最新15篇文章贯通英语四级词汇MP3 Unit10-Part3

 

[00:00.00]After much complicated debate 

[00:02.18]at another convention in Quebec City 

[00:05.13]that same year, the delegates 

[00:07.21]submitted a draft of an agreement 

[00:08.96]for the formation of 

[00:10.82]the Dominion¹ of Canada. 

[00:12.68]The bulk of the work had been 

[00:15.20]done by a group of men 

[00:16.62]of seemingly high  virtue, 

[00:18.26]who became known in history

[00:20.45]as “the Fathers of Confederation”.  

[00:23.29]United Canada was divided into 

[00:26.79]the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. 

[00:29.63]Some allowances were given 

[00:32.92]to Quebec because it was 

[00:34.56]a predominantly French speaking 

[00:35.98]Catholic province and had 

[00:37.95]special needs, unlike other provinces. 

[00:40.25]The colony of Nova Scotia 

[00:43.53]was divided into Nova Scotia 

[00:45.94]and New Brunswick. 

[00:48.23]These four provinces formed 

[00:50.42]the original new nation. 

[00:52.06]A flexible approach, in later years, 

[00:55.89]persuaded other colonies to join.

[00:58.41]A federal system, with powers 

[01:02.79]distributed between the central 

[01:04.42]and provincial² governments, was created. 

[01:06.72]The provinces were assigned powers 

[01:10.23]to have their own governments 

[01:11.98]to deal with more local 

[01:13.40]or provincial issues. 

[01:15.59]The federal system would promote

[01:18.54]harmony among provinces, with 

[01:20.95]different perspectives on nationhood. 

[01:23.24]This was a compromise, so that 

[01:26.31]the bigger provinces of Ontario 

[01:28.71]and Quebec wouldn’t completely 

[01:31.01]dominate the smaller provinces. 

[01:32.87]The country was to be called 

[01:35.82]the Dominion of Canada, but 

[01:37.79]would still remain loyal 

[01:39.43]to Britain as a member 

[01:40.75]of the British Empire.

[01:42.39]The new legislation that 

[01:45.23]created Canada was a British act 

[01:47.86]of Parliament called 

[01:49.72]“The British North America Acts of 1867”. 

[01:54.75]Canada officially became a nation

[01:57.49] on July 1st, 1867. 

[02:00.88]This would be the anniversary occasion 

[02:04.05]each year, for joyous³ celebration 

[02:06.35]of a national holiday 

[02:08.32]commemorating the birth of Canada.

1 dominion   

n.统治，管辖，支配权；领土，版图

参考例句：

• Alexander held dominion over a vast area.亚历山大曾统治过辽阔的地域。
• In the affluent society,the authorities are hardly forced to justify their dominion.在富裕社会里，当局几乎无需证明其统治之合理。

2 provincial   

adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人

参考例句：

• City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes.城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。
• Two leading cadres came down from the provincial capital yesterday.昨天从省里下来了两位领导干部。

3 joyous   

adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的

参考例句：

• The lively dance heightened the joyous atmosphere of the scene.轻快的舞蹈给这场戏渲染了欢乐气氛。
• They conveyed the joyous news to us soon.他们把这一佳音很快地传递给我们。