AFTER Wrld War II wasver， a ltf peple everywhere were talking abut making the wrld a better place. After Wrld War I yu remember， mst cuntriesf the wrld jined in a Leaguef Natins t keep new wars frm starting； but wars kept rightn happening anyway.
After Wrld War II， the cuntriesf the wrld decided t try again t prvide a way fr cuntries t talk with eachther t try t slve their differences peacefully rather than by fighting. S they frmed the United Natins. The headquartersf the United Natins is right here in the United States， in New Yrk City. Have yu ever visited the U.N. headquarters？ If yu g t New Yrk， yu can take a turf the building and meet peple frm allver the wrld wh wrk there.
The United Natins has been mre successful than the leaguef Natins was. Still， there have been a ltf prblems that the wrld has had t face since the endf Wrld War II. I guess it wuld be t much t expect that the wrld culd get by fr very lng withut any prblems. But we can always hpe.
Here isne prblem that did get slved， at least partly slved， after Wrld War II. The United Natins helped. After the war wasver， a ltf peple everywhere were talking abut making the wrld a better place. During the war， peple had said that it was wrng fr Germany and Japan t cnquer and rulether cuntries and their peple. After the war wasver， sme men and wmen began t ask why smether natins still had the right t rule cuntries they had cnquered earlier. Remember hw the industrialized natins had taken clnies t prvide their factries with supplies like wd， rubber， cttn， and sugar？ Well， after Wrld War II they still had thse clnies. In fact， the British clnies were s widespread that the English bragged that， "The sun never setsn the British Empire." D yu knw what this means？
Imaginewning s muchf the restf the wrld that the sun was always shiningn a partf the wrld yuwned. The Britishwned cuntries like Ghana and Kenya in Africa， big cuntries like India， and small islands like the Bahamas and Jamaica. The British were very prudf their big empire. But a ltf peple in Africa， India， and the islandsf the Caribbean weren"t s happy abut the British. In fact， they had been talking fr a lng time abut getting ridf thse freigners！ And after Wrld War II the British were tired frm having fught s hard against the Germans and the Japanese. Besides that， peple allver the wrld were saying that every natin shuld be able t chse itswn gvernment. In this discussin， it was hard fr the Americans t take the sidef theirld ally， the English. Why d yu suppse this was true？ D yu suppse it"s because we rememberedurwn American Revlutin？
Leaders in different clnies wrked in different ways t win independence fr their peple. In sme places， menrganized armies just as Gerge Washingtn hadrganized the American army. Inther places， men and wmenrganized less vilent prtests， like marches and speeches.nef the best knwn heresf this time was a man in India named Gandhi.
Mhandas Gandhi didn"t lk much like the herf a revlutin！ He was small and thin. He didn"t talk much like a revlutinary leader. He said that peple shuld nt be vilent in their prtests. Nw， India was a British clny. Gandhi had decided that the British were， at heart， a mral peple， s he felt that he just needed t make them， as well as the restf the wrld， see what was right. Then they wuld grant India its independence withut a ltf peple being killed.
Gandhi was very clever in thinking up things t d t draw attentin t India"s desire t becme independent. He knew that England kept India t make mney frm the resurces that India prvided fr England"s factries and frmGandhi spinning ( 甘地在纺线 )the taxes that Indians paid. S he decided t make it harder fr England t make mney frm India.
Yu knw that the English in India had been buying cttn t ship t factries in England. This ct-tn was made int clth and clthing. Smef the clthing was then shipped back t India and sld at very high prices. The English，f curse， kept the prfits. Nw， befre I tell yu what Gandhi did， let me tell yu what he didn"t d. He didn"t sht the English living in India. He didn"t burn the fieldsf cttn. He didn"t try t sink the English ships that carried the cttn and later the clth and clthing. He didn"t d anyf thse vilent things t drive the English away. What he did d was this. He asked all Indians t spend several hurs a day spinning and weaving theirwn clth. This way， they wuld have plentyf clth withut ever having t buy any mre frm England. S the English wuldn"t be making mney， but they als wuldn"t have any excuse t cme and sht the Indian prtesters either. Wasn"t Gandhi a clever revlutinary？
Here"s anther thing he did. The English cllected a big taxn salt. Indians had t have salt t preserve their fd because mstf them had n refrigeratr. S the English had a sure surcef tax mney. Remember hw Americans felt abut the taxes they paid t England befre the American Revlutin？ Well， the Indians felt the same way abut the taxes they had t pay t England. Gandhi figuredut a way t avid paying the taxn salt withut breaking the law. He led a great march t the sea. We all knw thatcean water is very salty. Gandhi knew this t. S he led thusandsf Indians t the edgef the sea.nce there， he taught them hw t make the sea water evaprate. This wuld leave them ltsf salt. In this way his peple culd have all the salt they needed-withut paying the tax and withut breaking any law！ When sldiers beat the peple making salt， peple everywhere， even in England， said that the sldiers were wrng.
