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by Kim Moon
凯艾姆·摩恩
Most people in the United States celebrate the 4th of July, but do you know exactly why the holiday is so important to our country? Imagine how you would feel if someone older than you (maybe an older sister or brother) kept telling you what to do all of the time and kept taking more and more of your allowance. That is how the colonists felt in the years leading up to 1776. Great Britain kept trying to make the colonists follow more rules and pay higher taxes. People started getting mad and began making plans to be able to make their own rules. They no longer wanted Great Britain to be able to tell them what to do, so they decided to tell Great Britain that they were becoming an independent country.
The Congress met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and they appointed a committeeto write a formal document that would tell Great Britain that the Americans had decided to govern themselves. The committee asked Thomas Jefferson to write a draft (first try) of the document, so he worked for days, in absolute secret, until he had written a document that he thought everything important that the committee had discussed. On June 28, 1776, the committee met to read Jefferson’s “fair” copy. They revised the document and declared their independence on July 2, 1776. They officially adopted it (made it theirs) on July 4, 1776. That is why we call it “Independence Day”. Congress ordered that all members must sign the Declaration of Independence and they all began signing the “official” copy on August 2, 1776. In January of the next year, Congress sent signed copies to all of the states.
The Declaration of Independence is more than just a piece of paper. It is a symbol of our country’s independence and commitment to certain ideas. The signers of the Declaration of Independence wanted the citizens of the United States to have a document that spelled out what was important to our leaders and citizens. They wanted us to be able to look at the Declaration of Independence and immediately think of the goals we should always be working for, and about the people who have fought so hard to make these ideas possible. The people who signed the Declaration risked being hanged for treason by the leaders in Great Britain. They had to be very brave to sign something that would be considered a crime! So every time we look at the Declaration of Independence, we should think about all of the effort and ideas that went into the document, and about the courage it took for these people to stand up for what they knew was right—independence!
大多数美国人都要庆祝7月4日这一天,可是,你知道这一天对我们国家如此重要的确切原因吗?想像一下,如果比你年长的人(比如你的姐姐或哥哥)不停地告诉你应该做什么,但却拿走越来越多的收益时,你会怎么想?这便是直到1776年生活在殖民地的人民的感受｡英国一直试图使殖民地人们遵守更多法规,缴纳更高额的税款｡人们近乎疯狂,开始筹划建立自己的统治｡他们不想再屈服于英国,让他们指挥自己该做什么｡所以他们决定告诉英国,他们将成立一个独立的国度｡
国会议员齐聚宾夕法尼亚州的费城,并设立了一个委员会,负责撰写一份正式的文件以告诉英国人——美国人决定自治｡委员会任命托马斯·杰弗逊进行起草,因此杰弗逊在完全保密的环境下工作了数日,直到将经过委员会讨论的所有重要议题都写入了该草案｡1776年6月28日,委员会公布了经过杰弗逊润色后的版本｡他们对其作了部分改动,并宣布于1776年7月2日独立｡随后,委员会正式采用了1776年7月4日这天｡这就是“独立日”的来历｡国会命令所有议员在《独立宣言》上签名,并于1776年8月2日开始签署正式版本｡次年1月,国会将签署后的副本分发到各个州｡
《独立宣言》决不仅仅是一纸空文｡那象征着我国的独立并对某些打算作了承诺｡签署《独立宣言》的先驱们想要美国的公民拥有一份文件,从而清楚地说明对于我们的领导人和公民而言,什么才是重要的｡他们希望我们在看到《独立宣言》时能想起自己应该为了什么目标而奋斗,能想起当年为了实现这些理想而卓绝斗争的人们｡签署《独立宣言》的先驱们曾冒着被英国统治者以叛国罪绞死的危险｡签署一个可能会被定罪的议案需要何等的胆识!因此,每当我们注视着《独立宣言》,都不禁想起融入宣言中的努力和思想,想起那些具有非凡勇气的人们,是他们站出来选择了自己认为正确的路——独立!
·知识链接·
The 3rd of October is the day East and West Germany were officially reunited in 1990. This national holiday is similar to “Independence Day” on the 4th of July in the US or “Bastille Day” on the 14th July in France. In Germany, however, celebrations are much more muted. There are no military parades; just festivals and gatherings with political speeches in parliament and many town halls.
