South for starting the war. They also wanted to be sure new governments in the southern states would support the Republican Party. This week in our series, Doug Johnson and Frank Oliver tell about the reconstruction of the South.
One way radical Republicans gained support was by helping give blacks the right to vote. They knew former slaves would vote for the party which had freed them. Another way Republicans kept control in the South was by preventing whites from voting there. They passed a law saying no southerner could vote if he had taken 上art in the rebellion against the Union. This prevented the majority of southern whites from voting for Democrats and against Republicans. Congress also made strong rules about what southern states had to do to re-enter the Union. It said each of the states needed a new constitution that protected the voting rights of all black men. And it said each southern state must approve an amendment to the United States Constitution that gave citizenship to blacks. The radicals did not rest with changes in the law. They also sent their supporters south to organize blacks for the Republican Party. Many southern whites hated these men from the North. They had a special name for them: carpetbaggers. The name arose because many of the northerners who went south arrived with all their possessions in a carpet handbag. Southerners also had a name for their own people who cooperated with the carpetbaggers. They called them scalawags. Neither name was friendly.
Southern whites had a reason to be bitter. They had lost the Civil War. Now much of their power was gone, and they were suffering. But there was another side to the story, as well. Southern whites had held black people in slavery for many years. Now, the former slaves were getting to enjoy a small taste of freedom. Also, the South had started the Civil War which had caused so much death and destruction. It was not surprising that the North showed little sympathy when the fighting stopped and the South lay in ruins. Southern states organized conventions to form new governments. Soon, all but three southern states had new legislatures. Not surprisingly, radical Republicans held firm control in every one of the new governments. Many of the new governors and state officials were carpetbaggers from outside the state. Others were southern scalawags. Many of these new state officials were dishonest. They began using their power to become rich. In South Carolina, for example, the new governor was a former army officer from the state of Ohio. He gave government jobs to many dishonest men, including some who were wanted for crimes in other states. The same situation existed in other state governments in the South. In Louisiana, for example, the governor was a carpetbagger from the state of Illinois. He left office after four years with one million dollars. His official pay during that time was only thirty-two thousand dollars.
The South was not the only place where public officials were dishonest. The period after the Civil War in the United States was marked by several famous incidents involving violations of the public trust. Some of these incidents took place in the North, even in the White House. They were among the worst examples of dishonesty and poor government ever to take place in American history. It also is important to note that not everyone in the South was dishonest. The new state governments did many good things. They built roads and bridges, schools and hospitals. They improved transportation and education. They loaned money to companies to build railroads. Most important, they helped give hope to former slaves. These people were struggling to create a new life in the land of their former owners. So, the record of reconstruction in the South was mixed. Many southerners believe, even today, that reconstruction was a bitter time of defeat. But others now say this period after the Civil War was a necessary step in creating a different kind of South from the one which had existed before. Historians do agree that reconstruction changed the United States in several important ways. One of the most important changes was in the Constitution. Congress passed three historic amendments to the Constitution during this period.
The first was the Thirteenth Amendment. It ended slavery in the United States. The next was the Fourteenth Amendment. It said all persons born or naturalized in the United States were citizens of the United States and of the state in which they lived. It said no state could limit the rights of these citizens. Finally, there was the Fifteenth Amendment. It said a citizen of the United States could not be prevented from voting because of his color. The Thirteenth Amendment freed all Negro slaves. The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments were supposed to protect their rights. These laws alone, however, did not succeed in doing this. It would take another century -- until Martin Luther King and other civil rights leaders -- to make these rights a reality. Yet the passage of these three amendments to the Constitution was still a historic step in making blacks full and equal citizens. These same laws and other actions of the radical Republicans changed the South in other -- less desirable, ways. They helped cause angry whites to form the Ku Klux Klan and other groups that terrorized blacks for years to come.
The laws also increased bitterness between the North and South that lasted many years. Reconstruction changed the economy of the South, too. White landowners broke up their big farms into smaller pieces of land. They rented these to black farmers. With the land came seed, tools and enough supplies for a year. In exchange for this, the owner would get a large share of the crop raised by the tenant farmer. This system, called share-cropping, spread through the South. It lasted for almost one hundred years. Share-cropping made it possible for blacks to work the land for themselves for the first time in their lives. But it also made it difficult for them to earn enough money to improve their condition. As a result, the majority of southern blacks remained in poverty. The system helped cause the South to be the poorest part of the United States for many years. The reconstruction period changed the face of the South and of the United States. The events of reconstruction also were central to one of the nation's most interesting presidential elections. That will be our story next week.
重点解析
1.in effect 实际上；事实上
That deal would create, in effect, the world's biggest airline.
事实上，这一协议将促成世界最大航空公司的成立。
2.take part in 参与；参加活动
You can take part in activities from canoeing to bird watching.
你可以参与从划独木舟到观鸟等各种活动。
3.vote for 赞成；建议
Few members planned to vote for him.
几乎没什么成员打算投他的票。
4.in exchange for 用......交换；作为交换
It is illegal for public officials to solicit gifts or money in exchange for favors.
