(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 presidential election of eighteen eighty-eight, one issue that played a major part was tariffs. At that time, import taxes were high on many products. The high tariffs protected American goods from competing with lower-priced foreign imports. The tariffs protected millions of jobs in American industry. Not everyone, however, supported high tariffs. The president of the United States, Grover Cleveland, decided that high tariffs were wrong. He told other Democratic leaders that he would try to get the tariffs reduced. The politicians warned him not to try. They said he would only lose the support of business people. They said he would need campaign money from business if he expected to be elected president again. But Cleveland rejected their advice. This week in our series, Shirley Griffith and Ray Freeman tell about the presidential election of eighteen eighty-eight.
President Cleveland believed that high tariffs hurt more Americans than they protected. High tariffs, he said, led to high prices on all products. He also opposed high tariffs because they brought in more money than the government needed. The extra money was kept in the public treasury. And this, Cleveland believed, slowed the American economy. The president's Democratic Party united to support his policy of lowering tariffs. When the party held its presidential nominating convention in eighteen eighty-eight, delegates quickly re-nominated Cleveland. At the Republican Party convention, delegates were expected to nominate Senator James Blaine. Blaine had been the party's candidate four years earlier. He had lost to Cleveland in a very close election. Senator Blaine publicly criticized the president's policy on tariffs. He said he looked forward to a full debate on the issue. Republicans thought this meant that Blaine wanted to be nominated for president again. They told him he was sure to win. They said it would be such an easy victory that he would not have to campaign. In fact, Blaine did not want the nomination. He asked that his name not be put before the convention. He met with reporters to talk about his decision. He said: "A man who has once been the candidate of his party -- and defeated -- owes it to his party not to be a candidate again."
Many Republicans refused to accept Blaine's decision. They felt that if Blaine were nominated, he would run. Blaine replied: "If the presidential nomination is offered to me, I could not and would not accept it." That was final. Blaine's supporters had to find someone else to nominate for president. Fourteen men declared themselves to be candidates for the Republican nomination. A leading candidate was Senator John Sherman of Ohio. Another was former Senator Benjamin Harrison of Indiana. Convention delegates voted several times. No man received enough votes to win the nomination. Then a message came from James Blaine. It said: "Nominate Harrison." On the eighth vote, the delegates did. Benjamin Harrison was the grandson of the ninth President of the United States, William Henry Harrison. Benjamin was a lawyer. He had been a General in the Union Army during America's Civil War of the eighteen sixties. After nominating Harrison, the Republicans approved a strong policy statement on the tariff question. The statement said: "We fully support the American system of protection. President Cleveland and his party serve the interests of Europe. We would support the interests of America. We would see all other taxes ended before we surrender any part of the protective tariff system."
Benjamin Harrison's campaign was well-organized. His campaign workers went to businessmen who had become rich because of high protective tariffs. They asked for support, and the businessmen gave millions of dollars to the campaign. The businessmen also put pressure on the people who worked for them. They warned workers that if Cleveland were re-elected, there might be no more jobs. Republican Party leaders took an active part in the campaign of eighteen eighty-eight. They made speeches and led parades across the country. The party also printed millions of pamphlets that warned against what it called "Cleveland's free trade policies." Grover Cleveland's campaign was not well-organized. It started slowly. It did not raise much money. No effort was made to answer Republican attacks on the tariff issue. And the president himself refused to campaign. He said he had more important things to do. The Democrats also failed to stop the Republicans from buying votes on election day. In Indiana, for example, men were paid fifteen dollars to vote for the Republican candidate. The Democrats bought votes, too. But they had less money to spend than the Republicans.
When the popular votes were counted, Cleveland had about one hundred thousand more than Harrison. But Harrison had more electoral votes. He won the election. Grover Cleveland had mixed feelings about his defeat. He wanted to win, because he believed his policies were best for the country. He said he was not sorry that he had made tariffs the major issue in the campaign. "I do not regret it," he said. "It is better to be defeated battling for an honest idea, than to win by a cowardly trick." When President Cleveland and his wife left the White House, Missus Cleveland said goodbye to the servants. She told one of them: "I want you to take good care of all the furniture and other things in the house. I want to find everything the same when we come back...four years from now." The new president, Benjamin Harrison, had big political debts to re-pay. He understood this when he began organizing his administration. "When I came to power," Harrison said, "I found that my party's leaders had taken all the power for themselves. I could not name my own cabinet. They had sold every cabinet position to pay for the election." The position of Secretary of State went to James Blaine, who had refused his party's requests to run for president. Blaine had served as Secretary of State under Presidents James Garfield and Chester Arthur.
