THIS IS AMERICA - Travels Through Seven States

THIS IS AMERICA - Travels Through Seven States
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Broadcast: Monday, June 28, 2004

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VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA, in VOA Special English. I'm Gwen Outen.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Bob Doughty¹. Summer is when a lot of Americans take trips. So today come with us as we travel through seven states in fifteen minutes.

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VOICE ONE:

We start in Washington. Not the capital city, but the state of Washington on the other side of the country. It is in the Pacific Northwest, on the border with Canada. It is the only state named after a president. George Washington was the first president of the United States.

Washington State entered the union in eighteen-eighty-nine. It is a major shipping² port for Asia. Fishing is another big industry. So is technology. Washington State is home to the biggest maker³ of computer programs, Microsoft. Boeing still makes airplanes here. But its headquarters are now in Chicago.

Mountains divide Washington State. The east is heavily agricultural, but the west gets most of the rain.

VOICE TWO:

 
Seattle, Washington
Washington is called "the Evergreen⁴ State." It has lots of trees that keep their leaves all year. Those trees are important to the forest products industry. They are also important to the many people who hike through forests and climb mountains. The highest one here is Mount Rainier, in western Washington. It stands almost four-thousand-four-hundred meters above sea level.

Not too far away is Seattle. It is the largest city in Washington. But the state capital is Olympia.

VOICE ONE:

Washington is one of three states along the West Coast. As we leave Washington, we travel south into Oregon. It became a state in eighteen-fifty-nine. Forests cover a lot of the state. In fact, Oregon leads the United States in wood production.

Visitors enjoy places like Crater⁵ Lake National Park. A volcano formed this deep lake in the mountains. The bright blue water has appealed to photographers from all over the world. Cities in Oregon include Portland, Eugene and the capital, Salem.

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VOICE TWO:

From Oregon, we continue south into California. People from Spain settled the land in the seventeen-hundreds. Mexico later controlled it, until some of the land became the American state. The capital is Sacramento.

Americans captured the California territory during the Mexican-American War in the eighteen-forties. The discovery of gold helped California join the United States in eighteen-fifty.

Many gold miners came through San Francisco. And that is where we stop. Visitors like to ride the old cable cars up and down the hills of the city. They also like to see the Golden Gate Bridge. And, when they get hungry, many go for seafood⁶ along Fisherman's Wharf⁷.

To the south of San Francisco is the area with a large of number of computer technology companies -- better known as Silicon⁸ Valley.

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VOICE ONE:

 
Los Angeles, California
And a lot farther south is Los Angeles. Many communities form the city and county of Los Angeles. One of them is Hollywood, the center of the film and television industry.

California has one of the largest economies in the world. It also has the largest population in the country, more than thirty-five million people. One-third of them are of Hispanic ancestry⁹. But people come here from all over the world.

These include a growing number from Africa. Population researchers say the Los Angeles-Long Beach area has the third largest number of African-born people in the United States. About forty-three thousand live there. About twelve-thousand live farther south, in San Diego.

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VOICE TWO:

 
Grand Canyon¹⁰, Arizona
Now, from Southern California, we travel east into Arizona. Arizona is known the "Grand Canyon State." Over time, the Colorado River cut through stone and rock to form the Grand Canyon. It is more than one and one-half kilometers deep. Millions of people come to see it.

Arizona is a desert state. People once thought the land was worthless. But today many people come to Arizona for its hot, dry climate and its natural beauty. Phoenix¹¹ is the largest city, and a shipping center for agriculture. It is also the state capital.

Many people who come to Arizona visit Native American reservations. Indians who live on these tribal¹² lands must obey United States laws, but they also make their own laws.

VOICE ONE:

To the east of Arizona is New Mexico. Both states are on the border with the country of Mexico. New Mexico has a rich Spanish history. It also has a lot of land – almost three-hundred-fifteen thousand square kilometers. But fewer than two million people live here.

Lots more come to hunt, fish, or snow ski. They also come to enjoy arts and cultural activities. Santa Fe claims the largest collection of folk art in the world. Santa Fe is the state capital. But the largest city is Albuquerque.

New Mexico has mines for coal, copper¹³, potash and uranium. And it has around as many cows as it has people. Cattle growers help keep some traditions of the Old West alive. But New Mexico is also a center of scientific research. There are national laboratories. In fact, the first atomic bomb was exploded in the desert here.

