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Welcome to the MAKING OF A NATION -- American history in VOA Special English. June eighteenth, nineteen ten, was an exciting day for Theodore Roosevelt. It was the day that the former American president returned from a long trip to Africa and Europe. Hundreds of thousands of people gathered in New York City to welcome him home. There were speeches and bands and a parade. This week in our series, Frank Oliver and Tony Riggs tell us about Teddy Roosevelt's trip. They also tell us how political problems hurt his friendship with President William Howard Taft. It was the perfect end to a trip that began three weeks after Theodore Roosevelt completed his presidency. Most of the trip was a huge success. In Africa, Theodore Roosevelt spent months hunting wild animals. He shot many lions, elephants, and other animals. He brought all of them back and gave them to the Smithsonian Institution. After hunting in Africa, he and his wife, Edith, went to Europe.

欢迎收听VOA慢速英语之建国史话节目。1910年6月18日，对于西奥多·罗斯福来说是激动人心的一天。在这一天，这位前美国总统从非洲和欧洲长途旅行归来。成千上万的人聚集在纽约市欢迎他回家。人们举行演讲、组织乐队和游行。本周在我们的系列节目中，弗兰克·奥利弗和托尼·里格斯将向我们讲述泰迪·罗斯福的旅行。他们还将向我们讲述，政治问题如何损害他与威廉·霍华德·塔夫特总统的友谊。这是西奥多·罗斯福结束总统任期三周后进行的一次旅行，这次旅行完美收官。这次旅行大部分是成功的。在非洲，西奥多·罗斯福花了数月时间猎杀野生动物。他射杀了许多狮子、大象和其他动物。他把它们都带回来，并交予史密森学会。在非洲打猎后，他和妻子伊迪丝去了欧洲。

The Roosevelts visited Italy and met the king and queen. They visited Vienna and met the ruler of Austria and Hungary. In Germany, they met Kaiser Wilhelm the second. Kaiser Wilhelm invited the former American president to watch a big parade of German troops. He told him: "You are the first civilian who has ever joined the Kaiser in reviewing the troops of Germany." The two men were photographed shaking hands. On the back of the photograph, the Kaiser wrote: "When we shake hands, we shake the world." The Roosevelts met the kings and queens of Norway, Belgium, and the Netherlands. They met the crown princes of Sweden and Denmark. And, while in England, Mr. Roosevelt served as America's official representative at the funeral of King Edward the Seventh. Theodore Roosevelt made a number of speeches at several universities, including Oxford and the Sorbonne. Yet all these activities did not keep him from reading newspapers and letters from home. The news troubled him. He had led the Republican Party with great success. Now, the party seemed to be falling apart. It had split into two groups. One group included conservatives who supported President William Howard Taft. The other group included progressives who opposed Taft.

罗斯福夫妇访问了意大利，会见了国王和王后。他们访问了维也纳，会见了奥地利和匈牙利的统治者。在德国，他们第二次见到了威廉姆大帝。威廉姆大帝邀请这位美国前总统观看德国军队的盛大阅兵式，并告诉他：“你是第一个和国王一起检阅德国军队的平民。”人们拍到两人握手的照片。在照片的背面，国王写道：“我们握手时，是在与世界握手。”罗斯福夫妇会见了挪威、比利时和荷兰的国王和王后，他们会见了瑞典和丹麦的王储。在英国时，罗斯福先生作为美国的官方代表参加了爱德华七世国王的葬礼。西奥多·罗斯福在牛津大学和索邦大学在内的几所大学发表了多次演讲。然而，所有这些活动并未阻止他阅读来自美国的报纸和信件，那里发生的消息使他感到不安。他领导共和党取得过巨大的成功，而现在，该党派似乎就要瓦解，它已经分为两派。其中一派包括支持威廉·霍华德·塔夫特总统的保守派，另一派则包括反对塔夫特总统的进步人士。

Theodore Roosevelt had worked hard to get William Howard Taft elected. President Taft had been in office a little more than a year. Yet in that short time, he had broken almost completely with the progressives who had supported Roosevelt. The split developed because progressives expected Taft to rule as Roosevelt had done -- with energy and emotion. They wanted a man who could excite people with dreams of social progress. Theodore Roosevelt was such a man. William Howard Taft was not. He was a big, slow-moving man. He refused to make quick decisions. As a former judge, he depended on facts, not emotion, to make decisions. President Taft did much to carry out the reform programs Theodore Roosevelt had begun. But his methods led people to believe that he was really trying to kill the programs. Taft wrote to Roosevelt shortly before the former president sailed for home. "I do not know if I have had harder luck than other presidents," he said. "But I do know I have succeeded far less than others. I have been trying to carry out your policies. But my method of doing so has not worked smoothly."

