America's Presidents - Franklin Pierce 美國(guó)總統(tǒng) — 富蘭克林·皮爾斯

VOA Learning English presents America’s Presidents.
美國(guó)之音慢速英語(yǔ)介紹美國(guó)總統(tǒng)欄目。

Today we are talking about Franklin Pierce, the 14th president of the United States. He took office in 1853 at age 48. At that time, he was the youngest person elected to the White House.
今天，我們來(lái)談?wù)撓旅绹?guó)第14屆總統(tǒng)富蘭克林·皮爾斯。他于1853年48歲的時(shí)候就職。當(dāng)時(shí)，他是最年輕的總統(tǒng)。

Portrait of Franklin Pierce by George P.A. Healy 富蘭克林·皮爾斯畫(huà)像，出自喬治P.A.希利

Pierce was known for being social – and for his good looks. But his personal life was full of tragedy, and he was not an effective chief executive^[1].
皮爾斯以善于交際而聞名，他的英俊也讓他聲名遠(yuǎn)揚(yáng)。但是他的個(gè)人生活充滿悲劇，他不是一位有能力的總統(tǒng)。

Over time, he has come to be remembered as one of the country’s worst presidents.
久而久之，皮爾斯逐漸以美國(guó)最差的總統(tǒng)之一而被人記住。

Early life 早年生活

Franklin Pierce was born in the northern state of New Hampshire. He was one of eight children.
富蘭克林·皮爾斯出生于北方新罕布什爾州，他是八個(gè)孩子中的一個(gè)。

He attended school regularly^[2] as a child, and he went on to Bowdoin College in Maine. There, he developed his skills as an excellent public speaker. He also became an able lawyer.
孩童時(shí)期，他正常上了學(xué)，后來(lái)繼續(xù)讀了緬因州的鮑登學(xué)院。在那兒，他開(kāi)發(fā)了卓越的公眾演講才能。他也成為了一名優(yōu)秀的律師。

Pierce’s abilities carried him far. But his personal connections helped, too.
皮爾斯的能力對(duì)他幫助很大，然而他個(gè)人的關(guān)系也幫助了很多。

His father became the governor of New Hampshire. Shortly after, Pierce was elected to the state legislature. He soon became a member of the U.S. Congress – first as a member of the House of Representatives, and then as a senator.
他的父親是新罕布什爾州的州長(zhǎng)。不久之后，皮爾斯入選州立法機(jī)構(gòu)。他很快就成為了國(guó)會(huì)的議員 —— 起初是眾議員，然后是參議員。

Several important things happened in Pierce’s personal life during those years in Washington, DC. He married Jane Means Appleton. They soon had a son, but the child died after only three days. The couple went on to have two more boys.
在華盛頓的那幾年，皮爾斯的個(gè)人生活發(fā)生了幾件重要的事情。他和簡(jiǎn)·米恩斯·阿普爾頓結(jié)婚，很快就有了一個(gè)兒子，但三天后就夭折了。這對(duì)夫妻后來(lái)又有了兩個(gè)兒子。

In Washington, Franklin Pierce also developed friendships with many people from the South. They defended the right of states to permit slavery. Although he was from the North, Pierce came to share the opinions of his Southern friends. He grew to dislike anti-slavery activists, who were known as abolitionists.
在華盛頓，富蘭克林·皮爾斯與許多南方人士發(fā)展了友誼。他們捍衛(wèi)允許奴隸制的權(quán)利。盡管皮爾斯來(lái)自北方，他開(kāi)始分享他南方朋友的觀點(diǎn)。他逐漸討厭禁奴積極分子，也就是廢奴主義者。

As a politician, Pierce was a member of the Democratic Party and strongly supported the ideas of President Andrew Jackson. But politics did not appeal to his wife. She also did not like her husband’s habit^[3] of drinking alcohol with his friends. Jane Pierce belonged to the temperance movement, which urged Americans to avoid the use of alcoholic drinks.
作為一名政客，皮爾斯是一名民主黨人士，并且強(qiáng)烈支持安德魯·杰克遜總統(tǒng)的理念。但是他的妻子對(duì)政治不感興趣。他也不喜歡他丈夫和朋友喝酒的習(xí)慣。簡(jiǎn)·皮爾斯支持禁酒運(yùn)動(dòng)，這項(xiàng)運(yùn)動(dòng)旨在推進(jìn)美國(guó)人避免使用酒精飲料。

So Pierce resigned his job in the Senate and moved back to New Hampshire.
所以，皮爾斯辭去了參議員的職位，回到了新罕布什爾州。

There, he stopped drinking alcohol and earned fame as a lawyer and public speaker. But tragedy struck again: his second son became sick and died. ?
回去后，他不再喝酒，并且作為一名律師和公眾發(fā)言人贏得了一些聲譽(yù)。但是悲劇再次降臨：他的第二個(gè)兒子生病死亡。

