VOA慢速英语2020 比尔·克林顿赢得1992年总统大选（在线收听）

Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION – American history in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember. This week in our series, we begin the story of Bill Clinton, America's forty-second president. He led the United States for eight years, from January of nineteen ninety-three to January of two thousand one. Our story begins in nineteen ninety-one. In February of that year, American-led forces won Operation Desert Storm to end Iraqi occupation of Kuwait. Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein considered Kuwait a province of Iraq. He had invaded the oil-rich country in August nineteen ninety. Coalition air strikes began four months later, in January, against Iraqi targets. The ground war took place in February and lasted just four days. The American-led victory in the Gulf war added to the popularity of President George H.W. Bush. Nineteen ninety-one was also the last year for the U.S.S.R., the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. 1991

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，我们开始讲述美国第42任总统比尔·克林顿的故事。他从1993年1月到2001年1月执政，领导美国八年。我们的故事始于1991年。当年2月，美国领导的部队赢得沙漠风暴行动，结束了伊拉克对科威特的占领。伊拉克领导人萨达姆·侯赛因认为，科威特是伊拉克的一个省。他在1990年8月入侵了这个石油丰富的国家。4个月后，即1月份，联军开始空袭伊拉克目标。地面战争发生在2月，只持续了四天。美国领导的海湾战争取得的胜利，提升了布什总统的声望。1991年也是苏联苏维埃社会主义共和国联盟的最后一年。

The collapse of the Soviet Union brought an end to more than forty years of Cold War tensions and fears of nuclear war. In the United States, attention was turning to the nineteen ninety-two presidential election. Many political observers believed President Bush would easily win a second term. But the economy was not doing much to help his chances. The United States went through a serious recession that lasted eight months, from July nineteen ninety to March nineteen ninety-one. Unemployment rose to the highest level in years. At the same time, the federal government was deeply in debt after years of borrowing. Bush was a Republican. Democrats saw his falling popularity as a good opportunity to retake the White House. They placed their hopes on William Jefferson Clinton. At the time, he was the young governor of the southern state of Arkansas. He was gaining national attention by talking about issues like education. Bill Clinton was born on August nineteenth, nineteen forty-six, in the small town of Hope, Arkansas. His name at birth was William Jefferson Blythe. His father, also named William Jefferson Blythe, was a traveling salesman. He died in a car accident three months before his son was born.

苏联解体，结束了40多年的冷战紧张局势和对核战争的恐惧。在美国，注意力转向了1992年的总统选举。许多政治观察家认为，布什总统很容易赢得连任。但经济方面对他获胜的机会没有太大帮助。美国从1990年7月到1991年3月，经历了一场持续了8个月的严重经济衰退。失业率上升到多年来的最高水平。与此同时，联邦政府在多年举债之后，债台高筑。布什是个共和党人，民主党人认为他的支持率下降是重新夺回白宫政权的好机会。他们把希望寄托在威廉·杰斐逊·克林顿身上。当时，他是南部阿肯色州的年轻州长，他通过谈论教育等问题而引起全国的关注。比尔·克林顿于1946年8月19日出生在阿肯色州霍普小镇，他出生时的名字是威廉·杰斐逊·布莱斯。他的父亲也叫威廉·杰斐逊·布莱斯，是一名旅行推销员。他在儿子出生前三个月死于车祸。

At the age of two, the boy was sent to live with his grandparents while his mother, Virginia Blythe, studied to become a nurse. She married a man named Roger Clinton when her son was four. The family moved to Hot Springs, Arkansas. When he was fifteen, William Jefferson Blythe legally changed his name to William Jefferson Clinton. His stepfather drank too much, and was sometimes abusive to him, his mother and his stepbrother, Roger junior. But Bill Clinton did well in school. He also developed a strong early interest in politics and ran for student offices in high school. In nineteen sixty-three, while still in high school, Bill Clinton went to Washington as a delegate to a Boys Nation program for young leaders. There, he got to meet President John F. Kennedy. Years later, Richard Stratton, who was president of Boys Nation in nineteen sixty-three, remembered that meeting. "It was a beautiful bright summer day. It was July twenty-fourth, nineteen sixty-three, and we were all assembled in the Rose Garden at the White House as a group, waiting for the president to come out. We all sat there, riveted in attention." "I want to welcome you to the White House, particularly because this belongs to all of you and because it's so intimately connected with the best in American history."

