James K. Polk: Dark Horse

詹姆斯·诺克斯·波尔克：黑马

VOA Learning English presents America’s Presidents.
美国之音介绍美国总统栏目。

James Knox Polk moved into the White House as the 11th president of the United States in 1845.
1845年，詹姆斯·诺克斯·波尔克进入白宫，成为美国第11届总统。

Few had predicted that Polk would become president. Even he was surprised.
很少人预测到波尔克会成为总统，即使他很厉害。

Polk had come to his party’s presidential nominating convention nearly a year earlier with low expectations. But the top politicians, including former president Martin Van Buren, failed to win a majority of votes.
波尔克早在近一年前就以低期望值参加了本党的总统提名大会，但是包括前总统马丁·范布伦在内的高层政界人士都没能获得多数选票。

Convention delegates tried again and again to agree on a candidate. Eventually, Polk was nominated. A small number of delegates supported him. Then the delegates voted again.
大会代表一次又一次地试图就候选人达成一致意见。最终，波尔克获得提名。一小部分代表支持他，然后代表们又投了一次。

This time, Polk received all 266 votes. He became the first dark horse candidate in U.S. history to be nominated by a major party. In other words, he was someone no one thought would win. But he did.
这次，波尔克获得了266张选票。他成为了美国历史上第一个被主要政党提名的黑马候选人。换句话说，没有人认为他会赢，但他却赢了。

Early life 早期生活

Polk was born in the southeastern state of North Carolina. When he was a child, his family moved west, to Tennessee. At the time, Tennessee had few white settlers. Some considered it the wilderness.
波尔克出生在南卡罗莱纳州的东南部。他还是孩子的时候，举家迁往了西部田纳西州。那时，田纳西州的白人定居者很少，一些人认为那儿就是一片荒地。

Polk’s family did well there. His father became wealthy, buying land and enslaved people.
波尔克一家在那做得很好。他的父亲变得富有，买了土地和奴隶。

His mother Jane, who followed strict, Christian religious teachings, gave her 10 children a good education. James was the oldest. He went to college, then studied law.
他的母亲简，遵循严格的基督教宗教教义，给了她10个孩子良好的教育。詹姆斯是最大的孩子，他上了大学，然后学习了法律。

When he was 25, he married an intelligent and wealthy young woman named Sarah Childress. The two never had children. But they worked together to launch Polk’s political career.
25岁时，他和一位聪明富有的叫做莎拉·切尔德里斯的年轻女士结婚。他们一直没有小孩，但一直一起合作来推动波尔克的政治生涯。

In time, Polk was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives, then the national House of Representatives.
最终，波尔克被选为田纳西州的众议员，然后国家众议员。

There, he developed a close relationship with President Andrew Jackson. Since Jackson was called “Old Hickory,” Polk became known as “Young Hickory.”
作为众议员，他与总统安德鲁·杰克逊建立了亲密关系。由于杰克逊被称为“老胡桃木”，波尔克因“小胡桃木”而出名。

When Polk left Congress and returned to Tennessee to become governor, he supported Jackson’s banking reforms. But soon the U.S. economy collapsed. Tennessee voters failed to re-elect Polk as governor – not once, but twice.
当波尔克离开国会，返回田纳西成为州长时，他支持杰克逊的银行改革。但很快，美国经济就坍塌了。田纳西选民没能再次选举波尔克为州长 — 不是一次，而是两次。

So Polk returned to his plantations and waited for a chance to re-enter national politics.
所以，波尔克回到了他的种植园，等待机会重新进入国家政治。

In 1844, Polk traveled to the city of Baltimore to attend the Democratic Party’s national convention. He thought he could perhaps win the nomination for vice president. Instead, he became the Democrats’ candidate for president.
1844年，波尔克前往巴尔的摩（马里兰州）参加民主党全国代表大会。他认为他也许能赢得副总统提名，然而，却成了民主党的总统候选人。

