Lesson53 New York
Everyone has an image of New York — the Statue of Liberty, theskyscrapers,the beautiful shops on Fifth Avenue,or the Broadway theatres.
This is America's cultural capital, and her biggest city, with a populationof nearly eight million. In the summer it is hot, hot, and hot and in thewinter it can be very cold.
There are five "boroughs" in New York: Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan,Queens and Richmond. Only one of them, the Bronx, is not on an island.
Manhattan, the smallest island in New York, is the real centre of the city.
When people say "New York City" they usually mean Manhattan. Most of theinteresting shops, buildings and museums are here, and Manhattan is thescene of New York's busy night life.
In 1605 the first Europeans came to Manhattan from Holland.
They bought the island from the American Indians for a few glass necklaces,worth about $26 today.
Wall Street in Manhattan is the financial heart of the USA and the mostimportant banking centre in the world.
Like every big city, New York has its own traffic system.
Traffic jams can be terrible, and it's usually quickest to go by subway. TheNew York subway is easy to use and quite cheap.
Take a look at the map. The subway goes to almost every corner of Manhattan.
But be careful. It's better not to go by subway late at night.
borough 区
纽约
每个人的脑子里都有一个纽约的形象——自由女神、摩天大楼、第五大道上的漂亮小店，或是百老汇的剧院。纽约是美国的文化中心、最大的城市，人口超过八百万。这里夏季酷热，冬季却又非常寒冷。
纽约有布鲁克林、布朗克斯、曼哈顿、皇后和里士满五个区，其中只有布朗克斯区不在岛上。
纽约最小的岛——曼哈顿，是纽约市真正的中心。人们说“纽约市”时，通常是指曼哈顿，好多吸引人的店铺、建筑和博物馆坐落于此，而纽约热闹的夜生活也在此上演。
一六零五年，第一批欧洲人从荷兰出发来到曼哈顿，他们用今日市值二十六美元的几串玻璃项链从美洲印第安人手中买下了这个岛屿。
位于曼哈顿的华尔街是美国的金融中心，也是世界最重要的银行业中心。
一如其他的大城市，纽约有着自己的交通系统。这里会有严重的交通拥堵，通常最快捷的出行方式是乘坐地铁。纽约的地铁很便利也很便宜，看看地图就知道，乘坐地铁可至曼哈顿的每一个角落。但是注意，深夜最好不要乘坐地铁。 |