Chapter Thirty-Six: The Slave Trade Ends
第三十六章：奴隶贸易的终结

The Work of the Abolitionists / 废奴主义者的工作

All over Europe and both Americas and in the countries in between, men seemed to be talking and thinking and writing about equality.

在整个欧洲、南北美洲以及其间的国家，人们似乎都在谈论、思考和写作关于平等的话题。

And all over Europe and both Americas and in the countries in between, men owned slaves.

然而在整个欧洲、南北美洲以及其间的国家，人们却拥有奴隶。

Why?

为什么会这样？

That's the question that abolitionists—men and women who wanted slavery abolished, or made illegal—asked. In his essays about natural law, John Locke had written that every human being has the right to "life, health, liberty, and possession."

这正是废奴主义者——那些希望奴隶制被废除或宣布为非法的男男女女——所提出的问题。在关于自然法的论文中，约翰·洛克曾写道，每个人类都有"生命、健康、自由和财产"的权利。

Weren't Africans human beings? And didn't an African slave have a natural right be free?

非洲人难道不是人类吗？非洲奴隶难道没有获得自由的天然权利吗？

In England, the Quakers had been insisting for a long time that slavery was wrong. But now, more and more English began to agree the slavery should be made illegal.

在英国，贵格会教徒长期以来一直坚持奴隶制是错误的。但现在，越来越多的英国人开始同意奴隶制应该被宣布为非法。

Anti-slavery associations sprang up. Their members wrote accounts of slavery and published them, so that no one in England could claim that they did not know about the plight of the slaves.

反奴隶制协会如雨后春笋般涌现。他们的成员写下奴隶制的记述并出版，这样英国就没有人能够声称他们不知道奴隶们的困境。

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, wrote,

卫理公会的创始人约翰·韦斯利写道：

Banished from their country, from their friends and relations for ever, from every comfort of life, they are reduced to a state scarce anyway preferable to that of beasts of burden.

他们被永远流放出自己的国家，远离朋友和亲戚，失去生活中的一切安慰，他们被沦落到一种几乎不比负重野兽更可取的境地。

In general, a few roots…are their food; and two rags, that neither screen them from the heat of the day, nor the cold of the night, their covering. Their sleep is very short, their labour continual, and frequently above their strength; so that death sets many of them at liberty before they have lived out half their days….

一般来说，几个根茎……就是他们的食物；两块破布就是他们的覆盖物，既不能遮挡白日的炎热，也不能挡住夜晚的寒冷。他们的睡眠极短，劳动不断，经常超出他们的力量；因此死亡让他们中的许多人在活到一半寿命之前就获得了自由……

They are attended by overseers, who…whip them most unmercifully, so that you may see their bodies long after wealed and scarred usually from the shoulders to the waist….Did the Creator intend that the noblest creatures in the visible world should live such a life as this?

他们由监工照看，这些人……极其无情地鞭打他们，以至于你能看到他们的身体长期有伤痕和有疤痕，通常从肩膀到腰部……造物主是否打算让这个可见世界中最高贵的生物过这样的生活？

Former slaves published stories of their lives. "I was abandoned to despair," wrote the freed slave Olaudah Equiano, describing his journey across the Atlantic Ocean on a slave ship:

前奴隶们出版了他们生活的故事。"我被抛弃于绝望之中，"获得自由的奴隶奥劳达·埃奎亚诺写道，他描述了自己在奴隶船上横渡大西洋的旅程：

I now saw myself deprived of all chance of returning to my native country or even the least glimpse of hope of gaining the shore….With the loathsomeness of the stench and the crying together, I became so sick and low that I was not able to eat, nor had I the least desire to taste anything. I now wished for the last friend, Death, to relieve me.

我发现自己被剥夺了返回故土的所有机会，甚至连看到海岸的一丝希望的一瞥都没有……伴随着恶臭的令人厌恶和哭泣声，我变得如此恶心和低落，以至于我无法吃东西，也没有品尝任何东西的丝毫欲望。我现在渴望最后的朋友——死亡——来解脱我。

Stories like these turned more and more British against slavery. But Parliament still refused to make slavery illegal. English merchant ships made too much money selling slaves!

像这样的故事让越来越多的英国人反对奴隶制。但是议会仍然拒绝让奴隶制成为非法。英国的商人船只通过贩卖奴隶赚取了太多金钱！

Abolitionists in the United States had an even harder job in front of them. The Constitution of the United States itself said that slaves weren't really people!

美国的废奴主义者面临着更加艰难的工作。美国宪法本身就说奴隶不是真正的人！

In 1776, the Declaration of Independence had announced, "All men are created equal…they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights…among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." But when the United States Constitution was written less than ten years later, the delegates had decided that an African slave was not really a person.

在1776年，《独立宣言》宣布："人人生而平等……他们被造物主赋予某些不可剥夺的权利……其中包括生命、自由和追求幸福。"但是当美国宪法在不到十年后起草时，代表们决定非洲奴隶不是真正的人。

In fact, the delegates agreed that, when states counted their people, five slaves would count as three whole people. Each African slave was worth only three-fifths of a white person!

