翻译《美国简介》第41-45节

41. Under our Constitution, some powers belong to the federal government. What is one power of the federal government?

Answer:

To print money To declare war To create an army To make treaties

Explanation:When the 13 original states united (or came together) to make a new country, each of the states wanted to keep its powers and independence (or ability to make its own decisions). But the new federal (or national) government would also need some powers or else the states would not be able to work together as a new country. That is why the Constitution (our country’s most important legal document) specifies (or makes clear) certain powers for the federal government and others for the states. One of the powers of the federal government is to print money or to make the bills (or paper money) and coins (or metal money) that we use to buy and sell things. It makes sense that this is a federal power, because if each state could print its own money, then it would be very difficult to buy and sell things across state borders (or the lines drawn between states on a map, where one state ends and another state begins). When only the federal government can print money, all the states use the same type of currency (or the type of money used in a country). Another power of the federal government is to declare war (or to say that a war is beginning). Obviously this power should exist only at the national level, because it doesn’t make sense for one or two states to declare war against another country. Wars should happen only between countries. A third power of the federal government is to create an army (or the large group of people and organizations that fight to protect a country). States can have police that work within the state, but not armies that work internationally or in other countries. Finally, the federal government can make treaties (or official agreements between countries). For example, the United States is involved in NATO, spelled “N,” “A,” “T,” “O,” which stands for the North Atlantic Treaty Organizations, at the national level. Individual states do not need to participate in NATO because the entire country participates in it at the federal level.

41. 根据我们的宪法，一些权力属于联邦政府。联邦政府的一项权力是什么?

答:
•印钞
•宣战
•创建一支军队
•签订条约

解释:

当最初的13个州联合起来组成一个新国家时，每个州都想保持自己的权力和独立(或自主决策的能力)。但是，新的联邦(或国家)政府也需要一些权力，否则各州将无法作为一个新国家进行合作。这就是为什么宪法(我国最重要的法律文件)为联邦政府规定了某些权力，为各州规定了其他权力。

联邦政府的权力之一是印刷货币或制造钞票(或纸币)和硬币(或金属货币)，我们用来买卖东西。这是一种联邦权力，这是有道理的，因为如果每个州都可以印自己的钱，那么跨州买卖东西就会变得非常困难(或在地图上画出州与州之间的界线，即一个州结束，另一个州开始)。当只有联邦政府可以印钞时，所有的州都使用同一种货币(或一个国家使用的货币)。

联邦政府的另一项权力是宣战(或说战争即将开始)。显然，这种权力应该只存在于国家层面，因为一两个州向另一个国家宣战是没有意义的。战争只应该发生在国与国之间。

联邦政府的第三个权力是建立一支军队(或为保护一个国家而战的一大群人和组织)。各州可以有在州内工作的警察，但不能有在国际上或其他国家工作的军队。

最后，联邦政府可以制定条约(或国家间的官方协议)。例如，美国参与了北约组织，拼写为“N”、“A”、“T”、“O”，这是北大西洋公约组织在国家一级的缩写。各州不需要参加北约,因为整个国家参与在联邦政府层面。

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42. Under our Constitution, some powers belong to the states. What is one power of the states?

Answer:
Provide schooling and education Provide protection (police) Provide safety (fire departments)
Give a driver’s licenseApprove zoning and land use

Explanation:Sometimes people who come to the United States from other countries are surprised by the differences among individual states. Things that are legal (or allowed by law) in one state may not be legal in another! Many of the things that are determined (or decided) at a national level in other countries are determined at the state level in the United States. Let’s take a look at some of the powers that states have.
First, states have the power to provide schooling and education. The United States does not have a national educational system. Each state can establish (or create) its own requirements. This means that a student in a school in one state may study different things from a student in another state even though those two students are the same age and in the same grade. That is why high schools in some states require that their students study foreign languages or complete three years of math, while high schools in other states don’t have those requirements.
States also have the power to provide protection for the people who live there, and they do this by having state police forces (or groups of people and organizations that protect ordinary people). The federal (or national) government has an army for fighting internationally, but the states have the police to take care of problems within the state. Individual cities can have police forces, too.
Each of the fifty states are also responsible for providing safety for the people who live there. They do this by having firefighters who can put out (or end) fires when they get out of control.
Driver’s licenses (or permission to drive a car) are under the domain (or responsibility) of the states. Each state can decide who is allowed to get a driver’s license, and those driver’s licenses look different in each state. There is no national driver’s license in the United States.
Finally, individual states have the power to approve zoning and land use, or the rules for what kinds of things the land can be used for, such as for housing, business, or parks. The federal government cannot tell the states how to use their own land unless there is federal land within a state.

