VOA慢速英语文本：《今日美国》第4课.doc

1、英语翻议讲解：1.throughout ad.到处, 贯穿全部地, 自始至终 例句：There are endless opportunities for change and to alter our course or path throughout life. 在一生中，我们有无数的机会改变自己的人生轨迹。 2.raise vt.升起, 举起, 唤起, 提高, 使出现, 使复活, 提出, 筹集, 饲养 例句：What did you do to raise the money? 你们是如何筹款的？ 3.pedestal n.支柱, 基架, 基座, 基础 例句：This team of w

2、orkers are in charge of making the pedestal for this bridge. 这组工人负责制作桥梁支座。 4.neglect vt.疏忽, 忽视, 不顾 例句：People who are overconfident tend to neglect their deficiencies. 过分自信的人容易忽视自己的不足。 5.estimate vt.估计, 评价, 判断 例句：It is not easy to estimate whether this method will work or not. 判断这个方法是否奏效并不容易。 6.conta

3、in vt.包含, 容纳, 控制 例句：Does each cup contain the same amount of milk? 每个杯子里的牛奶都一样多吗？ 1.Each is meant to represent the light of freedom as it shines on the seven seas and seven continents of the world. is meant to意味着，为了 例句：Life is meant to be lived after all, not just survived. 生命要活得精彩，不仅仅是生存而已。 2.No mo

4、re than ten people will be able to go up at one time. no more than的用法 no more than 的意思是“仅仅”“只有”“最多不超过”，强调少。如： This test takes no more than thirty minutes. 这个测验只要30分钟。 The pub was no more than half full. 该酒吧的上座率最多不超过五成。 For thirty years， he had done no more than he （had） needed to. 30年来，他只干了他需要干的工作。

5、2. not more than 为 more than （多于）的否定式，其意为“不多于”“不超过”。如： Not more than 10 guests came to her birthday party. 来参加她的生日宴会的客人不超过十人。 比较： She has no more than three hats. 她只有3顶帽子。（太少了） She has not more than three hats. 她至多有3顶帽子。（也许不到3顶帽子） I have no more than five yuan in my pocket. 我口袋里的钱最多不过5元。（言其少） I have

6、 not more than five yuan in my pocket. 我口袋里的钱不多于5元。（也许不到5元） 3.Officials at the center examined many of the immigrants who arrived by ship before they were permitted to enter the United States. permit sb to do sth允许某人做某事 例句：They absolutely will not permit you to photograph any of the art work in the

7、museum. 他们绝对不会允许你给博物馆里的任何展品拍照。 4. It honors all immigrants to the United States no matter where they entered the country. no matter where无论哪里 no matter +疑问词 或疑问词+后缀ever 。 例如： No matter what happened, he would not mind. =Whatever happened, he would not mind. 不管发生什么，他不在意。 替换： no matter what = whatever

8、 no matter who = whoever no matter when = whenever no matter where = wherever no matter which = whichever no matter how = however 注意：no matter 不能引导主语从句和宾语从句。 (错）No matter what you say is of no use now.（对）Whatever you say is of no use now. 你现在说什么也没用了。（Whatever you say是主语从句） （错）Prisoners have to eat n

9、o matter what theyre given. （对）Prisoners have to eat whatever theyre given.囚犯们只能给什么吃什么。 美国的自由女神像（Statue of Liberty，Statue de la libert），又称“自由照耀世界”（英语：Liberty Enlightening the World，法语：Libert clairant le monde），是法国在1876年赠送给美国的独立100周年礼物。美国的自由女神像坐落于美国纽约州纽约市附近的自由岛，是美国重要的观光景点。 美国的自由女神像以法国塞纳河的自由女神像作蓝本，法国著

10、名雕塑家巴托尔迪历时10年艰辛完成了雕像的雕塑工作，女神的外貌设计来源于雕塑家的母亲，而女神高举火炬的右手则是以雕塑家妻子的手臂为蓝本。 自由女神穿着古希腊风格的服装，所戴头冠有象征世界七大洲及五大洋的七道尖芒。女神右手高举象征自由的火炬，左手捧着一本封面刻有“1776年7月4日”字样的法律典籍，脚下是打碎的手铐、脚镣和锁链。她象征着自由、挣脱暴政的约束，在1886年10月28日落成并揭幕。雕像锻铁的内部结构是由后来建造了巴黎埃菲尔铁塔的居斯塔夫埃菲尔设计的。自由女神像高46米，加基座为93米，重200多吨，是金属铸造，置于一座混凝土制的台基上。自由女神的底座是著名的约瑟夫普利策筹集10万美金

11、建成的。 1984年，自由女神像被列为世界文化遗产。英语听力原文：VOICE ONE:Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. Im Steve Ember.VOICE TWO:And Im Barbara Klein. Later this week, Americans will celebrate the nations Independence Day. On July fourth, seventeen seventy-six, colonial leaders approved the final Declaration

12、of Independence for the United States.This year, the city of New York will also celebrate the opening of part of an important symbol of America that has been closed to the public for the past eight years.(MUSIC)The Statue of Liberty has stood in New York Harbor for more than one hundred years. It wa

13、s a gift from the people of France in eighteen eighty-four. Its full name is Liberty Enlightening the World.The Statue of Liberty is forty-six meters tall from its base. It is made mostly of copper. Throughout history, images of liberty have been represented as a woman. The statue is sometimes calle

14、d Lady Liberty.The Statue of Libertys face was created to look like the sculptors mother. Her right arm holds a torch with a flame high in the air. Her left arm holds a tablet with the date of the Declaration of Independence - July fourth, seventeen seventy-six. On her head she wears a crown of seve

