(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
As president, John Adams was head of the Federalist Party. But the power of that position belonged, in fact, to former treasury secretary Alexander Hamilton. For this and other reasons, Adams did not like Hamilton. He said: "Thomas Jefferson will be a good president, if elected. I would rather be a minister to Europe under Jefferson than to be a president controlled by Hamilton." Hamilton did not like Adams. He did everything he could to block Adams from becoming president again. He gave his support to another Federalist candidate, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney of South Carolina. Under the electoral system of that time, the candidate with the most votes became president. The candidate with the second highest number of votes became vice president. A Federalist victory in the election of eighteen hundred would not be easy. The Republicans had a very strong and popular candidate -- Thomas Jefferson. So, Federalist Party leaders attempted to change the electoral system. The Constitution said state legislatures were to choose electors to vote for president. The Federalists tried to gain control over the legislatures' decisions. They wanted Congress to create a special committee to rule if an elector had -- or did not have -- the right to vote.
The committee could say if an elector's vote should be counted or thrown away. The committee would have six members from the Senate and six members from the House of Representatives. The thirteenth member would be the chief justice of the United States. Creating such a committee violated the Constitution. Federalist leaders knew this. So, they wanted Congress to approve the committee, but keep the measure secret until after the election. The Federalists held a majority of seats in the Senate. And the Senate voted to approve the proposal. But some Federalist members of the House of Representatives denounced it. They made many changes in the proposal. The Senate refused to accept the changes. Without agreement by both houses of Congress, the bill died. Federalist leaders saw their hopes for an election victory begin to disappear. By the summer of eighteen hundred, Thomas Jefferson's Republican Party had strong leaders in every state. It had many newspapers to express party ideas. Jefferson decided to take a holiday at Monticello, his farm in Virginia. The Republican Party leader in New York was a lawyer, Aaron Burr. Burr had served as an officer under General George Washington during America's war for independence from Britain.After the war, he joined the Federalist Party and was elected to the United States Senate. Later, he changed parties and became a Republican. In eighteen hundred, a group of both Federalists and Republicans supported him as a candidate for president. Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton were bitter enemies. When Hamilton learned of a plan by his own party to elect Burr president, instead of Jefferson, his reaction was quick and sharp. "Anybody," he said, "even Thomas Jefferson, is better than Aaron Burr. Jefferson is not dangerous. Burr is. Jefferson's ideas of government are wrong. But at least he is an honest man. Burr is a man without honesty and character. He will destroy America." The president elected in eighteen hundred would govern in a new capital city. The national government would move from Philadelphia to Washington, a newly built city in the District of Columbia. It was on the Potomac River between the states of Maryland and Virginia. When President Adams and his wife Abigail arrived in Washington, D.C., they found a frontier town. There were few houses or streets. Missus Adams could not believe what she saw. She wrote to her daughter: "This is a city only because we call it a city. Our house here is very big. But the rooms are not finished. There is almost no furniture.
The Federalists saw the situation as their last chance to control the presidency. They had two plans. They would try to block the Congress from electing either Jefferson or Burr as president. Then they would try to find a way to put executive power in the hands of a Federalist. If that plan failed, they were prepared to elect Burr. The Federalists tried to make people believe that Burr was working with them, against Jefferson. Burr denied this. In a letter to Jefferson, Burr wrote: "Every Republican wants you to be president of the United States. Every good Republican wants to serve under you. I would be happy and honored to be your vice president. And, if you believe I could help you better in some other position, I would do so." On February eleventh, the House of Representatives began to count votes, state by state. Eight states chose Jefferson. Six chose Burr. The representatives of two states -- Maryland and Vermont -- gave each man an equal number of votes. There was no majority within those states. So neither man won the votes of those states. The voting continued. All that day and throughout the night the representatives voted. Twenty-seven times the count remained the same. Eight states for Jefferson. Six for Burr. Two undecided. The next morning, the representatives decided to rest for four hours. The voting began again at noon. There was no change.
