VOA Learning English presents America’s Presidents.
美國之音慢速英語介紹美國總統欄目。
Today we are talking about Franklin Pierce, the 14th president of the United States. He took office in 1853 at age 48. At that time, he was the youngest person elected to the White House.
今天，我們來談論下美國第14屆總統富蘭克林·皮爾斯。他於1853年48歲的時候就職。當時，他是最年輕的總統。
Pierce was known for being social – and for his good looks. But his personal life was full of tragedy, and he was not an effective chief executive [1] .
皮爾斯以善於交際而聞名，他的英俊也讓他聲名遠揚。但是他的個人生活充滿悲劇，他不是壹位有能力的總統。
Over time, he has come to be remembered as one of the country’s worst presidents.
久而久之，皮爾斯逐漸以美國最差的總統之壹而被人記住。
Franklin Pierce was born in the northern state of New Hampshire. He was one of eight children.
富蘭克林·皮爾斯出生於北方 新罕布什爾州 ，他是八個孩子中的壹個。
He attended school regularly [2] as a child, and he went on to Bowdoin College in Maine. There, he developed his skills as an excellent public speaker. He also became an able lawyer.
孩童時期，他正常上了學，後來繼續讀了緬因州的鮑登學院。在那兒，他開發了卓越的公眾演講才能。他也成為了壹名優秀的律師。
Pierce’s abilities carried him far. But his personal connections helped, too.
皮爾斯的能力對他幫助很大，然而他個人的關系也幫助了很多。
His father became the governor of New Hampshire. Shortly after, Pierce was elected to the state legislature . He soon became a member of the U.S. Congress – first as a member of the House of Representatives, and then as a senator.
他的父親是新罕布什爾州的州長。不久之後，皮爾斯入選州 立法機構 。他很快就成為了國會的議員 —— 起初是眾議員，然後是參議員。
Several important things happened in Pierce’s personal life during those years in Washington, DC. He married Jane Means Appleton. They soon had a son, but the child died after only three days. The couple went on to have two more boys.
在華盛頓的那幾年，皮爾斯的個人生活發生了幾件重要的事情。他和簡·米恩斯·阿普爾頓結婚，很快就有了壹個兒子，但三天後就夭折了。這對夫妻後來又有了兩個兒子。
In Washington, Franklin Pierce also developed friendships with many people from the South. They defended the right of states to permit slavery. Although he was from the North, Pierce came to share the opinions of his Southern friends. He grew to dislike anti-slavery activists , who were known as abolitionists .
在華盛頓，富蘭克林·皮爾斯與許多南方人士發展了友誼。他們捍衛允許奴隸制的權利。盡管皮爾斯來自北方，他開始分享他南方朋友的觀點。他逐漸討厭禁奴 積極分子 ，也就是 廢奴主義者 。
As a politician, Pierce was a member of the Democratic Party and strongly supported the ideas of President Andrew Jackson. But politics did not appeal to his wife. She also did not like her husband’s habit [3] of drinking alcohol with his friends. Jane Pierce belonged to the temperance movement , which urged Americans to avoid the use of alcoholic drinks.
作為壹名政客，皮爾斯是壹名民主黨人士，並且強烈支持 安德魯·傑克遜 總統的理念。但是他的妻子對政治不感興趣。他也不喜歡他丈夫和朋友喝酒的習慣。簡·皮爾斯支持 禁酒運動 ，這項運動旨在推進美國人避免使用酒精飲料。
So Pierce resigned his job in the Senate and moved back to New Hampshire.
所以，皮爾斯辭去了參議員的職位，回到了新罕布什爾州。
There, he stopped drinking alcohol and earned fame as a lawyer and public speaker. But tragedy struck again: his second son became sick and died. ?
回去後，他不再喝酒，並且作為壹名律師和公眾發言人贏得了壹些聲譽。但是悲劇再次降臨：他的第二個兒子生病死亡。
Pierce remained active in politics in New Hampshire. He helped the Democratic candidate for president at the time, James K. Polk, win votes in the state.
在新罕布什爾，皮爾斯仍舊活躍在政治舞臺。當時，他幫助民主黨總統候選人 詹姆斯·諾克斯·波爾克 贏取了該州的選票。
When Polk entered the White House, he gave Pierce a position as a general in the Mexican-American War.
當波爾克入主白宮後，在美墨戰爭中，他給了皮爾斯壹個將軍的職位。
Pierce did not earn the respect of his troops. In one battle, he passed out [4] after he fell off his horse and crushed his leg. Some of his men, seeing what happened, fled the battlefield. Others called him “ Fainting [5] Frank.”
皮爾斯沒有獲得軍隊的尊敬。在壹場戰役中，他從馬背上摔下來壓斷了腿，然後就暈厥過去。壹些士兵看到了眼前發生的事後就逃離了戰場。其他壹些人稱他為“暈厥的富蘭克林”。
Although Pierce had his critics, he returned to New Hampshire as a leader in the state’s Democratic Party. Yet no one expected him to become president of the United States.
