(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION – American history in VOA Special English. In nineteen fourteen, Europe exploded into the First World War. It was a war no nation really wanted. But no nation seemed able to stop it. The assassination of Austria's Archduke Franz Ferdinand in the city of Sarajevo was the spark that set off the explosion. This week in our series, Harry Monroe and Kay Gallant tell about the war and how it affected the United States under President Woodrow Wilson. The Austrian Archduke was murdered by Serbian nationalists. They opposed Austrian control of their homeland.
After the assassination, Austria declared war on Serbia. One of Serbia's allies was Russia. Russia agreed to help Serbia in any war against Austria. Austria had allies, too. The most important was Germany. Germany wanted Russia to stay out of the war. When Russia refused, Germany declared war on Russia. Then Germany declared war on Russia's close ally, France. Britain entered the war a few days later when Germany violated the neutrality of Belgium. One nation after another entered the conflict to protect its friends or to honor its treaties. Within a week, most of Europe was at war. On one side were the Central Powers: Germany and Austria-Hungary. On the other side were the Triple Entente Allies: France, Britain, and Russia. Many other nations took sides. Bulgaria and Turkey joined the Central Powers. Italy, Romania, Portugal, and Greece joined the Allies. The United States hoped to stay out of the war. President Wilson immediately declared American neutrality. He said: "It is a war with which we have nothing to do, whose causes cannot touch us."
Most Americans agreed with President Wilson. They did not want to get involved in the fighting. However, many found it difficult to remain neutral in their hearts. Some Americans had family roots in Germany. They supported the Central Powers. A greater number of Americans had family roots in Britain or France. They supported the Allies. Yet the official American policy was neutrality. The United States planned to continue to trade with both sides. Germany and Austria expected a quick victory in the war. They were caught between two powerful enemies: Russia and France. But German military leaders were not worried. They had a battle plan they were sure would succeed. The German generals planned to strike quickly at France with most of the German army. They expected to defeat France in a short time and then turn to fight Russia. In this way, the German army would not have to fight both enemies at the same time. At first, the plan worked. Two million German soldiers swept across Belgium and into France. They rushed forward toward Paris, hoping for a fast victory. But the German commanders made a mistake. They pushed their men too fast. When British and French forces struck back -- outside Paris -- the tired and worn German soldiers could not hold their positions.
The battle was fierce and unbelievably bloody. In the end, the Germans were forced to withdraw. The German withdrawal gave the allies time to prepare strong defenses. There was no chance now for a quick German victory. Instead, it would be a long war, with Germany and Austria facing enemies on two sides. Britain and France were on the West. Russia was on the East. The Allies took immediate steps to reduce Germany's trade with the rest of the world. The British navy began seizing war supplies found on neutral ships sailing toward German ports. It then expanded its efforts to block food exports to Germany. The blockade by Britain and the other allies was very successful. Germany faced possible starvation. Its navy was not strong enough to break the blockade with surface ships. Its only hope was to break the blockade with another naval weapon: submarines. Germany announced that it would use its submarines to sink any ship that came near the coast of Britain. The threat included ships from neutral nations that tried to continue trading with the Allies. The United States and other neutral nations immediately protested the German announcement. They said it was a clear violation of international law.
When a German submarine sank a British ship in the Irish Sea, one of the victims was an American citizen. A few weeks later, an American oil ship was damaged during a sea battle between British navy ships and a German submarine. Then came the most serious incident of all. It involved a British passenger ship called the Lusitania. The Lusitania was sailing from New York City to Britain when it was attacked by a German submarine. The Lusitania sank in eighteen minutes. One thousand two hundred persons were killed. One hundred twenty-nine were Americans. The sinking of the Lusitania shocked and horrified the American people. They called it mass murder. They turned against Germany. President Wilson warned that he might declare war on Germany, if Germany continued to sink civilian ships. Germany did not want war with the United States. It already faced a strong fight against the European Allies. It promised not to sink any more civilian ships without warning. And it offered regrets for the Lusitania incident.
