关于美国历史，有哪些最令人震惊的事实？

Raymond Martinez
The Compiler was quite a reliable source of news during the Civil War, hence it was read by both unxists and Confederates. But the newspaper was not only popular for its news but also for its print advertisements.
One particular ad that appeared was placed by R.F. McIlheny store with the headline: “BOOTS AND SHOES comprising Men’s fine calf boots, Men’s Balmorals, Men’s Wellington Boots, Congress Gaiters, brogans”
This print ad caught the attention of three Confederate generals, Ambrose Hill, Henry Heth, and Johnston Pettigrew. Heth and Pettigrew were division generals under Hill who headed the entire 3rd Corps. The generals were very concerned about the advertisement because the 3rd Corps has been practically marching and fighting for several months barefoot since their boots were either broken or in disrepair.

编译者报在内战期间是一份相当可靠的新闻来源，因此得到联邦军和南方邦联双方的阅读。但是这份报纸不仅因其新闻而受到欢迎，还因其印刷广告而出名。其中一则广告是由R.F. McIlheny店铺发布的，标题为：“靴子和鞋子，包括男士优质小牛皮靴，男士巴尔摩拉尔靴，男士威灵顿靴，Congress短筒皮靴，和便鞋。”这则广告引起了三位南方邦联将领的注意，即安布罗斯·希尔，亨利·希思和约翰斯顿·佩蒂格鲁。希思和佩蒂格鲁是希尔统领的整个第三军团的师级将领。这些将军非常担心这则广告，因为第三军团由于其靴子要么破损，要么磨损严重，实际上已经光着脚在行军和作战了好几个月了。

The shoe store was between eight and 16 miles away from the Confederate army position, and Heth told Pettigrew to muster about 2,400 infantry to head there, and get those shoes for the soldiers. Pettigrew and his brigade set out in the early morning, braving the hot and humid weather.
When Pettigrew reached the outskirts of the town where the shoe store was located, he had spotted the presence of a small group of unx cavalry. On the other hand, his men claimed they have heard the sounds of drums of infantry from a distant. Since he had no cavalry of his own to survey the area and the strength of the unx forces, Pettigrew decided to order his men to return to base camp empty-handed, enduring another eight to 16 miles march back, still on barefoot.

鞋店位于南方邦联军队的阵地之间，距离大约在8到16英里之间。赫斯要求佩蒂格鲁集结约2400名步兵前往那里，为士兵们取得鞋子。佩蒂格鲁和他的旅在清晨出发，忍受着炎热潮湿的天气。
当佩蒂格鲁到达鞋店所在城镇的郊区时，他发现有一小群联盟骑兵驻扎在那里。另一方面，他的士兵们声称他们听到了远处步兵的鼓声。由于他没有自己的骑兵来勘测该地区和联盟军队的实力，佩蒂格鲁决定下令他的士兵空着手回到基地营地，再次忍受着8到16英里的赤脚行军。

Heth and Pettigrew reported to Hill about the situation at the town. Hill told them that Gen. Robert E. Lee and him were confident the only Yankees in the vicinity of the town were the small detachment of reconnaissance cavalry which Pettigrew had seen — just a small problem that can be easily overcome.
At this point, Heth asked permission to lead his own division over to the shoe store and secure those boots and shoes. Hill immediately granted his request. So the following day, on the 1st of July, Heth’s infantry marched to the town, and what ensued was an unintended three-day carnage that neither the unx nor the Confederate force anticipated.

赫斯和佩蒂格鲁向希尔上将报告了城镇的局势，希尔告诉他们，罗伯特·李将军和他对城镇周围只有佩蒂格鲁看到的那支小型侦察骑兵部队感到有信心 - 只是可以轻易解决的一个小问题。
此时，赫斯请求获准率领自己的师去鞋店并保护那些靴子和鞋子。希尔立即批准了他的请求。因此，第二天7月1日，赫斯的步兵行进到该镇，随后发生了一个意想不到的为期三天的屠杀，既不是联盟军队也不是邦联军队预料到的。

The Confederates had their eyes set on securing new footwear from a shoe store in a town called Gettysburg in Pennsylvania that they have underestimated the full size and strength of the unx cavalry and its nearby 1st Corps and 11th Corps.