盡管富蘭克林受到了批評，他還是作為壹位民主黨領袖（退役）回到了新罕布什爾州。然而，沒有人希望他成為美國總統。
Pierce’s nomination came during the Democratic national convention in 1852. Party leaders could not agree on a candidate. They were split among the three top choices.
1852年民主黨全國代表大會上，皮爾斯獲得提名。黨內領袖就總統候選人無法達成壹致，他們有三個競爭候選人。
So the party turned to Pierce. They liked the fact that he was not well known or had taken any strong positions as a lawmaker. As a result, fewer people could object to him, they reasoned.
所以，民主黨的目光移到了皮爾斯身上。他們喜歡他不是很出名而且作為議員沒有供職於任何重要職位的事實。最後，他們推斷，很少會有人反對他。
Pierce did very little during the election campaign. He did not need to. Many voters, especially in the South, did not like his opponent.
皮爾斯在大選中幾乎沒做什麽事情。他也不需要。許多選民，尤其是南方選民，不喜歡他的競爭對手。
When the election was held, Pierce won easily.
當選舉大會舉行時，皮爾斯很輕松地贏取大選。
But before he took office, another terrible thing happened. Franklin and Jane Pierce were traveling by train with their youngest son Benjamin, who was 11-years-old. The train went off the rails. Bennie was killed instantly [6] in front of his parents.
但在皮爾斯任職前，發生了另壹件可怕的事情。富蘭克林和簡·皮爾斯帶著他們11歲的小兒子本傑明乘坐火車出行。火車脫軌了，本尼在他的父母面前當場死亡。
Neither Franklin nor Jane Pierce ever really recovered. Jane believed their son’s death was a punishment from God for her husband becoming president.
富蘭克林和簡·皮爾斯從來沒有真正從兒子的死去中恢復過來。簡認為他們兒子的死亡是上帝對他丈夫當選總統的懲罰。
As president, Pierce faced an extremely difficult situation. The country’s ongoing dispute about whether and where to permit slavery was becoming more intense. Under Pierce, the dispute centered on the areas of Kansas and Nebraska.
作為總統，皮爾斯面臨著非常嚴峻的形勢。國內關於是否以及在哪允許奴隸制的爭論愈演愈烈。皮爾斯時期，爭論的焦點在於堪薩斯和內布拉斯加區域。
At the time, both areas were considered territories, not states. And each territory was above the line of the Missouri Compromise of 1820. That act, approved by lawmakers nearly 35 years before Pierce took office, banned slavery in northern areas, including what would become Kansas and Nebraska.
當時，這兩個區域都被視為領土而不是州。每個領土都在1820年 密蘇裏妥協案 規定的分界線之上。這壹分界線是在皮爾斯執政時期大約35年前由國會批準的，它禁止了北方蓄奴，自然就包括了即將成為堪薩斯州以及內布拉斯加州的區域。
But pro-slavery settlers demanded that Kansas and Nebraska voters – a group comprised of white men – decide the issue for themselves. A majority of U.S. lawmakers agreed.
但是奴隸主要求堪薩斯和內布拉斯加壹群由白人組成的選民自己來決定是否允許奴隸制。美國大多數國會議員都同意了。
Under pressure, President Pierce signed the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854.
壓力之下，1854年皮爾斯總統簽署了 《堪薩斯-內布拉斯加法案》 。
The measure was one of the most important in U.S. history. It overturned the Missouri Compromise and cancelled the ban on slavery. It incited years of intense of violence between pro-slavery and anti-slavery activists. And it pushed a divided nation even further apart.
這項美國歷史上最重要的舉措之壹，推翻了密蘇裏妥協法案，取消了奴隸制的禁止。它刺激了蓄奴和禁奴分子之間數年的緊張暴力局勢，並且整個國家被進壹步推向分裂。
The troubles also showed Pierce to be an ineffective president. He could not ease the tensions over slavery, nor unite the country behind the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
動亂也顯現了皮爾斯是壹位無能的總統。他沒能夠緩解奴隸制的緊張局勢，也沒能在 《堪薩斯-內布拉斯加法案》 下統壹國家。
And he delayed using his power to stop the violence in Kansas until it was far too late.
在他使用總統權力去阻止堪薩斯暴力的時候已經太晚了。
Finally, his sympathy for pro-slavery groups angered many in the North, including people in his own party.
最終，他對於奴隸制團體的同情惹怒了許多北方人，包括自己的黨派。
The Democrats did not nominate him again at the next election.
民主黨人士沒有再次提名他作為下屆總統選舉的候選人。
After four years as president, Pierce returned to New Hampshire. He rarely socialized and began drinking alcohol again.
卸任總統後，皮爾斯返回了新罕布什爾州。他很少社交並且再次開始酗酒。
After his wife died in 1863, Pierce seemed to disappear from public life. Americans heard little about him until his death in 1869.
皮爾斯的妻子逝世於1863年，之後他似乎就消失於公眾之中。直到1869年去世前，人們很少能夠聽到關於他的消息。
But he lived to see the ultimate [7] tragedy of the Civil War that he – like other presidents before him – had failed to prevent.
但他壹直活著並目睹了最終的悲劇內戰 —— 他和幾位前任總統都無法阻止的悲劇。
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