President Wilson accepted Germany's apology. Like most Americans, he hoped to stay out of the bloody European struggle. And he also knew that the record of the Allies was not completely clean. For example, he was troubled by reports of mass hunger in Germany. He and other Americans felt the British food blockade was cruel. They also were shocked by the way British forces brutally crushed a rebellion in Ireland at the time. Most of all, the American people were sickened by reports of what was happening on the battlefields of Europe. The armies were using poison gas and other terrible weapons. Soldiers on both sides were dying by the millions. The war had become a bloodbath. The United States had a presidential election in nineteen sixteen. President Wilson won the nomination of the Democratic Party to seek re-election. Democrats around the country shouted their support with these words: "He kept us out of war!" Wilson himself did not like the words. He felt it raised false hopes. But people continued to say it, because they did not want war.
The Republican Party nominated Supreme Court Justice Charles Evans Hughes as its candidate for president. Hughes was a moderate Republican. He supported a number of social reforms. Like Wilson, Hughes promised to keep the United States neutral. However, one of his supporters was former President Theodore Roosevelt. And Roosevelt called for strong American policies that could lead to war. Roosevelt's words led many Americans to see Wilson as the candidate of peace....and Hughes as the candidate of war. Voting in the presidential election was very close. At first, it seemed Hughes had won. He went to bed on election night believing he would be America's next president. But voting results later that night confirmed Wilson as the winner. The election was so close the Republicans did not accept defeat for two weeks. Woodrow Wilson had won another term. During that term, he would find it increasingly difficult to honor the words of the campaign. Finally, he would find it impossible. The United States entered World War One while Woodrow Wilson was president. That will be our story next week.
重点解析
1.agree to 同意;赞成
I cannot but agree to your decision.
我不得不同意你的决定
2.plan to 计划;打算
They plan to challenge the constitutionality of the law.
他们计划对该法的合宪性提出质疑
3.stay out of 不介入;置身于......之外
