VOA慢速英语2012 American History: The Reagan Years

 

American History: The Reagan Years

STEVE EMBER: Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION – American history in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember.

This week in our series, we continue the story of the presidency¹ of Ronald Reagan.

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Soon after his presidency began, there was an attempt on his life. A gunman shot President Reagan in March nineteen eighty-one. Doctors removed the bullet. He rested, regained² his strength and returned to the White House in twelve days.

The new president wanted to reduce the size of the federal government. He and other conservative Republicans wanted less government interference in the lives of Americans.

President Reagan won congressional approval for his plan to reduce income tax rates. Many Americans welcomed the plan. Others were concerned about its effects on the national debt. They saw taxes go down while defense³ spending went up.

To save money, the Reagan administration decided⁴ to cut spending for some social programs. This pleased conservatives. Liberals, however, said it limited poor peoples' chances for good housing, health care, and education.

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President Reagan also had to make decisions about using military force in other countries. In nineteen eighty-three, he sent Marines to Lebanon. They joined other peacekeeping troops to help stop fighting among competing groups. On October twenty-third, a truck carrying explosives bombed Marine⁵ housing at Beirut International Airport.

RONALD REAGAN: "There was nothing in its appearance to suggest it was any different than the trucks or cars that were normally seen on and around the airport. But this one was different. At the wheel was a young man on a suicide mission.

"The truck carried some two thousand pounds of explosives, but there was no way our Marine guards could know this. Their first warning that something was wrong came when the truck crashed through a series of barriers. The guards opened fire, but it was too late. The truck smashed through the doors of the headquarters building in which our marines were sleeping and instantly exploded."

Two hundred forty-one Americans were killed.

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Two days later, Marines led an invasion of the Caribbean island nation of Grenada. Communist forces were rebelling against the government there. Cuban soldiers were guarding the streets. President Reagan said he feared for the safety of American students at a medical school in Grenada. He sent the Marines to get them out safely.

The Marines quickly defeated the communist forces. Many Americans were pleased. Others were angry. They said Grenada was invaded only to make people forget about what happened in Lebanon.

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The next year, nineteen eighty-four, was a presidential election year. It looked like no one could stop President Reagan. His warm way with people had made him hugely popular. He gained support with the military victory in Grenada. And, by the time the campaign started, inflation was under control. The Republican Party renominated Ronald Reagan for president and George Bush for vice⁶ president.

There were several candidates for the Democratic Party's nomination⁷. One was the first African-American to seek the presidency, Jesse Jackson. He was a Protestant clergyman and a longtime human rights activist⁸.

The candidate who finally won the nomination was Walter Mondale. He had been a senator and had served as vice president under President Jimmy Carter. The vice presidential candidate was Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro. It was the first time a major party in the United States had nominated a woman for national office.

GERALDINE FERRARO: "Tonight, the daughter of working Americans tells all Americans that the future is within our reach if we're willing to reach for it. [Applause]"

One issue in the election campaign was taxes. Political candidates often try to avoid talking about taxes with voters. But former Vice President Mondale did talk about the issue. He said taxes would have to be raised to pay for new government programs.

WALTER MONDALE: "The American people will have to pay Mr. Reagan's bills. The budget will be squeezed. Taxes will go up. And anyone who says they won't is not telling the truth to the American people."

This was a serious political mistake. President Reagan gained even more support as a result.

The two candidates agreed to debate on television. During one debate, President Reagan looked old and tired. He did not seem sure of his answers. Yet his popularity was not damaged. On Election Day, he won fifty-nine percent of the popular vote.

On Inauguration⁹ Day, the weather was bitterly cold in Washington. All inaugural¹⁰ activities, including the swearing-in ceremony, were held inside.

President Reagan's first term began with an attempt on his life. Six months after his second term began, he faced another threat. Doctors discovered and removed a large growth from his colon¹¹. The growth was cancerous. The president was seventy-four years old. Yet, once again, he quickly regained his strength and returned to work.

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For years, the United States had accused Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi of supporting international terrorist groups. It said he provided them with weapons and a safe place for their headquarters.

In January nineteen eighty-six, the United States announced economic actions against Libya. Then it began military training exercises near the Libyan coast. Libya said the Americans were violating its territory and fired missiles at them. The Americans fired back, sinking two ships.

On April fifth, a bomb destroyed a dance club in West Berlin. An American soldier and another person were killed. The United States said Libya was responsible. President Reagan ordered a bombing raid on the Libyan cities of Tripoli and Benghazi. Muammar Gadhafi escaped unharmed but said his adopted daughter was killed.

