(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 eighteen nineties, the American people were deeply divided over the nation's money system. Should the United States support its currency with gold or with gold and silver? This question became the main issue in the presidential election of eighteen ninety-six. This week in our series, Kay Gallant and Harry Monroe tell the story of that election. Many Americans wanted a gold standard. They said the United States should support its money only with gold. A gold standard, they said, would keep the value of the dollar high. These people were called "gold bugs." Most were businessmen, bankers, and investors. Many other Americans wanted the United States to support its money with both gold and silver. They thought the value of the dollar was too high. A high dollar, they said, drove down prices for agricultural products. A silver standard would lower the value of the dollar. These people were called "silverites." Most were farmers, laborers, and owners of small businesses."
The debate over gold and silver was especially important because of an economic depression that began in the United States in eighteen ninety-three. Thousands of banks and businesses closed. Millions of men lost their jobs. Foreign investors withdrew their money from America. Americans who had money were afraid to invest it. Many people believed the depression would end if the government issued more paper money backed by silver. President Grover Cleveland disagreed. And he opposed any legislation that might threaten the gold standard. He noted that every major nation supported its paper money with gold. The United States would be foolish, he said, not to do the same. It could not stand apart from the world's other money systems. President Cleveland belonged to the Democratic Party. By eighteen ninety-six, many Democrats had become silverites. They gained control of party organizations in several western and southern states. They called Cleveland a traitor to his party and to the American people. They did not want him to be the party's candidate in that year's election. The Republican Party also was divided over the issue of gold and silver. Some members from silver-mining states in the west left the party.
Others remained in the party, but gave support secretly to silverite Democrats. Republicans had done well in the congressional elections of eighteen ninety-four. They won control of both the Senate and House of Representatives. Party leaders were sure a Republican could be elected president in eighteen ninety-six. The most likely candidate appeared to be Governor William McKinley of Ohio. McKinley was, in fact, nominated on the first ballot at the Republican convention in St. Louis, Missouri. The Democratic Party held its nominating convention in Chicago, Illinois. The most likely candidate was Congressman Richard Bland of Missouri. A majority of convention delegates, however, were silverites. And they expected to nominate a silverite candidate. Supporters of President Cleveland wanted to test the silverites' strength. They demanded a debate on the gold-silver issue. Several men spoke in support of President Cleveland and the gold standard. Several spoke in support of silver. The last to speak was Congressman William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska. He had led an unsuccessful fight in Congress to keep America using silver.
Bryan spoke emotionally during the convention debate. He said he represented America's farmers, laborers, and small businessmen who wanted a silver standard. Bryan ended his speech with a line that became famous during the campaign. It called to mind the torture and death of Jesus Christ. Bryan said gold supporters could not force their money system on silver supporters. "You shall not," he said, "crucify mankind upon a cross of gold." With those words, William Jennings Bryan won the nomination away from Congressman Bland. He would be the Democrats' presidential candidate. He was just thirty-six years old. A number of Democrats refused to accept Bryan as their candidate. They withdrew from the Chicago convention and held one of their own. They called themselves National Democrats. They nominated candidates for president and vice president. But they did not win many votes in the election. America's third party at that time -- The People's Party -- had a difficult decision to make. Populists, as they were called, agreed with silverite Democrats that the United States should have a silver standard. So, some believed the party should unite with the Democrats to support democratic candidate William Jennings Bryan. If they did not, Republican William McKinley was sure to win the election.
Other populists feared that such a union would mean the end of the People's Party. The populists solved the problem at their nominating convention. Like the Democrats, they chose Bryan to be their candidate for president. But they chose a different candidate for vice president. In this way, William Jennings Bryan was able to run for president at the head of two separate political parties. There was a great difference in the way the two presidential candidates campaigned. William McKinley refused to travel. Instead of going to the voters, he let the voters come to him. And they did. Railroad companies supported McKinley. They ran special trains to his home in Ohio. The trip was free. Each trip was the same. A band met the train and marched with the group to McKinley's home. McKinley came outside to hear a statement of support from the leader of the group. Then he made a short speech and shook hands. The group left and another one came.
