(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Welcome to the MAKING OF A NATION -- American history in VOA Special English. A new leader stood before the American people on March fourth, nineteen thirteen. He was Woodrow Wilson -- the twenty-eighth president of the United States. Wilson belonged to the Democratic Party. He was progressive in his belief that government should take an active part in efforts for social reforms. This week in our series, Kay Gallant and Harry Monroe begin the story of Wilson’s presidency. Woodrow Wilson had spent most of his life at Princeton University. First he was a professor. Then he was university president. Next, Wilson was elected governor of the state of New Jersey. His early success as governor made him a leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in nineteen twelve.
Wilson traveled widely around the country during the campaign. He made speeches to many groups. He tried to make himself and his ideas known to as many Americans as possible. Wilson called his program "the New Freedom." One of his campaign promises was to fight for better conditions for America’s small business owners. Such proposals helped him win the Democratic nomination for president. Then he defeated President William Howard Taft and former president Theodore Roosevelt in the election. Woodrow Wilson, the former president of a university, had become the president of a nation. The largest crowd in Washington, D.C.’s history welcomed Wilson outside the Capitol Building on the day of his inauguration. He called on the American people to join him in making the country a better place. "Our duty," Wilson said, "is to correct the evil without hurting the good. I call all honest men, all patriotic, all forward-looking men to my side." Wilson wasted no time. He immediately called a special session of Congress to act on Democratic campaign promises to reduce import taxes, or tariffs. Wilson felt strongly about the need to reform these taxes. He broke tradition by leaving the White House to appear before Congress, in person, to appeal for his tariff proposals.
Many members of Congress opposed Wilson’s plans. But the new president used the results of a Senate investigation to win the fight. The investigation showed that a number of senators owned companies that depended on high tariffs for their profits. The votes of these senators were influenced by their property holdings. Public knowledge of the situation forced many of them to give up their holdings and stop resisting tariff reform. Congress finally approved Wilson’s proposals. Lower tariffs reduced the amount of money taken in by the federal government. So the Senate also approved a tax on income, or earnings. A constitutional amendment had been passed earlier to permit such a tax. President Wilson and the Democratic Party were pleased with the new tariff and income tax bills. But they were far from finished. Next they turned their efforts to reform of the banking industry. For several years, many people had recognized the need for changes in the banking system. The old system of uncontrolled private banks had developed years earlier, before the United States became a major industrial nation. Many people agreed that a more modern system was needed. But they could not agree on details.
President Wilson said control of the nation’s wealth was held by too few men. He noted a report that said just two men controlled ten percent of the total wealth of the United States. Wilson said the nation needed a money supply that could be increased or reduced, when necessary, to correct economic conditions. He said a method was needed to let banks help each other during economic emergencies. And he said laws were needed to prevent a few wealthy men from using the economic resources of the country for their own purposes. Finally, Wilson said, "The control of this system of banking must be public, not private. It must belong to the government itself." Wilson called his proposal for a central bank the Federal Reserve System. Under the plan, the nation would be divided into twelve areas. Each area would have its own federal reserve bank. These area banks would not do business with the public. They would serve only as "bankers’ banks." And they would issue a new form of money supported by the federal government. Most important, the leaders of the new system would be chosen by the government--not by private business. Bankers, business leaders, and their representatives in Congress sharply criticized President Wilson’s proposals. They said government control of the banking system was socialism, not capitalism.
But Wilson refused to change his proposals. And he helped to lead the fight to make them law. Finally, Congress agreed. It did not take long for bankers to discover that the new system was much better than the old one. Today, the Federal Reserve System is one of the most important institutions in the United States. For Woodrow Wilson, the fight over the banking system was yet another political success. He had won major reforms in the nation’s tariffs, taxes, and banking systems. Now he told Congress that new legislation was needed to control the power of monopolies and trusts. These were the giant companies and business alliances that controlled complete industries. Wilson proposed a new anti-trust law to control the actions of large companies. His supporters in Congress wrote a bill that listed a number of business activities that no longer would be permitted. For example, no longer could a company set prices that would reduce competition or create a monopoly. No longer could corporations buy stocks of competing companies. No longer could they demand that a store refuse to sell competing products. The new bill also protected labor unions from being charged with anti-trust violations. It gave unions more power to organize and protect workers.