The thirteenth of February passed, then the fourteenth and fifteenth. Still no change. The House voted thirty-three times. It could not elect a president. A change in the vote of just one congressman from Maryland or Vermont could decide the contest. Later, after the election, the representative from Delaware said he had met with two congressmen from Maryland and one from Vermont. All were Federalists. All had voted for Aaron Burr. The Delaware congressman said they claimed they spoke with a friend of Thomas Jefferson. He said they told Jefferson's friend they would change their votes, if Jefferson made certain promises. Jefferson denied that he had made any political promises. He said many men tried to get promises from him. But he said he told them all that he would never become president with his hands tied. History experts do not agree on what really happened. What is sure is that the House of Representatives voted for the thirty-sixth time on February seventeenth. Ten states, including Maryland and Vermont, voted for Thomas Jefferson. Four states voted for Aaron Burr. Two states -- Delaware and South Carolina -- did not vote. But Jefferson had the majority he needed. He would be the new president.重点解析
1.voted for 投票赞成
All of you voted for me.
你们所有人的选票都投给了我。
2.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。
3.arrived in 到达
I arrived in Moscow a week later, beginning a three-year stint as a Russia correspondent.
我在一个星期后抵达莫斯科，开始为时三年的驻俄罗斯记者生涯。
4.neither nor 既不是…也不是…
No matter how careful you are, you can neither nor control the future. So you must diversify.
不管你多么小心，你都不能预知或控制未来，所以你必须分散投资。
5.attempted to 企图
He attempted to lure her away from husband and family.
他企图引诱她离开丈夫和家庭。
参考译文
作为总统，约翰·亚当斯名义上虽然是联邦党人的领袖。但实际上，权力却掌握在前财政部长亚历山大·汉密尔顿的手中。因为这个以及其他原因，亚当斯不喜欢汉密尔顿。他说：“如果托马斯·杰斐逊当选，他将是一位好总统。我宁愿做杰斐逊手下的欧洲事务部长，也不愿做汉密尔顿手下的总统。”汉密尔顿不喜欢亚当斯，他竭尽全力，阻止亚当斯再次当选总统。他支持另一位联邦党人、南卡罗来纳州的查尔斯·考特斯沃斯·平克尼。根据当时的选举制度，得票最多的候选人当选总统。得票第二多的候选人担任副总统。联邦党人要在1800年的选举中获胜并不容易。共和党有一个非常强大和受欢迎的候选人——托马斯·杰斐逊。因此，联邦党人试图改变选举制度。宪法规定，各州议会将指定选举人投票选举总统。联邦党人试图干涉选举人选。他们希望国会设立一个特别委员会来裁决选民是否有权投票。委员会可以决定选举人的选票是否有效。该委员会将由六名参议院和六名众议院组成。还有美国首席大法官。设立这样一个委员会违反了宪法。联邦党领袖知道这一点。因此，他们希望国会批准该委员会，但在选举结束前保密。联邦党人在参议院占有多数席位。参议院投票通过了这项提案。但是众议院成员对此表示谴责。他们对提案作了许多修改。
