(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION -- American history in VOA Special English. Rutherford Hayes was sworn into office as the nineteenth president of the United States in eighteen seventy-seven. Hayes, a Republican, became president after a disputed election. Representatives of his party and the Democrats met secretly to work out a compromise. The Democrats agreed to let Hayes be sworn in. In return, he agreed to end federal support of radical Republican governments in the South. He promised to name southerners to his cabinet and other important jobs. And he said he would provide more federal aid for schools and railroads in the South. As part of the agreement, Hayes promised not to act aggressively to support the civil rights of black southerners. This week in our series, Steve Ember and Richard Rael tell the story of Rutherford Hayes.
Rutherford Hayes was born in Ohio in eighteen twenty-two. He was a good student at Kenyon College and at Harvard Law School. He opened a law office in Cincinnati. When he was thirty years old, he married Lucy Webb. Later, he served as an officer in the Union army during America's Civil War. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives. He also served as governor of Ohio. In this job, he helped establish the college that became Ohio State University. Hayes was a Republican. In eighteen seventy-six, he was the party's compromise candidate for president. His opponent in the national election was Democrat Samuel Tilden. Tilden won more popular votes than Hayes. In the American political system, whoever wins the most popular votes in a state usually gets all the electoral votes of that state. In eighteen seventy-six, both the Republicans and Democrats claimed the electoral votes of three southern states: Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina. So it was not clear at first who had won the presidential election. Congress appointed a committee to decide the issue. The committee had a Republican majority. It gave the disputed electoral votes to Hayes. He won the election by just one electoral vote. The results came just a few days before the inauguration.
Democrats protested that the Republicans had stolen the election. Yet they agreed to accept Hayes as president. In exchange, Hayes and the Republicans agreed to accept Democratic Party policies on several issues. Hayes's administration would deal mainly with national -- not international -- problems. At first, people wondered: would President Hayes keep the promises that were made to help him win the election. Most thought he would not. Hayes surprised everyone. In his inaugural speech, he promised to put the country ahead of the party. He said, "He serves his party best who serves his country best." Party leaders told Hayes which men to appoint to his cabinet. He refused and made his own choices. He ordered federal troops to withdraw from South Carolina and Louisiana. The troops had been there since the end of the Civil War. He also helped southern Democrats establish new governments in their states. Republican Party leaders criticized President Hayes. Anti-slavery groups also criticized him. They said former black slaves in the south had gained a lot under Republican rule. Now, they said, these black Americans would lose everything.
Hayes did not agree. He had received promises that the new democratic state governments would protect the rights of black Americans. It was not to be. White Democrats kept political control in some southern states for many years. They often denied civil rights to black citizens. Only with the rise of the civil rights movement in the nineteen fifties would the situation begin to change. After becoming president, Rutherford Hayes announced that he would serve just one term. He wanted to make serious reforms in the federal government. This would be easier to do if he did not have to worry about getting re-elected. Hayes started by changing the system that employed people in government jobs. Party leaders usually had great power to fill government jobs. They used the jobs to reward loyal party workers and to increase their own political strength. President Hayes demanded that federal jobs be given to people because of their abilities, not because they supported a politician. At that time, the best jobs were with the customs service of the Treasury Department. The people who collected customs -- taxes on imports -- could keep part of the money they collected. President Hayes took action against the customs service office in New York City. One of the men removed from the job there was James Garfield. Garfield would later become president of the United States.
Hayes also banned all federal workers from taking part in political organizations, conventions, and campaigns. And he said politicians no longer could demand campaign money from federal workers. Rutherford Hayes showed more political strength during a nationwide railroad strike. The strike began during his first summer as president. For several years, the nation had suffered from a serious economic depression. Three million people were out of work. Factories and businesses reduced the pay of those who still had jobs. Workers with the Baltimore and Ohio railroad protested. They took control of many areas along the railroad. They refused to let the trains move. The strike spread to other railroads. In some places, the strikes turned into riots, and the riots became violent. Some governors ordered their state armed forces to intervene. The state forces were not strong enough, however. So the governors asked President Hayes for help. He immediately sent federal troops to troubled cities. The troops stopped the riots and ended the strikes. Another issue during Hayes's administration involved a railroad in the western United States. It was both a labor problem and an immigration problem. Thousands of Chinese workers had been brought to America to help build the Central Pacific Railroad. After the railroad was built, many of them remained. Most settled in California. Others came from China to join them. These immigrants competed with white workers for jobs. Whites protested, because the Chinese agreed to work for less money. They said this kept wages down for all workers.
