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Thomas Jefferson was the third President of the United States. He was born in 1743 in Virginia and died on July 4, 1826. He was the third of ten children and grew up on his father's 5,000-acre plantation. He studied law at college. Jefferson is frequently listed as one of the USA's greatest Presidents. He was also one of its most powerful advocates of personal freedom and envisioned a great "Empire of Liberty".
托馬斯·杰斐遜是美國第三任總統。1743年，他出生在美國弗吉尼亞州，并于1826年7月4日逝世。杰斐遜有十個兄弟姐妹，他排行第三，且從小成長在父親經營的5000畝種植園中。在大學里，他學的是法律。人們常將杰斐遜列入美國最偉大總統的行列。杰斐遜強烈支持人身自由，他還設想過一個偉大的“自由帝國”。
Jefferson became a lawyer in 1767 and had a great love of books. He was a very eloquent correspondent using the written word, but was no public speaker. At the age of 33, Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence. In the following years, he labored to make its words a reality in Virginia. Most notably, he wrote a bill establishing religious freedom, which became law in 1786.
1767年，杰斐遜成了律師，并非常熱愛書籍。他是位雄辯的記者，能熟練地使用書面語，但他不是演說家。在杰斐遜33歲時，他起草了《獨立宣言》。在接下來的幾年里，他到弗吉尼亞踐行《獨立宣言》。更難能可貴的是，他建立了一項宗教自由法案。該法案于1786年成為美國法律。
Jefferson succeeded Benjamin Franklin as minister to France in 1785. His sympathy for the French Revolution led him into conflict with the party of the Federalists. He gradually assumed leadership of the Republicans and became Vice President in 1796. In 1801, he became America's third President and served from 1801 to 1809. He advocated tax cuts and presided over the abolition of the slave trade in 1807.
1785年,繼本杰明·富蘭克林之后，杰斐遜擔任了駐法外交部長。他同情法國大革命，這使他陷入了與聯邦黨人的沖突。后來，他逐漸成為了共和黨人的領袖，并于1796年被推選為美國副總統。1801年，他被選為美國第三任總統，任期自1801年至1809年。杰斐遜支持減稅，并于1807年主持廢除奴隸貿易。
While in Office, Jefferson purchased the vast Louisiana Territory from France in 1803 and authorized expeditions to explore the new west. He also established the University of Virginia and the US Military Academy at West Point. He is remembered by the Jefferson Memorial in Washington and as one of the four sculpted presidents on the Mount Rushmore Memorial. He also appears on US postage stamps.
在杰斐遜任職期間，也就是1803年，杰斐遜從法國買下了路易斯安那的大片土地，并允許考察隊在這探索。他還成立了美國弗吉尼亞大學和西點軍校。為紀念杰斐遜，人們在華盛頓成立了杰斐遜紀念館；將他的模樣刻成雕像，擺放在拉什莫爾紀念館中——拉什莫爾紀念館中擺著四位總統的雕像，杰斐遜便是其中之一；并將他的肖像影印在美國郵票上。
譯文屬可可英語原創，未經允許，不得轉載。