The position of Postmaster General went to John Wanamaker. Wanamaker had raised most of the money for Harrison's campaign. He had given fifty thousand dollars of his own money. He planned to re-pay party supporters with jobs in the post office department. During the campaign, Harrison had promised to enforce the civil service law that protected the job rights of government workers. He promised that workers would be removed only in the interests of better government. Wanamaker and other party leaders criticized Harrison. They said they could not build a strong party organization without promising government jobs to voters. So, President Harrison suspended the civil service laws that protected postal workers. Within a year, thirty thousand Democrats were removed from the department. Their jobs went to Republicans. The president then announced that the post office would, once again, be protected by the civil service laws. Former President Cleveland had been troubled by the extra money in the federal treasury. This was tax money the government collected, but did not use.
Most of the extra money came from high protective tariffs on imported products. Cleveland wanted to reduce the surplus by reducing the tariffs. President Harrison decided to reduce the surplus, too. But he would do it by increasing government spending, not by cutting taxes. Congress agreed. It became the first Congress to spend one thousand million dollars. Much of the money was spent on payments to men who had fought in the Union Army during the Civil War. These payments cost the government more than one hundred million dollars a year. Congress also approved millions of dollars for government projects in the home states of important congressmen. This was called "pork barrel" spending. It paid for new roads, bridges, and government buildings -- for almost anything the congressmen wanted. Congress reduced the surplus even more by approving money to build coastal defenses and to buy warships for the Navy. The American Congress passed several historic pieces of legislation during Benjamin Harrison's administration: The Sherman Anti-Trust Act. The Sherman Silver Purchase Act. And the McKinley Tariff. That will be our story next week.
重点解析
1.expect to 期望；预期
You cannot expect to like all the people you will work with.
不要指望你会喜欢所有和你共事的人。
2.promise to 许诺做；承诺
We can't promise to publish a reply as space is limited.
由于版面有限，我们不能保证把回复登载出来。
3.once again 照顾；关心
Can I come back to the question of policing once again?
我能再回到维护治安的问题上来吗？
4.pay for 付钱；支付
I broke the glass, so I'll pay for it.