42. 根据我们的宪法，有些权力属于各州。州的一项权力是什么?

答:
•提供学校教育
•提供保护(警察)
•提供安全(消防部门)
•办理驾照
•批准区划和土地使用

解释:
有时候，从其他国家来到美国的人会对各州之间的差异感到惊讶。在一个州合法的事情在另一个州可能不合法!在其他国家，许多由国家一级决定的事情在美国是由州一级决定的。让我们来看看各州拥有的一些权力。

首先，各州有权提供教育和教育。美国没有全国性的教育体系。每个州都可以根据自己的需求建立(或创建)。这意味着一个州的一个学校的学生可能学习不同于另一个州的学生，即使这两个学生年龄相同，年级相同。这就是为什么一些州的高中要求学生学习外语或完成三年的数学学习，而其他州的高中没有这些要求。

州也有权力为生活在那里的人提供保护，为此他们有州警察部队(或保护普通人的人群和组织)。联邦(或国家)政府有一支在国际上作战的军队，但各州有警察来处理州内的问题。个别城市也可以有警察部队。

五十个州也都有责任为当地居民提供安全保障。他们的方法是让消防员在火势失控时扑灭大火。

驾驶执照(或开车的许可)属于各州的职权范围(或责任)。每个州都可以决定谁可以获得驾照，每个州的驾照看起来都不一样。美国没有全国驾照。

最后，每个州都有权力批准分区和土地使用，或者对土地的用途制定规则，比如用于住房、商业或公园。联邦政府不能告诉各州如何使用自己的土地，除非州内有联邦土地。

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43. Who is the Governor of your state?

Answer:Answers will vary. [Residents of the District of Columbia and U.S. territories without a Governor should say “we don’t have a Governor.”]

Explanation:States are vested with (or are given) many powers and responsibilities, so they need to have strong leadership (or direction and management from one person or a small group of people). The leader of each state is called a governor. Each state decides how much power its governor has, so some governors have more power than others. However, most governors have many of the same duties (or the things that one is expected to do in one’s job).
In many ways, governors lead their states like the U.S. president leads the national government. For example, the way that governors are involved in lawmaking at the state level is similar to the way that the U.S. president is involved in lawmaking at the national level. Governors also appoint (or give political jobs to) many state-level officials, just like the U.S. president appoints many federal officials.
State governors are also responsible for managing the budget (or the plan for how the state will spend its money in the future) and they try to balance the budget of their state (or make sure that the state does not spend more money than it receives).
Governors have many ceremonial duties (or duties related to special days and special gatherings). They often go to important events in the state, speaking to the people who are there. The governor normally works in the state capitol (or the building where most of the state’s government offices are). Many state governments have an official residence (or home for the governor) near the state capitol building.
Governors are elected (or chosen through a vote) by the state’s residents (or the people who live in a particular state for a particular period of time). In all but two states, governors serve (or work) for four years at a time. The governors of Vermont and New Hampshire, two states in the Eastern part of the U.S., serve for only two years at a time.

43. 你们州的州长是谁?