南方联盟军曾计划从宾夕法尼亚州的一个名叫葛底斯堡的小镇的一家鞋店获取新鞋，但他们低估了联盟军的全部规模和实力，以及附近的第1兵团和第11兵团。

From 1st to 3rd of July 1863, the Battle of Gettysburg was fought, leaving between 46,000 and 51,000 combined casualties on both sides.

1863年7月1日至3日，盖茨堡战役爆发，双方共有4.6万至5.1万人伤亡。

Dan Bradbury
The USA's first 100 years were dominated by a very careful and methodical manipulation of international and regional politics with an eye towards creating an American Empire in ways you don't quite understand at first glance.

美国的头100年被非常谨慎和有步骤地操控国际和地区政治所主导，旨在以一种不太容易一眼看穿的方式建立起美国帝国。

The Monroe Doctrine was not enforceable by the USA, but was an aspiration. In lieu of enforcement by the US Navy, the USA coaxed the British into enforcing it for us at the expense of "pushing" the British Empire out of the Americas. The policy worked brilliantly. By the US Civil War, the Brits had helped secure the Americas from the Spaniards and Portuguese and inadvertently aided the Latin American nations in gaining their freedom. The French were sufficiently emasculated by the British Fleet to be utterly incapable of affecting any mission in the Americas and the Dutch were a has-been empire with only the most basic economic ties to its territories in the Americas.
¶—The Monroe Doctrine came to full fruition by the end of the 19th century when the USA's, then, massive fleet effectively shut out the Americas from any foreign invasion, capitulated the remains of the Spanish Empire, acquired Alaska from the Russians who needed cash and continued in building a global oceanic alliance with the Brits who were then the largest seafaring nation on Earth (and the only extra-Americas nation with power in the Americas). In essence, the first and second most powerful navies were best friends and the fourth largest navy was "close enough" (France), and the combination of the first and second navies were sufficiently larger than the third (Germany) as to make it an afterthought until the Great War.
¶—The final phase of the Monroe Doctrine came into effect during WWII, when the USA negotiated the dismantling of the British Empire (opened to external trade + the requirement to respect local wishes for self-government). Furthermore, bases within the Empire were required as down-payment to the US for arms in the Lend Lease Act. After WWII, dominance of the seas was ceded to the USA with Britain as the junior partner (a reversal of roles that started some 50 years earlier and a relationship that is still in effect to this day).

门罗主义并不是美国可以强制执行的政策，而只是一个愿景。由于美国海军的无力执行，美国诱导英国帮助我们执行，在牺牲“推动”英国帝国从美洲退出的代价下。这项政策取得了巨大成功。到了美国内战时期，英国已经帮助夯实了美洲对西班牙和葡萄牙的控制，无意中帮助拉美国家获得了自由。法国已被英国舰队削弱到完全无法在美洲执行任何任务，而荷兰是一个过去式的帝国，与其在美洲领土上仅有最基本的经济联系。
到19世纪末，门罗主义得以全面实施，美国庞大的海军有效地阻隔了来自外国的入侵，削弱了西班牙帝国的残余力量，从俄罗斯手中购买了阿拉斯加（俄国方面需要资金），并继续与当时地球上最大的航海国家——英国建立起全球性的海洋联盟（英国也是除美洲以外唯一有影响力的国家）。实质上，第一和第二强大的海军成了最好的朋友，而第四强大的海军（法国）则“足够靠近”，而第一、第二海军的实力之和比第三（德国）要强大得多，这使得其在一战前几乎不被人们所关注。
门罗主义
这一最后阶段在二战期间进入实施阶段，美国协商拆除了英帝国（为外部贸易打开通路，同时必须尊重当地自治的意愿）。此外，在《租借法案》下，美国需要通过授予基地作为武器赔款。二战后，海洋的优势属于美国，并将英国作为次要伙伴（这反转了50年前开始的角色，并且这种关系至今仍在继续）。