15、n points. Each is meant to represent the light of freedom as it shines on the seven seas and seven continents of the world. Twenty-five windows in the crown represent gemstones found on Earth. A chain that represents oppression lies broken at her feet.In nineteen oh three, a bronze plaque was placed

16、 on the inner wall of the statues support structure or pedestal. On it are words from the poem The New Colossus written by Emma Lazarus in eighteen eighty-three. The plaque represents the statues message of hope for people seeking freedom. These are some of its best known words:READER:Give me your t

17、ired, your poor,Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,I lift my lamp beside the golden door!The United States and France have been friends and allies since the time of the American Revolution. France helped

18、 the American colonial armies defeat the British. The war officially ended in seventeen eighty-three. A few years later, the French rebelled against their king.A French historian and political leader, Edouard-Rene Lefebvre de Laboulaye, had the idea for the statue. In eighteen sixty-five, he suggest

19、ed that the French and the Americans build a monument together to celebrate freedom. Artist Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi immediately agreed to design it.Frederic-Auguste BartholdiIn eighteen seventy-five, the French established an organization to raise money for Bartholdis creation. Two years later, a

20、n American group was formed to raise money to pay for a pedestal to support the statue. American architect Richard Morris Hunt was chosen to design this support structure. It would stand forty-seven meters high.In France, Bartholdi designed a very small statue. Then he built a series of larger copie

21、s. Workers created a wooden form covered with plaster for each part. Then they placed three hundred pieces of copper on the forms. This copper skin was less than three centimeters thick.The statue also needed a structure that could hold its weight of more than two hundred tons. French engineer Alexa

22、ndre Gustave Eiffel created this new technology. Later, he would build the famous Eiffel Tower in Paris.Eiffel and others worked in Paris to produce a strong iron support system for the statue. The design also needed to permit the statue to move a little in strong winds.France had wanted to give the

23、 statue to the United States on the one hundredth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence - July fourth, eighteen seventy-six. But technical problems and lack of money delayed the project. France finally presented the statue to the United States in Paris in eighteen eighty-four. But the pedes

24、tal, being built in New York, was not finished. Not enough money had been given to complete the project.The publisher of the New York World newspaper came to the rescue. Joseph Pulitzer used his newspaper to urge Americans to give more money to finish the pedestal. His efforts brought in another one

25、 hundred thousand dollars. And the pedestal was finished.In France, workers separated the statue into three hundred fifty pieces, put them on a ship and sent them across the ocean. The statue arrived in New York in more than two hundred wooden boxes. It took workers four months to put together the s

26、tatue on the new pedestal. President Grover Cleveland officially accepted the statue in a ceremony on October twenty-eighth, eighteen eighty-six. He said: We will not forget that Liberty has here made her home; nor shall her chosen altar be neglected.The Statue of Liberty became a symbol of hope for

27、 immigrants coming to the United States by ship from Europe. More than twelve million people passed the statue between eighteen ninety-two and nineteen fifty-four on their way to the immigration center on nearby Ellis Island.More than forty percent of Americans have an ancestor who passed through El

28、lis Island. Through the years, millions of people continued to visit the Statue of Liberty. A trip to New York City did not seem complete without it.Still, the statue was old and becoming dangerous for visitors. In nineteen eighty-two, President Ronald Reagan asked businessman Lee Iacocca to lead a

29、campaign to repair it. The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation raised about one hundred million dollars in private money to do the work. The repairs included replacing the torch and covering it with twenty-four carat gold. On July fourth, nineteen eighty-six, New York City celebrated a restore

30、d and re-opened Statue of Liberty.After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. smoke rises from the ruins of the World Trade CenterOfficials closed the Statue of Liberty following the terrorist attacks in New York on September eleventh, two thousand one. It remained closed until August, two thou

31、sand four. When it re-opened, visitors could only go onto the statues pedestal. But the Statue continued to attract visitorsmore than three million a year.This year, on July fourth, visitors once again will be able to climb inside the statue all the way to the top. It is not an easy thing to do. Mor

32、e than three hundred fifty steps lead to Lady Libertys crown. The National Park Service says it will limit the number of climbers to about two hundred a day. No more than ten people will be able to go up at one time. At that rate, officials estimate that more than one hundred thousand people will be

33、 able to climb to the top each year.But if you want to visit the newly opened Statue of Liberty, you must do it within the next two years. That is because the National Park Service plans to close it again for more repairs. Officials say the improvements could take as long as two years. But they say

34、the work will make it possible to safely double the number of visitors permitted inside.The Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island is one of Americas national parks. It includes both Liberty Island, where the statue stands, and nearby Ellis Island, the former federal immigration proces

35、sing center.Officials at the center examined many of the immigrants who arrived by ship before they were permitted to enter the United States. The main building was restored and opened as a museum in nineteen ninety. The museum includes pictures, videos, interactive displays and recordings of immigr

36、ants who went through Ellis Island until it was closed in nineteen fifty-four.One popular exhibit is the Immigrant Wall of Honor outside the main building. It honors all immigrants to the United States no matter where they entered the country. It now lists the names of more than seven hundred thousa

37、nd people. A new area of wall is being prepared for more names to be added.An immigration history center on the island contains the ship records of passengers who entered through New York from eighteen ninety-two through nineteen twenty-four. Those were the years of the great wave of European immigr

38、ation, before the United States passed restrictive immigration laws.One recent visitor said the Ellis Island immigration hall feels alive with the stories of people who left their native lands long ago to start a new life in a new country.This program was written by Nancy Steinbach and produced by Caty Weaver. Im Barbara Klein.And Im Steve Ember. You can find transcripts, MP3s and podcasts of our programs at . Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.