流利美國口語6.6
W: Do you know who is the father of America?
M: George Washington. It’s a horse sense.
W: Well, how much do you know about Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton?
M: Well, I know they did not get along. But I don’t know why.
W: You want to know it?
M: Sure, I would be all ears if you could tell me all about it.
W: Well, the two of them disagreed on the idea of democracy. Hamilton was against it while Jefferson was in favor. They also failed to meet each other on which group the national government should support most, farmers or those who owned factories and businesses. Jefferson was in favor of an America of dependent farmers with few cities if there should be any. On the other hand, Hamilton preferred to build up an ideal America of cities, factories and trade.
M: Was the first president confused by this trouble within his own cabinet?
W: No, he was not influenced by anyone. He listened to opinions from all sides and was independent in his thinking.
Dialogue 2.
W: The history final is in 2 days. Are you ready for it?
M: Not yet. How about you?
W: Dido, a bit bored.
M: What’s up?
W: We’ve been flooded with such a vast sea of names, dates, events and statistics of the past. I am confused. Does the study of history only mean the study of facts about the past?
M: Absolutely not. One history book says that history is a dialogue in the present with the past about the future. It means we study the past in order to gain perspective on the present and the future.
W: But few history books deal with the contemporary relevance of the past. They are nothing but combinations of the facts.
M: Well, we are having the test soon. We’d better think more about the test.
W: I am looking forward to the cancelation of all the history exams.
M: If only it should come tomorrow.
Dialogue 3.
W: I have always been wondering when the world war two could have ended without the two atomic bombs exploded in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
M: Who knows. It sure would have lasted longer.
W: But if the Japanese hadn’t bombed the Pearl Harbor, would America have been involved in the war?
M: The chance would be slim because the United States had been striving to remain neutral. The government tried very hard to prevent involvement in the European war.
W: Was the Pacific war unavoidable?
M: Yes, the sneak attack on the Pearl Harbor was inevitable. The Empire of Japan had long ago fixed the goal of this attack. Japan wanted to sufficiently cripple the US fleet, so that they could then attack and capture the Philippines and Indo-China. Its ultimate purpose was to grab the raw materials needed to maintain its position as a global military and economic power.
W: What an aggressive ambition. However it was a catastrophic error, wasn’t it?
M: Absolutely, if it had been its goal of Germany in the western Pacific, the attack against Hawaii was in fact the worst possible thing that Japan could have done.
W: It is said that world war two was a total war.
M: You said it. To their surprise this sneak attack against Hawaii brought an immediate reaction of the American people who had never been so united. Every phase of the American life was affected. It filled the will of the US to completely defeat Japan regardless of the cost. And the enemy was driven back to his homeland.
W: It served the Japanese right.
Exercise.
1. The first landing on the moon happened on July 20, 1969.
2. Slavery could be traced back to ancient times.
3. What triggered the outbreak of the war?
4. Uncle Tom’s Cabin was published on March 20, 1852.
5. Do you know anything about the dollar diplomacy?
6. With the outbreak of the civil war the whole country was under going great changes.
7. When would world war two have ended without the 2 atomic bombs exploded in Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
8. The sneak attack on the Pearl Harbor was inevitable.
9. England’s new colonial policy was the direct cause of the independence war.
10. Jefferson was in favor of an America of independent farmers.
11. Black was a word used with conscious intent in the 1960s by the black leaders, to rouse their rebellious spirit and ethnic sense of pride.
12. The 2 parties started peace negotiations.
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