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VOICE TWO:

To the east of New Mexico is a state with a tradition of thinking big: Texas. Texas has more land than any other state except Alaska.

There are still cowboys with big hats. That is true. But visitors can also find a rich cultural life in cities like San Antonio, Houston and Dallas. The city of Austin is the state capital.

Texas once belonged to Mexico. Mexican influence remains¹⁴ strong. More than thirty percent of Texans are Hispanic. But many other groups also live here. Among the more recent arrivals are people from Africa. About forty-seven thousand live in Houston and Dallas.

VOICE ONE:

One of the places that many people like to visit in Texas is a stone building in San Antonio called the Alamo. The American hero Davy Crockett was among those who died in a long battle there. They were fighting for independence from Mexico. "Remember the Alamo!" became a battle cry after that.

The Americans lost the battle of the Alamo, but they won the Mexican-American war. Texas became a state in eighteen-forty-five.

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VOICE TWO:

From Texas we travel north into Oklahoma, deeper into the central part of the United States. Oklahoma is our last stop today. It too has lots of land but not a lot of people. It became a state in nineteen-oh-seven.

Oklahoma is a big producer of fuel and food for the country. Flat areas and low hills make good places to grow wheat and raise cows.

Oklahoma is part of what people call the American heartland. People think of the heartland as a peaceful place. So what happened in April of nineteen-ninety-five seemed especially shocking. A bomb wrecked¹⁵ the Murrah Federal Office Building in Oklahoma City, the state capital.

A former soldier angry at the government was executed for the attack. One-hundred-sixty-eight people were killed. A national memorial now stands in place of the building to honor the victims.

VOICE ONE:

So, we have told you a few things about seven of the fifty states. Visitors leave with memories of wide open spaces, and cities without enough space. Forest-covered mountains, and flat, dry land without any trees as far as the eye can see. Farmers working in their fields, and fields with workers drilling for oil and natural gas. White-topped waves on the Pacific Ocean, and a golden sun setting over the Grand Canyon.

If you do ever visit, don't forget to bring a camera.

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VOICE TWO:

Our program was written by Jerilyn Watson and produced by Caty Weaver¹⁶. I'm Bob Doughty.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Gwen Outen. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA, in VOA Special English.

1 doughty   

adj.勇猛的，坚强的

参考例句：

• Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质：脾气倔强，性格刚强。
• The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。

2 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

3 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

4 evergreen   

n.常青树；adj.四季常青的

参考例句：

• Some trees are evergreen;they are called evergreen.有的树是常青的，被叫做常青树。
• There is a small evergreen shrub on the hillside.山腰上有一小块常绿灌木丛。

5 crater   

n.火山口，弹坑

参考例句：

• With a telescope you can see the huge crater of Ve-suvius.用望远镜你能看到巨大的维苏威火山口。
• They came to the lip of a dead crater.他们来到了一个死火山口。

6 seafood   

n.海产食品，海味，海鲜

参考例句：

• There's an excellent seafood restaurant near here.离这儿不远有家非常不错的海鲜馆。
• Shrimps are a popular type of seafood.小虾是比较普遍的一种海味。

7 wharf   

n.码头，停泊处

参考例句：

• We fetch up at the wharf exactly on time.我们准时到达码头。
• We reached the wharf gasping for breath.我们气喘吁吁地抵达了码头。

8 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

9 ancestry   

n.祖先，家世

参考例句：

• Their ancestry settled the land in 1856.他们的祖辈1856年在这块土地上定居下来。
• He is an American of French ancestry.他是法国血统的美国人。

10 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。

11 phoenix   

n.凤凰，长生(不死)鸟；引申为重生

参考例句：

• The airline rose like a phoenix from the ashes.这家航空公司又起死回生了。
• The phoenix worship of China is fetish worship not totem adoration.中国凤崇拜是灵物崇拜而非图腾崇拜。

12 tribal   

adj.部族的，种族的

参考例句：

• He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
• The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。

13 copper   

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。

14 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。

15 wrecked   

adj.失事的，遇难的

参考例句：

• the hulk of a wrecked ship 遇难轮船的残骸
• the salvage of the wrecked tanker 对失事油轮的打捞

16 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。