Millard Fillmore: Forgotten

米勒德·菲尔莫尔：被遗忘

VOA Learning English presents America’s Presidents.
美国之音慢速英语介绍美国总统栏目。

Today we are talking about Millard Fillmore, the 13^th president of the United States.
今天，我们来谈论下米勒德·菲尔莫尔，他是美利坚合众国第13届总统。

Fillmore is also likely the least remembered president. He has been called“uninspiring” and having only “some competence.”
菲尔莫尔很可能也是最不被记住的总统。他被认为是不能鼓动人心的，并且没有什么能力。

But Fillmore provided an example of the American dream come true. He rose from a poor family to become a wealthy man. He was elected to Congress four times and nominated for vice president under Zachary Taylor. When Taylor unexpectedly died in office in 1850, Fillmore took his place.
但菲尔莫尔成为了一个美国梦实现的例子。他从一个贫穷家庭成长为一位富有的人。他4次被选进国会，被提名为扎卡里·泰勒的副总统。当扎卡里·泰勒1850年于任内意外死亡后，菲尔莫尔继任了他的总统职位。

Early life 早期生活

Other presidents’ campaigns, such as Andrew Jackson’s, had spoken proudly of their candidates’ modest beginnings. William Henry Harrison’s supporters especially linked him with the image of a simple house called a log cabin – even though William Henry Harrison was a wealthy man.
其他总统的竞选都是很自豪地谈及候选人最谦虚的起点，例如安德鲁·杰克逊。尤其是威廉·亨利·哈里森的支持者，他们将他的形象与简单的小木屋联系在一起 —— 即便威廉·亨利·哈里森是一位富有的人。

But Millard Fillmore really was born in a log cabin. His family was poor. They raised him and his seven brothers and sisters in a rural part of New York State.
但米勒德·菲尔莫尔是真的出生在小木屋里，他的家庭穷困潦倒。在纽约州的一个乡下，父母亲抚养了他和他的7个兄弟姐妹。

Fillmore did not receive much education as a child. However, he was very interested in learning – so interested that he fell in love with his teacher, Abigail Powers.
菲尔莫尔小时候没有受到很好的教育。然而，他对学习很感兴趣 —— 以致于和他的老师阿比盖尔.鲍尔斯坠入了爱河。

The two married after he launched his career as a lawyer. They had two children, a son and a daughter.
米勒德开始律师职业生涯后，他们两个结婚了，婚后生有一子一女。

Millard Fillmore soon entered politics. He won elections to the New York State Assembly, and then to the U.S. House of Representatives.
米勒德·菲尔莫尔很快就步入政坛。他当选为纽约州议会议员，后来又被选入国会众议院。

After eight years in Washington, DC, Fillmore returned to New York. He failed to be elected governor, but succeeded to become comptroller of New York. In other words, he oversaw the state’s finances.
8年后，菲尔莫尔从华盛顿返回纽约。竞选纽约州州长失败，但成功当选纽约州的审计官。换句话说，他审查纽约州的财务。

At that time, Americans were preparing for another presidential election. President James Polk was retiring from the White House after only one term, as he had promised.
当时，美国正准备另一次总统大选。詹姆斯·波尔克仅仅担任一届总统后就从白宫退休，履行他当初的承诺。

The opposition party, the Whigs, nominated Zachary Taylor as their presidential candidate.
反对党辉格党提名了扎卡里·泰勒作为总统候选人。

Taylor, a popular war hero from the South, owned slaves. But the Whigs realized that many anti-slavery voters in the North would not support Taylor. Party leaders were looking for someone to balance the ticket – a Northerner voters would consider a friend of business.
泰勒是一位受欢迎的战争英雄，来自南方，拥有奴隶。但辉格党意识到，许多反对奴隶制的北方选民不会支持泰勒。党内领导决定寻求某人来平衡选票 —— 北方选民会把他看作是生意上的朋友。

