(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. This week in our series, we look back at Bill Clinton's second term as president. "For four years now, to realize our vision, we have pursued a simple but profound strategy – opportunity for all, responsibility from all, a strong united American community." Americans elected Clinton as their forty-second president in nineteen-ninety-two and re-elected him four years later. In the summer of nineteen ninety-six, President Clinton's first term was coming to an end. He had established a mixed record of successes and failures in his dealings with Congress. He had greater difficulty in those dealings after opposition Republicans won control of Congress in nineteen ninety-four.
All presidents face political battles. But in President Clinton's case there was more to it. He and his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, were being investigated over their personal financial dealings in Arkansas during the nineteen eighties. There were also accusations of womanizing from his years as governor of that state. But in the summer of ninety-six President Clinton's public approval ratings stayed above fifty percent and went as high as sixty percent. The economy had improved during his first term. Americans were getting jobs and spending more money. More people, and not just the wealthy, were investing in the stock market. In August of nineteen ninety-six the Democratic Party met in Chicago and nominated President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore for a second term. "My fellow Democrats and my fellow Americans, thank you for your nomination. I don't know if I can find a fancy way to say this, but I accept." The Republican Party held its nominating convention that summer in San Diego, California. The party chose former Kansas senator Bob Dole as its presidential candidate. He had resigned from the United States Senate to seek the nomination. He chose former congressman and cabinet secretary Jack Kemp of New York as his vice presidential running mate.
Dole was a World War Two hero who suffered a permanent injury to his right arm. He later served four terms in the House of Representatives. He was elected to the Senate in nineteen sixty-eight and re-elected four times. Another candidate in the presidential race was businessman Ross Perot. He won the nomination of the Reform Party which he started a year earlier. He had also run for president in nineteen ninety-two, and received nineteen percent of the popular vote. During the ninety-six campaign, President Clinton pointed to the stronger economy. He also campaigned on his legislative record, including new gun-control measures and a higher minimum wage for the lowest paid workers. Bob Dole, in his campaign, accused President Clinton of spending too much. Clinton's answer was that he had stopped Congress from cutting too much from programs like health insurance for retirees. Bill Clinton and Al Gore easily won the election, defeating Bob Dole and Jack Kemp. Ross Perot received just eight percent of the popular vote this time. Clinton became the first Democrat to win a second term since Franklin Roosevelt in nineteen thirty-six. William Jefferson Clinton began his second term as president of the United States on January twentieth, nineteen ninety-seven. His inaugural speech would be the last by an American president in the twentieth century.
"Let us lift our eyes toward the challenges that await us in the next century. It is our great good fortune that time and chance have put us not only at the edge of a new century, in a new millennium, but on the edge of a bright new prospect in human affairs, a moment that will define our course, and our character, for decades to come. We must keep our old democracy forever young." Clinton discussed some of the issues that the country continued to face, including racial divisions. "The divide of race has been America's constant curse. And each new wave of immigrants gives new targets to old prejudices. Prejudice and contempt, cloaked in the pretense of religious or political conviction are no different." During his first term, President Clinton appointed a large number of women and minorities to the government. As he began his second term, he chose the first woman to serve as secretary of state. Madeleine Albright had represented the United States in the United Nations during Clinton's first term. And he appointed the first Asian-American to serve in the cabinet. Norman Mineta became secretary of commerce.
The Republican Party kept control of both houses of Congress in the ninety ninety-six elections. At the end of his first term Clinton had gotten into a budget fight with the Republicans which resulted in two government shutdowns. Those shutdowns did more political harm to the Republicans than to the president. In nineteen ninety-seven they reached a compromise. They agreed to a plan to end the federal deficit by two thousand two. In fact, the budget was balanced much sooner. In nineteen ninety-eight, the economy was so strong that the government found itself with an extra seventy billion dollars -- the first surplus since nineteen sixty-nine. President Clinton visited China in nineteen ninety-eight. He spoke of his belief that in the twenty-first century, democracy "will be the right course practically as well as morally, yielding more stability and more progress."
A month later, in August of nineteen ninety-eight, al-Qaida terrorists bombed the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The attacks killed more than two hundred people. President Clinton ordered missile strikes against al-Qaida targets in Sudan – and in Afghanistan, in an effort to kill the group's leader, Osama bin Laden. Later in the year, President Clinton ordered military action in response to Iraq's refusal to cooperate with United Nations inspectors. The inspectors were searching for nuclear, chemical or biological weapons. Clinton ordered missile strikes against targets that U.N. officials said could have been linked to such weapons of mass destruction. "Their mission is to attack Iraq's nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons programs, and its military capacity to threaten its neighbors. Their purpose is to protect the national interests of the United States, and indeed the interests of people throughout the middle east and around the world. "Saddam Hussein must not be allowed to threaten his neighbors, or the world, with nuclear arms, poison gas, or biological weapons." In nineteen ninety-nine, Clinton deployed American aircraft and missiles as part of a NATO campaign in Yugoslavia. NATO was trying to stop attacks against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. Yugoslav military leaders agreed to withdraw their troops. NATO stopped the bombing and sent an international peacekeeping force to Kosovo. The United States provided seven thousand troops for that force.
