雙語+MP3|美國學(xué)生世界歷史88 世界新精神

88
A New Spirit in the World
世界新精神

     AFTER World War II was over, a lot of people everywhere were talking about making the world a better place. After World War I you remember, most countries of the world joined in a League of Nations to keep new wars from starting; but wars kept right on happening anyway.
     After World War II, the countries of the world decided to try again to provide a way for countries to talk with each other to try to solve their differences peacefully rather than by fighting. So they formed the United Nations. The headquarters of the United Nations is right here in the United States, in New York City. Have you ever visited the U.N. headquarters? If you go to New York, you can take a tour of the building and meet people from all over the world who work there.
     The United Nations has been more successful than the league of Nations was. Still, there have been a lot of problems that the world has had to face since the end of World War II. I guess it would be too much to expect that the world could get by for very long without any problems. But we can always hope.
     Here is one problem that did get solved, at least partly solved, after World War II. The United Nations helped. After the war was over, a lot of people everywhere were talking about making the world a better place. During the war, people had said that it was wrong for Germany and Japan to conquer and rule other countries and their people. After the war was over, some men and women began to ask why some other nations still had the right to rule countries they had conquered earlier. Remember how the industrialized nations had taken colonies to provide their factories with supplies like wood, rubber, cotton, and sugar? Well, after World War II they still had those colonies. In fact, the British colonies were so widespread that the English bragged that, "The sun never sets on the British Empire." Do you know what this means?
     Imagine owning so much of the rest of the world that the sun was always shining on a part of the world you owned. The British owned countries like Ghana and Kenya in Africa, big countries like India, and small islands like the Bahamas and Jamaica. The British were very proud of their big empire. But a lot of people in Africa, India, and the islands of the Caribbean weren't so happy about the British. In fact, they had been talking for a long time about getting rid of those foreigners! And after World War II the British were tired from having fought so hard against the Germans and the Japanese. Besides that, people all over the world were saying that every nation should be able to choose its own government. In this discussion, it was hard for the Americans to take the side of their old ally, the English. Why do you suppose this was true? Do you suppose it's because we remembered our own American Revolution?
     Leaders in different colonies worked in different ways to win independence for their people. In some places, men organized armies just as George Washington had organized the American army. In other places, men and women organized less violent protests, like marches and speeches. One of the best known heroes of this time was a man in India named Gandhi.
     Mohandas Gandhi didn't look much like the hero of a revolution! He was small and thin. He didn't talk much like a revolutionary leader. He said that people should not be violent in their protests. Now, India was a British colony. Gandhi had decided that the British were, at heart, a moral people, so he felt that he just needed to make them, as well as the rest of the world, see what was right. Then they would grant India its independence without a lot of people being killed.

Gandhi spinning （甘地在紡線）
     Gandhi was very clever in thinking up things to do to draw attention to India's desire to become independent. He knew that England kept India to make money from the resources that India provided for England's factories and from the taxes that Indians paid. So he decided to make it harder for England to make money from India.
     You know that the English in India had been buying cotton to ship to factories in England. This cot-ton was made into cloth and clothing. Some of the clothing was then shipped back to India and sold at very high prices. The English, of course, kept the profits. Now, before I tell you what Gandhi did, let me tell you what he didn't do. He didn't shoot the English living in India. He didn't burn the fields of cotton. He didn't try to sink the English ships that carried the cotton and later the cloth and clothing. He didn't do any of those violent things to drive the English away. What he did do was this. He asked all Indians to spend several hours a day spinning and weaving their own cloth. This way, they would have plenty of cloth without ever having to buy any more from England. So the English wouldn't be making money, but they also wouldn't have any excuse to come and shoot the Indian protesters either. Wasn't Gandhi a clever revolutionary?
     Here's another thing he did. The English collected a big tax on salt. Indians had to have salt to preserve their food because most of them had no refrigerator. So the English had a sure source of tax money. Remember how Americans felt about the taxes they paid to England before the American Revolution? Well, the Indians felt the same way about the taxes they had to pay to England. Gandhi figured out a way to avoid paying the tax on salt without breaking the law. He led a great march to the sea. We all know that ocean water is very salty. Gandhi knew this too. So he led thousands of Indians to the edge of the sea. Once there, he taught them how to make the sea water evaporate. This would leave them lots of salt. In this way his people could have all the salt they needed-without paying the tax and without breaking any law! When soldiers beat the people making salt, people everywhere, even in England, said that the soldiers were wrong.
     Gandhi became very famous all around the world. People thought that it was marvelous that he could make such a strong protest without using violence. Finally the pressure on England became too great, and England gave up. Soon after World War II was over, Indians had won their independence.
     Once India was independent, other countries followed quickly. Leaders in Africa, like Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana and Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya, won independence for their countries. Algeria became independent from France, but only after a long war. The United States agreed to give the Philippines independence... and so it went all over the world. Country after country in Africa and Asia became independent. Large and small islands in the Pacific and Caribbean became independent. Many of these countries were poor and really had to struggle. Many of them are still struggling, but at least they are no longer ruled by foreigners. Do you know what? They almost all celebrate their Independence Day just as we celebrate the Fourth of July. Wouldn't it be fun to travel all around the world and visit every country on its national holiday? Now that almost every country is independent, that would make a very long trip! Do you suppose they all have fireworks?