SAT閱讀背景知識分享——美國文明之偉大領袖

考生們在準備SAT閱讀的過程中就會發(fā)現，快速有效地回答問題需要我們了解基本的美國歷史知識。小編就在此與大家分享SAT閱讀的背景知識：美國文明之偉大領袖。

Mount Rushmore National Memorial, commonly known as the US presidential mountain, is a United States presidential Memorial. There are four famous former presidents in American history in the park. They are George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. Today, the top two of them, John Adams and three fathers of the United States are introduced.

拉什莫爾山國家紀念公園（Mount Rushmore National Memorial）俗稱美國總統(tǒng)山，是一座總統(tǒng)紀念公園（United States Presidential Memorial）。公園內有四座美國歷史上著名的前總統(tǒng)頭像，他們分別是George Washington, Thomas Jefferson、Theodore Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, 今天美征小編為大家介紹的就是其中的前兩位以及John Adams，三位美國國父。

1. George Washington—Father of His Country

George Washington is no stranger to us. He is the head portrait of dollar 1 dollar, and Washington D.C. is named after him. The Americans call him the father of their country.

George Washington我們都不陌生。他是美元1 dollar上的頭像，美國首都Washington D.C以他的名字命名。美國人稱他為國父。

George Washington, even in modern times, is also a rich, handsome and domineering president. He is 188CM TALL and one of the richest men in the colony. He had extraordinary military ability and was commander in chief of the Continental Army during the revolutionary war. He was the first president of the United States and served two consecutive terms. So, through his identity, we can see his importance to American history. As commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, his military leadership will be directly related to the fate of this newly declared independent country; as the first president of the United States, his ideas and actions will affect the political system of the United States.

George Washington就算是放在現代也是一位高富帥加霸道總裁。他是身高188cm, 是殖民地的大富翁之一。他具有非凡的軍事才能，在獨立戰(zhàn)爭時期任大陸軍（Continental Army）總司令。他是美國第一任總統(tǒng)，并連任兩屆。所以，通過他的這些身份，我們可以看出他對于美國歷史的重要性。作為大陸軍總司令，他的軍事領導才能將直接關乎著這個剛剛宣布獨立的國家的命運；作為美國第一任總統(tǒng)，他的主張和行為將會影響到美國的政治體制。

But George Washington did not disappoint Americans. He led the U.S. in winning a series of battles, and most of the U.S. troops established at that time were not systematically trained, and lacked resources and food in the war. However, Washington not only won a series of battles, but also successfully formed an increasingly powerful army. So he became a worthy American hero during the war.

不過，George Washington并沒有讓美國人失望。他領導美國打贏了一系列戰(zhàn)役，而且當時美國成立的軍隊大多沒有經過系統(tǒng)的軍事訓練，并且在戰(zhàn)爭中缺少資源和食物。然而，Washington不僅打贏了一系列的戰(zhàn)役，還成功地組建了一只日益強大的軍隊。所以他當之無愧地成為了戰(zhàn)爭時期的美國英雄。

What is remarkable about Washington is that he is not greedy and knows how to let go. After the war of 1783, he made a famous resignation speech, handed over the military power, and returned to his big farm to be an ordinary farmer and wife for a happy old age. But in 1787, he was invited to preside over the constitutional convention in Philadelphia. In fact, his role in this conference is not to make a constitution, but to maintain the smooth progress of the constitutional conference with the prestige he established during the war, and to promote the implementation of the Constitution with his prestige. But after the meeting, George Washington went home again. 

Washington的過人之處，更在于他的不貪權，懂得放手。1783戰(zhàn)爭結束后，他便發(fā)表了著名的辭職演說，交出軍權，回到了自己的大農場做平凡的農民和妻子過幸福晚年。但是1787年，他還是被邀請參加主持在費城的制憲會議（Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia）。其實他在這個會議中的角色并不是制定憲法，而是用他在戰(zhàn)爭時期建立的威望來維持制憲會議的順利進行，以及用他的威望來促進憲法的實施。但是開完會，George Washington就又回家了。

However, the times make heroes. In 1789, George Washington, an indifferent farmer, was elected the first president of the United States. George Washington knows that his actions will affect the tenure and behavior of the next president of the United States. So at the end of his two terms, he himself renounced the presidency. 

然而，時勢造英雄。1789年，淡泊農夫George Washington 又當選了美國第一任總統(tǒng)。雖然連任兩屆，但是George Washington知道自己的行為會影響到接下來美國總統(tǒng)的任期和行為。所以兩任任期結束后，他自己宣布放棄總統(tǒng)職位。

As a matter of fact, we can think that a leader with extraordinary military ability and supported by tens of thousands of people during the war will easily enlarge his military power and turn the United States into a military dictatorship after independence. On the contrary, the United States has formulated a constitution and embarked on the path of democratic reunification. Every president after George Washington has a clear term of office, and no one can shake the democratic foundation of the United States.