西奥多·罗斯福曾努力争取威廉·霍华德·塔夫特当选，塔夫特总统上任才一年时间。然而，在那短短的时间里，他几乎与支持罗斯福的改革派彻底决裂。之所以会出现这种分裂，是因为改革人士希望塔夫特能像罗斯福那样，充满活力和激情地执政。他们想要一个能够激发人们产生社会进步梦想的人。西奥多·罗斯福就是这样一个人，而威廉·霍华德·塔夫特不是。他是个大块头，行动迟缓，他拒绝迅速作出决定。他以前是一名法官，依靠事实而不是情感来做出决定。塔夫特总统为西奥多·罗斯福开启的改革计划做了很多工作。但是，他的方法让人们认为他是真的想扼杀这些项目。塔夫特在前总统启航回国前不久写信给罗斯福。“我不知道自己是否比其他总统运气更糟，”他说，“但我知道，我取得成功远不如其他人。我一直在努力执行你的政策，但我的方法进行的并不顺利。”

A few weeks later, Theodore Roosevelt returned home. In a speech to those who welcomed him in New York, he said: "I am ready and willing to do my part to help solve America's problems. And these problems must be solved if this country is to reach the high level of its hopes." To President Taft, Roosevelt wrote: "I will make no speeches or say anything for two months. But I will keep my mind open, as I keep my mouth shut." President Taft invited Theodore Roosevelt to visit him at the White House. Roosevelt said he could not. However, he did meet with many of the progressive opponents of the president. Later, he met with Taft at the president's summer home in Massachusetts. It was not a happy meeting. The two friends were tense. By this time, Roosevelt had decided that he agreed with the progressives. He believed President Taft had turned back many of Roosevelt's policies. Roosevelt decided it was time for him to go to the American people. He accepted an invitation to a celebration in Wyoming.

数周后，西奥多·罗斯福回家了。他在纽约对那些欢迎他的人士发表演讲时说：“我准备并愿意尽我的一份力量，帮助解决美国的问题。如果这个国家想要达到其希望到达的高度，就必须解决这些问题。”罗斯福给塔夫特总统写道：“两个月内，我不会做任何演讲，也不会发表任何言论。但我会敞开心扉，而严闭双唇。”塔夫特总统邀请西奥多·罗斯福到白宫拜访他，罗斯福说他无法前往。然而，他确实会见了许多改革派的反对者。随后，他在马萨诸塞州总统的避暑别墅会见了塔夫特。那不是一次愉快的会面。这两位朋友之间气氛很紧张。此时，罗斯福已决定同意改革派的意见。他认为，塔夫特总统已经推翻了罗斯福的许多政策。罗斯福决定是时候去见美国人民了，他接受了在怀俄明州举行庆典的邀请。

He traveled west by train. He stopped in many towns and cities to make speeches. He spoke of party unity. He tried to heal the split that had weakened the Republican Party. But the policies he proposed were progressive. Conservatives refused to support them. President Taft could not understand Roosevelt's purposes. "If only I knew what he wanted," Taft said, "I would do it. But he has told me nothing. I am deeply wounded. He gives me no chance to explain my position or to learn his." Theodore Roosevelt hoped his speaking trip would help Republican Party candidates win in the nineteen ten congressional elections. His efforts seemed to fail. Republicans were defeated in many states. For a year after the party's defeat in the congressional elections, Theodore Roosevelt remained silent. Then, near the end of nineteen eleven, America's political parties began to prepare for the presidential election that would be held the following year. Roosevelt was sure Taft could not be re-elected. Taft had become very conservative. He had close ties to business interests. What the people wanted, thought Roosevelt, was a progressive president. What they wanted was a man like himself.

