【英语趣味课堂】桥-Bay Area Bridges

 The Golden Gate Bridge is perhaps the most famous bridge in the world. It is famous for its size, location, and color. It is nearly 9,000 feet long, and above water its towers are 740 feet tall. Its unique color is officially known as "orange vermillion." Thousands of ships sail under it every year, and believe it or not, the U.S. Navy¹ originally wanted it to be painted black and yellow so it would be easy to see.

 

People often think the Golden Gate Bridge is named after the color of its paint. In actuality, the bridge is named for the color of the water in the bay. On a clear day, when the sun sets at dusk², the water turns from blue to gold, due to light from the sun reflecting off the water. When this happens, the entire inlet³, or "gate" of water, becomes golden.

 

The bay is not always golden. San Francisco has large amounts of fog, especially in summer. Fog is like a cloud close to the ground. When warm air blows over cold water, it tends to create fog, so when the warm California air meets the cold Pacific Ocean, fog is formed, and the beautiful Golden Gate Bridge disappears!

 

Because of the fog, rain, and moisture⁴ from the water, the bridge collects a lot of rust⁵. Rust is the red stuff⁶ that collects on metal after being exposed to moisture, or water. So in order to protect the bridge from rust, it is continually⁷ being painted. It is rumored⁸ that the bridge is being painted 365 days a year. As soon as they finish painting it, they immediately start all over again.

 

San Francisco Bay has three tall bridges: the Golden Gate, its most famous bridge, the Richmond Bridge, its longest, and the Bay Bridge, its busiest. The Bay Bridge connects the large cities of Oakland on the East Bay and San Francisco on the west. Because the bridge is between two major cities, it is almost always busy and the traffic is often bad.

 

The Golden Gate Bridge is beautiful to look at, but the Bay Bridge is a beautiful bridge to look from. At night, the tall buildings of San Francisco are all lit up and bright, and from the Bay Bridge, the city is a truly beautiful thing to see.

 

学习内容：

famous

 

The Golden Gate Bridge, perhaps the most famous bridge in the world, is famous for it's size and color. 

Something or someone that is 'famous' is recognized by people all over the world. Notice the following:

 

This is the most famous picture of Marilyn Monroe.

He became famous as a child for the role he played in this movie.

unique

 

It's unique color is officially known as "orange vermilion." 

If something or someone is 'unique' it is special and different from other things like it. Notice the following:

 

A lot of his ideas are unique, but I don't really agree with him.

Those earrings⁹ are really unique. Where did you get them'

dusk

 

On a clear day, when the sun sets at dusk, the water turns from blue to gold. 

'Dusk' is the time of day when the such is going down, but there is still a little bit of light. Notice the following:

 

You need to arrive before dusk, because it's really dangerous to drive on this road at night.

I can see just fine during the day, but at dusk things start to get a little unclear. I think I'm going to buy glasses.

fog

 

San Francisco has large amounts of fog, especially in summer. 

'Fog' is like a cloud close to the earth. If you are in fog, it is difficult to see in front of you. Notice the following:

 

The fog was really bad this morning on the way to work.

There is always a little fog in the valley in the morning.

rumored

 

It is rumored that the bridge is being painted 365 days a year. 

When information is 'rumored' to be true we don't know if that information is correct, but that is what people believe to be true. Notice the following:

 

That house is rumored to be haunted¹⁰.

It is rumored that they plan to get married next year, but no official plans have been made.

look at, look from

 

The Golden Gate Bridge is beautiful to look at, but the Bay Bridge is a beautiful bridge to look from. 

When you 'look at' something you are viewing it from a place that is a little far away, you are standing¹¹ off of the bridge and viewing it. If you 'look from' a place it means that you are standing in that place at looking at the things around it. The example is saying that one bridge is beautiful, but the view from the other one is beautiful. Notice the following:

 

Come over here and look at this sofa. What do you think?

The best part of climbing the mountain is looking at the city from the top.

1 navy   

n.海军，海军人员，海军军力，藏青色

参考例句：

• My brother is in the navy.我兄弟在海军服役。
• He has transferred from the army to the navy.他从陆军转到海军。

2 dusk   

n.薄暮，黄昏，幽暗

参考例句：

• The park closes at dusk.公园在黄昏时关闭。
• At dusk bats appear in vast numbers.蝙蝠于傍晚时分大批出现。

3 inlet   

n.小湾，海湾，入口，进口；vt.引进，插入

参考例句：

• There is an inlet to a parking lot.那儿有一个停车场的入口。
• They went to a fishing village on a small inlet of the sea.他们去了小海湾边的一个渔村。

4 moisture   

n.水分；降雨量；水气；湿气

参考例句：

• This tree drank up more moisture than that one.这棵树吸收的水分比那棵树多。
• The moisture in the air makes it humid today.今天空气中水气大，天气很潮湿。

5 rust   

n.锈；v.生锈；(脑子)衰退

参考例句：

• She scraped the rust off the kitchen knife.她擦掉了菜刀上的锈。
• The rain will rust the iron roof.雨水会使铁皮屋顶生锈。

6 stuff   

n.原料，材料，东西；vt.填满；吃饱

参考例句：

• We could supply you with the stuff in the raw tomorrow.明天我们可以供应你原材料。
• He is not the stuff.他不是这个材料。

7 continually   

adv.不间断地，不停地；多次重复地

参考例句：

• The other kids continually taunted him about his size.其他孩子不断地耻笑他的个头儿。
• The US is continually building up its armed forces.美军正持续加强它的三军。

8 rumored   

adj.传说的，谣传的v.传闻( rumor的过去式和过去分词 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷

参考例句：

• It is rumored that he cheats on his wife. 据传他对他老婆不忠。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It was rumored that the white officer had been a Swede. 传说那个白人军官是个瑞典人。 来自辞典例句

9 earrings   

n.耳环( earring的名词复数 )；耳坠子

参考例句：

• a pair of earrings 一对耳环
• These earrings snap on with special fastener. 这付耳环是用特制的按扣扣上去的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 haunted   

adj.闹鬼的；受到折磨的；令人烦恼的v.“haunt”的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• There was a haunted look in his eyes. 他眼中透露出忧虑的神色。
• The country is haunted by the spectre of civil war. 内战仿佛一触即发，举国上下一片恐慌。

11 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。