Story of the Oval Office Desk，本文主要内容关键词为：Oval论文,Story论文,Desk论文,Office论文，此文献不代表本站观点，内容供学术参考，文章仅供参考阅读下载。
The Oval Office（注：（美国白宫）椭圆形办公室。）desk onwhich some of the U.S.Presidents rest their elbows has seenalot of abuse（注：历经沧桑。）.It was stored in deepfreeze（注：速冻（冰箱）。） for over a year.Queen Victoria once stood onit while sailors cheered.And more than a century ago,itseemed headed for the scrapheap（注：差点被送往垃圾场。）.
Of course,all of that happened before it wasa desk.ThePresident's,handsomely carved platform is crafted of timberssalvaged from the H.M.S.Resolute,（总统的办公桌雕刻精美，制做精良，其木料来自“HMS无敌号”木船。）a 19th- centuryBritish exploration vessel.To understand how the Resolutegot from England to the Oval Office is to revisit the history
of Arctic exploration and the ways politicians on both sidesof the Atlantic have used symbols to bind their nationstogether.
In May 1845 explorer Sir John Franklin led yet anotherexpedition in search of the Northwest Passage.For over 300years,the British had been looking for this presumedshortcut that would provide a trade route to the Orient.
When three years passed with no word from Franklin,Britain and America both dispatched relief efforts.In April1852,the search still on,five of Her Majesty's sailing ships,including the H.M.S.Resolute,set out under the commandof Sir Edward Belcher.Two yeas into the voyage,four of thevessels,including the Resolute,were frozen fast in an icefloe（注：大片浮冰。）。 Commander Belcher ordered the captains of the trapped vessels to proceed on foot and by sled（注：雪橇。）across the ice to the North Star,the one freelynavigating vessel.
Besolute Captain Henry Kellett was critical of Belcher'sorders to abandon ship.He felt if they walted out the winter,the ship would be freed in the spring thaw（注：春天解冻时。）.But he followed Belcher's orders.Before departing the ship,Kellett had the crew fit her in the manner of a coffin laidto rest,（注：按照家乡埋葬灵柩的习俗。）with decks sweptclean,cabin locked,colors flying.
The Resolute's master,George F.Mc-Dougall,recorded the event in hisjournal:"Captain Kellett inspected the lower deck,holds（注：船舱。）,etc.,and after drinking a glass of wine to the oldResolute and her crew,the lower deck was cleared for thelast time,and the main hatchway secured（注：.关紧主舱口。）."Kellett and his men returned to England in the crowdedquarters of the North Star.
In September 1855 the American whaling ship George Henry was breaking through the Arctic when Captain JamesBuddington spotted a three-masted bark（注：三桅帆船。）in the distance.No response came to his ship's signals.Buddington sent four crewmen on a daylong journey across theice to see what had befallen the ship.
The crewmen reached the Resolute and discovered from acaptain's logbook that she had drifted more than 1000 milesin 16 months.The wine on board was still good.
The law of the sea gave Buddington salvage rights to theResolute.He set to work making the ship seaworthy（注：适宜航海的，经得起风浪的。）,and after a long journey,shearrived at New London,Connecticut.With the intention ofrestoring the vessel to Britain,the U.S.governmentpurchased her for S40,000.
At the Brooklyn Navy Yard,everything was refitted asit had been when the ship was abandoned.Even books from thecaptain's cabin and an officer's music box were set in theirproper places.New British flags were stitched and sailshoisted.
Commander Henry J.Hartstene,U.S.A.,chosen because he'dled one of the few successful Arctic rescue expeditions onrecord,set sail for England in November 1856.Some 30 daysafter departing New York,the Resolute drew into PortsmouthHarbor,flying the Union Jack and the Stars and Strips（注：英国国旗和美国国旗。）
side by side.Days later,Queen Victoria set foot on the deck,and the crew gave three robust cheers（注：三声响彻云霄的欢呼声。）.
Commander Hartstene bowed and said,"Will Your Majestypermit me to welcome you on board the Resolute,and,inaccordance with the wishes of my countrymen,and in obedienceto my instructions from the President of the United States,to restore her to Your Majesty,not only as a mark offriendly feeling to Your Majesty' s government,but as atoken of love,admiration and respect for Your Majesty'sperson."
The Queen replied,"I thank you."
Little more than 20 years after her return to England,however,the Resolute was on her way to the woodpile.Aletter in the Times of London said:"It would be but a poorcompliment to the United States,which so nobly andgenerously aided in the search,to break her up as intended."（注：如按计划将这艘船拆除，无疑对在搜索工作中做出豁达慷慨援助的美国是一个嘲讽。） Responding to pleas from old sailors andmembers of the admiralty,the Queen ordered that timbers fromthe Resolute be used for a generous purpose.
On November 23,1880,a large box arrived at the WhiteHouse,addressed to President Rutherford Hayes.Inside wasan oak desk weighing around 350 pounds.It carried aninscription recounting（注：上面镌刻的铭文记述了……。）America's gift of the Resolute to Her Majesty Queen Victoria,and concluding:"This table was made from her timbers,andis presented by the Queen of Great Britain to the Presidentof the United States as a memorial of the courtesy and loving kindness which dictated the offer of the gift of the Resolute.（注：以纪念美国政府将“无敌号”作为礼物献给英国的盛情及美意。）"
Since then,the Resolute desk has made a journey of itsown through the White House.It was used in the President'sOffice until 1902.When the President's Office was moved tothe newly constructed West Wing,the desk remained in theresidence.
Franklin Roosevelt requested a panel carved with thePresidential coat of arms for the desk's rear kneehole.（注：将总统的盾形徽雕刻在一块镶板上，嵌在办公桌前。kneehole意为“办公桌容纳膝部的地方”。） During Harry Truman's term the deskwas placed in the Broadcast Room,where Dwight Eisenhowerlater used it for radio and TV speeches.
In February.1961 President John F.Kennedy's wifeJacqueline discovered it there and installed it in the OvalOffice.It became a playground for their son John--John,whowas photographed peering out from behind the Roosevelt panelwhile his father worked.After President Kennedy's death thedesk went to the Smithsonian Institution（注：史密森学会。）.Jimmy Carter returned it to the Oval Office in 1977,and thenGeorge Bush moved it back to the residence.
Upon his inauguration,the former President Bill Clintonreturned the Resolute desk to its moorings in the Oval Office.There it sits today,testimony to（注：见证。） the bravery of sailors on both sides of the Atlantic,to the queen whoonce trod（注：trod为tread的过去时，“踩，踏”。）its timbers,and to the gestures that bind the English-speaking world.
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