Earlier in Clinton's presidency, the United States had led NATO airstrikes against Serb targets in the former Yugoslav republic of Bosnia. The operations followed the killing of eight thousand Muslim men and boys by Bosnian Serb forces in Srebrenica, a U.N.-declared "safe area." Clinton later pushed for the nineteen ninety-five peace agreement to end the Bosnian war. The Dayton peace accords were named after Dayton, Ohio, the location of the Air Force base where they were negotiated. Three years later, in nineteen ninety-eight, Israeli and Palestinian leaders signed a memorandum of understanding at the White House. It called for Israeli forces to withdraw from some areas of the West Bank. The Wye Memorandum resulted from nine days of negotiations at the Wye River Plantation in Maryland. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and special diplomat Dennis Ross traveled repeatedly to the Middle East to work on the peace efforts. In two thousand one, President Clinton tried to get Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak to sign a peace agreement. Clinton invited the two leaders to the United States and held many hours of talks with them. Reports said they came close to an agreement, but the negotiations ended without success. Palestinians declared a new uprising against Israel.
On trade issues, President Clinton at the end of his second term got Congress to approve permanent normal trade relations with China. That meant no more need for presidents to have to ask Congress for temporary renewals of those trade rights. Clinton argued that the move would create a better environment for democratic reforms in China, as well as creating jobs in the United States. Among other foreign policy matters during his presidency, Clinton normalized relations with Vietnam. And he supported the expansion of NATO -- the North Atlantic Treaty Organization -- in Europe. Bill Clinton's presidency will be remembered at least in part for his efforts to reach out to the international community. But it will also be remembered for the impeachment trial in Congress that almost ended that presidency. "These allegations are false, and I need to go back to work for the American people." That will be our story next week.
重点解析
1.come to an end 结束；终止
All good things must come to an end, however beautiful an experience is.
再好的事情也有曲终人散的时候。
2.invest in 投资于；在……上投资
They had the foresight to invest in new technology.
他们有投资新技术的远见。
3.continue to 继续；持续到
They'll continue to fight injustice.
他们将继续与不公平现象作斗争。
4.in fact 事实上；实际上
In fact, those people have been promoted.
事实上，那些人已经升职了。
