VOA慢速英语 2007 1018b

VOICE ONE:

This is Rich Kleinfeldt.

VOICE TWO:

And this is Sarah Long with the MAKING OF A NATION, a VOA Special English program about the history of the United States. Today, we tell about the first permanent English settlements in North America.

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VOICE ONE:

England was the first country to compete with Spain for claims in the New World, although it was too weak to do this openly at first.  But Queen Elizabeth of England supported such explorations as early as the fifteen seventies.

Sir Humphrey Gilbert led the first English settlement efforts. He did not establish any lasting¹ settlement.  He died as he was returning to England.

Gilbert's half brother Sir Walter Raleigh continued his work. Raleigh sent a number of ships to explore the east coast of North America. He called the land Virginia to honor England's unmarried Queen Elizabeth.

In fifteen eighty-five, about one-hundred men settled on Roanoke Island, off the coast of the present day state of North Carolina. These settlers returned to England a year later.  Another group went to Roanoke the next year.  This group included a number of women and children.  But the supply ships Raleigh sent to the colony failed to arrive.  When help got there in fifteen-ninety, none of the settlers could be found.

History experts still are not sure what happened.  Some research suggests that at least some of the settlers became part of the Indian tribe² that lived in the area.

VOICE TWO:

One reason for the delay in getting supplies to Roanoke was the attack of the Spanish Navy against England in fifteen eighty-eight.  King Phillip of Spain had decided³ to invade England. But the small English ships combined with a fierce storm defeated the huge Spanish fleet. As a result, Spain was no longer able to block English exploration.

England discovered that supporting colonies so far away was extremely costly⁴.  So Queen Elizabeth took no more action to do this.  It was not until after her death in sixteen-oh-three that England began serious efforts to start colonies in America.

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VOICE ONE:

In sixteen-oh-six, the new English King, James the First, gave two business groups permission to establish colonies in Virginia, the area claimed by England. Companies were organized to carry out the move.

 
View of historic⁵ Jamestown
The London Company sent one hundred settlers to Virginia in sixteen-oh-six. The group landed there in May, sixteen-oh-seven and founded Jamestown.  It was the first permanent English colony in the new world.

The colony seemed about to fail from the start. The settlers did not plant their crops in time so they soon had no food. Their leaders lacked the farming and building skills needed to survive on the land.  More than half the settlers died during the first winter.

VOICE TWO:

The businessmen controlling the colony from London knew nothing about living in such a wild place. They wanted the settlers to search for gold, and explore local rivers in hopes of finding a way to the East.  One settler knew this was wrong.  His name was Captain John Smith. He helped the colonists⁶ build houses and grow food by learning from the local Indians.  Still, the Jamestown settlers continued to die each year from disease, lack of food and Indian attacks.

The London Company sent six thousand settlers to Virginia between sixteen-oh-six and sixteen twenty-two. More than four thousand died during that time.

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VOICE ONE:

 
A cooking fire in a re-creation of a Powhatan Indian village
History experts say that all the settlers surely would have died without the help of the local Powhatan Indians. The Indians gave the settlers food.  They taught them how to live in the forest. And the Powhatan Indians showed the settlers how to plant new crops and how to clear the land for building. 

The settlers accepted the Indians' help. Then, however, the settlers took whatever else they wanted by force.  In sixteen twenty-two, the local Indians attacked the settlers for interfering⁷ with Indian land.  Three hundred forty settlers died.  The colonists answered the attack by destroying the Indian tribes⁸ living along Virginia's coast.

The settlers recognized that they would have to grow their own food and survive on their own without help from England or anyone else. The Jamestown colony was clearly established by sixteen twenty-four.  It was even beginning to earn money by growing and selling a new crop, tobacco.

VOICE TWO:

The other early English settlements in North America were much to the north of Virginia, in the present state of Massachusetts. The people who settled there left England for different reasons than those who settled in Jamestown. The Virginia settlers were looking for ways to earn money for English businesses. The settlers in Massachusetts were seeking religious freedom.

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VOICE ONE:

King Henry the Eighth of England had separated from the Roman Catholic⁹ Church. His daughter, Queen Elizabeth, established the Protestant religion in England. It was called the Church of England, or the Anglican Church. The Anglican Church, however, was similar to that of the Roman Catholic Church.

Not all Protestants liked this.  Some wanted to leave the Anglican Church and form religious groups of their own.  In sixteen-oh-six, members of one such group in the town of Scrooby did separate from the Anglican Church.  About one hundred twenty-five people left England for Holland.  They found problems there too, so they decided to move again...to the New World.

These people were called pilgrims¹⁰, because that is the name given to people who travel for religious purposes.

VOICE TWO:

 
An artist's depiction¹¹ of the Mayflower
About thirty-five pilgrims were among the passengers on a ship called the Mayflower in sixteen twenty. It left England to go to Virginia. But the Mayflower never reached Virginia. Instead, it landed to the north, on Cape¹² Cod¹³ Bay. The group decided to stay there instead of trying to find Jamestown. 

The pilgrims and the others on the Mayflower saw a need for rules that would help them live together peacefully.  They believed they were not under English control since they did not land in Virginia.  So they wrote a plan of government, called the Mayflower Compact¹⁴.  It was the first such plan ever developed in the New World. 

