George Washington:Reluctant

译 / 陈式方程

VOA Learning English presents America’s Presidents.
美国之音慢速英语介绍美国总统栏目。

Today we are talking about George Washington.
今天，我们来谈论乔治·华盛顿。

He was the first president of the United States. He served from 1789 to 1797.
他是美国第一任总统，任职于1789-1797年。

But he had many other accomplishments¹, too.
但他除了总统还有许多其他成就。

He owned thousands of hectares of land in his home state of Virginia.
在他的家乡弗吉尼亚州他拥有数千公顷的土地。

He was a famous general, who led the American colonists to freedom from British rule.
他是一位著名的将军，领导美国摆脱英国殖民统治并恢复自由。

And he presided over the convention that created the U.S. Constitution.
并且主持了美国的制宪会议。

For Washington, that was enough. He said he wanted to retire from public service and return home.
对于华盛顿来说，这些已经足够。他曾经说过，他想从公职退休返回家乡。

But the country’s new electors had other ideas. They wanted him to move to New York and invent the American presidency.
但是美国的新选民有其他的想法，他们想让华盛顿去纽约创立美国总统。

Washington accepted the job as his duty.
华盛顿接受了这项职责工作。

Washington as president 总统时期的华盛顿

Washington was sworn in as president in 1789. At the time, a truly united states was still just an idea. Americans were unconnected groups.
华盛顿于1789年宣誓成为总统。那个时候，一个真正的联合众国仅仅是一个想法。美国人民处于分隔的团体。

They came from different countries, had different religions, and spoke different languages. For example, a quarter of the people in the state of Pennsylvania spoke only German.
他们来自于不同的国家，怀有不同的宗教信仰，以及说着不同的语言。例如，宾夕法尼亚州四分之一的人只讲德语。

Doug Bradburn is the founding director of the Washington Library at Mount Vernon. He says when Washington took office, the country was “fragile.”
道格·布拉德伯恩是弗农山庄华盛顿图书馆的创立主任。他说，华盛顿执政时，国家正处于支离破碎的状态。

“The chances that it would even survive were probably very, very slim.”
“国家能够存活的机会也许会非常非常渺茫。”

Bradburn explains that Washington had to establish social and political unity. But the Constitution did not say how the president could do that.
布拉德伯恩解释说，华盛顿必须要建立起社会和政治统一。但是，宪法并没有告诉总统该怎样去做。

So, Bradburn says, George Washington invented the job for all future presidents.
所以，布拉德伯恩说道，乔治·华盛顿为以后的总统建立了总统这项工作的雏形。

He established a group of advisors — called the cabinet—as well as the nation’s official money. He appointed a six-member Supreme Court. And he created the Department of Foreign Affairs, now called the State Department.
他成立了一组顾问 — 叫做内阁 — 如同国家的官方资金。他认命了一个6人组的最高法院，并且成立了外交部，现在叫做国务院。

However, Washington said it was the president’s responsibility to set foreign policy.
不管怎样，华盛顿说设置外交政策是总统的责任。

Historian Doug Bradburn explains that Washington established the president not just as a figurehead², but as a decision maker.
历史学家道格·布拉德伯恩解释说，华盛顿创建的总统不仅仅只是挂个虚名而已，而是一个实实在在的决策者。

But he always used the Constitution as his guide.
而且他总是以宪法作为准则。

“He wasn’t just trying to establish an office and then figure out a way to justify it, he was trying to work with his Constitution.”
“他不只是试图去建立一个政府部门，然后想出一个方法去证明它，他试图去依据宪法来工作。”

Washington as a young man 年轻时的华盛顿

Courtesy of³

George Washington was born in 1732 in the colony of Virginia. His father died when George was 11 years old. As a boy, he learned reading, writing and math. Then he worked as a land surveyor⁴ in western Virginia.
乔治·华盛顿于1732年出生于弗吉尼亚殖民地，他的父亲在他11岁时便去世了。作为男孩，他学习了阅读，写作和数学，然后他在西弗吉尼亚做了一名土地勘测员。

Historian Joseph Ellis points out that Washington did not have a formal education. Instead of going to college, Ellis says, Washington went to war. He fought against the French and Indians as a British Army officer.
历史学家约瑟夫·埃利斯指出，华盛顿没有接受过正规教育，没有去上大学，而是去参加了战争。他作为一名英国军官与法国印第安人战斗。

That experience informed Washington’s world view. Ellis describes the first president as “a realist.” At the same time, Washington was a “very passionate man” with “extremely strong emotions.” He was known to get angry, but he showed his temper⁵ to only a few people.
这段经历使他了解了世界观。埃利斯描述这第一位总统是“一个现实主义者”。同时，华盛顿也是一位带有“强烈情感”的“富有激情的人”。他易怒，但只在部分人面前展现过。

Washington not only acted like a great leader – he looked like one. George Washington stood about 1.9 meters tall. That was a head taller than the average man of his time.
华盛顿不仅仅行为举止像一位伟大的领袖——他看起来也很像。乔治·华盛顿有1.9米高，在当时比平均男人身高还要高一个头。

