(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
The United States declared war on Britain in eighteen twelve. It did so because Britain refused to stop seizing American ships that traded with France -- Britain's enemy in Europe. Britain finally suspended its orders against neutral trade, after a change in government. But the British acted too late. The United States had declared war. Today, Larry West and Frank Oliver continue the story of the War of Eighteen Twelve. The United States navy was not ready for war. It had only a few real warships and a small number of gunboats. It could not hope to defeat the British navy, the most powerful in the world. What the United States planned to do was seize Canada, the British territory to the north. Twenty-five hundred British soldiers guarded the border. And American generals believed they could win an easy victory. They were wrong. An American general named William Hull led two thousand men across the Canadian border. British soldiers were prepared, and they forced the Americans back.
The British fought so well that General Hull surrendered all his men and the city of Detroit. The next American attack was made from Fort Niagara, a military center in New York on the shore of Lake Ontario. A small group of American soldiers crossed the Niagara River and attacked the British. Other Americans -- state soldiers of New York -- refused to cross the border to help against the British. They calmly watched as British soldiers shot down the attacking Americans. The third campaign was made by General Henry Dearborn. He led an army of state soldiers from Plattsburgh, New York, to the Canadian border. He was to cross the border and attack Montreal. But the state soldiers again refused to cross the border. Dearborn could do nothing but march them back to Plattsburgh. British forces at this time were winning victories. They captured an American fort in northern Michigan. And Indians -- fighting for the British -- captured a fort at the place now known as Chicago. Instead of marching through Canada without difficulty, the Americans found themselves trying hard to keep the British out of the state of Ohio. For a while, the weak little American navy was doing better than the army.
Just two months after the war started, the United States warship Constitution forced a British ship to surrender. Several months later another American ship, the Wasp, captured the British ship Frolic. Then the frigate the United States defeated one of Britain's most famous fighting ships, the Macedonian. The British ship was captured and brought to the United States. There were other victories at sea. At the end of six months, the United States navy had captured six British ships and lost only one of its own vessels. Private American trade ships had been armed with guns when the war started. They, too, were successful against the British. They captured more than three hundred British trade ships. The American successes forced Britain to bring more of its fighting ships into the war with the United States. By the middle of eighteen thirteen, a year after the war started, British ships controlled the United States coast. Not an American ship could enter or leave any port south of New England. The military situation was improving in the West. William Henry Harrison, governor of the Indiana territory, formed a large force to try to capture Detroit from the British.
At the same time, Captain Oliver Perry built five warships on Lake Erie. With these and four he already had, Perry met and completely defeated an English naval force. Perry reported his victory to Harrison: "We have met the enemy, and they are ours." Perry's victory and Harrison's large force caused the British to withdraw from Detroit, and from a British fort at Malden, in Canada. Harrison's men continued to chase the enemy. They caught them and defeated them in the battle of the Thames. Killed in this battle was the great Indian chief Tecumseh who had been fighting for the British. United States forces made new attempts to win control of Lake Ontario and invade Canada across the Niagara River. But none of these succeeded. Late in eighteen thirteen, British soldiers crossed the river and captured Fort Niagara. They also burned the town of Buffalo. By April eighteen fourteen, Napoleon was forced from power in Europe. And the war between France and Britain was over. This permitted Britain to send many of its soldiers in Europe to fight against the United States. Fourteen thousand troops were sent to Canada. A smaller force was put on ships that sailed along the American coast.
Another group of British soldiers was sent to Jamaica to prepare for an attack on New Orleans. The British planned to send an army of eleven thousand men down from Canada into New York. But before this, the soldiers aboard ships along the American coast were to attack the Chesapeake Bay area and threaten Washington and Baltimore. About four thousand British soldiers landed on the Chesapeake coast, southeast of Washington. They marched quickly toward the capital. An American general, William Winder, commanded a force two times the size of the British group. Winder was not a good general, and his troops did not defend well. The two sides met at Bladensburg, a town ten kilometers from Washington. The British attacked and at first the American defenders held their ground. But then, British soldiers broke through the American lines, and the Americans began to run away. General Winder ordered his men back to Washington. A group of sailors refused to retreat with their artillery. Commanded by Joshua Barney, the four hundred sailors chose to stand and fight.
