VOA慢速英语20060126b

THE MAKING OF A NATION - President Roosevelt Decides to Build the Panama CanalBy Frank Beardsley

Broadcast: Thursday, January 26, 2006

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VOICE ONE:

THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in Special English by the Voice of America.

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Building the Panama Canal

I'm Maurice Joyce. Today, Richard Rael and I tell the story of the Panama Canal.

VOICE TWO:

For many years, people had dreamed of building a canal across central America to link the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The most likely place was at the thinnest point of land: Panama. Another possible place was to the north: Nicaragua. President Roosevelt appointed a committee to decide which place would be better.

Engineers said it would cost less to complete a canal that had been started in the eighteen eighties in Panama. But the United States would have to buy the land and building rights from a French company. The price was high: more than one hundred million dollars.

So, the committee decided¹ it would be less costly², overall, to build a canal in Nicaragua. The proposal went to the United States Congress for approval.

VOICE ONE:

The House of Representatives quickly passed a bill to build the Nicaragua canal. Then the French company reduced its price for the land and building rights in Panama. It decided some money was better than no money at all.




President Roosevelt was pleased. He gave his support to the Panama plan. When the Senate began debate, however, it appeared the Nicaragua plan would win.

Then a volcano exploded in the caribbean area. A city was destroyed. Thirty-thousand people were killed. Soon, reports said another volcano had become active and was threatening a town. The volcano was in Nicaragua. Nicaragua's president denied there were any active volcanoes in his country. But one of Nicaragua's postal³ stamps showed a picture of an exploding volcano.

That little stamp weakened support for the Nicaragua canal. The Senate passed a bill for a Panama canal, instead. The House of Representatives changed its earlier decision. It approved the Senate bill.

VOICE TWO:

At that time, Panama was a state of Colombia. Canal negotiations⁴ between America and Colombia did not go smoothly⁵. After nine months, the United States threatened to end the talks and begin negotiations with Nicaragua. The threat worked.

In January, nineteen-oh-three, Colombia signed a treaty to permit the United States to build the Panama Canal. The treaty gave the United States a canal zone. This was a piece of land ten kilometers wide across Panama. The United States could use the canal zone for one hundred years. In exchange, it would pay Colombia ten million dollars, plus two hundred fifty thousand dollars a year.

The United States Senate passed the treaty within two months. The Colombian Senate rejected it. The Colombian government demanded more money.

VOICE ONE:

President Roosevelt was furious. He saw the issue in terms of world politics...not simply Colombia's sovereignty. He said: I do not think Colombia should be permitted to bar permanently⁶ one of the future highways of civilization. Roosevelt was ready to take over Panama to build the canal.

That was not necessary. A revolt was being planned in Panama to gain independence from Colombia. The United States made no promises to support the rebels. But it wanted the rebels to succeed.

Under an old treaty, Colombia had given the United States the right to prevent interference with travel across Panama. Now, the United States used the old treaty to prevent interference from Colombian troops. Several American warships⁸ were sent to Panama.

VOICE TWO:

The local leader of the Panamanian revolt was Manuel Amador. Amador had the support of the French company that still owned the rights to build the Panama Canal. The chief representative of the company was Philippe Bunau-Varilla. He worked closely with an American lawyer, William Cromwell.

Bunau-Varilla and Cromwell provided Manuel Amador with a declaration of independence, a constitution, and money. Amador used the money to buy the support of the Colombian military commander in Panama City, the capital. He also got the support of the governor, who agreed to let himself be arrested on the day of the revolt.

Amador formed a small army of railroad workers and fire fighters.

The rebel army planned to take over Panama City on November fourth, nineteen-oh-three. Just before that date, five hundred Colombian soldiers landed at Colon⁹, eighty kilometers away.

The soldiers could not get to Panama City, however. All but one railroad car had been moved to the capital.

VOICE ONE:

Manuel Amador gave a signal. The revolution began. There was a little shooting, but no one was hurt. Most of the shots were fired into the air to celebrate the call for Panama's independence. Colombian officials were arrested quickly. Then Amador made a speech. He said:

Yesterday, we were slaves of Colombia. Today, we are free. President Theodore Roosevelt has kept his word. Long live the Republic of Panama! long live President Roosevelt!

Colombia asked the United States to help it re-gain control of Panama. The United States refused. It said it would oppose any attempt by Colombia to send more forces there. The United States also recognized Panama's independence. And, almost immediately, it started negotiations with the new government on a canal treaty.

VOICE TWO:

The two sides reached agreement quickly. The treaty was almost the same as the one the Colombian Senate had rejected earlier. This time, however, the canal zone would be sixteen kilometers wide, instead of ten. And the United States would get permanent control of the canal zone.

The treaty was signed on November eighteenth, nineteen-oh-three. That was just fifteen days after Panama declared its independence.

VOICE ONE:

Colombia protested. It said the United States had acted illegally in Panama. Many American citizens protested, too. They called President Roosevelt a pirate. They said he had acted shamefully¹⁰. Some members of Congress questioned the administration's deal with the French canal company in Panama. Several investigations¹¹ examined the deal.

Theodore Roosevelt did not care. He was proud of his success in getting the canal started. He said: I took the canal zone and let Congress debate. And while the debate goes on...so does work on the canal.

VOICE TWO:

It took ten years for the United States to complete the Panama Canal. The first ship passed through it in August, nineteen fourteen.

In that same year, the United States signed an agreement with Colombia. The agreement expressed America's regret for its part in the Panamanian revolution. And it provided a payment of twenty-five million dollars to Colombia. Theodore Roosevelt was no longer president when the agreement was signed. But he still had many friends in the Senate. He got them to reject it.

After Roosevelt's death, the United States signed another agreement with Colombia. The new agreement included the payment of twenty-five million dollars. It did not include the statement of regret. The Senate approved the new agreement.

VOICE ONE:

The issue of America's involvement in Panama caused much bitterness in other countries of Latin America. Some did not feel safe from American interference. President Roosevelt said the United States would not interfere⁷ with any nation that kept order and paid what it owed.

Roosevelt was worried because some Latin American countries were having difficulty re-paying loans from European banks. He did not want the issue of non-payment used as an excuse for European countries to seize new territory in the western hemisphere.

Roosevelt said the United States was responsible for making sure the debts were paid. His policy led to further United States involvement in Latin America.

That will be our story next week.

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VOICE TWO:

You have been listening to THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in Special English by the Voice of America. Your narrators were Maurice Joyce and Richard Rael. Our program was written by Frank Beardsley.

1 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。

2 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

3 postal   

adj.邮政的，邮局的

参考例句：

• A postal network now covers the whole country.邮路遍及全国。
• Remember to use postal code.勿忘使用邮政编码。

4 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

5 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。

6 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。

7 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

8 warships   

军舰，战舰( warship的名词复数 )； 舰只

参考例句：

• The enemy warships were disengaged from the battle after suffering heavy casualties. 在遭受惨重伤亡后，敌舰退出了海战。
• The government fitted out warships and sailors for them. 政府给他们配备了战舰和水手。

9 colon   

n.冒号，结肠，直肠

参考例句：

• Here,too,the colon must be followed by a dash.这里也是一样，应当在冒号后加破折号。
• The colon is the locus of a large concentration of bacteria.结肠是大浓度的细菌所在地。

10 shamefully   

可耻地； 丢脸地； 不体面地； 羞耻地

参考例句：

• He misused his dog shamefully. 他可耻地虐待自己的狗。
• They have served me shamefully for a long time. 长期以来，他们待我很坏。

11 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。