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14 亚瑟·切斯特总统
DATE=3-29-2001
TITLE=THE MAKING OF A NATION #134 - CHESTER ARTHUR
BYLINE=FRANK BEARDSLEY
Voice one:
The making of a nation -- a program in special english.
(theme)
(1)president james garfield was shot and seriously (2)wounded in the summer of eighteen-eighty-one. The man who shot him said he supported the (3)political group that supported (4)vice1 president chester arthur.
The gunman was found to be insane. But some people were ready to believe the worst about vice president arthur. They knew that many of the vice president's political allies disliked president garfield. They thought the vice president might have helped the gunman in some way.
I'm kay gallant2. Today, harry3 monroe and i tell what happened after president garfield was shot.
Voice two:
For a time, it seemed the president might get better. But the bullet wound became (5)infected. He died of the infection two months after he was shot. Vice president arthur took the oath of office a few hours after the president's death.
Chester arthur had been a successful lawyer. He had worked in Politics for a number of years. But he had never before held an elected office. Many americans questioned his (6)ability to serve in the white house. One person put it this way: "chet arthur -- president of the united states? Good god!" Voice one:
Almost everyone feared arthur would be a tool of a (7)republican party leader in new york, roscoe conkling. They were sure conkling would be the real power in arthur's (8)administration. They were wrong. Chester arthur surprised everyone. He broke all his ties with the conkling political machine. He remained independent of any party group.
Arthur asked garfield's cabinet to resign. He chose new men for all but one (9)department.
Voice two:
In his first message to congress, president arthur asked for changes in the way government jobs were filled. He proposed a new civil (10)service system that would let ability -- not politics -- decide who got government jobs. Republican party leaders opposed these (11)proposals. The civil service system would stop them from giving federal jobs to their supporters. It would destroy much of their power.
These republican leaders controlled congress. They refused to act on the civil service proposals.
Voice one:
Civil service reform, however, was an important issue. President garfield had been assassinated4 by a man who believed he should have gotten a government job because of his politics. Also, new (12)cases of dishonesty had been discovered in the post office department. The public began to demand laws to clean up the civil service.
In eighteen-eighty-two, a new congress was elected. The new (13)congress was controlled by the (14)democratic party.
President arthur again appealed for civil service reform. This time, he got results. The new congress passed a civil service bill that required ten percent of all (15)federal jobs to be filled through competitive examinations. This ten percent included half the officials in the post office department. It included most workers at federal customs houses.
The bill also said it was illegal for (16)politicians to ask government employees for campaign money. And it set up a civil service (17)committee to enforce the new law.
Voice two:
President arthur also found himself faced with an unusual problem. The government was earning more money than it needed. Most of the money came from (18)tariffs7 -- taxes on imports. Each year, tariffs brought in one-hundred-million dollars more than the government needed. The import taxes had been set high to protect american industries from foreign (19)competition. President arthur wanted to reduce the tariffs. Congress wanted to keep them high. Industrial leaders wanted to keep them high, too. They did not want to compete with low-priced foreign products.
Voice one:
Congress saw no problem with the extra money brought in by high tariffs. It found many ways to spend it.
For example, congress raised (20)payments to soldiers who had fought in the civil war during the eighteen-sixties. It also approved money to build roads, bridges, and waterways (21)throughout the country. Many of these things were not needed. They were approved for political purposes. They put government money into the home areas of powerful congressmen.
In eighteen-eighty-two, congress passed the "rivers and (22)harbors bill." the bill would cost almost nineteen-million dollars. President arthur (23)vetoed the bill. He said it would waste too much money. But congress passed the bill into law over his veto.
Voice two:
Next, president arthur urged congress to form a committee to find a way to reduce tariffs. Congress formed the committee. The committee proposed that tariffs be reduced by twenty percent. But congress did not consider the proposal when it began debating a new tariff6 bill.
President arthur was more successful in getting congress to reduce the public (24)debt. During his term, the debt was cut by more than four-hundred-million dollars.
Voice one:
Chester arthur's (25)efforts for honest government and lower taxes won him much support among the people. But he could not win the support of his republican party.
Arthur wanted to serve another four years in the white house. His name was put before the republican nominating (26)convention in eighteen-eighty-four. The name of senator james blaine of maine also was put before the convention. On the first ballot8, blaine received three-hundred thirty-four (27)votes. Arthur got only two-hundred seventy-eight. Three ballots9 later, blaine won the presidential (28)nomination10.
However, many republicans refused to support blaine. They accused him of being (29)dishonest. They said he was controlled by powerful politicians. Voice two:
The democratic party chose new york governor grover cleveland as its presidential (30)candidate. Like chester arthur at the national level, grover cleveland was known for fighting dishonesty in government at the (31)local level.
He began as mayor of the city of (32)buffalo, new york. He cleaned up the city government and saved the taxpayers11 much money. Next, he was elected governor of new york state. There, too, he helped end dishonesty in government.
Cleveland refused to give jobs to democrats12 because of their political ties. (33)instead, he filled state jobs with men of ability. This early success helped him win the democratic presidential nomination.
Voice one:
The campaign of eighteen-eighty-four between republican blaine and democrat5 cleveland was one of the most bitter in american political history.
A group of republicans who opposed blaine published letters to prove he was dishonest. Blaine had written the letters several years earlier during a (34)shameful incident concerning the sale of railroad stock. Now, he was forced to defend himself against those old charges.
Voice two:
Blaine's (35)supporters fought back by discovering a scandal in cleveland's past. Grover cleveland had never married. But more than ten years earlier, he had been (36)involved with a young woman. The woman gave birth to a boy. Cleveland was not sure the boy was his son. But he accepted (37)responsibility for the child. He sent money to help care for him.
