(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
The United States and Britain agreed late in December of eighteen fourteen to end the war between them. The peace treaty was signed the day before Christmas at Ghent, Belgium. It took several weeks for word of the agreement to reach Washington. This resulted in two events that would not have happened had communications across the Atlantic been faster. One of the events was the battle of New Orleans. British forces had begun the attack about the time the peace treaty was being signed in Ghent. The American commander, General Andrew Jackson, had prepared his defenses well. He won a great victory against the British in a battle that was unnecessary, because the war was already over. Now, Maurice Joyce and Jack Moyles continue our story. The other event was a convention of New England Federalists at Hartford, Connecticut. The meeting began in the middle of December and lasted through the first few days of January. Most of the representatives were from Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. There were a few from New Hampshire and Vermont.
The Federalists called the meeting to protest the war with Britain. Many of them had opposed the war from the beginning. Federalist state governments refused to put their soldiers under control of the central government. And Federalist banks refused to lend to the government in Washington. During the early part of the war, many businessmen in the New England states traded with the enemy. All these things had caused people in other parts of the country to turn against the Federalists. This, in turn, caused some Federalist extremists to talk of taking the New England states out of the union. There was some fear that representatives to the Hartford convention would propose a separate and independent government for New England. Such a proposal -- while the nation was at war with Britain -- would seriously threaten America's future. Not only were the representatives at Hartford to protest the war, they also were there to plan a convention to change the United States Constitution. They wanted changes that would protect the interests of the New England states.
These states felt threatened because new states were being created from the western territories. These new states would weaken the power of New England. Some of the more extreme Federalists, led by Timothy Pickering, believed Britain would capture New Orleans. By doing so, Britain could control the Mississippi River, which the western states needed to move their products to market. "If the British succeed against New Orleans," wrote Pickering, "and I see no reason to question that they will be successful, then I shall consider the Union as cut in two. I do not expect to see a single representative in the next Congress from the western states. " Not all the representatives at the convention were as extreme as Pickering. The majority of them were more moderate. They did not want to split the union. They only wanted to protect the interests of the New England states. These more moderate federalists controlled the secret meetings and prevented any extreme proposals. They were able to do so because of the Republican strength in New England.
True, the federalists controlled the governments of these states, but only by small majorities. There would surely have been violence had the federalists tried to take these states out of the union. The federalist leaders made a public statement at Hartford, January fifth. They sharply criticized the war and President Madison. But they said there was no real reason to withdraw from the central government. New England's problems, they said, resulted from the war and from the Republican government in Washington. Then the Federalists listed the changes they wanted in the Constitution. They wanted to reduce the congressional representation of the southern states, where slavery was permitted. They wanted new states added to the Union only if two-thirds of Congress approved. They wished to reduce the power of the central government to interfere with trade. The Federalists wished to limit to four years the time that a man could serve as president. And they wanted only men born in the United States to serve in the government. Three of the Federalists were chosen to take this list of proposals to Washington and give it to President Madison. By the time they arrived, Washington had received the news of the peace treaty signed at Ghent.
The war was over. The three Federalists met with Madison. They made only small talk and said nothing about the demands of the Hartford convention. The Federalist Party found itself greatly embarrassed by the peace. Its leaders had long denounced the war and said Britain could not be defeated. Many of them had traded with the enemy. Some had even worked with the British against their own country. They had even threatened to break up the Union. While there was some question about how the war would end, the Federalist Party had supporters. But once the war was over, its supporters vanished. And the party itself soon disappeared, even in New England. The Senate acted quickly to approve the treaty with Britain. On February seventeenth, eighteen fifteen, President Madison declared the war officially ended. It had lasted two years and eight months. The United States had suffered thirty thousand casualties -- killed, wounded, or captured.
