美国学生历史 第102期:1812年战争的原因(2)

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　　Napoleon Bonaparte was now Emperor of the French. 此时拿破仑o波拿巴是法国的皇帝，

　　In 1804 he made war on the British and their allies. 1804年，他向英国和英国的同盟国开战，

　　Soon he became supreme¹ on the land, and the British became supreme on the water. 很快法国成为陆地之王，而英国成为海上之王，

　　They could no longer fight one another very easily, so they determined² to injure each other's trade and commerce as much as possible. 两个国家彼此都不能轻易打败对方，因此它们决定尽可能地去损害对方的商业贸易。

　　The British declared continental³ ports closed to commerce, and Napoleon declared all British commerce to be unlawful. 英国宣布关闭所有的陆地港口，而拿破仑则宣称所有的英国商贸活动都不合法。

　　Of course under these circumstances British and Continental ships could not carry on trade, and American vessels⁵ rapidly took their places. 在这种情况下，英国和法国的船只当然不可能从事商贸活动，美国的船只迅速取代了它们。

　　The British shipowners called upon their government to put an end to this American commerce. 英国的船主们呼吁政府终止美国的贸易，

　　Old laws were looked up and enforced. 于是，英国人翻查过去的法律，

　　American vessels that disobeyed them were seized by the British. 并强制执行这些法律，不服从这些法律的美国船只被英国收缴，

　　But if any American vessel⁴ obeyed these laws, Napoleon seized it as soon as it entered a French harbor. 但是，如果美国的船只服从这些法律的话，拿破仑会在这些船只进入法国港口时立刻将它们收缴起来。

　　249. The Impressment Controversy⁶. 249．"强制征兵"问题

　　With the British the United States had still another cause of complaint. 还有一个原因导致美国人对英国心存怨气。

　　British warships⁷ stopped American vessels and took away all their seamen⁸ who looked like Englishmen. 英国的军舰拦截美国船只，并将所有看起来像英国人的人带走，

　　These they compelled to serve on British men-of-war. 他们强迫这些人在英国军舰上服务，

　　As Americans and Englishmen looked very much alike, they generally seized all the best-looking seamen. 因为美国人和英国人开起来非常接近，他们一般掠走那些英俊的水手，

　　Thousands of Americans were captured in this way and forced into slavery on British men-of-war. 数千美国人就这样被捕获并被强迫到英国的军舰上当奴隶，

　　This method of kidnaping was called impressment. 人们把这种劫持人的方法叫做"强制征兵"。

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