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

By Jim Malone
Washington
27 December 2006
 
Watch Gerald Ford¹ report

Former President Gerald Ford, who healed a divided nation in the wake of President Richard Nixon's resignation and the Watergate scandal, has died in the U.S. state of California at the age of 93.   He had battled pneumonia² and undergone two heart procedures earlier this year.  VOA National correspondent Jim Malone has a look back at Gerald Ford's life and legacy³ from Washington. Mil Arcega narrates⁴.

Gerald R. Ford (File)

The 38th President of the United States came from a humble⁵ background.  Born Leslie King in Nebraska in 1913, Gerald Ford took on the name of his stepfather after his biological parents divorced just a few years after his birth.

He moved with his mother to Grand Rapids, Michigan, and became a football star at the University of Michigan in the mid-1930s.

Gerald Ford served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, after attending Yale University Law School, and then won his first race for Congress in 1948.

Mr. Ford became the leader of Republicans in the House of Representatives in 1965 and developed a reputation as a conservative on budget issues but a moderate on social and foreign policy issues.

It was his popularity among both Republicans and Democrats⁷ in Congress that led then President Richard Nixon to choose him as vice⁸ president following the resignation of Vice President Spiro Agnew in 1973.

"Gerald Ford was perhaps not Nixon's first choice, but he was certainly his first choice that could have been easily confirmed by the Congress," said Stephen Hess, a political expert at the Brookings Institution in Washington.  "And that is how really he got to be ultimately the first president who was neither elected vice president nor president."

Gerald Ford's tenure⁹ as vice president lasted only 10 months.

In August, 1974, Richard Nixon became the first U.S. president to resign after the public became convinced of his involvement in the Watergate scandal. "Therefore, I shall resign the presidency¹⁰ effective at noon tomorrow," he said. "Vice President Ford will be sworn in as President, at that hour, in this office."

In his first statement to the American people as president, Gerald Ford immediately set about the task of healing the nation's political wounds in the wake of Watergate.

"My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over," he said. "Our Constitution works.  Our great republic is a government of laws and not of men.  Here, the people rule.  As we bind¹¹ up the internal wounds of Watergate, more painful and more poisonous than those of foreign wars, let us restore the Golden Rule to our political process and let brotherly love purge¹² our hearts of suspicion and of hate."

 "What he did was bring a calm to tumultuous times, a personal integrity that just shined from the man and really it was a way of tamping¹³ down what could have been a very mean, very unpleasant post-Nixon era," said political analyst¹⁴ Stephen Hess.

One month after his swearing-in, Gerald Ford decided¹⁵ to pardon Richard Nixon for any crimes he may have committed in connection with the Watergate scandal.  The pardon meant the former president could not be criminally prosecuted¹⁶ and was welcomed by Nixon loyalists but condemned¹⁷ by Democrats.

Public reaction to the Nixon pardon was overwhelmingly negative.  In fact, President Ford took the unusual step of defending the pardon before a congressional committee. "He is the only President in the history of this country who has resigned in shame and disgrace," he said. "I think that, in and of itself, can be understood, can be explained, to uh, students or to others."

Political expert Stephen Hess says the Nixon pardon probably cost Gerald Ford the 1976 election.

"And the irony¹⁸ of that is that it probably defeated him when he ran for president in 1976.  It was a very controversial move.  It was absolutely the right move," he said. "I thought so at the time, although many did not.  But I think most people feel it now, that it prevented a long, long period of great pain if a president had actually been tried in a court of law."

Despite the controversy¹⁹ over the pardon, Gerald Ford steadily²⁰ gained in the polls during his 1976 presidential election matchup with Democrat⁶ Jimmy Carter.

But his momentum²¹ stalled after a presidential debate in which he suggested that Eastern Europe was not under the thumb of the Soviet²² Union. "There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe," he said.

Mr. Ford narrowly lost the 1976 election.  During his brief presidency, the country dealt with rising inflation and the divisive end of the Vietnam War.  His main foreign policy achievements included continuing the policy of detente with the Soviet Union and completion of the Helsinki agreements on human rights principles and East European national boundaries.

After he left the White House, Gerald Ford moved to California and became a regular on the lecture and speech circuit.

"His legacy was important in allowing the nation to get over a very rough period of time and move forward with some dispatch and some real civility," said Stephen Hess.  "He was a decent man, an honorable man when the nation really did need a person like that."

In 1999, Mr. Ford was honored at the White House by President Clinton and awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his efforts to heal the nation in the wake of Watergate.

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 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

4 narrates   

v.故事( narrate的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• It narrates the unconstitutional acts of James II. 它历数了詹姆斯二世的违法行为。 来自辞典例句
• Chapter three narrates the economy activity which Jew return the Occident. 第三章讲述了犹太人重返西欧后的经济活动。 来自互联网

5 humble   

adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低

参考例句：

• In my humble opinion,he will win the election.依我拙见，他将在选举中获胜。
• Defeat and failure make people humble.挫折与失败会使人谦卑。

6 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。

7 democrats   

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》

8 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。

9 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。

10 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。

11 bind   

vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬

参考例句：

• I will let the waiter bind up the parcel for you.我让服务生帮你把包裹包起来。
• He wants a shirt that does not bind him.他要一件不使他觉得过紧的衬衫。

12 purge   

n.整肃，清除，泻药，净化；vt.净化，清除，摆脱；vi.清除，通便，腹泻，变得清洁

参考例句：

• The new president carried out a purge of disloyal army officers.新总统对不忠诚的军官进行了清洗。
• The mayoral candidate has promised to purge the police department.市长候选人答应清洗警察部门。

13 tamping   

n.填塞物，捣紧v.捣固( tamp的现在分词 )；填充；（用炮泥）封炮眼口；夯实

参考例句：

• The foundation becomes solid after tamping. 打夯以后，地基就瓷实了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Practical construction shows that equal energy, equal deformation tamping a. 等能量、等变形夯扩挤密矸石桩是一种地基加固新技术。 来自互联网

14 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

15 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。

16 prosecuted   

a.被起诉的

参考例句：

• The editors are being prosecuted for obscenity. 编辑因刊载污秽文字而被起诉。
• The company was prosecuted for breaching the Health and Safety Act. 这家公司被控违反《卫生安全条例》。

17 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

18 irony   

n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄

参考例句：

• She said to him with slight irony.她略带嘲讽地对他说。
• In her voice we could sense a certain tinge of irony.从她的声音里我们可以感到某种讥讽的意味。

19 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。

20 steadily   

adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地

参考例句：

• The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
• Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。

21 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

22 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。