词汇大师(Wordmaster)--How America Got Its Name, Part 1

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble with Wordmaster. Some time ago, a listener wrote to ask if there is a difference between "America" and "United States." We think this is a good time to answer that question.

RS: Recently we read about an effort by the U.S. Library of Congress to acquire what is known as "America's birth certificate." It's a 1507 European map -- the first map on which the name "America" appears.

AA: So we set up an interview with John Hebert [AY-bear], chief of the Geography and Map Division at the Library of Congress. We scheduled it for Tuesday, September eleventh.

RS: And then...

TAPE: CUT ONE -- BUSH/RESCUE WORKERS AT WTC

"Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings but they cannot touch the foundation of America."

"(crowd chanting) U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A!"

RS: President Bush, speaking from the White House, and later, when he later visited rescuers at the World Trade Center in New York, being greeted with "U-S-A! U-S-A!" a patriotic¹ chant normally reserved for international sporting events.

AA: You heard President Bush call the United States, "America." John Hebert sees little difference between "America" and "United States." In fact, he checked some atlases² going back to the founding of the republic in 1776. What he found is that people here have been using "America" all along as another name for the United States of America.

RS: Yet on that 1507 map the name "America" actually appeared over what we now call South America. North America, in other words, wasn't even on the map yet.

AA: So I asked John Hebert why politicians tend to use the term "America" rather than "United States."

TAPE: CUT THREE -- ARDITTI/HEBERT

HEBERT: "Well, I guess it's a shorthand. I think the United States is a very cumbersome³ word when you're describing 'I'm a citizen of the United States,' as opposed to 'I'm an American.' I will tell you one thing, 'America' does denote an area separated from Europe, separated from Asia, and that is a way of classifying us an entity⁴ that feels that protection -- at one time felt protection -- of the ocean separating us from the Old World. So I think it's become part of our language, not only political language but just in everyday language, to refer to us as Americans."

AA: "I mean, Mexicans are Americans, Canadians are Americans."

HEBERT: "There's no doubt about what you're saying. And they definitely are Americans and they think of themselves as Americans. When they define who they are, when they name who they are, in most cases, it's 'Mexicans' or 'Canadians.'

RS: John Hebert, a Latin America historian by training, also noted⁵ that not everyone looks at the map the same way.

TAPE: CUT FIVE -- HEBERT/ARDITTI

"In the study of geography in Latin American texts, you will see that the Western Hemisphere is referred to as 'America.' There is no division of continents between a North America and a South America, but there is only one continent of America which is divided into a southern, central and northern branch of the same continent -- not continents -- of America."

AA: "And then in English?"

HEBERT: "In English geograhies you will invariably see the division into two continents, between a North American and a South America as two separate continents. That's not to say we should not call ourselves Americans, though. That's not the point. The point is that we should be aware of the way in which other peoples look at this same part of the real estate that we all occupy."

AA: "I suppose economic power kind of seems to have dictated⁶ usage perhaps."

HEBERT: "Or political. Political and economic. Let's not forget that the United States very early on is the independent nation. It establishes itself as a beacon⁷ for other republican efforts, and hence came along the Haitian revolution and the breaks from Spain in 1821 with Mexico and the whole 'new Spain' folding, and progressively throughout the Americas from that point on. So there is a certain amount of vintage to the United States as the first American republic and probably leads very strongly to the use of our terms in a very strong sense of the idea of independence and democracy, a democratic system."

AA: John Hebert at the Library of Congress. Next week, more about how America got its name.

RS: Let us hear from you. Our e-mail address is [email protected] or send letters to VOA Wordmaster, Washington, D-C, 20237 USA. With Avi Arditti, I'm Rosanne Skirble.

MUSIC: "America"/Simon & Garfunkel

1 patriotic   

adj.爱国的，有爱国心的

参考例句：

• His speech was full of patriotic sentiments.他的演说充满了爱国之情。
• The old man is a patriotic overseas Chinese.这位老人是一位爱国华侨。

2 atlases   

地图集( atlas的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Besides the two novels, I have bought two atlases. 我买了两本小说，另外还买了两本地图册。
• The facts of monsoon climate have been presented in a number of texts and atlases. 季风气候的一些事实已在一些教科书和气候图集中加以介绍。

3 cumbersome   

adj.笨重的，不便携带的

参考例句：

• Although the machine looks cumbersome,it is actually easy to use.尽管这台机器看上去很笨重，操作起来却很容易。
• The furniture is too cumbersome to move.家具太笨，搬起来很不方便。

4 entity   

n.实体，独立存在体，实际存在物

参考例句：

• The country is no longer one political entity.这个国家不再是一个统一的政治实体了。
• As a separate legal entity,the corporation must pay taxes.作为一个独立的法律实体，公司必须纳税。

5 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。

6 dictated   

v.大声讲或读( dictate的过去式和过去分词 )；口授；支配；摆布

参考例句：

• He dictated a letter to his secretary. 他向秘书口授信稿。
• No person of a strong character likes to be dictated to. 没有一个个性强的人愿受人使唤。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 beacon   

n.烽火，（警告用的）闪火灯，灯塔

参考例句：

• The blink of beacon could be seen for miles.灯塔的光亮在数英里之外都能看见。
• The only light over the deep black sea was the blink shone from the beacon.黑黢黢的海面上唯一的光明就只有灯塔上闪现的亮光了。