2007年VOA标准英语-Dragon Sculpture Takes Shape in Suburban Washin

By George Dwyer
Takoma Park, Maryland
06 September 2007
 

Just outside Washington, D.C. lies the small suburban¹ city of Takoma Park, Maryland, a community characterized by some as "offbeat²." It is a place that takes great pride in its independent mindedness, a quality which has earned the city a popular nickname: "The People's Republic of Takoma Park." VOA's George Dwyer has the story of a Takoma Park man and his eye-catching garden project that is very much in keeping with the unique character of the city.

Homeowner Lew Morris

Homeowner Lew Morris is helping³ wood sculptor⁴ Jim Calder put the finishing touches on an unusual lawn ornament⁵ -- a dragon sculpture carved into a dead tree.  "The name of our dragon is Herlung, which is Chinese for 'River Dragon'."

Morris says inspiration for the six-meter tall dragon came from his Chinese-American daughter. "My daughter, who is Michelle, she is 15 years old, has a strong predilection⁶ to dragons…so I put her to the task of designing it. And so what you are seeing here is her idea of a dragon spiraling down a tree and looking out on the landscape here." 

And people are looking back -- lots of them. The tree dragon has drawn⁷ inquisitive⁸ on-lookers from all over town. Calder and Morris see it as an opportunity to raise awareness⁹ about the role of dragons in different cultures.

Sculpted10 from a dead tree, the Tree Dragon stands tall in Lew Morris' yard

"Unlike a lot of the dragons we think about in Europe which are fire breathing, nasty critters that eat maidens¹¹, the dragons of China are beneficent creatures, they bring water and good (harvest) to the earth," Morris says. 

Atop the dragon is a representation of the Earth itself.

"We did that in honor of not only Lew's family but also because it is a Chinese dragon and there is more to the world than the United States," says Jim Calder, who carved the dragon. He was once a computer engineer. "I just decided¹² one day that that was not exactly what I wanted to do. And I went back to carving¹³ and everybody kind of chuckled¹⁴ because I was leaving a very prosperous job for a job that… a wood carver?"

But Calder persevered¹⁵, and he had family history on his side. His uncle was the noted¹⁶ artist Alexander Calder, a friend of Picasso's known around the world for his mobile sculptures, such as those at Washington, D.C.'s National Gallery of Art.  "And eventually, like my uncle, at one point I would like to have some of my work in every major city in the world."

If and when that happens, Takoma Park, Maryland will have once again been on the (cutting) edge.

1 suburban   

adj.城郊的，在郊区的

参考例句：

• Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
• There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。

2 offbeat   

adj.不平常的，离奇的

参考例句：

• She adores old,offbeat antiques.她非常喜欢那些稀奇古怪的老古董。
• His style is offbeat but highly creative.他的风格很不寻常但非常有创造力。

3 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

4 sculptor   

n.雕刻家，雕刻家

参考例句：

• A sculptor forms her material.雕塑家把材料塑造成雕塑品。
• The sculptor rounded the clay into a sphere.那位雕塑家把黏土做成了一个球状。

5 ornament   

v.装饰，美化；n.装饰，装饰物

参考例句：

• The flowers were put on the table for ornament.花放在桌子上做装饰用。
• She wears a crystal ornament on her chest.她的前胸戴了一个水晶饰品。

6 predilection   

n.偏好

参考例句：

• He has a predilection for rich food.他偏好油腻的食物。
• Charles has always had a predilection for red-haired women.查尔斯对红头发女人一直有偏爱。

7 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

8 inquisitive   

adj.求知欲强的，好奇的，好寻根究底的

参考例句：

• Children are usually inquisitive.小孩通常很好问。
• A pat answer is not going to satisfy an inquisitive audience.陈腔烂调的答案不能满足好奇的听众。

9 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

10 sculpted   

adj.经雕塑的

参考例句：

• a display of animals sculpted in ice 冰雕动物展
• The ladies had their hair sculpted by the leading coiffeur of the day. 女士们的发型都是当代有名的理发师做的。

11 maidens   

处女( maiden的名词复数 )； 少女； 未婚女子； （板球运动）未得分的一轮投球

参考例句：

• stories of knights and fair maidens 关于骑士和美女的故事
• Transplantation is not always successful in the matter of flowers or maidens. 花儿移栽往往并不成功，少女们换了环境也是如此。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

12 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

13 carving   

n.雕刻品，雕花

参考例句：

• All the furniture in the room had much carving.房间里所有的家具上都有许多雕刻。
• He acquired the craft of wood carving in his native town.他在老家学会了木雕手艺。

14 chuckled   

轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She chuckled at the memory. 想起这件事她就暗自发笑。
• She chuckled softly to herself as she remembered his astonished look. 想起他那惊讶的表情，她就轻轻地暗自发笑。

15 persevered   

v.坚忍，坚持( persevere的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She persevered with her violin lessons. 她孜孜不倦地学习小提琴。
• Hard as the conditions were, he persevered in his studies. 虽然条件艰苦，但他仍坚持学习。 来自辞典例句

16 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。