On one day of the campaign, McKinley met thirty groups this way. That was more than eighty thousand people. While McKinley stayed at home, William Jennings Bryan travelled. He visited twenty-seven states and spoke to five million people. Bryan explained that he had to travel, because the Democratic Party did not have enough money to campaign in other ways. Bryan spent six hundred fifty-thousand dollars on his campaign. McKinley spent three-and-a-half-million dollars. Bryan's main campaign idea was that the gold standard would ruin America's economy. McKinley's main campaign idea was that silver money would ruin the economy. For a time, Bryan's campaign seemed to be succeeding. More and more people promised to support him. Then, in the final weeks before election day, the situation began to change. The depressed economy showed signs of improving. The price of wheat rose for the first time in several years. Perhaps, people said, it was wrong to blame gold for the depression. Perhaps, they said, the ideas of William Jennings Bryan were wrong.
On election day, it was soon clear who had won. McKinley received two hundred seventy electoral votes. Bryan received one hundred seventy-six. Bryan congratulated McKinley. Then he told his supporters to begin getting ready for the next presidential election. "If we are right about silver," Bryan said, "we will win four years from now." McKinley's election seemed to give new life to the American economy. Within a month, a business publication reported that buying and selling had increased greatly. It said demand for goods had led to the re-opening of factories closed during the depression. At the same time, new supplies of gold were discovered in Alaska, Australia, and South Africa. The extra gold increased the supply of money in the same way silver would have increased it. Taxes on imported goods rose to almost sixty percent. Under this protective tariff, American industry grew fast. The depression ended. The economic depression of the eighteen nineties forced Americans to worry first about developments at home. But there were a number of international developments then which involved the United States. That will be our story next week.
重点解析
1.apart from 除......之外；除去
Apart from clothes and bedding, I have nothing.
我除了行李被褥之外一无所有。
2.appear to 似乎；好像
The opposition appear to have chosen the path of cooperation rather than confrontation.
反对派似乎已经选择了合作而不是对抗的路线。
3.refuse to 拒绝；拒却
