美国英语听力80篇4 Lesson73

[00:07.00]Fillmore was from New York State.
[00:12.36]His family was poor.
[00:15.52]His early education came not from school teachers
[00:21.55]but from whatever books he could find.
[00:25.50]Later,Fillmore was avle to study law.He became a successful lawyer.
[00:34.51]He also served in the United States congress for eight years.
[00:41.14]He Whig Party chose him as its vice¹ presidential candidate
[00:47.46]in the election of 1848.
[00:51.30]He served as vice president for about a year
[00:56.95]and half before the death of President Taylor.
[01:01.68]fillmore has disagreed with Taylor
[01:07.71]over the congressional compromise on slavery and the western territories.
[01:13.85]Unlike Taylor,Fillmore truly believed that the nation was facing a crisis.
[01:22.57]The compromise would help save the union.
[01:28.32]Now,as president,Fillmore offered his complete support to the bill.
[01:36.37]Its chances of passing looked better than ever.
[01:41.51]Fillmore asked the old cabinet to resign.
[01:46.95]He named his own cabinet members.
[01:51.67]All were strong supporters of the union.
[01:56.53]All supported the compromise.
[02:01.39]Congress debated the compromise throughout the summer of 1850.
[02:09.23]There were several proposals in the bill.
[02:13.67]Supporters decided² not to vote on the proposals as one piece of legislation
[02:21.71]They saw a better chance of success
[02:26.73]by trying to pass each proposal separately.Their idea worked.
[02:34.38]By the end of September,both the senate and House of Representatives
[02:41.72]had approved all parts of the 1850 compromise.
[02:48.36]President fillmore signed them into law.
[02:52.88]One part of the compromise permitted California
[02:59.12]to enter the union as a free state.
[03:03.17]One established territorial³ governments in New Mexico and Utah.
[03:11.01]One settled the dispute between Texas and New Mexico.
[03:17.43]Another ended the slave trade in the district of Columbia.
[03:24.59]Many happy celebrations took place when citizens heard
[03:32.04]that Presisent Fillmore had signed the 1850 compromise.
[03:39.09]Many people believed the problem of slavery had been solved.
[03:45.33]They believed the union had been saved.
[03:50.58]Others,however,believed the problem had only been postponed⁴.
[03:58.42]They hoped the delay would give reasonable men of the north
[04:04.35]and south time to find a permanent answer to the issue of slavery.
[04:12.19]Time was running out.
[04:15.63]It was true that the 1850 compromise had ended a national crisis.
[04:23.68]But both northern and southern extremists remained bitter.
[04:30.11]Those opposed to slavery believed the compromise law
[04:36.64]on runaway⁵ slaves violated the constitution.
[04:41.99]The new law said Negroes accused of being runaway slaves
[04:48.31]could not have a jury trial.
[04:51.76]It said government officials could send Negroes
[04:57.01]to whoever claimed to own them.
[05:00.07]It said Negroes could not appeal such a decision.
[05:06.21]Those who supported slavery had a different idea of the compromise.
[05:13.94]They did not care about the constitutional rights of Negroes.
[05:20.71]They considered the compromise a simple law
[05:25.33]for the return of valuable property.
[05:29.17]No law approved by congress,and signed by the president
[05:35.99]could change these beliefs.
[05:39.62]The issue of slavery was linked to the issue of secession.
[05:48.16]Did states have the right to leave the union?
[05:53.31]If Southern states rejected all compromises on slavery,
[06:00.07]did they have the right to secede⁶?
[06:04.59]The signing of the 1850 compromise cooled the debate for a time.
[06:12.24]But disagreement on the issues was deep.
[06:17.39]It would continue to build over the next ten years.
[06:23.32]Those were difficult years for America's presidents.

1 vice   

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。

2 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。

3 territorial   

adj.领土的，领地的

参考例句：

• The country is fighting to preserve its territorial integrity.该国在为保持领土的完整而进行斗争。
• They were not allowed to fish in our territorial waters.不允许他们在我国领海捕鱼。

4 postponed   

vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发）

参考例句：

• The trial was postponed indefinitely. 审讯无限期延迟。
• The game has already been postponed three times. 这场比赛已经三度延期了。

5 runaway   

n.逃走的人，逃亡，亡命者；adj.逃亡的，逃走的

参考例句：

• The police have not found the runaway to date.警察迄今没抓到逃犯。
• He was praised for bringing up the runaway horse.他勒住了脱缰之马受到了表扬。

6 secede   

v.退出，脱离

参考例句：

• They plotted to make the whole Mississippi Valley secede from the United States.他们阴谋策划使整个密西西比流域脱离美国。
• We won't allow Tibet to secede from China and become an independent nation.我们决不允许西藏脱离中国独立。