克林顿两岁时，被送到爷爷奶奶家居住，其母亲维吉尼亚·布莱斯当时正在学习，想要成为一名护士。她在儿子四岁时嫁给了一个名叫罗杰·克林顿的男人，一家人搬到阿肯色州的温泉城。15岁时，威廉·杰斐逊·布莱斯合法更名为威廉·杰斐逊·克林顿。他的继父酗酒，有时还辱骂他、他的母亲和他的继兄小罗杰。但是比尔·克林顿在学校表现出色。他早年也对政治产生了浓厚的兴趣，并在高中时竞选担任学生科的职务。1963年，比尔·克林顿还在上高中时，曾作为代表前往华盛顿参加一个面向年轻领袖的美国少年项目。他在那会见了肯尼迪总统。几年后，1963年美国少年项目的主席理查德·斯特拉顿仍然记得那次会议。“那是一个美丽明亮的夏日，时间是1963年7月24日。我们聚集在白宫的玫瑰园里，等待总统的到来。我们都坐在那里，全神贯注。”“我欢迎你们来到白宫，特别是因为这是属于你们所有人的活动，因为它与美国历史上最优秀的人有着如此密切的联系。”

"I was about the third or fourth person in, and he started here and I sort of muscled my way up and made sure I got to shake hands with the president. He was quite generous. He went down the line and shook hands with a pretty good number of us who were there that day. "It had a very profound impact on me. I think that it's something that I carried with me always. And I was very fortunate that someone took a picture of it and gave it to me, so I was always able to remember it." "Right after that frame -- that famous frame of him shaking hands with JFK – there's another picture from the same film, showing President Kennedy shaking hands with Jeff Keyes, another one of our boys in from Florida, and Bill Clinton looking down at his hand with this wonderful look, like I'll never wash it again." Bill Clinton went on to study at Georgetown University in Washington. He graduated in nineteen sixty-eight and won a Rhodes Scholarship to attend Oxford University in England. He spent two years there before entering Yale Law School in New Haven, Connecticut. There, he met another law student, Hillary Rodham. She was from just outside Chicago, and she shared his deep interest in politics and public service. They both graduated in nineteen seventy-three. Bill Clinton returned to Arkansas. Hillary Rodham went on to become a lawyer involved in the congressional investigation of the Watergate scandal. That case led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon in nineteen seventy-four.

“我大概是第三个或第四个人，他从这里开始，我挤上前，确保自己与总统握上手。他很大方，与我们当天在场的很多人握手。“这对我产生了非常深远的影响，我想这是我会一直珍藏的记忆。我很幸运，有人给我拍了照片，所以我总能记起这件事。”“就在这个画面之后，即他和肯尼迪握手的那张著名的照片之后，还有来自同一部电影里的另一张照片，显示肯尼迪总统和佛罗里达州的另一个男孩杰夫·凯斯握手，比尔·克林顿低头看着他的手，表情很绝妙，好像在说我再也不洗手了。”比尔·克林顿继续在华盛顿乔治敦大学学习，他毕业于1968年，并获得罗德奖学金进入英国牛津大学。他在就读康涅狄格州纽黑文的耶鲁法学院之前，在牛津大学度过了两年时光。他在那里遇到了另一个法律系的学生，希拉里·罗德姆。她来自芝加哥郊外，她和克林顿一样对政治和公共服务很感兴趣。他们都毕业于1973年。比尔·克林顿回到阿肯色州，希拉里·罗德姆后来成为一名律师，参与国会对水门事件的调查。该案导致尼克松总统在1974年辞职。

That same year, Bill Clinton, a Democrat, ran for Congress in Arkansas. He lost a close race to a popular Republican. A year later he and Hillary Rodham married. And a year after that, in nineteen seventy-six, Arkansas voters elected him attorney general, the state's top law enforcement officer. In nineteen seventy-eight, Bill Clinton ran for governor and easily won. He became, at the age of thirty-two, the state's youngest governor ever. While Bill Clinton was governor, the federal government operated a detention center in Arkansas for Cuban refugees. The refugees rioted. That rioting hurt Bill Clinton politically when he ran for re-election. His opponent argued that he should have done more to get the government to hold the Cubans someplace else. Also, Clinton had supported unpopular new taxes. In nineteen eighty Bill Clinton was defeated in his campaign for a second term as governor of Arkansas. But he regained the office in the next election two years later. That was before the term of office was increased from two years to four years. Clinton went on to serve as governor of Arkansas until nineteen ninety-two.

