Martin Van Buren:Just OK

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 Martin Van Buren. He was sworn in as the eighth president of the United States in 1837.
今天，我们要讨论的是马丁·范布伦。他于1837年宣誓成为美国第八任总统。

Van Buren had already been working for the White House for several years. He had been the secretary of state for President Andrew Jackson, and later his vice president.
范布伦曾供职于白宫多年。他担任过安德鲁·杰克逊总统的国务卿，后来又担任副了总统。

Jackson asked his party, the Democrats, to nominate Van Buren as their presidential candidate in the 1836 election.
在1836年选举中，杰克逊要求民主党人提名范布伦为他们的总统候选人。

They agreed, and Van Buren won that election easily. But he did not win the next election. Or the next. Or the next.
他们同意了，范布伦轻易地赢得了那次选举。但是他没能连任，或者下一任，或者再下一任。

Presidency 总统任期

In his inaugural¹ speech in 1837, Van Buren noted that he was the first U.S. president to be born after the American Revolution.
范布伦在1837年的就职演说中指出，他是独立战争后出生的第一位美国总统。

He was also the first president who was not from a British family. His ancestors were Dutch.
他也是第一位不是来自英国家庭的总统。他的祖先是荷兰人。

He remains the only president – so far – who did not speak English as his first language.
目前为止，他仍旧是唯一一位不以英语为第一语言的总统。

In his inaugural speech, Van Buren predicted better times for Americans.
范布伦在就职演说中预示着美国更好的时代到来。

But several days later, an economic crisis struck. The situation put the country in a depression that lasted for the rest of Van Buren’s term. It was one reason the president’s opponents called him “Martin Van Ruin.”
但不久之后，美国就陷入了经济危机。这场危机使美国陷入了萧条，范布伦的整个任期都处于这场萧条当中。这也是范布伦总统被他的反对者称作“马丁·范毁灭”的原因之一。

The depression was not Van Buren’s only problem. He also faced a dispute with Britain related to the border between the U.S. and Canada. The conflict nearly turned into war.
范布伦不仅仅面临经济萧条这一个问题。他还面临着一个与英国之间有关美国和加拿大边境的争端。这场冲突几乎引发开战。

Historian Joel Silbey says most experts do not think Van Buren was a strong president.
历史学家乔尔·西尔贝说，大多数专家不认为范布伦是一位强势的总统。

However, Silbey notes, Van Buren left an important legacy that still operates today: He created the modern U.S. political system.
然而，西尔贝指出，范布伦留下了一个重要的遗产，它如今仍旧在运作：他建立了现代美国政治体系。

Early life 早期生活

Van Buren’s political education began early.
范布伦的政治教育启蒙较早。

His father was a farmer and operated a hotel at a small town in New York State. Lawmakers sometimes visited the hotel. By listening to them, the future president learned about politics.
他的父亲是农场主，并且在纽约州的一个小镇开了家旅馆。议员们有时会住在旅馆。通过听他们讲话，这位未来的总统了解到了政治。

Eventually, Van Buren studied in a law office and became a lawyer. In the first years of his career, he defended farmers who were fighting large plantation owners for their land. As a result, he developed a reputation² for helping the common man.
最终，范布伦在律师所学习并成为了一名律师。在头几年的职业生涯里，他为那些与大种植园主有土地冲突的农民辩护。结果，他得到了帮助普通人的声誉。

Van Buren became a local official, and then a senator and governor of New York.
范布伦成为了本地官员，然后当选了纽约州的参议员以及州长。

When he was 24, he married a young woman he had grown up with. But she died of tuberculosis after 12 years, leaving him with four sons.
24岁时，他与从小一起青梅竹马的年轻女人结了婚，但12年后死于肺结核，给范布伦留下了四个儿子。

Historian Joel Silbey says although Van Buren did not remarry, “he was known as quite charming³ among the ladies⁴.”
历史学家乔尔·西尔贝说，尽管范布伦没有再婚，但他女人缘很好。

Political animal 政治动物

Van Buren had a gift for politics – that is, developing relationships and forming alliances.
范布伦拥有政治天赋 — 即发展关系并建立联盟。

Historian Joel Silbey says most people who knew Van Buren liked him. He seemed warm and friendly. He tried to keep his work-related life and social activities separate. It was not unusual to see him exchange handshakes, smiles and jokes with men who were his political enemies.
历史学家乔尔·西尔贝认为大多数了解范布伦的人都喜欢他。他看起来热情友善。他试图将工作相关的生活和社交活动分开。看到他与政治敌人握手，微笑以及开玩笑都是正常的。

His ability to make friends became a powerful tool. Before Van Buren, even lawmakers from the same political party operated independently. They had their own beliefs, their own supporters, and their own allies. Van Buren brought them together.
范布伦交友的能力成为他有力的工具。在范布伦之前，即使议员来自同一个政治党派也会独立运作。他们有自己的信仰，自己的支持者，以及自己的联盟。而范布伦把他们联合了一起。

First he identified people who followed the ideas of Thomas Jefferson: support for independent farmers and states’ rights. The group had become known as the Democratic Party (although it was in many ways different from the Democratic Party of today).
首先，他确定了追随托马斯·杰斐逊思想的人：支持独立农场主和州权利。这一群体就是大家所知的民主党（尽管和当今的民主党有许多地方不同）。

