VOA慢速英语-THIS IS AMERICA - St. Louis: 'Gateway to the West,'

A look at the city, its history, and its future with possible foreign ownership of the top U.S. beer company. Transcript¹ of radio broadcast:
13 July 2008

VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Faith Lapidus. Our subject this week is the city of Saint Louis, Missouri.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:
　

Flooding along the Mississippi River in June was the worst in 15 years

Saint Louis sits next to the Mississippi River, the most important waterway for shipping² traffic in the United States. That traffic was halted for most of June because of severe flooding in the Midwest -- the worst in fifteen years.

Saint Louis did not have any serious problems, though, even as the Mississippi reached two-and-a-half meters above flood level.

After the water levels began to drop, the Army Corps³ of Engineers reopened the river to traffic.

VOICE TWO:

Saint Louis was settled by fur traders in the seventeen sixties on a limestone⁴ rise above the Mississippi. The French settlement was named for King Louis the Ninth.

Robert Archibald is president of the Missouri History Museum in Saint Louis. He says the city owes its existence to the river.

The Mississippi has played a major part in the history, culture and music of Saint Louis. In fact, the two biggest rivers in the United States, the Mississippi and the Missouri, meet north of the city.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

One of Saint Louis' native sons was T.S. Eliot. The poet once described the Mississippi River as a strong brown god.

Robert Archibald says many people in Saint Louis have a sense that Elliot was right. They see the Mississippi as a natural force that affects life at its edges and around the city.

VOICE TWO:
　

The Gateway5 Arch is the nation's tallest memorial -- it stands at 192 meters

Not far from the river's edge is the Gateway Arch, a symbol of America's westward⁶ expansion. Explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark began their trip in the spring of eighteen hundred and four from Saint Louis.

The fur trading post was the gateway to the West -- the place where settlement ended and the West began.

A Finnish-American architect, Eero Saarinen, won a design competition for the memorial in nineteen forty-seven. The Gateway Arch was completed eighteen years later, in nineteen sixty-five.

Saarinen designed the arch to honor Thomas Jefferson. President Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark on their expedition. He was also the only architect president in American history.

VOICE ONE:

The Gateway Arch is made of stainless⁷ steel. It is the nation's tallest memorial, at one hundred ninety-two meters. Visitors can go inside. Two trains, one inside each leg, carry visitors to the observation room at the top. Electric motors keep the trains level as they travel the four-minute trip up or down the arch.

On most days, no motion can be felt in the observation room. But when the wind blows, the arch gently moves from side to side.

VOICE TWO:
　

New Busch Stadium holds more than 50,000 people

Not far in the distance is Busch Stadium, where the Saint Louis Cardinals⁸ play baseball.

Since the nineteen fifties, Saint Louis has had three different ballparks called Busch Stadium. The current one opened in two thousand six. It holds more than fifty thousand people. Major League Baseball will play its All-Star Game there next year.

VOICE ONE

The name Busch, B-U-S-C-H, comes from Saint Louis' best-known local company. Anheuser-Busch makes Budweiser and other beers. For a long time the company owned the Cardinals. A group of investors⁹ bought the team in nineteen ninety-six.

The Cards have won seventeen National League pennants¹⁰ and ten World Series championships. The latest was in two thousand six, in the new Busch Stadium. Across the street is a hall of fame that presents more than one hundred years of baseball history in the city.

Local historian Robert Archibald says there is a fierce loyalty¹¹ in Saint Louis to the Cardinals.

VOICE TWO:

Something else people in Saint Louis are loyal to is Anheuser-Busch. Right now the company is in the news. The Belgian and Brazilian company InBev wants to buy Anheuser-Busch and create the world's largest brewer¹².

Saint Louis would become the North American headquarters of the combined company.

Last week InBev proposed a new board of directors for Anheuser-Busch. The new board would include Adolphus Busch the Fourth, great-grandson of the company's co-founder and uncle of its current chief. With "the combination of InBev and Anheuser-Busch, Budweiser will once again be truly the 'King of Beers,'" says Adolphus Busch the Fourth.

But opponents have launched online petitions to try to stop the sale. These protests, says historian Robert Archibald, are proof of the loyalty that Saint Louisans have to the brewery¹³. And not just Saint Louisans, it seems.

