陳蕙雅思教材 - 雅思閱讀精選 (American Revolution)

American Revolution

The American Revolutionwas not a revolution in the sense of a radical or

total change. It wasnot  a sudden  and        violent overturning  of  the  

political  and social  framework,  such as  later occurred  in France  

and  Russia, when  both    were already  independent  nations.  

Significant changes  were ushered  in,  but they  were  not  

breathtaking.  What  happened  was  accelerated evolution rather than

outright revolution.During the conflict itself people went on            workingand

praying, marrying andplaying. Most of them were not seriously disturbed by

the actual fighting, and       many of the more isolated communitiesscarcely

knew that a war was on.    America's War of Independence heralded thebirth of

three modern nations. Onewas Canada, which received its first       large

influx ofEnglish-speaking population from the thousands of loyalists who

fled there from theUnited States. Another was Australia,which became a

penal colony now thatAmerica was no longer available for prisoners and  

debtors. The thirdnewcomer -- the United States -- based itself squarely

on republican principles.

Yet even the politicaloverturn was not so revolutionary as one might

suppose. In some states,notably  Connecticut    and Rhode  Island,  the  

war  largely ratified  a  colonial self-rule  already existing.British

officials, everywhere          ousted, were replaced by a home-growngoverning

class, which promptlysought a local substitute for king and  Parliament.

美國革命  美國革命其實並不算是一場革命，因為它並未導致完全的和徹底的變化。 這

次革命並不是對政治和社會框架的一次突然和猛烈的顛覆，象後來在已經是獨立國家的法國 和俄國所爆發的革命那樣。  

革命帶來了重大的變化，但並非翻天覆地，所發生的只是進化 的加速，而不是一場徹底的革命；在衝突期間，人們仍然上班、做禮拜、結婚、玩耍。  多

數人並沒有受到實際戰鬥的嚴重影響。  許多較閉塞的社區對這場戰爭幾乎一無所知。美國 獨立戰爭宣佈了三個現代國家的誕生，其中一個是加拿大。  

加拿大的第一大批講英語的流 入人口來自于成千上萬英王的效忠者， 這些人從美國逃到了加拿大。 另一個國家是澳大利

亞，因為美國不再是容納罪犯和欠債者的國度了，澳大利亞就變成了一個懲治罪犯的殖民地

(注：獨立戰爭前，英國政府將罪犯流放到美國)。  第三個國家就是美國，它完全建立在共

和原則基礎上。即使政治上的顛覆也不如人們可能想像的那樣具有革命性。  在一些州，特 別是康涅狄格和羅德島，戰爭基本上只是承認了已經存在的殖民地的自治。

四處被驅逐的 英國官員都被本土的統治階級所替代，這個統治階級迅速地以地方權力機關來替代國王和議 會。