(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION -- American history in VOA Special English. This week in our series, Doug Johnson and Shirley Griffith discuss the presidential election of nineteen twenty and the man who won, Warren Harding. The presidential election of nineteen twenty was a turning point in American politics. It ended a period of social reforms at home and an active foreign policy. It began a period of conservative thinking in both the political and social life of the nation. American reporter H. L. Mencken described the national feeling this way: "The majority of Americans are tired of idealism. They want capitalism -- openly and without apology." President Woodrow Wilson had suffered a stroke during his second term. He was very sick. No one expected him to be a candidate again. Yet he refused to announce that he would not run for a third term.
Woodrow Wilson had done much during his administration. He helped pass important laws dealing with trade, banking, and the rights of workers. He led the nation through the bloody world war in Europe. He tried, but failed, to have the United States join the new international organization -- the League of Nations. The American people honored Wilson for his intelligence and ideas. But they were tired of his policies of social change. And they did not want to be involved in international problems anymore. The leaders of President Wilson's Democratic Party understood the feelings of the people. They knew they had little chance of winning the presidential election if they nominated a candidate of change. Delegates to the democratic nominating convention voted forty-four times before agreeing on a candidate. They chose the governor of the state of Ohio, James Cox. The Republican Party also had a difficult time at its nominating convention. Four men wanted to be president. The delegates voted six times. None of the men gained enough support. So, several party leaders met in private. They agreed that only one man -- a compromise candidate -- could win the support of the convention. He was a senator from the state of Ohio, Warren Harding.
The delegates voted ten more times before choosing Harding as their candidate for president. For vice president, they chose Calvin Coolidge of Massachusetts. Warren Harding had owned a newspaper in Ohio. People advised him to enter politics, because he was such a good public speaker. During the campaign, he promised lower taxes, less immigration, and more aid to farmers. He called for "normalcy" -- a new period of peace and quiet, with few changes. That is what the voters wanted to hear in nineteen twenty. Warren Harding won the election with sixty-eight percent of the popular vote. In his first act as president, he invited people to visit the White House. He permitted them to walk in the garden. The act was a sign. The government seemed to be returning to the people. Warren Harding is remembered mostly for two events. One was a successful international conference. The other was a shameful national incident. After World War One, Britain, Japan, and the United States expanded their navies. They built bigger and better ships. Many members of the United States Congress worried about the cost. They also worried about increased political tension in Asia. They asked President Harding to organize a conference to discuss these issues.
The conference was held in Washington in November, nineteen twenty-one. President Harding invited representatives from the major naval powers of the time: Britain, Japan, France, and Italy. He also invited representatives from countries with interests in Asia: China, Portugal, Belgium and the Netherlands. He did not invite the new Soviet leaders in Russia. Mr. Harding's secretary of state, Charles Evans Hughes, spoke. He offered the conference a detailed plan to reduce the size of the world's major navies. He proposed that the world's strongest nations should stop building warships for ten years. He also proposed that Britain, Japan, and the United States should destroy some ships to make their navies smaller immediately. Delegates to the conference debated the plan for three months. Japan demanded, and won, the right to have more ships. But the final agreement was very close to the one proposed by Secretary Hughes. The conference was not a complete success.
For example, it did not prevent countries from building some kinds of ships. These ships would prove important in the second world war. Also, it did not create ways to protect China and the islands in the South Pacific Ocean from Japanese expansion. Yet the naval treaty of nineteen twenty-one was the first in which the world's strongest countries agreed to reduce the size of their armed forces. Most people thought it was a good treaty. The second thing for which President Harding is remembered is the Teapot Dome scandal. It involved the misuse of underground oil owned by the federal government. Warren Harding was an honest man. But he did not have a strong mind of his own. He was easily influenced. And he often accepted bad advice. He explained the problem with these words: "I listen to one side, and they seem right. Then I listen to the other side, and they seem just as right. I know that somewhere there is a man who knows the truth. But I do not know where to find him." President Harding appointed several men of great ability to his cabinet. They included Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes, Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon, and Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover. However, some of his appointments were dishonest men. One was Interior Secretary Albert Fall. He was responsible for the Teapot Dome scandal.