参议院拒绝接受这些改动。国会两院无法达成共识，使得这项提案无疾而终。联邦党人的领导人在选举中获胜的希望也开始变的渺茫。到1800年夏天，托马斯·杰斐逊所在的共和党在各州都有强有力的领袖。它有许多报纸来表达党的思想。杰斐逊决定到他在弗吉尼亚的农场蒙蒂塞洛去度假。共和党在纽约的领袖是律师亚伦·伯尔。美国独立战争期间，伯尔曾在乔治·华盛顿将军手下担任军官。战后，他加入了联邦党，并当选为美国参议员。后来，他改换了政党，投奔了共和党。1800年，一群联邦党和共和党人支持伯尔参加总统候选。亚伦·伯尔和亚历山大·汉密尔顿是死敌。当汉密尔顿得知自己的政党选举伯尔而非杰斐逊时，他的反应快速激烈。他说：“任何人，即使是托马斯·杰斐逊，都比亚伦·伯尔好，杰斐逊并不危险。伯尔是危险的，杰斐逊关于政府的看法是错误的。但至少他是一个诚实的人。伯尔是一个没有诚信和品格的人。他将毁了美国。”1800年当选的总统将在一个新首都执政。联邦政府将从费城迁至哥伦比亚特区新建的城市——华盛顿。该市位于马里兰州和弗吉尼亚州之间的波多马克河畔。当亚当斯总统和他的妻子阿比盖尔抵达华盛顿特区时，他们发现了一个边境小镇。那里房子和街道稀少。亚当斯夫人不敢相信她所看到的，她写信告诉女儿：“因为我们这么称呼它才算的上城市，这里的房子很大，但是很多房间还没有完工。几乎没有什么家具和足够的照明灯具。”一条名为宾夕法尼亚大道的街道从总统府直通国会，国会将在那里召开会议。如今街道每边建筑林立，当年却是一片烂泥地。这里就是新的联邦城——美国的新首都。1800年，总统选举的获胜者就在这里开始他的任期。乔治·华盛顿在没有反对派的情况下赢得了美国前两届总统选举。约翰·亚当斯以三票之差赢得了第三次总统选举。这一次，1800年的总统选举没有明确的赢家。统计选举人票时，亚当斯总统有65票。但是托马斯·杰斐逊和亚伦·伯尔各有73票。因此，根据宪法，众议院将在杰斐逊和伯尔之间进行选择——伯尔是得票最多的候选人。每个众议员都可以投票。但是各州只有一票。这一票将投给获得该州众议员支持最多的候选人。候选人必须获得该州多数选票才能获胜。1800年，美国一共有16个州，赢得9个州的支持才算获胜。联邦党人认为这是他们控制总统职位的最后机会，他们有两个计划。他们试图阻止杰斐逊或伯尔当选为总统。他们会想方设法把行政权交给联邦党人。如果计划失败，他们准备选举伯尔。联邦党人试图让人们相信，伯尔是和他们站在一起的，都反对杰斐逊。伯尔对此予以否认。伯尔在给杰斐逊的一封信中写道：“每个共和党人都希望你出任总统。每一个优秀的共和党人都希望为你效力。
我很高兴也很荣幸成为你们的副总统。如果你认为我能在其它方面帮助你的话，我将义无反顾。”2月11日，众议院开始逐州计票。8个州选择了杰斐逊。6个州支持伯尔。马里兰州和佛蒙特州的代表给了每个人同等数量的选票。这些州的得票数量不相上下。所以两个人都没有获胜。投票仍在继续。代表们整天整夜地投票。投了27次，依然如此。8个州支持杰斐逊。6个州支持伯尔，剩下两个州没有结果。第二天早上，代表们决定休息4个小时。中午继续投票，依然没有变化。2月13日过去了，然后是14日和15日。依然没有改变。众议院进行了33次投票。还是没有选举出总统。只要马里兰州或佛蒙特州的一名众议员改变投票，就可以决出胜负。选举结束后，特拉华州的代表说，他见到了马里兰州的两名众议员和佛蒙特州的一名众议员。所有人都是联邦党人。所有人都把票投给了亚伦·伯尔。这位特拉华州的国会议员说，他们声称与托马斯·杰斐逊的一位朋友交谈过。他说，他们告诉过杰斐逊的朋友，如果杰斐逊做出某些承诺，他们将改变选票。杰斐逊否认他做过任何政治承诺。他表示很多人都想从他那里得到承诺。但是他说，自己永远不会成为束手束脚的总统。历史学家对真正发生了什么无法达成共识。可以肯定的是，众议院在2月17日进行了第36次投票。包括马里兰州和佛蒙特州在内的10个州投票支持托马斯·杰斐逊。4个州投票给了亚伦·伯尔。特拉华州和南卡罗来纳州没有投票。但是杰斐逊得到了他所需要的多数州的支持。他将成为新一任总统。译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
