如果美国总统被曝曾在波拖马可河裸泳，这一定是个大新闻。

但裸泳确实是约翰·昆西·亚当斯多年的日常习惯。

亚当斯继承父亲的总统事业成为美国第六任总统，他也担任过几个外交职务，包括詹姆斯·门罗总统的国务卿。

即便竞选连任输给了安德鲁·杰克逊，亚当斯也未淡出政坛。后来他担任马萨诸塞州议员在国会工作了17年，并最终在国会山与世长辞。

“约翰·昆西·亚当斯是当时唯一能够继承亚当斯家族政治遗产的人，“马萨诸塞历史学会数字化项目编辑尼尔·米利根说，“他是个较真的人，对待工作非常的认真。”

亚当斯勤奋、一丝不苟的作风反应在他的日记里，他写日记从12岁一直写到80岁生命的尽头。米利根现在正制作亚当斯日记的电子版，涵盖日记文本和专题分析。

米利根讲述了亚当斯如何坚持每天早晨的习惯，冬天他会省去游泳，绕着华盛顿散步2英里开始自己的一天，但只要天气晴好，他就要下水。

在他1818年7月的一篇日记里，这样总结自己的一天：

“我通常四五点起床，散步两英里，在波拖马可河泡个澡，然后走回家，这样两个小时过去了，读读写写，更多的时候只是单纯消磨时间到八九点钟吃早餐，又读读写写到了12点1点，我会去办公室；现在这个点通常会在马车上，在办公室一般待到5点然后回家吃晚饭，晚饭后看报纸到天黑，天一黑我就睡觉。“

米利根说：”有一两次，潮水差点把亚当斯的衣服冲走。但19世纪的人就是这样游泳的。“

“那时候裸泳一点都不奇怪，他写到人们会把衣服放在石头上。有时他独自一人去游，有时儿子从哈佛回家会跟着他一起去，男仆安东尼也会跟他去游。他还让荷兰外交官泰恩·卡特陪他去游，人家有时愿意去有时又不愿去。“

总统在1825年经历了一次危险，而他担任总才三个月。

米利根说：“总统和安东尼在一艘摇摇晃晃的小船上，船里充满了水，他不得不穿着全身衣服跳船逃生。他在日记里写到，宽大的衣袖注满了水，两手像是坠了两个大秤砣，差点就上不来了。“

亚当斯并没有因为这次意外而放弃游泳，从开始只是泡20分钟澡，到后来能游上一小时。

1823年6月19日，他写道：“我把游泳当做一种锻炼，我为了让自己健康、干净、快乐而游泳。我发现游泳对我的健康一直有益，我从来不觉得有什么不方便的。

同一篇日记里亚当斯还说并不是所有人都同意他的观点：“亨特医生还有我所有的朋友都认为我有点沉迷游泳过度了，因为我之前从来不会游到一小时。我得有些节制，并不是因为危险不存在，而是我认为游泳的技艺应该成为我们教育的组成部分。

米利根说亚当斯的医生可能也曾担忧过他的健康，1823年总统已经56岁了，还常常透支自己。

亚当斯确实也随着年龄的增长、工作的因素减少自己的运动量。但是在1846年的一个早晨，78岁的前总统又来到了波拖马可河畔，准备下水。

米利根说：“年轻的人们看到他叫了起来‘约翰·昆西·亚当斯!’他将衣服放在一块石头上，年轻人把衣服放在另一块石头上，然后便下水一起游了起来。“

The 6th US president rose before dawn for his favorite morning habit: skinny-dipping

You'd think it would cause quite a stir if a US president was  known to go skinny-dipping in the Potomac River.

But for many years that was just part of John Quincy Adams' daily  routine.

Adams followedhis father'sfootsteps to the US presidency, becoming the  sixth president. He also held various diplomatic positions,  including secretary of state under PresidentJames Monroe.

Adams' political career wasn't over even after he lost his  presidential reelection bid to Andrew Jackson. He went on to  represent Massachusetts for 17 years in Congress and actually  died inside the US Capitol.

