Theodore Roosevelt: Energetic

西奥多·罗斯福：精力充沛

VOA Learning English presents America’s Presidents.
美国之音慢速英语介绍美国总统栏目。

Today we are talking about Theodore Roosevelt, the 26^th president of the United States.
今天，我们讨论的是西奥多·罗斯福，他是美国第26任总统。

Many Americans like to call him “Teddy” Roosevelt or even “T.R.” These nicknames for the president show that Roosevelt was, in general, popular with the public. He is one of the four presidents whose face can be seen on Mount Rushmore, a memorial to famous U.S. leaders.
很多美国人喜欢称他为“泰迪”罗斯福或者姓名缩写“T.R.”。这些昵称通常代表了罗斯福很受美国大众欢迎。他是美国总统山的四位总统之一，总统山是美国最著名的几位总统的纪念碑。

Historians note that Roosevelt’s term in office marks the beginning of the modern presidency. In other words, he expanded the position, and used the media to connect with the public.
历史学家指出，罗斯福的总统任期标志着现代总统的开始。也就是说，他扩大了总统职位，并运用媒体与公众联系。

Among Americans, his public image is often linked to youth, energy, strength, courage, and playfulness. But his image has also been linked to a strong liking for military action – and for oneself.
在美国人眼里，他的形象与年轻，活力，力量，勇气以及爱玩联系在一起，但也与他对军事行动以及对自己的强烈喜爱联系在一起。

Early life 早年生活

Theodore Roosevelt is also often tied to the American West, but he was born and raised on the East Coast, in New York City. His father was a wealthy businessman. His mother was from a Southern planter family that owned slaves.
西奥多·罗斯福经常与美国西部联系在一起，但他出生在美国东海岸的纽约市并在那里长大。他的父亲是一位富商，母亲来自一个拥有奴隶的南方农场主家庭。

Theodore Roosevelt had two sisters and a brother. His family called him by another nickname: Teedie.
西奥多·罗斯福有两个姐妹和一个兄弟，家里人称呼他的另一个昵称：Teedie。

When he was a boy, young Theodore was often sick. He had asthma, a lung condition that could make physical activity difficult.
西奥多自幼体弱多病，他患有哮喘，一种由肺部引起身体活动困难的疾病。

So, as he got older, Roosevelt strengthened his body. For the rest of his life, he strongly believed in physical exercise and vigorous activity – what he called “the strenuous life.”
所以，随着罗斯福长大，他不断强健体魄。他一生都坚信体育锻炼和剧烈运动，他称之为“艰苦岁月”。

Young Roosevelt also had hunger for learning. He studied with private tutors, traveled overseas, and studied many subjects while in college at Harvard.
年轻时的罗斯福也求知若渴，他受教于家庭教师，去海外旅行，并在哈佛大学进修了许多课程。

After his college years, he studied law briefly, and then began serving in public office in New York.
大学毕业后，他短暂地学过法律，然后开始在纽约担任公职。

But tragedy halted his early government service.
但悲剧使他停止了早期的政府职务。

Roosevelt had married Alice Hathaway Lee, who soon became pregnant.
罗斯福和爱丽丝·海瑟薇·李结婚，爱丽丝很快就怀孕了。

But two days after the baby was born, Roosevelt’s wife died of kidney disease.
但孩子出生的两天后，罗斯福的妻子就死于肾脏疾病。

And, as it happened, Roosevelt’s mother died on the same day, in the same house. She suffered from Bright’s Disease, another disorder affecting the kidneys.
而且就在同一天，同一个屋檐下，罗斯福的母亲也去世了。他的母亲死于布赖特氏病，是另一种肾脏疾病。

The future president was struck by grief. He left his baby daughter with his sister and went to the American West. There, Roosevelt lived as a cowboy – hunting, riding horses, taking part in cattle drives, and even chasing people who broke the law. The experience helped define Roosevelt’s life and beliefs.
这位未来总统充满了悲痛，他将女儿委托给大姐抚养，自己去了美国西部。他在那过起了牛仔生活，打猎，骑马，参加牛仔赶集，甚至去追捕违法之人。这段经历帮助罗斯福建立了他的人生信仰。

