VOA慢速英语2010年-THIS IS AMERICA - In New Mexico, Visit

VOICE ONE:

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

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Barbara Klein. This week we visit two special places in the state of New Mexico. They are important in the history of the Pueblo¹ Indians of the Southwest United States.

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VOICE ONE:

In eighteen eighty, a scientist was traveling in the Southwest United States. Adolph Bandelier was researching the history and social organization of the American Indians who had lived there for centuries.

When he was in northern New Mexico, men from Cochiti Pueblo took him to a place where their ancestors had lived in Frijoles Canyon². Mister Bandelier saw the ruins of the ancient pueblo or village and said "This is the grandest thing I ever saw."

VOICE TWO:

Today, many visitors to what is now known as Bandelier National Monument feel the same way. They lift their eyes to the tall rock walls that rise hundreds of meters up from the floor of the valley. They climb ladders to enter some of the caves that were homes centuries ago.

They walk along the Frijoles stream lined with green trees that once was the only water supply for the valley. They wonder at the beauty of the area and imagine what it felt like to live there hundreds of years ago.

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VOICE ONE:

Bandelier National Monument is near the city of Los Alamos and not far from Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico. It is on the Pajarito Plateau³. This was formed by two explosions of the Jemez volcano more than one million years ago.

Ash up to three hundred meters thick covered more than six hundred square kilometers around the volcano. Slowly the area became what visitors see today -- a dry land of high flat mesa tops and deep canyons⁴ formed through thousands of years by flowing rivers.

People moved into the American Southwest more than ten thousand years ago as the last ice age was ending. These early people hunted large animals for food. They did not build permanent structures to live in because they followed the movement of the animals.

Archeologists have found evidence of these early people in the Bandelier area. The hunters left spear points shaped out of stone that they used as weapons.

VOICE TWO:

The climate of the Southwest became drier and warmer. By seven thousand years ago, many large animals no longer existed. Instead, people hunted smaller animals and gathered wild plants for food.

About two thousand five hundred years ago the first houses appeared on the flat tops of mesas in what is now northern New Mexico. They were pit houses, dug partly underground.

Soon after that more permanent houses were built above ground. These early homes were made of a mixture of wet dirt, wood and rocks. Small family groups lived in these homes. They grew crops of corn, beans and squash⁵.

VOICE ONE:

More people moved into the Pajarito Plateau area about eight hundred years ago. They began living together in larger groups. Many people moved from the mesa tops to the bottom of Frijoles Canyon. They built pueblos⁶, or villages, some of them large. They had a good water supply in Frijoles Creek⁷ and fertile land for growing crops.

The traditional stories of American Indians who now live in the pueblos near Bandelier tell of links to the people who lived in Frijoles Canyon long ago. Yet no written record of the area exists until after the Spanish arrived in fifteen forty.

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VOICE TWO:

Now you are at the visitor center at Bandelier National Monument. A long path follows along the floor of Frijoles Canyon through an area of wildflowers and trees. From a distance you can see the tall wall of the canyon ahead.

The path leads to the ruins of a large village, named Tyuonyi. It had about four hundred small rooms built around a central open plaza⁸. About one hundred people lived in the pueblo. It is one of several large pueblos whose ruins have been found in Bandelier National Monument.

The people who lived here were ancestors of some of today’s Pueblo Indians. Archeologists think they spent much of their time outside. They used the rooms for sleeping and keeping food. Both men and women grew crops. The women ground corn for bread, cooked and made pottery⁹. The men built new rooms, hunted animals for food, and wove cloth. Children played games and took care of small animals.

VOICE ONE:

The path continues past the ruins of the old pueblo up toward the reddish brown wall of Frijoles Canyon. There are many openings in the rock wall. The canyon walls are made of a soft rock called tuff.

Tuff is made of ash from the explosions of the Jemez volcano. After thousands of years the ash became a soft rock. Through the years rain and wind made cracks and openings in it. The ancestral Pueblo people used stone tools to widen the small natural openings in the face of the canyon walls.

Visitors can climb up wood ladders to see the inside of several of the cave homes. The ceilings are black from smoke. From a cave room you can see far up and down the canyon and imagine what life was like there seven hundred years ago. Farther up the path are more cave homes with ruins of small stone rooms next to the wall of the canyon. Along the walls and in the caves are designs or symbols carved into the rock or painted on it.

VOICE TWO:

You can see many other ruins by following the more than one hundred kilometers of trails in Bandelier. Archeologists know that the ancestors of today’s Pueblo Indians lived in the Frijoles Canyon for more than four hundred years.

They also know that by the middle fifteen hundreds people left their villages and cave homes and moved south and east toward the Rio Grande River. No one is sure why. Modern Pueblo Indians say they feel a strong link to the spirit of their ancestors in Bandelier National Monument.

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VOICE ONE:

Taos Pueblo is near the city of Taos. It is the farthest north of the nineteen present-day Pueblos in New Mexico. It is very high up -- about two thousand two hundred meters.

Taos Pueblo is considered to be the oldest community in the United States that has always had people living in it. The Tiwa language spoken by the Taos Indians has never been written. However, their spoken history tells of their ancestors living in the area for about one thousand years.

VOICE TWO:

The present Taos Pueblo buildings are made of adobe¹⁰, a mixture of wet dirt and straw. They were finished almost six hundred years ago. They have many rooms built on top of each other. Centuries ago hundreds of people lived there. Today only about one hundred fifty people live in them all the time. These Taos Indians live in the ancient adobe rooms as their ancestors did centuries ago -- without any running water or electric power for lights.

Almost two thousand Taos Indians live nearby on land the tribe¹¹ owns. They live in modern houses with electricity and running water. During the year they return to the Pueblo to take part in the many ceremonies and dances that are held in the ancient plazas¹².

