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VOA慢速英语2010年-THE MAKING OF A NATION - American Hist

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Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION -- American history in VOA Special English.

Grover Cleveland was elected president of the United States in eighteen eighty-four. He was the first Democratic Party candidate to win a presidential election in almost twenty-eight years.

A print showing the explosion that started the Haymarket riot in May 1886

Grover Cleveland defeated James Blaine, a senator from the Republican Party. The election was very close. Many Republicans did not vote for their own candidate. They voted for Cleveland instead. They believed he was honest and that Blaine was not.

This week in our series, Kay Gallant1 and Harry2 Monroe tell us about the presidency3 of Grover Cleveland.

KAY GALLANT: Cleveland began his administration by announcing that he would reduce waste in the government. He would make government more like business. He said he would support reforms to let ability -- not politics -- decide who would get government jobs.

Grover Cleveland

Democratic Party leaders were quick to protest. They explained to Cleveland that the party owed jobs to those who had worked for his victory. Cleveland had to compromise. He permitted about eighty thousand government jobs to be taken from Republicans and given to Democrats5. This left twelve thousand jobs. These would be given to people who did the best on government examinations.

Cleveland's decision angered Republican reformers who had voted for him. They accused him of surrendering to the leaders of the Democratic Party.

HARRY MONROE: On other issues, however, Cleveland refused to compromise. He opposed government economic aid to any industrial group. He vetoed a bill giving aid to farmers whose crops had failed. And he vetoed another bill giving more money to men who had served as soldiers during America's civil war of the eighteen sixties.

The president also showed his independence by investigating gifts of public land that the government had made to the railroad, wood and cattle industries. He found that many of these land grants were made illegally. He got back much of the land. He opened it to settlers.

KAY GALLANT: President Cleveland signed into law two bills he believed would improve government. One was the Electoral Count Act. It set new rules for counting the electoral votes of the states. It would prevent future disputes over presidential elections, like the one in eighteen seventy-six.

The other bill changed the list of officials who could become president, if the president and vice6 president died or were removed from office. First on the list -- after the vice president -- was the secretary of state.

Congress changed this law again in nineteen forty-seven. And there have been four amendments7 since then. Today, the speaker of the House of Representatives would succeed the vice president as president. Then would come the president pro4 tempore of the Senate. And then, the secretary of state.

(MUSIC)

HARRY MONROE: Grover Cleveland approved a bill giving the government control over the cost of railroad transportation. The bill was called the Interstate Commerce Act. It limited the amount of money railroads could demand from people who needed to travel or transport their goods.

The law established the idea that the government could control industries, when necessary, for the public good.

President Cleveland also was concerned about a growing number of labor8 disputes that took place in the United States in the late eighteen hundreds. He proposed that Congress create a labor committee to help settle the disputes.

KAY GALLANT: Congress failed to act on this proposal. But its lack of action did not stop the rise of a labor organization that had been formed a few years earlier. The group soon would become the most important labor union in the United States. It was the American Federation9 of Labor, or A.F.L.

Led by Samuel Gompers, the A.F.L. was different from earlier labor groups. It did not try to put all workers into one union. Instead, it tied together a number of different unions and gave them general leadership.

HARRY MONROE: The A.F.L. was different in other ways. It did not oppose the economic system of capitalism10. It said only that labor should get more of the earnings11 of capitalism. The A.F.L. also opposed extremists who used labor protests to change the social system.

What the A.F.L. called for were things workers wanted immediately. Higher wages. A shorter work day. Better working conditions. One of its first demands was an eight-hour work day. This demand led to a number of strikes and protests throughout the country.

KAY GALLANT: The most serious incident took place in Chicago's Haymarket Square.

More than one thousand union supporters went to a meeting there organized by an extremist. They stood calmly and listened to speeches. Just before the meeting ended, someone threw a bomb into a group of policemen. The bomb exploded with a blinding flash. Seven policemen were killed.

The other policemen began shooting at the crowd. Some people in the crowd fired back. When it was all over, ten persons had been shot to death. Fifty others were hurt.

The incident set off a wave of fear and anger across the country. The public demanded action against union extremists. The Haymarket Square violence slowed the growth of organized labor in the United States for many years. It would be some time before labor became a powerful force in national events.

(MUSIC)

HARRY MONROE: In the spring of eighteen eighty-six, President Cleveland announced that he was to be married. The ceremony took place in the White House.

A few months later, President Cleveland and the First Lady went to New York City for the official ceremony welcoming the Statue of Liberty.

The statue was a gift to the people of the United States from the people of France. It represented the alliance between their two countries during America's war for independence from Britain.

The statue was the creation of French artist Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi. He decided12 to make a statue that would represent freedom -- a Statue of Liberty. He said it should stand on an island in New York harbor. There, he said, it would welcome all who came to America through that gateway13.

