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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
The trend toward virtually indistinguishable shopping malls began about when this photo of the Meadowlane Shopping Center was taken in Anderson, California, in 1960.
The United States is often called a mosaic1 - a savory2 stew3 of races, cultures, and points of view.
They coexist, sometimes uncomfortably. There is even diversity training in business to help executives and workers deal with growing numbers of Americans of dissimilar backgrounds.
The nation has always been regionally diverse as well, with distinctive4 customs, vocabulary, accents, and even dress. But some say THAT kind of diversity is fading. And they have lots of evidence:
Carol M. Highsmith
No Holiday Inn or Hilton looks like this. This is the Wigwam Motel in Arizona - one of what were once thousands of unique motels and tourist courts.
Shopping malls, with their huge parking lots, look the same from Hawaii to Florida to Upper Michigan. So do their franchised5 stores, boutiques, and fast-food restaurants.
If you listen to radio, it's harder to find unique local personalities6 with their quirky sayings and accents. Instead, all across the country, you hear standardized7 music formats8 and syndicated national talk shows beamed from New York or Los Angeles.
Along America's interstate highways - all built to the same specifications9 - you see the same road signs and gasoline stations.
Even foods that were once exotic, like Tex-Mex tacos or Japanese sushi, are available in stores and restaurants all over the nation. Satellite dishes, the Internet and cable television have brought the outside world into what were once isolated10 backwoods and mountain hollows.
Carol M. Highsmith
You don't get the usual, formulaic burger and fries at unusual restaurants like the Uranium Café along old U.S. Highway 66 in Grants, New Mexico.
And regional diversity is declining because Americans are moving about the nation and settling in places that once kept pretty much to themselves. And the newcomers are not wasting much time getting involved and taking leadership positions in their new communities.
In short, it can be argued that thanks to mass media, marketing11, and migration12, American tastes and habits - once dramatically different depending on the state or region - are rapidly blurring13 into indistinctive, even boring, uniformity.
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1
mosaic
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n./adj.镶嵌细工的,镶嵌工艺品的,嵌花式的 | |
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2
savory
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adj.风味极佳的,可口的,味香的 | |
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3
stew
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n.炖汤,焖,烦恼;v.炖汤,焖,忧虑 | |
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distinctive
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adj.特别的,有特色的,与众不同的 | |
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franchised
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v.给…以特许权,出售特许权( franchise的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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6
personalities
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n. 诽谤,(对某人容貌、性格等所进行的)人身攻击; 人身攻击;人格, 个性, 名人( personality的名词复数 ) | |
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7
standardized
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adj.标准化的 | |
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formats
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n.(出版物的)版式( format的名词复数 );[电视]电视节目的总安排(或计划) | |
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specifications
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n.规格;载明;详述;(产品等的)说明书;说明书( specification的名词复数 );详细的计划书;载明;详述 | |
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10
isolated
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adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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marketing
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n.行销,在市场的买卖,买东西 | |
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12
migration
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n.迁移,移居,(鸟类等的)迁徙 | |
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13
blurring
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n.模糊,斑点甚多,(图像的)混乱v.(使)变模糊( blur的现在分词 );(使)难以区分 | |
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