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VOA慢速英语2009-THIS IS AMERICA - Celebrating July Fourth at

时间:2009-07-04 06:19来源:互联网 提供网友:gavin_zhang   字体: [ ]
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VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Barbara Klein. Later this week, Americans will celebrate the nation's Independence Day. On July fourth, seventeen seventy-six, colonial leaders approved the final Declaration 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)

VOICE ONE:

The Statue of Liberty has stood in New York Harbor for more than one hundred years. It was 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 copper1. Throughout history, images of liberty have been represented as a woman. The statue is sometimes called "Lady Liberty."

The Statue of Liberty's face was created to look like the sculptor's 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 seven 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.

VOICE TWO:

In nineteen oh three, a bronze plaque2 was placed on the inner wall of the statue's 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 statue's message of hope for people seeking freedom. These are some of its best known words:

READER:

Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled3 masses yearning4 to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming5 shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

The United States and France have been friends and allies since the time of the American Revolution. France helped 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 suggested that the French and the Americans build a monument together to celebrate freedom. Artist Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi immediately agreed to design it.

VOICE TWO:
 
Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi

In eighteen seventy-five, the French established an organization to raise money for Bartholdi's creation. Two years later, an 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 copies. 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 Alexandre 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.

VOICE ONE:

France had wanted to give the 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 pedestal, 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 hundred thousand dollars. And the pedestal was finished.

VOICE TWO:

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 statue 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."

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

The Statue of Liberty became a symbol of hope for 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 Ellis 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 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 celebrated6 a restored and re-opened Statue of Liberty.

VOICE TWO:
 
After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. smoke rises from the ruins of the World Trade Center

Officials closed the Statue of Liberty following the terrorist attacks in New York on September eleventh, two thousand one. It remained closed until August, two thousand four. When it re-opened, visitors could only go onto the statue's pedestal. But the Statue continued to attract visitors—more 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. More than three hundred fifty steps lead to Lady Liberty's 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 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 the work will make it possible to safely double the number of visitors permitted inside.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

The Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island is one of America's national parks. It includes both Liberty Island, where the statue stands, and nearby Ellis Island, the former federal immigration processing 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, interactive7 displays and recordings8 of immigrants 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 thousand 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 immigration, 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.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

This program was written by Nancy Steinbach and produced by Caty Weaver9. I'm Barbara Klein.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Steve Ember. You can find transcripts10, MP3s and podcasts of our programs at voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 copper HZXyU     
n.铜;铜币;铜器;adj.铜(制)的;(紫)铜色的
参考例句:
  • The students are asked to prove the purity of copper.要求学生们检验铜的纯度。
  • Copper is a good medium for the conduction of heat and electricity.铜是热和电的良导体。
2 plaque v25zB     
n.饰板,匾,(医)血小板
参考例句:
  • There is a commemorative plaque to the artist in the village hall.村公所里有一块纪念该艺术家的牌匾。
  • Some Latin words were engraved on the plaque. 牌匾上刻着些拉丁文。
3 huddled 39b87f9ca342d61fe478b5034beb4139     
挤在一起(huddle的过去式与过去分词形式)
参考例句:
  • We huddled together for warmth. 我们挤在一块取暖。
  • We huddled together to keep warm. 我们挤在一起来保暖。
4 yearning hezzPJ     
a.渴望的;向往的;怀念的
参考例句:
  • a yearning for a quiet life 对宁静生活的向往
  • He felt a great yearning after his old job. 他对过去的工作有一种强烈的渴想。
5 teeming 855ef2b5bd20950d32245ec965891e4a     
adj.丰富的v.充满( teem的现在分词 );到处都是;(指水、雨等)暴降;倾注
参考例句:
  • The rain was teeming down. 大雨倾盆而下。
  • the teeming streets of the city 熙熙攘攘的城市街道
6 celebrated iwLzpz     
adj.有名的,声誉卓著的
参考例句:
  • He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
  • The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。
7 interactive KqZzFY     
adj.相互作用的,互相影响的,(电脑)交互的
参考例句:
  • The psychotherapy is carried out in small interactive groups.这种心理治疗是在互动的小组之间进行的。
  • This will make videogames more interactive than ever.这将使电子游戏的互动性更胜以往。
8 recordings 22f9946cd05973582e73e4e3c0239bb7     
n.记录( recording的名词复数 );录音;录像;唱片
参考例句:
  • a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
  • old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐
9 weaver LgWwd     
n.织布工;编织者
参考例句:
  • She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快,而且布的质量很好。
  • The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。
10 transcripts 525c0b10bb61e5ddfdd47d7faa92db26     
n.抄本( transcript的名词复数 );转写本;文字本;副本
参考例句:
  • Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样,都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
  • You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书,你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句
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