At President Wilson’s request, Congress also prepared a law that set up a government agency called the Federal Trade Commission. The commission was given the job of investigating wrong-doing in business. It had the power to force companies to obey the new anti-trust laws and other rules. Both the anti-trust law and the Federal Trade Commission helped protect small business owners from the power of business giants. Once again, the proposals caused fierce debate. But, once again, Congress finally voted to give Wilson most of what he wanted. The early months of Wilson’s term were one of the most successful times in the history of any president. The new president had won the election by promising major reforms in the economic life of the country. And he had kept that promise.
The reforms were not only a victory for Woodrow Wilson. They also changed the face of American business and economics for many years to come. The income tax, for example, grew to become the federal government’s main source of money. Woodrow Wilson had taught history in the days when he was a professor at Princeton University. He knew his actions as president could influence the country for a long time. But, as a historian, he also knew his own term in the White House could be changed by unexpected events. That is just what happened. Wilson campaigned for president mainly on national issues. But he soon was forced to spend more and more time on international issues. His first big problem was across the United States’ southern border, in Mexico. That will be our story next week.
重点解析
1.appeal for 呼吁；请求
Appeal for emergency assistance to tajikistan.
向塔吉克斯坦提供紧急援助的呼吁。
2.once again 再次；又一次
Once again I breathed as a free man.
我又能像个自由人一样呼吸了。
3.for a long time 很久；长时间
They have been missing for a long time now.
现在他们已失踪很长一段时间了。
4.belong to 属于；归属
Which church do you belong to?
你属于哪一教派？
参考译文
欢迎收听VOA慢速英语之建国史话节目。1913年3月4日，一位新领导人站在美国人民面前，他就是伍德罗·威尔逊——美国第28任总统。威尔逊属于民主党，他认为政府应该积极参与社会改革的努力，这是一种改革派的信念。在本周的系列节目中，凯·格兰特和哈里·门罗将开始讲述威尔逊总统的故事。伍德罗·威尔逊在普林斯顿大学度过了他人生的大部分时间。他先是位教授，后来成为大学校长。接着，威尔逊当选为新泽西州州长。他作为州长时取得的早期成功，使他成为1912年民主党总统提名的主要候选人。
