SAT阅读背景知识分享——美国文明之伟大领袖

考生们在准备SAT阅读的过程中就会发现，快速有效地回答问题需要我们了解基本的美国历史知识。小编就在此与大家分享SAT阅读的背景知识：美国文明之伟大领袖。

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.

拉什莫尔山国家纪念公园（Mount Rushmore National Memorial）俗称美国总统山，是一座总统纪念公园（United States Presidential Memorial）。公园内有四座美国历史上著名的前总统头像，他们分别是George Washington, Thomas Jefferson、Theodore Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, 今天美征小编为大家介绍的就是其中的前两位以及John Adams，三位美国国父。

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我们都不陌生。他是美元1 dollar上的头像，美国首都Washington D.C以他的名字命名。美国人称他为国父。

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就算是放在现代也是一位高富帅加霸道总裁。他是身高188cm, 是殖民地的大富翁之一。他具有非凡的军事才能，在独立战争时期任大陆军（Continental Army）总司令。他是美国第一任总统，并连任两届。所以，通过他的这些身份，我们可以看出他对于美国历史的重要性。作为大陆军总司令，他的军事领导才能将直接关乎着这个刚刚宣布独立的国家的命运；作为美国第一任总统，他的主张和行为将会影响到美国的政治体制。

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.

不过，George Washington并没有让美国人失望。他领导美国打赢了一系列战役，而且当时美国成立的军队大多没有经过系统的军事训练，并且在战争中缺少资源和食物。然而，Washington不仅打赢了一系列的战役，还成功地组建了一只日益强大的军队。所以他当之无愧地成为了战争时期的美国英雄。

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的过人之处，更在于他的不贪权，懂得放手。1783战争结束后，他便发表了著名的辞职演说，交出军权，回到了自己的大农场做平凡的农民和妻子过幸福晚年。但是1787年，他还是被邀请参加主持在费城的制宪会议（Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia）。其实他在这个会议中的角色并不是制定宪法，而是用他在战争时期建立的威望来维持制宪会议的顺利进行，以及用他的威望来促进宪法的实施。但是开完会，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，时势造英雄。1789年，淡泊农夫George Washington 又当选了美国第一任总统。虽然连任两届，但是George Washington知道自己的行为会影响到接下来美国总统的任期和行为。所以两任任期结束后，他自己宣布放弃总统职位。

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.

其实我们可以这样想，一个有着非凡军事才能，在战争时期受万人拥护的领袖，很容易就会放大自己的军权，在独立之后会把美国变成一个军事独裁国家。恰恰相反，美国制定了宪法并走上了民主统一的道路，而且在George Washington之后的每一位总统，都有其明确的任期时长，没有任何人再能够撼动美国的民主基础。

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.

美征小编认为John Adams与其他几位开国元勋相比，整体的仕途不顺。可能是他的前任George Washington和他的下一任总统Thomas Jefferson的光芒太耀眼的原因，因此突显出John Adams在政治上没有过多显著的成就。但是，他是《独立宣言》的起草者之一；他是Washington旗下连任两届的美国第一位副总统(vice president); 他从George Washington的手里接过总统职权的时候，历史把荣誉留给了Washington, 把烂摊子留给了John Adams。在他的任期里，美国出现了党派之争，而且他本人也面临着和Benjamin Franklin以及Alexander Hamilton政见不合的问题。

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. 

另一件与John Adams有关的倒霉的事情就是，他率先迁都美国首都到了Washington D.C,成为了美国第一位入主白宫的总统，但是刚住了几天，就因总统选举投票输给了Thomas Jefferson而搬了出来。不过，他的儿子后来又做了美国总统，搬回了白宫。

3. Thomas Jefferson —2 dollar头像。

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应该可以算得上是拥有“有趣的灵魂”的总统。作为开国元勋之一，他和我们之前介绍的几个重要人物一样，参与起草《独立宣言》；由于后来被派往欧洲，所以缺席了Constitutional Convention，(还记得我们之前提到Benjamin Franklin也在独立战争后被派法国吗，Thomas Jefferson就是接替Franklin的外交官)；1789年回国后，组建了美国国务院，和后面我们会重点讲解的一位人物Alexander Hamilton政见不合，于是组建了共和党(Democratic-Republican Party)来对抗以Alexander Hamilton为首的联邦党(Federalist Party).这便是美国两党政治的由来。

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在大选中击败上一任总统John Adams成为了美国第三任总统，连任两届。任职期间，他最大的功绩应该就是我们熟知的“路易斯安那收购案”(Louisiana Purchase, 1803)，他的这举措将美国领土扩大了一倍。

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任期结束，他选择归隐。于是，我们看到了他归隐之后所体现出来的“有趣灵魂”。作为有钱有闲的典范，他在自己家大庄园的山顶上建了一个名为“Monticell”(“little mountain” in Italian)的公馆，在这里他把自己对于建筑和园艺的兴趣发挥到了极致。当然，在公共事业方面，他建造了University of Virginia,一所教育与宗教分离的大学，这所大学是由他亲自监工建设的，为了这所大学的建成，Jefferson几乎倾注了自己晚年的全部精力和毕生的财力。

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，在他的墓志铭上，Jefferson留下了这样一句话："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.”

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