Van Buren organized meetings for Democrats to talk about their political beliefs. He persuaded them to support the same policies – at that time, the policies of Andrew Jackson.
范布伦组织民主党人的会议来讨论他们的政治信仰。他说服他们去支持相同的政策 — 那时的安德鲁·杰克逊政策。

Sometimes, Van Buren helped people who supported Jackson’s policies. He gave them government jobs.
有时，范布伦会帮助那些支持杰克逊政策的人，给他们提供政府工作。

Van Buren also used a series of meetings to choose one presidential candidate for the party. If this process seems clear-cut⁵, it was not at the time. During the election of 1824, for example, a single party had four separate candidates for president, one for each part of the country.
范布伦也使用一系列会议来选择党派的一个总统候选人，如果过程看起来清晰明了，那就不需要了。例如，在1824年大选期间，一个政党有四个单独的总统候选人，分别在全国各地。

Van Buren’s system eventually gave rise to⁶ the national conventions⁷ that major U.S. parties use today to nominate their candidates.
范布伦体系最终促成了全国党代表大会的形成，美国如今的主要政党都使用它来提名候选人。

Model campaigner 模范竞选者

Van Buren also helped create the modern political campaign. In the 1820s, he saw that many state constitutions were lifting some of their voting restrictions. As a result, states were giving more white males the right to vote. (Women and most African-American men were still largely prohibited from voting.)
范布伦也帮助建立了现代政治运动。19世纪20年代，他看到许多州宪法增加了一些投票限制。结果导致那些州的白人男性有更多的投票权。（妇女和大多数非裔美国人仍然在很大程度上被禁止投票。）

Historian Joel Silbey says Van Buren wanted to bring these new voters into the Democratic Party. He decided to improve on the methods that other, smaller groups had used: campaign events, speeches, and organized efforts to bring people to vote on Election Day.
历史学家乔尔·西尔贝说，范布伦想要把这些新选民引入民主党。他决定去改善其他小团体使用过的方法：竞选活动，演说，以及组织选民在选举日投票。

Silbey explains that these efforts to persuade and energize voters were new to national politics. Now they are some of the major features⁸ of political campaigns.
西尔贝解释到，说服以及激励选民的方式对于国家政治来讲都是新方法。这些方法在如今的政治活动中扮演着一些主要的角色。

Live by the sword, die by the sword 以其人之道，还治其人之身

In the election of 1840, Van Buren sought a second term as president. This time his opponents used Van Buren’s political techniques against him.
1840年大选，范布伦寻求连任。这次，范布伦的对手用他的政治技巧来对付他。

Silbey says the new opposition party, called the Whigs, used popular speeches and events to portray⁹ Van Buren as a failed president.
西尔贝说，新反对党辉格党，用受欢迎的演说和事件把范布伦描绘成一个失败的总统。

Crowds shouted, “Mattie Van is a used-up man!” In other words, he no longer had any power or effect in government.
人群中呐喊，“马丁范是一个无能的人！”换句话说，范布伦在政府部门不再有任何影响力。

Critics also made fun of Van Buren’s fine-looking, even fussy¹⁰ clothes. They portrayed him as a rich, elite candidate. They compared him unfavorably¹¹ to their candidate, a military hero named William Henry Harrison.
评论家也取笑范布伦好看的、甚至是特别讲究的衣服。他们把范布伦描绘成一位富有的精英候选人，拿他与军事英雄威廉·亨利·哈里森做比较，这对范布伦来说是不利的。

Yet it was Van Buren who had come from a poor family, and Harrison from a wealthy one.
然而，其实范布伦来自一个贫穷家庭，哈里森来自一个富有家庭。

Even so, Van Buren lost the election of 1840.
即使如此，范布伦还是在1840年的选举中败选。

Four years later, Van Buren again sought the presidency. This time, even Andrew Jackson did not support him. Instead, Jackson backed a man who supported the seizure of Texas and expanding slavery: James Polk.
四年后，范布伦再次竞选总统。这次，即使安德鲁·杰克逊也没有支持他，反而支持了詹姆斯·波尔克。波尔克支持占领德克萨斯州以及扩大奴隶制。

But Van Buren did not permit those defeats to stop his political career. He ran again in the presidential election of 1848.
但是范布伦并没有因这些挫败而停止他的政治生涯。1848年，他再一次参加了总统竞选。

This time, Van Buren withdrew from the Democratic Party he had helped build. He ran instead as the candidate of a new, anti-slavery party, called the Free Soilers.
这次，范布伦退出了曾经建立的民主党。相反，他作为一个新的反奴隶制政党的候选人而参加竞选，这个政党被称为自由民主党。

But even Van Buren’s political skills could not persuade voters. He did not win a single state.
但即使是范布伦的政治才能也无法说服选民，他没有赢取一个州的选票。

​After losing this final presidential election, Van Buren finally retired. He spent time with his children and grandchildren, traveled, and wrote about his life.
最后一次总统败选后，范布伦终于退休。退休后的时光，他与儿孙们在一起，旅游，以及写自传。

At 79 he died of heart failure.
79岁时，他死于心脏衰竭。

原文链接

https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/americas-presidents-martin-van-buren/3793825.html

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