譯 / 陳式方程

America's Presidents - John Tyler 美國(guó)總統(tǒng) — 約翰·泰勒

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

Today we are talking about a vice president. John Tyler was William Henry Harrison’s partner on the ticket in the 1840 election; he was the “Tyler” of the campaign slogan^[1] “Tippecanoe and Tyler, too.”
今天，我們來(lái)談?wù)撘晃桓笨偨y(tǒng)。1840年總統(tǒng)大選時(shí)，約翰·泰勒是威廉·亨利·哈里森的選票搭檔；他就是競(jìng)選口號(hào)“蒂珀卡努和泰勒”中的“泰勒”。

But only one month into his term as president, Harrison unexpectedly died. He was the first U.S. president to die in office. Today, Americans accept that when that happens, the vice president becomes the president. But in 1841, no one really knew what to do.
但哈里森當(dāng)了一個(gè)月總統(tǒng)就意外死亡了，他是第一位在位時(shí)去世的總統(tǒng)。現(xiàn)今，美國(guó)接受總統(tǒng)去世時(shí)副總統(tǒng)接過(guò)職位。但在1841年，沒(méi)人知道該怎么做。

So people turned to the Constitution.
所以人們?cè)V諸憲法。

It said if the president is removed from office, or if he dies, resigns, or is not able to perform his duties, his power and responsibility is given to the vice president.
憲法上表明，如果總統(tǒng)被免職、死亡、辭職，或無(wú)法履行職責(zé)，他的權(quán)利和責(zé)任將會(huì)轉(zhuǎn)交給副總統(tǒng)。

But the meaning of those words was unclear. Did the vice president really become the president, or did the vice president just act like the president?
但是那些詞的表達(dá)不夠清晰。副總統(tǒng)是真正成為總統(tǒng)？還是只是代理總統(tǒng)？

The Constitution may not have been clear, but John Tyler was. He claimed that, after Harrison’s death, he really was the president.
憲法沒(méi)有明確規(guī)定，但是約翰·泰勒很明確。他聲稱(chēng)，哈里森死后他就是總統(tǒng)。

Tyler made sure he was quickly sworn-in. He answered only to the title “president.” He even refused to open letters that were sent to “Acting President Tyler.”
泰勒確保自己迅速宣誓成為總統(tǒng)。他只會(huì)以總統(tǒng)身份回答問(wèn)題。他甚至拒絕打開(kāi)稱(chēng)呼他“代理總統(tǒng)泰勒”的信件。

Eventually, Americans accepted John Tyler was the nation’s 10th president.
最終，美國(guó)人接受了約翰·泰勒作為國(guó)家第十任總統(tǒng)。

But some Americans were not happy about that fact. During his presidency, all but one of Tyler’s cabinet advisors resigned, and members of his own party tried to impeach him.
但是，一些美國(guó)人并不樂(lè)于接受這個(gè)事實(shí)。在泰勒任期內(nèi)，除了一位，其他所有的內(nèi)閣顧問(wèn)都辭職了，而且他自己黨派的成員還試著去彈劾他。

Early life 早期生活

Tyler was from the southern state of Virginia, home to five earlier U.S. presidents. Like many of the leaders before him, he was a lawyer from an upper class family who owned slaves. He strongly supported the power of the states against the federal government, expansion of slavery, and rule by a small, elite^[2] group.
泰勒來(lái)自南部的弗吉尼亞州，早期五位美國(guó)總統(tǒng)的家鄉(xiāng)。像許多在他之前的總統(tǒng)一樣，他是一位律師，來(lái)自一個(gè)擁有奴隸的上層家庭。他強(qiáng)烈支持各州反對(duì)聯(lián)邦政府的力量，奴隸制的擴(kuò)張，以及小精英團(tuán)體的統(tǒng)治。

But the United States was starting to change. For example, President John Quincy Adams had proposed creating a national system of roads. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 limited slavery in new states in the northwest. And in the 1830s, many white men who did not own property earned the right to vote.
但是美國(guó)已經(jīng)在改變了。例如，約翰·昆西·亞當(dāng)斯總統(tǒng)提議修建一條國(guó)家道路系統(tǒng)。1820年的密蘇里妥協(xié)限制了西北新加入州的奴隸制。19世紀(jì)30年代，許多沒(méi)有財(cái)產(chǎn)的白人獲得了投票權(quán)。

