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发表于 2018-11-28 18:07:11
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This meeting of colonial delegates was called the First Continental Congress. 此次殖民地代表会议被称为第一届大陆会议。
It was held in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in September, seventeen seventy-four. 该会议于1774年9月在宾夕法尼亚州的费城举行。
All the colonies except one was represented. The southern colony of Georgia did not send a delegate. 除了南殖民地格鲁吉亚没有派代表,所有殖民地都派代表出席了会议。
The delegates agreed that the British Parliament had no right to control trade with the American colonies or to make any laws that affected them. 代表们一致认为,英国议会无权控制与美国殖民地的贸易,也无权制定任何殖民地的法律。
They said the people of the colonies must have the right to take part in any legislative group that made laws for them. 他们表示,殖民地人民必须有权参加任何涉及自身利益的立法会议。
The First Continental Congress approved a series of documents that condemned all British actions in the American colonies after seventeen sixty-three. 第一届大陆会议通过了一系列文件,谴责1763年后英国在美洲殖民地的所有行为。
It approved a Massachusetts proposal saying that the people could use weapons to defend their rights. 会议批准了马萨诸塞州的一项提议,声称人们可以使用武器来捍卫自己的权利。
It also organized a Continental Association to boycott British goods and to stop all exports to any British colony or to Britain itself. 还组织了一个大陆联合会以抵制英国商品,并停止向任何英国殖民地或英国出口商品。
Local committees were created to enforce the boycott. 地方委员会负责实施抵制行动。
One of the delegates to this First Continental Congress was John Adams of Massachusetts. 第一届大陆会议的代表之一是马萨诸塞州的约翰·亚当斯。
Many years later, he said that by the time the meeting was held, the American Revolution had already begun. 多年以后,他说,在这次会议召开的时候,美国革命就已经开始了。
Britain's King George the Second announced that the New England colonies were in rebellion. 英国国王乔治二世宣布新英格兰殖民地处于叛乱状态。
Parliament made the decision to use troops against Massachusetts in January, seventeen seventy-five. 1775年1月,国会决定出军镇压马萨诸塞州。
The people of Massachusetts formed a provincial assembly and began training men to fight. 马萨诸塞人组建省议会,开始进行军事训练。
Soon, groups of armed men were doing military exercises in towns all around Massachusetts and in other colonies, too. 不久,成群的武装人员在马萨诸塞州周围的城镇和其他殖民地进行军事演习。
British officers received their orders in April, seventeen seventy-five. 1775年4月,英国收到命令。
By that time, the colonists had been gathering weapons in the town of Concord, about thirty kilometers west of Boston. 当时,殖民者正在波士顿以西大约30公里的康科德镇收集武器
The British forces were ordered to seize the weapons. But the colonists knew they were coming and were prepared. 英国军队奉命没收了这些武器。但是殖民者做好了抵抗的准备。
Years later, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote a poem about what happened. 多年后,亨利·沃兹沃斯·朗费罗写了一首诗,描述当时的情景。
The poem tells about the actions of Paul Revere, one of three men who helped warn the colonial troops that the British were coming: 这首诗写的是保罗·里维尔的行动,保罗·里维尔是帮助警告殖民地军队英国即将到来的三个人之一:
Listen my children and you shall hear 孩子们,你们听到的是
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere. 保罗·里维尔午夜骑马的故事。
On the eighteenth of April in Seventy-five 七十五年四月十八日
Hardly a man is now alive 几乎没有人活到现在
Who remembers that famous day and year. 谁记得年份和日子。
He said to his friend, "If the British march 保罗·里维尔对他的朋友说:“如果英国人今晚
By land or sea from the town tonight 从镇上由水路或者陆路来到这里
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch 在钟楼拱门上挂一盏灯笼
Of the North Church tower as a signal light, -- 教堂的北塔作为信号灯
One if by land, and two if by sea; 一个指示陆路,两个指示海路;
And I on the opposite shore will be, 而我在对岸,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm 准备骑着马让警报
Through every Middlesex village and farm 响彻米德尔塞克斯的每一个村庄和农场
For the country folk to be up and to arm." 让乡下人站起来武装战斗”
When the British reached the town of Lexington, they found it protected by about seventy colonial troops. 当英国人到达莱克星顿镇时,他们发现大约70名殖民地士兵把守在那里。
These troops were called "Minute Men" because they had been trained to fight with only a minute's warning. 这些部队被称为“分钟人”,因为他们在得到通知后一分钟就参加了战斗。
Guns were fired. Eight colonists were killed. 双方开枪交火,八名殖民者被杀。
No one knows who fired the first shot in that first battle of the American Revolution. 没有人知道美国独立战争的第一场战役是谁开的第一枪。
Each side accused the other. But the meaning was very clear. It was called "the shot heard round the world." 双方互相指责。但是这一枪意思很清楚,被称为“传遍世界的一枪”。
From Lexington, the British marched to Concord, where they destroyed whatever supplies the colonists had not been able to save. 英国人从莱克星顿出发,向康科德进发,摧毁了殖民者来不及运走的一切物资。
Other colonial troops rushed to the area. A battle at Concord's north bridge forced the British to march back to Boston. 其他殖民地军队赶过来帮忙。双方在康科德镇北面的大桥附近交战,英军被迫退回波士顿。
It was the first day of America's war for independence. 这是美国独立战争的第一天。
When it was over, almost three hundred British troops had been killed. 战争结束时,将近300名英军士兵阵亡。
Fewer than one hundred Americans had died. 不到100名殖民地民兵死去。
The British troops had marched in time with their drummers and pipers. 英国军队行进时,鼓手和风笛手伴奏。
The musicians had played a song called "Yankee Doodle." The British invented the song to insult the Americans. 乐师们演奏了一首名为《扬基歌》的歌曲。英国人写这首歌专门侮辱殖民地的民兵。
They said a Yankee Doodle was a man who did not know how to fight. 他们说这首歌唱的是那些不知道怎么打仗的人。
After the early battles of the revolution, the Americans said they were glad to be Yankee Doodles. 独立战争初期战役之后,殖民地的人说他们很高兴被叫做扬基。
Following the battles at Lexington and Concord, 莱克星顿战役和康科德战役之后,
the Massachusetts government organized a group that captured Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain in New York State. 马萨诸塞州政府组织占领了纽约州尚普兰湖的提康德罗加堡。
The other colonies began sending troops to help. 其他殖民地开始增援。
And another joint colonial meeting was called: the Second Continental Congress. 另一殖民地联合会议:第二届大陆会议召开了。
That will be our story next week. 这就是我们下周要讲的故事 |
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