The white workers asked Congress for a law to stop Chinese workers from coming to the United States. Members of Congress from both parties wanted the support of these voters. So they quickly passed a bill that made it much more difficult for Chinese citizens to come to live in the United States. The bill said the president must cancel part of a treaty between the United States and China. That part of the treaty permitted citizens of each country to settle in the other country. President Hayes vetoed the bill. He said the United States had proposed the treaty. So, he said, the United States could not change it without agreement from China. Hayes did agree, however, that some action was necessary. So he opened negotiations with the Chinese government. He won an agreement to limit the number of Chinese who could enter the United States. During the administrations of Andrew Johnson and Ulysses Grant, Congress had weakened many powers of the president. Congress had become the strongest of the three branches of the American government. Throughout his administration, Rutherford Hayes worked hard to strengthen presidential powers.
For example, the United States Constitution gives the president power to veto bills passed by Congress. In the eighteen hundreds, Congress tried to prevent presidential vetoes. It used a method of attaching "riders" to legislative proposals. This is how the method works: Congress considers a bill the president believes is necessary. Then it joins that bill to a measure the president would veto if passed separately. The extra measure is called a "rider" to the first bill. To get the bill he wants, the president must accept the "rider," too. President Hayes refused to sign any bills with riders. So the Congress during his administration stopped using the method. Congresses since then have used it successfully. Rutherford Hayes kept his promise to serve only four years. He did not regret his decision. After leaving office in eighteen eighty-one, he said he was satisfied with what he had done. He looked back on his administration and wrote: "I left this great country prosperous and happy. I left the party of my choice strong, victorious, and united. In serving the country, I served my party. "He died in eighteen ninety-three. Hayes was right in saying that the United States was strong and prosperous. The late eighteen-hundreds were a time of growth for the nation. They also were a time of expansion into new territory. That will be our story next week.
重点解析
1.in return 作为报答；作为交换
I'll sell at a discount in return for a speedy sale.
为了尽快售出，我会打折销售。
2.in exchange 作为交换；为了换取
He paid her a huge salary. In exchange, he was assured of her vote.
他给她支付了很高的薪水，作为交换，他确定能够得到她的选票。
3.ahead of 早于；先于