同年，民主党人比尔·克林顿在阿肯色州竞选国会议员。在这次竞选中，他以微弱的差距败给了一名受欢迎的共和党人。一年后，他和希拉里·罗德姆成婚。一年后，在1976年，阿肯色州的选民选举他为司法部长，这是该州的最高执法官员。1978年，比尔·克林顿竞选州长并轻松获胜。他在32岁时成为该州有史以来最年轻的州长。比尔·克林顿出任州长期间，联邦政府在阿肯色州为古巴难民开设了一个看守所。难民们闹事。那场骚乱在克林顿竞选连任时，在政治方面对他产生了不利影响。他的对手争辩说，他应该做更多的事情，让政府把古巴人关押在其他地方。同时，克林顿也对不受欢迎的新税给与支持。1980年，比尔·克林顿在竞选阿肯色州州长的第二个任期时被击败。但他在两年后的下一次选举中重掌大权，那是在州长任期从两年增加到四年之前。克林顿一直到1992年，都担任阿肯色州州长。

While he was governor, education in the state improved. More students finished high school, and more went on to college. The state increased requirements for teachers and also increased their pay. Governor Clinton also expanded early learning programs for children from poor families. While governor, Bill Clinton also became active in Democratic Party leadership at the national level. "Make no mistake. This election is about change, change in our party, change in our leadership, change in our nation. And that is why today, I proudly announce my candidacy for president of the United States of America." In nineteen ninety-one, Bill Clinton announced that he would run for the Democratic nomination for president. His main opponents were Paul Tsongas and Jerry Brown. Tsongas was a former senator from Massachusetts; Brown had been governor of California. Paul Tsongas later withdrew, and Bill Clinton easily defeated Jerry Brown for the nomination. Democrats held their national nominating convention in New York City in July nineteen ninety-two. "And so, in the name of all those who do the work, pay the taxes, raise the kids, and play by the rules; in the name of the hard-working Americans who make up our forgotten middle class, I proudly accept your nomination for president of the United States." Bill Clinton chose Senator Al Gore of Tennessee as his running mate for vice president. The Republicans nominated President Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle for a second term.

在他担任州长期间，该州的教育有所改善。更多的学生完成了高中学业，进入大学学习。国家提高了对教师的要求，也提高其工资。克林顿州长还扩展了贫困家庭儿童的早期学习计划。在担任州长期间，比尔·克林顿还积极参与民主党在国家层面的领导。“别搞错，这是次关于变革的选举，党的变革，领导层的变革，国家的变革。这就是为什么今天，我自豪地宣布我将竞选美利坚合众国总统。”1991年，比尔·克林顿宣布他将竞选民主党总统候选人，其主要对手是保罗·聪格斯和杰瑞·布朗。聪格斯是马萨诸塞州的前参议员；布朗曾是加利福尼亚州州长。保罗·聪格斯后来退出竞选，比尔·克林顿轻松击败杰瑞·布朗获得提名。1992年7月，民主党在纽约市举行全国提名大会。“因此，以所有那些工作、纳税、抚养子女、遵守规则的公民之名；以那些被遗忘的辛勤工作的中产阶级美国人之名，我自豪地接受你参加美国总统的提名。”比尔·克林顿选择田纳西州参议员阿尔·戈尔作为竞选副总统的搭档。共和党提名布什总统和丹奎尔副总统连任。

