Level 4-Day 32.Harriet Tubman

词汇提示

1.illiterate 文盲

2.bounty 赏金

3.overseer 监工

4.conductor 售票员

5.spy 间谍

原文

Harriet Tubman

Before the American Civil War, the economy of the Southern States was based on the use of slave labor.

The social and political leaders of the Old South were the plantation owners.

Many of these owned hundreds of black slaves.

The slaves were mainly used to pick crops like cotton and tobacco.

Harriet Tubman was born in1820 in the State of Maryland.

As a girl of seven, she was sent into the fields to work with the adult slaves.

The slaves worked from sunrise to sunset picking the crops.

Often they sang songs while they worked.

Slaves were not taught to read or write.

It was feared that reading and writing would help slaves to escape the plantations.

Harriet Tubman was illiterate.

Later in life, when she was in danger of being captured, she picked upa book and pretended to read it.

This fooled the bounty hunters.

When she was 15, Harriet helped another slave to escape.

The overseer was so angry with her that he hit her over the head with an iron weight.

Harriet was knocked unconscious for many days.

All the rest of her life she suffered from headaches and sudden sleeping spells.

Harriet escaped from the plantation to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Since Pennsylvania was not a slave state, Harriet was fairly safe there.

She was able to return secretly to the plantation and bring the rest of her family to freedom.

There were already people working to bring black slaves up from the South to freedom!

These people, both white and black, used the language of the railroad.

Escaped slaves were called passengers, safe houses were called stations, and the guides were called conductors.

Harriet soon became a conductor in the Underground Railway.

In 1850, the American government passed a second Fugitive Slave Act.

This put more pressure on Northern States to return escaped slaves to the South.

Because of this, the Underground Railway went further north to Canada.

In 1793, Upper Canada (Ontario) had passed a law, bringing a gradual stop to slavery.

In 1834, slavery was abolished in the whole British Empire.

A lot of escaped slaves had come to Canada before 1850, but now nearly all escaped slaves tried to go there.

Harriet Tubman rented a house in St. Catharines, Ontario.

This provided a shelter for new arrivals.

Harriet made about eleven trips from Canada to the U.S.A. during these years.

In all, she brought back about 300 people.

Escaped slaves had to travel by night and suffered hardships in bad weather.

They had to hide during the day wherever they could.

Harriet did not allow any passengers to turn back.

That might endanger the whole Underground Railway.

When the slave owners heard about Harriet, they offered a reward for her capture.

But no one caught her, or turned her in.

When the Civil War broke out in 1861, she acted as a spy for the Northern States.

After the war, she married a black American soldier, Nelson Davis.

In 1869, a book was written about Harriet Tubman.

Black slaves knew Harriet as "Moses."

The Bible tells the story of how Moses led the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt.

He led them north to Palestine.

In the same way, Harriet Tubman delivered many of her people from slavery and led them north to freedom.

翻译

哈丽特·塔布曼

在美国内战之前，南方各州的经济是以使用奴隶劳动为基础的。
旧时，南方的社会和政治领袖是种植园的主人。
其中许多人拥有数百名黑奴。
奴隶主要用来采摘棉花和烟草等作物。
哈丽特·塔布曼1820年出生于马里兰州。
作为一个七岁的女孩，她被送到田里与成年奴隶一起工作。
奴隶们从日出到日落都在采摘庄稼。
他们经常边工作边唱歌。
奴隶没有被教导读或写。
人们担心阅读和写作会帮助奴隶逃离种植园。
哈丽特·塔布曼是文盲。
后来，当她有被抓获的危险时，她拿起一本书假装读了起来。
这愚弄了赏金猎人。
哈丽特15岁时帮助另一名奴隶逃跑。
监工对她非常生气，用铁锤砸了她的头。
哈丽特昏迷了好几天。
在她的余生中，她一直头痛和突然入睡。
哈丽特从种植园逃到宾夕法尼亚州的费城。
由于宾夕法尼亚州不是奴隶州，哈丽特在那里相当安全。
她成功秘密地回到种植园，并让她的家人获得自由。
那时已经有人在努力把黑人奴隶从南方带回自由！
这些人，无论是白人还是黑人，都使用铁路的语言。
逃跑的奴隶被称为乘客，安全屋被称为车站，导游被称为售票员。
哈丽特很快就成了地下铁路的售票员。
1850年，美国政府通过了第二项《逃亡奴隶法案》。
这给北方各州带来了更大的压力，迫使他们将逃跑的奴隶送回南方。
因此，地下铁路进一步向北延伸至加拿大。
1793年，上加拿大（安大略省）通过了一项法律，使奴隶制逐渐停止。
1834年，整个大英帝国废除了奴隶制。
1850年之前，许多逃跑的奴隶来到了加拿大，但现在几乎所有逃跑的奴隶都试图去那里。
哈丽特·塔布曼在安大略省圣凯瑟琳市租了一所房子。
这为新来的人提供了庇护所。
在这些年里，哈丽特大约从加拿大到美国旅行了11次。
她总共带回了大约300人。
逃跑的奴隶不得不在夜间旅行，在恶劣的天气下受苦受难。
白天，他们不得不躲在任何可能的地方。
哈丽特不允许任何乘客返回。
这可能危及整个地下铁路。
当奴隶主听说哈丽特的事时，他们悬赏捉拿她。
但没有人抓住她，也没有人把她交出来。
1861年内战爆发时，她担任北方各州的间谍。
战后，她嫁给了美国黑人士兵纳尔逊·戴维斯。
1869年，一本关于哈丽特·塔布曼的书问世。
黑奴称哈丽特被人称为“摩西”
圣经讲述了摩西如何带领以色列人脱离埃及奴隶制的故事。
他带领他们北上巴勒斯坦。
同样，哈丽特·塔布曼（Harriet Tubman）将她的许多人从奴隶制中解救出来，并带领他们北方走向自由。