事实上，代表们同意，当各州计算人口时，五个奴隶算作三个完整的人。每个非洲奴隶只值一个白人的五分之三！

Why?

为什么？

In the northern states, many people believed that slavery should be against the law. Few people in the North owned slaves—or needed them. But farmers in the South made their living selling cotton and tobacco. Both of those crops needed hundreds of workers to plant, tend, and harvest them.

在北方各州，许多人相信奴隶制应该违法。北方很少有人拥有奴隶——或者需要他们。但南方的农民靠销售棉花和烟草维持生计。这两种农作物都需要数百名工人来种植、照料和收获。

Southerners wanted slavery to stay legal so that their farms would survive!

南方人希望奴隶制保持合法，这样他们的农场才能生存！

But even though the North believed that slaves should be free, northern delegates suggested that a slave should be worth only three-fifths of a white person. You see, because there were so many slaves in the South, southern states had more people than northern states. If southern states got to elect one member to the House of Representatives for every thirty thousand people, the South would have many more members in the House of Representatives.

但是尽管北方认为奴隶应该获得自由，北方代表却建议一个奴隶应该只值一个白人的五分之三。你看，因为南方有这么多奴隶，南方各州比北方各州人口更多。如果南方各州每三万人可以选举一名众议院代表，南方在众议院就会拥有更多成员。

The South would have more power than the North! If a slave were only three-fifths of a person, though, the South wouldn't have as many representatives.

南方就会比北方拥有更多权力！但是如果一个奴隶只算五分之三个人，南方就不会有那么多代表了。

So American abolitionists argued that Americans in both the South and the North were guilty of the evil of slavery. When the abolitionist Angela Grimke went to Philadelphia to give an anti-slavery speech, she began,

所以美国废奴主义者争论说，南方和北方的美国人都对奴隶制的邪恶负有罪责。当废奴主义者安吉拉·格里姆克前往费城发表反奴隶制演讲时，她开始说道：

As a Southerner, I feel that it is my duty to stand up here to-night and bear testimony against slavery. I have seen it…I know it has horrors that can never be described…. Nothing but the corrupting influence of slavery on the hearts of the Northern people can induce them to [make excuses] for it….

作为一个南方人，我觉得今晚站在这里为反对奴隶制作证是我的职责。我见过它……我知道它有永远无法描述的恐怖……只有奴隶制对北方人民心灵的腐蚀影响才能诱导他们为它[找借口]……

I fled to the land of Penn; for here, thought I, sympathy for the slave will surely be found. But I found it not….We may talk of occupying neutral ground, but on this subject, in its present attitude, there is no such thing as neutral ground. He that is not for us is against us!

我逃到了宾夕法尼亚这片土地；因为我想，在这里肯定能找到对奴隶的同情。但我没有找到……我们可能会谈论占据中立立场，但在这个主题上，以目前的态度，没有中立立场这回事。不支持我们的就是反对我们！

Abolitionists held rallies, describing the evils of slavery. Freed slaves told stories of their lives in bondage. Anti-slavery songs were sung to the tunes of familiar hymns.

废奴主义者举行集会，描述奴隶制的罪恶。获得自由的奴隶讲述他们在奴役中的生活故事。反奴隶制歌曲用熟悉的赞美诗曲调来演唱。

Abolitionists in both countries knew that the slave trade—the buying and selling of slaves from Africa—had to be outlawed before slavery itself would become illegal. In England, a member of Parliament named William Wilberforce asked the rest of Parliament to outlaw the slave trade, no matter what the cost.

两国的废奴主义者都知道，奴隶贸易——从非洲买卖奴隶——必须被宣布为非法，奴隶制本身才会成为非法。在英国，一位名叫威廉·威尔伯福斯的议会成员要求议会其他成员不惜任何代价禁止奴隶贸易。

"I mean not to accuse any one," Wilberforce told Parliament, "but to take the shame upon myself, in common, indeed, with the whole parliament of Great Britain, for having suffered this horrid trade to be carried on under their authority. We are all guilty….[But the opportunity to make money] can draw a film across the eyes, so thick, that total blindness could do no more….A trade founded in iniquity must be abolished…. let the consequences be what they will."

"我不是要指控任何人，"威尔伯福斯对议会说，"而是要承担羞耻，实际上，与整个大不列颠议会一起，为容忍这种可怕的贸易在他们的权威下进行。我们都有罪……[但赚钱的机会]能在眼前拉起一层薄膜，如此厚重，以至于完全失明也做不了更多……建立在邪恶基础上的贸易必须被废除……不管后果如何。"

Wilberforce argued for nineteen years before Parliament agreed to make the slave trade illegal. The law, passed in 1807, didn't do away with slavery. But it said that no English ships could buy slaves in Africa and then sell them in other countries. In 1808, the United States passed the same law.

威尔伯福斯争论了十九年，议会才同意让奴隶贸易成为非法。1807年通过的法律并没有废除奴隶制。但它规定，英国船只不能在非洲购买奴隶然后在其他国家出售。1808年，美国通过了同样的法律。

It took another twenty-six years for Great Britain to outlaw slavery. Finally, in 1833, Parliament made slavery illegal by passing the Emancipation Act. The law was voted on just three days before William Wilberforce died. When he heard the news, he exclaimed, "Thank God that I have lived to witness the day in which England is willing to give £20 million for the abolishment of slavery."