But the war had united the American people. Albert Gallatin, Madison's treasury secretary and one of the negotiators at Ghent, explained it this way: "The war has renewed and reinstated the national feelings and character which the revolution had given and which were becoming weaker. The people now have more general objects of attachment with which their pride and political opinions are joined. They are more American. They feel and act more like a nation." On the following Fourth of July, the nation celebrated its thirty-ninth anniversary of independence. In Washington, the man who wrote the "Star-Spangled Banner," Francis Scott Key, spoke at the celebrations. "My countrymen," he said, "we hold something rich in trust for ourselves and all the rest of mankind. It is the fire of liberty. If it is ever put out, our darkened land will cast a sad shadow over the nations. If it lives, its blaze will enlighten and gladden the whole earth. "
President Madison had been elected to his second term in eighteen twelve, the year the war started. The next presidential election was in eighteen sixteen. Madison continued the tradition, begun by Washington and followed by Jefferson, of only serving eight years as president. Republican members of the House and Senate met March fifteenth to choose their presidential and vice presidential candidates. Three Republicans wanted to be president: Secretary of State James Monroe, former Senator and Secretary of War William Crawford, and New York Governor Daniel Tompkins. Monroe received sixty-five votes. Fifty-four of the lawmakers voted for Crawford. With Monroe chosen as the presidential candidate, the Republicans then chose Governor Tompkins as their vice presidential candidate. The Federalists did not meet to choose a presidential candidate. But electors from three of the New England states promised to vote for a New York Federalist, Rufus King. Nineteen states voted in the elections of eighteen sixteen. That will be our story next week.
重点解析
1.presidential candidate 总统候选人
He said she never supported any particular presidential candidate.
他说她从未支持过任一总统候选人。
2.former Senator 前参议员
Former senator Paul Tsongas of Lowell, Massachusetts, had retired at a young age from a successful career in the Senate to battle cancer.
来自马萨诸塞州洛厄尔的前任参议员保罗.聪格斯，为了与癌症作战，年纪尚轻的时候就从成功的参议院生涯中退了下来。
3.turn against 反对；背叛