Several months later, he narrowly defeated the opposing party’s candidate in the national election.
数月之后，他在大选中勉强击败了反对党的候选人。

Why Polk won 为什么波尔克会赢

Historian Robert Merry wrote a book about Polk’s presidency. Merry says one reason Polk won the election was the issue of Texas. Polk wanted to make Texas a state. He thought the United States could take possession of the area peacefully. The other leading candidates did not.
历史学家罗伯特·梅里写了一本关于波尔克总统任期的书。梅里认为波尔克赢得大选的一个原因是德克萨斯问题。波尔克想使德克萨斯成为一个州，他认为美国能够和平占领这块地方，而其他候选人不这么认为。

Merry says the other candidates were right – the United States eventually went to war with Mexico. But Polk spoke for the American people.
梅里说，其他候选人是对的 — 美国最终还是和墨西哥发生战争。但是波尔克代表了美国民众的声音。

In the 1840s, many Americans liked the idea of expanding the country. They believed in “manifest destiny” -- the idea that God wanted America to expand west, all the way to the Pacific Ocean, and take control of the continent.
19世纪40年代，许多美国人喜欢扩张国家的想法。他们相信“昭昭天命” — 上帝想要美国向西扩张，一直抵达太平洋并控制整个大陆。

As a result, many voters supported Polk and his promise to add Texas to the United States.
结果，许多选民支持波尔克及他的承诺：把德克萨斯并入美国。

Polk took another unusual position in the 1844 election. He said if he won the presidency, he would serve only one term -- that is, four years. (Several previous presidents had served two terms.)
1844年大选中，波尔克采取了另一个不同寻常的立场。他说，如果他赢得总统职位，将不会寻求连任，也就是说，只会任职4年（许多前任总统都任职了2届）。

Polk told voters presidents might abuse their power if they held office too long. One term, he said, would be enough for him.
波尔克告诉选民，如果总统任职时间过长可能会滥用职权，一届时间对他来说足够。

But Robert Merry says there was more to Polk’s one-term promise. It was a political bet.
但是罗伯特·梅里认为波尔克的一届承诺意味着更多，它就是一次政治赌注。

Polk thought if he said he would serve as president for only one term, other party leaders might help him win. Then, those politicians could try again to win the presidency in four years, instead of waiting eight.
波尔克认为，如果他说他将只任一届总统，其他政党领袖也许会助他赢得选举。然后，那些政客会在4年后去尝试赢得总统选举，而不是等待8年。

He was probably right. If Polk had not made the campaign promise, Merry says, Young Hickory would not have won.
也许他是对的。梅里认为，如果波尔克没有许下这个竞选承诺，小胡桃木也许不会赢。

Presidency 总统任期

During the first days of his administration, James K. Polk famously listed the four things he planned to do as president.
在詹姆斯·诺克斯·波尔克任职的头几天里，他定下了著名的四个任期目标。

He wanted to reduce taxes on imports. He wished to establish an independent treasury. He hoped to settle the dispute with Britain over the Oregon border. And he wanted to get California for the United States.
他想要降低关税，建立独立金库制度，解决与英国之间的俄勒冈边界争端，以及获得加利福利亚。

Less than four years later, Polk had realized each item on his list.
不到四年时间，波尔克实现了每一个目标。

He is remembered for greatly expanding the size of the United States. He successfully negotiated with Britain for U.S. control over territory in the west up to the 49^th parallel. The agreement gave the U.S. the current states of Oregon, Idaho, and Washington.
他因极大地扩大了美国版图而被人记住。他成功地与英国达成北纬49度线划界的协议，协议使美国得到了现在的俄勒冈，爱达荷以及华盛顿州。

Below those states lay California.
加利福利亚在这些州的下面。

An American government minister once described California as the richest, the most beautiful, and the healthiest country in the world. The official said the port of San Francisco was big enough to hold all the navies of the world. He said someday San Francisco would control the trade of all the Pacific Ocean.
一位美国政府官员曾经将加利福利亚描述为世界上最富饶，最美丽以及最健康的国度。这位官员说，旧金山港口大的足够容纳世界上所有的海军，并且终将有一天会控制整个太平洋的贸易。

