(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
The United States became a nation in seventeen seventy-six. Less than a century later, in the eighteen sixties, it was nearly torn apart. A civil war took place, the only one in the nation's history. States from the North and the South fought against each other. The conflict involved the right of the South to leave the Union and deal with issues -- especially the issue of slavery -- its own way. This week in our series, Frank Oliver and Tony Riggs describe how the Constitution survived this very troubled time in American history. America's Civil War lasted four years. Six hundred thousand men were killed or wounded. In the end, the slaves were freed, and the Union was saved. Abraham Lincoln was president during the Civil War. He said the southern states did not have the right to leave the Union. Lincoln firmly believed that the Union of states was permanent under the Constitution. In fact, he noted, one of the reasons for establishing the Constitution was to form a more perfect Union. His main goal was to save what the Constitution had created. One cannot truly understand the United States without understanding its Constitution. That political document describes America's system of government and guarantees the rights of all citizens.
Its power is greater than any president, court or legislature. In the coming weeks, we will tell the story of the United States Constitution. We will describe the drama of its birth in Philadelphia in seventeen eighty-seven. And we will describe the national debate over its approval. Before we do, however, we want to tell how that document provides for change without changing the basic system of government. If you ask Americans about their Constitution, they probably will talk about the Bill of Rights. These are the first ten changes, or amendments, to the Constitution. They contain the rights of all people in the United States. They have the most direct effect on people's lives. Among other things, the Bill of Rights guarantees freedom of speech, religion, and the press. It also establishes rules to guarantee that a person suspected of a crime is treated fairly. The Bill of Rights was not part of the document signed at the convention in Philadelphia in seventeen eighty-seven. The delegates believed that political freedoms were basic human rights. So, some said it was not necessary to express such rights in a Constitution. Most Americans, however, wanted their rights guaranteed in writing.
That is why most states approved the new Constitution only on condition that a Bill of Rights would be added. This was done, and the amendments became law in seventeen ninety-one. One early amendment involved the method of choosing a president and vice president. In America's first presidential elections, the man who received the most votes became president. The man who received the second highest number of votes became vice president. It became necessary to change the Constitution, however, after separate political parties developed. Then ballots had to show the names of each candidate for president and vice president. There were no other amendments for sixty years. The next one was born in the blood of civil war. During the war, President Abraham Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation. That document freed the slaves in the states that were rebelling against the Union. It was not until after Lincoln was murdered, however, that the states approved the Thirteenth Amendment to ban slavery everywhere in the country.
The Fourteenth Amendment, approved in eighteen sixty-eight, said no state could limit the rights of any citizen. And the Fifteenth, approved two years later, said a person's right to vote could not be denied because of his race, color, or former condition of slavery. By the eighteen nineties, the federal government needed more money than it was receiving from taxes on imports. It wanted to establish a tax on earnings. It took twenty years to win approval for the Sixteenth Amendment. The amendment permits the government to collect income taxes. Another amendment proposed in the early nineteen hundreds was designed to change the method of electing United States Senators. For more than one hundred years, senators were elected by the legislatures of their states. The Seventeenth Amendment, approved in nineteen thirteen, gave the people the right to elect senators directly. In nineteen nineteen, the states approved an amendment to ban the production, transportation, and sale of alcohol. Alcohol was prohibited. It could not be produced or sold legally anywhere in the United States. The amendment, however, did not stop the flow of alcohol. Criminal organizations found many ways to produce and sell it illegally.
Finally, after thirteen years, Americans decided that Prohibition had failed. It had caused more problems than it had solved. So, in nineteen thirty-three, the states approved another constitutional amendment to end the ban on alcohol. Other amendments in the twentieth century include one that gives women the right to vote. It became part of the Constitution in nineteen twenty. Another amendment limits a president to two four-year terms in office. And the Twenty-sixth Amendment gives the right to vote to all persons who are at least eighteen years old. The Twenty-seventh Amendment has one of the strangest stories of any amendment to the United States Constitution. This amendment establishes a rule for increasing the pay of senators and representatives. It says there must be an election between the time Congress votes to increase its pay and the time the pay raise goes into effect. The amendment was first proposed in seventeen eighty-nine. Like all amendments, it needed to be approved by three-fourths of the states. This did not happen until nineteen ninety-two. So, one of the first amendments to be proposed was the last amendment to become law.