If the public doesn’t know what you do, they will turn against you as they do not see the benefits of the investment or when accidents happen.
如果公众不了解你在做什么，在看不到投资的好处时，或者当事故发生时，他们就会转而反对你。
4.in turn 反过来；转而；轮流，依次
We will examine each of these methods in turn.
我们将按照顺序依次分析这些方法。
参考译文
1814年12月底，美英同意结束他们之间的战争。和平条约于圣诞节前一天在比利时根特签署。几周后，协议签订的消息才传到华盛顿。由于横跨大西洋的速度慢了些，导致传递的过程中发生了两件事。其中一个事件是新奥尔良战役的爆发。当和平条约在根特签署的时候，英军就开始发动进攻。美国指挥官安德鲁·杰克逊将军已经做好了防御准备。他在一场不必要的战斗中获得了胜利，因为协议已经签订，战争已经结束。现在，莫里斯·乔伊斯和杰克·莫伊尔斯继续为您讲述我们的故事。另一个事件是新英格兰联邦党人在康涅狄格州哈特福德召开大会。会议从12月中旬开始，一直持续到第二年1月初。大多数代表来自马萨诸塞州、罗德岛州和康涅狄格州。有一些来自新罕布什尔州和佛蒙特州。联邦党人召开此次会议是为了抗议与英国的这场战争。他们中的许多人从一开始就反对与英国开战。联邦党人控制的政府拒绝将他们的士兵置于中央政府的控制之下。联邦党人控制的银行拒绝给华盛顿的中央政府提供贷款。战争初期，新英格兰各州的许多商人与英国进行贸易。所有这些都导致了这个国家其它地方的人民反对联邦党人。进而导致一些联邦党的极端分子说是要将新英格兰州从联邦中分离出来。有人担心哈特福德会议的代表会提议建立一个独立的新英格兰政府。当美国与英国交战时，这样的提议将严重影响美国的未来。
哈特福德的代表们不仅抗议这场战争，而且还计划召开一次会议来修改美国宪法。他们希望通过修改宪法来保护新英格兰各州的利益。这些州感到他们的利益受到威胁，因为正在有新的州在西方领土上建立。这些新成立的州将削弱新英格兰的势力。蒂莫西·皮克林领导的一些较为极端的联邦党人认为，英国将占领新奥尔良。这样的话，英国可以控制密西西比河，西部各州需要利用这条河将其产品推向市场。皮克林写道：“如果英军战领了新奥尔良，我看不出有什么理由怀疑英国会成功，那么我就认为联邦是一分为二的了。我希望下一届国会中不会有任何来自西部各州的代表。”并非所有与会代表都像皮克林那样极端，他们中的大多数还是比较温和的。他们不想分裂国家。他们只想保护新英格兰各州的利益。这些较为温和的联邦党人控制了秘密会议，阻止了任何极端的提议。他们之所以能够这样做，是因为共和党在新英格兰的势力强大。没错，联邦党人控制了这些州的政府，但只是少数。如果联邦党人试图把这些州分裂出去，那么肯定会发生暴力冲突。1月5日，联邦党领导人在哈特福德发表了一项公开声明。他们尖锐地批评了战争和麦迪逊总统。但他们表示，没有真正的理由退出联邦政府，新英格兰的问题源于战争和华盛顿的共和党政府。
随后，联邦党人在宪法中列出了他们想要修改的内容。他们希望减少南方各州在国会的代表人数，因为南方各州允许实行奴隶制。他们希望新州加入联邦必须得到国会三分之二人数的批准。他们希望中央政府减少对贸易的干预。联邦党人希望将总统的任职时间限制在四年。他们希望只有美国出生的男性才能在政府中任职。三名联邦党人代表把这份提案清单拿到华盛顿交给麦迪逊总统。当他们到达时，华盛顿已经收到了在根特签署和平条约的消息。战争结束了。三位联邦党人会见了麦迪逊。他们只是进行了简短的谈话，对哈特福德会议提出的要求只字未提。联邦党发现自己因为这份和平条约而局促不安。其领导人长期以来一直谴责这场战争，并表示英国是不可战胜的。他们中的许多人还与英国进行过贸易。有些人甚至和英国人一起对抗他们自己的国家。他们甚至威胁要分裂联邦。虽然关于战争将如何结束还有一些疑问，但联邦党有支持者。但战争一结束，支持者就消失了。甚至是在新英格兰地区，联邦党也很快就消失了。参议院迅速行动批准了与英国的和平条约。1815年2月17日，麦迪逊总统宣布战争正式结束。战争持续了两年零八个月。美国伤亡人数达3万人，包括牺牲、受伤、被俘的人数。但是战争使美国人民团结在一起。
麦迪逊的财政部长、根特的谈判代表之一阿尔伯特·加拉廷这样解释：“战争唤醒了革命所带来的后来逐渐弱化的民族感情和民族性格。人民现在有了更多的依附对象，他们的自豪和政治观点和这些对象有关。他们更像美国人。他们的情感和行为更像一个国家。”在接下来的7月4日，这个国家庆祝39周年独立纪念日。在华盛顿，《星条旗永不落》的作者弗朗西斯·斯科特·基在庆祝活动上发表了讲话。他说：“我的同胞们，我们自己和全人类都真正拥有了某些东西，就是自由之火。如果自由之火被扑灭的话，就必向所有国家投下悲伤的影子，如果这自由之火生生不息的话，必将照亮整个地球。”1812年，也就是战争开始的那一年，麦迪逊总统再次当选美国总统。下一次总统选举在1816年举行。麦迪逊继承了由华盛顿、杰斐逊遗留下来的传统，即只担任八年总统。众议院和参议院的共和党议员于3月15日举行会议，推举他们的总统和副总统候选人。三位共和党人想任职总统：国务卿詹姆斯·门罗、前参议员兼战争部长威廉·克劳福德和纽约州州长丹尼尔·汤普金斯。门罗得到65张选票，54名议员投票支持克劳福德。门罗被选为总统候选人，共和党人选择汤普金斯州长作为他们的副总统候选人联邦党人没有召开会议，推举总统候选人。但是新英格兰三个州的选举人承诺投票给纽约联邦党人鲁弗斯·金。19个州在1816年的选举中投票。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！