答:
答案会有所不同。(哥伦比亚特区和美国属地没有州长的居民应该说:“我们没有州长。”)

解释:
国家被赋予(或被赋予)许多权力和责任，因此它们需要强有力的领导(或一个人或一小群人的指导和管理)。每个州的领导人被称为州长。每个州决定其州长拥有多少权力，因此有些州长的权力比其他州长大。然而，大多数州长都有许多相同的职责(或一个人在工作中应该做的事情)。

在许多方面，州长领导他们的州就像美国总统领导国家政府一样。例如，州长参与州一级立法的方式与美国总统参与国家一级立法的方式相似。州长还任命(或给予政治工作)许多州一级的官员，就像美国总统任命许多联邦官员一样。

各州州长还负责管理预算(或州政府未来如何支出的计划)，他们试图平衡本州的预算(或确保州政府支出不超过收入)。

州长有许多礼仪性的职责(或与特殊日子和特殊集会有关的职责)。他们经常去参加州内的重要活动，向那里的人们讲话。州长通常在州议会大厦(或州政府办公大楼)工作。许多州政府在州议会大厦附近有一个官方住所(或州长家)。

州长是由该州的居民(或在某一特定时期居住在某一特定州的人)选举出来的(或通过投票选出来的)。除了两个州外，其他州的州长都是一次任职四年。佛蒙特州和新罕布什尔州的州长，这两个州位于美国东部，一次只服务两年。

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44. What is the capital of your state?

Answer:Answers will vary. [District of Columbia residents should answer that D.C. is not a state and does not have a capital. Residents of U.S. territories should name the capital of the territory.]

Explanation:Each of the fifty states has a capital (or a city where government buildings are and important decisions are made) for its state government. But what about the federal (or national) government? Where is its capital? Our Founding Fathers knew that if they put the federal capital within one state, that state would have more power and prestige (or importance and respect) than all the other states, and that wouldn’t be fair. They had to find a way to have a federal capital that would not favor (or give advantages to) one state more than all the others.
The first capital of the United States was New York City, but this was just a temporary capital, a capital for a short period of time. Our first president, George Washington, had to find a better place for the capital. In 1791 the capital was moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At that time, Philadelphia was the biggest city in the country, so it made sense for the capital to be there. But even this was only temporary and the U.S. government planned to move the capital to a site (or place) on the Potomac River.
In 1800, the U.S. capital officially moved to Washington, DC. DC stands for District (or area) and Columbia, which refers to Christopher Columbus, who was an explorer (or a person looking for new places and things) and was one of the first people to come to North America from Europe. Washington, DC is the country’s capital and a city, but it is not a state. It isn’t in a state, either. Washington, DC was made by taking some lands from Maryland and Virginia, two states that border (or are next to) Washington, DC today.
When Washington, DC was built, the site was very unpleasant. The capital was built on swampland (or very wet earth). The weather was bad and there were many mosquitoes and other insects. But the plan was successful and Washington, DC is still our nation’s capital today. The White House, where the president lives, the Capitol Building, where Congress makes laws, and the Supreme Court, where legal decisions are made, are all in Washington, DC, along with many other federal buildings. There are also many businesses, museums, and monuments (or things built to remember people and things from the past). Many people live in Washington, DC, but because it is not a state, they do not have any representatives who can vote in Congress, since that is reserved (or set aside) for states.

44. 你们州的首府是哪里?

答:答案会有所不同。[哥伦比亚特区的居民应该回答哥伦比亚特区不是一个州，也没有首府。美国领土的居民应说出该领土的首都。

解释:每个五十个州都有首府(或一个政府大楼的城市和重要的决定)的政府。但是联邦(或国家)政府呢?它的首都在哪里?我们的开国元勋们知道，如果他们把联邦首都设在一个州内，这个州将比所有其他州拥有更多的权力和威望(或重要性和尊重)，这是不公平的。他们必须找到一种方法,使联邦首都不会支持(或给优势)一个州超过所有州。

美国的第一个首都是纽约市，但这只是一个临时的首都，一个短期的首都。我们的第一任总统乔治·华盛顿不得不为首都找一个更好的地方。1791年，首都迁至宾夕法尼亚州的费城。当时，费城是美国最大的城市，所以首都在那里是有道理的。但这只是暂时的，美国政府计划将首都迁到波托马克河上的一个地点。