The USA advertised "free land" all over Europe not out of altruistic concern for helping the needy in Europe, but out of a firm knowledge that the Army alone could not push the Indians off their land because the Federal Government had to pay basic homage to the treaties until excuses could be made to break them. In order to come up with excuses, the population needed to grow and move west. By advertising "free land" (Homestead Act) in Europe, the USA attracted Irish, Germans, Dutch, British, French and later Italian and Slavic immigrants to do the dirty work of pushing the Natives off the land, scream for assistance against the "savages" and justify more federal military actions against the Indians. This policy of free land caused the US's population to grow by 3,000% in about a hundred years, the fasted 100 year population growth in recorded history.

美国在欧洲广告“免费土地”，并不是出于对欧洲贫困人民的利他关怀，而是出于深谙美国军队独自无法将印第安人赶下土地的事实之下，联邦政府必须基本履行条约的要求，直到找到理由来打破这些条约。为了找到这样的理由，人口需要增长并向西迁徙。通过在欧洲宣传“免费土地”（《移民法案》），美国吸引了爱尔兰、德国、荷兰、英国、法国以及后来的意大利和斯拉夫移民来开垦土地，把印第安人赶下土地，高喊着反对“野蛮人”的口号，从而为联邦政府推动采取更多军事行动打造出合理的借口。这一“免费土地”的政策导致美国的人口在大约一百年间增长了3000% ，创下了有记录以来最快的100年人口增长记录。

The USA orchestrated a civil war in Colombia (which Panama was a part of) in order to "liberate" Panama from Colombia and secure rights to build the Panama Canal (Teddy Roosevelt).

美国在哥伦比亚（包括巴拿马）策划了一场内战，以“解放”巴拿马并获得建设巴拿马运河的权利（由特迪·罗斯福领导）。

Lastly!!!
The Persians (Iranians) were the first Mideastern nation to start on a path towards liberal democracy and were never colonized by any foreign power (though, the Brits had serious economic and political clout within Persia). After democratically electing a new government, the Persians wanted to take their own path with their own natural resources (see: Oil) and wanted BP out of the picture and moved to nationalize the oil fields and compensate BP for the affair. BP turned to the British government for help. The Brits could do little more than watch, so they begged their big brother to intervene and Eisenhower did and toppled the democratically elected government and "return" power to the Shah who returned Persian oil "affairs" to their previous, British dominated, state. He also ruthlessly oppressed his people until they demanded, and got, a revolution centered around the Ayatollah. They traded one tyrant for another, but at least booted the Brits and Americans out.

波斯人（伊朗人）是中东地区第一个走上自由民主之路的民族，从未被任何外国势力殖民（尽管英国在波斯拥有严重的经济和政治影响力）。通过民主选举产生了新政府后，波斯人想要用自己的天然资源（见：石油）走自己的路，并希望英国石油公司退出局面并将石油田国有化并对BP进行补偿。BP寻求英国政府的帮助，但英国无能为力，只好请求他们的大哥干预，艾森豪威尔出手了，并推翻了民主选举当选的政府，给望族君主权力，让波斯石油“事务”重新回到英国主导的状态。他还残酷地镇压人民，直到人民要求并获得以阿亚图拉为核心的革命。他们交换了一个暴君来换取另一个，但至少把英国和美国赶走了。
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

¶—To this day the Brits and Americans feign a case of the vapors at the idea that they toppled a government and come up with all sorts of excuses, but the fact still remains that the US and Brits were frightened of a Mideastern nation who controlled their own oil rights and effectively destroyed the first fledgling movement towards a British-style constitutional monarchy with protections of human rights.

