(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Today, we tell about relations between the American colonies and Britain after the French and Indian War about two hundred fifty years ago. The French and Indian War was one part of a world conflict between Britain and France. It was fought to decide which of the two powerful nations would rule North America. The British defeated the French in North America in seventeen sixty-three. As a result, it took control of lands that had been claimed by France. Britain now was responsible for almost two million people in the thirteen American colonies and sixty thousand French-speaking people in Canada. In addition to political and economic responsibilities, Britain had to protect all these colonists from different groups of Indians. This would cost a lot of money. Britain already had spent a lot of money sending troops and material to the colonies to fight the French and Indian War. It believed the American colonists should now help pay for that war. The colonists in America in seventeen sixty-three were very different from those who had settled there more than one hundred years before.
They had different ideas. They had come to consider their colonial legislatures as smaller -- but similar -- to the Parliament in Britain. These little parliaments had helped them rule themselves for more than one hundred years. The colonists began to feel that their legislatures should also have the powers that the British Parliament had. The situation had changed in England too. In seventeen-oh-seven, the nation became officially known as Great Britain. Its king no longer controlled Parliament as he had in the early sixteen hundreds. Then, the king decided all major questions, especially those concerning the colonies. But power had moved from the king to the Parliament. It was the legislature that decided major questions by the time of the French and Indian War, especially the power to tax. The parliaments in the colonies began to believe that they should have this power of taxation, too. The first English settlers in America considered themselves citizens of England.
They had crossed a dangerous ocean to create a little England in a new place, to trade with the mother country and to spread their religion. By seventeen sixty-three, however, the colonists thought of themselves as Americans. Many of their families had been in North America for fifty to one hundred years. They had cleared the land, built homes, fought Indians and made lives for themselves far away from Britain. They had different everyday concerns than the people in Britain. Their way of life was different, too. They did not want anyone else to tell them how to govern themselves. The British, however, still believed that the purpose of a colony was to serve the mother country. The government treated colonists differently from citizens at home. It demanded special taxes from them. It also ordered them to feed British troops and let them live in their houses. Britain claimed that the soldiers were in the colonies to protect the people. The people asked, "From whom?" As long as the French were nearby in Canada, the colonists needed the protection of the British army and navy.
After the French were gone -- following their defeat in the French and Indian War -- the colonists felt they no longer needed British military protection. The British government demanded that the colonists pay higher and higher taxes. One reason was that the British government wanted to show the colonists that it was in control. Another reason was that Britain was having money problems. Foreign wars had left it with big debts. The British thought the colonists should help pay some of these debts, especially those resulting from the French and Indian War. The American colonists might have agreed, but they wanted to have a say in the decision. They wanted the right to vote about their own taxes, like the people living in Britain. But no colonists were permitted to serve in the British Parliament. So they protested that they were being taxed without being represented. In seventeen sixty-four, the British Parliament approved the Sugar Act. This legislation placed taxes on sugar, coffee, wines and other products imported to America in large amounts. It increased by two times the taxes on European products sent to the colonies through Britain. The British government also approved new measures aimed at enforcing all trade laws. And it decided to restrict the printing of paper money in the colonies. The American colonists opposed all these new laws.
Yet they could not agree about how to resist. Colonial assemblies approved protests against the laws, but the protest actions were all different and had no real effect. Business groups tried to organize boycotts of goods. But these were not very successful...until the British government approved another tax in seventeen sixty-five: a tax on stamps. The Stamp Act probably angered more American colonists than any earlier tax. It said the colonists had to buy a British stamp for every piece of printed paper they used. That meant they would be taxed for every piece of a newspaper, every document, even every playing card. The colonists refused to pay. Colonial assemblies approved resolutions suggesting that the British Parliament had no right to tax the colonies at all. Some colonists were so angry that they attacked British stamp agents. History experts say the main reason the colonists were angry was because Britain had rejected the idea of "no taxation without representation." Almost no colonist wanted to be independent of Britain at that time. Yet all of them valued their local self-rule and their rights as British citizens. They considered the Stamp Act to be the worst in a series of violations of these rights. The American colonists refused to obey the Stamp Act.