其實我們可以這樣想，一個有著非凡軍事才能，在戰(zhàn)爭時期受萬人擁護的領袖，很容易就會放大自己的軍權，在獨立之后會把美國變成一個軍事獨裁國家。恰恰相反，美國制定了憲法并走上了民主統(tǒng)一的道路，而且在George Washington之后的每一位總統(tǒng)，都有其明確的任期時長，沒有任何人再能夠撼動美國的民主基礎。

2. John Adams

Mei Zheng Xiaobian think John Adams is actually a president with a bad career compared with other founders. Perhaps because of the brilliance of his predecessor George Washington and his next president Thomas Jefferson, it seems that John Adams has not achieved much in politics. However, he was one of the drafters of the declaration of independence; he was Washington's first vice president for two consecutive terms; when he took over the presidency from George Washington, history left the honor to Washington and the mess to John Adams. During his tenure, there was partisan strife in the United States, and he himself faced political disagreements with Benjamin Franklin and Alexander Hamilton.

美征小編認為John Adams與其他幾位開國元勛相比，整體的仕途不順�？赡苁撬�的前任George Washington和他的下一任總統(tǒng)Thomas Jefferson的光芒太耀眼的原因，因此突顯出John Adams在政治上沒有過多顯著的成就。但是，他是《獨立宣言》的起草者之一；他是Washington旗下連任兩屆的美國第一位副總統(tǒng)(vice president); 他從George Washington的手里接過總統(tǒng)職權的時候，歷史把榮譽留給了Washington, 把爛攤子留給了John Adams。在他的任期里，美國出現了黨派之爭，而且他本人也面臨著和Benjamin Franklin以及Alexander Hamilton政見不合的問題。

Another unfortunate thing about John Adams is that he took the lead in moving the capital of the United States to Washington D.C. and became the first president of the United States to enter the White House. However, he moved out just a few days later because he lost the presidential election to Thomas Jefferson. However, his son later became president of the United States and moved back to the White House. 

另一件與John Adams有關的倒霉的事情就是，他率先遷都美國首都到了Washington D.C,成為了美國第一位入主白宮的總統(tǒng)，但是剛住了幾天，就因總統(tǒng)選舉投票輸給了Thomas Jefferson而搬了出來。不過，他的兒子后來又做了美國總統(tǒng)，搬回了白宮。

3. Thomas Jefferson —2 dollar頭像。

Thomas Jefferson should be a president with an "interesting soul.". As one of the founding fathers, he participated in the drafting of the declaration of independence like several important people we introduced before; because he was later sent to Europe, he was absent from the institutional Convention (remember that Benjamin Franklin was also sent to France after the war of independence, Thomas Jefferson was the diplomat who succeeded Franklin); after returning to China in 1789, he was formed The State Department and Alexander Hamilton, a figure we will focus on later, were divided in political opinions, so the democratic republic party was formed to fight against the Federal Party headed by Alexander Hamilton. This is the origin of the two party politics in the United States.

Thomas Jefferson應該可以算得上是擁有“有趣的靈魂”的總統(tǒng)。作為開國元勛之一，他和我們之前介紹的幾個重要人物一樣，參與起草《獨立宣言》；由于后來被派往歐洲，所以缺席了Constitutional Convention，(還記得我們之前提到Benjamin Franklin也在獨立戰(zhàn)爭后被派法國嗎，Thomas Jefferson就是接替Franklin的外交官)；1789年回國后，組建了美國國務院，和后面我們會重點講解的一位人物Alexander Hamilton政見不合，于是組建了共和黨(Democratic-Republican Party)來對抗以Alexander Hamilton為首的聯(lián)邦黨(Federalist Party).這便是美國兩黨政治的由來。

In 1800, Thomas Jefferson defeated the previous president John Adams in the general election and became the third president of the United States for two consecutive terms. During his tenure, his greatest achievement should be the well-known "Louisiana Purchase" (1803), which doubled the territory of the United States.

1800年，Thomas Jefferson在大選中擊敗上一任總統(tǒng)John Adams成為了美國第三任總統(tǒng)，連任兩屆。任職期間，他最大的功績應該就是我們熟知的“路易斯安那收購案”(Louisiana Purchase, 1803)，他的這舉措將美國領土擴大了一倍。

In 1808, when Thomas Jefferson's term ended, he chose to retire. So, we see the "interesting soul" after his retirement. As a model of wealth and leisure, he built a mansion called "little mountain" in Italian on the top of his Grand Manor, where he took his interest in architecture and gardening to the extreme. Of course, in terms of public utilities, he built the University of Virginia, a university separated from education and religion. He personally supervised the construction of the University. In order to build the University, Jefferson devoted almost all his energy and life-long financial resources in his later years.

1808年，Thomas Jefferson任期結束，他選擇歸隱。于是，我們看到了他歸隱之后所體現出來的“有趣靈魂”。作為有錢有閑的典范，他在自己家大莊園的山頂上建了一個名為“Monticell”(“little mountain” in Italian)的公館，在這里他把自己對于建筑和園藝的興趣發(fā)揮到了極致。當然，在公共事業(yè)方面，他建造了University of Virginia,一所教育與宗教分離的大學，這所大學是由他親自監(jiān)工建設的，為了這所大學的建成，Jefferson幾乎傾注了自己晚年的全部精力和畢生的財力。

Finally, on his epitaph, Jefferson left the following sentence: "Here was buried Thomas Jefferson — author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the Virginia Law for Religious Freedom, and Father of the University of Virginia.”

最后，在他的墓志銘上，Jefferson留下了這樣一句話："Here was buried Thomas Jefferson — author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the Virginia Law for Religious Freedom, and Father of the University of Virginia.”