(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION -- American history in VOA Special English. In the spring of eighteen sixty-five, the American Civil War was over. And the president who had led the Union during that war was dead. Abraham Lincoln had been murdered before the final surrender of Confederate forces. Now, the re-united nation had a new president, Andrew Johnson. He had been Lincoln's vice president. The chief justice of the United States swore Johnson into office a few hours after Lincoln's death. Most of Lincoln's cabinet was there, together with leading members of Congress. They looked to the new president with a mixture of shock and hope. This week in our series, Shep O'Neal and Tony Riggs begin the story of America's seventeenth president. Andrew Johnson was -- like Abraham Lincoln -- a man of the people. He was born in North Carolina. His family was poor. There was no money, or time, for young Andrew to go to school. When he was fourteen years old, his mother sent him to work for a tailor to learn to make clothes. Andrew worked hard. He opened his own tailoring business in the eastern part of the state of Tennessee. When he was eighteen, he married. His wife, Eliza, taught him to read and write.
Andrew became active in politics. At the age of twenty-one, he was elected to the town council. Two years later, he became mayor of the town. At thirty-five, he won a seat in Congress, in Washington. Next, he became governor of Tennessee. Then the state made him one of its two senators. The poor tailor boy was a success. Andrew Johnson was a member of the Democratic Party. In the presidential election of eighteen-sixty, he supported his party's candidate, not the candidate of the Republican Party: Abraham Lincoln. But, Lincoln won the election. And, as a result, southern states carried out their earlier threat. They began leaving the Union to form their own nation. Johnson opposed this secession. He believed the South should remain part of the United States. He decided he had no choice but to support the Republican president. Most of the other citizens in Tennessee disagreed with him. They decided to leave the Union. Andrew Johnson had to flee his home to save his life. He returned only after Union forces took control of Tennessee and made him military governor.
President Lincoln noticed the man from Tennessee who supported the Union over the opposition of others. In eighteen sixty-four, Lincoln decided to run for re-election. He chose Johnson to be his vice presidential candidate. Lincoln hoped Johnson would win the support of Union-loving Democrats. He hoped Johnson would help heal the wounds between North and South. Now, Lincoln was dead. And Johnson was president. It was up to this little-known former tailor to make the decisions on reconstruction -- on rebuilding the Union. Johnson, not Lincoln, would decide if reconstruction would be easy or hard. Johnson would choose if the North would punish the defeated rebel states or be merciful to them. The radicals of Lincoln's Republican Party wanted severe reconstruction. They said the South was a defeated enemy. They demanded strong punishment for all southerners who took part in the rebellion. These radicals had disliked Lincoln's plans for reconstruction. They felt he was too weak. Now, they hoped Johnson would share their ideas. They urged him to call a special session of Congress to pass strong legislation against the South.
The radicals had reason to believe the new president agreed with them. He had called the rebels traitors. He had demanded strong action against them when the war ended. "The time has come," Johnson had said, "when the American people should understand what crime is. And that it should be punished." But Andrew Johnson surprised the radicals. He did not call the special session of Congress. Instead, he announced his own program for the southern states. Johnson declared a pardon for all former confederates who promised to support the Union and obey laws against slavery. Then, he permitted former officials of the confederacy to run for office in their states' new elections. Many of these former rebels were elected. The radical Republicans were angry. They saw these elections as proof that the South had not really changed. They accused Johnson of being too soft. They urged him to punish the rebels. One radical newspaper wrote: "There is only one sure and safe policy for the immediate future. The North must remain the dictator of the republic until the spirit of the North shall become the spirit of the whole country. The South's treason is still unpunished. Southerners cannot be trusted. "
The radicals also worried about what would happen to the recently freed slaves. They said the new state governments of the South would not treat blacks as free and equal citizens. As proof, they pointed to new laws the southern legislatures passed. For example, the state legislature in Mississippi said no black person could rent farmland. It said a black person needed special permission to work at any job except farming. Mississippi also passed a law saying a black person could be forced to work for a white man -- usually his former owner -- if he had no other job. Another way the state governments in the South acted against blacks was by refusing to give them the right to vote. The radical Republicans decided that President Johnson's reconstruction program must be stopped. They began working to get control of Congress to pass their own program. Only by gaining political power could they punish the South and guarantee full political rights to former slaves. The radicals tried to take control in two ways.