They elected a man called William Bradford as the first governor of their Plymouth Colony.  We know about the first thirty years of the Plymouth Colony because William Bradford described it in his book, Of Plymouth Plantation¹⁵.

As happened in Jamestown, about half the settlers in Plymouth died the first winter.  The survivors¹⁶ were surprised to find an Indian who spoke¹⁷ English. His name was Squanto. He had been kidnapped by an English sea captain and had lived in England before returning to his people.

The Pilgrims believed Squanto was sent to them from God.  He made it possible for them to communicate with the native people. He showed them the best places to fish, what kind of crops to plant and how to grow them. He provided them with all kinds of information they needed to survive. The settlers invited the Indians to a feast¹⁸ in the month of November to celebrate their successes and to thank Squanto for his help. Americans remember that celebration every year when they observe the Thanksgiving holiday.

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VOICE ONE:

Other English settlers began arriving in the area now called New England. One large group was called the Puritans. Like the pilgrims, the Puritans did not agree with the Anglican Church. But they did not want to separate from it. The Puritans wanted to change it to make it more holy. Their desire for this change made them unwelcome in England.

The first ship carrying Puritans left England for America in sixteen thirty.  By the end of that summer, one thousand Puritans had landed in the northeastern part of the new country. The new English King, Charles, had given permission for them to settle the Massachusetts Bay area.

VOICE TWO:

The Puritans began leaving England in large groups. Between sixteen thirty and sixteen forty, twenty thousand sailed for New England. They risked their lives on the dangerous trip. They wanted to live among people who believed as they did, people who honored the rules of the Bible. Puritans believed that the Bible was the word of God.

The Puritans and other Europeans, however, found a very different people in the New World. They were America's native Indians. That will be our story next week.

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VOICE ONE:

This MAKING OF A NATION program was written by Nancy Steinbach.  This is Rich Kleinfeldt

VOICE TWO:

And this is Sarah Long.  Join us again next week for another Voice of America Special English program about the history of the United States. 

1 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

2 tribe   

n.部落，种族，一伙人

参考例句：

• This is a subject tribe.这是个受他人统治的部落。
• Many of the tribe's customs and rituals are as old as the hills.这部落的许多风俗、仪式都极其古老。

3 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。

4 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。

5 historic   

adj.历史上著名的，具有历史意义的

参考例句：

• This is a historic occasion.这是具有重大历史意义的时刻。
• We are living in a great historic era.我们正处在一个伟大的历史时代。

6 colonists   

n.殖民地开拓者，移民，殖民地居民( colonist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Colonists from Europe populated many parts of the Americas. 欧洲的殖民者移居到了美洲的许多地方。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Some of the early colonists were cruel to the native population. 有些早期移居殖民地的人对当地居民很残忍。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 interfering   

adj. 妨碍的 动词interfere的现在分词

参考例句：

• He's an interfering old busybody! 他老爱管闲事！
• I wish my mother would stop interfering and let me make my own decisions. 我希望我母亲不再干预，让我自己拿主意。

8 tribes   

n.部落( tribe的名词复数 )；（动、植物的）族；（一）帮；大群

参考例句：

• tribes living in remote areas of the Amazonian rainforest 居住在亚马孙河雨林偏远地区的部落
• In Africa the snake is still sacred with many tribes. 非洲许多部落仍认为蛇是不可冒犯的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 catholic   

adj.天主教的；n.天主教徒

参考例句：

• The Pope is the supreme leader of the Roman Catholic Church.教皇是罗马天主教的最高领袖。
• She was a devoutly Catholic.她是一个虔诚地天主教徒。

10 pilgrims   

香客，朝圣者( pilgrim的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Muslim pilgrims on their way to Mecca 前往麦加的穆斯林朝圣者
• Many pilgrims knelt piously at the shrine. 许多朝圣者心虔意诚地在神殿跪拜。

11 depiction   

n.描述

参考例句：

• Double rhythms, resounding through the lyric depiction and connecting with each other, indicate the thespian place of mankind and the cognition of the writer to this thespian place. 这双重旋律互为表里，表明了人类的某种悲剧性处境以及作家对这种悲剧性处境的感受和认识。
• A realistic depiction of scenes from everyday domestic life. 日常家居生活的写实画。

12 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

13 cod   

n.鳕鱼；v.愚弄；哄骗

参考例句：

• They salt down cod for winter use.他们腌鳕鱼留着冬天吃。
• Cod are found in the North Atlantic and the North Sea.北大西洋和北海有鳕鱼。

14 compact   

adj.紧密的，简明的，紧凑的；v.使紧凑，压缩

参考例句：

• It was a compact package.这是个捆得很紧的包裹。
• The article is compact and well organized.文章严密，又很有章法。

15 plantation   

n.种植园，大农场

参考例句：

• His father-in-law is a plantation manager.他岳父是个种植园经营者。
• The plantation owner has possessed himself of a vast piece of land.这个种植园主把大片土地占为己有。

16 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

17 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。

18 feast   

n.盛宴，筵席，节日

参考例句：

• After the feast she spent a week dieting to salve her conscience.大吃了一顿之后，她花了一周时间节食以安慰自己。
• You shouldn't have troubled yourself to prepare such a feast!你不该准备这样丰盛的饭菜，这样太麻烦你了！