【美国精神】第66期

 Explanation:

  Have you ever worked hard to write a long report or essay and then waited anxiously (or with a lot of worry and stress) to find out whether the teacher would like it? The men who wrote the Constitution (or the country’s most important legal document) must have felt the same way. They worked very hard between May and September of 1787. When they finished, they had a long document that they were very proud of (or that they felt very pleased with), but the Constitution hadn’t yet become a law. First, it would have to be ratified¹ (or approved) by the states.

  Only nine of the states needed to ratify² the Constitution, but getting all 13 states to ratify it would be important for helping³ the country to feel unified⁴ (or as one whole country made up of many parts). At first, it didn’t look like enough states would ratify it. There was bitter (or very strong and negative) disagreement about them Constitution.

  One group of people who were called “Federalists” thought that there were many problems with the Articles of Confederation, which was the legal document that the 13 states had been following. The Federalists believed that adopting the Constitution was the only way to fix the problems that the country was having. The Federalists thought that only the Constitution would be able to help the new country keep its independence (or freedom) from Britain.

  Another large group of people known as the “Antifederalists” thought that the Constitution would destroy (or ruin) everything good about America. They thought that the Constitution would centralize the government too much (or make the national government too powerful, with little or no power for the states).

  The Federalists and Antifederalists argued with each other for a long time, but eventually (or after a long time) the Constitution was ratified. The first five states ratified it very quickly, between December 1787 and January 1788. The other states took much longer, and the state of Rhode Island didn’t ratify the Constitution until May of 1790. But when all 13 states had finally ratified the Constitution, the whole United States was behind (or supported) the new government.

 

问题：

When was the Constitution written?

Answer:

1787

1 ratified   

v.批准，签认（合约等）( ratify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The treaty was declared invalid because it had not been ratified. 条约没有得到批准，因此被宣布无效。
• The treaty was ratified by all the member states. 这个条约得到了所有成员国的批准。

2 ratify   

v.批准，认可，追认

参考例句：

• The heads of two governments met to ratify the peace treaty.两国政府首脑会晤批准和平条约。
• The agreement have to be ratify by the board.该协议必须由董事会批准。

3 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

4 unified   

(unify 的过去式和过去分词)； 统一的； 统一标准的； 一元化的

参考例句：

• The teacher unified the answer of her pupil with hers. 老师核对了学生的答案。
• The First Emperor of Qin unified China in 221 B.C. 秦始皇于公元前221年统一中国。