2006年VOA标准英语-Former US President Gerald Ford Dies at 93

By Linda Cashdan
Washington
27 December 2006

Former President Gerald Ford¹ is dead at the age of 93. Mr. Ford had been in declining health this year, battling pneumonia² and undergoing two heart procedures. He suffered a mild stroke in 2000. The 38th president of the United States, Gerald Ford is best known as a man who helped the country get through one of the darkest periods in American history. VOA's Linda Cashdan reports.

Gerald Ford (file photo)

Gerald Ford became America's first un-elected vice³ president in 1973, when he was appointed to replace Vice President Spiro Agnew, who had been forced from office by revelations of financial corruption⁴.

Less than one year later, on August 9, 1974, President Richard Nixon was forced to resign in the wake of the Watergate controversy⁵. The nation was reeling from two resignations and a scandal that seemed to shake the U.S. government to its very foundation. President Ford's first act on assuming the presidency⁶ was to reassure⁷ the public.

"My Fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over," said President Ford. "Our Constitution works. Our great republic is a government of laws and not of men. Here, the people rule."

Gerald Ford was a product of small town Midwestern America. He worked his way through college, played intercollegiate football, went to law school, and then went off to fight in World War II. In 1948, he was elected to the U.S. Congress, for the first time, from his hometown, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

In Washington, Mr. Ford earned a reputation among fellow Republicans for hard work and party loyalty⁸. On domestic issues, he voted with the conservatives, and in foreign affairs he sided with the party's internationalist wing.

Mr. Ford never wanted to be president. His ambitions were satisfied when he was elected minority leader of the House of Representatives in 1965.

Nine years later, when he assumed the presidency in the midst of a national crisis, his White House chief of staff, Donald Rumsfeld, recalled, Gerald Ford's primary goal was to restore trust in the nations leadership.

"The reservoir of trust had been drained when Jerry Ford came into office," noted⁹ Rumsfeld. "His major task was to heal the nation, to refill that reservoir of trust so that government could function in a manner that was successful."

One month after taking office, however, Ford made a decision that undermined his chances of winning election for another term in the office that had just been handed to him. In an attempt to end the nation's obsession¹⁰ with the Watergate controversy, he granted a full and absolute pardon to Richard Nixon.

President Ford's press secretary, Jerald TerHorst, who resigned in protest before the pardon was announced, said the pardon haunted the rest of Gerald Ford's presidency. "The pardon allowed Richard Nixon to escape the judicial¹¹ process, even while those of lower station, including his senior White House aides, were left to run the gauntlet of our justice system, including prison terms," he said. "The Nixon pardon put just one man above the law."

The pardon overshadowed President Ford's attempts to improve the U.S. economy, reinvigorate the U.S. military, preserve a delicate peace in the Middle East and reassert America's world leadership.

In 1976, Gerald Ford lost the presidency to Democrat¹² Jimmy Carter in a very close election. In later years, Mr. Ford said he felt confident that, despite his defeat, he had delivered on his promise to restore faith in the government. "I still feel good about turning the country over to President Carter in a much better shape than it was when I came on watch," he said, "and sorry that I didn't have another four years to improve my on-the-job training skills."

What is most often recalled about Gerald Ford's brief tenure¹³ at the helm of the nation is that during a grim moment in U.S. history, a man of humor, candor¹⁴, integrity and goodwill¹⁵ steered¹⁶ the nation forward.

1 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

2 pneumonia   

n.肺炎

参考例句：

• Cage was struck with pneumonia in her youth.凯奇年轻时得过肺炎。
• Pneumonia carried him off last week.肺炎上星期夺去了他的生命。

3 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。

4 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

5 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

6 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。

7 reassure   

v.使放心，使消除疑虑

参考例句：

• This seemed to reassure him and he continued more confidently.这似乎使他放心一点，于是他更有信心地继续说了下去。
• The airline tried to reassure the customers that the planes were safe.航空公司尽力让乘客相信飞机是安全的。

8 loyalty   

n.忠诚，忠心

参考例句：

• She told him the truth from a sense of loyalty.她告诉他真相是出于忠诚。
• His loyalty to his friends was never in doubt.他对朋友的一片忠心从来没受到怀疑。

9 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

10 obsession   

n.困扰，无法摆脱的思想(或情感)

参考例句：

• I was suffering from obsession that my career would be ended.那时的我陷入了我的事业有可能就此终止的困扰当中。
• She would try to forget her obsession with Christopher.她会努力忘记对克里斯托弗的迷恋。

11 judicial   

adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的

参考例句：

• He is a man with a judicial mind.他是个公正的人。
• Tom takes judicial proceedings against his father.汤姆对他的父亲正式提出诉讼。

12 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

13 tenure   

n.终身职位；任期；(土地)保有权，保有期

参考例句：

• He remained popular throughout his tenure of the office of mayor.他在担任市长的整个任期内都深得民心。
• Land tenure is a leading political issue in many parts of the world.土地的保有权在世界很多地区是主要的政治问题。

14 candor   

n.坦白，率真

参考例句：

• He covered a wide range of topics with unusual candor.他极其坦率地谈了许多问题。
• He and his wife had avoided candor,and they had drained their marriage.他们夫妻间不坦率，已使婚姻奄奄一息。

15 goodwill   

n.善意，亲善，信誉，声誉

参考例句：

• His heart is full of goodwill to all men.他心里对所有人都充满着爱心。
• We paid ￡10,000 for the shop,and ￡2000 for its goodwill.我们用一万英镑买下了这家商店，两千英镑买下了它的信誉。

16 steered   

v.驾驶( steer的过去式和过去分词 )；操纵；控制；引导

参考例句：

• He steered the boat into the harbour. 他把船开进港。
• The freighter steered out of Santiago Bay that evening. 那天晚上货轮驶出了圣地亚哥湾。 来自《简明英汉词典》