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The years of the Second Continental Congress were hard ones for Abigail Adams while Jon was off making speeches and rocking a powdered wig.
第二届大陆会议的日子对阿比盖尔·亚当斯来说是艰难的，而乔恩正在发表演讲，戴着一顶扑了粉的假发。
She was dealing with not just loneliness and the stress of running a farming household but also a heap of additional disasters.
她不仅要应对孤独和经营农家的压力，还要应对一堆额外的灾难。
There was the smallpox outbreak of 1776, which got so bad that Abigail was forced to get the children inoculated, a terrifying decision in an era when inoculation carried a small but significant risk of death.
1776年爆发了天花，病情严重到阿比盖尔不得不给孩子们接种疫苗，这是一个可怕的决定，因为在那个年代，接种疫苗会带来重大的死亡风险。
And there was the ever-present fear of an armed attack.
而且一直存在着对武装袭击的恐惧。
In 1777, Abigail lost an unborn child while hiding from a British army rumored to be bearing down on Boston.
1777年，阿比盖尔在躲避据传正在逼近波士顿的英国军队时失去了一个未出生的孩子。
But we don't want to give the impression that she was just some passive actor buffeted by the winds of history.
但我们不想给人留下这样的印象，即她只是一个被动的演员，受到历史风吹草动的影响。
Even in the depths of her despair, Abigail Adams was working to shape her nation's future.
即使在绝望的深渊，阿比盖尔·亚当斯也在努力塑造国家的未来。
Most remarkably, this came in the form of her letters to John, demanding the soon-to-be independent congress make equality one of its central pillars.
最值得注意的是，这是以她给约翰的信的形式，要求即将独立的国会将平等作为其核心支柱之一。
Abigail say neither guys who wrote the sentence--we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created.
阿比盖尔没有说写下这句话的人--我们认为这些真理是不言而喻的，所有的人都是被创造出来的。
Equal were indeed just focusing on the equality of men folk.
平等实际上只关注男人的平等。
Hence her Remember the Ladies letter of March,1776, in which she both asked John to codify female rights and threatened him if he didn't saying-- if particular attention is not paid to the ladies we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws, in which we have no voice, or representation.
因此，她在1776年3月的《记住女士的信》中，要求约翰将女性权利编纂成法典，并威胁他，如果他不说--如果不特别关注女士们，我们决心煽动叛乱，不会受到任何我们没有发言权或代表权的法律的约束。
Nor was she just interested in helping white women.
她不仅对帮助白人女性感兴趣。
As far back as 1774, Abigail had written to John on the issue of slavery telling him--I wish my sincerely that there was not a slave in the province.
早在1774年，阿比盖尔就曾就奴隶制问题写信给约翰，告诉他--我衷心祝愿该省没有奴隶。
It always seemed to me to fight ourselves for what we are robbing the negroes of, who have as good a right to freedom as we have.
在我看来，我们似乎总是在为我们剥夺黑人的东西而斗争，他们和我们一样有权获得自由。
For the era, she lived in this was radical stuff, suggesting an America, where not just property only white guys but also women and maybe even non-whites could have a stake.
在那个年代，她生活在一个非常激进的地方，她认为在美国，不仅仅是白人，女性，甚至是非白人都可以拥有财产。
Sadly, it was too radical.
遗憾的是，太激进了。
Even Jon brushed her requests off when the Declaration of Independence was signed, it said nothing about women being equal.
就连乔恩在签署《独立宣言》时也对她的要求不屑一顾，它没有提到妇女平等。
Still the severing of ties with Britain did at least mean a load of shiny new posts and duties.
尽管如此，与英国断绝关系至少意味着一大堆闪亮的新职位和新职责。
And for John Adams, that meant once again vanishing off and leaving his wife utterly alone.
而对于约翰·亚当斯来说，这意味着他又一次消失了，留下他的妻子，孤独无依。
Between 1778 and 1783, John spent most of his time in Europe on various diplomatic missions, taking their sons John Quincy and Charles with him.
1778年至1783年间，约翰大部分时间在欧洲执行各种外交任务，带着他们的儿子约翰·昆西和查尔斯一同前往。
That meant yet more empty months, in which Abigail was forced to sit in the ant chamber of history, missing out on the action while her husband repeatedly forgot to write.
这意味着更多空虚的月份，阿比盖尔被迫坐在历史的蚁室里，错过了行动，而她的丈夫却一再忘记写信。
If you grew up with the sanitized version of their story, you might remember hearing how devoted to one another.
如果你从小就听着他们故事的净化版本长大，你可能还记得听过他们是多么地忠于对方。
The Adams as were and how much John admired Abigail's intellect.
亚当斯夫妇和约翰是多么钦佩阿比盖尔的智慧。
While that's true, it also misses out how utterly crappy their relationship sometimes was.
虽然这是真的, 它还忽略了他们的关系有时是多么糟糕。
In this era of loneliness, Abigail told people she felt as if she were widowed she even tried to find solace in an unconsummated affair with a notorious ladies man.
在这个孤独的时代，阿比盖尔告诉《人物》杂志，她觉得自己好像成了寡妇，她甚至试图通过与一位臭名昭著的万人迷男性的婚外情(未实施)来寻求安慰。
Finally, in 1784 , he seems to have had enough of just waiting around.
终于，在1784年，他似乎受够了只是等待。
Taking her daughter Nabby with her, Abigail boarded a boat for Europe, leaving war shattered America behind.
阿比盖尔带着女儿纳比登上了一艘前往欧洲的船，把饱受战争蹂躏的美国抛在了脑后。
The move likely saved a marriage.
这一举动很可能挽救了一段婚姻。
For the next four years, the Adams has lived together in London , now at peace with the US, finally able to enjoy one another's company.
在接下来的四年里，亚当斯一家一直住在伦敦，英国现在与美国和平共处，终于能够享受彼此的陪伴。
As one of the couple's modern biographers Joseph J. Ellis, writes at this time-- they learn to love each other at an even deeper level than before.
正如这对夫妇的现代传记作者之一约瑟夫·埃利斯在此时所写的那样，他们学会了在更深层次上比以前更爱对方。
And locked that love in place, and nothing they experienced for the rest of their lives ever threatened their mutual trust.
并将这种爱锁定在适当的位置，他们在余生中所经历的任何事情都没有威胁到他们之间的相互信任。
By the time they returned to the now independent United States in 1788, the era of Abigail being just an observer of history was over.
当他们在1788年回到独立的美国时，阿比盖尔只是历史观察者的时代已经结束了。
From now on she and her husband would work together to shape events for millions.
从现在开始，她和她的丈夫将共同努力，为数百万人塑造事件。