He was very strong, and very graceful⁶. He was known as one of the best horseback riders and best dancers in Virginia.
他非常强壮，也很优雅。在佛吉尼亚，他是最好的马背上的骑手以及最好的舞者之一。

But he had a problem: bad teeth.
但是他有一个问题：糟糕的牙齿。

Unlike his wife, Martha, who was known for her lovely smile, George Washington began losing his teeth in his twenties. When he was sworn in as president, he had only one tooth left.
不像他的妻子玛莎拥有甜美的微笑，乔治·华盛顿在20几岁时就开始牙齿脱落。当他宣誓当总统时，只剩一个牙齿了。

Washington as a myth 神化的华盛顿

Washington remains an important figure in the American imagination. Even today people tell stories about him.
华盛顿一直是美国人心目中的一位重要人物，即使到今天人们还在叙说着他的故事。

One popular story, that he had wooden teeth, is not true. But he did wear dentures⁷. They were made, in part, from hippopotamus⁸ ivory⁹.
一个流行的故事是关于他的假牙不是木头制作的。但是他确实戴着假牙，只是部分是由河马牙和象牙雕刻而成的。

And he did not chop down a cherry tree as a child and then admit it by saying, “I cannot tell a lie.” In fact, historian Joseph Ellis says George Washington “lied many times.”
他少年时砍掉一颗樱桃树并承认自己的过犯，他说：“我不能撒谎。” 事实上，历史学家约瑟夫·埃利斯认为华盛顿 ”撒过很多次谎言。“

But it is true that as Washington became more famous, his reputation grew. People thought of him as a man who always did the right thing.
但是随着华盛顿越来越有名气，他的声誉也变得越来越好。人们会认为他做的事情总是正确的。

Joseph Ellis says even Washington understood people would look at his writings and judge him.
约瑟夫·埃利斯认为华盛顿甚至知道人们会看他的作品来评判他。

“Washington went from being a man to a monument. He was aware of the fact that he had a role to play and that all emerging nations need mythical heroes.”
“华盛顿从一个男人变成了纪念碑。他很清楚地知道他所需要扮演的角色以及新兴国家需要神话英雄的事实。”

Washington became very protective of his personal thoughts. His wife burned most of their letters.
华盛顿很注重保护他的个人思想。他的妻子烧毁了他们之间的大部分信件。

Yet we know a little bit about George Washington’s thoughts from other writing. One of his regrets, he said, was that he had not done something to end slavery.
但是我们还是会从乔治·华盛顿其他的作品中知道一些他的思想。他说，他的一个遗憾是没有为结束蓄奴制做一些事情。

Like many plantation owners, Washington was a slave holder. More than 300 enslaved people lived on his property.
就像许多农场主一样，华盛顿是一个蓄奴主，有超过300个奴隶生活在他的农场上。

By the end of his life¹⁰, Washington opposed slavery. He left a will¹¹ ordering his survivors to free his slaves after his wife’s death.
华盛顿晚年时期是反对奴隶制的。他留下一份遗嘱，在他的妻子死去之后释放他的奴隶。

Washington’s will became relevant sooner than he might have liked.
华盛顿的遗嘱比他可能期望的更早。

Three years after he finished his second term as president, Washington fell ill. He had been outside riding his horse on a cold, wet day. When he came home, he complained of a sore throat.
当华盛顿结束他第二届总统任期后的3年，他病倒了。他在一个寒冷潮湿的天气外出骑马，当返回家中时，他抱怨喉咙痛。

Over the next two days, his condition became worse. On December 14, 1799, he died in his bed, surrounded by his wife, enslaved maids, and friends. He was 67.
接下来的两天，他的状况越发糟糕。1799年12月14号，在他妻子、女佣和朋友的围绕下，他去世了，享年67岁。

Washington’s legacy 华盛顿的遗产

Historian Joseph Ellis says one of the best things about George Washington was his ability to give up power. At the end of the Revolutionary War¹², General Washington returned his sword. And at the end of his administration, President Washington simply returned home.
历史学家约瑟夫·埃利斯认为乔治·华盛顿最为人称道的一件事是他能够放弃权利。独立战争结束后，华盛顿将军收回了他的宝剑。在他的任期结束后，华盛顿总统返回了家乡。

“You could trust Washington with power because he was so conspicuously¹³ willing to give it up.”
“你可以信任华盛顿拥有的权利，因为很显然他愿意放弃权利。”

Doug Bradburn says Washington was the right man at the right time. Bradburn, like many historians, calls George Washington the “indispensable¹⁴ man.”
道格·布拉德伯恩说华盛顿是正确的时间正确的人。跟许多历史学家一样， 布拉德伯恩也认为乔治·华盛顿是“不可或缺的人”。

In other words, Washington was essential to the American experiment in self-government. He made ideas about American freedom real, and he showed that even the president would operate under the rule of law.
也就是说，华盛顿对于美国实验性自治政府是必须的。他使美国人民自由的想法成真，并且展示了即使是总统也要在法治下运作。

原文链接

https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/americas-presidents-washington/3714877.html

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