1990年10月3日是前东德与前西德正式重新统一的日子｡这个国家假日类似于美国于7月4日庆祝的“独立日”和法国于7月14日庆祝的“监狱日”｡但是,在德国,庆祝活动并不浩大,没有阅兵式,只在国会或市政厅举行一些庆祝活动和政治演说｡
凯艾姆·摩恩
Most people in the United States celebrate the 4th of July, but do you know exactly why the holiday is so important to our country? Imagine how you would feel if someone older than you (maybe an older sister or brother) kept telling you what to do all of the time and kept taking more and more of your allowance. That is how the colonists felt in the years leading up to 1776. Great Britain kept trying to make the colonists follow more rules and pay higher taxes. People started getting mad and began making plans to be able to make their own rules. They no longer wanted Great Britain to be able to tell them what to do, so they decided to tell Great Britain that they were becoming an independent country.
The Congress met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and they appointed a committeeto write a formal document that would tell Great Britain that the Americans had decided to govern themselves. The committee asked Thomas Jefferson to write a draft (first try) of the document, so he worked for days, in absolute secret, until he had written a document that he thought everything important that the committee had discussed. On June 28, 1776, the committee met to read Jefferson’s “fair” copy. They revised the document and declared their independence on July 2, 1776. They officially adopted it (made it theirs) on July 4, 1776. That is why we call it “Independence Day”. Congress ordered that all members must sign the Declaration of Independence and they all began signing the “official” copy on August 2, 1776. In January of the next year, Congress sent signed copies to all of the states.
The Declaration of Independence is more than just a piece of paper. It is a symbol of our country’s independence and commitment to certain ideas. The signers of the Declaration of Independence wanted the citizens of the United States to have a document that spelled out what was important to our leaders and citizens. They wanted us to be able to look at the Declaration of Independence and immediately think of the goals we should always be working for, and about the people who have fought so hard to make these ideas possible. The people who signed the Declaration risked being hanged for treason by the leaders in Great Britain. They had to be very brave to sign something that would be considered a crime! So every time we look at the Declaration of Independence, we should think about all of the effort and ideas that went into the document, and about the courage it took for these people to stand up for what they knew was right—independence!
大多数美国人都要庆祝7月4日这一天,可是,你知道这一天对我们国家如此重要的确切原因吗?想像一下,如果比你年长的人(比如你的姐姐或哥哥)不停地告诉你应该做什么,但却拿走越来越多的收益时,你会怎么想?这便是直到1776年生活在殖民地的人民的感受｡英国一直试图使殖民地人们遵守更多法规,缴纳更高额的税款｡人们近乎疯狂,开始筹划建立自己的统治｡他们不想再屈服于英国,让他们指挥自己该做什么｡所以他们决定告诉英国,他们将成立一个独立的国度｡
国会议员齐聚宾夕法尼亚州的费城,并设立了一个委员会,负责撰写一份正式的文件以告诉英国人——美国人决定自治｡委员会任命托马斯·杰弗逊进行起草,因此杰弗逊在完全保密的环境下工作了数日,直到将经过委员会讨论的所有重要议题都写入了该草案｡1776年6月28日,委员会公布了经过杰弗逊润色后的版本｡他们对其作了部分改动,并宣布于1776年7月2日独立｡随后,委员会正式采用了1776年7月4日这天｡这就是“独立日”的来历｡国会命令所有议员在《独立宣言》上签名,并于1776年8月2日开始签署正式版本｡次年1月,国会将签署后的副本分发到各个州｡
《独立宣言》决不仅仅是一纸空文｡那象征着我国的独立并对某些打算作了承诺｡签署《独立宣言》的先驱们想要美国的公民拥有一份文件,从而清楚地说明对于我们的领导人和公民而言,什么才是重要的｡他们希望我们在看到《独立宣言》时能想起自己应该为了什么目标而奋斗,能想起当年为了实现这些理想而卓绝斗争的人们｡签署《独立宣言》的先驱们曾冒着被英国统治者以叛国罪绞死的危险｡签署一个可能会被定罪的议案需要何等的胆识!因此,每当我们注视着《独立宣言》,都不禁想起融入宣言中的努力和思想,想起那些具有非凡勇气的人们,是他们站出来选择了自己认为正确的路——独立!
·知识链接·
The 3rd of October is the day East and West Germany were officially reunited in 1990. This national holiday is similar to “Independence Day” on the 4th of July in the US or “Bastille Day” on the 14th July in France. In Germany, however, celebrations are much more muted. There are no military parades; just festivals and gatherings with political speeches in parliament and many town halls.
1990年10月3日是前东德与前西德正式重新统一的日子｡这个国家假日类似于美国于7月4日庆祝的“独立日”和法国于7月14日庆祝的“监狱日”｡但是,在德国,庆祝活动并不浩大,没有阅兵式,只在国会或市政厅举行一些庆祝活动和政治演说｡