Officials refuse to divulge details of the negotiations.
官员们拒绝透露谈判的细节。
4.get ready for 为......做准备；作准备
It took her a long time to get ready for church.
她花了很长时间才做好去教堂的准备。
参考译文
欢迎收听VOA慢速英语之建国史话节目。在19世纪90年代，美国人民对国家的货币制度产生了深刻的分歧。美国应该用黄金还是用黄金和白银一起来支持其货币？该问题成为1896年总统选举的主要议题。在本周的系列节目中，凯·格兰特和哈里·梦露将讲述这次选举的故事。许多美国人想要采用金本位制，他们说，美国应该只用黄金来支持其货币，金本位制将使美元保持高位。这些人被称为“金臭虫”，大多数是商人、银行家和投资者。其他许多美国人希望美国用黄金和白银来支持自己的货币，他们认为美元的价值过高。他们说，美元价值高压低了农产品价格，银本位制会降低美元的价值。这些人被称为“银币政策者”，大多数是农民、劳工和小企业主。
由于1893年美国开始陷入经济萧条，关于黄金和白银的争论变得尤为重要。数千家银行和企业倒闭，数百万人失业，外国投资者从美国撤资。有钱的美国人不敢投资。许多人认为，如果政府发行更多由白银支持的纸币，大萧条就将结束。总统格罗弗·克利夫兰不同意这种做法，他反对任何可能威胁金本位的立法。他指出，每个主要经济体都使用黄金支持纸币，如果美国不这样做的话，就太愚蠢了。美国不能离开世界其他货币体系。克利夫兰总统归属于民主党。到1896年，许多民主党人已经成为银币政策者。他们控制了西部和南部几个州的政党组织。他们把克利夫兰称为他的政党和美国人民的叛徒，他们不希望他在当年的选举中成为该党候选人。些来自西部银矿州的党内成员离开了该党。
其他人仍然留在党内，但秘密地支持民主党内的银币政策者。共和党人在1894年的国会选举中表现出色，他们赢得了参众两院的控制权。党内领导人确信一位共和党人可以在1896年当选总统，最有可能的候选人似乎是俄亥俄州州长威廉·麦金利。事实上，麦金利是在密苏里州圣路易斯共和党大会的第一轮投票中获得的提名。民主党在伊利诺伊州芝加哥举行提名大会，最有可能的候选人是密苏里州的众议员理查德·布兰德。然而，大多数与会代表都是银币政策者，他们希望提名一位银币政策者作为候选人。克利夫兰总统的支持者想测试银币政策者的实力，他们要求就黄金和白银问题展开辩论。有人发言支持克利夫兰总统和金本位制，还有人发言支持采用白银。最后发言的是来自内布拉斯加州的众议员威廉·詹宁斯·布赖恩，他在国会曾领导过一场想使美国继续采用白银的斗争，但没有成功。
布赖恩在大会辩论中情绪激动地说，他代表美国的农民、劳工和小商人，他们想采用银本位制。布赖恩以一句在竞选期间出名的话语结束了他的演讲，它让人们要谨记耶稣基督所受的折磨和他的死亡。布赖恩说，黄金支持者不能把他们的货币体系强加于白银支持者。“你们不能这样做，”他说，“把人类钉在黄金十字架上。”了国会议员布兰德，赢得提名。他将成为民主党的总统候选人。他当时只有36岁。一些民主党人拒绝接受布赖恩为他们的候选人，他们退出了芝加哥会议，举行了自己的会议。他们自称为国家民主党，提名了总统和副总统候选人。但是，他们在选举中没有赢得多少选票。当时美国的第三大党派——人民党，做出了一个艰难的决定。正如他们所说，民粹主义者同意银币政策者的观点，即美国应该采用白银制标准。因此，一些人认为该党应该与民主党联合起来，支持民主党候选人威廉·詹宁斯·布赖恩。如果他们不这样做，共和党人威廉·麦金利肯定会赢得选举。
其他民粹主义者担心这样的联盟将意味着人民党的终结。党人一样，他们选择布赖恩作为总统候选人。但是，他们选择了另一位副总统候选人。这样，威廉·詹宁斯·布赖恩就能代表两个独立政党参与总统竞选。总统候选人的竞选方式大相径庭。威廉·麦金利拒绝四处走动，他不去见选民，而是让选民来见他。选民们这样做了。铁路公司支持麦金利，他们开专列去造访他在俄亥俄州的家。这次旅行是免费的。每次出行都一样，一支乐队迎接火车，一行人一道行进至麦金利的家中。麦金利来到外面，听取了这群人中领导人的支持声明。然后，他做了一个简短的演讲并和人们握手。这群人走后又来了一群。
在竞选的一天中，麦金利这样会见了30个团体，有8万多人。麦金利呆在家里时，威廉·詹宁斯·布赖恩则四处出行。他访问了27个州，并与500万人交谈。布赖恩解释说，他必须旅行，因为民主党没有足够的款项实施其他方式的竞选活动。布莱恩在竞选中花了65万美元，麦金利花费了350万美元。布莱恩的主要竞选理念是，金本位制将毁掉美国经济。麦金利的主要竞选理念则是，白银制会毁掉美国经济。有一段时间，布赖恩的竞选似乎取得了成功。越来越多的人答应会支持他。然后，在选举日前的最后几周，情况开始发生变化。萧条的经济显示出好转的迹象，小麦价格几年来首次上涨。人们说，也许把萧条归咎于采用黄金制是错误的，也许威廉·詹宁斯·布赖恩的想法是错误的。
在选举日，很快就知道谁赢得了这次选举。麦金利获得270张选举人投票，布莱恩则获得176张投票。布赖恩向麦金利表示祝贺，然后，他告诉支持者们，开始为下届总统选举做准备。布莱恩说：“如果我们在白银问题上是正确的，我们将在四年后赢得胜利。”麦金利的当选似乎给美国经济注入了新的活力，一个月内，一家商业刊物报道说，买卖大幅增加，对商品的需求导致大萧条期间关闭的工厂重新开工。与此同时，在阿拉斯加、澳大利亚和南非发现了新的黄金供应。额外的黄金增加了货币供应量，就像白银增加货币供应量一样。对进口货物的税收上升到近60%，在这种保护性关税下，美国工业迅速发展。大萧条结束了。19世纪90年代的经济萧条迫使美国人起先担心国内的发展，但当时有一些国际事态发展涉及到美国。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！