They found Millard Fillmore.
他们找到了米勒德·菲尔莫尔。

In 1847, the Whigs nominated Fillmore as Taylor’s vice president. The two men had never met. And, when they did meet, they did not like each other very much.
1847年，辉格党提名菲尔莫尔作为泰勒的副总统。这两人从没见过，当他们见面时，他们非常不喜欢对方。

Taylor was short-legged, poorly educated, and rarely seemed concerned about his physical appearance. Fillmore was taller, learned, and elegant. Their personalities did not fit together any better than their appearances did.
泰勒个子矮，教育程度低，并且很少注意个人外表形象；菲尔莫尔高个儿，博学，并且文雅。他们的个性并没有比外表更契合。

But a majority of voters liked them. The Whigs won the election, and Fillmore returned to Washington.
但大多数选民喜欢他们。辉格党赢得了大选，菲尔莫尔也返回了华盛顿。

A vice president without a voice 没有发言权的副总统

As vice president, Millard Fillmore was the leader of the Senate. But President Taylor did not seek his advice on the major political issue of the day.
作为副总统，米勒德·菲尔莫尔是参议院议长。但泰勒总统在当时的主要政治问题上并没有寻求他的意见。

At the time, both lawmakers and the public were debating whether the government should – and could – ban slavery in the territories the U.S. had gained after the war with Mexico.
当时，国会议员和公众就政府是否应该在美墨战争中获得的领土上取缔奴隶制而一直争论不休。

In general, Northerners did not want to permit slavery in new states. But many Southerners did. The debate was so heated that one of the Southern states, South Carolina, threatened to leave the Union.
通常，北方人是不想在新的州上允许奴隶制的，但南方人允许。争论很激烈，以致于南方的北卡罗来纳州威胁说要脱离联邦。

President Taylor did not want to expand slavery. To restrict it, he proposed a change to the rules so California and New Mexico could enter the Union quickly as slave-free states.
泰勒总统不想扩大奴隶制。为了约束奴隶制的扩大，他提议修改法规，这样加利福利亚和新墨西哥就可以迅速以自由州的身份加入联邦。

But before Taylor’s idea could get too far, he became sick. Fillmore learned the president was not well and prepared for the worst. It came.
但在泰勒的想法还没走多远之前，他就病倒了。菲尔莫尔得知总统的情况不容乐观并作了最坏的打算，确实应验了。

Taylor died after being in office for only 16 months. The following day, Fillmore was sworn-in as president.
泰勒在位仅仅16个月就去世了。次日，菲尔莫尔宣誓就任总统。

Presidency 总统任期

One of Fillmore’s first acts as president was to show where he stood on the slavery issue. He appointed a man who opposed Taylor to secretary of state.
菲尔莫尔上任后的第一个举动就是展示他在奴隶制问题上的立场。他任命一位反对泰勒的人当国务卿。

That man, Daniel Webster – and others – wanted to pass a compromise bill on slavery. With Fillmore’s support, they succeeded.
这个叫作丹尼尔·韦伯斯特的人以及其他一些人想要通过一个关于奴隶制的妥协法案。在菲尔莫尔的支持下，他们成功了。

The Compromise of 1850 included several measures related to slavery. Two measures limited it: California was admitted as a free state, and the slave trade in Washington, DC ended.
《1850年妥协案》包括了几个奴隶制相关的措施。两个措施限制了奴隶制：准许加利福利亚作为自由州进入联邦；在华盛顿特区废除奴隶贸易。

On the other hand, New Mexico and Utah were left open to slavery, and both the federal government and ordinary citizens were required to return suspected escaped slaves to their owners. That last measure, the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, targeted even free African-Americans and enslaved people who had escaped to free states.
另一方面，新墨西哥和犹他允许奴隶制，并且联邦政府和普通公民被要求将可疑的逃亡奴隶返还给奴隶主。最后一项措施是《逃亡奴隶法案》，允许南方奴隶主追缉逃亡到北方自由州的自由非裔美国人和奴隶。

