(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Dwight Eisenhower was elected president in nineteen fifty-two. By nineteen sixty, he had served two terms. The twenty-second amendment to the Constitution said he could not be re-elected. Eisenhower was hugely popular when he first came to office. And his first term was considered successful. He created a new government agency for education and health care. He led a congressional effort to improve the tax system. And, under his leadership, a peace treaty ending the Korean War was signed. Eisenhower also met with Soviet leaders Nikolai Bulganin and Nikita Khrushchev. This began a tradition of meetings between the leaders of the United States and the Soviet Union. Experts believe these meetings probably helped prevent a nuclear war between the two countries. At the end of Eisenhower's first term, he was still very popular. He had suffered a heart attack. But he felt strong enough to campaign again. His Democratic Party opponent was Adlai Stevenson. They had been the candidates in the presidential election four years earlier. This time, Eisenhower won almost ten million votes more than Stevenson. That was an even bigger victory than in nineteen fifty-two. Eisenhower's second term, however, presented problems. The Soviet Union launched the space age by putting the world's first satellite into earth orbit. Fidel Castro established a communist government in Cuba.
Many white Americans were fighting the Supreme Court's decision to end racial separation in schools. And the American economy suffered a recession. Eisenhower's popularity dropped during his second term. This would make it more difficult for the Republican Party's next candidate for president. The delegates who attended the Republican nominating convention in the summer of nineteen sixty feared that the party would lose the election in November. They had to find the strongest candidate possible. Many believed that Richard Nixon was the strongest. Nixon had been a senator and a member of the House of Representatives. He had been Eisenhower's vice president for eight years. When Eisenhower suffered several serious illnesses, Nixon had a chance to show his abilities to lead the nation. He showed great strength while facing an angry crowd during a trip to South America. He also gained support when he defended the United States in an unofficial debate with Khrushchev during a trip to the Soviet Union. Nixon's closest opponent for the Republican nomination was Nelson Rockefeller. Rockefeller was governor of New York. He came from one of the richest families in America. At the convention, Richard Nixon easily won the support of the Republican Party.
The delegates elected him on the first vote. He accepted the nomination. And he called for new efforts for peace and freedom around the world. The race for the Democratic nomination was much more difficult. He Democratic Party thought it would have no problem winning the presidential election. Many candidates entered the competition for the nomination. One was Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota. Another was Senator John Kennedy of Massachusetts. Humphrey had been elected to the Senate three times. He was a strong activist for civil rights, peace, and social improvements. Kennedy was a Navy hero in World War Two. He was handsome and only forty-three years old. He also was a member of the Roman Catholic Church. And no catholic had ever been elected president of the United States. Kennedy and Humphrey began to enter local primary elections in different states. The purpose of the primaries is to test voter support for candidates. Kennedy won an important primary in the state of Wisconsin. However, the Protestant Christian areas of the state did not support him. The question then became: Could he win in West Virginia? Most of the voters in that state were Protestants. On the last night of the primary campaign in West Virginia, Kennedy spoke about his religion. He said the president of the United States promises to defend the Constitution. And that, he said, includes the separation of the government from any religion or church. Kennedy won a large victory in West Virginia. He then went on to win many votes in other primary elections.
He received the nomination on the first vote of the Democratic Party convention. In his acceptance speech, he said he would ask Americans to help their country. He said he would ask them to sacrifice for their country. After the party conventions, the two candidates -- Kennedy and Nixon -- began to campaign around the nation. Nixon charged that Kennedy was too young to be president. He said Kennedy did not know enough about governing. Kennedy attacked the Republican record of the past eight years. He said president Eisenhower and Vice President Nixon had not done enough to bring progress to the nation. Protestant groups expressed concerns about Kennedy's religion. They wondered if he would be influenced by the Pope. They asked if the leader of the Roman Catholic Church would try to make policy for the United States. Kennedy answered by repeating his strong support for the constitutional guarantee of separation of church and state. Public opinion studies showed the election campaign to be very, very close. Then, the candidates agreed to hold four debates. The debates would be broadcast on television. In the first debate, they showed they did not differ too widely on major issues. Kennedy, however, appeared calm and sure. Nixon, who did not feel well, appeared thin and tired.
