名人轶事:Susan B. Anthony: She Fought for U.S. Women's Right to

Susan B. Anthony: She Fought for U.S. Women's Right to Vote

Written by Shelley Gollust

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

People in America, a program in Special English on the Voice of America. In

the eighteen-fifties, women in the United States began to try to gain the same

rights as men. One woman was a leader in the campaign to gain women the right

to vote.

I'm Stan Busby.

VOICE TWO:   

And I'm Shirley Griffith. Today we tell about a fighter for rights for women,

Susan B. Anthony.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

In seventeen seventy-six, a new nation declared its freedom from Britain. The

Declaration¹ of Independence was the document written to express the reasons

for seeking that freedom. It stated that all men were created equal. It said

that all men had the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit² of happiness.

VOICE TWO:

Not every citizen of the new United States of America had one important right,

however. That was the right to vote. At first, the only people permitted to

vote in the United States were white men who owned property and could read. By

eighteen sixty, most white male citizens over the age of twenty-one had the

right to vote. The Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments⁴ to the Constitution

gave black male citizens the right to vote. These amendments were passed in

eighteen sixty-eight and eighteen seventy.

VOICE ONE:

Women were not really full citizens in America in the eighteen hundreds. They

had no economic independence. For example, everything a woman owned when she

got married belonged to her husband. If a married woman worked, the money she

made belonged to her husband. In addition, women had no political power. They

did not have the right to vote. In the eighteen fifties, women organized in an

effort to gain voting rights. Their campaign was called the women's suffrage⁵

movement. Suffrage means the right to vote. American women sought to gain that

right for more than seventy years.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

One of the leaders of the movement was Susan B. Anthony of Massachusetts. Miss

Anthony was a teacher. She believed that women needed economic and personal

independence. She also believed that there was no hope for social improvement

in the United States until women were given the same rights as men. The rights

included the right to vote in public elections.

VOICE ONE:

Susan B. Anthony was born in eighteen twenty. Her parents were members of the

Quaker religion. She became one too. The Quakers believed that the rights of

women should be honored. They were the first religious group where women

shared the leadership with men.

VOICE TWO:

As a young woman, Susan had strong beliefs about justice and equality for

women and for black people. And she was quick to speak out against what she

believed was not just. Many young men wanted to marry her. But she could not

consider marrying a man who was not as intelligent as she. She once said: "I

can never understand why intelligent girls should want to marry fools just to

get married. Many are willing to do so. But I am not. " She did meet some

young men who were intelligent. But it always seemed that they expected women

to be their servants, not their equals.

VOICE ONE:

Susan B. Anthony became a school teacher in New York state. She realized that

women could never become full citizens without some political power. They

could never get such power until they got the right to vote. She went from

town to town in New York state trying to get women interested in their right

to vote. But they did not seem interested. Miss Anthony felt this was because

women were not able to do anything for themselves. They had no money, or

property of their own. The struggle seemed long and hard. She said:

1 declaration   

n.宣布，宣告，宣言，声明（书），申报

参考例句：

• We read the declaration posted on the bulletin board.我们读了贴在布告板上的声明。
• At the recent convention a declaration was adopted.在最近举行的大会上通过了一项宣言。

2 pursuit   

n.追赶，追求，职业，工作

参考例句：

• They set off at once along the lane in pursuit.他们立即出发沿着小巷追赶。
• Life,liberty,and the pursuit of happiness have been called the inalienable rights of man.生命、自由和追求幸福被称为人类不可剥夺的权利。

3 amendment   

n.改正，修正，改善，修正案

参考例句：

• The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
• The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。

4 amendments   

（法律、文件的）改动( amendment的名词复数 )； 修正案； 修改； （美国宪法的）修正案

参考例句：

• The committee does not adequately consult others when drafting amendments. 委员会在起草修正案时没有充分征求他人的意见。
• Please propose amendments and addenda to the first draft of the document. 请对这个文件的初稿提出修改和补充意见。

5 suffrage   

n.投票，选举权，参政权

参考例句：

• The question of woman suffrage sets them at variance.妇女参政的问题使他们发生争执。
• The voters gave their suffrage to him.投票人都投票选他。

6 pamphlets   

n.小册子( pamphlet的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Distribute these pamphlets among them before you leave, will you? 请你在离开之前把这些小册子发给他们好吗？ 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He fell under suspicion for distributing seditious pamphlets. 他因散发反政府传单而遭到怀疑。 来自辞典例句

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 spoke   

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。

9 injustice   

n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利

参考例句：

• They complained of injustice in the way they had been treated.他们抱怨受到不公平的对待。
• All his life he has been struggling against injustice.他一生都在与不公正现象作斗争。

10 republican   

n.拥护共和政体的人； adj.共和政体的，（Republican）共和党人，（Republican）共和党的

参考例句：

• Some families have been republican for generations.有些家庭世代都支持共和党。
• A third candidate has entered the contest for the Republican nomination.第三个候选人已经加入角逐共和党提名的行列。

11 violating   

亵渎( violate的现在分词 )； 违反； 侵犯； 强奸

参考例句：

• Ignorance of a law does not excuse a man for violating it. 一个人不懂法律不构成犯法的理由。
• It was sued by the U.S. federal government for violating antitrust law. 它被美国联邦政府指控违反了反托拉斯法。