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John Adams was the second President of the United States. He was born in Massachusetts in 1735. He studied law at Harvard and became identified with the movement for independence. During the Revolutionary War he served in France and Holland in diplomatic roles, and helped negotiate the peace treaty with France. He returned from Europe and was elected Vice President under George Washington.
約翰·亞當斯是美國的第二任總統。1735年，他出生在美國的馬薩諸塞州。他曾在哈佛大學學習法律，并因參加獨立運動而聞名。革命戰爭期間，他作為外交官服務于法國和荷蘭之間，并且協助談判和平條約。從歐洲歸來后，他被選為副總統，輔助喬治·華盛頓總統。
Adams served two terms as Vice President. The White House describes them as being "frustrating experiences for a man of his vigor, intellect, and vanity". He complained to his wife Abigail about his frustrations with his sense of a lack of power in his position. He said: "My country has in its wisdom contrived for me the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived."
亞當斯連任了兩屆副總統。白宮評論說：“對一個男人來說，這是一個令人沮喪的經歷，它消磨了一個人的活力、智慧以及虛榮。”亞當斯曾向他的妻子阿碧格爾抱怨他所擁有的權利實在太少了。他說道：“我們的國家自做聰明，拿那個最不起眼的職位給我，那個職位簡直就像某個人的即興作品或其憑空捏造出來的東西。”
When Adams first became President, the war between the French and British was causing great difficulties for the United States. It disrupted trade and shipping to the USA and caused fierce rivalries between Americans loyal to each of the European powers. His decision to send a peace mission to France badly divided American politics and he lost the 1801 election to Thomas Jefferson.
亞當斯第一次擔任美國總統時，英法戰爭給美國帶來了許多困擾。該戰爭阻礙了美國的船舶貿易，導致追隨不同歐洲勢力的美國人之間進行激烈抗爭。后來，他決定與法國進行和平談判，這一決定嚴重分裂了美國政壇。在1801年的美國總統大選中，亞當斯敗給了托馬斯·杰斐遜。
Adams retired from political life and returned to his farm. He will be remembered as being one of the key Founding Fathers of the United States and for the first U.S. politician to start a political dynasty – his son John Quincy became America's sixth President. Adams died on July 4, 1826. His most memorable words are: "People and nations are forged in the fires of adversity."
亞當斯退出政壇后，回到了他的農場。他被視為美國最重要的開國元勛之一，開啟美國政治王朝的第一人——他的兒子約翰·昆西·亞當斯被選為美國第6任總統。1826年7月4日，亞當斯逝世。他的名言是：“人民與國家都是在烈火中涅槃重生的。”
譯文屬可可英語原創，未經允許，不得轉載。
