(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION – American history in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember. Germany's attack on Poland and the start of World War Two in Europe presented a problem for Americans in September of nineteen-thirty-nine. The United States -- by law -- was neutral. And few Americans had any desire to fight in another world war. But most Americans did not like Germany's Nazi leader, Adolf Hitler. They hoped for victory for Britain, France and the other Allied powers. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt made this clear in a radio broadcast to Americans soon after the war began. "The overwhelming masses of our people seek peace. Peace at home, and the kind of peace in other lands, which will not jeopardize our peace at home. We have certain ideas, and certain ideals, of national safety, and we must act to preserve that safety today and to preserve the safety of our children in future years. That safety is, and will be, bound up with the safety of the Western Hemisphere and of the seas adjacent thereto. We seek to keep war from our own firesides by keeping war from coming to the Americas."
He praised the British and other allies. Finally, the president called on Congress to change the neutrality laws that prevented him from sending arms to the allies to help them fight Germany. Congress agreed to change the laws so foreign nations could buy American arms. In the months that followed, Hitler and his allies claimed one victory after another. German and Soviet troops captured Poland quickly in September of nineteen thirty-nine. Then Soviet forces invaded the small Baltic nations of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania. In late November, they attacked Finland. Fighting between Finland and the Soviet Union continued through the winter, until Finland accepted Russia's demands. Fighting grew even more fierce the following spring, in nineteen forty. Germany attacked Denmark and Norway, defeating them easily. In May, German forces struck like lightning through Belgium and Holland. Within one day, they were in France. British and French forces were unable to stop the Germans from moving deep into northern France. The British finally had to flee from the European continent. They sailed back to Britain from the French town of Dunkirk.
German soldiers marched through France. And Italian forces joined them by invading France from the south. Soon, Paris fell. These are German newsreel narrators describing German troops entering Paris and the fall of the French government. A German supporter, Marshal Petain, took control of the French government. And France -- beaten and crushed -- was forced to sign a peace treaty with Hitler. Now it was just Britain alone against Hitler and his Axis allies. Only the English Channel separated the British people from a German army that seemed unbeatable. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was forced to resign. The British people turned to a new leader, Winston Churchill. "I speak to you for the first time as Prime Minister in a solemn hour for the life of our country, of our empire, of our allies, and, above all, of the cause of freedom. A tremendous battle is raging in France and Flanders. The Germans, by a remarkable combination of air bombing and heavily armored tanks, have broken through the French defenses north of the Maginot Line, and strong columns of their armored vehicles are ravaging the open country, which for the first day or two was without defenders. They have penetrated deeply and spread alarm and confusion in their track."
Churchill would prove to be strong and brave in the long months ahead. The British would need strong leadership. Hitler wasted no time in launching a fierce air attack on Britain. Throughout the summer, German and British planes fought above the English Channel. All this military action had an important effect on American popular opinion. War and neutrality were no longer just ideas to be discussed and debated. Now they were real concerns, real events. Fascist troops led by a dictator in Berlin were defeating one friendly democracy after another. And Soviet forces were on the march, too. Most Americans still wanted neutrality. But how long could America remain at peace? And was peace worth the cost of just sitting by and watching friends like France and Britain being bombed and invaded? Other issues melted away as Americans began to consider what to do about the darkening world situation. Some Americans, led by newspaper publisher William Allen White, called for the United States to help Britain immediately. But other groups, like the America First Committee, demanded that the United States stay out of another bloody European conflict.
The struggle between those who wanted to help Britain and those who wanted to remain neutral did not follow traditional party lines. Some of the strongest supporters of Roosevelt's foreign policies were Republicans. Some members of his own Democratic Party opposed his policies. Even so, foreign policy was one of the main issues in the presidential election campaign of nineteen forty. The Democrats once again nominated Franklin Roosevelt for president. The Republicans had several popular candidates who were interested in campaigning against Roosevelt. At first, it seemed that these candidates would fight it out in a bitter nominating convention in Philadelphia. But to everyone's surprise, a little-known candidate named Wendell Willkie suddenly gained a great deal of support and won the nomination. "...building of an adequate defense, so that no dictator, however strong, may seek the strife or the unity of our people. We're calling America again to its great tradition of progress. I pledge myself to you, and I ask each of you to join with me in this great crusade."
Willkie was a tough candidate. He was friendly, a good businessman, and a strong speaker. He seemed honest. And he seemed to understand foreign policy. Most importantly, Willkie had a progressive record on many social issues. He was not the kind of traditional conservative Republican that Roosevelt had defeated so easily in his first two campaigns. Instead, Willkie could claim to represent the average American just as well as Roosevelt. And he offered the excitement of a change in leadership. While Roosevelt and Willkie began their campaign battles with words, German and British planes were fighting real battles with bullets over the English Channel. Winston Churchill sent a desperate message to Roosevelt. The British prime minister said Britain could not fight alone much longer. It needed help immediately. Roosevelt did not want to take steps toward war just before an election. But neither could he refuse such an urgent appeal from the British leader. Roosevelt and Willkie discussed the situation. Willkie agreed not to criticize Roosevelt when the president sent fifty ships to the British navy. He also supported Roosevelt's order for American young men to give their names to army officials so they could be called up if fighting began.