Last Monday, Barack Obama made an unexpected stop in Saint Louis because of airplane trouble. The Democratic presidential candidate said he was against the proposed takeover by InBev. The senator from Illinois told reporters, "It would be a shame if Bud is foreign-owned."

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:
　

The Cardinals have won 10 World Series Championships, the latest in 2006

The United States Census¹⁴ Bureau says the city of Saint Louis had about three hundred fifty thousand people last year. That was down from a population of almost four hundred thousand in nineteen ninety. The greater Saint Louis area has close to three million people.

French and Spanish immigrants settled Saint Louis, along with American Indians. Then large numbers of Germans arrived in the nineteenth century. That German influence is still felt today.

Germans love beer, and during the nineteenth century, Saint Louis had more than fifty breweries¹⁵. Most closed during the period known as Prohibition¹⁶. From nineteen twenty to nineteen thirty-three, it was illegal to make, sell or transport alcoholic¹⁷ drinks in the United States.

But Anheuser-Busch survived, and grew into its position today as the largest brewing¹⁸ company in the country.

VOICE TWO:

Anheuser was Eberhard Anheuser. The German-born soap maker¹⁹ bought a struggling brewery in Saint Louis in eighteen sixty. He renamed it E. Anheuser and Company. In eighteen sixty-four, his daughter's husband, Adolphus Busch, joined the company. It later became Anheuser-Busch. Budweiser was launched in eighteen seventy-six.

For many people in Saint Louis, their identity and the company's identity are intermixed. The company always points out its connection with Saint Louis in its advertising²⁰. And the big Clydesdale horses used in its marketing²¹ campaigns appear in city parades.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Downtown Saint Louis has gone through a lot of redevelopment, much of it in the last twenty years or so. The city used to be the heart of the American shoe industry. But these days, most of the shoes Americans wear come from China.

Today Saint Louis has built up its health care industry. It also serves as Midwestern headquarters for big companies including Macy's department stores and pet food maker Ralston Purina.

The major daily newspaper is the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch. Having one major paper has been a common situation for years in American cities.

VOICE TWO:
　

Pope John Paul the Second visited the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis in 1999

Saint Louis is also home to one of the largest collections of mosaics²³ in the world. These are on the walls of the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis and they are breathtaking.

Twenty artists created them over a period of seventy-five years. They used more than forty-one million pieces of cut glass and seven thousand colors. The Ravenna Mosaic²² Company completed the work in nineteen eighty-eight.

The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis is the spiritual center of local Roman Catholics.

VOICE ONE:

Entering the church is like traveling back centuries to Eastern Europe during the Byzantine Empire. A high dome²⁴ sits over the main area of the cathedral. Many windows and doors are topped with arches and the walls are made of granite²⁵.

Eighty years of work went into the building, beginning in nineteen hundred. In nineteen ninety-seven, Pope John Paul the Second awarded the cathedral the ceremonial rights of a basilica. Two years later he visited the Cathedral Basilica during a stop in Saint Louis on his way home from a trip to Mexico. That stop in Saint Louis was his last visit to the United States.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Our program was written and produced by Jill Moss²⁶. I'm Faith Lapidus.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Steve Ember. Pictures of Saint Louis can be found at voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

3 corps   

n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组

参考例句：

• The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

4 limestone   

n.石灰石

参考例句：

• Limestone is often used in building construction.石灰岩常用于建筑。
• Cement is made from limestone.水泥是由石灰石制成的。

5 gateway   

n.大门口，出入口，途径，方法

参考例句：

• Hard work is the gateway to success.努力工作是通往成功之路。
• A man collected tolls at the gateway.一个人在大门口收通行费。

6 westward   

n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西

参考例句：

• We live on the westward slope of the hill.我们住在这座山的西山坡。
• Explore westward or wherever.向西或到什么别的地方去勘探。

7 stainless   

adj.无瑕疵的，不锈的

参考例句：

• I have a set of stainless knives and forks.我有一套不锈钢刀叉。
• Before the recent political scandal,her reputation had been stainless.在最近的政治丑闻之前，她的名声是无懈可击的。