But after two years, he was ready to return to the East Coast. There, he married Edith Kermit Carow, a woman he had known since childhood. They settled in a house on Long Island, New York and raised Roosevelt’s daughter, Alice. He and Edith also had five other children.
两年后，他做好准备又返回了美国东海岸。回来后，他和青梅竹马的恋人伊狄斯·克米特·卡柔结婚。他们婚后定居在纽约州长岛，抚养罗斯福的女儿爱丽丝，两人也生养了另外五个孩子。

His family supported Roosevelt’s rise in Republican Party politics, including his campaign to become governor of New York.
家人支持罗斯福进入共和党，包括竞选纽约州州长。

But some of the party officials were not happy with Roosevelt. They did not like his independence, and they did not want him to be re-elected as governor. So, they plotted to have him nominated as U.S. vice president in the election of 1900. They believed Roosevelt would not be able to give them much trouble in that position.
但党内一些官员对罗斯福较为不满，他们不喜欢他的独特个性，不希望他连任纽约州州长。所以在1900年大选时，他们策划使罗斯福提名为副总统，认为这样罗斯福就不会给他们带来太多麻烦。

As the Republican leaders hoped, Roosevelt and the sitting president, William McKinley, won both the popular and electoral vote in a landslide.
正如共和党领袖所希望的那样，罗斯福和在任总统威廉·麦金莱以巨大优势赢得了普选和选举人票。

But less than a year later, McKinley was dead.
但不到一年时间，麦金莱就死了。

And with that, Republican leaders found that the man they wanted to get out of their way was now the country’s 26^th president.
共和党领袖发现，原本想让罗斯福不要挡他们的道，却由于麦金莱的死反而当上了第26任总统。

Presidency 总统任期

When he became president, Roosevelt was only 42 years old. He is still the youngest person to hold that office.
罗斯福就任总统时才42岁，直到现在仍是美国史上最年轻的总统。

At first, Roosevelt promised to continue the policies of McKinley, who was, after all, the president voters had re-elected.
起初，罗斯福承诺会继续麦金莱的政策，毕竟麦金莱是选民选举出来的连任总统。

But Roosevelt quickly put his own mark on the presidency. He is known for trying to balance the needs of many groups in society, including business owners, farmers and workers.
但罗斯福很快就在总统职位上留下了自己的印记。他试图平衡社会各群体之间的需求，包括商人，农场主和工人。

Roosevelt called his program the “Square Deal.” In other words, he suggested that everyone was treated fairly.
罗斯福称这个计划为“公平交易”。换句话说就是，他希望人人能能够被公平对待。

However, some Americans objected to Roosevelt reducing the power of big businesses. They said his use of government rules, in general, did not let market forces operate freely.
然而，一些美国人反对罗斯福减少大企业的话语权。他们认为，就总体而言，罗斯福对政府规则的运用没有让市场力量自由运作。

Roosevelt is also known for protecting the nation’s wilderness areas. He set aside more than 800,000 square kilometers of land to protect nature and wildlife.
罗斯福也因自然野生保护区而出名。他设立了超过800,000平方公里的自然野生保护区。

In his foreign policy, Roosevelt was energetic. He helped Panama win independence from Colombia in order to start building the Panama Canal. He also defended and even added to the Monroe Doctrine, an idea from the presidency of James Monroe.
外交政策方面，罗斯福也是精力充沛。出于开凿巴拿马运河的考虑，罗斯福帮助巴拿马从哥伦比亚赢取独立。罗斯福对外奉行门罗主义，甚至对该主义做了进一步补充。

Roosevelt confirmed that the United States would bar European powers from intervening in South America. And, more than that, that the U.S. would “police” the Western Hemisphere and make sure that countries honored their international obligations.
罗斯福巩固了美国禁止欧洲势力干预南美洲。更重要的是，美国将“监督”西半球，确保各国履行其国际义务。