The twenty-seven amendments added to the Constitution have not changed the basic system of government in the United States. The government still has three separate and equal parts: the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judicial branch. The three parts balance each other. No part is greater than another. The first American states had no strong central government when they fought their war of independence from Britain in seventeen seventy-six. They cooperated under an agreement called the Articles of Confederation. The agreement provided for a Congress. But the Congress had few powers. Each state governed itself. When the war ended, the states owed millions of dollars to their soldiers. They also owed money to European nations that had supported the Americans against Britain. The new United States had no national money to pay the debts. There was an American dollar. But not everyone used it. And it did not have the same value everywhere. The situation led to economic ruin for many people. They could not pay the money they owed.
They lost their property. They were put in prison. Militant groups took action to help them. They interfered with tax collectors. They terrorized judges and burned court buildings. The situation was especially bad in the northeast part of the country. In Massachusetts, a group led by a former soldier tried to seize guns and ammunition from the state military force. Shays' Rebellion, as it was called, was stopped. But from north to south, Americans were increasingly worried and frightened. Would the violence continue? Would the situation get worse? Many Americans distrusted the idea of a strong central government. After all, they had just fought a war to end British rule. Yet Americans of different ages, education, and social groups felt that something had to be done. If not, the new nation would fail before it had a chance to succeed. These were the opinions and feelings that led, in time, to the writing of the United States Constitution. That will be our story in the coming weeks of THE MAKING OF A NATION.
重点解析
1. goes into effect生效
The measures goes into effect on Saturday.
这些措施从星期六开始生效。
2. civil war内战
The clergymen of the Christian Church were often rabbled in the civil war.
内战期间基督教教士常常受到袭击。
3. Constitution宪法
I stood the drawing up of a constitution.
我曾参与了制定宪法的工作。
4.Bill of Rights人权法案
Most of it’s in the National Archives: the Bill of Rights, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.
