(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
In the spring of eighteen twenty, President James Monroe was coming to the end of his first four years as president. He wanted to be elected again. But he faced a difficult decision. Congress, after much debate between the North and the South, had approved a bill giving statehood to Missouri. Missouri was part of the Louisiana territory. Southern lawmakers wanted Missouri to permit slavery. Northerners wanted no slaves in Missouri. A compromise was reached. Missouri could have slaves. But nowhere else in the northern part of the Louisiana territory would slavery be permitted. Now, Sarah Long and Steve Ember continue our story of the presidency of James Monroe. Many southerners were not satisfied. The compromise closed the door against slavery entering large new areas of land. Southerners -- like all other Americans -- had a right to settle in the new territory. President Monroe was a slave-owner. He understood the feelings of the South. His friends urged him to veto the compromise bill, because it limited slavery in the territory. Monroe believed the compromise was wrong -- but not because it kept slaves out of the territory. The president did not believe the Constitution gave Congress the right to make such conditions. Monroe even wrote a veto message explaining why he could not approve the compromise. But he did not use the veto.
He also understood the strong feelings of those opposed to slavery. He believed there might be civil war if he rejected the compromise. So Monroe signed the bill. Missouri had permission to enter the union as a slave state. The crisis seemed ended. But a few months later, a new problem developed. Missouri wrote a state constitution that it sent to Congress for approval. One part of this constitution did not permit free black men to enter the state. The constitution was immediately opposed by a number of congressmen. They charged that it violated the United States constitution. The United States Constitution said citizens of each state had the rights of citizens of each of the other states. And since free black men were citizens of some states, they should have the right to be citizens of Missouri. The debate over this lasted several months. Former House speaker Henry Clay finally proposed a compromise that both sides accepted. Missouri could become a state if its legislature would make this promise: it would never pass any law that would violate the rights of any citizen of another state.
This second compromise ended the dispute over slavery in Missouri and the Louisiana territory. The compromise of eighteen twenty settled the crisis of slavery for more than twenty years. But everyone knew that the settlement was only temporary. Thomas Jefferson used these words to explain his feelings about the compromise: "This question -- like a fire bell in the night -- awakened and filled me with terror. I understood it at once as the threat of death to the union. It is hushed, indeed, for the moment. "But," said Jefferson, "this is a reprieve only. Not a final settlement." Monroe's decision to approve the compromise did not hurt his election chances in eighteen twenty. There was at this time really only one party -- the Republican -- and he was its leader. The opposition Federalist Party was dead. It was no longer an election threat. Monroe was the only presidential candidate in the election of eighteen twenty. He received the vote of every elector, but one. William Plumer of New Hampshire voted for John Quincy Adams. He explained later that George Washington had been the only president to get all the electoral votes.
Plumer said he did not want anyone to share this honor given to Washington. Monroe's first four years as president had been successful. He had increased the size of the United States. Florida now was part of the country. And the problem of slavery had been temporarily settled. There had been economic problems -- some of the worst in the nation's history. But the situation was getting better. The nation was growing. As it grew, new problems developed between its different sections. There were really three separate areas with very different interests. The northeastern states had become the industrial center of the nation. The southern states were agricultural with large farms that produced cotton, rice and tobacco. Much of the work on these farms was done by slave labor. The western states were areas of small farms where grain was produced with free labor. It was a place where a man could make a new start. Could build a new life. The land did not cost much. And the fruits of a man's labor were his own. This division of the nation into different sections with opposing interests ended the one-party system of Monroe's administration.
The industrial Northeast wanted high taxes on imported products to protect its industry from foreign competition. This part of the country also believed the national government should pay for roads and waterways to get their products to markets. The South did not agree to high import taxes. These taxes raised the prices on all goods. And import taxes on foreign goods might cause foreign nations to raise import taxes on southern cotton and tobacco. The South also opposed spending federal money for roads and canals. The mountains through the southern Atlantic states would make road-building difficult and canals impossible. The western states supported government aid in the building of roads and canals. The Ohio and Mississippi rivers were the only inexpensive transportation systems for moving their products to markets. The westerners also supported high taxes on imports, because they believed such taxes would raise the prices of their agricultural products. The separate interests of these different sections produced an exciting presidential election campaign in eighteen twenty-four. Each section had at least one candidate. Several had more than one. The campaign began almost as soon as Monroe was elected for the second time.
At one time, as many as sixteen men thought of themselves as presidential possibilities. By eighteen twenty-two, the number had been reduced to six men. Three of them were members of Monroe's cabinet: Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, Treasury Secretary William Crawford, and Secretary of War John C. Calhoun. Adams was the only northern candidate. He was an extremely able man. There were few jobs in government he could not do, and do well. But he was not the kind of man that people liked. He was cold, questioning, and had a sharp tongue. His father was John Adams, the second president of the United States. Treasury Secretary Crawford was a southerner -- born in Virginia -- and a large landowner in Georgia. Crawford had received some votes when the Republicans chose Monroe as their presidential candidate in eighteen sixteen. He was a good politician and supported by most southern Republicans. War Secretary Calhoun also was a southern candidate. But he had much less support than Crawford. His home state -- South Carolina -- first named another man as its candidate. When that man died, they named Calhoun.