Many people who had not considered voting for Kennedy now began to change their minds. To them, he looked like a president. In the fourth debate, they expressed widely different opinions about whether the United States was making progress. Kennedy believed there had been little progress under Eisenhower and Nixon. He said: KENNEDY: "Franklin Roosevelt said in nineteen thirty-six that that generation of Americans had a rendezvous with destiny. I believe in nineteen sixty and sixty-one and two and three, we have a rendezvous with destiny. And I believe it incumbent upon us to be defenders of the United States and the defenders of freedom. And to do that, we must give this country leadership. And we must get America moving again."Nixon disagreed sharply. He believed the United States had not been standing still. Yet he believed it could not rest, either. He said: NIXON: "It is essential with the conflict that we have around the world that we not just hold our own, that we not keep just freedom for ourselves. It is essential that we extend freedom, extend it to all the world. And this means more than what we've been doing. It means keeping America even stronger militarily than she is.
It means seeing that our economy moves forward even faster than it has. It means making more progress in civil rights than we have, so that we can be a splendid example for all the world to see."Another issue of the nineteen sixty presidential debates was the Chinese attack on the islands of Quemoy and Matsu in the Formosa [Taiwan] Strait. Another was how to deal with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. Most people seemed to feel that Kennedy won the first debate. Experts thought Nixon probably won the second one. And both men did about the same in the last two. After the debates, the presidential candidates campaigned around the country again. Nixon proposed a trip to Eastern Europe and a meeting with Khrushchev, if he were elected. Kennedy proposed what he called a Peace Corps. The Peace Corps would be a program to send Americans to developing countries to provide technical aid and other help. On Election Day in November, the voters chose John Kennedy. His victory, however, was a close one. Almost sixty-nine million people voted. He won by fewer than one hundred twenty thousand votes. The United States now had its thirty-fifth president. He was the youngest and the first Roman Catholic. The beginning of John Kennedy's administration will be our story next week.
重点解析
1.headed for 前往；出发；取向于
1.Protestant group新教组织
She became active in her church, a small Protestant group in Moscow, and says that gave her strength as she continued searching for a career.
她活跃于莫斯科一家小型新教组织，认为正是这里给予她继续寻找职业的力量。
2.civil rights 民事权利
The civil rights bill carried by a large majority.
公民权利法案获得大多数同意而通过。
3.Catholic Church 天主教会