Fainting Frank 昏厥的富蘭克林

Pierce remained active in politics in New Hampshire. He helped the Democratic candidate for president at the time, James K. Polk, win votes in the state.
在新罕布什爾，皮爾斯仍舊活躍在政治舞臺(tái)。當(dāng)時(shí)，他幫助民主黨總統(tǒng)候選人詹姆斯·諾克斯·波爾克贏取了該州的選票。

When Polk entered the White House, he gave Pierce a position as a general in the Mexican-American War.
當(dāng)波爾克入主白宮后，在美墨戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)中，他給了皮爾斯一個(gè)將軍的職位。

Franklin Pierce in uniform 著軍裝的富蘭克林·皮爾斯

Pierce did not earn the respect of his troops. In one battle, he passed out^[4] after he fell off his horse and crushed his leg. Some of his men, seeing what happened, fled the battlefield. Others called him “Fainting^[5] Frank.”
皮爾斯沒(méi)有獲得軍隊(duì)的尊敬。在一場(chǎng)戰(zhàn)役中，他從馬背上摔下來(lái)壓斷了腿，然后就暈厥過(guò)去。一些士兵看到了眼前發(fā)生的事后就逃離了戰(zhàn)場(chǎng)。其他一些人稱他為“暈厥的富蘭克林”。

Although Pierce had his critics, he returned to New Hampshire as a leader in the state’s Democratic Party. Yet no one expected him to become president of the United States.
盡管富蘭克林受到了批評(píng)，他還是作為一位民主黨領(lǐng)袖（退役）回到了新罕布什爾州。然而，沒(méi)有人希望他成為美國(guó)總統(tǒng)。

Pierce’s nomination came during the Democratic national convention in 1852. Party leaders could not agree on a candidate. They were split among the three top choices.
1852年民主黨全國(guó)代表大會(huì)上，皮爾斯獲得提名。黨內(nèi)領(lǐng)袖就總統(tǒng)候選人無(wú)法達(dá)成一致，他們有三個(gè)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)候選人。

So the party turned to Pierce. They liked the fact that he was not well known or had taken any strong positions as a lawmaker. As a result, fewer people could object to him, they reasoned.
所以，民主黨的目光移到了皮爾斯身上。他們喜歡他不是很出名而且作為議員沒(méi)有供職于任何重要職位的事實(shí)。最后，他們推斷，很少會(huì)有人反對(duì)他。

Pierce did very little during the election campaign. He did not need to. Many voters, especially in the South, did not like his opponent.
皮爾斯在大選中幾乎沒(méi)做什么事情。他也不需要。許多選民，尤其是南方選民，不喜歡他的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手。

When the election was held, Pierce won easily.
當(dāng)選舉大會(huì)舉行時(shí)，皮爾斯很輕松地贏取大選。

But before he took office, another terrible thing happened. Franklin and Jane Pierce were traveling by train with their youngest son Benjamin, who was 11-years-old. The train went off the rails. Bennie was killed instantly^[6] in front of his parents.
但在皮爾斯任職前，發(fā)生了另一件可怕的事情。富蘭克林和簡(jiǎn)·皮爾斯帶著他們11歲的小兒子本杰明乘坐火車(chē)出行?；疖?chē)脫軌了，本尼在他的父母面前當(dāng)場(chǎng)死亡。

Jane Pierce with her son Benjamin. 簡(jiǎn)·皮爾斯和他的兒子本杰明

Neither Franklin nor Jane Pierce ever really recovered. Jane believed their son’s death was a punishment from God for her husband becoming president.
富蘭克林和簡(jiǎn)·皮爾斯從來(lái)沒(méi)有真正從兒子的死去中恢復(fù)過(guò)來(lái)。簡(jiǎn)認(rèn)為他們兒子的死亡是上帝對(duì)他丈夫當(dāng)選總統(tǒng)的懲罰。

Presidency 總統(tǒng)任期

As president, Pierce faced an extremely difficult situation. The country’s ongoing dispute about whether and where to permit slavery was becoming more intense. Under Pierce, the dispute centered on the areas of Kansas and Nebraska.
作為總統(tǒng)，皮爾斯面臨著非常嚴(yán)峻的形勢(shì)。國(guó)內(nèi)關(guān)于是否以及在哪允許奴隸制的爭(zhēng)論愈演愈烈。皮爾斯時(shí)期，爭(zhēng)論的焦點(diǎn)在于堪薩斯和內(nèi)布拉斯加區(qū)域。

