【美国精神】第61期

Explanation:

  When people first began living in the British colonies¹ (or areas of land that belonged to Great Britain but that were far away), they still thought of themselves as British citizens. But over time, something changed. They began to rebel² against (or stop obeying) the British government because they thought that they were being treated unfairly. The people had created a new identity³ (or the way that they saw and understood themselves) and were becoming Americans. They began to fight against the British for three main (or most important) reasons: high taxes, quartering, and the lack of self-government. Let’s look at each of these three reasons.

  The new Americans were unhappy with the high taxes (or money paid to the government) that were imposed⁴ (or forced on them) by the British government. It was taxation⁵ without representation⁶, meaning that Americans were supposed to pay money to the British government even though they had no representation or ability to give their opinion in that government. This made the new Americans very angry.

  Americans were also angry about the way that the British army treated them. British soldiers (or people who work in the army) were often quartered (or allowed to live, eat, and sleep in a place for a short period of time) in American homes without the permission (or approval) of the person who owned the home. Often these soldiers behaved very badly while they were in the home. This is the second reason why the new Americans decided⁷ to begin fighting against the British.

  The third reason that Americans fought against the British was because they lacked (or didn’t have) self-government, which was the ability to create and run their own government. The land that would become the United States was far away from Great Britain, yet all the government decisions were being made in Great Britain. The new Americans longed (or strongly wanted) to make their own decisions, but the British wouldn’t let them.

  So Americans fought against the British, and this fighting became known as the American Revolution, or the war that ended when the United States became its own country, separate from Great Britain.

 

问题：

Why did the colonists⁸ fight the British?

Answer:

• because of high taxes (taxation without representation)

• because the British army stayed in their houses (boarding, quartering)

• because they didn’t have self-government

1 colonies   

n.殖民地( colony的名词复数 )；（侨民等）聚居区；（动植物的）群体；（来自同一地方，职业或兴趣相同的）聚居人群

参考例句：

• They amassed huge wealth by plundering the colonies. 他们通过掠夺殖民地聚敛了大笔的财富。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• But throughout the colonies, people relied primarily on small farms and self-sufficiency. 但就整个殖民地来说，人们主要依靠小型农场，过着自给自足的生活。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

2 rebel   

n.叛徒，起义者；vi.造反，反抗，反感；adj.造反的，反抗的，反叛者的

参考例句：

• The rebel army is attempting to subvert the government.反叛军队企图颠覆政府统治。
• The rebel army has readjusted its strategy.叛军已经重新调整了策略。

3 identity   

n.身份，本体，特征；同一(性)，一致

参考例句：

• He never revealed his identity.他从未暴露过自己的身份。
• He showed his identity card and went in.他把工作证亮了一下就进去了。

4 imposed   

自己担负的

参考例句：

• The decree imposed strict censorship of the media. 这个法令强制实行严格的媒体审查制度。
• The army imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew. 军队强制实行黄昏至黎明的宵禁。

5 taxation   

n.征税，税收，税金

参考例句：

• He made a number of simplifications in the taxation system.他在税制上作了一些简化。
• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。

6 representation   

n.表现某人（或某事物）的东西，图画，雕塑

参考例句：

• The painting is a representation of a storm at sea.这幅画描绘的是海上的暴风雨。
• All parties won representation in the national assembly.所有政党在国民大会中都赢得了代表资格。

7 decided   

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。

8 colonists   

n.殖民地开拓者，移民，殖民地居民( colonist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Colonists from Europe populated many parts of the Americas. 欧洲的殖民者移居到了美洲的许多地方。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Some of the early colonists were cruel to the native population. 有些早期移居殖民地的人对当地居民很残忍。 来自《简明英汉词典》