In this way, Roosevelt and Willkie tried to keep America's growing involvement in the war from becoming a major political issue in the election. President Roosevelt won the election of nineteen forty. He won twenty-seven million votes to twenty-two million for Willkie. This made Roosevelt the first and only president in American history to win a third term in the White House. The Constitution was later changed to limit presidents to two terms. Soon after the election, President Roosevelt received a letter from Winston Churchill. The British prime minister wrote that Britain urgently needed more arms and planes to fight Germany. Roosevelt agreed. He went to the Congress to plead for more aid to Britain. He said the United States should change its neutral policy, because Britain was fighting a common enemy of democracy. Roosevelt also said the United States could avoid war if Britain was strong enough to defeat Germany by itself. Congress agreed, after a fierce debate, to increase aid to Britain. And in the weeks and months that followed, the United States moved closer and closer to open war with Germany.
In March of nineteen forty-one, Roosevelt allowed British ships to come to American ports to be repaired. In June, the United States seized ships under German control. It also took over German and Italian funds in American banks. Open fighting could not be prevented with this increase in tension between Germany and the United States. In September nineteen forty-one, a German submarine fired at an American ship. The ship was not damaged. But a number of American troops were killed in other naval incidents that followed. By the end of nineteen forty-one, the United States and Germany were almost at war. Even so, most Americans continued to hope for peace. In fact, few Americans could guess that war was just days away. The first blow would come -- not from Germany, however, but from Japan. "We interrupt this program to bring you a special news bulletin: The Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii by air, President Roosevelt has just announced." That will be our story next week.
重点解析
1.soon after 不久之后；很快
Soon after we had spoken to this man he had met a violent end.
我们和这个人谈话之后没多久，他就死于非命了。
2.seek to 设法；力图
In order to maximize profit, the firm would seek to maximize output.
为了获得最大利润，这家公司会把产量增至最大。
3.prove to be 证明是；证实
I very much hope that this case will prove to be a catalyst for change.
我非常希望这起事件能催生变革。
4.by oneself 单独地；独自地
How did the door open by itself?
门怎么自己开了？
参考译文