俄罗斯需要的东西大多在美国国家档案馆里：人权法案，宪法和独立宣言。
5. vice president副总统；副主席
The part of the greatest value of this book is the account of the indictment of the vice president and his unpersoning.
这本书中最有价值的部分就是那段叙述副总统控告以及他因政治上失宠而遭清洗的故事。
参考译文
美国于1776年建国，19世纪60年代，不到一个世纪，美国又险些分裂。一场内战发生了，这是美国历史上唯一的一场内战，南北方互相争斗。这场冲突涉及南方脱离联邦，以及自行处理问题——尤其是奴隶制度——的权利。本周节目中，弗兰克•奥利弗和托尼•里格斯将讲述美国《宪法》是如何在这段艰难时期幸存下来的。美国内战历时四年，死伤人数达60万。最后，奴隶获得了自由，联邦保留了下来。南北战争期间，亚伯拉罕•林肯担任总统。林肯表示南方各州无权脱离联邦。林肯坚信，根据《宪法》，联邦是永久的。事实上，他指出，制定《宪法》的其中一个目的是为了形成更完善的联邦。林肯的主要目标是保留《宪法》。一个人如果不了解美国的《宪法》，就不能真正了解美国。这份政治文件描述了美国的政府体系，并保障了所有公民的权利。《宪法》的权力高于任何总统、法院或立法机关。在未来几周，我们将讲述美国《宪法》的故事。从1787年《宪法》在费城诞生，到围绕《宪法》展开的全民辩论，然而，在这之前，我们想先说明该文件如何在不改变政府体制的情况下作出的改变。如果你问美国人他们的《宪法》，他们可能会想到《权利法案》。《权利法案》是《宪法》的前十个修正案的统称，包含了美国所有人的权利，对人们的生活有最直接的影响。除了其他方面，《权利法案》保障言论、宗教和新闻自由。
它还制定规则，保证犯罪嫌疑人得到公平对待。《权利法案》并不是1787年费城大会签署的文件的一部分。代表们认为，政治自由是基本人权。因此，一些人表示没有必要在《宪法》中写上这种权利。然而，大多数美国人希望他们的权利得到书面保障。这就是为什么大多数州要求，只有把《权利法案》加进去才批准新《宪法》。1791年《权利法案》成为法律。早期的一项修正案涉及总统和副总统选举。在美国第一次总统选举中，得票最多的人当选总统。票数第二的人成为副总统。但是，政党独立发展之后要求对《宪法》进行修正，选票上必须显示总统和副总统候选人的名字。之后的60年来没有出现其他修正案，直至南北战争中，亚伯拉罕•林肯总统宣布了《解放奴隶宣言》。该文件解放了那些反抗联邦的各州奴隶。然而，直至林肯被谋杀后，各州才通过了第十三条修正案，彻底废除奴隶制度。1868年通过的第十四条修正案规定，任何州都不得限制公民的权利。两年后通过的第十五条修正案规定，不能因为种族、肤色或以前的奴隶状况而剥夺他人的选举权。到19世纪90年代，联邦政府对进口商品征收的税已经不足以支持政府的运作了。它想征收所得税。经过二十年的努力，第十六条修正案才通过。修正案允许政府征收所得税。
20世纪初提出的另一项修正案旨在改变美国参议员的选举方法。一百多年来，参议员是由各州的立法机构选举产生的。1913年通过的第十七条修正案赋予人民直接选举参议员的权利。1919年，美国批准了一项修正案，禁止生产、运输和销售酒精。酒精被禁止在美国的任何地方合法生产或销售。然而，这一修正案无法顺利实施。犯罪组织发现了许多非法生产和销售的方法。13年后，美国人终于认定禁酒令失败，这一修正案造成的问题比它解决的问题还多。因此，1933年，各州通过了另一项《宪法》修正案，以结束对酒精的禁令。二十世纪通过的其他修正案给予了妇女投票权。1920年，该修正案成为《宪法》的一部分。另一项修正案限制总统任期为两届，每届四年。第二十六条修正案规定，18岁以上的公民都有投票权。第二十七条修正案是美国《宪法》修正案中最奇怪的事情之一。该修正案规定了参议员和众议员工资上涨的规则。这项修正案规定了在国会投票决定是否要给自己涨工资和涨工资正式生效之间，一定要有一次选举。该修正案于1789年首次提出。和所有修正案一样，它需要得到四分之三的州的批准才能生效。最后一直拖到1992年才生效。第一个提出的修正案是最后一个成为法律的。美国《宪法》的第二十七条修正案并没有改变美国政府的根本制度。政府仍然是行政部门、立法部门和司法部门三权分立。
三个部门相互制衡，没有哪个部门的权利大于另一个部门。1776年，美国独立战争打响时，没有一个强大的联邦政府。各州根据《联邦条例》进行合作。《联邦条例》规定召开国会。但是国会几乎没有权力。各州都还是自行管理。战争结束时，各州欠士兵数百万美元。独立战争中支持美国的欧洲国家也成了美国的债主。新成立的美国没有钱来偿还债务。虽然美元存在，但没有普遍流通。美元在各地的价值都不相同。这种情况导致许多人破产，他们无法还债。失去了财产，被关进了监狱。激进组织采取行动帮助这些人。他们妨碍税务人员工作，恐吓法官，烧毁法院大楼。美国东北部的情况尤其糟糕。在马萨诸塞州，由退伍军人领导的一个组织试图从州军队手中夺取枪支和弹药。谢斯的反叛最终被制止了。但是从北到南的美国人都陷入了严重的恐慌。暴力还会继续吗?情况会变得更糟吗?许多美国人对强大的中央政府心存芥蒂。毕竟，他们刚刚打完战争，摆脱英国的统治。然而，美国不同年龄、受教育程度和社会群体的人认为，必须采取一些措施。否则，这个新生的国家没有机会成功。这些意见和情感最终导致了美国《宪法》的诞生。这将是我们未来几周的故事。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