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。在本周的系列节目中，我们回顾一下比尔·克林顿的第二个总统任期。“四年来，为了实现我们的愿景，我们一直奉行一种简单而深刻的战略——为所有人提供机会，让所有人承担责任，建立一个强大而团结的美国社会。”1992年，美国人选举克林顿为第42任总统，四年后他再次当选。1996年夏天，克林顿总统的第一个任期即将结束。在与国会打交道时，他成败参半。1994年，反对党共和党赢得国会控制权之后，他在处理这些问题时遇到了更大的困难。
所有总统都面临政治斗争，但在克林顿总统的例子中，还有更多的问题。他和妻子希拉里·罗德姆·克林顿因在阿肯色州的个人财务交易，在20世纪80年代遭到调查。在他担任州长期间，也有人指控他玩弄女性。但在1996年夏天，克林顿总统的公众支持率一直保持在50%以上，后来高达60%。在他的第一个任期内，经济有所改善。美国人得到了工作，消费更多的钱款。越来越多的人，不仅仅是富人，投资于股票市场。1996年8月，民主党在芝加哥开会，提名克林顿总统和戈尔副总统连任。“我的民主党同胞和美国同胞们，感谢你们的提名。我不知道自己是否能找到一种奇特的方式来表达这一点，但我表示接受。”那年夏天，共和党在加州圣地亚哥举行了提名大会。该党选择前堪萨斯州参议员鲍勃·多尔为总统候选人，他辞去美国参议院的职务以寻求提名。他挑选纽约前国会议员兼内阁大臣杰克·坎普作为副总统竞选搭档。
多尔是二战英雄，右臂永久性受伤。他后来在众议院任职四届，他在1968年当选为参议院议员，并四次连任。另一位总统候选人是商人罗斯·佩罗。他赢得了他一年前创办的改革党的提名，也曾在1992年竞选总统，并获得19%的民意支持。在1996年的竞选中，克林顿总统指向更强劲的经济。他还为推广自己的立法记录，包括新的枪支管制措施和提高收入最低者的基本工资。鲍勃·多尔在竞选中指责克林顿总统开支过大。克林顿的回答是，他已经阻止国会从退休人员医疗保险等项目中削减过多资金。比尔·克林顿和戈尔轻松赢得选举，击败了鲍勃·多尔和杰克·坎普。罗斯·佩罗这次只获得8%的民意支持。克林顿成为自1936年富兰克林·罗斯福以来，第一位赢得第二任期的民主党人。1997年1月20日，威廉·杰斐逊·克林顿开始其作为美国总统的第二个任期。他的就职演说将是20世纪美国总统的最后一次演讲。
“让我们举目迎接下个世纪等待我们的挑战，时间和机会使我们不仅处于新世纪的边缘，进入新千年，而且处于人类活动新光明前景的边缘，这是我们巨大的幸运。这一时刻将决定我们今后几十年的道路和抱持的特色，我们必须使旧民主永葆青春。”克林顿讨论了美国继续面临的一些问题，包括种族分裂。“种族分裂一直是美国的祸根，每一次新的移民浪潮都给旧有偏见以新的目标。以宗教或政治信仰为幌子的偏见和蔑视也不例外。”克林顿总统在第一个任期内，任命了大量女性和少数族裔人士进入政府。当他开始第二个任期时，他选择了第一位女性担任国务卿。马德琳·奥尔布赖特在克林顿第一任期内，曾出任美国在联合国的代表。他任命了第一位在内阁任职的亚裔美国人，诺曼·米内塔成为商务部长。
在1996年的选举中，共和党控制了国会两院。在第一个任期结束时，克林顿与共和党展开了一场预算之争，导致政府两次停摆。这些停摆对共和党人的政治伤害大于对总统的伤害。1997年，他们达成妥协，同意了一项在2020年前结束联邦赤字的计划。事实上，预算很快得到了平衡。1998年，经济如此强劲，政府发现还额外拥有700亿美元，这是自1969年以来的首次盈余。克林顿总统在1998年访问中国。他谈到自己的信念，即在21世纪，民主“在实践上和道德上都是正确的道路，会带来更多的稳定和进步。”
一个月后，1998年8月，基地组织恐怖分子轰炸了美国驻肯尼亚和坦桑尼亚大使馆。200多人在袭击中丧生，克林顿总统下令对苏丹和阿富汗的基地组织目标进行导弹袭击，以击毙该组织的头目奥萨马·本·拉登。那一年晚些时候，克林顿总统下令对伊拉克拒绝与联合国核查人员合作采取军事行动。视察员正在搜寻核生化武器。克林顿下令对联合国官员所说的，可能与此类大规模杀伤性武器有关的目标发动导弹袭击。他们的任务是攻击伊拉克的核生化武器项目，以及威胁邻国的军事能力。他们的目的是保护美国的国家利益，实际上也是整个中东和全世界人民的利益。“决不能让萨达姆·侯赛因用核武器、毒气或生物武器威胁邻国或全世界。”1999年，克林顿部署美国飞机和导弹，作为北约在南斯拉夫战役的一部分。北约正试图阻止对科索沃阿族的袭击。南斯拉夫军方领导人同意撤军，北约停止了轰炸，并向科索沃派遣一支国际维和部队。美国为这支部队提供了7000名士兵。
在克林顿担任总统期间，美国曾领导北约空袭前南斯拉夫波斯尼亚共和国境内的塞族目标。这次行动是在波斯尼亚塞族部队在联合国宣布为“安全区”的斯雷布雷尼察，杀害了八千名穆斯林男子和男孩之后进行的。克林顿后来推动了1995年和平协议，以结束波斯尼亚战争。《代顿和平协定》以俄亥俄州代顿市命名，那里是谈判双方的空军基地所在地。三年后的1998年，以色列和巴勒斯坦领导人在白宫签署了一份谅解备忘录，呼吁以色列军队撤离西岸的一些地区。这份《怀河备忘录》是在马里兰州怀河种植园进行了9天谈判后达成的。美国国务卿奥尔布赖特和特别外交官丹尼斯·罗斯多次前往中东，致力于和平努力。2001年，克林顿总统试图让巴勒斯坦领导人阿拉法特和以色列总理胡德·巴拉克签署和平协议。克林顿邀请两位领导人访问美国，并与他们进行数小时的会谈。报道说，他们接近达成协议，但是谈判并未成功。巴勒斯坦人宣布了一场反抗以色列的新起义。
在贸易问题上，克林顿总统在第二任期结束时，要求国会批准与中国建立永久性正常贸易关系。这意味着总统不再需要要求国会临时延长这些贸易权。克林顿认为，此举将为中国的民主改革创造更好的环境，并为美国创造就业机会。克林顿在担任总统期间的其他外交政策事务中，与越南实现了关系正常化。他还支持北大西洋公约组织（NATO）在欧洲进行扩张。人们记住比尔·克林顿的总统任期，至少在一定程度上是因为他努力与国际社会接触。但人们也会记得在国会的弹劾审判，几乎结束了他的总统任期。“这些指控是虚假的，我需要回去为美国人民工作。”这将是我们下期节目要讲述的故事。
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