In other words, Roosevelt believed the United States had the right and responsibility to be a world power. If diplomatic negotiations did not work, he was not afraid to threaten the use of force. He famously said, “Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.”
换句话说，罗斯福相信美利坚拥有权力和责任成为世界强国。如果外交谈判不起作用，他不害怕以武力威胁。他有一句名言，“温言在口，大棒在手，故而致远。”

Voters approved of Roosevelt’s actions. Or, at least they enjoyed his leadership, and his young family that played all over the White House.
民众赞成罗斯福的举措，或者，他们至少是享受罗斯福的领导的，而且他的孩子们可以在白宫里随便玩耍。

In 1904, Roosevelt easily won the presidency in his own right. He is the first vice president who took power after the death of a sitting president to earn his own term.
1904年，罗斯福凭自己的能力轻松赢得了总统职位。他是第一位在任总统去世后上台并赢得自己任期的副总统。

Legacy 遗产

Although he was permitted to seek another term as president, Roosevelt promised not to. He left the White House in 1909, still a very young man.
尽管罗斯福是可以寻求总统连任的，但他承诺过不会。他在1909年离开白宫，仍旧非常年轻。

For a while, he traveled overseas. But when he returned home, he did not like the direction the new president and the Republican Party was going.
他在国外旅行了一段时间。但当他回到家乡时，他不喜欢新总统和共和党的方向。

So Roosevelt created a new political group, called the Progressive Party – or, as some called it, the Bull Moose Party. Not surprisingly, the term “bull moose” was meant to suggest Roosevelt and his animal-like strength.
所以，罗斯福创立了一个新的政治团体，称作进步党，一些人称之为公鹿党。毫不奇怪，“公鹿”一词意味着罗斯福像公鹿一样顽强。

Although he earned many votes, Roosevelt did not win the 1912 election. Instead, he split the votes of the Republican Party, and permitted a Democrat to win the presidency.
尽管罗斯福赢得了许多选票，但并没有赢得1912年大选。相反，由于他分走了共和党的部分选票，导致民主党赢得了总统大选。

Roosevelt’s efforts were not entirely lost, however. Later presidents – including Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John Kennedy, and Lyndon Johnson – used many of his ideas for reform.
然而，罗斯福的努力也没有完全白费。后来的总统，包括富兰克林·罗斯福，哈里·杜鲁门，约翰·肯尼迪，以及林登·约翰逊都运用了罗斯福的许多改革观点。

And, major U.S. political parties today often find lessons> from Roosevelt’s presidency they admire or support. Both Democrat Bill Clinton and Republican George W. Bush said Theodore Roosevelt was one of their role models.
并且，如今美国的主要政治党派经常能够从罗斯福的总统任期中得到他们钦佩或支持的观念。民主党总统比尔·克林顿和共和党总统乔治·W·布什都说过，西奥多·罗斯福是他们的榜样。

In the years after the 1912 election, Roosevelt remained active. He traveled, campaigned, and continued to try to influence politics from his home in New York, where he died unexpectedly in his sleep at age 60.
1912年大选之后的几年里，罗斯福仍然很活跃。他旅行，竞选，并且一直努力影响来自纽约州家乡的政治。60岁时，他在睡梦中意外死亡。

One public official observed, “Death had to take Roosevelt sleeping, for if he had been awake, there would have been a fight.”
一位政府官员评论道，“死亡会让罗斯福睡着，因为如果他醒着，就会有一场斗争。”

I'm Kelly Jean Kelly.

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

Words in this story

nickname - n. a name that is different from your real name but is what your family and friends call you when they are talking to you or about you

vigorous - adj. done with great force and energy - 有力的，精力充沛的

strenuous - adj. requiring or showing great energy and effort - 奋发的，艰苦的

grief - n. deep sadness caused especially by someone's death

landslide - n. an election in which the winner gets a much greater number of votes than the loser

confirm - 使巩固；批准；证实

obligation - n. something that you must do because of a law, rule, promise, etc./p>

in his own right - n. because of his own efforts, talent, etc., and not because of his connection with someone else - 凭自己的能力

lesson - n. something learned through experience