1 A Caribbean Childhood

Who Was Alexander Hamilton? by Pam Pollack and Meg Belvisa

亚历山大·汉密尔顿是谁？ 作者：帕姆·波拉克和梅格·贝尔维萨

Who Was Alexander Hamilton? On July 11, 1804, high above the Hudson River in Weehawken, New Jersey, two men met at dawn. They were Alexander Hamilton, a Revolutionary War hero and the first secretary of the treasury, and Aaron Burr, the vice president of the United States. They had come to fight a duel. In the early 1800s, dueling was common. When two gentlemen got into a fight that they couldn't settle with words, they agreed to meet with pistols instead. In a secluded place, they faced each other. They planned to point and shoot at the same time. If they were lucky, both men would survive. The men stood on a high rock cliff facing the water. They were hidden by trees. This was a popular spot for duels.

亚历山大·汉密尔顿是谁？ 1804年7月11日，在新泽西州威霍肯的哈德逊河上空，两个人在黎明时分相遇。 他们是独立战争英雄、第一任财政部长亚历山大·汉密尔顿（Alexander Hamilton）和美国副总统亚伦·伯尔（Aaron Burr）。 他们是来决斗的。 在19世纪早期，决斗很常见。 当两位绅士打起架来无法用言语解决时，他们同意用手枪来代替。 在一个僻静的地方，他们面对面。 他们计划同时瞄准和射击。 如果幸运的话，两个人都能活下来。 这些人站在一个面向水面的高高的岩石悬崖上。 他们被树遮住了。 这是决斗的好地方。

A man who refused to fight a duel was seen as a coward. But dueling was illegal in New York City, where Alexander and Aaron lived. New Yorkers could be punished for dueling. That is why they had come to Weehawken—a spot right across the river from New York City. New Jersey was not as strict about dueling. Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr had known each other for many years. Sometimes they worked together as lawyers or in the government. Often they disagreed. A few weeks earlier, Alexander had insulted Aaron at a dinner party. Aaron demanded an apology when he found out, but Alexander refused. Friends of the two men tried to make peace between them. But it was no use. Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr raised their pistols and took their aim. Only one would survive.

拒绝决斗的人被视为懦夫。 但在亚历山大和亚伦居住的纽约市，决斗是非法的。 纽约人可能会因为决斗而受到惩罚。 这就是他们来到威霍肯的原因——一个与纽约市隔河相望的地方。 新泽西对决斗没有那么严格。 亚历山大·汉密尔顿和亚伦·伯尔相识多年。 有时他们一起当律师或在政府工作。 他们经常不同意。几周前，亚历山大在一次晚宴上侮辱了亚伦。 亚伦发现后要求亚历山大道歉，但亚历山大拒绝了。 这两个人的朋友试图在他们之间讲和。 但是没有用。亚历山大·汉密尔顿和亚伦·伯尔举起手枪瞄准。 只有一个能活下来。

CHAPTER 1 A Caribbean Childhood On January 11, 1755, Alexander Hamilton was born on Nevis, a small island in the West Indies. It is now part of the country called the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis. It was a British colony, which meant it was governed by Great Britain and its king, George III. Alexander's parents were James Hamilton and Rachel Faucette. James had grown up in Scotland, where his family lived in a castle. But as the youngest son, James didn't inherit it. He came to the West Indies hoping to make money, but he wasn't very good at it. Rachel Faucette had been born in the West Indies, and her family was French. James and Rachel were not married. Rachel had married another man when she was young, but he was very mean. She ran away, leaving behind a son,

1755年1月11日，亚历山大·汉密尔顿出生在西印度群岛的一个小岛尼维斯。 它现在是圣基茨和尼维斯联邦的一部分。 它是英国的殖民地，这意味着它由英国及其国王乔治三世统治。 亚历山大的父母是詹姆斯·汉密尔顿和雷切尔·福赛特。 詹姆斯在苏格兰长大，他家住在一座城堡里。 但作为最小的儿子，詹姆斯并没有继承它。 他来到西印度群岛是希望赚钱，但他并不擅长赚钱。 雷切尔·福赛特出生在西印度群岛，她的家庭是法国人。 詹姆斯和瑞秋没有结婚。 雷切尔年轻时嫁给了另一个男人，但他很吝啬。 她跑了，留下一个儿子，

and she never saw him again. Rachel and James lived together as husband and wife and had two children, James and Alexander.

她再也没见过他。 雷切尔和詹姆斯作为夫妻生活在一起，有两个孩子，詹姆斯和亚历山大。

The West Indies When Christopher Columbus set out from Spain, he hoped to sail west and eventually find the islands known as "the East Indies." The place that Columbus was really looking for was east of Spain, in the Pacific Ocean—a country we now call Indonesia. When he came upon a group of islands in the Caribbean, he thought he had reached his destination. So he called these islands "the Indies." When people realized Columbus's mistake, they referred to this area of the Atlantic Ocean as the West Indies. Also known as the Caribbean Basin, the West Indies encompass the triangle from Florida south along the coast of Central America, eastward along the coast of South America, and northward to Bermuda. Many white people on the island made money by growing sugarcane. Most of the sugarcane was

当克里斯托弗·哥伦布从西班牙出发时，他希望向西航行，最终找到被称为“东印度群岛”的岛屿。 哥伦布真正寻找的地方是在西班牙以东的太平洋上——一个我们现在称之为印度尼西亚的国家。 当他来到加勒比海的一群岛屿时，他以为自己已经到达了目的地。 所以他称这些岛屿为“印度群岛”。 当人们意识到哥伦布的错误时，他们把大西洋的这片地区称为西印度群岛。 西印度群岛也被称为加勒比海盆地，它包括了从佛罗里达向南沿着中美洲海岸，向东沿着南美洲海岸，向北到百慕大的三角地带。 岛上许多白人靠种植甘蔗赚钱。 大部分的甘蔗都是