Gandhi became very famus all arund the wrld. Peple thught that it was marvelus that he culd make such a strng prtest withut using vilence. Finally the pressuren England became t great， and England gave up. Sn after Wrld War II wasver， Indians had wn their independence.
nce India was independent，ther cuntries fllwed quickly. Leaders in Africa， like Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana and Jm Kenyattaf Kenya， wn independence fr their cuntries. Algeria became independent frm France， butnly after a lng war. The United States agreed t give the Philippines independence... and s it went allver the wrld. Cuntry after cuntry in Africa and Asia became independent. Large and small islands in the Pacific and Caribbean became independent. Manyf these cuntries were pr and really had t struggle. Manyf them are still struggling， but at least they are nlnger ruled by freigners. D yu knw what？ They almst all celebrate their Independence Day just as we celebrate the Furthf July. Wuldn"t it be fun t travel all arund the wrld and visit every cuntryn its natinal hliday？ Nw that almst every cuntry is independent， that wuld make a very lng trip！ D yu suppse they all have firewrks？
【中文阅读】
第二次世界大战结束以后，世界各地有许多人都在谈论要改善这个世界。还记 得吧，第一次世界大战以后，为防止战争再次发生，世界上大多数国家加入了国际 联盟，但是战争还是不断发生着。
第二次世界大战以后，世界各国决定再努力为国与国之间的对话提供一条途径， 以争取不通过战争而通过和平方式解决分歧和争端。于是他们成立了联合国。联合 国总部就在美国的纽约市。你参观过联合国总部吗？如果你去纽约，你可以游览一 下那栋建筑物，见一见在那里工作的来自世界各地的人。
联合国要比国际联盟有成效。尽管如此，自从第二次世界大战结束以来，这个 世界还存在着大量需要解决的问题。我想，期望这个世界长时间平安无事会是一种 奢望。但是我们总是要抱有这样的希望。
第二次世界大战之后，有一个问题确实解决了，至少是部分地解决了。联合国 起到了作用。战争结束以后，世界各地有许多人都在谈论要改善这个世界。在二战 期间，人们谴责过德国和日本，说它们不该侵略和统治其他的国家和人们。战争结 束以后，有些人开始提出疑问：为什么仍然有些国家有权统治它们早期征服的国家 呢？还记得那些工业化国家如何夺取殖民地，让它们为自己的工厂提供像木材、橡 胶、棉花和糖这样的原料吗？那么，二战后，它们仍然拥有这些殖民地。甚至，英 国的殖民地分布在世界各地，所以英国人夸口说"在英帝国的土地上太阳永不落 下"。你知道这是什么意思吗？