At the time, both areas were considered territories, not states. And each territory was above the line of the Missouri Compromise of 1820. That act, approved by lawmakers nearly 35 years before Pierce took office, banned slavery in northern areas, including what would become Kansas and Nebraska.
當(dāng)時(shí)，這兩個(gè)區(qū)域都被視為領(lǐng)土而不是州。每個(gè)領(lǐng)土都在1820年密蘇里妥協(xié)案規(guī)定的分界線之上。這一分界線是在皮爾斯執(zhí)政時(shí)期大約35年前由國(guó)會(huì)批準(zhǔn)的，它禁止了北方蓄奴，自然就包括了即將成為堪薩斯州以及內(nèi)布拉斯加州的區(qū)域。

Violence between pro-slavery, free-state, and abolitionist groups continued for seven years before Kansas entered the Union as a free state in 1861. That time became known as "Bleeding Kansas." 支持奴隸制，自由州和廢奴主義團(tuán)體之間的暴力沖突在1861年堪薩斯以自由州身份進(jìn)入聯(lián)邦之前一直持續(xù)了7年。這段時(shí)期即為“堪薩斯內(nèi)戰(zhàn)”。

But pro-slavery settlers demanded that Kansas and Nebraska voters – a group comprised of white men – decide the issue for themselves. A majority of U.S. lawmakers agreed.
但是奴隸主要求堪薩斯和內(nèi)布拉斯加一群由白人組成的選民自己來(lái)決定是否允許奴隸制。美國(guó)大多數(shù)國(guó)會(huì)議員都同意了。

Under pressure, President Pierce signed the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854.
壓力之下，1854年皮爾斯總統(tǒng)簽署了《堪薩斯-內(nèi)布拉斯加法案》。

The measure was one of the most important in U.S. history. It overturned the Missouri Compromise and cancelled the ban on slavery. It incited years of intense of violence between pro-slavery and anti-slavery activists. And it pushed a divided nation even further apart.
這項(xiàng)美國(guó)歷史上最重要的舉措之一，推翻了密蘇里妥協(xié)法案，取消了奴隸制的禁止。它刺激了蓄奴和禁奴分子之間數(shù)年的緊張暴力局勢(shì)，并且整個(gè)國(guó)家被進(jìn)一步推向分裂。

The troubles also showed Pierce to be an ineffective president. He could not ease the tensions over slavery, nor unite the country behind the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
動(dòng)亂也顯現(xiàn)了皮爾斯是一位無(wú)能的總統(tǒng)。他沒(méi)能夠緩解奴隸制的緊張局勢(shì)，也沒(méi)能在《堪薩斯-內(nèi)布拉斯加法案》下統(tǒng)一國(guó)家。

And he delayed using his power to stop the violence in Kansas until it was far too late.
在他使用總統(tǒng)權(quán)力去阻止堪薩斯暴力的時(shí)候已經(jīng)太晚了。

Finally, his sympathy for pro-slavery groups angered many in the North, including people in his own party.
最終，他對(duì)于奴隸制團(tuán)體的同情惹怒了許多北方人，包括自己的黨派。

The Democrats did not nominate him again at the next election.
民主黨人士沒(méi)有再次提名他作為下屆總統(tǒng)選舉的候選人。

Legacy 遺產(chǎn)

After four years as president, Pierce returned to New Hampshire. He rarely socialized and began drinking alcohol again.
卸任總統(tǒng)后，皮爾斯返回了新罕布什爾州。他很少社交并且再次開(kāi)始酗酒。

Franklin Pierce photograph by Mathew Brady, between 1855 and 1865 富蘭克林·皮爾斯，攝于1855-1865年間，出自馬修·布雷迪

After his wife died in 1863, Pierce seemed to disappear from public life. Americans heard little about him until his death in 1869.
皮爾斯的妻子逝世于1863年，之后他似乎就消失于公眾之中。直到1869年去世前，人們很少能夠聽(tīng)到關(guān)于他的消息。

But he lived to see the ultimate^[7] tragedy of the Civil War that he – like other presidents before him – had failed to prevent.
但他一直活著并目睹了最終的悲劇內(nèi)戰(zhàn) —— 他和幾位前任總統(tǒng)都無(wú)法阻止的悲劇。

原文鏈接

https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/americas-presidents-franklin-pierce/3862019.html

1. chief executive - 行政長(zhǎng)官；董事長(zhǎng)；美國(guó)總統(tǒng)；（美國(guó)的）州長(zhǎng) ?

2. regularly - adv. on a regular basis - 定期地；有規(guī)律地 ?

3. habit - n. something that a person does often in a regular and repeated way - 習(xí)慣 ?

4. pass out - phrasal verb. to become unconscious? or fall asleep - 暈厥 ?

5. faint - v. to suddenly become unconscious? - 暈厥 ?

6. instantly - adv. immediately - 立即，立刻 ?

7. ultimate - adj. greatest or most extreme - 終極的；最終的 ?