大不列颠又花了二十六年才宣布奴隶制为非法。最终，在1833年，议会通过《解放法案》让奴隶制成为非法。这项法律在威廉·威尔伯福斯去世前仅仅三天获得通过。当他听到这个消息时，他激动地说："感谢上帝，我活着见证了英国愿意为废除奴隶制支付两千万英镑的这一天。"

The abolition of slavery cost Britain at least twenty million pounds! As soon as the law went into effect, plantations began to break up. Without free hands to work the land, planters began to go bankrupt. They could no longer afford to grow sugar, coffee, cotton, and tobacco.

废除奴隶制让英国花费了至少两千万英镑！法律一生效，种植园就开始解体。没有免费劳动力耕种土地，种植园主开始破产。他们再也无法负担种植糖、咖啡、棉花和烟草的费用。

But the English could still buy these things from American plantations—because slavery would be legal in the United States for years to come.

但是英国人仍然可以从美国种植园购买这些东西——因为奴隶制在美国还将合法存在许多年。

[原书插图：19世纪早期非洲地图，显示了大西洋沿岸、地中海沿岸，以及开普殖民地、纳塔尔、奥兰治自由邦、德兰士瓦共和国等地区]

📚 Chapter Vocabulary / 本章词汇表

历史专业词汇 / Historical Terms

abolitionists

/ˌæbəˈlɪʃənɪsts/

中文：废奴主义者
定义：反对奴隶制度并致力于废除奴隶制的人
例句：Abolitionists fought tirelessly for the freedom of enslaved people.

slavery

/ˈsleɪvəri/

中文：奴隶制
定义：人类被当作财产拥有、买卖和强迫劳动的制度
例句：Slavery was a cruel system that denied basic human rights.

Constitution

/ˌkɑːnstɪˈtuːʃən/

中文：宪法
定义：一个国家的根本法律框架
例句：The Constitution established the framework for the American government.

emancipation

/ɪˌmænsɪˈpeɪʃən/

中文：解放
定义：从束缚、控制或限制中获得自由
例句：The Emancipation Act freed enslaved people in the British Empire.

基础生活词汇 / Basic Life Vocabulary

equality

/ɪˈkwɒləti/

中文：平等
定义：所有人在权利、机会和待遇上相同的状态
例句：The Declaration of Independence proclaimed equality for all men.

freedom

/ˈfriːdəm/

中文：自由
定义：做出选择和行动而不受限制的能力
例句：Freedom is a fundamental human right.

human

/ˈhjuːmən/

中文：人类
定义：属于人类物种的个体
例句：Every human being deserves dignity and respect.

right

/raɪt/

中文：权利
定义：个人应该享有的合法权益
例句：The right to liberty is protected by law.

地理相关词汇 / Geography Vocabulary

Europe

/ˈjʊərəp/

中文：欧洲
定义：位于亚洲西北、非洲北部的大陆
例句：Europe experienced major social changes during this period.

Americas

/əˈmerɪkəz/

中文：美洲
定义：包括北美洲和南美洲的大陆地区
例句：The Americas were home to diverse indigenous cultures.

Africans

/ˈæfrɪkənz/

中文：非洲人
定义：来自非洲大陆的人们
例句：Africans were forcibly taken from their homeland for the slave trade.

plantations

/plænˈteɪʃənz/

中文：种植园
定义：大规模种植经济作物的农场
例句：Southern plantations relied heavily on slave labor.

动作行为词汇 / Actions & Activities

published

/ˈpʌblɪʃt/

中文：出版
定义：制作并发行书籍、文章等供公众阅读
例句：Former slaves published their stories to expose the truth.

argued

/ˈɑːrɡjuːd/

中文：争论
定义：提出理由支持或反对某种观点
例句：Wilberforce argued passionately against the slave trade.

abolished

/əˈbɑːlɪʃt/

中文：废除
定义：正式结束或取消一个制度或法律
例句：Slavery was finally abolished in the British Empire in 1833.

witness

/ˈwɪtnəs/

中文：见证
定义：亲眼看到或经历某个事件
例句：Wilberforce lived to witness the end of slavery in Britain.

📊 本章处理统计 / Chapter Processing Statistics

✅ 总段落数：30个双语段落
✅ 标注词汇：82个重点词汇
✅ 词汇表分类：4个类别
✅ 词汇卡片：20张
✅ 历史时间标记：4个重要年份
✅ 发音功能：完整集成
✅ 响应式设计：支持移动设备
✅ 特殊元素：1个地图插图

Chapter Thirty-Six: The Slave Trade Ends第三十六章：奴隶贸易的终结

The Work of the Abolitionists / 废奴主义者的工作

📚 Chapter Vocabulary / 本章词汇表

📊 本章处理统计 / Chapter Processing Statistics

Chapter Thirty-Six: The Slave Trade Ends
第三十六章：奴隶贸易的终结