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THE MAKING OF A NATION 66 - Martin Van Buren, Part 1

时间:2006-03-03 16:00来源:互联网 提供网友:qwe   字体: [ ]
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THE MAKING OF A NATION #66 - Martin Van Buren, Part 1
By Frank Beardsley

Broadcast: Thursday, June 10, 2004

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in Special English.

(MUSIC)

Last week, we reported the election in Eighteen-Thirty-Six of Martin Van Buren as the eighth president of the United States.

Van Buren had been very close to the outgoing president, Andrew Jackson. He had been successful in putting together a strong political alliance that helped to put Jackson in the White House in Eighteen-Twenty-Eight. Jackson was grateful for this help, and asked Van Buren to come to Washington to serve as Secretary of State.

 
President Martin Van Buren
Van Buren had just been elected governor of the state of New York, but decided1 to accept Jackson's offer. VOICE TWO:

Van Buren quickly became the most powerful man in Jackson's cabinet. He was able to help Jackson in negotiations2 with Britain and France. But his greatest help was in building a strong political party for Jackson. It was this party that gave Jackson wide support for his policies.

Van Buren built up the national Democratic Party with the same methods he used to build his political organization in New York state. He removed from government jobs people who had not supported Jackson. These jobs were then given to those who had supported the president.

Van Buren served as Secretary of State for two years. He resigned because he saw his resignation as the only way of solving a serious problem Jackson faced.

VOICE ONE:

The problem was Vice3 President John C. Calhoun. Calhoun had presidential hopes. He did not think Jackson would serve more than one term. And he planned to be a candidate in the next election.

Three of the five men in Jackson's cabinet supported Calhoun. Jackson could not trust them.

And he wanted to get them out of the cabinet...but without a political fight.

Then, later, he named Van Buren minister to Britain. But Calhoun's supporters in the Senate defeated Van Buren's nomination4.

By this time, Jackson had decided that Van Buren would be the best man to follow him as president. He offered to resign after the Eighteen-Thirty-Two elections and give Van Buren the job of president. Van Buren rejected the offer. He said he wanted to be elected by the people. But he did agree to be Jackson's vice president in Eighteen-Thirty-Two.

VOICE TWO:

Four years later, at Jackson's request, the Democrats5 chose Van Buren to be their presidential candidate. He was opposed by several candidates of the newly-formed Whig Party. The opposition6 was divided. And Van Buren won the election with little difficulty.

Andrew Jackson stood beside Martin Van Buren as the new president was sworn-in. Physically7, the two men were very different.

Jackson was tall, with long white hair that flowed back over his head. Jackson's health had been poor during the last few months he spent in the White House. He seemed tired. There was almost no color in his face.

Van Buren was much shorter and had much less hair. His eyes were brighter than those of the old man next to him.

VOICE ONE:

In his inaugural8 speech, Van Buren noted9 that he was the first American born after the Revolution to become president. He said he felt he belonged to a later age. He called for more unity10 among Democrats of the North and South. He said better times were ahead for the country.

Van Buren had a strange way with words. He could talk with excitement about something, but say very little about his own feelings on the subject.

Once, he spoke11 in New York about the tax on imports. Two men who heard the speech discussed it later. "It was a very able speech," said one man, a wool buyer. "Yes, very able," answered his friend. There was silence for a moment. Then the first man spoke again. "Was Mister Van Buren 'for' or 'against' the import tax?"

VOICE TWO:

The new president was a warm and friendly man. He tried to keep his political life and his social life separate. It was not unusual to see him exchange handshakes, smiles and jokes with men who were his political enemies.

Van Buren had a poor education as a boy. He went to school only for a few years. His father was a farmer and hotel keeper at a little town in New York state. Van Buren had a quick mind and was a good judge of men. But he always felt he could have done more had he received a college education.

VOICE ONE:

Van Buren had been president for just a few days when an economic crisis and a political storm struck the country. The storm had been building for many months. It really began with the death of the Bank of the United States, more than a year before.

Andrew Jackson had opposed the powerful bank in which the government's money was kept. He vetoed a bill that would have continued it.

The bank was so strong that it was able to control the economy throughout most of the country. It did so through its loans to businessmen. By making many loans, the bank could increase economic activity. By reducing the number of loans, the economy could be tightened12.

