America's Presidents - Zachary Tylor 美國總統(tǒng) — 扎卡里·泰勒

VOA Learning English presents America’s Presidents.
美國之音介紹美國總統(tǒng)欄目。

Today we are talking about Zachary Taylor, the 12^th president. He took office in 1849.
今天，我們來談論下第12屆總統(tǒng)扎卡里·泰勒，他在1849年執(zhí)政。

Official White House Portrait of President Zachary Taylor (c.1848) by Joseph Henry Bush - 總統(tǒng)扎卡里·泰勒官方白宮肖像(c.=circa 大約1848年)，出自約瑟夫·亨利·布什

Taylor had some things in common with earlier presidents.
泰勒和早期的幾個總統(tǒng)有共同之處。

Like six others before him, he was born in Virginia.
他和在他之前的六位總統(tǒng)一樣，出生于弗吉尼亞州。

Like George Washington and Andrew Jackson, Taylor was a war hero.
泰勒和喬治·華盛頓以及安德魯·杰克遜一樣，是一位戰(zhàn)爭英雄。

And, like William Henry Harrison, he died in office.
并且，與威廉·亨利·哈里森一樣，在任內(nèi)逝世。

But Taylor brought at least one special trait^[1] to the presidency. Although he was officially elected as a member of the Whig party, Taylor considered himself an independent.
但是，泰勒至少給總統(tǒng)職位帶來了一個特點。盡管泰勒是作為輝格黨的成員而被官方選舉的，但他將自己看作是獨立的。

Early life 早期生活

When Zachary Taylor was a baby, his family left Virginia. They moved west, to a tobacco plantation^[2] in Kentucky.
當扎卡里·泰勒還是個嬰兒的時候，他的一家離開了弗吉尼亞，去往西方的肯塔基州的煙草種植園。

There, the Taylors were financially successful. By the time Zachary was a young man, his family owned a number of enslaved people and over 4,000 hectares of land.
在肯塔基，泰勒家族開始發(fā)跡。扎卡里還年輕的時候，家族就擁有了一些奴隸以及超過4000公頃的土地。

Taylor took possession of some of his family’s land. He also had cotton plantations in the southern states of Mississippi and Louisiana. He, too, depended on enslaved people to do most of the work.
泰勒繼承了家族的一些土地。他還在南部密西西比和路易斯安那州擁有棉花種植園，大部分勞動都是靠奴隸來做的。

But Taylor was unlike many wealthy farmers in the South. He had always wanted to be a soldier. When Taylor was 24 years old, he became an officer in the U.S. Army.
但泰勒不像大部分南方的富農(nóng)，他總是想成為一名戰(zhàn)士。24歲的時候，他成為了一名美軍軍官。

Margaret Mackall Smith Taylor - 瑪格麗特·麥克爾·史密斯·泰勒

Shortly after, he married Margaret Smith. In time, they had five daughters and one son. But Taylor directed most of his attention to his military career.
不久，他和瑪格麗特·史密斯結(jié)婚了。最終，他們共生了5個女兒和1個兒子。但泰勒大部分精力都放在他的軍事生涯上。

For about 20 years, he tried to keep peace between Native American tribes and white Americans. Sometimes the job meant leading attacks against Native Americans. At times, it meant defending their lands from white settlers.
大約20年的時間里，他努力維持印第安部落和白人之間的和平。這份工作意味著有時會和印第安人發(fā)生沖突，有時需要保護白人定居者的土地。

In either case, his public standing as a good soldier grew. His troops called him “Old Rough and Ready^[3]” because he was willing to fight – and suffer – alongside them.
無論哪種情況，他作為好軍人的公眾形象都在增長。他的部下稱他為“機靈的大老粗”，因為他愿意和他們一起作戰(zhàn)吃苦。

Then, in the Mexican-American War of the 1840s, Taylor became really famous. He led U.S. troops to victory in several major battles, including ones at Monterrey and Buena Vista.
19世紀40年代的美墨戰(zhàn)爭，使泰勒名聲大振。他在幾個重要的戰(zhàn)役中領導了美軍獲得勝利，包括在蒙特雷和布埃納維斯塔。

In a well-known story, the powerful Mexican general Santa Anna surrounded Taylor and his small number of troops. Santa Anna sent a message demanding that they surrender. Taylor reportedly said: “Tell him to go to hell^[4].”
在一則著名的故事當中，墨西哥強權總統(tǒng)桑塔·安納包圍了泰勒及他的小部隊（4/5 受過鍛煉的部隊及戰(zhàn)爭物資被調(diào)歸斯科特將軍使用）。桑塔·安納發(fā)信要求泰勒投降，泰勒回復說：“告訴他去死吧。”

