unknown presidents
1. the united states has had many presidents who have been world-famous. people from other countries know the names washington, lincoln, and kennedy. in recent times, famous presidents have included franklin roosevelt, dwight eisenhower, and richard nixon.
2. however, many men who have served as president of the united states have not been famous in other parts of the world. one example is john adams, the second man to serve as u.s. president. adams was george washington's vice president for eight years before he became president himself. he was a very intelligent man, but he had many enemies. he believed that only people who were "well-born" could be leaders; that is, he thought that leaders had to have a lot of money and a good education. many people agreed with adams, but he became so unpopular that voters began to lose respect for him. it was the beginning of the thinking in the united states that a leader should come from "the people."
3. adams was the first president to live in the white house. it wasn't finished, so the president and his wife had to hang their laundry in the east room. this is now a famous room where presidents have formal parties.
4. adams was very unhappy when he left office. he did not attend the inauguration of he next president, thomas jefferson. adams died in 1826. an interesting coincidence is that the date of his death, july fourth, was the anniversary of the american independence.
5. adams' son, john quincy adams, also became president, the country's sixth. he was the only son of a president ever to also hold that office. john quincy adams was strong-willed and stubborn, and many people felt that he was even harder to like than his father.
6. very little happened while j. q. adams was president. it was an unhappy time for him, and he wasn't very effective. when his term ended, he went back to the congress and served as a representative. while he was in congress, people began to respect him more than they had while he was president. adams attempted to outlaw slavery in the district of columbia (washington. d. c.). people began to look back on his presidency with a different view. now they saw that he was an independent man with high ideals who loved his country and hated slavery. adams died in 1848 while speaking in the house of representatives.
7. there are stories about the next two president, andrew jackson and martin van buren, which attempt to explain the american english term ok. we don't know if either story is true, but they are both interesting.
8. the first explanation is based on the fact that president jackson had very little education. in fact, he had difficulty reading and writing. when important papers came to jackson, he tried to read them and then had his assistants explain what they said. if he approved of a paper, he would write "all correct" on it. the problem was that he didn't know how to spell, so what he really wrote was "ol korekt." after a while, he shortened that term to ok.
9. the second explanation is based on the place where president van buren was born, kinderhook, new york. van buren's friends organized a club to help him become president. they called the club the old kinderhook club, and anyone who supported van buren was called "ok".
10. van buren was one of the most colorful presidents. on a typical sunday, he would attend church wearing a green coat, an orange tie, a silver vest, white pants and light brown shoes. even the way he traveled was colorful. his coach was green and silver, and the horses wore ostrich feathers. van buren was born in 1782, which made him the first president who was not born british.
11. rutherford b. hayes was the nineteenth president of the united states. he was one of the most honest men ever to serve in that high office, but he became president through a very unusual deal made by members of his party. tilden, the other presidential candidate, actually received more votes, but supporters of hayes promised the states of south carolina, florida, and louisiana certain favors if they would change their votes to him. hayes himself knew nothing of the deal, and he continued to be honest and courageous. he was a highly effective president, and most people admired him.
12. hayes's wife was an interesting person, too. she decided that a president should not serve alcoholic drinks, so a punch without liquor was served in the white house. many people called her "lemonade lucy."
13. the next president after hayes was probably the last one that we'll ever see who was born poor. james a. garfield was born in a log cabin, and his father died when he was only a baby. garfield was a hard worker and it seemed that he would become an excellent president, but unfortunately, we'll never know.
14. only four months after he became president, the twentieth man to hold that office was shot. the man who invented the telephone, alexander graham bell, tried to help save garfield's life by using electricity to locate the bullet which was in the president's back. garfield lived for ten weeks, but finally he could fight for his life no more. he died in his sleep in september 1881.
15. the next president, garfield's vice president, was chester alan arthur. when he took office after garfield's death, everyone was worried. arthur had always been a small-minded person, and some people even thought he was dishonest. but he surprised everyone, perhaps even himself. he became a sincere president who worked hard to make his country a better place.
16. arthur was so honest that it was hard to find anything to complain about. of course, people always find anything, so they complained that he was too rich and called him "the gentleman boss". people also complained that he made the white house too modern. arthur wanted to run for a second term as president, but his party rejected him. the people supported him, but those who ran the political parties didn't. arthur retired from the presidency in 1885 and died suddenly a year later.
