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.
他们会发现美国银行家们向英国发放了大量贷款，一旦英国战败，这些贷款将石沉大海。他们会读到“齐默尔曼密电”截获事件。在密电中，德国外交部长命令德国驻墨西哥的外交使节，一旦战争爆发，他须建议墨西哥和德国结盟，这样一来，墨西哥在德国的帮助下便可以收回它在墨西哥战争中被美国夺去的领土。他们还会发现，许多美国政治领导人非常关注欧洲的势力平衡，这种平衡一旦被打破——如果德国打败法国和英国，从而成为欧洲唯一的主导力量——那将对美国非常不利。
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，历史学家们将如何利用这些事实呢？一组史学家可能仅仅把它们列出来。这样做的话，他们会作出两种重要的假设：（1）那些他们列出来的事实是主要原因，而那些他们没有列出来的则不重要；（2）那些他们列出来的事实在解释美国在一战中所扮演的角色时同等重要。但另一组历史学家可能争辩说所列内容不完整，因为那其中没有把伍德罗·威尔逊亲英的观点考虑进去，那些观点涉及总统本人的背景和教育经历。其结果将使历史学家们意见出现分歧。此外，由于第二组历史学家提出了威尔逊的观点这一问题，他们会找出第一组忽略的一些相关事实。
来源:可可英语 http://www.kekenet.com/daxue/201706/513796.shtml
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