The two sides clashed the next morning. Santa Anna had about three times the men that Taylor had. Yet, by late that day, Taylor’s soldiers had defeated Santa Anna’s.
兩軍次日早晨交戰(zhàn)。桑塔·安納的人馬是泰勒的三倍。然而到了晚上，泰勒的士兵已經(jīng)擊敗了桑塔·安納。

Zachary Taylor at the Battle of Buena Vista 布埃納維斯塔戰(zhàn)役中的扎卡里·泰勒

Taylor’s success as a general helped the United States win the war against Mexico. In the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Mexico agreed to give up claims to or sell to the U.S. more than 1.3 million square kilometers of its lands, including what are now the states of Texas and California.
泰勒將軍的成功幫助美國贏得了美墨戰(zhàn)爭。在瓜達盧佩伊達戈條約中，墨西哥同意放棄對美國的主權要求，將其130萬平方公里的土地賣給美國，包括如今的德克薩斯和加利福利亞州。

The territories ceded by Mexico to the U.S. in 1848 in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. 1848年瓜達盧佩伊達戈條約中墨西哥割讓給美國的領土

But the new lands almost immediately caused problems.
但新土地幾乎很快就引起了問題。

Campaign of 1848 1848年大選

At the time of the next U.S. presidential election, public opinion^[5] in the country was severely divided. The issue was whether to permit slavery in the new lands won at the end of the war with Mexico.
適逢下屆美國總統(tǒng)大選時，國內(nèi)輿論被嚴重地分成了兩派。焦點在于是否允許在美墨戰(zhàn)爭中獲得的新土地上蓄奴。

In general, Northerners opposed expanding slavery.
通常，北方人反對擴大蓄奴。

In general, Southerners supported it.
而南方人支持蓄奴。

To appeal to both these groups, the major parties at the time looked to Taylor to be their candidate for president.
為了吸引這兩個團體，當時主要的政黨看中了泰勒來作為他們黨派的總統(tǒng)候選人。

The Democrats and the Whigs reasoned that Taylor was already well-known and well-liked. Historian Michael Holt said in 1848, Taylor was “the most popular man in America.”
民主黨和輝格黨的理由是泰勒已經(jīng)很有名，很受歡迎。歷史學家邁克爾·霍爾特說，1848年泰勒是“全美最受歡迎的人”。

Campaign poster criticizing Zachary Taylor 批評扎卡里·泰勒的競選海報

But Taylor was not really political. He called himself an independent. He shared some beliefs with both major parties at the time. But mostly he wanted to keep the nation together.
但泰勒并不是真正的政治人物。他自稱是獨立人士。當時，他與兩個主要政黨分享了一些信念。但他主要還是想讓國家團結(jié)在一起。

In the end, he agreed to be the candidate of the Whig Party. During the campaign, he did not take a stand^[6] on any of the major issues. His fame as a military general carried him into the White House.
最終，他同意作為輝格黨的候選人。競選期間，他沒有在任何主要問題上表達立場。將軍的名望將他帶進了白宮。

Presidency 總統(tǒng)任期

The truth was that Taylor did have an opinion on slavery: He did not want to expand it, especially in areas that did not support cotton or sugar farms.
事實上，泰勒對蓄奴確實有自己的想法：他不想擴大它，尤其是在不支持棉花和糖廠的區(qū)域。

So, once in office, he proposed a change to the rules about how new territories would become states. The change would let white, American, male settlers in California and New Mexico decide whether they wanted slavery. Then, those areas could enter the Union immediately as states.
所以，他一上任就提議修改新土地如何成為州（加入聯(lián)邦）的規(guī)則。此項修改是讓加利福利亞和新墨西哥的白人，印第安人，男性定居者來決定他們是否想要蓄奴。然后，這些區(qū)域再迅速加入聯(lián)邦成為州。

Taylor aimed to quiet the debate about slavery. But his idea angered almost everybody.
泰勒想要平息關于奴隸制的爭論，但是他的想法幾乎激怒了所有人。

Some U.S. lawmakers believed the president had cut them out of^[7] the decision.
一些美國議員認為，總統(tǒng)已經(jīng)篡奪了他們的決策特權。

Northerners said Taylor’s proposal did not go far enough: It did not solve some of the other issues related to slavery.
北方人認為，泰勒的提議還遠遠不夠：它沒有解決一些其他奴隸制的相關問題。

And Southerners realized that settlers in California and New Mexico would almost surely reject slavery, and give free states a majority in Congress.
南方人認為，加利福利亞和新墨西哥的定居者幾乎肯定是反對奴隸制的，這樣國會的自由州會占多數(shù)。