1800年，美国首都正式迁至华盛顿特区。DC代表District(或area)和Columbia(哥伦比亚)，指的是克里斯托弗·哥伦布(Christopher Columbus)，他是一位探险家(或寻找新地方和新事物的人)，是第一批从欧洲来到北美的人之一。华盛顿特区是美国的首都和城市，但它不是一个州。它也不处于任一个州内。华盛顿特区是由马里兰州和弗吉尼亚州的一些土地组成的，这两个州今天与华盛顿特区接壤。

当华盛顿特区建成时，这个地方非常令人不愉快。首都建在沼泽地上。天气不好，有许多蚊子和其他昆虫。但是这个计划是成功的，今天华盛顿仍然是我们国家的首都。总统居住的白宫，国会大厦，国会制定法律的地方，最高法院，做出法律决定的地方，都在华盛顿特区，还有许多其他的联邦大楼。也有许多企业、博物馆和纪念碑(或用来纪念过去的人和事的东西)。许多人住在华盛顿特区，但因为它不是一个州，他们没有任何代表可以在国会投票，因为那是为各州保留的。

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45. What are the two major political parties in the United States?

Answer:Democratic and Republican

Explanation:More than 300 million people live in the United States and they have many different opinions about how the government should be. If each of them voted independently (or alone, not paying attention to what other people are doing), then it would be very difficult to predict (or know ahead of time) how our government would be, and no one would be able to have very much power in American government. However, our country has many political parties (or organized groups of people who have similar political opinions and try to get power in the government) that people can be affiliated with (or connected to as a member).
The two biggest political parties are the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. The Democratic Party is more liberal, believing that wealth (or money) should be shared among all people and that the government should make laws to help this happen, even if that means having higher taxes (or money paid to the government) so it can give help and services to everyone. The Democratic Party is also left- leaning socially, emphasizing (or giving importance to) protecting the environment, equal (or the same) rights for all people, and other social issues.
The Republic Party is economically conservative, believing that the economy should operate freely with little government intervention (or involvement). The Republican Party favors (or supports) low taxes and less control and influence by the federal (or national) government. The Republicans also emphasize traditional values, such as strong families, little immigration, and the right for individuals to own guns.
The Democratic Party is symbolized (or represented in a picture or image) by a donkey, which is an animal that is similar to a small, strong horse. The Republican Party is symbolized by an elephant. The parties are also symbolized by colors, with blue for the Democratic Party and red for the Republican Party. For example, a blue state is a state where most people vote for the Democratic Party and a red state is a state where most people vote for the Republican Party. After an important election, newspapers usually print maps of the country with blue and red states to show where each party won.

45. 美国的两个主要政党是什么?

答:民主党和共和党

解释:超过3亿人生活在美国,他们有许多不同的观点,政府应该如何。如果他们每个人都独立投票(或单独投票，不注意其他人在做什么)，那么就很难预测(或提前知道)我们的政府将会如何，也就没有人能够在美国政府中拥有很大的权力。然而，我们国家有许多政党(或有组织的团体，他们有相似的政治观点，并试图在政府中获得权力)，人们可以加入(或作为成员联系在一起)。

最大的两个政党是民主党和共和党。民主党更自由，相信财富(或金钱)应该在所有人之间共享，政府应该制定法律来帮助实现这一点，即使这意味着更高的税收(或支付给政府的钱)，以便它可以为每个人提供帮助和服务。民主党在社会问题上也是左倾的，强调(或重视)保护环境、所有人的平等(或相同)权利以及其他社会问题。

共和党在经济上是保守的，认为经济应该在几乎没有政府干预(或介入)的情况下自由运行。共和党倾向于(或支持)低税收和较少的联邦(或国家)政府的控制和影响。共和党人还强调传统的价值观，比如强大的家庭，少移民，以及个人拥有枪支的权利。

民主党的象征(或在图片或图像中)是一头驴，这是一种类似于小而强壮的马的动物。共和党的象征是一头大象。各党派也被颜色所象征，蓝色代表民主党，红色代表共和党。例如，蓝色州是大多数人投票支持民主党的州，而红色州是大多数人投票支持共和党的州。在一次重要的选举之后，报纸通常会在国家地图上印上蓝州和红州，以显示各党获胜的地方。