Thanks to your help, we accomplished the task ahead of schedule.
亏得你们帮忙，我们才提前完成了任务。
4.spread to 传到；蔓延
It also spread to the brain and to the digestive and reproductive systems.
其也可以扩散到脑部以及消化和生殖系统。
参考译文
欢迎收听VOA慢速英语之建国史话节目。1877年，卢瑟福·海斯宣誓就任美国第19任总统。海斯是共和党人，在一次有争议的选举后成为总统。他所在的政党和民主党的代表秘密会晤，达成妥协。民主党人同意让海斯宣誓就职。作为回报，他同意结束联邦政府对南方激进共和党政府的支持。他答应任命南方人担任内阁和其他重要职务。他说，他将为南部的学校和铁路提供更多的联邦援助。作为协议的一部分，海斯承诺不会采取积极行动支持南方黑人的公民权利。在本周的系列节目中，史蒂夫·恩伯和理查德·雷尔将讲述卢瑟福·海斯的故事。
卢瑟福·海斯1822年出生于俄亥俄州。他是肯扬学院和哈佛法学院的好学生。他在辛辛那提开办了一家律师事务所。他三十岁时与露西·韦伯结婚。后来，他在美国内战期间担任联军军官。他当选为美国众议院议员，还担任俄亥俄州州长。在这份工作中，他帮助建立了后来成为俄亥俄州立大学的学院。海斯是个共和党人。在1876年，他是该党的总统折衷候选人。他在全国选举中的对手是民主党人塞缪尔·蒂尔登。蒂尔登赢得的选票比海斯多。在美国政治体系中，在一个州赢得最受欢迎选票的人通常会获得该州所有的选举选票。在1876年，共和党人和民主党人都获得了南部三个州的选举选票：佛罗里达州、路易斯安那州和南卡罗来纳州。所以，一开始并不清楚谁赢得了总统选举。国会任命了一个委员会来决定这个问题，委员会以共和党人占多数。它把有争议的选举票给了海斯，海斯仅以一张选举人票赢得了选举。结果在就职典礼前几天公开。
民主党人抗议共和党偷走了选举。然而，他们同意接受海斯当总统。作为交换，海斯和共和党人同意接受民主党在几个问题上的政策。海耶政府将主要处理国内问题，而不是国际问题。起初，人们想知道：海斯总统是否会信守助他赢得选举的承诺。大多数人认为他不会这样做，但是海斯让大家都感到吃惊。他在就职演说中承诺要把国家摆在政党之前。他说：“为国家服务最好的人，就能最好地为政党服务。”政党领导人告诉海斯哪些人应该被任命为他的内阁成员。他拒绝了，做出了自己的选择。他命令联邦军队从南卡罗来纳州和路易斯安那州撤出。内战结束后，军队就一直部署在那儿。他还帮助南方民主党人在他们的州建立了新政府。共和党领导人批评了总统海斯，反奴隶制组织也批评他。他们说，在共和党的统治下，南方以前的黑奴获得了很多好处。现在，这些美国黑人将失去一切。
海斯不同意。他得到的承诺是，新的民主州政府将保护美国黑人的权利。本来不是这样的。白人民主党在南部一些州保持了多年的政治控制，他们经常剥夺黑人公民的公民权利。随着20世纪50年代民权运动的兴起，情况才开始改变。卢瑟福·海斯当上总统后，宣布他将只担任一届总统。他想认真地对联邦政府进行改革。如果他不必担心连任的话，这样做会更轻松。海耶斯首先改变了雇佣政府公职人员的制度。政党的领导人通常拥有很大的权力来填补政府的职位。他们利用这些工作来奖励忠诚的党务工作者，增加自己的政治实力。总统海斯要求给公众提供联邦公职，是因为他们的能力，而不是因为他们支持一位政治家。当时，最好的工作是就任于财政部的海关部门。收取进口税的人员可以保留一部分税款。总统海斯对纽约海关采取了行动，其中一个被解雇的人是詹姆斯·加菲尔德。加菲尔德后来将成为美国总统。
海斯还禁止所有联邦的工作人员参加政治组织、大会和竞选活动。他还说，政客们再也不能向联邦公职人员索要竞选资金。在全国范围的铁路罢工中，卢瑟福·海斯表现出更强的政治实力。罢工始于他担任总统的第一个夏天。几年来，美国遭受了严重的经济萧条。三百万人失业，工厂和企业降低了那些仍有工作者的工资。巴尔的摩市和俄亥俄州铁路的工人抗议，他们控制了铁路沿线的许多地区，不让火车开动。罢工蔓延到其他铁路。在一些地方，罢工变成了暴乱，暴乱演变成暴力。一些州长命令各自州的武装部队进行干预。然而，国家军队不够强大。所以，州长们向海斯总统求助。他立即向发生动乱的城市派遣联邦军队。军队阻止了暴乱，结束了罢工。海斯执政期间的另一个问题涉及美国西部的一条铁路。这既是一个劳工问题，也是一个移民问题。成千上万的中国工人被带到美国来帮助建设中央太平洋铁路。铁路建成后，许多人留下来了。大多数人定居在加利福尼亚州。其他来自中国的工人加入了他们。这些移民与白人争抢工作。白人表示抗议，因为中国人同意收取更少的薪水。他们说，这样就降低了所有工人的工资。
白人工人要求国会制定法律，阻止中国工人来美国。两党的国会议员都希望得到这些选民的支持。因此，他们很快通过了一项法案，使中国公民来美国生活变得更加困难。法案说，总统必须取消美中之间的部分条约。条约的那部分内容允许每个国家的公民在另一个国家定居。海斯总统否决了这项议案。他说美国已经提出了这项条约。因此，如果未经中方同意，美方不能变更。不过，海斯确实同意有必要采取一些行动。于是，他与中国政府展开谈判。他赢得了一项协议，该协议限制中国人进入美国的数量。在安德鲁·约翰逊和尤利西斯·格兰特执政期间，国会削弱了总统的许多权力。国会已成为美国政府三个分支中最强大的一个。在他的整个政府中，卢瑟福·海斯努力加强总统的权力。
例如，《美国宪法》赋予总统否决国会通过法案的权力。在1800年，国会试图阻止总统否决。它采用了在立法提案中加入“附加条款”的方法。以下是其运作原理：国会审议总统认为必要的法案。然后，国会将该法案加入到一项措施之中，如果国会单独予以通过，总统可以做出否决。额外的措施被称为第一个法案的“附加条款”。总统为了赢得想要的法案，也必须接受“附加条款”。总统海斯拒绝联代附加条款签署任何法案。所以，在他执政期间国会停止采用这种方法。自此，国会一直成功使用这种它。卢瑟福·海斯信守诺言，只做了四年总统。他没有后悔自己的决定。1881年卸任后，他说他对自己的所作所为感到很满意。他回顾自己执政时写道：“我卸任时，美国这个伟大的国家繁荣昌盛。我所选的政党坚强有力、大获全胜、团结一心。在任期间，我为所在的政党效忠。”他死于1893年。海斯说美国强大而繁荣，是对的。18世纪末是国家发展的时期，也是一个向新领域扩张的时期。这将是我们下周要讲述的故事。
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