In other words, the U.S. was becoming more national, abolitionist^[3], and equal.
換句話(huà)說(shuō)，美國(guó)正變得更加全國(guó)性、廢奴主義以及平等。

Tyler resisted these changes. He fought against them as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, a governor of Virginia, and a senator.
泰勒很抵抗這些改變。作為眾議員，弗吉尼亞州長(zhǎng)和參議員，他一直與這些改變作斗爭(zhēng)。

His fight reached a crisis during the presidency of Andrew Jackson. The two men belonged to the same party, the Democratic Party. However, Tyler hated Jackson’s populist^[4] policies and use of presidential powers against the states.
安德魯·杰克遜總統(tǒng)任期內(nèi)，他的斗爭(zhēng)遭遇了危機(jī)。這兩位都屬于民主黨。然而，泰勒討厭杰克遜的民粹主義政策以及利用總統(tǒng)權(quán)力對(duì)抗各州。

In the middle of the 1830s, Tyler joined with several other political leaders to create a new, anti-Jackson party. They were called the Whigs.
19世紀(jì)30年代中期，泰勒與其他幾個(gè)政治領(lǐng)袖建立了一個(gè)反對(duì)杰克遜的新黨派。他們稱(chēng)之為輝格黨。

Presidency 總統(tǒng)任期

The new Whig party badly^[5] wanted to win the 1840 presidential election against Jackson’s right hand man^[6], Martin Van Buren. They proposed John Tyler as the party’s vice presidential candidate because they hoped he would appeal to southern voters.
1840年，新興黨派輝格黨迫切希望在總統(tǒng)大選中擊敗杰克遜的得力助手馬丁·范布倫。輝格黨推舉了約翰·泰勒作為副總統(tǒng)候選人，因?yàn)樗麄兿Ｍ戏竭x民。

The Whigs succeeded. Tyler and Harrison won the election. The new party expected that they would be able to achieve^[7] many of their policy goals.
輝格黨成功了，泰勒和哈里森贏得了大選。這個(gè)新興黨派期望能夠?qū)崿F(xiàn)他們的許多政策目的。

Official White House portriat of John Tyler by George P. A. Healy - 約翰·泰勒的官方白宮畫(huà)像，出自喬治·P·A·希利

But then Harrison died, and Tyler unexpectedly became president. Tyler kept Harrison’s cabinet of top advisers. But he did not accept their advice.
但不久哈里森就死了，泰勒意外成為了總統(tǒng)。泰勒保留了哈里森內(nèi)閣的高級(jí)顧問(wèn)，但并不接受他們的建議。

Whig lawmakers presented bill after bill to Tyler, but he failed to support the measures. He believed they gave too much power to the federal government over the states.
輝格黨的立法議員們提出了一個(gè)又一個(gè)法案給泰勒，但他都沒(méi)有支持。他認(rèn)為他們給了聯(lián)邦政府太多的權(quán)利。

In anger, all but one of Tyler’s cabinet members resigned.
出于憤怒，泰勒的內(nèi)閣成員除了一位都辭職了。

Then Whig leaders officially declared that Tyler was no longer part of their group. The following year they even moved to impeach him.
輝格黨的領(lǐng)袖們官方宣稱(chēng)泰勒不再是他們黨派的成員。次年，他們甚至去彈劾泰勒。

He became known as a president without a party.
他以沒(méi)有政黨的總統(tǒng)而聞名。

Tyler was able to achieve one major political act, however. Three days before he left office, he signed the law that made Texas a state.
然而，泰勒取得了一個(gè)主要的政治行動(dòng)。在他離開(kāi)總統(tǒng)辦公室的前3天，他簽署了使德克薩斯成為州的法律。

Perhaps wisely, Tyler withdrew from the next presidential election.
也許是明智地，泰勒退出了下屆的總統(tǒng)選舉。

He eventually withdrew even his support for the federal government. He became a leader in the movement for Southern secession^[8].
最終，他甚至撤回了對(duì)聯(lián)邦政府的支持。他成為了南方獨(dú)立運(yùn)動(dòng)的領(lǐng)袖。