The West had two candidates in the election of eighteen twenty-four. One was Henry Clay of Kentucky -- "Harry of the West" -- a great lawyer, congressman, speaker of the House and senator. The other was Andrew Jackson -- "Old Hickory" -- the hero of New Orleans [the Battle of New Orleans during the war of 1812]. Jackson was poorly educated, knew little about government, and had a terrible temper. He was a fighter, a man of the people. The sixth candidate was Dewitt Clinton of New York. He was governor of that state and leader of the commission that built the Erie Canal. But New York presidential electors were chosen by the legislature, which was controlled by Clinton's enemies. So Clinton's chances were poor. Treasury Secretary Crawford was clearly the leading candidate two years before the election. But he had a serious illness in the autumn of eighteen twenty-three. He could not meet with the cabinet for months. He could not sign official papers. Crawford did go back to work. But he was only a shadow of the man he had been. "He walks slowly, like a blind man," wrote one reporter. So that took secretary Crawford out as a possible candidate for the coming election.
重点解析
1.Treasury Secretary 财政部长
The US Treasury secretary and the head of the Federal Reserve appeared before the senate banking committee this afternoon.
美国财政部长和美联储主席出席了今天下午的参议院银行业委员会会议 。
2.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 。
3.at least 至少
But, you should go at least once.
但是你至少应该去一次 。
4.debate over 就……争论
Finally, you can settle that debate over the tallest building in Uganda.
最后,您可以结束在乌干达关于最高建筑标准的辩论 。
参考译文
1820年春天,美国总统詹姆斯·门罗即将结束总统任期
这部宪法的部分不允许自由的黑人进入该州
。这部宪法立即遭到一些国会议员的反对 。他们指控该宪法违反了美国宪法 。美国宪法规定,每个州的公民都享有其他州公民的权利 。由于自由黑人是一些州的公民,他们有权成为密苏里州的公民 。关于这一点的辩论持续了几个月 。前众议院议长亨利·克莱最终提出了一个双方都接受的妥协法案 。如果它的立法机关做出这样的承诺,那么密苏里州可以成为一个州,承诺是该州永远不会通过任何侵犯他国公民权利的法律 。第二次妥协给密苏里州和路易斯安那州关于奴隶制的争论划上了问号 。1820年的妥协解决了奴隶制长达20多年的危机 。但每个人都知道,和解只是暂时的 。托马斯·杰斐逊用这些话来解释他对妥协的感受:“这个问题——就像夜间的火警铃——把我惊醒,使我充满了恐惧 。我立刻明白这是对联邦的死亡威胁 。的确,目前是一片沉寂 。“但是,”杰斐逊说,“这只是暂时的,这不是最终的解决方案 。”门罗同意妥协的决定并没有影响他在1820年的选举 。当时只有一个政党——共和党——而门罗是这个政党的领袖 。反对党联邦党已经没有希望了,不再是选举的威胁
对外国商品征收进口税可能会导致外国提高对南方棉花和烟草的进口税
。南方也反对用联邦政府的资金修建公路和运河 。穿越大西洋南部各州的山脉将使修路变得困难,运河也不可能完成 。西部各州支持政府出资修建公路和运河 。俄亥俄河和密西西比河是将产品运往市场的唯一廉价运输系统 。西方人也支持对进口商品征收高额关税,因为他们相信这样会提高农产品的价格 。1824年,不同地区之间的利益促成了一场激动人心的总统竞选活动 。每个地区至少有一名候选人 。有几个地区不止一个 。几乎在门罗第二次当选时,竞选活动就开始了 。有一段时间,多达16个人认为自己有可能成为总统 。到1822年,这个数字已经减少到六个人 。其中三人是门罗的内阁成员:这三个人是国务卿约翰·昆西·亚当斯,财政部长威廉·克劳福德以及战争部长约翰·C·卡尔霍恩 。亚当斯是北方唯一的候选人,他是一个非常能干的人 。几乎没有他完不成的事情,他都能做得很好 。但他不是人们喜欢的那一种 。他态度冷淡,爱发问,说话尖刻 。他的父亲是美国第二任总统约翰·亚当斯 。财政部长克劳福德是南方人,出生在弗吉尼亚州,是乔治亚州的大地主 。当共和党人在1816年选择门罗作为他们的总统候选人时,克劳福德得到了一些选票 。他是一位优秀的政治家,得到了大多数南方共和党人的支持
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