1888年美国总统大选

20 1888年美国总统大选

DATE=4-26-2001
TITLE=THE MAKING OF A NATION #138 - ELECTION OF 1888
BYLINE=FRANK BEARDSLEY
Voice one:
     The making of a nation -- a program in special English by the voice of America. (Theme)
    I'm Shirley Griffith. Today, ray freeman and I tell the story of the American presidential election of eighteen- eighty- eight.
 Voice two:
    One (1) political issue played a major part in the election of eighteen- eighty- eight. That (2) issue was (3) tariffs² -- taxes on imports.
     At that time, tariffs were high on many products. The high tariffs protected American goods from competing with lower-priced foreign products. They (4) protected millions of jobs in American industry. Not everyone, however, supported high tariffs. The president of the United States, Grover Cleveland, did not.
 Voice one:
     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 (5) treasury³. And this, Cleveland believed, slowed the American economy.     The president's (6) democratic party united to support his policy of lowering tariffs. When the party held its presidential (7) nominating convention in eighteen- eighty- eight, (8) delegates quickly re-nominated Cleveland.
Voice two:
     At the Republican Party (9) convention, delegates were expected to nominate senator James Blaine. Blaine had been the party's (10) candidate four years earlier. He had lost to Cleveland in a very close election.
     Senator Blaine publicly (11) 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 (12) victory that he would not have to campaign.
 Voice one:
     in fact, Blaine did not want the nomination⁴. 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. Voice two:
    Fourteen men declared themselves to be candidates for the republican nomination. A leading candidate was (13) 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.
 Voice one:
    After nominating Harrison, the republicans approved a strong policy (14) statement on the tariff¹ question. The statement said: "we fully⁵ 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 (15) surrender any part of the protective tariff system."
Voice two:
     Benjamin Harrison's campaign was well organized. His (16) 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 (17) pamphlets that warned against what it called "Cleveland's free trade policies." Voice one:     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 democrats⁶ 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.
 Voice two:
    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 (18) servants. She told one of them: "I want you to take good care of all the furniture and other things in the house. If want to find everything the same when we come back...four years from now."
Voice one:
     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 (19) cabinet. They had sold every cabinet position to pay for the election."
 Voice two:
     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 (20) 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.
 Voice one:
     During the campaign, Harrison had (21) 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 promising⁷ government jobs to voters.     So, president Harrison suspended the civil service laws that protected postal⁸ 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.
Voice two:
     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 decided⁹ 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.
Voice one:
     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 (22) barrel" spending. It paid for new roads, bridges, and government buildings -- for almost anything the congressmen wanted.
     Congress reduced the (23) surplus even more by approving money to build coastal¹⁰ defenses and to buy warships¹¹ for the navy.
Voice two:
     The American congress passed several historic pieces of (24) 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. (Theme)
voice one:
    You have been listening to the making of a nation, a program in special English by the voice of America. Your narrators were Shirley Griffith and ray freeman. Our program was written by frank Beardsley.

注释：
(1)   political[ pE5litikEl ]adj.政治的, 行政上的
(2)   issue[ 5isju: ]n.出版, 发行结果
(3) tariff[ 5tArif ]n.关税, 关税表价格表
(4) protect[ prE5tekt ]v.保护
(5) treasury[ 5treVEri ]n.财政部, 国库
(6) democratic[ 7demE5krAtik ]adj.民主的, 民主主义的
(7) nominate[ 5nCmineit ]v.提名, 推荐
(8) delegate[ 5deli^it ]n.代表v.委派...为代表
(9) convention[ kEn5venFEn ]n.大会,习俗
(10) candidate[ 5kAndidit ]n.候选人, 投考者
(11) criticize[ 5kritisaiz ]v.批评, 责备
(12) victory[ 5viktEri ]n.胜利, 战胜
(13) senator[ 5senEtE ]n.参议员(古罗马的)元老院议员
(14) statement[ 5steitmEnt ]n.声明, 陈述
(15) surrender[ sE5rendE ]v.交出, 放弃
(16) campaign[ kAm5pein ]n. [军]战役v.参加活动,
(17) pamphlet[ 5pAmflit ]n.小册子
(18) servant[ 5sE:vEnt ]n.仆人
(19) cabinet[ 5kAbinit ]n. (有抽屉或格子的)橱柜, <美>内阁adj.<美>内阁的, 小巧的
(20) postmaster[5pEJstmB:stE(r); (?@) -mAstEr]n.邮局局长
(21) promise[ 5prCmis ]v.允诺, 答应n.允诺, 答应
(22) barrel[ 5bArEl ]n.桶v.装入桶内
(23) surplus[ 5sE:plEs ]n.剩余, 过剩adj.过剩的, 剩余的v.转让, 卖掉
(24) legislation[ 7ledVis5leiFEn ]n.立法, 法律的制定(或通过)

1 tariff   

n.关税，税率；(旅馆、饭店等)价目表，收费表

参考例句：

• There is a very high tariff on jewelry.宝石类的关税率很高。
• The government is going to lower the tariff on importing cars.政府打算降低进口汽车的关税。

2 tariffs   

关税制度； 关税( tariff的名词复数 )； 关税表； （旅馆或饭店等的）收费表； 量刑标准

参考例句：

• British industry was sheltered from foreign competition by protective tariffs. 保护性关税使英国工业免受国际竞争影响。
• The new tariffs have put a stranglehold on trade. 新的关税制对开展贸易极为不利。

3 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

4 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

5 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

6 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

8 postal   

adj.邮政的，邮局的

参考例句：

• A postal network now covers the whole country.邮路遍及全国。
• Remember to use postal code.勿忘使用邮政编码。

9 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

10 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

11 warships   

军舰，战舰( warship的名词复数 )； 舰只

参考例句：

• The enemy warships were disengaged from the battle after suffering heavy casualties. 在遭受惨重伤亡后，敌舰退出了海战。
• The government fitted out warships and sailors for them. 政府给他们配备了战舰和水手。