1---In 1784, five years before he became president of the United States, George Washington, 52, was nearly toothless. So he hired a dentist to transplant nine teeth into his jaw – having extracted them from the mouths of his slaves.

1784年，在当选美国总统的5年前，52岁的乔治•华盛顿几乎掉光了牙齿。因此他雇了一个牙医为他移植了9颗牙 ------ 这些牙齿都来自于他的奴隶口中。

 

2---That’s a far different image from the cherry-tree-chopping George most people remember from their history books. But recently, many historians have begun to focus on the roles slavery played in the lives of the founding generation. They have been spurred in part by DNA evidence made available in 1998, which almost certainly proved Thomas Jefferson had fathered at least one child with his slave Sally Hemings. And only over the past 30 years have scholars examined history from the bottom up. Works of several historians reveal the moral compromises made by the nation’s early leaders and the fragile nature of the country’s infancy. More significantly, they argue that many of the Founding Fathers knew slavery was wrong – and yet most did little to fight it.

这跟很多人在历史书上读到过的那个砍樱桃树的华盛顿有点大相径庭。但是最近开始，历史学家开始越来越关注奴隶制在美国开国一代人的生活中所扮演的角色。他们的兴趣部分是由1998年得到的DNA证据所激发的，这些证据几乎可以证明托马斯•杰弗逊和他的奴隶Sally Hemings至少生过一个孩子。学者们从头至尾地研究历史还是近三十年的事情。一些历史学家的著作揭示了早期开国者们的道德妥协，以及国家在早期发展中所表现的脆弱特性。更重要的是，他们认为很多开国元勋们知道奴隶制是错误的——但是他们大部分人却对此无动于衷。

 

3---More than anything, the historians say, the founders were hampered by the culture of their time. While Washington and Jefferson privately expressed distaste for slavery, they also understood that it was part of the political and economic bedrock of the country they helped to create.

这些历史学家们认为，最主要的原因就是那些开国元勋们都受到了他们所处时代的文化所限。虽然华盛顿和杰弗逊在私底下表达他们对于奴隶制的厌恶，但他们也知道奴隶制是他们创建的这个国家的政治经济基础的一部分。

 

4---For one thing, the South could not afford to part with its slaves. Owning slaves was “like having a large bank account,” says Wiencek, author of An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America. The southern states would not have signed the Constitution without protections for the “peculiar institution,” including a clause that counted a slave as three fifths of a man for purposes of congressional representation.

一方面，南方的各个州无法承担废除奴隶制带来的损失。拥有奴隶“就像拥有一张数额巨大的银行存折”，《一个不完美的上帝：乔治•华盛顿、他的奴隶和美国的建立》一书作者Wiencek说道。如果没有对于这种“特殊制度”的保护，南方各州是不会签署宪法的，该特殊制度包括如下条款，即在国会代表人数中一个奴隶可以算作五分之三个公民。

 

5---And the statesmen’s political lives depended on slavery. The three-fifths formula handed Jefferson his narrow victory in the presidential election of 1800 by inflating the votes of the southern states in the Electoral College. Once in office, Jefferson extended slavery with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803; the new land was carved into 13 states, including three slave states.

政治家的政治生命也取决于奴隶制。正是由于这个五分之三公式扩大了选举团中南方州的选票，从而帮助杰弗逊在1800年的总统选举中险胜。上任就职后，杰弗逊于1803年通过购买路易斯安娜扩大了奴隶制；这片新的土地后来被分为13个州，其中包括了三个实行奴隶制的州。

 

6---Still, Jefferson freed Hemings’s children – though not Hemings herself or his approximately 150 other slaves. Washington, who had begun to believe that all men were created equal after observing the bravery of the black soldiers during the Revolutionary War, overcame the strong opposition of his relatives to grant his slaves their freedom in his will. Only a decade earlier, such an act would have required legislative approval in Virginia.

但是，杰弗逊解放了Hemings的孩子 —— 尽管他没有解放Hemings自己和其他的约150名奴隶。华盛顿在美国独立战争时期目睹了黑人士兵的勇敢之后，开始相信每个人生来都是平等的，后来在其遗言中，不顾其家人亲属的强烈反对，给予奴隶自由。而仅仅在华盛顿赋予奴隶自由的前10年中，这种给奴隶自由的做法还必须要得到弗吉尼亚州的立法批准。

 

 

36.  George Washington’s dental surgery is mentioned to__________.

[A] show the primitive medical practice in the past.

[B] demonstrate the cruelty of slavery in his days.

[C] stress the role of slaves in the U.S. history.

[D] reveal some unknown aspect of his life. （D）

乔治•华盛顿的牙科手术用来__________.

[A] 说明过去原始的医术

[B] 说明在他的时候奴隶制的残酷

[C] 强调奴隶在美国历史中所扮演的角色

[D] 揭示他不为人知的一面

 

37.  We may infer from the second paragraph that__________.

[A] DNA technology has been widely applied to history research.

[B] in its early days the U.S. was confronted with delicate situations.

[C] historians deliberately made up some stories of Jefferson’s life.

[D] political compromises are easily found throughout the U.S. history. （B）

37. 我们可以从第二段中推断出__________.

[A] DNA技术已经广泛运用到了历史研究中

[B] 美国早期面临着非常微妙脆弱的状况

[C] 历史学家们故意编造了杰弗逊的故事

[D] 政治上的妥协在美国历史上的例子比比皆是

 

 

38.  What do we learn about Thomas Jefferson?

[A] His political view changed his attitude towards slavery.

[B] His status as a father made him free the child slaves.

[C] His attitude towards slavery was complex.

[D] His affair with a slave stained his prestige. （C）

38. 我们可以了解托马斯•杰弗逊的什么情况？

[A] 他的政治观点改变了他对奴隶制的态度。

[B] 他最为父亲的身份使得他解放了所有的儿童奴隶。

[C] 他对于奴隶制的态度是复杂的。

[D] 他与一个奴隶的绯闻玷污了他的名声。

 

 

39.  Which of the following is true according to the text?

[A] Some Founding Fathers benefit politically from slavery.

[B] Slaves in the old days did not have the right to vote.

[C] Slave owners usually had large savings accounts.

[D] Slavery was regarded as a peculiar institution. （A）

39. 下面哪一项符合这篇文章？

[A] 一些建国元勋从奴隶制中获得了政治上的利益

[B] 过去奴隶没有选举权

[C] 奴隶主通常由很多的银行存款

[D] 奴隶制被认为是一种特殊的制度

 

40.  Washington’s decision to free slaves originated from his__________.

[A] moral considerations.

[B] military experience.

[C] financial conditions.

[D] political stand. （B）

华盛顿解放其奴隶的决定源自他的__________.

[A] 道德考虑

[B] 军事经历

[C] 财政状况

[D] 政治立场