"John Quincy Adams was the only son of that generation to live up  to the Adams family legacy,"Massachusetts Historical Societydigital projects editor Neal Millikan told Business Insider. "He  was a very serious person. He took his duties very seriously."

Adams' diligent, meticulous personality is reflected in his  diaries. He kept up daily journals from the time he was 12 to his  death at age 80. Millikan is working on creating adigital edition of  Adams' diaries, complete with transcriptions and subject  analysis.

She spoke with Business Insider about Adams' rigorous morning  ritual. In the winter months, he'd skip the swimming and kick off  his day with a two-mile walk around Washington. But when the  weather was nice, he'd take to the water.

Adams himself summarized his routinein a July 1818 diary entry:

"I rise usually between four and five — walk two miles, bathe in  Potowmack river, and walk home, which occupies two hours — read  or write, or more frequently idly waste the time till eight or  nine when we breakfast— read or write till twelve or one, when I  go to the office; now usually in the carriage — at the office  till five then home till dinner. After dinner read newspapers  till dark; soon after which I retire to bed."

On one or two occasions, the tide nearly washed away Adams'  clothes while he was bathing. But according to Millikan, that was  just the way people swam in the 19th century.

"It wasn't really that odd that he bathed naked," Millikan says.  "He talks about other people leaving their clothes on the rocks.  Sometimes he would go alone. Sometimes if his sons were home from  Harvard, they would go with him. Sometimes his valet, Antoine,  would go with him. He also tried to get a Dutch diplomat whom he  met, Mr. Ten Cate, to go with him. Sometimes he would, sometimes  he wouldn't."

The president had also undergone a frightening experience in  1825, only three months after being elected to the office.

"He was actually out on a little rickety boat in the Potomac with  his valet Antoine," Millikan told Business Insider. "The boat  filled with water. He had to jump overboard, and he was pretty  much fully dressed. In his diary, he talks about how the loose  sleeves of his shirt were filled water and how they were like two  weights upon his arms. He almost drowned."

That incident didn't throw Adams off from swimming, however. Over  the years he went from bathing for 20 minutes to taking the  plunge for a full hour.

On June 19, 1823,he wrote: "I follow this practice for  exercise, for health, for cleanliness and for pleasure — I have  found it invariably conducive to health, and never experienced  from it the slightest inconvenience."

In the same entry, however, Adams said that not everyone agreed  with him: "Dr. Huntt and all my friends think I am now indulging  it to excess — I never before this day swam an hour at once; and  I must now limit my fancies for this habit, which is not without  danger — the art of swimming ought in my opinion to be taught as  a regular branch of education."

Millikan says the president's physician may have worried that  Adams, who was 56 in 1823, was overexerting himself.

Adams did reduce his exercise as age and work caught up with him.  But one morning in 1846, the 78-year-old former president  returned to the Potomac River for another swim.

"He commented in his diaries that some young men saw him,"  Millikan says. "They were shouting, 'John Quincy Adams!' He put  his clothes on one rock, and they put their clothes on another  rock, and they all went swimming together."

翻译笔记

The 6th US president rose before dawn for his favorite morning habit:skinny-dipping裸泳

You'd think it wouldcause quite a stirif a US president was known to go skinny-dipping in the Potomac River.

Her resignation caused quite a stir.她的辞职引起很大震动。

But for many years that was just part of John Quincy Adams'daily routine.日常习惯

Adamsfollowed his father's footstepsto the US presidency, becoming the sixth president. He also held担任〔尤指重要职位〕 various diplomatic positions, including secretary of state under President James Monroe.

follow in sb’s footsteps步某人的后尘，继承某人〔尤指家人〕的事业

He is a doctor and expects his son tofollow in his footsteps.他是医生，期盼儿子继承他的事业。

She works in television,following in her father's footsteps.她步她父亲的后尘，在电视台工作。

Millikan is working on creating a digital edition of Adams' diaries,complete with包含/涵盖 transcriptions and subject analysis.

On one or two occasions,有一两次 the tide nearly washed away Adams' clothes while he was bathing. But according to Millikan, that was just the way people swam in the 19th century.

It wasn't really that odd一点也不奇怪 that he bathed naked.