【美国精神】第67期

 Explanation:

  After the Constitution was written, it still had to be ratified¹ (or approved) by the states. This meant that the people in each state had to vote in favor of (or for) the Constitution. The Federalists were a large group of people who supported the Constitution. The Antifederalists were a large group of people who did not like the Constitution. These two groups tried to influence (or affect) people’s opinions, trying to get them to vote for or against the Constitution.

  One of the main ways that these groups tried to influence public opinion (or the way that most people think about something) was by writing essays (or short written documents or articles) and publishing them in newspapers. The Federalists wrote some very well-known essays called the Federalist Papers. These were 85 essays that were published (or printed) with the pseudonym² (or the fake³ name that a writer or a group of writers use) of Publius.

  Actually, Publius was a pseudonym for three people: James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay. James Madison became the fourth U.S. president and he is often called the father (or creator) of the Constitution. Alexander Hamilton was the United States’ first secretary of the treasury⁴, which is the part of the government that handles the country’s money. And John Jay was the country’s first chief justice, which is the most important judge in the United States. All three men strongly believed that the Constitution would be able to solve (or fix) the country’s problems.

  The Federalist Papers are powerful (or strong) essays that describe the Constitution in detail (or with a lot of information). The essays also present (or show) many reasons why people should vote to ratify⁵ the Constitution. Today many people still refer to (or look at) the Federalist Papers when they need to interpret⁶ the Constitution (or to understand what it means). That is because the people who wrote the Federalist Papers participated in the Constitutional Convention⁷ (or the meeting where the Constitution was written), so they had an intimate (or very close) knowledge of why the Constitution was written the way that it was.

 

问题：

The Federalist Papers supported the passage of the U.S. Constitution. Name one of the writers.

Answer:

• (James) Madison

• (Alexander) Hamilton

• (John) Jay

• Publius

1 ratified   

v.批准，签认（合约等）( ratify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The treaty was declared invalid because it had not been ratified. 条约没有得到批准，因此被宣布无效。
• The treaty was ratified by all the member states. 这个条约得到了所有成员国的批准。

2 pseudonym   

n.假名，笔名

参考例句：

• Eric Blair wrote under the pseudonym of George Orwell.埃里克·布莱尔用乔治·奧威尔这个笔名写作。
• Both plays were published under the pseudonym of Philip Dayre.两个剧本都是以菲利普·戴尔的笔名出版的。

3 fake   

vt.伪造，造假，假装；n.假货，赝品

参考例句：

• He can tell a fake from the original.他能分辨出赝品和真品。
• You can easily fake up an excuse to avoid going out with him.你可以很容易地编造一个借口而不与他一同外出。

4 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

5 ratify   

v.批准，认可，追认

参考例句：

• The heads of two governments met to ratify the peace treaty.两国政府首脑会晤批准和平条约。
• The agreement have to be ratify by the board.该协议必须由董事会批准。

6 interpret   

vt.解释，说明，理解；vi.作口译

参考例句：

• We have to interpret his words in a modern light.我们不得不用现代观点来解释他的话。
• Please interpret the comments of our foreign guest.请把外宾的话翻译一下。

7 convention   

n.惯例，习俗，常规，会议，大会

参考例句：

• How many delegates have checked in at the convention?大会已有多少代表报到？
• He sets at naught every convention of society.他轻视所有的社会习俗。