A republican newspaper published the story. Soon, republican (38)crowds were shouting a joke about it. "ma! Ma! Where's my pa? Gone to the white house, ha ha ha!"
voice one:
Both candidates campaigned hard. It was clear to everyone that the vote would be close.
Election day was cold and rainy. Early results showed the two candidates with almost the same number of electoral votes. The winner would be the one who (39)captured a majority of the popular votes in new york state. That candidate would then get all of new york's (40)electoral votes.
It was not until three days after the voting that election officials (41)announced cleveland had won. His (42)victory set off wild (43)celebrations among democrats across the country. Grover cleveland really was going to the white house -- ha ha ha! His election would bring some important (44)changes to the country.
That will be our story next week.
(theme)
voice two:
You have been listening to the special english program the making of a nation. Your narrators were kay gallant and harry monroe. Our program was written by frank beardsley.
(1) president[ 5prezidEnt ]n.总统, 会长, 校长, 行长
(2) wound[ wu:nd ]n.创伤, 伤口vt.伤, 伤寒v.击伤
(3) political[ pE5litikEl ]adj.政治的, 行政上的
(4) vice[ vais ]n.恶习, 恶行, 坏脾气, 罪恶, 堕落, 老虎钳, 缺点, 缺陷vt.钳住prep.代替
(5) infected[In`fektId]adj.(伤口)被感染的
(6) ability[ E5biliti ]n.能力, 才干
(7) republican[ ri5pQblikEn ]adj.共和国的,共和主义的, 有关共和的n.共和党人
(8) administration[ Edminis5treiFEn ]n.管理, 经营, 行政部门
(9) department[ di5pB:tmEnt ]n.部, 局, 处, 科, 部门, 系, 学部
(10) service[ 5sE:vis ]n.服务, 服务性工作, 服役, 仪式vt.保养, 维修
(11) proposal[ prE5pEuzEl ]n.提议, 建议
(12) case[ keis ]n.事, 病例, 案例, 情形, 场合, 讼案, 容器, (语法)格
(13) congress[ 5kCN^res ]n.(代表)大会, [C～] (美国等国的)国会, 议会
(14) democratic[ 7demE5krAtik ]adj.民主的, 民主主义的, 民主政体的, 平民的
(15) federal[ 5fedErEl ]adj.联邦的, 联合的, 联邦制的 n.(南北战争时期)北部联邦同盟盟员
(16) politician[ pCli5tiFEn ]n.政治家, 政客
(17) committee[ kE5miti ]n.委员会
(18) tariff[ 5tArif ]n.关税, 关税表, 税则, (旅馆, 饭店等的)价目表、价格表vt.课以关税
(19) competition[ kCmpi5tiFEn ]n.竞争, 竞赛
(20) payment[ 5peimEnt ]n.付款, 支付, 报酬, 偿还, 报应, 惩罚
(21) throughout[ Wru(:)5aut ]prep.遍及, 贯穿adv.到处, 始终, 全部
(22) harbor[ 5hB:bE ]n.海港
(23) veto[ 5vi:tEu ]n.否决, 禁止, 否决权vt.否决, 禁止
(24) debt[ det ]n.债务, 罪过
(25) effort[5efEt]n.努力, 成就
(26) convention[ kEn5venFEn ]n.大会, 协定, 习俗, 惯例
(27) vote[vEJt]n.投票, 选票,表决, 得票数vi.投票vt.投票,投票决定, 公认,
(28) nomination[ nCmi5neiFEn ]n.任命
(29) dishonest[ dis5Cnist ]adj.不诚实的
(30) candidate[ 5kAndidit ]n.候选人, 投考者
(31) local[ 5lEukEl ]adj.地方的, 当地的, 局部的, 乡土的n.当地居民, 本地新闻, 慢车, 局部
(32) Buffalo[ 5bQfElEu ]布法罗(美国纽约州西部一城市)
(33) instead[ in5sted ]adv.代替, 改为, 抵作, 更换
(34) shameful[ 5Feimful ]adj.不体面的
(35) supporter[ sE5pC:tE ]n.支持者, 赡养者, 拥护者
(36) involved[ in5vClvd ]adj.棘手的,有关的
(37) responsibility[ ris7pCnsE5biliti ]n.责任, 职责
(38) crowd[ kraud ]n.人群, 群众, 一堆(东西), 一伙v.群集, 拥挤, 挤满
(39) capture[ 5kAptFE ]n.捕获, 战利品vt.俘获, 捕获, 夺取
(40) electoral[I5lektEr(E)l]adj选举的；选举人的
(41) announce[ E5nauns ]vt.宣布, 通告
(42) victory[ 5viktEri ]n.胜利, 战胜, 克服, [罗神]胜利女神
(43) celebration[ 7seli5breiFEn ]n.庆祝, 庆典
(44) change[ tFeindV ]n.改变, 变化, 转变, 找回的零钱, 找头, 辅币vt.改变, 变革, 改造, 兑换
收听单词发音 |
1
vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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2
gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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3
harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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4
assassinated
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| v.暗杀( assassinate的过去式和过去分词 )；中伤；诋毁；破坏 | |
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5
democrat
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| n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员 | |
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6
tariff
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| n.关税，税率；(旅馆、饭店等)价目表，收费表 | |
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7
tariffs
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| 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 | |
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8
ballot
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| n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票 | |
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9
ballots
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| n.投票表决( ballot的名词复数 )；选举；选票；投票总数v.（使）投票表决( ballot的第三人称单数 ) | |
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10
nomination
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| n.提名，任命，提名权 | |
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11
taxpayers
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| 纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 ) | |
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12
democrats
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| n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 ) | |
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