VOICE TWO:

The Bank of the United States also helped to control the smaller state banks. It refused to accept the notes -- or paper money -- of these banks, unless the state banks were ready to exchange the paper for gold or silver money.

After the end of the Bank of the United States, there was little control of any kind over the state banks. Many new state banks opened. All of them produced large amounts of paper money...many times the amount they could exchange for gold or silver. Much of this paper money was used by business speculators to buy land from the government.

These men bought the land, held it for a while, then sold it for more than they paid. The government soon found itself with millions of dollars of paper money.

VOICE ONE:

To stop this, President Jackson ordered gold or silver payments only for government land. This made it necessary for speculators to exchange their paper notes for gold. Many banks could not do this. They did not have enough gold.

There was another problem. Congress passed a law on what was to be done with federal money not needed by the national government. This extra money -- or surplus -- was to be given to the states.

Since the closing of the Bank of the United States, the government had kept its money in a number of state banks. Now these banks had to surrender the government surplus to the state governments. This left even less gold and silver to exchange for the huge amounts of paper money the banks had issued.

VOICE TWO:

There was still another demand for what gold the banks had.

Eighteen-Thirty-Five and Eighteen-Thirty-Seven were bad years for American agriculture. Many crops failed. Instead of the United States exporting farm products to Europe, the opposite happened. American traders had to import these things from Europe. And they had to pay for them in gold or silver.

As more and more paper money was put into use, the value of the money fell. Prices rose higher and higher. Poor people found it almost impossible to buy food and other necessities. In Eighteen-Thirty-Five, a barrel of flour cost six dollars. Two years later, the price had jumped to more than twelve dollars. The same was true with meat and other foods. Even coal -- the fuel people used to heat their homes -- cost twice as much.

VOICE ONE:

Poor people protested. But businessmen were satisfied. They wished to continue the flood of paper money. Violence finally broke out at a protest meeting in New York City.

A crowd of angry people heard speakers criticize the use of paper money. Some in the crowd began demanding action against the rich traders. A crowd of about one-thousand marched to a nearby store, broke into it, and destroyed large amounts of flour and grain.

In the spring of Eighteen-Thirty-Seven, the demand on banks for gold and silver grew too heavy. The banks stopped honoring their promises to exchange their paper money for gold. They said this was just temporary. That it was necessary to stop -- for a while -- all payments in gold or silver. The crisis got worse.

That will be our story in the next program of THE MAKING OF A NATION.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

You have been listening to the Special English program, THE MAKING OF A NATION. Your narrators were Steve Ember and Gwen Outen. Our program was written by Frank Beardsley. THE MAKING OF A NATION can be heard Thursdays.


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 decided lvqzZd     
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。
2 negotiations af4b5f3e98e178dd3c4bac64b625ecd0     
协商( negotiation的名词复数 ); 谈判; 完成(难事); 通过
参考例句:
  • negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
  • Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。
3 vice NU0zQ     
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。
4 nomination BHMxw     
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 democrats 655beefefdcaf76097d489a3ff245f76     
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》
6 opposition eIUxU     
n.反对,敌对
参考例句:
  • The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
  • The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。
7 physically iNix5     
adj.物质上,体格上,身体上,按自然规律
参考例句:
  • He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服,心绪也很乱。
  • Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。
8 inaugural 7cRzQ     
adj.就职的;n.就职典礼
参考例句:
  • We listened to the President's inaugural speech on the radio yesterday.昨天我们通过无线电听了总统的就职演说。
  • Professor Pearson gave the inaugural lecture in the new lecture theatre.皮尔逊教授在新的阶梯讲堂发表了启用演说。
9 noted 5n4zXc     
adj.著名的,知名的
参考例句:
  • The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
  • Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。
10 unity 4kQwT     
n.团结,联合,统一;和睦,协调
参考例句:
  • When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结,并非一团和气。
  • We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前,我们必须加强团结。
11 spoke XryyC     
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。
12 tightened bd3d8363419d9ff838bae0ba51722ee9     
收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 ); (使)变紧; (使)绷紧; 加紧
参考例句:
  • The rope holding the boat suddenly tightened and broke. 系船的绳子突然绷断了。
  • His index finger tightened on the trigger but then relaxed again. 他的食指扣住扳机,然后又松开了。
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