美国国家公共电台 NPR Past Presidents Made History In First Address To Congress

 

LOURDES GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

When President Trump¹ addresses Congress for the first time on Tuesday night, the Capitol will be filled with Washington's most powerful people all taking the measure of the man who has been made the most powerful of them all. It's a ritual that opens a new era.

(SOUNDBITE OF BERNHARD LAUBIN, HANNES LAUBIN, NORBERT SCHMITT, SIMON PRESTON AND WOLFGANG LAUBIN'S "MOURET: SINFONIES DE FANFARE² IN D MAJOR - 1. RONDEAU")

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Professor Ron - you know him as NPR's Ron Elving - has a bit of history to share.

RON ELVING, BYLINE³: Imagine yourself a rookie president entering the House Chamber⁴ for the first time. You shake hands as you make your way slowly to the speaker's rostrum. You turn and look out at all the leading figures of official Washington - the Cabinet, the Congress, the Supreme⁵ Court, the Joint⁶ Chiefs of Staff - all in one place and staring at you.

(SOUNDBITE OF CONGRESS JOINT SESSION MONTAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED VICE⁷ PRESIDENT #1: Members of the Congress...

UNIDENTIFIED VICE PRESIDENT #2: My colleagues of the Congress...

UNIDENTIFIED VICE PRESIDENT #1: ...I have the high privilege...

UNIDENTIFIED VICE PRESIDENT #3: And the distinct honor of presenting to you...

UNIDENTIFIED VICE PRESIDENT #2: ...The president of the United States.

(APPLAUSE)

ELVING: So it was for a 47-year-old first-term senator from Illinois named Barack Obama, who just eight years ago gave his first address to a joint session. He focused immediately on a national economy in free fall.

(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)

BARACK OBAMA: But while our economy may be weakened and our confidence shaken - though we are living through difficult and uncertain times, tonight I want every American to know this - we will rebuild. We will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before.

(APPLAUSE)

ELVING: Obama gave other speeches that were more famous, but this one was about getting down to business with Congress. George W. Bush did much the same at his first joint session in February 2001. Like his father, George H.W. Bush, the second President Bush came to office in good economic times. The federal budget was showing a surplus and there was no talk yet of wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Yet, Bush chose a theme of challenge.

(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)

GEORGE W. BUSH: Our generation must show courage in a time of blessing⁸ as our nation has always shown in times of crisis. And our courage, issue by issue, can gather to greatness and serve our country. This is the privilege and responsibility we share.

ELVING: Both the first and second President Bush had hard acts to follow. The first came in after Ronald Reagan, peerless speechmaker. The second followed Bill Clinton, whose first speech to Congress drew a record 67 million TV watchers in 1993.

(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)

BILL CLINTON: It is nice to have a fresh excuse for giving a long speech.

(APPLAUSE)

ELVING: Clinton also offered a preview of two of the major issues of his first term. He spoke⁹ of ending welfare as we know it and also of tackling the costs and gaps in the health care system.

(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)

CLINTON: Our families will never be secure. Our businesses will never be strong. And our government will never again be fully¹⁰ solvent¹¹ until we tackle the health care crisis. We must do it this year.

(APPLAUSE)

ELVING: A dozen years earlier, President Reagan had wowed both the chamber and the national TV audience with his first address to a joint session. It was February of 1981, and he was pitching the economic program that became his hallmark. But Reagan got a warm, bipartisan reception, including at an unexpected point late in his speech.

(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)

RONALD REAGAN: I - I should've arranged to quit right there.

(LAUGHTER)

ELVING: There have been times when first addresses to Congress came at moments of national crisis. Gerald Ford¹² made his in August of 1974, just three days after Richard Nixon had resigned in disgrace over the Watergate scandal. Ford, who had served in Congress for decades, told the members...

(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)

GERALD FORD: I do not want a honeymoon¹³ with you. I want a good marriage.

(APPLAUSE)

ELVING: But surely, the most dramatic first address to Congress in the post-war era had to be that of Lyndon Johnson in November of 1963, just days after Jack¹⁴ Kennedy was assassinated¹⁵.

(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)

LYNDON B. JOHNSON: All I have, I would have given gladly not to be standing¹⁶ here today.

ELVING: Later in that speech, Johnson vowed¹⁷ to pursue the legacy¹⁸ he had inherited. JFK had once said, let us begin.

(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)

JOHN F. KENNEDY: Let us begin. Today, in this moment of new resolve, I would say to all my fellow Americans, let us continue.

(APPLAUSE)

ELVING: Continuity of tradition and shared power is what ceremonies such as this address to Congress are all about. They start the process by which new chief executives become part of the government they once might have railed against.

Ron Elving, NPR News, Washington.

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 fanfare   

n.喇叭；号角之声；v.热闹地宣布

参考例句：

• The product was launched amid much fanfare worldwide.这个产品在世界各地隆重推出。
• A fanfare of trumpets heralded the arrival of the King.嘹亮的小号声宣告了国王驾到。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

5 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

6 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

7 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

8 blessing   

n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿

参考例句：

• The blessing was said in Hebrew.祷告用了希伯来语。
• A double blessing has descended upon the house.双喜临门。

9 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

10 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。

11 solvent   

n.溶剂；adj.有偿付能力的

参考例句：

• Gasoline is a solvent liquid which removes grease spots.汽油是一种能去掉油污的有溶解力的液体。
• A bankrupt company is not solvent.一个破产的公司是没有偿还债务的能力的。

12 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

13 honeymoon   

n.蜜月（假期）；vi.度蜜月

参考例句：

• While on honeymoon in Bali,she learned to scuba dive.她在巴厘岛度蜜月时学会了带水肺潜水。
• The happy pair are leaving for their honeymoon.这幸福的一对就要去度蜜月了。

14 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

15 assassinated   

v.暗杀( assassinate的过去式和过去分词 )；中伤；诋毁；破坏

参考例句：

• The prime minister was assassinated by extremists. 首相遭极端分子暗杀。
• Then, just two days later, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. 跟着在两天以后，肯尼迪总统在达拉斯被人暗杀。 来自辞典例句

16 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

17 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。

18 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。