听力文本

It really last into the 1890s
这种政治模式延续至19世纪90年代
and it's characterized by a few things, One is very close election between the Democrats and Republicans
它有几个明显的特征，首先，这一时期内的大选中，两党支持率都非常接近
knife-edged election, very evenly divided electorate
胜负常只在一线之差，选民投票分布均匀
Not all that much difference between the parties
两党主张趋同
By this time, they were both essentially conservative party certainly by the standards of today but even by the standards of the time
两党在那个时期的主张，用当今的标准来审视，都是很保守的，即使换成当时的标准，也算保守
Wheras you remember when the Republicans began, They were often considered a radical party
你也许还记得共和党在建党之初被认为是一个激进的政党
With a lot of ideas we would today associate with the left of the political spectrum
按如今的标准，它很多政见主张都是偏向左派的
But by the gilded age, most of those ideas were in abatement, were not the front-burner
然而在镀金时代，共和党的主张趋向温和，其激进派头已不见踪影
And the Democratic party strongly associated with the south, with cultural conservatism as well
而民主党则似乎已成了南方、文化保守主义的代名词
It doesn't mean there were no differences
当然，两党也还是存在一些差异

The Democrats tended to be the party of small government
民主党倾向支持小政府
Republicans were the party of more active government
共和党则主张更为活跃的大政府
The Democrats wanted low tariffs
民主党人希望减免关税
They wanted free trade
想推行自由贸易
Republicans wanted much higher tariffs
共和党人则提倡加重关税
They wanted to protect US industry and they got a lot of money from industrialists because of that
以保护美国的民主产业，并从工业家手上获得大笔财富作为回报
The Democrats pushed states' rights
民主党人建议下放州权
Republicans were more in favor of federal power
共和党人则倾向强化联邦政府
Like I say in many elections, The actual platform of the party didn't have that much difference between them, but there were some underlining differences
如我所说，很多大选中两党的政纲并非大相径庭，但仍有几个显着的区别
Which is quite the opposite to what today we would more often associated with the Democrats and Republicans
两党当时的主张也许与如今我们脑海中对两党的认识完全相反，事实上民主党与共和党的变化

视频及简介

这一集大致讲述了1920－1972年总统大选的历史与过程，主要以一战、1929大萧条、二战、美苏冷战为历史背景，穿插了西奥多罗斯福，富兰克林罗斯福，杜鲁门，肯尼迪等几位著名美国总统的竞选和执政经历。