They also refused to buy British goods. Almost one thousand storeowners signed non-importation agreements. This cost British businessmen so much money that they demanded that the government end the Stamp Act. Parliament finally cancelled the law in seventeen sixty-six. The colonists immediately ended their ban against British goods. The same day that Parliament cancelled the Stamp Act, however, it approved the Declaratory Act. This was a statement saying the colonies existed to serve Britain, and that Britain could approve any law it wanted. Most American colonists considered this statement to be illegal. History experts say this shows how separated the colonies had become from Britain. Colonial assemblies were able to approve their own laws, but only with the permission of the British Parliament. The colonists, however, considered the work of their assemblies as their own form of self-rule. Britain ended the Stamp Act but did not stop demanding taxes. In seventeen sixty-seven, Parliament approved a series of new taxes called the Townshend Acts.
These were named after the government official who proposed them. The Townshend Acts placed taxes on glass, tea, lead, paints and paper imported into the colonies. The American colonists rejected the Townshend Acts and started a new boycott of British goods. They also made efforts to increase manufacturing in the colonies. By the end of seventeen sixty-nine, they had reduced by half the amount of goods imported from Britain. The colonies also began to communicate with each other about their problems. In seventeen sixty-eight, the Massachusetts General Court sent a letter to the legislatures of the other colonies. It said the Townshend Acts violated the colonists' natural and constitutional rights. When news of the letter reached London, British officials ordered the colonial governor of Massachusetts to dismiss the legislature. Then they moved four thousand British troops into Boston, the biggest city in Massachusetts -- and the biggest city in the American colonies. The people of Boston hated the British soldiers. The soldiers were controlling their streets and living in their houses. This tension led to violence.
重点解析
1.boycott of 抵制
Depending on what happens next, a boycott of Sochi led by Georgia, Poland and the Baltic states is entirely feasible.
考虑到接下来要发生的事，由格鲁吉亚、波兰和波罗的海国家挑起杯葛行动是完全有可能的。
2.self-rule 自治
Thousands of Zambians depended on the semifeudal Shiwa plantation for their existence but Gore-Browne became known over time for his advocacy of African self-rule.