公务员通过索要礼物或钱财作为为他人提供便利的交换是违法的。
参考译文
欢迎收听VOA慢速英语之建国史话节目。1868年3月，国会试图罢免总统安德鲁·约翰逊。但参议院的努力以一票之差告终，安德鲁·约翰逊是民主党人。国会由共和党的激进成员控制。约翰逊在审判中的大部分指控是基于他从作战部长的职位上被罢免，一项新法律表示，没有参议院的批准，总统不能撤换内阁官员。约翰逊说这项法律违宪。审判是建国史的一个重要转折点，如果总统被撤职，就会形成一种观念，即只能在国会批准的情况下总统才能任职。事实上，总统将成为首相，需要国会的支持才能继续执政。安德鲁·约翰逊的胜利使独立总统的观点得以实现。尽管国会无法罢免他，但投票并没有结束与白宫就南部未来问题上的冲突。但是，它确实对战后重建南方的努力产生了影响。激进的共和党人想惩罚南方发动战争，他们还想确保南部各州的新政府会支持共和党。在本周的系列节目中，道格·约翰逊和弗兰克·奥利弗将讲述南方重建的故事。
激进的共和党人获得支持的一个方法是帮助黑人获得投票权，他们知道曾是奴隶的那些黑人会投票支持解放他们的政党。共和党人控制南方的另一种方式是阻止白人在那里投票，他们通过了一项法律，说如果南方人参加了反对联邦的叛乱，就不能投票。这阻止了大多数南方白人投票支持民主党，反对共和党。国会还对南部各州重新加入联邦所必须做的事情制定出强制性规则，它表示每个州都需要一部新宪法来保护所有黑人的投票权。它还说，每一个南方各州都必须批准美国宪法的修正案，该修正案赋予黑人公民权。激进分子没有因为法律的变更就此罢休，他们还派支持者南下，为共和党组织黑人。许多南方白人讨厌这些北方人，他们有一个特别的名字：掮包客。多北方人到达南方时，都把他们的所有财产放入一个地毯制成的手提包里。南方人对于与掮包客合作的人也有一个名字，他们叫做南方佬。两个名字都不友好。
南方的白人有理由感到愤愤不平，他们输掉了内战。现在他们的大部分力量都消失了，饱受战争的苦难。但是，故事还有另一面。南方白人多年来一直把黑人作为奴隶，现在，以前的奴隶开始享受到一点自由的滋味。同时，南方也开始参与内战，造成了如此多的伤亡，还对地区造成严重地破坏。当战争停止，南方变为废墟时，北方并没有表现出多少同情也就不足为奇了。南方各州组织了各种会议来组建新的政府。很快，除了南方三个州以外，其他所有州都拥有了新的立法机构。毫不奇怪，激进的共和党人牢牢控制着每一个新政府。许多新的州长和州政府官员都是来自各州之外的掮包客，其他人则是南部的斯卡拉瓦人。这些新政府官员中有许多人不诚实，他们开始利用自己的权力致富。例如，在南卡罗来纳州，新州长是俄亥俄州的前陆军军官。他给许多不诚实的人提供了政府工作，包括一些在其他州因犯罪而被通缉的人。南方其他州政府也存在同样的情况。例如，在路易斯安那州，州长是伊利诺伊州的一名掮包客。四年后，他带着一百万美元离开了公职。他那时的正式工资只有3.2万美元。
南方并不是唯一一个公职人员不诚实的地方。美国内战后的一段时期内，发生了几起涉及违反公众信任的著名事件。其中一些事件发生在北部，甚至在白宫。他们是美国历史上发生的政府不诚实和业绩糟糕的实例。值得注意的是，并非南方的每个人都不诚实，新的州政府做了很多好事。他们修建公路、桥梁、学校和医院，改善交通和教育状况。他们把钱借给公司修建铁路。最重要的是，他们给予以前的奴隶希望。这些人努力在曾经的奴隶主所拥有的土地上创造新生活。因此，南方重建的记录是好坏参半。许多南方人认为，即使在今天，重建仍然是一段失败的艰难时期。但现在其他人说，内战后的这一时期是一个非常必要的阶段，这创建了一个不同于以前所存在的南方。历史学家确实同意，南方的重建在几个重要方面都改变了美国。其中一个最重要的变化是宪法。在此期间，国会通过了三项历史性的宪法修正案。
第一个是第十三修正案，它结束了美国的奴隶制。接下来是第十四修正案，该修正案表示，所有在美国出生或后来加入美国国籍的人都是美国，也都是他们所居住的各州的公民。修正案中还表示，没有任何州可以限制这些公民的权利。最后，还有第十五条修正案。该修正案表示，不能因为肤色的原因，阻止美国公民投票。第十三条修正案解放了所有黑人奴隶。第十四和第十五修正案本应保护他们的权利。然而，这些法律本身未能做到这一点。要实现这些权利还需要一个世纪的时间，直到马丁·路德·金和其他民权领袖的出现。然而，通过这三项宪法修正案，仍然是使黑人成为拥有完整的公民权利，享受平等的历史性一步。
这些法律和激进的共和党人的其他行动以其他方式改变了南方，但都不太可取。他们致使愤怒的白人组成了三K党，和在几年时间里恐吓黑人的其它组织。这些法律也增加了南北之间持续多年的苦难。重建也改变了南方的经济状况。白人地主把他们的大农场划分成小块的土地，他们把这些小块土地租给黑人农民。有了土地，就有了种子、工具和足够一年的供给。作为交换，农场主将获得承租农户种植的大部分作物。这种称为“共享种植”的制度一直在南方蔓延，持续了近一百年的时间。共享种植使黑人有生以来第一次可以为自己耕种土地，但这也使得他们很难挣到足够的钱来改善他们的状况。结果，大多数南方黑人仍然贫困。这个制度使南方在几年的时间内，成为美国最贫穷的地方。重建时期改变了南方和美国的面貌，重建事件也成为美国最有趣的总统选举的焦点事件。这将是我们下周要讲述的故事。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