There was only one problem, from the point of view of the U.S. government. California was part of Mexico.
然而有一个问题，从美国政府的观点来看，加利福利亚属于墨西哥的一部分。

At first, U.S. officials attempted to buy California from Mexico. But Mexican officials refused even to talk about selling California to the United States.
起初，美国官员想要从墨西哥购买加利福利亚，但墨西哥官员甚至拒绝与美国讨论出售加利福利亚。

Shortly after the U.S. Congress approved statehood for Texas in early 1845, Mexico broke relations with the U.S. all together.
在1845年早期美国国会批准德克萨斯州地位之后不久，墨西哥全面与美国打破关系。

The following year, Mexican troops crossed the Rio Grande and clashed with American soldiers.
次年，墨西哥军队穿越了格兰德河与美国士兵发生了冲突。

In answer, President Polk asked Congress to declare war.
作为回应，波尔克总统请求国会准许宣战。

He did not think the conflict would last long. He believed the U.S. declaration would quickly force Mexico to sell him the territory he wanted.
他认为冲突不会持续很久，美国宣战会很快迫使墨西哥出售他想要的领土。

Polk was wrong. Historian Robert Merry says the war with Mexico lasted longer, was more expensive, and cost more lives than he expected.
但波尔克错了。历史学家罗伯特·梅里说，美墨战争持续了很久，而且很昂贵，牺牲了许多的性命，远远超出了波尔克的想象。

But in the 1848 treaty that ended the war, Polk got the land he had wanted.
但1848年条约终止了这场战争，波尔克得到了想要的领土。

Mexico recognized the independence of Texas, and it sold the areas that are now all or part of the states of Arizona, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Wyoming, Colorado and, yes, California.
墨西哥承认了德克萨斯的独立，并且出售了现如今的亚利桑那，犹他，内华达州以及部分新墨西哥，怀俄明，科罗拉多州，当然，还有加利福利亚州。

Legacy 遗产

President Polk kept his promise to serve only one term. After four years, he retired from the presidency, traveled for a few weeks, and then returned to Tennessee to settle in a new home.
波尔克总统履行了他只任一届的诺言。四年后，他从总统职位退休，旅行了数月，然后返回田纳西的新房子里定居。

Only three months after he left the White House, Polk died.
离开白宫仅仅3个月后，波尔克便去世了。

He left behind a much larger country, but a divided one.
他留下了一个更大的，但处于分裂的国家。

The issue was again slavery. Southerners argued that they had the right to take enslaved people into California and other former Mexican lands. Northerners opposed any further spread of slavery.
问题的焦点再一次回到蓄奴制。南方人争论道他们有权利将奴隶带进加利福利亚以及其他前墨西哥土地，北方人则反对蓄奴制的进一步扩散。

The question was this: did Congress have the power to control – or even ban – slavery in the new territories?
问题是：国会有能力去控制，甚至是取缔新领地的蓄奴制吗？

I'm Kelly Jean Kelly.

Kelly Jean Kelly wrote this story for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

Words in This Story

convention - n. a large meeting of people who come to a place for usually several days to talk about their shared work - 大会；公约；会议

strict - adj. carefully obeying the rules or principles of a religion or a particular way of life - 严格的

plantation - n. a large area of land especially in a hot part of the world where crops (such as cotton) are grown - 种植园

manifest destiny - n. a future event that is sure to happen; a destiny that can be clearly seen and that cannot be changed - 昭昭天命，宿命；明显的天命

bet - n. a choice made by thinking about what will probably happen - 打赌，赌注

parallel - n. any one of the imaginary circles on the surface of the Earth that are parallel to the equator and that are shown as lines on maps - 平行线；与赤道平行的线，即纬度

expensive - adj. costing a lot of money