VOA慢速英语2015 弗兰克·劳埃德·赖特建筑被提名世界遗产名录

AS IT IS 2015-02-12 Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings Nominated for World Heritage List 弗兰克·劳埃德·赖特建筑被提名世界遗产名录

Frank Lloyd Wright is often called the father of American modern architecture. He designed buildings and homes across the United States for more than 70 years. He created most of his works from 1900 through the 1950s, but his open-living spaces and imaginative designs still appear very modern today.

Last week, the United States nominated 10 of his buildings for the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization – or UNESCO – World Heritage List. The World Heritage List recognizes the most important cultural and natural sites worldwide.

The 10 properties included in the United States’ proposal, titled “Key Works of Modern Architecture by Frank Lloyd Wright,” were built between 1906 and 1969. They include several of his personal homes and studios, churches, government buildings, private residences, and one very famous museum – New York City’s Guggenheim Museum.

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is one of the most visited sites in New York City. About one million people visit every year. Frank Lloyd Wright worked on it from 1943 to 1959. It was designed to create a new type of space for new types of art. The museum remains¹ an international icon² of modern architecture that represents Wright’s unique design.

Many of Mr. Wright’s modern buildings and homes in the U.S. Midwest have also become icons³ of modern American architecture. In the early 1900s, Frank Lloyd Wright designed what are often called prairie houses. A prairie is a large, mostly flat area of land with few trees and covered in grass.

One of Mr. Wright’s most famous prairie houses, the Robie House, is also included among the 10 buildings. The Robie House, located in Chicago, Illinois, looks like a series of long low rooms on different levels. The rooms seem to float over the ground. Mr. Wright designed everything in this house, including the furniture and floor coverings. Mr. Wright’s prairie houses had a great influence on home design in America.

When the Robie House was completed in 1909, the open flow space forming the living and dining rooms was a new kind of modern living space. Even more than 100 years later, his prairie houses still appear very modern.

Richard Longstreth is the president of the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy. He calls Mr. Wright “the father of modern architecture, fundamentally redefining the nature of form and space during the early 20th century that would have enduring impacts of modern architecture worldwide.”

The eight other buildings included in the nominations⁴ are: the Unity⁵ Temple in Oak Park, Illinois; Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisconsin; Hollyhock House in Los Angeles, California; Fallingwater in Mill Run, Pennsylvania; Herbert and Katherine Jacobs House in Madison, Wisconsin; the Taliesin West in Scottsdale, Arizona; Price Tower in Bartlesville, Oklahoma; and the Marin County Civic⁶ Center in San Rafael, California.

The UNESCO World Heritage Committee will announce its decision in mid-2016. If Frank Lloyd Wright’s 10 buildings are chosen for the list, they would be the first World Heritage listings for modern U.S. architecture. The World Heritage List already includes 22 other American sites, including the Grand Canyon⁷, Yellowstone National Park and the Statue of Liberty.

Words in This Story

imaginative – adj. having or showing an ability to think of interesting ideas

proposal – n. something (such as a plan or suggestion) that is presented to a person or group of people to consider

icon – n. something or someone that is very admired

unique – adj. very special or unusual

1 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

2 icon   

n.偶像，崇拜的对象，画像

参考例句：

• They found an icon in the monastery.他们在修道院中发现了一个圣像。
• Click on this icon to align or justify text.点击这个图标使文本排齐。

3 icons   

n.偶像( icon的名词复数 )；（计算机屏幕上表示命令、程序的）符号，图像

参考例句：

• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons. 用图标来区分重要的文本项。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Daemonic icons should only be employed persistently if they provide continuous, useful status information. 只有会连续地提供有用状态信息的情况下，后台应用程序才应该一直使用图标。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

4 nominations   

n.提名，任命( nomination的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Nominations are invited for the post of party chairman. 为党主席职位征集候选人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Much coverage surrounded his abortive bids for the 1960,1964, and 1968 Republican Presidential nominations. 许多消息报道都围绕着1960年、1964年和1968年他为争取提名为共和党总统候选人所做努力的失败。 来自辞典例句

5 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

6 civic   

adj.城市的，都市的，市民的，公民的

参考例句：

• I feel it is my civic duty to vote.我认为投票选举是我作为公民的义务。
• The civic leaders helped to forward the project.市政府领导者协助促进工程的进展。

7 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。