First, they refused to let many of the recently elected southern congressmen take their seats when Congress opened. Then they formed their own joint committee on reconstruction. This committee -- not the Senate or the House of Representatives -- would make many of the decisions about reconstruction. Radical lawmakers took other steps to seize control of reconstruction efforts in the South. Congress had established a government agency to take care of black refugees in the South. The agency gave food and clothing to former slaves who had no food, money, or jobs. It began to teach them to read and write. Republicans in Congress moved to extend the life of the agency and increase its powers. They passed a bill and sent it to the White House for the president's approval. President Johnson vetoed the bill. He said it would create false hopes among former slaves. He also said it was unconstitutional. The radicals tried to overturn Johnson's veto. However, they failed to get the necessary votes. Congress passed several other bills giving the federal government power to protect the rights of blacks in the southern states. President Johnson vetoed these bills, too. He said they interfered with the rights of the states.
These defeats made the radicals even more angry. Their newspapers began a steady attack against the president and his policy toward the South. Some even accused him of treason. Many Americans agreed with this criticism of President Johnson. They gave the radicals a big victory in congressional elections of eighteen sixty-six. Radical leaders gained the power to pass any bill they wished, even over the president's veto. And they wasted no time doing just that. Time after time, they voted to overturn Andrew Johnson's vetoes. The atmosphere in Washington became very tense. Relations between Congress and the White House sank to their lowest level in history. The political skies darkened. Soon, the storm broke. The radicals tried something that had never been tried before. They tried to remove the president from office. The conflict between the radicals and Andrew Johnson would provide some of the most historic and intense moments in American history. That will be our story in the next program of THE MAKING OF A NATION.
重点解析
1.decide to 决定;决定去做
At this point I don't care what you decide to do.
到这个时候,我不在乎你决定要怎么做了
2.be up to 胜任;该由......负责