直到今天，英美两国仍然对于他们推翻了一个政府的想法感到恶心，并想出了各种借口，但事实仍然是美英两国害怕一个掌控自己石油权利的中东国家，并有效地摧毁了第一个蓬勃发展的朝着英式宪政君主制和人权保护的运动。

¶—This in turn precipitated a whole host of terrorist actions, a war with Iraq, the US and Britain getting into bed with Saddam Hussein and Saudi Arabia, Iranian support for a tyrant in Syria, and overall hostility in the Mideast that, while I'm certain that the Mideast would still be peace-less, it would not be as bad as it has been had the US and Britain worked with the Persian democracy rather than topple it.

这反过来引发了一系列恐怖主义行动，与伊拉克的战争，美国和英国与萨达姆·侯赛因和沙特阿拉伯携手共处，伊朗支持叙利亚的一个暴君，以及整个中东地区的敌对态势。虽然我确信中东仍然会不太平，但如果美国和英国与波斯民主合作而不是推翻它，情况不会像现在这么糟糕。

Brent Cooper
I have spent a lot of time in Europe and Asia. The comment I most hear about the US and it citizens is how generous they are. How they are willing to share their abundance with others. Not only on a governmental level but a person level as well.
A recent survey had the US has the most generous nation in the world. A greater percentage of its citizens gave money to others than any other country.

我在欧洲和亚洲呆了很长时间，人们对美国及其公民最普遍的评论是他们有多么慷慨。他们愿意与他人分享自己的财富，不仅在政府层面上，在个人层面上也是如此。最近的一项调查显示，美国是世界上最慷慨的国家，其公民给予他人的资助占比超过任何其他国家。

According to the Giving USA Foundation, which publishes an annual report of charitable giving, Americans gave over $410 billion in 2017, 2.1 percent of the nation's gross domestic product. This was a record-breaking amount -- the first time that annual charitable giving crossed the $400 billion mark -- and substantially in excess of the $389 billion record set in 2016.
Nor is it simply a matter of money. Last year, 63 million Americans -- 25 percent of the adult population -- donated their time, talents and energy by volunteering for one or more charitable organizations of their choice. This, too, is a distinctly American tradition going back to the country's founding (as author Alexis de Tocqueville famously observed in his book "Democracy in America," published in two volumes between 1835 and 1840).

根据发布慈善捐赠年度报告的Giving USA基金会的数据，在2017年，美国人捐赠了超过4100亿美元，占国内生产总值的2.1%。这是一个创纪录的数字-首次年度慈善捐赠超过了4000亿美元的界限，并大大超过了2016年创下的3890亿美元记录。而且这不仅仅是一项关于金钱的事情。去年，6300万美国人（成年人口25%）通过为一个或多个自己选择的慈善组织志愿服务，贡献了他们的时间、才华和精力。这也是一个独特的美国传统，可以追溯到该国的建国初期（正如作者阿历克西斯·德·托克维尔在他的书《美国民主》中所观察到的那样，该书分两卷，出版于1835年至1840年之间）。

We have seen many rich and wealthy nations in the past. But none had the willingness to share their wealth with the less fortunate than the US.
Why is that?
First, the generosity is not new but part of our history. Alexis de Tocqueville, who during his travels to America in 1831, noted the “great good will” of neighbor helping neighbor. In his book titled “Democracy in America,” he applauds the unique spirit of volunteerism, generosity and goodwill that he observed in Americans.
I would argue that for most of its early life America was a frontier society. People depended on each other. It was essential to survival. If they did not help each other, they would die. Their existence depended on generosity.

