Herbert Hoover: Blamed

赫伯特·胡佛：该死的

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 Herbert Hoover. He took office in 1929.
今天，我们谈论的是赫伯特·胡佛，他于1929年就任总统。

Hoover was president for the early years of what Americans call the Great Depression. During those years, the United States economy slid into a severe recession.
胡佛就任总统时正值美国大萧条开始的几年。在那几年里，美国经济遭遇了严重衰退。

Many banks and businesses failed. At times, nearly one in four people in the U.S. workforce were unemployed. Millions of people lost their homes and savings.
许多银行和商业倒闭。有时，美国有近四分之一的劳动力处于失业状态。数百万人失去家园和储蓄。

Hoover did not cause the depression. The conditions had been in place before he took office.
胡佛并没有导致经济萧条，他上任之前就已经这样了。

But many Americans blamed Hoover for their suffering. They believed he permitted the economic crisis to continue – and even deepen – during his time in office.
但许多美国人将他们的遭遇归咎于胡佛。他们认为在胡佛就任期间经济危机一直持续，甚至加重了。

Early life 早年经历

Herbert Hoover was born in a small house in the state of Iowa. His parents were Quakers. Their religion valued simplicity, hard work, equality among people, and peaceful resolution of conflict.
赫伯特·胡佛出生于爱荷华州的一间小房子里，他的父母是贵格会信徒，信仰朴素，勤奋，人人平等，以及和平解决冲突。

Hoover and his brother and sister were influenced by these beliefs, even after their parents died.
胡佛和兄弟姐妹深受影响，甚至于父母过世后。

By the time young Herbert Hoover was nine, he was an orphan. He moved to the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest, and lived with an uncle.
赫伯特·胡佛9岁时成了孤儿。他搬到了太平洋西北部的俄勒冈州，和叔叔一起生活。

Hoover did not thrive in that situation. Reports say that he usually kept to himself. And he did not do particularly well in school.
胡佛在那种情况下并没有茁壮成长。据报道说他通常很闭塞自己，在学校也没有什么特别之处。

Yet one official from Stanford University liked what he saw in the young man – hard work and a desire to learn new things. At the time, Stanford University was just getting established. It admitted Hoover into its first class.
然而，斯坦福大学的一位官员喜欢这个年轻人身上所闪现的东西 —— 勤奋和对新事物的渴望。当时，斯坦福大学刚刚成立，胡佛是第一届学生。

Hoover had to work hard at Stanford, both in class and to earn money to pay tuition. But the experience brought many benefits.
胡佛在斯坦福必须刻苦用功，包括在课堂上以及赚取学费上。这段经历让他终身受益。

Hoover studied geology, and went on to work as a mining engineer. The job led to positions in Australia, China and other parts of the world. He became an internationally-known expert on mining. He also wrote a leading textbook on mining.
胡佛攻读了地质学，然后做了一份采矿工程师的工作。由于工作原因，他去了澳大利亚，中国和其他一些地方。他成了一名国际知名的采矿专家，还写了一部关于采矿的重要教材。

These experiences, along with good business investments, led to great wealth for Hoover.
这些经历加上很好的商业投资，胡佛变得很富有。

At Stanford, he also met the woman who would become his wife. Her name was Lou Henry. She was the first woman from Stanford to complete a study program with a degree in geology.
在斯坦福，胡佛也遇到了后来成为他妻子的女人。她的名字叫卢·亨利，是第一位在斯坦福完成学业并获得地质学学位的女性学生。

The Hoovers went on to have two sons.
胡佛夫妇后来生了两个儿子。

Humanitarian work 人道主义工作

During World War I, the Hoovers’ lives changed dramatically. The family was living in London when the war began. U.S. government officials asked Hoover to organize an evacuation effort for American tourists who were in Europe. In only a few weeks, Hoover’s committee succeeded.
一战期间，胡佛一家的生活发生了戏剧性的变化。战争开始时，他们一家住在伦敦。美国政府官员要求胡佛组织疏散在欧洲的美国游客。仅仅几周时间，胡佛成立的委员会就成功了。

Later, he helped get food and supplies to people in Belgium.
后来，他帮助了在比利时的美国人获取食物和供给。

As a result, Hoover earned a public image as a smart, skilled humanitarian.
因此，胡佛赢得了作为一个聪明、有才能的人道主义者的公众形象。

When the United States entered World War I, President Woodrow Wilson asked Hoover to lead the government’s Food Administration.
当美国参与一战时，伍德罗·威尔逊总统命令胡佛领导美国粮食管理局。

In that position, Hoover led an effort to change Americans’ behavior in order to support the war effort. He asked them to limit the kinds of food they ate and goods they bought.
在粮食管理局，胡佛改变了美国人的饮食习惯，以此来支持战争。他要求人们限制食物的种类以及购买的物品。

The effort was, for the most part, successful. Americans called their moves to limit their consumption “to Hooverize.”
极大程度上来讲，这样的努力成功了。美国人把他们限制消费的举动称为“胡佛化”。

Hoover went on to organize programs to aid other countries, including Russia. He also helped parts of the U.S. recover after terrible flooding.
胡佛继续组织计划协助其他国家，包括俄罗斯。他还协助美国部分严重洪涝地区的灾后重建。

And, as secretary of commerce, he pushed businesses, researchers, and government officials to work together. Hoover aimed to reduce “boom and bust” cycles and keep the U.S. economy healthy.
而且，作为商务部长，他还推动了商业、研究人员以及政府官员的协同工作。胡佛致力于减少经济繁荣与萧条的交替循环，维持美国经济繁荣健康。

In all his efforts, Hoover urged Americans to choose to participate. He did not believe in using government requirements to force cooperation.
在胡佛的努力之下，他力劝美国人选择参与。他不相信运用政府力量强制合作。

