They will discover that American bankers had made large loans to the British, loans that would not be repaid in the event of a British defeat. They will read of the interception of the "Zimmermann Note," in which the German foreign secretary ordered the German minister in Mexico, in the event of war, to suggest an alliance between Germany and Mexico whereby Mexico, with German support, could win back territory taken from Mexico by the United States in the Mexican War. They will also find among many American political leaders a deep concern over the balance of power in Europe, a balance that would be destroyed—to America's disadvantage—if the Germans were able to defeat the French and the British and thereby emerge as the sole major power in Europe.
他們會發現美國銀行家們向英國發放了大量貸款，一旦英國戰敗，這些貸款將石沉大海。他們會讀到“齊默爾曼密電”截獲事件。在密電中，德國外交部長命令德國駐墨西哥的外交使節，一旦戰爭爆發，他須建議墨西哥和德國結盟，這樣一來，墨西哥在德國的幫助下便可以收回它在墨西哥戰爭中被美國奪去的領土。他們還會發現，許多美國政治領導人非常關注歐洲的勢力平衡，這種平衡一旦被打破——如果德國打敗法國和英國，從而成為歐洲唯一的主導力量——那將對美國非常不利。
What then are historians to make of these facts? One group could simply list them. By doing so, they would be making two important assumptions: (1) those facts they put on their list are the main reasons, while those they do not list are not important; and (2) those things they put on their list are of equal importance in explaining the US role. But another group of historians might argue that the list is incomplete in that it does not take into account the generally pro-British views of Woodrow Wilson, views that stemmed from the President's background and education. The result will be a disagreement among the historians. Moreover, because the second group raises the question of Wilson's views, they will find a number of relevant facts that the first group would ignore.
那么，歷史學家們將如何利用這些事實呢？一組史學家可能僅僅把它們列出來。這樣做的話，他們會作出兩種重要的假設：（1）那些他們列出來的事實是主要原因，而那些他們沒有列出來的則不重要；（2）那些他們列出來的事實在解釋美國在一戰中所扮演的角色時同等重要。但另一組歷史學家可能爭辯說所列內容不完整，因為那其中沒有把伍德羅·威爾遜親英的觀點考慮進去，那些觀點涉及總統本人的背景和教育經歷。其結果將使歷史學家們意見出現分歧。此外，由于第二組歷史學家提出了威爾遜的觀點這一問題，他們會找出第一組忽略的一些相關事實。
來源:可可英語 http://www.ccdyzl.cn/daxue/201706/513796.shtml
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