In other words, he believed the Southern states had the right to separate from the North and leave the Union. In time, the separation between the South and North would lead to the Civil War.
也就是說(shuō)，他認(rèn)為南方各州擁有從北方分離，脫離聯(lián)盟的權(quán)利。最終，南北分離導(dǎo)致了內(nèi)戰(zhàn)。

Family 家庭

Tyler was an unusual president. He took office in an unusual way, and he took the unusual step of vetoing legislative action proposed by his own party.
泰勒是一位不同尋常的總統(tǒng)。他以不尋常的方式上任總統(tǒng)，并以不尋常的方式來(lái)否決了他自己黨派的立法行為。

His family life has other unusual details. Tyler was the first president to get married while in office. He was the president with the most children. And two of his grandchildren remained alive until well into the 21^st century.
他的家庭生活更是擁有其他不尋常的細(xì)節(jié)。泰勒是第一位在任時(shí)結(jié)婚的總統(tǒng)，是擁有最多孩子的總統(tǒng)。他的兩個(gè)孫子一直活到了21世紀(jì)。

Julia Gardiner Tyler - 茱莉亞·嘉丁納·泰勒

In 1844, Tyler married Julia Gardiner. She was his second wife. His first wife, Letitia, had died two years earlier.
1844年，泰勒和茱莉亞·嘉丁納結(jié)婚，這是他的二婚。他的第一個(gè)妻子利蒂希婭，2年前去世了。

John and Letitia Tyler had eight children together. Since Julia Gardiner Tyler was 24 years old -- 30 years younger than her new husband -- the two had plenty of time to have another seven children.
約翰和利蒂希婭·泰勒有8個(gè)孩子。由于茱莉亞·嘉丁納24歲，比他的新任丈夫年輕30歲，所以他們兩個(gè)有大把時(shí)間生了另外7個(gè)孩子。

And, because one of their sons had children in the 1920s, two of Tyler’s grandchildren are still alive as of early 2017.
而且，由于他們的一個(gè)兒子在20世紀(jì)20年代生了孩子，泰勒的2個(gè)孫子一直活到2017年初。

Legacy 遺產(chǎn)

Tyler is not remembered as a good president. But he is remembered for establishing a precedent – a way of doing something that other people have followed.
泰勒并沒(méi)有以一位好總統(tǒng)而被記住。但他因?yàn)殚_(kāi)了一個(gè)先例而被記住 — 其他人遵循他做某事的方式。

The Tyler precedent permitted the peaceful of transfer^[9] of power from president to vice president in 1841. And it eased the transition after other presidents have died since then.
泰勒的先例就是，1841年總統(tǒng)的權(quán)利和平地交接給了副總統(tǒng)。自那以后，這也緩和了其他總統(tǒng)去世后權(quán)利交接的轉(zhuǎn)變。

In 1967, the Constitution was even changed to clarify what Tyler had claimed all along^[10]: when the president dies, the vice president becomes the new chief executive^[11].
1967年，憲法甚至被改變來(lái)闡明泰勒一直聲稱(chēng)的：當(dāng)總統(tǒng)去世后，副總統(tǒng)接替總統(tǒng)職位。

原文鏈接

https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/americas-presidents-john-tyler/3817979.html

1. slogan - n. a word or phrase that is easy to remember and is used by a group or business to attract attention - 口號(hào) ?

2. elite - n. the people who have the most wealth and status in a society - n. 精英；精華；中堅(jiān)分子 ?

3. abolitionist - n. a person who wants to stop or abolish slavery - 廢奴主義者 ?

4. populist - n. 平民主義者；民粹派；adj. 民粹主義的（等于populistic）；平民主義的 ?

5. badly - adv. 非常，很 ?

6. right-hand man - 左右手；左膀右臂；得力助手 ?

7. achieve - v. to get or reach (something) by working hard - 實(shí)現(xiàn) ?

8. secession - n. the act of separating from a nation or state and becoming independent - 脫離，分離 ?

9. transfer - v. to give rights to another person - 轉(zhuǎn)移權(quán)利 ?

10. all along - 自始至終，一直 ?

11. executive - n. a person who manages or directs other people in a company or organization - 總經(jīng)理，行政長(zhǎng)官 ?