The Compromise aimed to end the conflict between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces. But neither side was really satisfied.
妥协案的目的在于解决蓄奴和禁奴势力之间的冲突，但任何一方都没有得到真正的满足。

And President Fillmore did not help matters. He was personally opposed to slavery. However, he did not act on his beliefs. Instead, he tried to keep the South in the Union by strongly enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act.
而且，菲尔莫尔总统并没有帮多大忙。他个人是反对奴隶制的，然而，他并没有遵从自己的信念。相反，他通过强力实施《逃亡奴隶法案》来试图让南方留在联盟。

By the end of Fillmore’s three years in the White House, many members of his Whig party were angry with him. Party leaders did not nominate him again for the next election.
菲尔莫尔在白宫的3年任期结束时，辉格党的许多成员对他很愤怒。在下一届选举时，他没有获得党内领袖的再次提名。

But their chosen candidate was not successful either. Fillmore turned out to be the last Whig president.
但他们选择的候选人也不成功。菲尔莫尔成为了最后一位辉格党总统。

Legacy 遗产

The end of Fillmore’s presidency included difficulty in his private life, too. His wife, Abigail, became sick on the day the next president was sworn-in. She died within a month. Soon after, Fillmore’s daughter died, too.
菲尔莫尔总统任期结束时，他的个人生活也陷入了困境。他的妻子艾比盖尔，在下届总统宣誓就任当天病倒了。一个月内，他的妻子就去世了。不久，菲尔莫尔的女儿也去世了。

To help deal with their loss, Fillmore tried to stay active in politics. In the presidential election of 1856, Fillmore served as the candidate for a new party -- the Know-Nothing Party.
为了缓解失去亲人的痛苦，菲尔莫尔在政治上试图保持活跃。1856年总统大选，菲尔莫尔作为候选人代表一个新党派 —— 一无所知党来竞选总统。

The Know-Nothings were strongly opposed to immigration. They especially wanted to limit the number of Irish Catholics who could come to the United States.
一无所知党强烈反对外来移民。他们尤其想要限制移民到美国的爱尔兰天主教徒的数量。

Fillmore did not agree with the party’s anti-immigration policies. But he did not have a chance to put his opinions into policy. Fillmore finished third out of the three major candidates in the election.
菲尔莫尔不同意党内的反移民政策。但他没有机会将自己的观点纳入政策，（因为）菲尔莫尔在三个主要候选人中（仅仅）名列第3。

After that loss, he finally retired to the city of Buffalo, New York. There, Fillmore married a second time -- to a wealthy widow named Caroline McIntosh. He remained an important figure in the city’s charities and other causes.
这次失利后，他最终退休回到了纽约州的布法罗市。在那里，菲尔莫尔与一位富有的寡妇卡罗琳·麦金托什再次结婚。他仍然是布法罗市慈善事业及其他一些事业中的重要人物。

But the political situation in the country grew only more intense. Americans continued to be divided over the issue of slavery. Fillmore’s time in office and his compromise bill may have delayed but did not stop the American Civil War.
但是，美国国内政治局势只变得越来越紧张。美国人在奴隶制问题上继续存在分歧。菲尔莫尔执政时期的妥协法案也许推迟了内战的爆发，但没能够阻止它。

I'm Kelly Jean Kelly.

Kelly Jean Kelly wrote this story for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

uninspiring - adj. not causing people to want to do or create something : not inspiring - 不能鼓动人心的，不鼓舞人的

competence - n. the ability to do something well : the quality or state of being competent - 能力，胜任

modest - adj. not very large in size or amount - 谦虚的，适度的

ticket - n. a list of the candidates supported by a political party in an election - （美）候选人名单

elegant - adj. showing good taste : graceful and attractive - 优雅的

ordinary - adj. normal or usual - 普通的

figure - n. a person who has a specified status or who is regarded in a specified way - 人物

charity - n. an organization that helps people who are poor, sick, etc. - 慈善

cause - 事业