有数千名赞比亚人依靠这座半封建的种植园生活，但是随着时间的推移，戈尔-布朗却因宣扬非洲自治出了名。
3.Stamp Act 印花税法
In 1766, Parliament repealed the Stamp Act.
1766年，英国议会撤消了印花税法案。
4.violations of 侵犯
We were unable to automatically test sites for violations of this policy with our compatibility testing framework.
我们无法用我们的测试框架来自动测试是否有网站违反了这一策略。
5.Parliament 议会，国会
Parliament tossed the new law out.
国会否决了新法令。
参考译文
今天，我们为您讲述250年前法国及印第安人战争后美洲殖民地和英国之间的关系。法国及印第安人战争是英法世界战争的一部分。这场战争决定了英法两个大国孰将统治北美。1763年，英国击败了法国。结果，英国控制了法国的土地。英国的势力扩大到美国13个殖民地中近200万人，以及加拿大讲法语的6万人。除了政治和经济责任，英国还必须保护所有这些殖民者免受各个印第安人部落的伤害。这要花很多钱。为打赢法国及印第安人战争，英国派遣军队和物资到殖民地已经耗费了大量财力。英国认为美国的殖民者应该帮助支付战争费用。1763年美洲的殖民者与100多年前在那里定居的殖民者迥然不同。他们有自己的想法。他们开始认为殖民地的立法机构虽然比英国的议会小，但和英国的议会相似。殖民地的小议会帮助他们自治了一百多年。殖民地的居住者们开始觉得他们的立法机构也应该拥有和英国议会相同的权力。英国的情况也发生了变化。1707年，英国正式更名为大不列颠。英国国王不再像十七世纪初那样控制国会。十七世纪初，所有的重大问题由国王说了算，特别是有关殖民地的问题。而如今权力已经从国王转移到了议会。法国及印第安人战争期间，议会决定了主要问题，尤其是征税的权利。殖民地的议会开始认为他们也应该拥有征税的权力。踏上北美大陆的第一批英国定居者认为自己是英国公民。
他们远渡重洋，在一个新的地方建立了一个小的英国国家然而，到1763年，殖民地居民认为自己是美洲公民。许多人已经在北美生活了50到100年。他们开荒种地，建造房屋，与印第安人作战，在远离英国的地方为自己谋生。不同于英国人，他们每天都在担忧。他们的生活方式也不一样。他们不需要别人告诉他们如何管理自己。然而，英国人仍然认为建立殖民地的目的是为祖国服务。英国政府对待殖民地居民与对待本土公民的态度不同，要求殖民地缴纳特别税款。还命令他们给英国军队提供食宿。英国声称士兵在殖民地是为了保护他们。殖民地的百姓说道：“危险在哪里?”只要法国人在加拿大附近，殖民地的居住者就需要英国陆军和海军的保护。法国战败后，殖民地的居住者觉得他们不再需要英国的军事保护。英国政府要求殖民者支付的税收越来越高。其中一个原因是，英国政府想表明，殖民地的居住者依旧在英国的统治之下。另一个原因是英国存在资金问题。对外战争给英国留下了巨额债务。英国人认为殖民地应该帮助支付部分债务，特别是法国及印第安人战争遗留下来的债务。美洲殖民地的居住者可能会同意，但他们想拥有发言权。他们想像英国的本土居民一样投票决定税收。但是殖民地的人不允许在英国议会任职。
因此，他们对于缴纳税收却无议会代表的情况表示抗议。1764年，英国议会批准了《食糖法》。该项法案要求对大量进口到美国的糖、咖啡、葡萄酒和其他产品征税。由英国运往殖民地的欧洲产品的税收提高了两倍。英国政府还批准了新措施，旨在确保所有贸易法律的执行。还限制殖民地印刷纸币。美国殖民者反对新法。然而，他们在如何抵制的问题上无法达成一致。殖民地议会抗议新法，但抗议活动各有不同，没有取得实质进展。商业团体试图抵制商品。但都不是很成功……直至1765年英国政府批准了另一项税收：印花税。和以往相比，《印花税法案》激怒了更多的美国殖民者。据说殖民地居民使用的每一张印刷纸都必须买印花税券。这意味着他们要为每一张报纸，每一份文件，甚至每一张扑克牌纳税。殖民地居民拒绝缴纳。殖民地议会通过决议，认为英国议会根本无权向殖民地征税。一些殖民地居民非常愤怒，他们袭击了英国征收印花税的官员。历史学家表示，愤怒的主要原因是英国拒绝接受“没有代表权就不纳税”的想法。当时，殖民者并不想要从英国独立出来。然而，他们都珍视他们拥有的地方自治和作为英国公民的权利。他们认为《印花税法案》严重侵犯这些权利。美洲的殖民者拒绝服从《印花税法案》，还拒绝购买英国商品。近千名店主签署了非进口协议。这给英国商人带来巨大的损失，他们要求英国政府终止《印花税法案》。国会最终于1766年取消了《印花税法案》。殖民地居民立即结束了对英国货物的禁令。
然而，就在议会取消《印花税法案》的同一天，又批准了《宣示法案》。法案声明，殖民地的存在是为了服务英国，英国政府有权通过任何法律。大多数美国殖民者认为该声明是非法的。历史学家表示，这显示了殖民地如何与英国分离。殖民地议会能够批准自己的法律，但必须得到英国议会的许可。然而，殖民地的居住者认为殖民地议会是他们实现自治的一种方式。英国虽然终止了印花税法案，但并未停止征税。1767年，国会批准了一系列新税收，称为《唐森德税法》。该税法以提出者政府官员的名字命名。《唐森德税法》对殖民地进口的玻璃、茶叶、铅、油漆和纸张征税。美洲的殖民者拒绝接受《唐森德税法》，开始了对英国商品的新一轮抵制。他们还努力提高殖民地的生产制造。到1769年底，他们从英国进口的货物减少了一半。殖民地之间也开始互相交流。1768年，马萨诸塞州最高法院向其他殖民地的立法机构发出了一封信。信上说，《唐森德税法》侵犯了殖民者的自然和宪法权利。当这封信传到伦敦时，英国官员命令马萨诸塞州州长解散议会。并派遣4000名英军进驻波士顿，波士顿是马萨诸塞州最大的城市，也是美国殖民地最大的城市。波士顿人憎恨英国士兵。英国士兵控制着波士顿街道，住在他们的房子里。
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