20051222VOA英语.docVIP

THE MAKING OF A NATION - United States Declares War on Spain in 1898 ? 配套节目资料下载 下载常见问题解答 节目资料名称 下载位置 MP3 声音下载 (3.51 M) 中国电信·南京 Real 声音下载 (2.32 M) 中国电信·南京 PDF 广播稿下载 (78 K) 中国电信·南京 下载提示：请用右键点下载链接，在弹出菜单上选“目标另存为...”。 LRC 歌词下载请用左键点击。仅限实名、高级会员使用。 当前词典：Dreye 译典通英汉词典（百度版） ?? 窗体底端 你知道吗？通过“词典功能设置”可以开启双击自动查词功能。 Written by Frank Beardsley (MUSIC) VOICE ONE: THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in Special English by the Voice of America. (MUSIC) Im Kay Gallant. Today, Harry Monroe and I tell about the Spanish-American War, which took place in the late eighteen hundreds during the administration of President William McKinley. VOICE TWO: Unlike other presidents of the late eighteen hundreds, William McKinley spent much of his presidency dealing with foreign policy. The most serious problem involved Spain. William McKinley Spain ruled Cuba at that time. Cuban rebels had started a fight for independence. The Spanish government promised the cuban people equal rights and self-rule...but in the future. The rebels did not want to wait. President McKinley felt Spain should be left alone to honor its promises. He also felt responsible for protecting the lives and property of Americans in Cuba. When riots broke out in Havana, he ordered the battleship Maine to sail there. One night in early eighteen ninety-eight, a powerful explosion sank the Maine. More than two hundred fifty American sailors died. There was some evidence the explosion was caused by an accident in the ships fuel tanks. But many Americans blamed Spain. They demanded war to free Cuba and make it independent. Battleship Maine VOICE ONE: President McKinley had a difficult decision to make. He did not want war. As he told a friend: I fought in our Civil War. I saw the dead piled up. I do not want to see that again. But McKinley also knew many Americans wanted war. If he refused to fight Spain, his Republican Party could lose popular support. So, he did not ask Congress for a declaration of war right away. He