Secretary Fall gave a private company the right to take oil from land owned by the federal government. In return, the company gave him money and cattle. The oil was not supposed to be taken from the ground. It was supposed to be saved for the United States navy to use in an emergency. Private oil companies and many politicians opposed this policy. They said saving the oil was unnecessary. Albert Fall opposed the policy when he was a member of the Senate. When he became Interior Secretary, his department took control of the lands containing the underground oil. Then he permitted private companies to use the land for a period of time. During that time, the companies could take out the oil. Some of the oil was in the western state of Wyoming. The rock mass on the surface looked like a container for making tea. So, the area was called Teapot Dome. When the Senate uncovered Secretary Fall's wrong-doing, the press quickly called the incident the Teapot Dome scandal.
The Senate investigation led to several court cases which lasted throughout the nineteen twenties. Secretary Fall was found guilty of misusing his government position. He was sentenced to prison for one year. President Harding did not live to see the end of the Teapot Dome incident. In the summer of nineteen twenty-three, he made a political trip to Alaska and western states. On the way home, he became sick while in San Francisco. He died of a heart attack. Vice President Calvin Coolidge was in the northeastern state of Vermont when he heard that President Harding had died. Coolidge's father was a local court official there. He gave the oath of office to his son. That is how Calvin Coolidge became the thirtieth president of the United States. The story of his administration will be the subject of our program next week.
重点解析
1.be tired of 厌烦；厌倦
I know that you must be tired of this excuse.
我知道你一定厌烦了这个借口。
2.refuse to 不肯；拒绝
I refuse to honour your bill.
我拒绝兑现你的票据。
3.call for 呼吁；主张
They angrily called for Robinson's resignation.
他们愤怒地要求鲁宾逊辞职。
4.be supposed to 被认为；被期望
I am not supposed to be here.
我不该在这里的。
参考译文
