(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
In the early eighteen hundreds, Britain and France were at war with each other. The United States remained neutral. President Jefferson did not want to become involved in a war. He believed it would destroy all the progress he had made. His economic policies had helped to pay much of the national debt. And he was able to reduce taxes. Staying neutral was not easy, however. The United States was having trouble with Britain. For many years, Britain had been taking men by force to serve in its navy. The custom was called 'impressment.' Britain claimed the right to impress -- or seize -- any British citizen, anywhere. Conditions in the British navy were not good at that time, and many sailors deserted. Some went to work on American ships. The American ships were stopped and searched in British waters. Anyone born in Britain was seized. Several thousand sailors were taken off American ships during the early eighteen hundreds. Sometimes, American citizens were taken by mistake. Impressment was one of two major problems the United States was having with Britain in the early eighteen hundreds. The other problem was trade. Britain wanted to stop the United States from trading with France and its colonies. British warships blocked the port of New York all through the year eighteen-oh-five. No American ship could leave without being searched. When goods for France were discovered, the ship was taken to Halifax on the coast of Canada.
There, a British court had the power to seize the goods and force the ship's owners to pay a large amount of money. President Jefferson protested this interference in American trade. He sent James Monroe to London to negotiate a treaty. Jefferson wanted Britain to stop taking sailors from American ships, and to stop interfering in the trade of neutral nations. Monroe tried many times to discuss such an agreement. But the British foreign minister was always too busy to see him. In Washington, Congress decided to act and not wait for a treaty. The House of Representatives debated two proposals. One proposal would stop all goods from being imported into the United States from Britain and its colonies. Imports would be permitted only after Britain had answered America's protests. The representative who offered the proposal said: "We do not wish to destroy the ties that ought to join nations of the same interests. To prevent this, we want an agreement that will satisfy both the United States and Britain. But if Britain continues its hostile acts, then we must loosen these ties of friendship." Some members of Congress felt that this measure was too extreme. They believed it might lead to war with Britain. The second proposal was more moderate. It would ban only those British goods which could be gotten from other places.The House of Representatives debated the two proposals. After four months, it finally approved a ban on the import of some British goods. President Jefferson did not want the trade ban to last long.
He pressed for an agreement with Britain. He sent William Pinkney to assist James Monroe in London. The two diplomats were told to make clear to Britain what it must do to end the limited ban on British imports. Britain was to stop taking sailors from American ships. It was to stop interfering with trade between the United States and the colonies of France. And it was to pay for all property seized from American ships. Monroe and Pinkney knew they could never reach an agreement if they obeyed their orders. So they decided to negotiate on their own as best they could. They dropped the demand for payment for seized property. And they accepted a note -- separate from the agreement – about impressment. The note promised that Britain would be careful not to seize any more American sailors. At the end of December, eighteen-oh-six, Monroe and Pinkney sent word to Washington that the treaty was ready. But from the way their note was written, it seemed the treaty might not be satisfactory. Secretary of State James Madison wrote back. He said if the two diplomats could get no clear agreement on the question of impressment, then the talks should end without a treaty. But it was too late. Monroe and Pinkney had signed the agreement.President Jefferson was angry. His negotiators had disobeyed his orders. He refused to send the treaty to the Senate for approval.
And he said he would tell Monroe and Pinkney to re-open negotiations. Before that could happen, an incident added more fuel to the diplomatic fire. A British navy ship attacked the American Navy ship Chesapeake while looking for deserters. Britain believed that some of the deserters were on the American ship. The United States said the men were American citizens who had been forced to serve in the British navy. It refused to return them. When the Chesapeake sailed out of American waters, the British ship tried to stop it and search it. The American captain did not stop. The British ship first fired two shots in front of the Chesapeake. Then it fired all its guns directly at the American ship. The Chesapeake was able to answer with only one gun. The American captain surrendered. News of the British attack spread quickly. President Jefferson ordered all British navy ships in American waters to leave at once. He told citizens not to aid them. And he said any person -- American or British -- who disobeyed his orders would be arrested. In London, James Monroe protested the attack on the Chesapeake. But the British foreign minister did not want to talk about the incident. Monroe saw little purpose in remaining. So he sailed for home.A few days after he left London, the British government announced a new rule.
It said any American ship sailing to Europe must stop first in Britain to get permission. Ships violating the rule would be seized. Relations between the two countries had reached the breaking point. When President Jefferson learned of the new rule, he called a cabinet meeting to discuss the crisis. He said the United States had three choices: Go to war with Britain. Stop all trade with Europe. Do nothing. Jefferson supported the second choice -- a total embargo -- no trade with Europe. The president sent a special message to Congress. He proposed that no ships be permitted to enter the United States, and no ships be permitted to leave. Both houses of Congress approved Jefferson's proposal. He signed the measure in the closing days of eighteen-oh-seven. Jefferson later explained why he thought the embargo was the best choice of action. He said if American ships had sailed out of American waters, they would have been seized by Britain or France. That would have forced the United States into war. Jefferson said: "It was far better to stop all communications with these nations until they returned to some sense of justice." Jefferson's decision, and continuing tense relations with Britain, caused problems through his final days as president. The situation did not improve for America's next president, James Madison. That will be our story next week.
重点解析
1.foreign minister 外交部长
He will deputize for the foreign minister.
他将代理外交部长。
2.permitted to 允许
In the European Middle Ages it was permitted to spit under the table, but never across it.
在中世纪的欧洲，允许人们将痰吐在桌子底下，但决不可以将痰“远射”到桌子的另一边；
3.returned to 回到某人身边
I returned to my therapist, Jake, to discuss the incident.
我回到我的治疗师杰克那里讨论这件事.
