1 Orphaned

Chapter 1 Orphaned George Washington Carver was born into slavery in Diamond Grove, Missouri, near the end of the American Civil War, which was fought from 1861 to 1865. George was black; his owners, Moses and Susan Carver, were white.

乔治·华盛顿·卡弗出生在密苏里州戴蒙德格罗夫的一个奴隶家庭，当时美国内战（1861年至1865年）即将结束。 乔治是黑人；他的主人摩西和苏珊·卡弗是白人。

Moses and Susan were German immigrants. They didn't like slavery, but they had a 240-acre farm that needed much work, and Missouri had entered the Union in 1820 as a slave state. In 1855, the Carvers purchased a thirteen-year-old slave girl named Mary. They treated Mary well and were happy for her when she gave birth to a son named Jim in 1859. Several years later, George was born.

摩西和苏珊是德国移民。 他们不喜欢奴隶制，但他们有一个240英亩的农场，需要很多工作，而且密苏里州在1820年作为一个奴隶制州加入了联邦。 1855年，卡佛夫妇买下了一个名叫玛丽的13岁奴隶女孩。 他们对玛丽很好，当她在1859年生下一个名叫吉姆的儿子时，他们为她感到高兴。 几年后，乔治出生了。

No one knows exactly when George was born, because most records among slave owners were poorly kept. Most likely George was born in 1864. His father, Giles, was a slave who was owned by a neighbor of the Carvers. He was killed in a farming accident not long after George's birth. No one knows exactly how many brothers or sisters George had. George lived with Mary and Jim in a small cabin on the Carver farm. The cabin was the original house on the farm. Moses and Susan had since built a larger house, and they lived in that one. One night when George was still an infant,

没有人确切知道乔治是什么时候出生的，因为大多数奴隶主的记录保存得很差。 乔治很可能出生于1864年。 他的父亲贾尔斯是卡弗家邻居的奴隶。 乔治出生后不久，他在一次农业事故中丧生。 没有人确切知道乔治有多少兄弟姐妹。 乔治和玛丽、吉姆一起住在卡弗农场的一间小木屋里。 小屋是农场上原来的房子。 摩西和苏珊后来盖了一所更大的房子，他们就住在那所房子里。 一天晚上，乔治还是个婴儿，

he was asleep in the cabin. Suddenly, there was the sound of men on horseback. Moses knew what that meant. Twice before, his farm had been attacked by raiders —called bushwhackers —who were fighting on the Confederate (Southern) side in the Civil War.

他在小木屋里睡着了。 突然，马背上传来了人的声音。 摩西知道这是什么意思。 在此之前，他的农场曾两次遭到劫掠者的袭击，这些劫掠者在内战中为南方联盟作战。

Missouri's role in the Civil War was complicated. Even though Missouri was a slave state, many of the people who lived there were against slavery. So some men on the Union (Northern) side fought for Missouri to remain as one of the United States and to free the slaves. But some of Missouri's men fought to create a separate nation that would keep slavery legal. They were on the Confederate side.

密苏里州在南北战争中的角色是复杂的。 尽管密苏里州是一个实行奴隶制的州，但那里的许多人都反对奴隶制。 因此，联邦（北方）一方的一些人为密苏里州继续作为美国的一部分并解放奴隶而战。 但密苏里州的一些人为建立一个独立的国家而战，这个国家将使奴隶制合法化。 他们站在南方联盟一边。

Moses was caught in the middle. He had slaves, but since he also wanted slavery to be illegal, he upset people on both sides.

摩西被夹在中间。 他有奴隶，但由于他也希望奴隶制是非法的，他惹恼了双方的人。