他乘火车向西旅行，期间在许多城镇停留后发表演讲。他谈到党派的团结，试图弥合削弱共和党的分歧。但是，他提出的政策属于改革派，保守派拒绝予以支持。塔夫特总统没能理解罗斯福的目的。“如果我知道他想要什么，”塔夫特说，“我会去做的。但他什么也没告诉我，我受到了重创。他不给我机会解释我的立场，也不给我机会去了解他的立场。”西奥多·罗斯福希望他的演讲之旅，能够帮助共和党候选人在1910年的国会选举中获胜。他的努力似乎失败了，共和党在许多州被击败。共和党在国会选举中失败后的一年里，西奥多·罗斯福一直保持沉默。后来，接近1911年底时，美国各政党开始为明年举行的总统选举做准备。罗斯福确信塔夫特不能连任，塔夫特变得非常保守。他与商业利益关系密切，罗斯福认为，人民想要的是一位改革派的总统，他们想要的是像他这样的人。

So, Theodore Roosevelt began to speak out again in opposition to many of the things President Taft was doing. For example, President Taft had proposed treaties with Canada, Britain, and France. Roosevelt criticized them. Taft was troubled. He told a friend: "It is very hard to take all these blows from Roosevelt. I do not know what he is trying to do, except to make my way more difficult. It is very hard to see a close friendship going to pieces like a rope of sand." By now it was clear to Taft that Roosevelt wanted to be the presidential candidate of the Republican Party in the election of nineteen twelve. Earlier, this would have pleased Taft. He would have been happy to leave the White House. But the situation was different now. Roosevelt had changed. Taft felt that the policies he proposed seemed too extreme. Taft decided it was his duty to oppose Roosevelt and the progressives. He would seek re-election. Taft believed he could win the Republican nomination for president. He still had the support of many party leaders. Four months before the Republican nominating convention opened, several progressive Republican governors appealed to Roosevelt. They urged him to declare himself a candidate for president. Roosevelt, they said, was the man to lead the nation into a new era of social progress.

所以，西奥多·罗斯福开始再次公开演讲，反对塔夫特总统正在做的许多事情。例如，塔夫特总统曾提议与加拿大、英国和法国签订条约。罗斯福对此持批评态度。塔夫特很不安，他对一位朋友说：“很难接受罗斯福的这些猛击，我不知道他想干什么，这些只能让我的路更难走。眼见着一段亲密的友谊像一根沙绳一样破碎，真是让人难受。”到目前为止，塔夫特已经清楚地知道，罗斯福想在1912年选举中成为共和党的总统候选人。早些时候，这会让塔夫特很高兴，他很乐意离开白宫。但现在情况不同了，罗斯福变了。塔夫特觉得他提出的政策似乎太极端了。塔夫特认为，他有责任反对罗斯福和改革派。他将寻求连任。塔夫特相信，他能赢得共和党总统候选人的提名。他仍然得到许多党派领导人的支持。在共和党提名大会开幕四个月前，几位进步的共和党州长向罗斯福提出上诉。他们敦促他宣布自己为总统候选人。他们说，罗斯福是带领国家进入社会改革新时代的人。

Then Taft made a strong statement against the progressives. "They are seeking," he said, "to pull down the temple of freedom and representative government." A reporter asked Roosevelt to answer Taft's statement. Roosevelt said: "My hat is in the ring." That meant he was a candidate. Now, the conflict was in the open. And Roosevelt was ready to fight. In his speeches, Roosevelt criticized Taft bitterly. In a voice shaking with hatred, he said Taft was controlled by conservative politicians. He said Taft stood in the way of progress. He said Taft was disloyal. Taft had to answer. In one speech, he said: "This tears my soul. I am here to answer an old and true friend who has made many charges. I deny all those charges. I do not want to fight Theodore Roosevelt. But I am going to fight him." After the speech, a reporter looked for the president. He found him sitting alone, his head in his hands. His eyes were filled with tears. "Roosevelt was my closest friend," Taft said.

随后，塔夫特对改革派发表了强烈的反对意见。他说：“他们正在寻求拆除自由圣殿和代议制政府。”一名记者要求罗斯福就塔夫特的声明做出回复。罗斯福说：“我参加角逐。”这意味着他是一名候选人了。现在，冲突公开了，罗斯福准备战斗。罗斯福在讲话中对塔夫特进行严厉批评，他颤抖的声音中，带着仇恨，塔夫特由保守派政客所控制。他说塔夫特阻碍了改革，是不忠诚的。塔夫特必须回应，在一次演讲中，他说：“这让我的灵魂落泪。我是来回应一位老朋友的问题的，他提出了许多指控。我否认所有这些指控，我不想和西奥多·罗斯福对抗。但是，我就要和他对决了。”演讲结束后，一名记者寻找总统。他发现总统一个人坐着，双手抱头，眼睛里充满泪水。“罗斯福是我最亲密的朋友，”塔夫特说。