雙語+MP3|美國學(xué)生世界歷史84 陷入戰(zhàn)爭的世界

84
A World at War
陷入戰(zhàn)爭的世界

     Now, I must tell you about a fight so big that the world was at war.
     There was a little country in Europe called Serbia. It was next door to the big country of Austria. But though little Serbia and big Austria were next-door neighbors, they were not good neighbors. Each was always saying mean things about the other. This was because Austria ruled over several other kinds of people besides Austrians, and some of these people were related to the Serbians. The Serbians used to say that Austria treated these people unfairly. But the Serbians did more than say things. They formed secret societies to send people into Austria to stir up trouble. Austria said that Serbia was trying to break up the kingdom of Austria by making the people discontented and unwilling to be ruled by Austria.
     Then a young man who lived in Serbia shot an Austrian prince, the prince who was to have been the next king of Austria.
     Of course Austria was furious and blamed Serbia. The Serbs said they were very sorry but they had nothing to do with the death of the prince. However, Austria wouldn't accept Serbia's apology. Austria thought the time had come to punish Serbia for all the trouble Austria was having. In spite of everything the other countries in Europe could do to stop this, Austria declared war on Serbia.
     The trouble started to spread just like fire in a field of grass. Russia took the side of Serbia and ordered its army to get ready to fight. Germany took the side of Austria. Ever since the time of the Franco-Prussian War and Bismarck and William, the big countries of Europe had been training for a fight. Nearly all these countries had been getting together in two groups, one made up of the friends of Germany; the other, friends of France.
     Russia was a friend of France and so when Russia got ready to fight, France ordered its armies to get ready to help Russia. That meant Germany would be between two big enemies, France on one side and Russia on the other. Germany decided to strike quickly and destroy France before Russia could hit hard from the other side.
     To get at France quickly, Germany had to go through the little country of Belgium. Germany and France had agreed that neither would march armies through Belgium but when the war began German armies marched in anyway and pushed aside the Belgians, who tried to stop them. Germany's armies rushed on toward the capital of France, Paris. They got as far as a river called the Marne, only twenty miles from Paris. There, the French under General Joffre stopped the German army. This battle of the Marne is probably one of the most famous of all the battles you have heard about so far in this history, for though the war went on for four years after this battle, if the Germans had won at the Marne, they would have captured Paris and probably made France a German country.
     By this time, England had come into the war on the side of France and Belgium and Russia. England had the strongest navy in the world. The German navy wasn't strong enough to beat the English navy, so Germany kept its battleships at home. Germany had to fight from under the sea with submarines, which were hard for the English ships to catch. It was the first war in history in which battles were fought not only on land and on sea but up in the air and down under the water.

Europe in 1914 （1914年的歐洲）
     The German submarines sometimes sank ships belonging to countries that weren't in the war. That, of course, made these countries very angry with Germany, and so before the war was over, almost all the countries of the world were in the fight. That is why we call it a World War. Later there was another World War, so we call this World War I just as we call a king George I so as not to confuse him with George II.
     Millions of people had been killed, millions of soldiers had been wounded, billions of dollars had been spent, and still the war went on, with neither side able to win. All of a sudden Russia had a revolution. Russia was so poor that some of its soldiers received no ammunition and no medical supplies. The Russian people killed their ruler, the czar, and his family, and refused to fight any longer. Things began to look pretty bad for the Allies.
     The United States did not enter the war until 1917, almost three years after it had begun; it did so after German submarines began sinking American ships and killing Americans.

Surrender of Germans （德國人投降）
     America was so far off-three thousand miles away and across an ocean- that it seemed impossible that we could do much in the war. However, in a very short time, the United States had sent two million soldiers across in ships. Under General Pershing they fought great battles.
     At last, Germany and its friends surrendered and on November 11, 1918, Germany signed a paper agreeing to do everything the Allies asked. The first World War in history was ended. The kaiser went to live in Holland, and Germany became a republic. Big Austria became little Austria, for all its lands and many of its people were taken away and made into independent countries. Little Serbia disappeared altogether. In its place was formed the new country of Yugoslavia, which included Serbia and several other small states.