我们过去见过许多富裕的国家，但没有一个像美国那样愿意与不幸者分享财富。这是为什么呢？ 首先，慷慨并非新事物，而是我们历史的一部分。1831年来到美国旅行的阿历克西斯·德·托克维尔（Alexis de Tocqueville）注意到了邻里之间“巨大的好心和互助”，在他的书《美国民主》中，他赞扬了他在美国所观察到的志愿服务、慷慨和善意的独特精神。 我认为，在美国的早期历史中，它是一个边陲社会，人们彼此依靠，这对生存至关重要。如果他们不相互帮助，就会死亡。他们的存在取决于慷慨。

Second, Anerica is young. They were not constricted by pre-conceived ideas. They were able to take their frontier way of thinking and make it part of their philosophy.
Third, and very important, America started as a Christian nation. Most were taught to tithe and to help their neighbors. This concept not only was necessary for survival, but was part of their religious thinking and beliefs.
Finally, the government was smart enough to see this manner of thinking was good and to encourage it. The government has been supportive of the generic its citizens by providing tax breaks and deductions to those citizens who help the less fortunate.
This truly s the part of America’s history that is amazing and sets her apart from the rest of the world.

其次，美国很年轻。他们没有受到预设的观念的限制。他们能够将他们的边疆思维融入到他们的哲学中。
第三，也非常重要的是，美国始于一个基督教国家。大多数人被教导要献上什一之后帮助他们的邻居。这个概念不仅对生存是必要的，而且是他们宗教思想和信仰的一部分。
最后，政府足够聪明，看到这种思维方式是好的，并鼓励它。政府通过为那些帮助弱势群体的公民提供税收优惠和扣除来支持其公民。
这真正是美国历史上令人惊奇并使其与世界其他地区区别开来的部分。

Charles Lyell
That when it comes to the 1%, nothing has changed since our country’s inception.
When the soldiers (who didn’t die on the battlefields) returned after the Revolutionary War the states were broke. As a result, the soldiers received worthless scxt which they then sold for pennies on the dollar. In many cases they desperately needed money to pay for transportation home.
Most of the scxt was purchased by handfuls of wealthy financiers (who were more likely to be war profiteers who cleaned up during the war than heros who risked their lives for their country).

当涉及到1%的人群时，自我们国家的建立以来没有什么改变。当士兵（没有死在战场上的）在革命战争后回来时，各州已经破产了。因此，士兵们得到了毫无价值的票据，然后以分文不值的价格出售。在许多情况下，他们迫切需要钱来支付回家的交通费用。大部分票据被少数富有的金融家购买（他们更有可能是战争中暴利者而不是为国家冒险的英雄）。

When the money was owed to soldiers (who earned it) there was minimal pressure to repay debts, which made the scxt worthless. When the debts were owed to the wealthy (who essentially “stole” it) repaying the debts suddenly became a top priority.
The financiers, who controlled the legislatures in their states, manipulated the system to get laws passed that guaranteed 100% repayment of the face value for scxt they purchased for next to nothing.

当欠款是欠给士兵（他们挣到的）时，几乎没有压力去偿还债务，这使得货币变得毫无价值。当债务欠给富人（他们实质上“偷走”了它）时，偿还债务突然成为了头等大事。掌控各州立法机构的金融家操纵系统，通过法律保证他们以几乎零成本购买的货币票据的面值100%偿还。

The only way for insolvent states to raise money was to levy unreasonably high taxes on the farmers, i.e. the returning soldiers. Unable to pay the exorbitant taxes, thousands of hard working veterans/farmers lost their homes and farms to foreclosures (again benefitting greedy financiers).
In other words, the financiers profited from the war and then received a double bonus by buying up the scxt and foreclosing on the veterans’ farms, while the lowly soldiers who did the actual fighting and who risked their lives (and lost their limbs) for the cause of liberty and the establishment of what would become the U.S.A. turned out to be poor suckers who ended up getting stuck with paying the salaries they never actually received for fighting for a country that betrayed them.
Anyone interested in learning more can check out Shays Rebellion.