Another candidate in the nineteen ninety-two presidential election was a Texas businessman named Ross Perot. He competed as an independent, a so-called third party candidate. His choice for vice president was James Stockdale, a former high-level Navy officer and pilot. He had been shot down and held as a prisoner of North Vietnam for seven years. During the campaign, Ross Perot argued that neither of the major candidates was taking the national debt seriously enough. He also warned of the loss of American jobs. "To those of you in the audience who are business people, it's pretty simple. If you're paying twelve, thirteen dollars, fourteen dollars an hour for factory workers, and you can move your factory south of the border, pay a dollar an hour for your labor, have no health care -- that's the most expensive single element in making a car -- have no environmental controls, no pollution controls, and no retirement, and you don't care about anything but making money, there will be a giant sucking sound going south." Bill Clinton criticized President Bush for not doing more about the economy and unemployment. Bush pointed out that the Democrats controlled Congress, and he said the Democrats had defeated most of his proposals. The president also talked about his foreign policy successes. And -- most famously -- he promised not to raise taxes.

在1992年的总统选举中，另一位候选人是德克萨斯州的商人，名叫罗斯·佩罗。他作为一名独立的，所谓的第三方候选人参加竞争。他选择的副总统是前海军高级军官及飞行员詹姆斯·斯托克代尔。他的飞机曾遭到击落，在北越囚禁了七年。在竞选期间，罗斯·佩罗认为，两位主要候选人都未严肃对待国债问题，他还警告美国的失业问题。“对于在座的商务人士来说，这很简单。如果你为工厂工人每小时支付12美元、13美元、14美元，你可以把工厂移到边境以南，每小时支付1美元，没有医疗保健费用（这是制造汽车时最昂贵的要素），没有环境控制、污染控制、退休费用，除了赚钱什么都不在乎，在南部会摒弃深呼吸。”比尔·克林顿批评布什总统在经济和失业问题上没有采取更多措施。布什指出，民主党人控制了国会，他说民主党人已经否决了他的大部分提案。总统还谈到了他在外交政策上的成功，最著名的是，他承诺不增税。

"My opponent will not rule out raising taxes, but I will, and the Congress will push me to raise taxes, and I'll say 'No.' And they'll push again, and I'll say 'Read my lips – no new taxes.'" But raise taxes he did, and many Americans remembered that on Election Day. Bill Clinton and Al Gore won the nineteen ninety-two election. They received about forty five-million votes, or six million more than President Bush and Vice President Quayle. Ross Perot and James Stockdale received close to twenty million -- or nineteen percent of the popular vote. Bill Clinton became America's forty-second president on January twentieth, nineteen ninety-three. At the age of forty-six, he was the third youngest person ever elected president. At his inauguration, the new president said there was no longer a division between foreign and domestic issues. "The world economy, the world environment, the world AIDS crisis, the world's arms race -- they affect us all. Today, as an old order passes, the new world is more free but less stable. Communism's collapse has called forth old animosities and new dangers. Clearly America must continue to lead the world we did so much to make." But, even as he took office, critics were questioning his character. There had been accusations during the campaign about relationships with other women in Arkansas. And there were questions about an investment that he and Hillary Clinton had made in a land development project back in nineteen seventy-eight. President Clinton's first term in office will be our story next week.

“我的对手不会排除增税的可能性，但我不会这么做。国会敦促我增税，我会说‘不’”，他们还会再此催促，我会说‘看我的口型——不增税’。”但他确实提高了税收，许多美国人在选举日记得这一点。比尔·克林顿和戈尔赢得了1992年的选举，他们获得了大约4500万张选票，比布什总统和奎尔副总统多600万张选票。罗斯·佩罗和詹姆斯·斯托克代尔获得了将近两千万选票，或者说是90%的普选。1993年1月20日，比尔·克林顿成为美国第42任总统。他当时46岁时，是有史以来第三位最年轻的当选总统。新总统在就职典礼上表示，外交和国内事务不再存有分歧。“世界经济、世界环境、世界艾滋病危机、世界军备竞赛影响着我们所有人。今天，随着旧秩序的过去，新世界更加自由，但却不太稳定。共产主义的崩溃带来了旧有的仇恨，也产生了新的危机。很明显，美国必须继续领导我们为之付出过很多努力的世界。”但是，就在他上任之际，批评人士仍在质疑他的人品。在竞选期间，有人指责他与阿肯色州其他女性之间的关系。有人质疑他和希拉里·克林顿在1978年，对一个土地开发项目的投资。克林顿总统的第一个任期将是我们下期节目要讲述的故事。