玻璃是我打碎的，由我来赔。
参考译文
欢迎收听VOA慢速英语之建国史话节目。在1888年的总统选举中，关税问题发挥了主要作用。当时，许多产品的进口税都很高。高关税保护了美国商品免受低价进口商品的竞争。关税保护了美国工业的数百万个工作岗位。然而，并非所有人都支持高关税。美国总统格罗弗·克利夫兰认为高关税是错误的。他告诉其他民主党领导人上，他将努力降低关税。政客们警告他不要尝试。他们说，他只会失去商界人士的支持。他们说，如果他希望再次当选总统，将需要来自商界的竞选资金。但是，克利夫兰拒绝了他们的建议。在本周的系列节目中，雪莉·格里菲斯和雷·弗里曼讲述了1888年的总统选举。
总统克利夫兰认为高关税对美国人的伤害比起到的保护作用更大。他说，高关税导致了所有产品的高价格。他还反对高关税，因为高关税带来的资金超过了政府的需要。多余的钱存在国库里。克利夫兰认为，这样减缓了美国经济的发展。总统的民主党联合起来支持他降低关税的政策。当该党在1888年举行总统提名大会时，代表们很快重新提名了克利夫兰。在共和党大会上，代表们预计将提名参议员詹姆斯·布莱恩。布莱恩四年前是该党的候选人，他在一次势均力敌的选举中输给了克利夫兰。参议员布莱恩公开批评总统的关税政策。他说，他期待着就这个问题进行充分的辩论。共和党人认为，这意味着布莱恩希望再次获得总统提名。他们告诉他，他一定会赢。他们说，他将轻而易举地获胜，不必参加竞选。事实上，布莱恩并不想获得提名，他要求不要在大会上提名他。他会见记者时谈论自己的决定。他说：“一个曾经是他所在政党候选人的人，他被击败了，他应该感谢所归属的政党不再提名他为候选人。”
许多共和党人拒绝接受布莱恩的决定。他们觉得如果布莱恩获得提名，他将会参加竞选。布莱恩回答说：“如果总统提名我，我不能接受，也不会接受。”那是最后一次，布莱恩的支持者不得不提名其他人为总统候选人。14名男子宣布自己是共和党候选人。俄亥俄州参议员约翰·谢尔曼是主要的候选人，另一位是印第安纳州的前参议员本杰明·哈里森。大会代表多次投票，没有人获得足够的选票以赢得提名。随后，詹姆斯·布莱恩发来消息，上面写着：“提名哈里森。”在第八轮投票中，代表们投了赞成票。本杰明·哈里森是美国第9任总统威廉·亨利·哈里森的孙子。本杰明是名律师，他在19世纪60年代美国内战期间曾是联军的将军。在提名哈里森之后，共和党人通过了一项关于关税问题的强有力的政策声明。声明表示：“我们完全支持美国的保护制度。总统克利夫兰及其政党为欧洲的利益服务，我们将支持美国的利益。在我们放弃保护性关税制度的任何部分之前，会看到所有其他税种都终结。”
本杰明·哈里森的竞选活动组织得很好。他的竞选工作人员去找那些因为高额保护关税致富的商人，他们请求获得支持，商人们为这场竞选活动出资数百万美元。商人们也给为他们工作的人施加压力。他们警告这些工人，如果克利夫兰再次当选，可能就没有更多的工作了。共和党领导人积极参加1888年的竞选活动，他们在全国发表演讲，并且领导各种游行活动。该党还印制了数以百万计的小手册，对所谓的“克利夫兰自由贸易政策”提出警告。格罗弗·克利夫兰的竞选活动组织的不好，开始得很慢，没有筹集到多少资金。共和党在关税问题上的攻击没有得到回应。总统本人也拒绝参加竞选，他说他有更重要的事情要做。民主党人也未能阻止共和党人在选举日购买选票。例如，在印第安纳州，男性获得15美元的报酬来为共和党候选人投票。民主党人也购买了选票，但他们的资金比共和党人少。
在计算民众选票时，克利夫兰比哈里森多出了十几万票。但是，哈里森获得了更多的选举人选票。他赢得了选举。格罗弗·克利夫兰对自己的失败百感交集。他想赢得竞选，因为他相信他的政策最有利于国家。他说，他对把关税作为自己竞选的主要议题并不感到遗憾。“我不后悔，”他说。与其用懦弱的伎俩取胜，不如为一个诚实的想法战斗后而失败。”当总统克利夫兰和妻子离开白宫时，克利夫兰夫人向仆人道别。她对其中一个人说：“我希望你把房里的家具和其他东西都收拾好。四年后，我们再回来时，我希望一切都一模一样。”新总统本杰明·哈里森有巨额的政治债务需要偿还。他在开始组建政府时，就对这一点心知肚明。”哈里森说：“我上台时，发现我党的领导人已经为自己夺取了所有的权力。我无法提名自己的内阁，他们出卖了所有内阁职位来为选举买单。”国务卿一职由詹姆斯·布莱恩担任，他拒绝了党内让他参加总统竞选的请求。布莱恩曾在詹姆斯·加菲尔德和切斯特·亚瑟担任总统时出任国务卿一职。
邮政部长的职位由约翰·瓦纳梅克担任，瓦纳梅克为哈里森的竞选筹集了大部分资金。他自己出资5万美元。他计划用邮局部门的工作来重新支付党内支持者的工资。在竞选期间，哈里森曾承诺执行保护政府工作人员工作权利的公务员法。他承诺，只会为了获得更好的政府利益时，才会罢免雇员。瓦纳梅克和其他政党领导人批评哈里森。他们说，如果不向选民承诺提供政府公职，他们就无法建立强大的党组织。因此，哈里森总统暂停了保护邮政雇员的公务员法。不到一年，就有3万名民主党人被撤职。他们的工作交给了共和党人。总统随后宣布，公务员法将再次保护在邮局工作的雇员。心感不安，这是政府征收的税款，但并未使用。大部分额外收入都来自对进口产品收取的高保护性关税。克利夫兰想通过降低关税来减少盈余。总统哈里森也决定减少盈余，但他采取的手段是增加政府开支，而不是减税。国会同意了，这使其成为第一个花费1亿美元的国会。
大部分款项支付给内战期间曾在联军服役的人，这些款项每年使政府损失一亿多美元。国会还批准了数百万美元，用于重要的国会议员所在州实施的政府项目，被称为“政治分肥”支出。它为新建的道路、桥梁和政府大楼买单，国会议员想要的任何东西几乎都可以用这笔款项来支付。国会批准资金去建造海岸防御系统，并为海军购买军舰，以此进一步减少盈余钱款。美国国会在本杰明·哈里森执政期间通过了几项具有历史意义的立法：《谢尔曼反托拉斯法案》、《谢尔曼白银购买法》，还有《麦金利关税》。这将是我们下周要讲述的故事。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