破产的州唯一筹集资金的途径是对农民（即退伍士兵）征收过高的税。由于无法支付过高的税款，成千上万辛勤工作的退伍军人/农民失去了家园和农场（并再次使贪婪的金融家受益）。 换句话说，金融家从战争中获利，然后通过购买债券和收回退伍军人的农场，获得了两倍的奖励。而那些真正参加战斗，冒着生命危险（并且失去肢体），为自由事业和最终建立美国承担风险的普通士兵，最终变成了贫穷的受害者，他们不得不支付他们在为国家而战时根本没有领到的薪水。 任何有兴趣深入了解的人都可以查阅“谢伊起义”关于这方面的内容。

Ernest W. Adams
The Bill of Rights did not apply to the actions of state governments until 1925. It was only ever intended to limit the powers of the federal government. The states could ban guns, establish an official religion, suppress freedom of the press, commit unreasonable searches and seizures, and pretty much violate the whole Bill of Rights for most of the history of the United States. This got changed via a series of Supreme Court rulings in the 1920s that introduced the doctrine of Incorporation of the Bill of Rights into state and local laws.

直到1925年，《权利法案》才开始对州政府的行为产生影响。它只是旨在限制联邦政府的权力。美国各州在大部分历史时期都可以禁枪、建立官方宗教、压制新闻自由、实施不合理的搜索和查封，甚至完全违反《权利法案》。这种情况通过上世纪二十年代一系列最高法院的裁决而有所改变，引入了《权利法案》纳入州和地方法律的"铭刻原则"。

Bill Berotti
It amazes me that the number of people who have made a serious, thorough, and unbiased attempt to understand the so-called American Civil War is so miniscule.
Loads of scholars and many others who fancy themselves aficionados of the war obviously exist, but too few of them, it seems to me, have been willing to critically examine the patently glib, politically motivated tenets of the post-war Northern narrative of the conflict.
After the founding, it was only the most decisive event in the history of our country.

令我惊讶的是，真正尝试深入、客观地理解所谓的美国内战的人数是如此微不足道。
虽然存在许多学者和自认为是内战爱好者的人，但似乎其中太少的人愿意批判性地审视战后北方叙事的明显肤浅、政治动机驱动的原则。
内战是建国后我国历史上最具决定性的事件之一。

Hunter McCord
Here are a few
Although Ohio is listed as the 17th state in the US, it is technically number 47. Until 7 August 1953, Congress forgot to vote of formal resolution to admit Ohio to the unx.
The Boston Nation, a newspaper published in Ohio during the mid-19th century, had pages which were 7½ft long and 5½ft wide. It needed two people to hold it aloft for reading.
Only two people signed the Declaration independence on 4 July 1776 – John Hancock and Charles Thomson. The majority of the other members of Congress signed on 2 August, although the final signature wasn’t added for another five years.
About 35 million Americans share DNA with at least one of the 102 pilgrims who arrived aboard the Mayflower in 1620.

以下是一些事实：
尽管俄亥俄州被列为美国第17个州，但从技术上讲，它是第47个州。直到1953年8月7日，国会才忘记投票通过正式决议将俄亥俄州纳入联盟。
19世纪中叶，俄亥俄州的一家名为《波士顿国家报》的报纸，其页面长7.5英尺，宽5.5英尺。需要两个人才能举起来阅读。
1776年7月4日，只有两个人签署了《独立宣言》——约翰·汉考克和查尔斯·汤姆森。国会的大多数成员在8月2日签署了宣言，尽管最后一个签名要等五年才被添加。
约有3500万美国人与1620年乘坐“五月花号”船到达的102名朝圣者之一共享DNA。

Will Wister
During the prohibition era, federal officials put poison in the industrial alcohols that were being stolen by bootleggers who were using them for spirits. The goal was to prevent theft and reduce alcohol consumption, but the effort failed and by some estimates 10,000 people were killed.
Frustrated that people continued to consume so much alcohol even after it was banned, federal officials had decided to try a different kind of enforcement. They ordered the poisoning of industrial alcohols manufactured in the United States, products regularly stolen by bootleggers and resold as drinkable spirits. The idea was to scare people into giving up illicit drinking. Instead, by the time Prohibition ended in 1933, the federal poisoning program, by some estimates, had killed at least 10,000 people.