欢迎收听VOA慢速英语之建国史话节目。在本周的系列节目中，道格·约翰逊和雪莉·格里菲斯将讨论1920年的总统选举，以及获胜者沃伦·哈丁。1920年的总统选举是美国政治的一个转折点，它结束了国内持续一段时期的社会改革和积极的外交政策，开启了国家政治和社会生活中的保守思潮时期。美国记者H.L.孟肯这样描述国民的感受：“大多数美国人厌倦了理想主义，他们公开表达想要资本主义，没有歉意。”伍德罗·威尔逊总统在第二任期内中风，病情严重，没人指望他会再次成为候选人。但他拒绝宣布自己不会连任。
伍德罗·威尔逊在执政期间做了很多工作。在他的协助下，通过了有关贸易、银行业和工人权利的重要法案。他领导国家经历了欧洲血腥的世界大战，试图让美国加入新的国际组织——国际联盟，但这一努力失败了。美国人民对威尔逊的聪明才智和思想表示敬意。但是，他们厌倦了他的社会变革政策。他们也不想再卷入国际问题。威尔逊总统领导的民主党领导人了解人民的感受。他们知道，如果他们提名一位主张变革的候选人，他们赢得总统选举的机会很小。民主党提名大会的代表在就候选人达成一致意见之前，进行了44次投票。他们选择了俄亥俄州州长詹姆斯·考克斯。共和党在提名大会上也遇到了困难。有四个人想当总统，代表们进行了六次投票。没有一个人得到足够的支持。于是，几位党派领导人私下会面。他们一致认为只有一位愿意妥协的候选人，才能赢得大会的支持。这个人就是俄亥俄州的参议员，沃伦·哈丁。
代表们又进行了十轮投票，然后选出哈丁作为总统候选人。副总统人选是马萨诸塞州的卡尔文·柯立芝。沃伦·哈丁在俄亥俄州拥有一家报纸。人们劝他从政，因为他是一位优秀的演说家。竞选期间，他承诺降低税收、减少移民，并向农民提供更多援助。他呼吁“常态化”，即一个和平安宁的新时期，几乎没有什么变革。这是选民们在1920年想要听到的。沃伦·哈丁以68%的选票赢得了选举。他出任总统后做的第一件事，是邀请人们参观白宫。他允许他们在花园里散步。这一行为标志着，政府似乎又回到了人民身边。沃伦·哈丁被人们记住主要是因为两件事。第一件事，是一次成功的国际会议。另一件则是一次可耻的全国性事件。第一次世界大战后，英国、日本和美国扩大了海军。他们建造更大更好的船只。许多美国国会议员担心费用问题，还担心亚洲政治紧张局势加剧。他们请哈丁总统组织一次会议讨论这些问题。
会议于1921年11月在华盛顿举行。哈丁总统邀请了英国、日本、法国和意大利等当时主要海军强国的代表，他还邀请了中国、葡萄牙、比利时和荷兰等与亚洲存在利益关系的国家的代表。但他并未邀请俄国的新苏维埃领导人。哈丁的国务卿查尔斯·埃文斯·休斯发表了讲话。他在会议上提出了一项缩小世界上海军强国军队规模的详细计划。他建议世界上最强的一些国家，在十年内停止建造军舰。他还提议，英国、日本和美国应立即摧毁一些船只，缩小其海军规模。与会代表就这项计划辩论了三个月。日本要求并赢得了拥有更多船只的权利。但是，最终的协议与休斯部长的提议非常接近。会议并未取得圆满成功。
例如，该会议并未能阻止各国建造某些类型的船只。而这些船只在第二次世界大战中起到了重要的作用。此外，这次会议也未能建立保护中国和南太平洋岛屿免受日本扩张影响的方式。然而，1921年的《海军条约》是世界强国同意削减其武装力量的第一项条约。大多数人认为这是一项很好的条约。人们记住哈丁总统的第二个件事是茶壶山丑闻，该事件涉及滥用联邦政府拥有的地下石油。沃伦·哈丁是个诚实的人，但他缺乏坚强的意志，很容易受到他人影响。他经常采纳不好的建议。他对此的解释是：“我听取一方观点，他们似乎是对的。然后再听取另一方的观点，他们似乎也没错。我知道有人知道真相，但我不知道这个人在哪。”哈丁总统任命了几位才华横溢的人入阁，其中包括美国国务卿查尔斯·埃文斯·休斯、财政部长安德鲁·梅隆和商务部长赫伯特·胡佛。然而，他任命的一些人并不诚实，其中就有内政部长阿尔伯特·法尔。他对茶壶山丑闻负有责任。
法尔部长授予一家私营公司从联邦政府拥有的土地上开采石油的权利。该公司则给他钱和牛，以作为回报。这块土地中的石油不应该被开采，它本应被储存起来，以备美国海军在紧急情况下使用。私营石油公司和许多政客反对这一政策。他们表示，没有必要节省这里的石油。阿尔伯特·法尔在担任参议院议员时反对这项政策。出任内政部长时，他的部门掌控这片蕴含地下石油的土地。他便允许私营公司在一段时间内使用这块土地。在这段时间里，这些公司可以开采石油。一些石油存于西部的怀俄明州，这里的地表岩体看起来像一个泡茶的容器。所以，该区域叫做茶壶山。当参议院揭露法尔部长的错误行为时，新闻界迅速将这一事件称为茶壶山丑闻。
参议院的调查引发几个贯穿整个20世纪20年代的案件，法尔部长因滥用政府职务被判有罪，入狱一年。哈丁总统未能亲眼目睹茶壶山事件的终结。1923年夏天，他在阿拉斯加和西部各州进行政治旅行。在回家的路上，他于旧金山患病，因心脏病发作去世。副总统卡尔文·柯立芝听说哈丁总统去世的消息时，正在佛蒙特州东北部。柯立芝的父亲是当地一名法院官员，他为儿子做的就职宣誓。卡尔文·柯立芝就这样成为了美国第30任总统。我们将在下期节目中讲述他在任职期间的故事。
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