Instead, he supported “individualism” – the idea that Americans must protect the qualities of creativity, equal opportunity, and service to others.
相反，他支持个人主义 — 即美国人必须保护创造力品质，平等机会，和为他人服务的思想。

Hoover’s beliefs were popular with many Americans at the time – and with many Americans today.
胡佛的思想在当时很受美国人欢迎，并且在时下的许多美国人当中依然受欢迎。

In the election of 1928, Hoover easily won the presidency. He promised to continue leading the country down the path of prosperity.
1928年大选，胡佛轻松赢得了总统职位。他承诺继续领导美国走繁荣路线。

Presidency 总统任期

When Hoover took office in 1929, he said, “I have no fears for the future of our country. It is bright with hope.”
胡佛1929年上任时说，“我不担心美国的未来，因为它光明并充满希望。”

That was in March.
当时是三月。

In October, the U.S. stock market crashed. Thousands of investors lost their savings.
十月时，美国股市崩盘，数千投资人失去了积蓄。

The event was part of a sharp downturn in the economies of the United States and of many other countries.
这是美国以及其他国家经济急剧下滑的影响。

At first, Hoover believed the downturn would pass. But as time went on, the situation grew worse. Businesses could not expand their workforce. Farmers could not afford to harvest their crops. Everyday people had too little money to pay for housing costs and, in some cases, food. And then banks across the country began to fail.
起初，胡佛相信经济下滑会过去，但随着时间的流逝，情况变得更加糟糕。企业无法扩大劳动力，农民无法收割庄稼。人们无法支付每天的房租甚至于食物，随之而来的是全国的银行开始倒闭。

President Hoover worked hard to fix the problems. He tried many approaches: creating government agencies, urging private and public groups to cooperate, and working to balance the federal budget.
胡佛总统努力解决着这些问题，他尝试了诸多方法：建立政府机构，要求个人和公共团体相互合作，以及平衡联邦预算。

But Hoover did not want to use federal money to provide direct aid to Americans. He worried that such actions would make people dependent on the government, and reduce people’s individual power and morale.
但胡佛不想动用联邦资金向美国人提供直接援助，他担心这样会使民众依赖政府，并削弱民众个人力量及斗志。

Nor did he want to use the federal government to try to control the economy. Government intervention, he said, would lead to socialism, and eventually destroy the country’s founding beliefs.
他也不想运用联邦政府去尝试经济调控。他说，政府干预会导致社会主义化，并最终摧毁美国的建国信仰。

Instead, Hoover tried to support states and businesses indirectly and urged people to find ways to help one another.
相反，胡佛尝试间接支持各州和商业并要求人们寻找方法来互助。

Yet many lawmakers and members of the public rejected Hoover’s measures as insufficient, and even cruel.
然而，许多议员和公共人物拒绝胡佛的方式，因为它无效甚至是残酷的。

Some used his name differently than they had before he took office. Now, they called the dirty shelters where hungry and homeless people lived “Hoovervilles.”
一些人提及他的名字时已不同于他上任之前。现如今，人们将饥饿和无家可归的人所住的肮脏避难所称之为“胡佛村”。

And they called men’s empty pockets “Hoover flags.”
称男人的空口袋为“胡佛旗”。

Although Hoover tried to persuade Americans that he was protecting their interests in the long run, voters refused to elect him for a second term.
尽管胡佛试图说服美国人他是在保护人们的长远利益，但选民拒绝让他连任。

Instead, they overwhelming chose a president who promised an activist federal government and a hopeful “new deal” for Americans.
相反，他们以压倒性优势选举了一位承诺建立积极联邦政府并为美国人带来希望的“新政”的总统。

Legacy 遗产

After they left the White House, the Hoovers retired to their home in Palo Alto, California.
胡佛离开白宫后，一家人退休回到了他们加州帕洛阿尔托的家。

Lou Henry Hoover died in 1944. But Hoover lived 20 more years, many of them working for the public good. He helped international relief efforts, advised the U.S. government, and led committees to reform the presidency.
卢·亨利·胡佛于1944年逝世，胡佛比她多活了20年，他们中的许多人都是为公共事业而工作。他帮助国际救援工作，为美国政府出谋献策，并领导总统改革委员会。

Hoover also commented on later presidents and their policy decisions. He was especially critical of government programs set up to provide aid and intervention in Americans’ lives.
胡佛也评论他的继任总统及政策决定，尤其批评政府提供帮助和干预美国民众生活的计划。

Until his death from cancer at the age of 90, Hoover remained committed to his beliefs. He spoke for limiting the power of the federal government and for supporting freedom of opportunity for individuals.
直到胡佛90岁死于癌症之时，他仍然坚持着自己的信仰。他呼吁限制联邦政府的权力，支持个体的机会自由。

But in the eyes of many Americans, Hoover is linked to the failure of the federal government to lessen the Great Depression.
但在大多数美国人眼中，胡佛与联邦政府未能减轻美国大萧条有关。

I'm Kelly Jean Kelly.

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

Words in this story

orphan - n. a child whose parents are dead - 孤儿

thrive - v. to grow or develop successfully : to flourish or succeed - 繁荣，兴旺

benefit - n. a good or helpful result or effect - 益处

consumption - n. the use of something - 消耗；消费

boom and bust - n. a rapid increase in growth or economic success, followed by sudden economic losses - 繁荣与萧条

opportunity - n. an amount of time or a situation in which something can be done - 机会

prosperity - n. the state of being successful usually by making a lot of money - 成功（通常由于赚很多钱），繁荣

morale - n. the feelings of enthusiasm and loyalty that a person or group has about a task or job - 士气，斗志

insufficient - adj. not having or providing enough of what is needed : not sufficient - 不足的