美国国家公共电台 NPR Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Gets Mellow

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Motorcyclists from around the world travel to South Dakota this week for the 78th Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. As Jim Kent reports, the rally's rowdy reputation is mostly a thing of the past.

(SOUNDBITE OF MOTORCYCLE REVVING)

JIM KENT, BYLINE¹: The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally's about to start as I make my way along the streets of the small South Dakota town. Vendors³ line the sidewalks, hawking⁴ biker gear, tattoos⁵ and the obligatory⁶ rally T-shirts. Harleys and Hondas are parked along the side entrances to bars and restaurants, but traffic on the roads is pretty light.

I'm thinking the town is much quieter than I've seen it in the past, when rowdy bikers were backed up at four-way stop signs for a city block. Police Chief Geody VanDewater clarifies my perception about the rally size and mood.

GEODY VANDEWATER: It's not the wild stuff it was back in the '60s and '70s. But then again, it's a different clientele. The wild people now are the elderly - the older people that are still coming here.

KENT: Even so, an increase in crime is to be expected, says VanDewater, when a small town of 6,700 becomes the largest city in the state for 10 days with a population over 200,000. The most notorious incident was a barroom brawl⁷ in 2008 involving the Hells Angels and Iron Pigs, a motorcycle group for police and firefighters.

VANDEWATER: There's illegal activity, there's crimes, there's assaults. You name it, we have everything here. But yet, I think everybody, in general, comes here just for one reason. That's to have a good time.

KENT: Down the road apiece, I meet Alex Bergers, a vendor² who's one of the oldies, even though he's only 29.

How old were you when you first started coming here?

ALEX BERGERS: Thirteen - came to fold T-shirts.

KENT: He accompanied his father, Denny, who first hit Sturgis in 1982. Alex recalls hearing stories about the rally before he arrived.

A. BERGERS: Just like, the craziness of people, like, ladies walking around nude⁸ and all. That first year, I went through, like, three disposable cameras just taking pictures of everything.

(LAUGHTER)

KENT: Corporate⁹ sponsorships and aging bikers have mellowed¹⁰ the rally over the years. Bikes are also much more expensive than they once were, and that's changed the type of person who rides them. Denny Bergers is Alex's father. He says the days of hardcore bikers he saw back in the early '80s are pretty much gone.

DENNY BERGERS: Their first few years, it was all black T-shirts and, you know, bikes that dripped oil and just the biker that would ride a hundred miles or whatever - 200 miles and work on his bike. And, you know, the technology has changed so much that it's a new man's game, we'll call it.

KENT: But not a man's game completely. Irona Cliver is a biker, former U.S. Marine¹¹ and year-round vendor in Kansas who's in her second year at the rally. Cliver says she loves it - the bikers, the atmosphere and the energy of this adult-themed playground. But Cliver knows that images of wild bikers are exaggerated.

IRONA CLIVER: Most motorcyclists are not your, you know, big, bad, you know, image that's portrayed¹² in the news or national media or anything like that. Most your bikers are blue-collar, hardworking people. You know, they have jobs. They pay for their expensive toys. And it's more of a camaraderie¹³ like you would find in the military. You know, you have something in commonality with other motorcyclists.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: KNKL, welcome to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GET IT ON")

THE POWER STATION: (Singing) Get it on. Bang a gong. Get it on.

KENT: As one local business owner put it, Sturgis is a big costume party where people leave their year-round jobs and come to get it on as a big, bad biker for a few days. For NPR News, I'm Jim Kent at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GET IT ON")

THE POWER STATION: (Singing) Well, you're dirty and sweet, clad in black. Don't look back. And I love you.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 vendor   

n.卖主；小贩

参考例句：

• She looked at the vendor who cheated her the other day with distaste.她厌恶地望着那个前几天曾经欺骗过她的小贩。
• He must inform the vendor immediately.他必须立即通知卖方。

3 vendors   

n.摊贩( vendor的名词复数 )；小贩；（房屋等的）卖主；卖方

参考例句：

• The vendors were gazundered at the last minute. 卖主在最后一刻被要求降低房价。
• At the same time, interface standards also benefIt'software vendors. 同时，界面标准也有利于软件开发商。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

4 hawking   

利用鹰行猎

参考例句：

• He is hawking his goods everywhere. 他在到处兜售他的货物。
• We obtain the event horizon and the Hawking spectrumformula. 得到了黑洞的局部事件视界位置和Hawking温度以及Klein—Gordon粒子的Hawking辐射谱。

5 tattoos   

n.文身( tattoo的名词复数 )；归营鼓；军队夜间表演操；连续有节奏的敲击声v.刺青，文身( tattoo的第三人称单数 )；连续有节奏地敲击；作连续有节奏的敲击

参考例句：

• His arms were covered in tattoos. 他的胳膊上刺满了花纹。
• His arms were covered in tattoos. 他的双臂刺满了纹身。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 obligatory   

adj.强制性的，义务的，必须的

参考例句：

• It is obligatory for us to obey the laws.我们必须守法。
• It is obligatory on every citizen to safeguard our great motherland.保卫我们伟大的祖国是每一个公民应尽的义务。

7 brawl   

n.大声争吵，喧嚷；v.吵架，对骂

参考例句：

• They had nothing better to do than brawl in the street.他们除了在街上斗殴做不出什么好事。
• I don't want to see our two neighbours engaged in a brawl.我不希望我们两家吵架吵得不可开交。

8 nude   

adj.裸体的；n.裸体者，裸体艺术品

参考例句：

• It's a painting of the Duchess of Alba in the nude.这是一幅阿尔巴公爵夫人的裸体肖像画。
• She doesn't like nude swimming.她不喜欢裸泳。

9 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

10 mellowed   

（使）成熟( mellow的过去式和过去分词 )； 使色彩更加柔和，使酒更加醇香

参考例句：

• She's mellowed over the years. 这些年来他变得成熟了。
• The colours mellowed as the sun went down. 随着太阳的落去，色泽变得柔和了。

11 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

12 portrayed   

v.画像( portray的过去式和过去分词 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• Throughout the trial, he portrayed himself as the victim. 在审讯过程中，他始终把自己说成是受害者。
• The author portrayed his father as a vicious drunkard. 作者把他父亲描绘成一个可恶的酒鬼。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

13 camaraderie   

n.同志之爱，友情

参考例句：

• The camaraderie among fellow employees made the tedious work just bearable.同事之间的情谊使枯燥乏味的工作变得还能忍受。
• Some bosses are formal and have occasional interactions,while others prefer continual camaraderie.有些老板很刻板，偶尔才和下属互动一下；有些则喜欢和下属打成一片。