He warned the army to stay out of the way of the relief effort.
他警告军队不要介入救援工作
4.continue to 继续;持续
You must continue to see them no matter how much you may disagree with them.
无论你和他们之间有多大的分歧,你都得继续去看他们
参考译文
欢迎收听VOA慢速英语之建国史话节目
暗杀后,奥地利向塞尔维亚宣战 。塞尔维亚的盟友之一是俄罗斯,俄罗斯同意帮助塞尔维亚对抗奥地利 。奥地利也有盟友,最重要的盟友是德国 。德国希望俄罗斯不要卷入战争 。俄罗斯予以拒绝时,德国向俄罗斯宣战 。随后,德国向俄罗斯的亲密盟友法国宣战 。几天后,德国侵犯了比利时的中立地位后,英国加入了战争 。一个又一个国家卷入冲突,试图保护其友国或遵守其条约 。不到一周的时间,欧洲大部分地区都陷入战争 。一边是中央大国:德国和奥匈帝国,另一边是三个协约国:法国、英国和俄罗斯 。许多其他国家站在一边 。保加利亚和土耳其加入到中央大国之中 。意大利、罗马尼亚、葡萄牙和希腊加入了盟国 。美国希望不要卷入战争,威尔逊总统立即宣布美国保持中立 。他表示:“这是一场与我们无关的战争,它的起因和我们没有关联 。”
大多数美国人同意威尔逊总统的观点,他们不想卷入战争 。然而,许多人发现很难保持内心的中立立场 。一些美国人在德国有家室,他们支持中央政权 。更多的美国人在英国或法国拥有家庭背景,他们则支持盟军 。然而,美国的官方政策是保持中立 。美国计划继续与开战双方进行贸易往来 。德国和奥地利期望在战争中迅速取胜,他们被夹在两个强大的敌人俄罗斯和法国之间 。但德国军方领导人并不担心,他们拥有一个作战计划,他们确定该计划能够成功 。德国将军计划动用大部分德军迅速进攻法国,他们期望在短时间内击败法国,继而与俄罗斯作战 。这样,德军就不必同时与两个敌人作战 。起初,这个计划奏效了 。200万德国士兵横扫比利时,进入法国 。他们冲向巴黎,希望迅速取得胜利 。但是,德国指挥官犯了个错误 。他们把军队推进得过快,当英法军队在巴黎城外反击时,疲惫不堪的德国士兵无法坚守阵地 。
战斗十分激烈,而且令人难以置信的血腥 。最后,德国人被迫撤退 。德国的撤军使盟军有时间准备强大的防御攻势,现在德国军队不可能迅速获胜 。相反,这将是一场旷日持久的战争,德国和奥地利将面对两面的敌人 。英国和法国在西侧,俄罗斯在东侧 。盟国立即采取措施减少德国与世界其他国家的贸易,英国海军开始扣押在驶往德国港口的中立国船只上发现的战备物资 。随后,加大了阻止向德国出口食品的力度 。英国和其他盟国的封锁非常成功,德国可能面临饥荒 。其海军力量不够强大,无法利用水面舰艇突破封锁 。它唯一的希望是用另一种海军武器来打破封锁,即潜艇 。德国宣布将使用潜艇击沉任何靠近英国海岸的船只,包括试图继续与盟国进行贸易的中立国船只 。美国和其他中立国立即对德国的声明表示抗议,他们说这明显违反了国际法 。
当一艘德国潜艇在爱尔兰海峡击沉一艘英国船只时,其中一名遇难者是美国公民 。几周后,一艘美国油船在英国海军舰艇和一艘德国潜艇的海战中受损 。随后发生了最严重的事件,这一事件涉及一艘名为“卢西塔尼亚”号的英国客轮 。卢西塔尼亚号当时正从纽约驶往英国,途中遭到德国潜艇袭击 。卢西塔尼亚号在18分钟内沉没,1200人遇难,其中129人是美国人 。卢西塔尼亚号的沉没震惊了美国人民,他们称之为大规模谋杀,人们转而反对德国 。威尔逊总统警告说,如果德国继续击沉民用船只,他可能会向德国宣战 。德国不想与美国开战,它已经面临着与欧洲盟国的激烈战争 。它承诺在没有警告的情况下,不会再击沉任何民用船只,并对发生卢西塔尼亚号事件表示遗憾 。
威尔逊总统接受了德国的道歉,像大多数美国人一样,他希望远离血腥的欧洲战争 。他也知道盟国的过往并非完全清白 。例如,他对德国大规模饥荒的报道感到不安 。他和其他美国人认为,英国食品封锁的做法很残酷 。他们还对当时英国军队残酷镇压爱尔兰叛乱的方式感到震惊 。最重要的是,美国人民对欧洲战场上发生的种种事件感到厌恶 。军队使用毒气和其他可怕的武器,双方都有数百万士兵阵亡 。战争变成了一场大屠杀 。美国在1916年举行了总统选举 。威尔逊总统赢得民主党提名,寻求连任 。全国各地的民主党人用这样的话语喊出他们的支持:“他让我们远离战争!”威尔逊本人并不喜欢这些话 。他觉得这使人们产生错误的希望 。但是人们继续这样说,因为他们不想要战争 。
共和党提名最高法院法官查尔斯·埃文斯·休斯为总统候选人 。休斯是一位温和的共和党人,他支持一些社会改革 。像威尔逊一样,休斯承诺使美国保持中立地位 。然而,他的支持者之一是前总统西奥多·罗斯福 。罗斯福呼吁美国采取强有力的政策,而这些政策可能导致战争 。罗斯福的话使许多美国人认为,威尔逊是支持和平的候选人,而休斯则支持战争 。总统选举的投票非常接近 。起初,休斯似乎会赢得胜利 。他在选举之夜就寝时认为,自己会成为美国下一任总统 。但是,当晚的投票结果证实威尔逊获胜 。选举结果非常接近,共和党在接下来的两周时间里都无法接受失败 。伍德罗·威尔逊又赢得一个任期 。在这一任期中,他将发现越来越难以兑现竞选时的承诺 。最后,他会发现局面难以应对 。美国在伍德罗·威尔逊任总统期间,加入了第一次世界大战 。这将是我们下周要讲述的故事 。
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