读者文摘:美国最棒的路边景观(2)（在线收听）

Nearby Montgomery boasts the World's Largest Brick Made of Bricks.

附近的蒙哥马利市拥有世界上最大的由砖组成的砖块。

We didn't stop to see it, but we did stop for five more giant chickens—some metal, some concrete—that were standing in front of various small-town establishments off the interstate.

我们没有停下来看它，但是我们停下来看了五个巨鸡雕像，一些是金属制成的，一些是混凝土制成的，这些鸡雕像矗立在州际公路外的小镇上。

These are some of the roadside highlights along one stretch of one highway, mind you.

提醒你一下，这是一条高速公路沿线的一些路边亮点。

The peach-shaped water tower in Chilton County is half the size of the Peachoid in Gaffney, South Carolina.

奇尔顿县的桃形水塔只有南卡罗莱纳加夫尼市的桃子形水塔的一半大。

The giant chicken outside Elkton has nothing on the World's Largest Prairie Dog in Cactus Flat, South Dakota.

埃尔克顿外的巨型鸡和南达科塔州的仙人掌平原的世界上最大的草原土拨鼠毫无瓜葛。

I know because we stopped to see the prairie dog in 2006. We also stopped in Collinsville, Illinois, to see the World's Largest Catsup Bottle.

我知道是因为2006年我们停下来去看了土拨鼠。我们还在伊利诺斯州的科林斯维停留，参观了世界上最大的番茄酱瓶。

Both stops occurred on the way to Mount Rushmore, which my husband still calls "The World's Largest Carving of Presidential Heads."

这两次停留都发生在去拉什莫尔山的路上，我丈夫仍然称它为“世界上最大的总统头像雕刻”。

All across the country stand an uncountable number of homespun reminders that American ingenuity and wit have not yet been Walmart-ized out of existence.

全国各地都有无数朴实无华的东西提醒着我们，美国人的聪明才智还没有被沃尔玛消灭。

Think of Car-henge in Alliance, Nebraska, a replica of Stonehenge made entirely of vintage automobiles.

想想内布拉斯加州阿莱恩斯的“汽车阵”吧，它是巨石阵的复制品，完全由老式汽车制成。

Think of Dog Bark Park Inn in Cottonwood, Idaho, a bed-and-breakfast that doubles as the World's Largest Beagle.

想想爱达荷州卡顿伍德的木狗公园旅馆吧，这是一家提供住宿和早餐的旅店，是世界上最大的比格犬的两倍。

Think of the 13-foot-tall peanut smiling with Jimmy Carter–style teeth outside of Plains, Georgia;

想想佐治亚州普莱恩斯外那颗13英尺(约1.83米)高、长着吉米卡特式牙齿的花生吧；

the World's Largest Ball of Twine, claimed by Cawker City, Kansas; or Lenny, the World's Only Life-Size Chocolate Moose, in Scarborough, Maine.

堪萨斯州考克城的世界上最大的线球；或者伦尼，世界上唯一的真人大小的巧克力驼鹿，它位于缅因州士嘉堡市。

Every state has them. Virtually every road in the country is the site of at least one.

每个州都有。事实上，这个国家的每条道路都至少有一个。

They are most visible on leisurely summer road trips, when a detour to take a selfie with a chicken

它们在悠闲的夏日自驾游中最为常见，比如绕道与一只鸡自拍，

or to snicker at a 112-year-old statue's bare butt won't make anyone late for the cranberry relish or the Easter ham, but they are always there.

或者对着一座有着112年历史的雕像裸露的屁股窃笑，这不会让任何人在享用蔓越莓酱或复活节火腿时迟到，但它们总是在那里。

Often meant to be advertisements for local enterprises, they are inevitably much more than the mercantile economy requires.

它们往往是当地企业的广告，不可避免地要比商业经济所需要的多得多。

They are also evidence that human imagination will always resist homogenization, that daring art isn't found only in galleries and museums, that wit and wile are everywhere among us.

它们也证明了人类的想象力会经常拒绝同质化，这种大胆的艺术不仅存在于画廊和博物馆中，智慧和诡计无处不在。

When interstate exits are marked by the instantly recognizable icons of a dozen fast-food restaurants

当州际出口是由一眼就能认出来的十几家快餐店的图标和由同一跨国石油公司提供的加油站标记时，

and gas stations supplied by the same multinational oil companies, the giant roadside chickens will always remind us who we are.

路边的巨大的鸡雕像总是在提醒我们，我们是谁。