8 cardinals   

红衣主教( cardinal的名词复数 )； 红衣凤头鸟（见于北美，雄鸟为鲜红色）； 基数

参考例句：

• cardinals in scarlet robes 身披红袍的枢机主教
• A conclave of cardinals was held to elect the new Pope. 红衣主教团举行了秘密会议来选举新教皇。

9 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

10 pennants   

n.校旗( pennant的名词复数 )；锦标旗；长三角旗；信号旗

参考例句：

• Their manes streamed like stiff black pennants in the wind. 它们的鬃毛直立起来，在风中就像一面面硬硬的黑色三角旗。 来自互联网
• Bud ashtrays, bar towels, coasters, football pennants, and similar items were offered for sale. 同时它还制作烟灰缸、酒吧餐巾、杯垫子、杯托子、足球赛用的三角旗以及诸如此类的物品用于销售。 来自互联网

11 loyalty   

n.忠诚，忠心

参考例句：

• She told him the truth from a sense of loyalty.她告诉他真相是出于忠诚。
• His loyalty to his friends was never in doubt.他对朋友的一片忠心从来没受到怀疑。

12 brewer   

n. 啤酒制造者

参考例句：

• Brewer is a very interesting man. 布鲁尔是一个很有趣的人。
• I decided to quit my job to become a brewer. 我决定辞职，做一名酿酒人。

13 brewery   

n.啤酒厂

参考例句：

• The brewery had 25 heavy horses delivering beer in London.啤酒厂有25匹高头大马在伦敦城中运送啤酒。
• When business was good,the brewery employed 20 people.在生意好的时候，这家酿造厂曾经雇佣过20人。

14 census   

n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查

参考例句：

• A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
• The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。

15 breweries   

酿造厂，啤酒厂( brewery的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• In some cases, this is desirable, but most breweries prefer lighter-type beers. 在一些情况下，这是很理想的，但是大多数啤酒厂更倾向于生产酒度较低的啤酒。
• Currently, there are 58 breweries producing Snow Beeracross the country. 目前，全国共有58个雪花啤酒厂。

16 prohibition   

n.禁止；禁令，禁律

参考例句：

• The prohibition against drunken driving will save many lives.禁止酒后开车将会减少许多死亡事故。
• They voted in favour of the prohibition of smoking in public areas.他们投票赞成禁止在公共场所吸烟。

17 alcoholic   

adj.（含）酒精的，由酒精引起的；n.酗酒者

参考例句：

• The alcoholic strength of brandy far exceeds that of wine.白兰地的酒精浓度远远超过葡萄酒。
• Alcoholic drinks act as a poison to a child.酒精饮料对小孩犹如毒药。

18 brewing   

n. 酿造, 一次酿造的量 动词brew的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• It was obvious that a big storm was brewing up. 很显然，一场暴风雨正在酝酿中。
• She set about brewing some herb tea. 她动手泡一些药茶。

19 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

20 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

21 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

22 mosaic   

n./adj.镶嵌细工的，镶嵌工艺品的，嵌花式的

参考例句：

• The sky this morning is a mosaic of blue and white.今天早上的天空是幅蓝白相间的画面。
• The image mosaic is a troublesome work.图象镶嵌是个麻烦的工作。

23 mosaics   

n.马赛克( mosaic的名词复数 )；镶嵌；镶嵌工艺；镶嵌图案

参考例句：

• The panel shows marked similarities with mosaics found elsewhere. 这块嵌板和在其他地方找到的镶嵌图案有明显的相似之处。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The unsullied and shining floor was paved with white mosaics. 干净明亮的地上镶嵌着白色图案。 来自辞典例句

24 dome   

n.圆屋顶，拱顶

参考例句：

• The dome was supported by white marble columns.圆顶由白色大理石柱支撑着。
• They formed the dome with the tree's branches.他们用树枝搭成圆屋顶。

25 granite   

adj.花岗岩，花岗石

参考例句：

• They squared a block of granite.他们把一块花岗岩加工成四方形。
• The granite overlies the older rocks.花岗岩躺在磨损的岩石上面。

26 moss   

n.苔，藓，地衣

参考例句：

• Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
• He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。