美国英语听力80篇1 Lesson04

[00:39.42]That music is called "Taps."
[00:54.65]It is played at military fuerals to honor soldiers who have died.
[01:00.21]The sound of taps is being heard at cemeteries¹ throughout the United States as America honors its war dead.
[01:09.77]The Memorial Day holiday started in 1868.
[01:15.42]The purpose was to honor soldiers killed during the Civil War between America's northern and southern states.
[01:24.64]Back then, the holiday was called Decoration Day.
[01:29.97]People used flowers and ribbons to decorate the burial places of those killed during the war.
[01:37.96]Today, Memorial Day honors the men and women who died in all of America's wars.
[01:45.93]The first yearly observance of Memorial Day was at the National Cemetery² in Arlington, Virginia.
[01:54.86]The cemetery is across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.
[02:00.87]It is the largest and most famous national burial place in the United States.
[02:07.74]It includes about 200 hectares of rolling hills.
[02:13.43]Up and down the hills are lines of simple, white stones marking the graves where the soldiers are buried.
[02:23.05]About 200,000 soldiers are buried there.
[02:27.54]They include military and political leaders, cabinet officers, and Supreme³ Court judges.
[02:36.06]Only two American presidents are buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
[02:42.95]One is William Howard Taft. He was president in the early 1900s.
[02:50.06]The other is John Kennedy. He was president in the early 1960s.
[02:57.01]He was murdered during his first term in office.
[03:01.11]A fire burns all the time over President Kennedy's burial place.
[03:07.06]More people have visited his grave than any other in the United States.
[03:13.02]Memorial Day ceremonies also are being held at the vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington.
[03:30.47]The ceremonies honor Americans killed in fighting in Vietnam.
[03:36.11]The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was the idea of Jan Scruggs.
[03:42.07]Mister Scruggs fought in Vietnam. After the war, he was deeply troubled.
[03:49.69]He and others felt that American soldiers killed in Vietnam had been forgotten.
[03:56.46]So, he organized efforts to build a monument to honor them.
[04:02.02]He wanted to put on the monument the name of every American who died or was missing in the Vietnam War.
[04:11.01]In 1980, a group of former soldiers announced a national competition.
[04:18.77]The veterans"group invited American artists to create a memorial to helpunite the nation after the Vietnam War had divided it.
[04:30.03]Eight famous designers and artists were the judges.
[04:34.73]They judged more than 1,400 designs.
[04:39.43]They chose the design of Maya Lin.
[04:43.77]Ms Lin was twenty-one years old.
[04:47.03]She was studying architecture at Yale University in New Haven⁴ Connecticut.

1 cemeteries   

n.（非教堂的）墓地，公墓( cemetery的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• It's morbid to dwell on cemeteries and such like. 不厌其烦地谈论墓地以及诸如此类的事是一种病态。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• In other districts the proximity of cemeteries seemed to aggravate the disease. 在其它地区里，邻近墓地的地方，时疫大概都要严重些。 来自辞典例句

2 cemetery   

n.坟墓，墓地，坟场

参考例句：

• He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
• His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。

3 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

4 haven   

n.安全的地方，避难所，庇护所

参考例句：

• It's a real haven at the end of a busy working day.忙碌了一整天后，这真是一个安乐窝。
• The school library is a little haven of peace and quiet.学校的图书馆是一个和平且安静的小避风港。