17. only once in history has the same man held the two high offices of president and chief justice of the united states. that man was william howard taft, whose friends called him "big bill". 18. taft became president partly because the president before him, theodore roosevelt, pushed him into it. roosevelt called taft "the most lovable personality" he had ever known. taft became the twenty-seventh president by winning easily over his opponent in 1908.
19. taft was by far the largest man ever to be president. he weighed over 300 pounds. he was ,probably also the unhappiest president. he once described the white house as "the lonesomest place in the world". he was a quiet man and a highly effective leader. he decided to run for president again in 1912 even though he didn't like the job. his former friend theodore roosevelt ran against him and they both lost to the man who became the twenty-eighth president, woodrow wilson.
20. taft was secretly pleased that he had lost, and he left washington in good humor. first he took a job teaching law at yale university. then in 1921, president warren harding appointed him as chief justice of the united states. that was a job which taft enjoyed. he looked forward to the work so much that he arrived at his office every morning at 5:15. just before his death in 1930, taft 'made an interesting comment about his life. he said, "i don't remember that i was ever president."
参考译文：鲜为人知的美国总统
1．美国有许多举世闻名的总统。其它国家的人民知道华盛顿、林肯，以 及肯尼迪。在稍近的年代，美国著名的总统有富兰克林•罗斯福、怀特•埃 森豪威尔，以及理查德•尼克松。
2．然而，还有很多当过美国总统的人，在世界其它地方并不知名。约翰哑 当就是一例，他是美国第二任总统。在亚当成为总统之前，他出任华盛顿的 副总统达八年之久。他是一个非常聪明的人，但他有很多政敌。他认为只有 出身很好的人才能成为领导者，也就是说，他认为领袖必须很有钱，并且接 受过良好教育。很多人赞同亚当的理论，但是他变得很不受欢迎，以至失去 了选民们的尊敬。这个时期的美国正处于“领袖应当来自人民”思潮的开始 阶段。
3．约翰是第一个在白宫生活的总统。白宫当时甚至尚未完全建成，因此 总统和第一夫人不得不在东宴会厅晾晒他们的洗过的衣物。当然，现在我们 知道，东宴会厅是(美国)总统举行(世界)正式宴会的著名场所。
4．亚当卸任时很不愉快。他没有参加下任总统托马斯•杰弗逊的就职典 礼。亚当死于1826年。一个有趣的巧合是，他死的日子，7月4日，正是美 国的独立纪念日。
5．亚当的儿子约翰•奎因斯•亚当，也是美国总统，美国的第六任总统。 他是唯一一个父子都曾入主白宫的人。约翰•奎因斯•亚当总统是个意志坚 强且顽固的人，很多人认为，他比他父亲更加令人难以接受。