In France, Italy and Spain the Catholic church insisted on the use of female midwives, to protect female modesty.
在法国、意大利和西班牙，天主教会坚决主张使用女性助产士，以保护女性的羞耻。
4.presidential candidates 总统候选人
Miller continued: “Senators and presidential candidates would have us believe that the troops in the Middle East are dying for no reason.
米勒还说："参议员和总统候选人试图让我们相信，驻扎在中东的军人是在平白无故地送命。"
5.recession 衰退；不景气
During the last recession in the early 2000’s, I was one of those statistics.
2000年初，在上一次经济衰退时，我是那些统计数字中的一员。
参考译文
1952年，德怀特·艾森豪威尔当选美国总统。到1960年，他已连任两届。宪法第二十二条修正案称他不能再次当选。艾森豪威尔第一次上任时广受欢迎，他的首次执政是成功的。他成立了新的政府教育医疗机构，带领国会努力改善税收制度，领导签署了缔结朝鲜战争和约。艾森豪威尔还会见了苏联领导人尼古拉·布尔加宁和尼基塔·赫鲁晓夫。创下了美国和苏联领导人会晤的传统。专家认为，这些会晤很可能有助于防止两国核战争的爆发。第一个任期结束时，艾森豪威尔依然很受欢迎。艾森豪威尔心脏病发作。但他觉得自己足够强大，可以再次竞选。他的民主党对手是阿德莱·史蒂文森。四年前，二人入选总统候选人。这一次，艾森豪威尔比史蒂文森多赢得了近1000万张选票。相较于1952年选举，此次胜利更为巨大。然而，艾森豪威尔第二次任职时，问题出现了。苏联将世界上第一颗卫星送入地球轨道，从而开启了太空时代。菲德尔·卡斯特罗在古巴建立了共产主义政府。许多美国白人反对最高法院在学校结束种族隔离的决定。美国经济陷入衰退，艾森豪威尔在第二个任期内支持率下降。这将使共和党下一任总统候选人的竞选更加困难。
1960年夏天参加共和党提名大会的代表们担心共和党会在11月的选举中失利。他们必须找到实力最强的候选人，许多人认为理查德·尼克松很符合。尼克松曾是参议员和众议院议员，艾森豪威尔执政期间尼克松曾担任八年副总统。艾森豪威尔几次遭受重大疾病期间，尼克松得以展示他的领导才干。在南美之旅中，面对愤怒的人群，他表现出了强大之力，访问苏联期间与赫鲁晓夫进行非官方辩论，为美国辩护，赢得了支持。尼克松在共和党提名中强劲的对手是纳尔逊·洛克菲勒，洛克菲勒是纽约州长。他出身美国最富有的家庭之一。大会上，理查德·尼克松轻松赢得了共和党的支持。代表们第一次把票投给了尼克松，尼克松接受了提名，还呼吁为世界各地的和平与自由作出新的努力。民主党提名竞争激烈。民主党认为赢得总统选举不会出现问题。许多候选人参加了提名竞争。其中一位是来自明尼苏达州的参议员休伯特·汉弗莱。另一位是马萨诸塞州参议员约翰·肯尼迪。汉弗莱三次当选参议员，他是民权、和平和社会进步的积极分子。肯尼迪是第二次世界大战中的海军英雄，英俊潇洒，只有43岁。他也是罗马天主教会的成员。天主教徒当选美国总统史无前例。肯尼迪和汉弗莱开始参加各个州的地方初选。初选的目的是测试选民对候选人的支持程度。肯尼迪赢得了威斯康星州的一场重要的初选。
然而，该州的基督教新教地区并不支持肯尼迪。接下来的问题是：他能在西弗吉尼亚州获胜吗？西弗吉尼亚州的大多数选民是新教徒。在西弗吉尼亚州初选的最后一晚，肯尼迪谈到了他的宗教信仰。他说，美国总统承诺捍卫宪法的威严。他说，包括政府与宗教或教会的分离。肯尼迪在西弗吉尼亚州赢得了巨大胜利，随后的初选也赢得了许多选票。肯尼迪在民主党全国代表大会第一轮投票中获得提名。他在获奖感言中说道，他将请求国民帮助自己的国家。声称会要求这些人为自己国家做出奉献。共和党全国代表大会之后，两位候选人——肯尼迪和尼克松——开始在全国范围内开展竞选活动。尼克松指责肯尼迪太年轻，不能当总统，说肯尼迪对执政的了解不够。肯尼迪对共和党过去八年执政记录进行了抨击。他说，艾森豪威尔总统和尼克松副总统在为国家取得进展方面做得还不够。新教团体对肯尼迪的宗教表示担忧，他们想知道肯尼迪是否会受到教皇的影响。他们问肯尼迪，罗马天主教会的领袖决策是否站在美国的立场。肯尼迪回答说，他坚决支持宪法，保障政教分离。民意调查显示，二人的竞选票数非常、非常接近。然后，两位候选人同意举行四场辩论，在电视台播出。第一场辩论中，他们在一些重大问题上的分歧不是太大。
然而，肯尼迪看起来平静而自信，尼克松身体不好，看起来又瘦又累。许多没有打算投票给肯尼迪的人现在开始改变主意。在他们看来，肯尼迪就像一位总统。第四次辩论中，他们对美国是否进步表达了截然不同的看法。肯尼迪认为，艾森豪威尔和尼克松执政期间，美国几乎没有取得什么进步。他说：“1936年富兰克林·罗斯福说道，那一代的人见证了美国命运的时刻。我相信1960年、1961年、1962年和1963年，我们将迎来命运的转折。我相信我们有责任保卫美国，捍卫自由。为此，我们必须领导国家，必须让美国再次行动起来。尼克松的想法与之大相径庭，他认为美国并没有停滞不前，他认为美国也不会停止发展，他说：“世界各地冲突不断的情况下，重要的是，我们不仅要守卫自己国家，我们不只保卫自己国家的自由，我们必须把自由扩展至全世界，这意味着我们现在做的事情还远远不够。这意味着让美国在军事上更强大，意味着美国经济须以更快的速度向前发展。意味着美国在民权方面须取得更大的进步，这样我们就如世人所见，成为杰出的榜样。
1960年总统辩论的另一个议题是中国对台湾海峡金门群岛和马祖岛的攻击。另一个议题是如何处理苏联领导人赫鲁晓夫，大多数人认为肯尼迪似乎赢得了第一场辩论，专家认为尼克松可能赢得了第二场辩论，这两个人在过去两年中都做了同样的事情。辩论结束后，总统候选人又在全国各地竞选。尼克松提议，如果自己当选，他将访问东欧，并与赫鲁晓夫会面。肯尼迪提出了他所谓的和平团队。和平队将派遣美国人到达发展中国家，为其提供技术和其他项目援助。11月的选举日，选民们选择了约翰•肯尼迪，然而二人势均力敌。近6900万人参加了投票。肯尼迪以不到十二万张选票略胜一筹。美国现在有了第三十五任总统。肯尼迪最年轻也是历史上第一位罗马天主教徒。下周我们为您讲述约翰·肯尼迪执政初期的故事。
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