威尔逊在竞选期间周游全国，他向许多团体发表演讲，试图让尽可能多的美国人了解他和他的想法。威尔逊把他的计划称为“新自由”，他的一项竞选承诺是为美国小企业主争取更好的条件。这些提议帮助他赢得了民主党总统提名。随后，他在选举中击败了威廉·霍华德·塔夫特总统和前任总统西奥多·罗斯福。曾任大学校长的伍德罗·威尔逊，已经成为美国总统。在他的就职典礼当天，国会大厦外聚集了华盛顿特区有史以来最多的民众，他们在那欢迎威尔逊。威尔逊呼吁美国人民与他一道，使国家变得更美好。他说：“我们的责任是在不损害善行的情况下，纠正邪恶。我呼吁所有诚实的人，所有爱国者，所有具有前瞻性的人士站到我这一边。”威尔逊没有浪费时间，他立即召集国会特别会议，以根据民主党竞选承诺减少进口税或关税。 威尔逊强烈认为有必要改革这些税收，他打破传统，离开白宫亲自出席国会，呼吁其关税提案。
许多议员反对威尔逊的计划，但新任总统利用一项调查的结果取得了竞选的胜利。调查表明，有一批参议员拥有的公司依靠高关税获利。这些参议员的选票受到他们的财产控股的影响。公众对形势的了解迫使许多人放弃了他们持有的财产，停止抵制税率改革。国会最终批准了威尔逊的建议。降低关税减少了联邦政府的收入。因此，参议院还批准了对收入或收益征税。早些时候通过了一项宪法修正案，允许征收这种税项。威尔逊总统和民主党对新关税和所得税法案感到满意，但他们的行动还远未结束。接下来，他们把精力转向银行业的改革。几年来，许多人认识到银行系统需要改革。在美国成为主要的工业国之前，由不受控制的私人银行组成的旧有体系早在几年前就已经发展起来。许多人都认为，需要有一个更现代化的制度。但是，他们不能就细节达成一致。
威尔逊总统表示，少数人控制着国家的财富。他提到了一份报告，这份报告显示两个人控制着美国财富总额的10%。威尔逊说，美国需要必要时可以增加或减少的货币供应量，以矫正经济状况。他说，需要一种方法，让银行在经济危机期间互相帮助。他还说，需要制定法律，防止少数富人为了自己的目的利用国家的经济资源。最后，威尔逊说：“对这一银行体系的控制必须是公共性的，而非私人性的。控制权必须属于政府本身。”威尔逊把关于建立中央银行的提议称为联邦储备系统。根据这项计划，全国将划分为12个地区。每个地区拥有自己的联邦储备银行。这些区域性银行不与公众进行交易，而只会充当“银行家的银行”他们将发行一种由联邦政府支持的新式货币。最重要的是，新体制的领导人将由政府，而不是由私营企业选出。银行家、商界领袖和他们在国会的代表严厉批评威尔逊总统的提议。他们说，政府对银行系统的控制是社会主义，而不是资本主义。
但是，威尔逊拒绝改变他的提议。他帮助领导了这场斗争，使它们成为法律。最后，国会表示同意。不久，银行家们就发现，新制度比旧制度好得多。今天，联邦储备系统是美国最重要的机构之一。对伍德罗·威尔逊来说，围绕银行体系的斗争是在政治方面取得的又一次成功。他赢得了国家关税、税收和银行体系的重大改革。现在他告诉国会，需要制定新的立法来控制垄断和信托的权力。这些是控制整个行业的大公司和商业联盟。威尔逊提出了一项新的反垄断法来控制大公司的行为，他在国会的支持者们撰写了一份法案，列出了一些不再被允许进行的商业活动。例如，公司不能再制定会减少竞争或造成垄断的价格，不能购买竞争公司的股票，也不能要求商店拒绝销售竞争产品。新法案还保护工会不受反垄断指控，赋予工会组织和保护工人的更多权力。
应威尔逊总统的要求，国会还制定了一项法律，设立一个名为联邦贸易委员会的政府机构。委员会的任务是调查商业活动中的不正当行为，该委员会有权强制公司遵守新的反垄断法和其他规则。反托拉斯法和联邦贸易委员会，都能帮助保护小企业主免受商业巨头的影响。这些提议再次引起激烈辩论。但是，国会又一次投票决定通过威尔逊的大部分请求。威尔逊任期的头几个月，是历届总统中最成功的一段时期。新总统承诺对国家的经济生活进行重大改革，从而赢得了选举。他也遵守了自己的诺言。
改革不仅是伍德罗·威尔逊的胜利。在未来的许多年里，他们也改变了美国商业和经济的面貌。例如，所得税逐渐成为联邦政府的主要资金来源。伍德罗·威尔逊在普林斯顿大学当教授时教过历史，他知道自己作为总统的行为会在很长时间里影响到这个国家。但是，作为一名历史学家，他也知道自己在白宫的任期可能会因意外事件而改变。事情确实就是这样。威尔逊竞选总统的主要议题是国家问题。但是很快，他就不得不在国际问题上花费越来越多的时间。他面临的第一个重大问题是在墨西哥横跨美国的南部边境，这将是我们下周要讲述的故事。
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