6．小亚当总统在任时期，美国没发生什么重大事件。对他来说，这是一 段不愉快的时光，而且他不是一位卓有成效的总统。当他任期结束后，他重 新回到国会，作了一位众议院议员。他在国会任职期间，开始得到人们的尊 敬，人们喜爱亚当众议员多于他们喜爱亚当总统。亚当众议员尝试在哥伦比 亚特区(华盛顿市)废除奴隶制度。人们开始从不同的角度重新审视他的总 统任期。这时，他们发现他是个完全独立、具有很高理想境界的人，他爱他 的国家，痛恨奴隶制度。1848年，亚当总统在众议院发表演说时瘁死于任上。
7．还有—些有关下任两位总统的故事：安德鲁•杰克逊总统以及马 丁•范•布伦总统，故事涉及到美国英语单词ok的解释。我们不知道哪个 故事是真的，但是两个故事都很有趣。
8．(ok的)第—个解释是基于杰克逊总统几乎没有受过教育这个事实。 实际上，杰克逊总统在阅读和书写上都有困难。当有重要文件时，杰克逊总 先尝试阅读它们，然后让他的助手解释文件里说了些什么。如果他同意该份 文件，他会在文件上批写“all correct”。问题是他甚至不知道如何拼写，因此 他真正写的是“0l korekt(英语里没有这些词，也没有这种拼读法)”。一段时 间之后，他(干脆)把这个句子简写为ok。
9．第：二个解释是基于马丁•范•布伦总统的出生地，纽约的kinderhook。 布伦总统的朋友们组织了一个俱乐部帮助他竞选总统。他们称这个俱乐部为 old kinderhook俱乐部，故此，任何支持范•布伦的人都被称为“ok"。 10．范•布伦是美国总统里最色彩丰富的人之一。在普通的礼拜天，他会 穿上绿色外套、系上橙色领带、内着银色衬衣、下穿白色长裤和浅棕色鞋(类 似当时的大礼服)参加礼拜。乃至他的旅行方式亦色彩斑斓。他的马车漆成 绿色和银色，马头上顶着鸵鸟毛。范•布伦总统生于1782年，这使他成为第 一位不是在英国领地出生(即在美国出生)的美国总统。
11．鲁瑟福特•b•海耶斯是第19任美国总统。他是历任美国总统中最诚 实的人之一，但是，他得以成为总统则是通过他的政党做的一宗不寻常的政 治交易。另一个总统候选人蒂尔登事实上获得了更多的选票，但是，海耶斯 的支持者向南加利福尼亚、佛罗里达以及路易斯安那州许诺，如果改选海耶 斯，他们将会得到某种好处。海耶斯自己并不知道这个政治交易，他始终保 持诚实和果敢的性格。他是一个有极高(工作)效率的总统，大多数人民都 敬佩他。
12．海耶斯的妻子也是个有趣的人。她认为总统不应喝酒精饮料，从此， 白宫仅仅提供一种无酒混合果汁。很多人称她“柠檬水露茜”。
13．海耶斯的下一任也许是我们能看到的最后一个出身贫寒的总统了。詹 姆斯•a•加菲尔德出生在船舱里，当他还是个婴儿时，他的父亲即已过世。 加菲尔德是一个工作勤奋的人，看来他应该成为一个优秀的美国总统，但是， 不幸的是我们永远无法证实。
14．在加菲尔德成为总统后仅四个月，这位第二十个入主白宫的人遭到暗 杀。发明电话的亚历山大•格雷汉姆•贝尔先生试图挽救加菲尔德的生命， 他用电来确认在总统背部的弹头位置。加菲尔德总统之后只活了十周，最终 失去了生命。1881年9月，他在睡梦中死去。
15．下—任，曾是加菲尔德总统的副总统，切斯特•阿兰•阿瑟总统。当 他在加菲尔德去世之后就职总统时，每个人都很担心。阿瑟总统是—个目光 短浅的人，有些人甚至认为他不城实。但是，他令众人吃惊，也许甚至令他 自己吃惊，他成为一个以他的努力工作使他的国家变得更好的真诚总统。
16．阿瑟总统如此诚实，以至很难找到任何可以抱怨他的事情。当然，人 们总能找到一些事，他们抱怨他太富有，称他为“绅士老板”。人们还抱怨他 把白宫布置得过于时髦。阿瑟总统希望连任总统，但是遭到了他所在政党的 拒绝。人民支持他，但是那些操纵政党的人不支持。1885年，阿瑟总统从总 统任上退休，—一年后突然去世。
17．美国历史上，只有一次由同一个人陆续担任过美国的两个最高职务： 美国总统、美国首席法官。这个人就是威廉姆斯•霍华德•塔夫特总统，朋 友称他为“大票”。
18．塔夫特能够成为美国总统，部分原因是他的前任西奥多•罗斯福总统 把他推上了这个位置。罗斯福总统称塔夫特是他所知道人里具有“最值得爱 戴人格’’的人。1908年，塔夫特轻松战胜他的对手，成为第27任美国总统。
19．塔夫特总统是迄今为止(白宫)最重的总统。他的体重超过300磅。 他或许也是最不开心的总统，他曾经描述白宫是“世界上最寂寞的地方”。他 是一—个寡言而高效的领袖。1912年，尽管他并不喜欢总统这个工作，他仍然 决定竞选连任。他过去的朋友西奥多•罗斯福与他同时竞选。结果，他们两 个都输给了成为第28任总统的伍德鲁•威尔逊先生。
20．塔夫特私下里很满意他的竞选失败，幽默地离开了华盛顿。最初，他 接受了一份工作，在耶鲁大学教法律。之后，于1921年，沃伦•哈丁总统任 命他为联邦首席法官。塔夫特特别喜欢这份职务。他是如此渴望工作，以至 每天早上5点15就到了他的办公室。1930年他去世之前，他曾对自己的一生 作了一个有趣的总结，他说：“我不记得我曾经当过总统。”