The struggle did not last long against the four thousand British soldiers. Barney held his position for a half hour before enemy soldiers got behind his men and silenced the guns. Barney was wounded seriously. The British thought so much of his courage that they carried him to a hospital for their own soldiers at Bladensburg. Barney himself said the British officers treated him as a brother. Once the British force had smashed through Barney's navy men, nothing stood between it and Washington. The enemy spent the night about half a kilometer from the Capitol building. The commanders of the British force, General Robert Ross and Admiral Sir George Cockburn, took a group of men to the Capitol and set fire to it. Then the two commanders went to the White House to burn it. Before setting fire to the president's home, Cockburn took one of President Madison's hats and the seat from one of Dolley Madison's chairs. The admiral found the president's table ready for dinner. As a joke, he took a glass of wine and toasted the health of "President Jemmy." President Madison had fled the White House earlier.
He crossed the Potomac River and started toward his home in Virginia. He joined his wife on the road the second day. And they decided to wait with others about twenty-five kilometers from Washington. The president returned to the capital three days after he left it. The British, after burning most public buildings, had withdrawn. The British coastal force next attacked the city of Baltimore. But this time, the defenses were strong, and the attack failed. Baltimore port was guarded by Fort McHenry. British warships sailed close to the fort and tried to destroy it with their guns. But the attack did little real damage to the fort. A young American civilian, Francis Scott Key, was aboard one of the British warships during the twenty-five-hour shelling of Fort McHenry. He and a group of others had gone to the ship with a message from President Madison. The message asked the British to release an American doctor they were holding. All through the night, the young man watched the shells bursting and the rockets exploding over the fort. In the first light of morning, he saw that the American flag still flew. On the back of an old letter from his pocket, Francis Scott Key wrote the words of "The Star-Spangled Banner," the national anthem of the United States.
重点解析
1.decided to 决定 毅然
We decided to round off our tour of Europe with a brief visit to Madrid.
我们决定去马德里作一次短暂的访问，以此结束我们的欧洲之行。
2.set fire 纵火