4.stop from 阻止
It's the fourth stop from here.
从这里数第4站。
5.ought to 应该
They ought to finish ploughing the south field by tomorrow.
到明天他们应该犁完南边的一块地。
参考译文
19世纪初，英法两国交战。美国保持中立。杰斐逊总统不想卷入战争。他认为战争会毁掉目前取得的所有成绩。杰斐逊的经济政策帮助美国偿还了大部分国家债务，还减少了税收。然而，保持中立并不容易。美国和英国之间产生了矛盾。多年来，英国海军一直强制征召士兵在海军服役。这叫做“强制征兵”。英国声称有权在任何地方强征英国公民入伍。当时英国海军条件并不好，许多水手开小差。一些人在美国船只上工作。美国船只在英国水域遭到拦截和搜查。在英国出生的人无论谁都会被扣押。19世纪早期，有几千名水手从美国船只上被抓走。也有被误抓的美国人。强制征兵是19世纪初美国和英国之间的两大主要问题之一。另一大问题是贸易。英国希望阻止美国与法国及其殖民地进行贸易。1805年，英国军舰封锁了纽约港口。美国船只出发前都要接受检查。一旦发现发往法国的货物，船只就要被带到加拿大的哈利法克斯。那里，英国法院有权扣押货物，并迫使船主支付一大笔钱。杰斐逊总统对这种干涉美国贸易的行为提出抗议。他派詹姆斯•门罗前往伦敦谈判。杰斐逊希望英国停止从美国船只上抓走船员，停止干涉中立国的贸易。门罗曾多次尝试和英国交涉。但英国外交大臣总是敷衍塞责，说是没时间接见。在华盛顿，国会决定不再等待达成协议，而是采取行动。众议院就两项提案进行了辩论。一项提案是禁止从英国及其殖民地进口所有商品到美国。只有在英国回应了美国的抗议之后，才允许进口。
提出这一提案的代表说：“我们不希望国际关系破坏。为了防止这种情况发生，我们希望达成一项使美国和英国都满意的协议。但如果英国继续其敌对行为，那么我们必须与英国保持距离。”一些国会议员认为该措施太过极端。他们认为这样做会导致与英国开战。第二项提议则较为温和，只禁止那些可以从其它地方进口的英国物资。众议院就这两项提案进行了辩论。4个月后，一项禁止进口部分英国商品的禁令终于得到了批准。杰斐逊总统不希望贸易禁令持续太久。他极力要求与英国达成协议。杰斐逊派威廉•平克尼去伦敦协助詹姆斯•门罗。平克尼和门罗要做的是向英国表明，英国必须采取何种行动才能结束对英国进口的限制。英国必须停止从美国船只上抓捕船员。停止干涉美国和法国殖民地之间的贸易。赔偿英国从美国船只上没收的所有财产。门罗和平克尼知道，如果他们照办的话，协议永远无法达成。所以，二人决定尽其所能自行谈判。他们放弃了赔偿，接受了一份和强制征兵有关的备注。该备注表示，英国不再扣押任何美国船员。12月底，1806年，门罗和平克尼写信给华盛顿，说协议已经达成。但是，从协议内容来看似乎并不尽人意。国务卿詹姆斯•麦迪逊回信说，如果二人在强制征兵问题上不能达成明确共识，那么就不要签署协议。但为时已晚。门罗和平克尼在协议上签了字。谈判代表违抗了他的命令，杰斐逊总统很是生气，拒绝将协议送交参议院批准。他说他会告诉门罗和平克尼重新开始谈判。
在这之前，就发生了一起冲突加剧了事态的发展。一艘英国海军舰艇在搜寻逃兵时袭击了美国海军舰艇切萨皮克号。英国认为，有一些逃兵在船上。美国表示，这些人是被迫在英国海军服役的美国公民，拒绝交人。当切萨皮克号驶离美国水域时，英国船只试图拦截搜查。美国队长没有停船。英国军舰首先在切萨皮克号前开了两枪。随后向美国军舰直接开火。切萨皮克号只有一门大炮，美国上尉被逼无奈，只好投降。英国进攻的消息很快传开了。杰斐逊总统勒令所有在美海域的英国海军军舰立即离开。他告诉美国人民不要帮助他们，违令者，无论是美国人还是英国人，都将被逮捕。在伦敦，詹姆斯•门罗对切萨皮克的袭击表示抗议。但英国外交大臣不愿谈论此事。门罗看不出留下来还有什么意义，于是乘船回家。他离开伦敦几天后，英国政府宣布了一项新规定：任何驶往欧洲的美国船只都必须先在英国停留，以获得许可。违反规则的船只将被扣押。两国关系濒临破裂。杰斐逊总统得知这项新规定后，召开了内阁会议，讨论这场危机。他表示，美国有三个选择：一是与英国开战，二是停止与欧洲的所有贸易，三是按兵不动。杰斐逊支持第二种选择——全面禁运——不与欧洲开展贸易。杰斐逊向国会发出一个特别的信息。他提议，不允许任何船只进入，也不允许任何船只离开美国水域。国会两院批准了杰斐逊的提议。1807年的最后几天，杰斐逊签署了该法案。杰斐逊后来解释了为什么他认为禁运是最好的选择。他说，如果美国船只驶出美国水域，就会被英国或法国扣押。这将迫使美国卷入战争。杰斐逊说：“在这些国家恢复理智之前，最好停止与他们的一切交流。”杰斐逊的决定，以及与英国持续的紧张关系，在他担任总统的最后几天里引发了一些麻烦，这要留待美国下一任总统詹姆斯•麦迪逊继续解决。这就是我们下周要讲的故事。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