Some Americans said the raid was cruel. Others praised it. President Reagan said the United States did what it had to do.

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The president also wanted to intervene in Nicaragua. About fifteen thousand rebel troops, called contras, were fighting the country's communist government. President Reagan asked for military aid for the contras. Congress rejected the request. In fact, it banned all aid to the contras.

At that same time, Muslim extremists in Lebanon seized several Americans. The Reagan administration looked for ways to gain the release of the hostages. It decided to sell missiles and missile parts to Iran in exchange for Iran's help. After the sale, Iran told the extremists in Lebanon to release a few American hostages.

Not long after, serious charges became public. Reports said that money from the sale of arms to Iran was used to aid the contra rebels in Nicaragua. Several members of the Reagan administration resigned. It appeared that some had violated the law.

President Reagan said he regretted what had happened. But he said he had not known about it. Investigations¹² and court trials of those involved continued into the nineteen nineties. Several people were found guilty of illegal activities or of lying to Congress. No one went to jail.

Most Americans did not blame the president for the actions of others in his administration. They still supported him and his policies. They especially supported his efforts to deal with the Soviet¹³ Union.

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At the beginning of his first term, President Reagan called the Soviet Union an "evil empire." To protect the United States against the Soviets¹⁴, he increased military spending to the highest level in American history. Then, in nineteen eighty-five, Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of the Soviet Union.

Reagan and Gorbachev held four summit meetings, in Geneva, Switzerland; Reykjavic, Iceland; Washington and Moscow. Each leader agreed to destroy hundreds of nuclear missiles. President Reagan also urged General Secretary Gorbachev to become more democratic. He spoke¹⁵ about the Berlin Wall, which communists had built to prevent citizens from crossing between East and West Berlin.

RONALD REAGAN: "General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. [Cheering] Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." [Cheering]"

About this time, a new sense of glasnost, or openness, was beginning in the Soviet Union. It was also a time of perestroika, or restructuring.

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The American economy grew rapidly during Ronald Reagan's presidency. Yet, at the end of his presidency, many Americans were concerned by what he left behind. Increased military spending, together with tax cuts, had made the national debt huge. The United States owed thousands of millions of dollars. The debt would be a political issue for presidents to come.

Yet, Ronald Reagan will be remembered as one of America's most popular presidents. Above his burial place at the Reagan Library in California are these words, which speak to Reagan's belief in humanity: "I know in my heart that man is good, that what is right will always eventually triumph, and there is purpose and worth to each and every life."

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Next week in our series, we'll look at life in the United States in the nineteen seventies and eighties.

You can find our series online with transcripts¹⁶, MP3s, podcasts and pictures at 51voa.com. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter at VOA Learning English. I'm Steve Ember, inviting¹⁷ you to join us again next week for THE MAKING OF A NATION -- American history in VOA Special English.

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Contributing: Jerilyn Watson

1 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

2 regained   

复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地

参考例句：

• The majority of the people in the world have regained their liberty. 世界上大多数人已重获自由。
• She hesitated briefly but quickly regained her poise. 她犹豫片刻，但很快恢复了镇静。

3 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

4 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。

5 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

6 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。

7 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

8 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

9 inauguration   

n.开幕、就职典礼

参考例句：

• The inauguration of a President of the United States takes place on January 20.美国总统的就职典礼于一月二十日举行。
• Three celebrated tenors sang at the president's inauguration.3位著名的男高音歌手在总统就职仪式上演唱。

10 inaugural   

adj.就职的；n.就职典礼

参考例句：

• We listened to the President's inaugural speech on the radio yesterday.昨天我们通过无线电听了总统的就职演说。
• Professor Pearson gave the inaugural lecture in the new lecture theatre.皮尔逊教授在新的阶梯讲堂发表了启用演说。

11 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。

12 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。

13 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

14 soviets   

苏维埃（Soviet的复数形式）

参考例句：

• A public challenge could provoke the Soviets to dig in. 公开挑战会促使苏联人一意孤行。
• The Soviets proposed the withdrawal of American ballistic-missile submarines from forward bases. 苏联人建议把美国的弹道导弹潜艇从前沿基地撤走。

15 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。

16 transcripts   

n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本

参考例句：

• Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
• You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句

17 inviting   

adj.诱人的，引人注目的

参考例句：

• An inviting smell of coffee wafted into the room.一股诱人的咖啡香味飘进了房间。
• The kitchen smelled warm and inviting and blessedly familiar.这间厨房的味道温暖诱人，使人感到亲切温馨。