欢迎收听VOA慢速英语之建国史话节目，我是史蒂夫·恩伯。1939年9月，德国对波兰的进攻和欧洲第二次世界大战开战给美国人民带来一个问题。根据法律，美国保持的是中立立场。很少有美国人愿意参加另一场世界大战，但大多数美国人并不喜欢德国纳粹领袖希特勒，他们希望英国、法国和其他盟国获胜。富兰克林·德拉诺·罗斯福总统在二战刚开始不久，就在给美国人民的广播中清楚地表明了这一点。“我国绝大多数人民寻求和平，国内和平以及其他国家的和平，这不会危及国内的和平。我们对国家安全有一定的想法和理想，我们必须采取行动，在当下维护这种安全，在未来维护我们子孙的安全。这种安全与西半球及其邻近海域现在和将来的安全息息相关，我们试图通过阻止战争向美洲蔓延，来避免战争发生在自己身边。”
他赞扬英国和其他盟国。最后，总统呼吁国会修改中立法律，阻止他向盟国派遣武器，以帮助他们抗击德国。国会同意修改法律，以便外国可以购买美国武器。在随后的几个月里，希特勒及其盟国相继宣布胜利。1939年9月，德国和苏联军队迅速占领了波兰。随后，苏联军队入侵波罗的海小国拉脱维亚、爱沙尼亚和立陶宛。11月下旬，他们袭击了芬兰。芬兰和苏联之间的战斗持续了整个冬天，直到芬兰接受了俄罗斯的要求。1940年春天，战斗变得更加激烈。德国进攻丹麦和挪威，轻松击败他们。五月，德国军队像闪电般袭击了比利时和荷兰。不到一天的时间，他们就到达了法国。英法联军未能阻止德国人深入法国北部，英国人最终不得不逃离欧洲大陆。他们从法国的敦刻尔克镇乘船返回英国。
德国士兵列队穿过法国，意大利军队从南部入侵法国与德军会合。很快，巴黎沦陷。德国新闻纪录片的讲述者，描述了德军进入巴黎，以及法国政府垮台的故事。德国的支持者佩坦元帅控制了法国政府，法国被打得支离破碎，被迫与希特勒签署和平条约。现在，只有英国一国反对希特勒及其轴心国盟友，只有英吉利海峡把英国人民从一支似乎不可战胜的德国军队中分离出来。英国首相张伯伦被迫辞职，英国人民求助于一位新的领导人，温斯顿·丘吉尔。“我第一次以首相的身份在这个庄严的时刻向你们发表演说，为了我们的国家、我们的帝国、我们的盟国，最重要的是为了自由。法国和佛兰德斯正在进行一场激战，德军通过空中轰炸和重型装甲坦克的出色组合，突破了法国在马其诺防线以北的防御工事，他们坚固的装甲车纵行正在蹂躏这个开放的国家。在最初的一两天里，法国没有防御工事。敌军已经深入，在所到之处散播着惊恐和混乱。”
丘吉尔在未来的数月里将证明自己的坚强与勇敢。英国需要强有力的领导者。希特勒不失时机地对英国发动了猛烈的空袭。整个夏天，德国和英国的飞机都在英吉利海峡上空作战。所有这些军事行动都对美国人民的民意产生着重要影响。战争和中立不再只是讨论和辩论的想法，现在它们成了令人担忧的真实事件。柏林一个独裁者领导的法西斯军队，正在击败一个又一个友好的民主国家，苏联军队也在行军的征程中。大多数美国人仍然希望保持中立，但美国还能保持多久的和平局面？为了这种和平，是否就该在一旁袖手旁观，看着法国、英国这样的友国遭到轰炸和入侵？随着美国人开始考虑如何应对日益暗淡的世界局势之际，其他问题都逐渐消散。一些以报纸出版商威廉·艾伦·怀特为首的美国人，呼吁美国立即援助英国。但美国第一委员会等其他组织，要求美国不要卷入另一场血腥的欧洲冲突。
那些想帮助英国的人和想要保持中立的人之间的斗争，并没有遵循传统的政党路线。罗斯福外交政策的一些最坚定的支持者是共和党人，而他自己所在的民主党的一些成员反对他的政策。即便如此，外交政策仍然是1940年总统竞选活动的主要议题之一。民主党人再次提名富兰克林·罗斯福为总统。共和党有几位受欢迎的候选人，他们想反对罗斯福。起初，这些候选人似乎要在费城一场激烈的提名大会上奋力一搏。但令所有人惊讶的是，一位鲜为人知的候选人温德尔·威尔基突然获得了大量的支持并赢得了提名。“……建立适当的防御，使无论多么强大的独裁者，都不能引发人民间的冲突或团结。我们再次呼吁美国发扬其伟大的进步传统。我向你们保证，恳请你们每个人和我一道加入这场伟大的十字军东征。”
威尔基是位难应付的候选人。他很友善，是个不错的生意人，演说能力很强。他看起来为人诚实，深谙外交政策。最重要的是，威尔基在许多社会问题上都表现出进步的思想。他不是那种罗斯福在前两次竞选中轻易击败的传统保守的共和党人。相反，威尔基声称就像罗斯福一样代表普通美国民众。而且，领导层换届让人们感到兴奋。当罗斯福和威尔基开始竞选之战的言语对决时，德国和英国的飞机则在英吉利海峡上空真枪实弹的作战。温斯顿·丘吉尔向罗斯福发出了绝望的信息。英国首相说，英国不能再孤军奋战了，它需要立即援助。罗斯福不想在大选前参战，但他也无法拒绝英国领导人的紧急呼救。罗斯福和威尔基讨论了当前局势。当总统向英国海军派遣50艘船只时，威尔基同意不再批评罗斯福。他还支持罗斯福命令美国年轻人把自己的名字上报军官，这样一旦战争开始，他们就可以应征入伍。
就这样，罗斯福和威尔基试图避免使美国更多地卷入战争的事实，成为选举中的一个重大政治问题。罗斯福总统赢得了1940年的选举，他以2700万票击败威尔基的2200万票。这使得罗斯福成为美国历史上第一位，也是唯一一位在白宫赢得三连任的总统。后来宪法经修订，将总统任期限制在两届。选举后不久，罗斯福总统收到了温斯顿·丘吉尔的来信。英国首相写道，英国急需更多的武器和飞机与德国作战。罗斯福表示同意，他向国会请求给予英国更多的援助。他说，美国应该改变中立政策，因为英国正在与民主的共同敌人作战。罗斯福还说，如果英国足够强大，能够以自己的力量击败德国，美国就可以避免战争。经过激烈辩论，国会同意增加对英国的援助。在随后的几周和几个月里，美国就要与德国开战了。
1941年3月，罗斯福允许英国船只来到美国港口维修。同年6月，美国扣押了德国控制的船只，还接管了德国和意大利在美国银行的基金。德国和美国之间的紧张局势加剧，无法阻止公开的战斗。1941年9月，一艘德国潜艇向一艘美国船只开火。船只没有损坏，但在随后发生的其它海事事件中，一些美军丧生。到1941年底，美国和德国几乎处于战争状态。即便如此，大多数美国人仍然希望和平。事实上，很少有美国人能猜到马上就要开战了。第一个重击并非来自德国，而是来自日本。“我们中断节目，而要为你们带来一则特别的新闻简报：罗斯福总统刚刚宣布，日军已经空袭了夏威夷珍珠港。”这将是我们下周要讲述的故事。
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