KAY GALLANT: Bartholdi decided to make a copper14 statue in the image of a woman -- Lady Liberty. High above her head, she would hold a torch of freedom to light the world. The statue's face was the face of Bartholdi's mother.

The artist asked French engineer Gustave Eiffel to build a steel support to hold the heavy statue. Eiffel was the man who later built the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The statue was built in France. Then the pieces were sent across the Atlantic Ocean. It was rebuilt in New York.

HARRY MONROE: Grover Cleveland and his wife were not the only Americans to attend the Statue of Liberty ceremonies in eighteen eighty-six. Thousands of people crowded onto ships in the harbor to watch the great event. Thousands of others crowded the shorelines around the harbor. Everyone cheered wildly when a signal was given and a huge cloth fell from the statue.

The Statue of Liberty in 1886

Lady Liberty stood holding her torch high for freedom. Under her feet were the broken chains of tyranny. Below the statue was a poem. It called to the poor and oppressed people of the world. It told them to come to America to find a land of hope and freedom.

KAY GALLANT:

Give me your tired, your poor,

your huddled15 masses yearning16 to breathe free,

the wretched refuse of your teeming17 shores.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

HARRY MONROE: The Statue of Liberty was a great success. It was one of the great engineering wonders of its time. And it filled Americans with pride in their tradition of freedom and openness to people from all lands.

We will continue our story next week.

(MUSIC)

BARBARA KLEIN:

Our program was written by Frank Beardsley. The narrators were Kay Gallant and Harry Monroe. You can find our series online with transcripts18, MP3s, podcasts and images at voaspecialenglish.com. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter at VOA Learning English. Join us again next week for THE MAKING OF A NATION -- an American history series in VOA Special English.

 


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 gallant 66Myb     
adj.英勇的,豪侠的;(向女人)献殷勤的
参考例句:
  • Huang Jiguang's gallant deed is known by all men. 黄继光的英勇事迹尽人皆知。
  • These gallant soldiers will protect our country.这些勇敢的士兵会保卫我们的国家的。
2 harry heBxS     
vt.掠夺,蹂躏,使苦恼
参考例句:
  • Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天,人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
  • Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。
3 presidency J1HzD     
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。
4 pro tk3zvX     
n.赞成,赞成的意见,赞成者
参考例句:
  • The two debating teams argued the question pro and con.辩论的两组从赞成与反对两方面辩这一问题。
  • Are you pro or con nuclear disarmament?你是赞成还是反对核裁军?
5 democrats 655beefefdcaf76097d489a3ff245f76     
n.民主主义者,民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
  • The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》
6 vice NU0zQ     
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 amendments 39576081718792f25ceae20f3bb99b43     
(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。
8 labor P9Tzs     
n.劳动,努力,工作,劳工;分娩;vi.劳动,努力,苦干;vt.详细分析;麻烦
参考例句:
  • We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
  • He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后,他已经疲惫不堪了。
9 federation htCzMS     
n.同盟,联邦,联合,联盟,联合会
参考例句:
  • It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
  • Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。
10 capitalism er4zy     
n.资本主义
参考例句:
  • The essence of his argument is that capitalism cannot succeed.他的论点的核心是资本主义不能成功。
  • Capitalism began to develop in Russia in the 19th century.十九世纪资本主义在俄国开始发展。
11 earnings rrWxJ     
n.工资收人;利润,利益,所得
参考例句:
  • That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
  • Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。
12 decided lvqzZd     
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。
13 gateway GhFxY     
n.大门口,出入口,途径,方法
参考例句:
  • Hard work is the gateway to success.努力工作是通往成功之路。
  • A man collected tolls at the gateway.一个人在大门口收通行费。
14 copper HZXyU     
n.铜;铜币;铜器;adj.铜(制)的;(紫)铜色的
参考例句:
  • The students are asked to prove the purity of copper.要求学生们检验铜的纯度。
  • Copper is a good medium for the conduction of heat and electricity.铜是热和电的良导体。
15 huddled 39b87f9ca342d61fe478b5034beb4139     
挤在一起(huddle的过去式与过去分词形式)
参考例句:
  • We huddled together for warmth. 我们挤在一块取暖。
  • We huddled together to keep warm. 我们挤在一起来保暖。
16 yearning hezzPJ     
a.渴望的;向往的;怀念的
参考例句:
  • a yearning for a quiet life 对宁静生活的向往
  • He felt a great yearning after his old job. 他对过去的工作有一种强烈的渴想。
17 teeming 855ef2b5bd20950d32245ec965891e4a     
adj.丰富的v.充满( teem的现在分词 );到处都是;(指水、雨等)暴降;倾注
参考例句:
  • The rain was teeming down. 大雨倾盆而下。
  • the teeming streets of the city 熙熙攘攘的城市街道
18 transcripts 525c0b10bb61e5ddfdd47d7faa92db26     
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

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