VOICE ONE:

The Taos Pueblo you see today looks almost as it did to the Spanish when they arrived almost five centuries ago. Many first time visitors recognize it because artists have been painting the beauty of Taos Pueblo for years.

Tall green mountains rise behind the Pueblo. Two large brown adobe buildings containing many rooms are on the north and south side of a stream. The water in the stream flows down from Blue Mountain Lake, a sacred place for the Taos Indians. It provides water for drinking and cooking for the people who live in Taos Pueblo today, just as it has for centuries.

VOICE TWO:

Much of Taos Pueblo is not open to visitors. Taos Indians keep their history and ceremonies secret. They expect people to honor their privacy¹³ and their traditions. But visitors are welcome in small stores that are around the large open plaza areas. You can buy bread baked outside in traditional circular ovens. And you can buy jewelry¹⁴, drums made of leather, and wood carvings¹⁵ made by members of the tribe.

The United Nations has named Taos Pueblo a World Heritage¹⁶ Site, one of the most important historical and cultural places in the world. For the Taos Indians, it will always be the center of their cultural and spiritual world.

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VOICE ONE:

Our program was written by Marilyn Christiano and produced by Caty Weaver¹⁷. You can read transcripts¹⁸ of our programs and download audio at voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Barbara Klein. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.
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Pronunciations:

Bandelier = band-eh-leer

Frijoles = free-HOH-lace

Tyuonyi = chew-OHN-yee

Pajarito = pa-ha-REE-toe

Jemez = HAY-mess

Tiwa = TEE-wa

1 pueblo   

n.（美国西南部或墨西哥等）印第安人的村庄

参考例句：

• For over 2,000 years,Pueblo peoples occupied a vast region of the south-western United States.在长达2，000多年的时间里，印第安人统治着现在美国西南部的大片土地。
• The cross memorializes the Spanish victims of the 1680 revolt,when the region's Pueblo Indians rose up in violent protest against their mistreatment and burned the cit

2 canyon   

n.峡谷，溪谷

参考例句：

• The Grand Canyon in the USA is 1900 metres deep.美国的大峡谷1900米深。
• The canyon is famous for producing echoes.这个峡谷以回声而闻名。

3 plateau   

n.高原，平稳，稳定状态；vi.到达平稳阶段

参考例句：

• The ranch is in the middle of a large plateau.该牧场位于一个辽阔高原的中部。
• As the river drops from the plateau,it forms great waterfalls.河水从高原上下落时，形成了巨大的瀑布。

4 canyons   

n.峡谷( canyon的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This mountain range has many high peaks and deep canyons. 这条山脉有许多高峰和深谷。 来自辞典例句
• Do you use canyons or do we preserve them all? 是使用峡谷呢还是全封闭保存？ 来自互联网

5 squash   

n.壁球，摺皱不堪，拥挤嘈杂的人群，浓缩果汁，美国南瓜；vt.压扁，压制；vi.变扁，压榨

参考例句：

• He is drinking lemon squash.他正在喝柠檬露。
• She sprained her ankle playing squash.她在打软式墙网球时扭伤了脚踝。

6 pueblos   

n.印第安人村庄( pueblo的名词复数 )

参考例句：

7 creek   

n.小溪，小河，小湾

参考例句：

• He sprang through the creek.他跳过小河。
• People sunbathe in the nude on the rocks above the creek.人们在露出小溪的岩石上裸体晒日光浴。

8 plaza   

n.广场，市场

参考例句：

• They designated the new shopping centre York Plaza.他们给这个新购物中心定名为约克购物中心。
• The plaza is teeming with undercover policemen.这个广场上布满了便衣警察。

9 pottery   

n.陶器，陶器场

参考例句：

• My sister likes to learn art pottery in her spare time.我妹妹喜欢在空余时间学习陶艺。
• The pottery was left to bake in the hot sun.陶器放在外面让炎热的太阳烘晒焙干。

10 adobe   

n.泥砖，土坯，美国Adobe公司

参考例句：

• They live in an adobe house.他们住在一间土坯屋里。
• Adobe bricks must drived dried completely before are used.土坯砖块使用前一定要完全干燥。

11 tribe   

n.部落，种族，一伙人

参考例句：

• This is a subject tribe.这是个受他人统治的部落。
• Many of the tribe's customs and rituals are as old as the hills.这部落的许多风俗、仪式都极其古老。

12 plazas   

n.（尤指西班牙语城镇的）露天广场( plaza的名词复数 )；购物中心

参考例句：

• At focal points, there are seating plazas as rest points for users. 在主要主景点上，有空间较大的广场提供休息的地方。 来自互联网
• Such products are suitable for lighting and decoration of plazas, courtyards, parks, residential district and roadside. 本产品适合于广场、庭院，公园、小区草坪和道路的装饰和照明。 来自互联网

13 privacy   

n.私人权利，个人自由，隐私权

参考例句：

• In such matters,privacy is impossible.在这类事情中，保密是不可能的。
• She wept in the privacy of her own room.她在自己房内暗暗落泪。

14 jewelry   

n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝

参考例句：

• The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
• Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。

15 carvings   

n.雕刻( carving的名词复数 )；雕刻术；雕刻品；雕刻物

参考例句：

• The desk was ornamented with many carvings. 这桌子装饰有很多雕刻物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Shell carvings are a specialty of the town. 贝雕是该城的特产。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 heritage   

n.传统，遗产，继承物

参考例句：

• The ancient buildings are part of the national heritage.这些古建筑是民族遗产的一部分。
• We Chinese have a great cultural heritage.我们中国人有伟大的文化遗产。

17 weaver   

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。

18 transcripts   

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