Zachary Taylor at the White House daguerreotype by Matthew Brady, 1849 - 扎卡里·泰勒1849年在白宮的銀版照相，出自馬修·布雷迪

In one dramatic^[8] incident, some South Carolina officials called a meeting to discuss withdrawing from the Union. In answer, Taylor threatened to hang them.
一則著名的事件是，一些南卡羅萊納州的官員組織了一個會議來討論從聯(lián)邦分離。作為回應，泰勒威脅要絞死他們。

But before Taylor or his idea could get too far, the president became sick.
但在泰勒的想法還沒走多遠之前，他就病倒了。

The story is that he attended outdoor celebrations to mark the nation’s birthday, July 4. Then he went for a walk. The weather was very hot. To cool off, Taylor ate uncooked fruit and drank iced milk.
事情是這樣的，（1850年）7月4日，泰勒出席了戶外舉行的獨立紀念日的慶?；顒?。然后，他頂著炎熱去散步。為了降溫，泰勒吃了生水果，喝了一壺冰牛奶。

That night he told others about pain in his stomach. Five days later, he was dead.
當晚，他告訴其他人他的胃部疼痛。五天后，他就去世了。

His doctor wrote that Taylor died of cholera morbus^[9] -- a general term for severe digestive problems.
他的醫(yī)生寫道，泰勒死于霍亂 — 嚴重消化問題的通用術語。

A few people thought he might have been poisoned. The suspicion remained until 1991, when medical officials examined Taylor’s remains. They confirmed that he died of natural causes.
一些人認為泰勒可能是被下毒致死。疑團一直持續(xù)到1991年，醫(yī)療官員檢查了泰勒的遺骸，他們確認泰勒死于自然原因。

A more recent study offers more details. Jane McHugh and Philip A. Mackowiak say that Taylor was a victim of the same problem that killed presidents William Henry Harrison and James Polk: dirty water in the White House.
最近的一項研究提供了更多的細節(jié)。簡·麥克休和菲利普·A.·麥考維克認為，泰勒和威廉·亨利·哈里森以及詹姆斯·波爾克總統(tǒng)都是死于同樣的原因：白宮的污染水源。

Legacy 遺產(chǎn)

Taylor’s death, while unfortunate, did not cause a political crisis. John Tyler had already established the rule that, if a president dies in office, the vice president becomes president.
泰勒的死，雖然很不幸，但沒有引起政治危機。約翰·泰勒已經(jīng)建立了總統(tǒng)任內(nèi)去世，副總統(tǒng)繼任總統(tǒng)的規(guī)則。

But Taylor’s death did likely change the direction of history. His replacement, Millard Fillmore, did not try to hold the Union together by force. Instead, he joined with politicians who wanted to compromise on the issue.
但是泰勒的死確實很可能改變了歷史的方向。他的繼任者，米勒德·菲爾莫爾，并沒有試圖去以武力保持聯(lián)邦統(tǒng)一。相反，在這個問題上他選擇了妥協(xié)。

The compromise legislation delayed but did not really settle the debate. In time, the division between North and South led to the American Civil War.
妥協(xié)法案僅僅是延遲但并沒有真正解決問題。最終，南北分裂導致了美國內(nèi)戰(zhàn)。

And members of Taylor’s own family became linked to the states that withdrew from the Union.
泰勒自己的家庭成員與脫離聯(lián)邦的諸州有關聯(lián)。

One of his daughters had married Jefferson Davis, who became the president of the Confederacy.
他的一個女兒與杰斐遜·戴維斯結(jié)婚，杰斐遜是美利堅聯(lián)盟國的總統(tǒng)。

原文鏈接

https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/americas-presidents-zachary-taylor/3836070.html

1. trait - n. a quality that makes one person or thing different from another - 特性 ?

2. plantation - n. a large area of land especially in a hot part of the world where crops (such as cotton) are grown - 種植園，尤其是熱帶種植農(nóng)作物（如棉花）的地方。 ?

3. Old Rough and Ready - 老而彌堅，準備有素；機靈的大老粗；精悍的老粗 ；頂用的大老粗 ?

4. hell - n. the place where the devil lives and where evil people go after they die according to some religions; "go to hell" is an informal, impolite expression used to show that you are very angry with someone - 地獄 ?

5. public opinion - 民意；公眾輿論 ?

6. take a stand - 表態(tài)；采取立場；表明立場 ?

7. cut out of - 奪走；從......裁出 ?

8. dramatic - adj. greatly affecting people's emotions - 戲劇性的；引人注目的 ?

9. cholera morbus - 霍亂??； cholera - n. [內(nèi)科] 霍亂；morbus - n.疾病 ?