In a mostly Muslim neighbourhood, hundreds of demonstrators threw objects at residents, burnt tyres, went into the mosque and tried to set fire to some food stalls.
在大部分穆斯林居民区，许多示威者向居民投掷物品，焚烧车胎，冲入清真寺并试图向一些食品摊档纵火。
3.cross the border 跨越国界
The traveler must cross the border at the destination in person, together with the passport.
这个旅行者必须亲自跨越目的地边界，并随身携带护照。
4.run away 逃跑；失控
I tell them to go and stay with a friend, run away.
我告诉她们逃跑，和朋友待在一起。
参考译文
1812年，美国对英国宣战。起因是英国拒绝停止扣押美国与法国（英国在欧洲的敌人）贸易的船只。政府更迭后，英国最终暂停了针对中立贸易的命令。但英军行动太迟了，美国已经宣战。今天，拉里·韦斯特和弗兰克·奥利弗继续为您讲述1812年战争的故事。美国海军还没有做好战争准备，只有寥寥几艘军舰和少量的炮艇，不可能打败世界上最强大的英国海军。美国计划占领北部英国控制下的加拿大。边境由2500名英国士兵守卫着。美军指挥官认为他们可以轻松获胜，但他们错了。一位名叫威廉·赫尔的美军将领带领2000人越过加拿大边境。英国士兵早有防备，美军撤退。英军表现出色，美军战败，赫尔将军底下的士兵全部投降，底特律也失守。美军的第二次进攻是在纽约安大略湖岸边的军事中心尼亚加拉堡。一小批美国士兵越过尼亚加拉河袭击了英军。其他纽约州士兵拒绝越过边境帮助对抗英国。他们眼睁睁地看着美军死在英国士兵的手中。第三次战役是由亨利·迪尔伯恩将军领导的。他率领一支由纽约州士兵组成的军队从普拉茨堡州出发前往加拿大边境。他打算越过边境去攻击蒙特利尔。但是纽约州士兵再次拒绝越过边境。迪尔伯恩只好把他们赶回普拉茨堡。当时英国军队正势如破竹，他们占领了密歇根州北部的一座美国军事堡垒。
对英军俯首称臣的印第安人占领了今天芝加哥地区的一个堡垒。美军没有轻易地穿越加拿大，而是在竭力阻止英军进入俄亥俄州。有一段时间，弱小的美国海军表现得比陆军好。战争开始仅仅两个月后，美国军舰“宪法号”就迫使一艘英国军舰投降。几个月后，另一艘美国军舰“黄蜂号”捕获了英国战舰“快乐号”。随后，护卫舰“美国号”击败了英国最著名的战舰“马其顿号”。英国战舰“马其顿号”被扣押运到美国。美国海军节节胜利。6个月后，美国海军捕获了6艘英国战舰，只损失了一艘战舰。战争开始时，美国商船都配备了枪支，加入到对抗英军的队伍当中。他们缴获了三百多艘英国商船。战争的失利迫使英国不得不投入更多的战舰。到1813年年中，即战争开始后，英国控制了美国海岸。美国船只无法进出新英格兰南部的任何一所港口。西方的军事形势有所好转。印第安纳州州长威廉·亨利·哈里森率领一支庞大的军队，试图从英国人手中夺取底特律。与此同时，奥利弗·佩里船长在伊利湖上建造了五艘战舰。这些武器加上他已经拥有的四艘战舰，佩里船长彻底击败了英国海军。佩里向哈里森汇报了他的胜利：“我们遇到了敌人，他们被我们打败了。”
佩里的胜利和哈里森的强大军队逼迫英国从底特律和加拿大的莫尔登撤退。哈里森领军继续追击，在泰晤士河战役中击败了英军。伟大的印度酋长特库姆塞在这场战役中牺牲，他一直在为英国作战。美军做出了新的尝试，试图控制安大略湖，并越过尼亚加拉河，入侵加拿大。但都没有成功。1813年末，英军过河占领了尼亚加拉堡，还烧了布法罗镇。到1814年4月，拿破仑在欧洲被迫下台。英法战争结束。这使得英国可以派遣更多士兵到欧洲对抗美国。一万四千人被派往加拿大。美国海岸部署了一支较小的部队。另一支部队被派往牙买加准备攻打新奥尔良。英国计划从加拿大派遣一万一千人进军纽约。但在此之前，美国海岸舰艇上的士兵要袭击切萨皮克湾地区，威胁华盛顿和巴尔的摩。大约四千英兵在华盛顿东南部的切萨皮克海岸登陆，迅速向首都进军。美国将领威廉·温德尔指挥的军队数量是英军的两倍。温德尔不是个良将，他领导军队的防御能力并不好。双方在距离华盛顿10公里的布兰登斯堡镇会战。英军发起进攻，起初美国守军还能坚守阵地。但是后来，英国士兵突破了美国的防线，美军溃逃。温德尔将军命令他的士兵撤回华盛顿，一群水兵拒绝撤退。在乔舒亚·巴尼的指挥下，四百名水兵选择了奋战。这场与四千名英国士兵的战斗没有持续多久。巴尼坚守阵地半个小时后，英军从后面偷袭了美军，缴下了他们的枪械，巴尼受了重伤。英军十分佩服他的勇气，于是把他送到了布莱登斯堡的一家医院。
巴尼说，英国军官把他当兄弟看待。一旦英国军队击拜了巴尼领导的海军部队，就可以直捣华盛顿。敌军在离国会大厦大约半公里的地方过夜。英军指挥官罗伯特·罗斯将军和海军上将乔治·科伯恩爵士带领一批人前往到国会大厦纵火。随后两名指挥官前往白宫放火焚烧。在放火烧毁白宫之前，科伯恩拿走了麦迪逊总统的一顶帽子和多利·麦迪逊的一把椅子。科伯恩发现总统的准就就餐。他开玩笑地举起一杯酒，为“杰米总统”的健康干杯。麦迪逊早些时候逃离了白宫，他渡过波托马克河，向他在弗吉尼亚的家走去。第二天，他在路上遇到了他的妻子，二人决定和其他人一起在距华盛顿25公里的地方静观其变。离开三天后，麦迪逊回到了首都。英国人在烧毁了大部分公共建筑后撤离。英国海军随后袭击了巴尔的摩。但这一次，美军誓死抵抗，成功击退了英军。巴尔的摩港口由麦克·亨利堡守卫着。英国军舰驶进堡垒，试图炮轰。但是此次袭击并没有对堡垒造成实质性的破坏。在对麦克亨利堡25小时的炮击中，年轻美国人弗朗西斯·斯科特·基在一艘英国军舰上。他和一群人奉命传达麦迪逊总统的口信：要求英国释放一名被扣押的美国医生。整个晚上，这个年轻人目睹着火箭在堡垒上空轰炸。在清晨的第一道曙光中，他看到美国国旗还在飘扬。弗朗西斯·斯科特·基从口袋里掏出一封旧信，在信的背面写下了美国国歌《星条旗永不落》。
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