想象一下你在世界各地都有土地，那么太阳总会在你拥有的某块土地上照耀着。 英国人拥有的殖民地国家很多，例如非洲的加纳和肯尼亚，还有印度这样的大国和 巴哈马和牙买加这样的小岛国。英国人都为自己的大帝国感到非常自豪。但是在非 洲、印度和加勒比海群岛上的人民对英国人就极为不满。事实上，他们长期以来一 直在议论要摆脱这些外国殖民者！第二次世界大战之后，英国人在结束和德国、日 本的艰苦战争后，深感疲惫。此外，世界各地的人们主张每个国家都应自主选择自 己的政府。在这场讨论里，美国人很难再支持自己的旧日盟友英国人了。你认为这 是正确的吗？为什么？你认为这是因为我们想起了美国独立战争吗？
各殖民地的领导人以不同的方式发挥自己的作用，为自己的人民赢得独立。有 些地方，男人们组建军队，反抗殖民者，就像乔治 华盛顿过去组建美国军队一样。 另一些地方，男人和女人一起组织非暴力的抗议活动，比如游行和演讲。这一时期 最著名的英雄之一是一个名叫甘地的印度人。
"圣雄"甘地看上去并不怎么像个革命英雄！他长得又瘦又小。他讲起话来也不 像一个革命领袖那样滔滔不绝。他说人们不应该在抗议活动中使用暴力。当然，印 度是英国的殖民地，但是甘地确定英国人本质上是一个讲道德的民族，所以他觉得 他只需要让他们和世界上其他人一样，认识到什么是正确的，问题就可以迎刃而解。 到那时，他们就会同意印度独立，而不需要很多人流血牺牲了。
甘地非常聪明，总能想出采取什么行动引起人们关注印度要求独立的愿望。他 知道英国保留印度这个殖民地为的是从印度供给英国工厂的原材料中赚钱，也为了 获取从印度人交的大量税金。于是他决定让英国更难从印度赚钱。
你知道英国人在印度买棉花，用船运到英国的工厂。这些棉花在工厂里制成布 料和衣服。其中一些衣服再运回印度，以高价卖出。英国人当然就获得了利润。好 了，在我告诉你甘地做了什么之前，让我先告诉你他"不"做什么。他不刺杀住在 印度的英国人。他不烧毁田里的棉花。他不试图把运输棉花及后来运输布匹和衣服 的英国船只弄沉。他不采用任何暴力的方式驱赶英国人。现在让我们看他做了什么。 他恳求所有的印度人一天花几小时自己来纺线、织布。这样做下去，他们就会有足 够的布料，不需要再从英国购买了。这样英国人将赚不到钱，但是同时他们也没有 任何借口可以枪杀印度抗议者。甘地是个聪明的革命者，是不是？
他还做了另一件事。英国人向印度人征收高额的盐税。印度人必须用盐来保存 食物因为大多数印度人没有冰箱。所以英国人有个稳定的税收来源。记得美国独立 战争之前美国人对于向英国人交税是什么感受吗？那么，印度人对于向英国交税也 深有同感。甘地想出一个办法既可以避免付盐税，又不会犯法。他组织了一次向大 海的大行军。我们都知道海水非常咸。甘地也知道这点。于是他带领着成千上万的 印度人来到海边。一到那里，他就教他们如何让海水蒸发。这样就可以让他们获得 大量的海盐。用这种方法，他的人民就能得到所需要的盐--不用交税，也不犯法！ 当英国士兵殴打那些制盐的老百姓时，世界各地的人们，甚至包括英国人，都纷纷 谴责这些士兵。
甘地变得举世闻名。人们认为他能够不使用暴力就做出这样强烈的抗议真是太 了不起了。最后英国所承受的外界压力太大了，英国只得放弃印度的殖民地。第二 次世界大战结束后不久，印度人就赢得了独立。
一 旦 印 度 独 立， 其 他 国 家 都 紧 随 其 后。 非 洲 殖 民 地 领 导 人， 如 加 纳 的 克 瓦 米 恩克鲁玛、肯尼亚的乔莫 肯雅塔，都为自己的国家赢得了独立。阿尔及利亚脱 离法国独立，不过，之前经历了一场漫长的战争。美国同意让菲律宾独立……于是 这股争取独立的热潮就传遍了全世界。在非洲和亚洲，一个又一个国家独立了。太 平洋和加勒比海上的大大小小的岛国独立了。其中很多国家很贫穷，不得不经历艰 难困苦。其中还有许多国家直到现在还在艰苦奋斗，但是至少这些国家不再被外国 人统治了。真想不到，几乎所有这些国家都像美国庆祝 7 月 4 日那样庆祝自己的独 立日。如果做一次环球旅游，在每个国家国庆节时到那里去参观，不是很有趣吗？ 既然差不多所有国家都独立了，那会是一次非常漫长的旅程！你认为这些国家在庆 祝的时候都放烟火吗？