在禁酒时期，联邦官员在被盗用的工业酒精中投毒，以防止盗窃和减少酒精消费，但这一努力失败了，据估计有10,000人死亡。由于人们在禁酒后仍然大量饮酒，联邦官员决定尝试一种不同的执法方式。他们下令在美国制造的工业酒精中投毒，这些产品经常被盗贼盗窃并重新出售为可饮用的烈酒。这个想法是吓唬人们放弃非法饮酒。然而，到禁酒令于1933年结束时，据估计，联邦投毒计划已经造成至少10,000人死亡。

Industrial alcohol is basically grain alcohol with some unpleasant chemicals mixed in to render it undrinkable. The U.S. government started requiring this "denaturing" process in 1906 for manufacturers who wanted to avoid the taxes levied on potable spirits. The U.S. Treasury Department, charged with overseeing alcohol enforcement, estimated that by the mid-1920s, some 60 million gallons of industrial alcohol were stolen annually to supply the country's drinkers. In response, in 1926, President Calvin Coolidge's government decided to turn to chemistry as an enforcement tool. Some 70 denaturing formulas existed by the 1920s. Most simply added poisonous methyl alcohol into the mix. Others used bitter-tasting compounds that were less lethal, designed to make the alcohol taste so awful that it became undrinkable.

工业酒精基本上是谷物酒精加入一些不愉快的化学物质，使其变得不适合饮用。美国政府在1906年开始要求制造商进行这种"改性"过程，以避免对可饮用烈酒征收税款。负责监督酒精执法的美国财政部估计，到20世纪20年代中期，每年有大约6,000万加仑的工业酒精被盗来供应美国的酒客。为了应对这一情况，在1926年，卡尔文·柯立芝政府决定将化学纳入执法工具之列。到20世纪20年代，已经存在了70种改性配方。大多数只是简单地添加了有毒的甲醇进其中。其他使用了味道苦涩的化合物，其致命性较小，旨在让酒变得如此难喝，以至于不适合饮用。
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

To sell the stolen industrial alcohol, the liquor syndicates employed chemists to "renature" the products, returning them to a drinkable state. The bootleggers paid their chemists a lot more than the government did, and they excelled at their job. Stolen and redistilled alcohol became the primary source of liquor in the country. So federal officials ordered manufacturers to make their products far more deadly.
By mid-1927, the new denaturing formulas included some notable poisons—kerosene and brucine (a plant alkaloid closely related to strychnine), gasoline, benzene, cadmium, iodine, zinc, mercury salts, nicotine, ether, formaldehyde, chloroform, camphor, carbolic acid, quinine, and acetone. The Treasury Department also demanded more methyl alcohol be added—up to 10 percent of total product. It was the last that proved most deadly.[1]

为了销售被盗的工业酒精，酒类贩子雇用化学家“复原”产品，使其恢复可饮用状态。这些走私者向他们的化学家支付比政府高得多的薪水，并且他们在工作中表现出色。被盗和重新蒸馏的酒精成为了该国的主要酒类来源。因此，联邦官员下令制造商使其产品更加致命。
到了1927年中期，新的变性配方包括一些明显的毒物——煤油和布鲁辛（植物生物碱，与马钱子碱密切相关），汽油，苯，镉，碘，锌，汞盐，尼古丁，醚，甲醛，氯仿，樟脑，苯酚，奎宁和丙酮。财政部还要求增加更多的甲醇——最高可达总产品的10％。这最后一个证明是最致命的。