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Virginia, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Massachusetts share an interesting trait: They're the only four states in the U.S. that have the word commonwealth as part of their official title. The name may sound fancy, but commonwealths are no different from the 46 "regular" states that comprise the nation. 弗吉尼亞、賓夕法尼亞、肯塔基州和馬薩諸塞州都有一個有趣的共同點:它們是美國唯一官方名稱中帶有commonwealth的四個州。盡管帶有commonwealth的官方名字聽起來很高端,但是其實它們和組成美國的其他46個州沒有任何不同。 According to Merriam-Webster, commonwealth describes a nation, state, or other political unit "founded on law and united by compact or tacit agreement of the people for the common good." In other words, the term isn't specific to any type of centralized political organization. Rather, it can be applied to any body invested in the "common wealth" (a.k.a. well-being) of the population it governs. 根據韋氏大詞典的解釋,commonwealth是指為了共同的利益而根據法律建立并通過契約或人們一致同意而聯合在一起的國家、州或其他政治體。換句話說,這個詞并非專指任何類型的中央政治體。相反,其可以用在任何致力于實現人民“共同富裕”(又名共同幸福)的機構。 Whether or not a state was deemed a commonwealth depended on the views of its founders. The Massachusetts State Government website explains that the word commonwealth became popular during the American Revolution. When drafting Massachusetts's constitution, John Adams prized the term for its anti-monarchy and pro-democracy connotations. 一個州是否被認為是commonwealth取決于創立者的觀念。根據馬薩諸塞州政府網站的解釋,commonwealth這個詞在美國獨立戰爭期間變得流行起來。在起草馬薩諸塞州的憲法時,John Adams認為commonwealth這個詞具有反君主制和親民主的內涵。 "There is, however, a peculiar sense in which the words republic, commonwealth, popular state, are used by English and French writers; who mean by them by them a democracy [...] a single assembly, chosen at stated periods by the people," the Founding Father wrote. 建國之父寫道:“英法作家們所使用的詞,比如republic、commonwealth、popular state都有一層特別的含義;這層特別含義就是民主[...]一個由人民在規定時期所選出的單獨的立法機構。” His preference for commonwealth over state didn't have any greater consequences beyond semantics. The commonwealths of Virginia, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Massachusetts still function as states on a political and legal level. On the flip side, the U.S. territories Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Island are commonwealths by name, but they don't have the same rights as the states that share the title. John Adam使用commonwealth而非state的考慮僅出于語義。弗吉尼亞、賓夕法尼亞、肯塔基州和馬薩諸塞州在政治和法律層面上仍然是一個州。反過來講,美國的領土波多黎各和北馬利亞納群島,盡管其官方名稱也是commonwealth,但是其所擁有的權利卻和上面四個州不同。 So in conclusion: Knowing which U.S. states are technically commonwealths is a fun piece of trivia to know for road trips, but the distinction doesn't have any impact on the people who live there. 因此,了解美國哪些州是確切意義上的commonwealth在長途旅行中是一件趣事,但是具體的區別卻對生活在那里的人沒有絲毫影響。 Source:Mental Floss 翻譯&編輯:上海譯銳翻譯 上海譯銳翻譯成立于2011年,是一家有著10年以上翻譯經驗的專業翻譯公司。從成立至今,我們已經為數百家客戶提供過優質的翻譯服務。無論還合同、公司宣傳資料還是培訓手冊或個人文件,我們都能夠為您提供滿意專業的翻譯服務。 如需咨詢翻譯業務,請添加客服微信或直接發送郵件至daisy.xu@easytranslation.com.cn。我們會第一時間與您聯系。