You've probably heard of the Boston Tea Party,
你们大概都听说过波士顿倾茶事件，
something about a bunch of angry colonists dressed as Native Americans throwing chests of tea into the water.
说的是一群愤怒的殖民地居民打扮成印第安人，将一箱箱茶叶倒入港口内的故事。
But the story is far more complicated, filled with imperial intrigue, corporate crisis, smuggling,
但是这个事件的背后更加复杂，充满了帝国阴谋、组织危机、走私，
and the grassroots origins of the American Revolution.
同时也是美国独立战争的起源。
The first thing you need to know about tea in the 1700's is that it was really, really popular.
关于这个倾茶事件，你首先要知道的是，茶叶在18世纪非常流行。
In England, each man, woman, and child consumed almost 300 cups of this stuff every year.
在英国，几乎每个男人、女人甚至是小孩，每年都要喝将近300杯茶。
And, since the English colonized America, Americans were crazy about tea too.
自从美国成为英殖民地后，当地人民也非常爱好喝茶。
By the 1760's, they were drinking over a million pounds of tea every year.
到1760年的时候，他们每年都要喝超过一百万磅重的茶叶。
So, when Britain wanted to increase taxes on tea in America, people were not happy,
因此，当英国想在北美殖民地提高茶叶税的时候，当地人民表示强烈反对，
mostly because they had no say in tax decisions made in London.
主要原因是由于北美殖民地人民在英国政府的减税决议中没有发言权。
Remember that famous phrase, "No taxation without representation"?
还记得那句著名的“无代表，不纳税”吗？
The American colonists had long believed that they were not subject to taxes imposed by legislature in which they lacked representation.
北美殖民地的人民一直认为，由于他们在国会中没有代表，所以也就不受制于英国国会颁布的税法。
In fact, rather than paying the taxes, they simply dodged the tax collectors.
实际上，相较于缴税，他们只是仅仅在躲避税收员。
Since the east coast of America is hundreds of miles long and British enforcement was lax,
由于美国东海岸有数百英里长，英国对殖民地的统治较为松懈，
about 3/4 of the tea Americans were drinking was smuggled in, usually from Holland.
所以当地人民喝的茶叶中，大约有3/4都是走私的，其中大部分来自于荷兰。
But the British insisted that Parliament did have the authority to tax the colonists,
但是英国坚持认为国会有权对殖民地收税，
especially after Britain went deeply into debt fighting the French in the Seven Years' War.
尤其是英国结束与法国的“七年战争”后，面临严重的军费负担。
To close the budget gap, London looked to Americans,
在这种情况下，为了填补预算缺口，英国将视线转移到了北美殖民地，
and in 1767 imposed new taxes on a variety of imports, including the American's beloved tea.
1767年，英国开始对许多进口物资进行征税。其中，包括北美殖民地人民最喜爱的茶叶。
America's response: no thanks!
对此，当地人民的回复是：别管闲事！

They boycotted the importation of tea from Britain, and instead, brewed their own.
他们开始抵制从英国进口过来的茶叶，并且坚持使用自己的茶叶。
After a new bunch of British customs commissioners cried to London for troops to help with tax enforcement,
在一群英国海关专员向英国当局控诉，希望政府加强税收执行力后，
things got so heated that the Red Coats fired on a mob in Boston, killing several people, in what was soon called the Boston Massacre.
事情开始升级，驻扎在波士顿的英国红衣步兵向进行抗议的一群当地民众开枪，结果数人死亡，这就是美国历史上著名的“波士顿惨案”。
Out of the terms of the 1773 Tea Act, Parliament cooked up a new strategy.
在1773年有关茶叶税法的条例后，英国国会通过了一个新的法案。
Now the East India Company would sell the surplus tea directly through hand-picked consignees in America.
即东印度公司可以通过挑选过的承销人，直接到北美殖民地销售积压茶叶（免缴高额的进口关税，只征收轻微茶税）。
This would lower the price to consumers, making British tea competitive with the smuggled variety while retaining some of the taxes.
这项条例无疑降低了进口茶叶的价格，这使得英国茶叶与走私茶叶相比，显得更有竞争力，同时也保留了一部分税。
But the colonists saw through the British ploy and cried, "Monopoly!"
但这项条例引起了北美殖民地人民的强烈不满，他们认为这是一种“垄断”。
Now it's a cold and rainy December 16, 1773.
于是，在1773年12月16日，一个寒冷多雨的日子。
About 5,000 Bostonians are crowded into the Old South Meeting House,
大约有5000名波士顿人民涌入老南聚会所，
waiting to hear whether new shipments of tea that have arrived down the harbor will be unloaded for sale.
看这个满载茶叶的船是否会抵达港口、卸货并进行出售。
When the captain of one of those ships reported that he could not leave with his cargo on board,
当其中一名船长说他不能丢下他船上的货物时，
Sam Adams rose to shout, "This meeting can do no more to save the country!"
塞缪尔·亚当斯开始高呼：“这个会议不能拯救我们的国家！”
Cries of "Boston Harbor a teapot tonight!" rang out from the crowd,
人群中开始跟着呐喊：“今夜就让波士顿成为一个茶壶港！”
and about 50 men, some apparently dressed as Native Americans,
接着大约有50个男子，有一些装扮成印第安人，
marched down to Griffin's Wharf, stormed aboard three ships, and threw 340 tea chests overboard.
朝着格里芬码头游去，登上了三艘茶船，将东印度公司的约340箱茶叶全部倾倒入海。
An infuriated British government responsded with the so-called Coercive Acts of 1774, which, among other things,
波士顿倾茶事件激怒了英国政府，1774年，英国议会通过了一系列惩罚性的条令，
closed the port of Boston until the locals compensated the East India Company for the tea. That never happened.
其中包括关闭波士顿港口，直到当地人民赔偿东印度公司茶叶损失。当然这并没有实现。
Representatives of the colonies gathered at Philadelphia to consider how best to respond to continued British oppression.
殖民地的代表们在费城召开集会，商讨如何以最好的方式来持续应对英国的压迫。
This first Continental Congress supported destruction of the tea, pledged to support a continued boycott,
召开的第一届大陆会议认为，要销毁茶叶并且要持续进行对英货的抵制，
and went home in late October 1774 even more united in their determination to protect their rights and liberties.
随后，在1774年10月下旬，更多的北美殖民地人民团结起来支持他们的决定，声称要维护自己的权利和自由。
The Boston Tea Party began a chain reaction that led with little pause to the Declaration of Independence and a bloody rebellion,
波士顿倾茶事件引起了一系列连锁反应，接踵而至的就是独立战争和一场血腥的叛乱，
after which the new nation was free to drink its tea, more or less, in peace.
从此以后，新的国民终于可以自由地、相对和平地喝茶了。