But, in the end, it may not be up to him.
但最终事情恐怕由不得他做主
3.run for 竞选;让......竞选
I'm going to run for monitor of the class this term.
这学期我想竞选班长
。4.get control of 控制;掌控
How to get control of your time and your life is very important.
如何掌控自己的时间和生活非常重要
。参考译文
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安德鲁在政治上变得活跃起来 。21岁时,他当选为镇议会议员 。两年后,他成为镇长 。35岁时,他在华盛顿的国会赢得了一个席位 。接下来,他成为田纳西州州长 。然后,州政府让他担任两名参议员中的一个席位 。那个贫贱的裁缝男孩做得很成功 。安德鲁·约翰逊是民主党成员,在1860年的总统选举中,他支持政党候选人,而不是共和党候选人亚伯拉罕·林肯 。但是,林肯赢得了选举 。结果,南方各州实施了他们早期的威胁 。他们开始离开联邦组建自己的国家 。约翰逊反对这种分裂,他认为南方应该是美国的一部分 。他认定自己别无选择,只能支持共和党总统 。田纳西州的大多数其他公民不同意他的观点,他们决定离开联邦,安德鲁·约翰逊为了活命不得不离家出走 。他在联邦军控制田纳西州并任命他为军事长官后才回来 。
林肯总统注意到这位来自田纳西州的人不顾其他人的反对,支持联邦 。1864年,林肯决定参加连任竞选,他选择约翰逊作为副总统候选人 。林肯希望约翰逊能赢得热爱联邦的民主党人的支持,他希望约翰逊能帮助治愈南北双方的创伤 。现在,林肯已经过世 。约翰逊成为总统,将由这位鲜为人知的前裁缝做出重建联邦的决定 。约翰逊,而不是林肯,将决定重建工作是否容易还是困难 。约翰逊会选择北方是惩罚被击败的叛变州还是仁慈处置他们 。林肯共和党的激进分子希望实施彻底的重建,他们说南方是战败的敌方 。他们要求对所有参加叛乱的南方人进行严惩 。这些激进分子不喜欢林肯的重建计划,他们觉得他太软弱了 。现在,他们希望约翰逊能分享他们的想法 。他们敦促他召开一次特别的国会会议,通过一项反对南方的强有力的立法 。
激进分子有理由相信,新总统同意他们的观点,他称叛军为叛徒 。战争结束时,他要求对他们采取强有力的行动 。约翰逊曾说:“现在是时候让美国人民明白什么是犯罪了 。犯罪应该受到惩罚 。”但是安德鲁·约翰逊让激进分子们大吃一惊,他没有召开国会特别会议 。相反,他宣布了自己对南部各州的计划 。约翰逊宣布赦免所有曾承诺支持联邦,并遵守反对奴隶制法律的前同盟国人民 。然后,他允许前同盟国官员参加他们各州的新选举 。这些前反叛分子中有许多人当选 。激进的共和党人很生气,他们认为这些选举证明南方并没有真正改变 。他们指责约翰逊太过软,都敦促他惩罚叛军 。一家激进的报纸写道:“近期,只有一项确定又安全的政策 。北方必须作为共和国的独裁者,直到北方的精神成为整个国家的精神 。南方叛变的各州仍然没有受到惩罚,南方人不可信 。”
激进分子还担心,最近被释放的奴隶会怎么样 。他们说,南方新成立的州政府不会把黑人视为自由平等的公民 。作为证据,他们指出南方立法机关通过的新法律 。例如,密西西比州的立法机关说,黑人不能租用农田 。据说,一个黑人需要特别许可才能从事除农业以外的任何工作 。密西西比州还通过了一项法律,规定如果一个黑人没有其他工作,可以强制他为一名白人,通常是他的前任奴隶主工作 。南方各州政府反对黑人的另一种方式,是拒绝给予他们投票权 。激进的共和党人决定必须停止约翰逊总统的重建计划,他们开始努力控制国会通过他们自己的方案 。只有获得政治权力,他们才能惩罚南方,并保证以前的奴隶享有完全的政治权利 。激进分子试图以两种方式控制局势 。
首先,他们拒绝让许多新近当选的南方国会议员在国会中任职 。随后,他们成立了自己的重建联合委员会 。这个委员会将做出许多关于重建的决定,而不是参议院或众议院来裁决 。激进的立法者采取其他步骤来控制南部地区的重建工作 。国会成立了一个政府机构来照顾南方的黑人难民,该机构给那些没有食物、钱或工作的原有奴隶提供食物和衣服,并开始教授他们读写 。国会中的共和党人扩展该机构的存在时间,并增加其权利 。他们通过了一项法案,并将其送交白宫,以获得总统的批准 。约翰逊总统否决了该法案,他说,这将使原有的奴隶产生错误的希望 。他还说这是违反宪法的 。激进分子试图推翻约翰逊的否决权,然而,他们没有得到必要的选票数量 。国会还通过了其他几项法案,赋予联邦政府保护南方各州黑人权利的权力 。约翰逊总统也否决了这些法案 。他说,他们干涉了各州的权利 。
这些失败使激进分子更加愤怒,他们的报纸开始对总统及其南部政策进行持续性攻击 。有些人甚至指责他叛国 。许多美国人同意对约翰逊总统发表的这种批评,他们在1866年的国会选举中给予激进分子一个巨大的胜利 。激进的领导人获得了通过任何他们想获批的法案的权力,甚至还能凌驾于总统的否决权之上 。他们没有浪费时间,一次又一次地投票推翻安德鲁·约翰逊的否决意见 。华盛顿的气氛变得非常紧张 。国会和白宫的关系下落到历史最低水平 。政治天空一片黯淡 。不久,暴风雨爆发了 。激进分子尝试以前从未采取过的行为,他们试图罢免总统 。激进分子和安德鲁·约翰逊之间的冲突将产生美国最具历史意义和最激烈的时刻 。这将是我们下一期建国史话节目要讲述的故事 。
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