VOA慢速英语2013 Winning Big Fun at County Fairs

 

Winning Big Fun at County Fairs

Welcome to American Mosaic¹ from VOA Learning English!

I’m June Simms.

On the show today, we play music from a first album by country group Florida Georgia Line.

We also visit Money Island, New Jersey², a coastal³ community still recovering from a powerful ocean storm last year.

But first, we go to a fair!

County Fairs

Every year, county fairs take place across the United States. Visitors can see farm animals, find lots to eat and buy goods from artists and craftsmen⁴. But some people go to fairs for the rides and games.

Christopher Cruise⁵ tells about the fun at one such event in Costa Mesa, California.

The people who work at the Orange County Fair operate the rides and games. But what really fuels the action are the fairgoers with clear goals. Like 11-year-old Cory Richards who won a huge toy animal by playing a game.

“I had the goal to get this guy, and I did it. So, now, it’s just win as many stuffed animals as I can.”

In one game, players throw baseballs. They attempt to hit and break empty glass bottles. In another, throwing a basketball or two through a basketball net can win a prize.

Cory Richards believes that the bigger the toy, the better.

“I played the basketball game. It was between this one or the round piggy. But this one was bigger so it made me feel more accomplished⁶.”

The boy admits that winning at these games involves a little skill and a lot of luck.

Another visitor to the Orange County Fair, Kee An, says she may not have a good chance of winning. But that does not stop her from taking part.

“I’m always a sucker to these games. I always lose my money but that’s the thrill of it.”

Hear those screams? They were from a nearby ride. Meagan Tse was one of the riders. But she was brave.

“No it wasn’t scary. It was awesome⁷.”

Many parents welcome the sight of their children having so much fun. Many capture the joyful⁸ faces in video recordings⁹ or photographs.

In one game, players try to roll balls into holes to make toy horses move forward along a track. Lanz Nicodemus gets his horse across the finish line first.

“This is one of my favorite games. I keep on winning.”

But what about those visitors who leave the county fair without a prize? Better luck next year, when the fair returns.

Money Island Needs Money and Sand

Last year, a powerful storm severely¹⁰ damaged coastal towns in New Jersey. The state is spending millions of dollars to rebuild the areas. But people in some poor communities are being urged to leave their homes and move away from the coast. Money Island is among these places.

William Bowen is the oldest living resident of Money Island. He remembers a time when there was a wide, sandy beach in front of his home.

Now workers are helping¹¹ him replace the small, sandy ground that was washed away in super storm Sandy last year. Mr. Bowen says he will not leave his home.

Money Island is not an island. It is a village of small, older homes in the wetlands of southern New Jersey.

Money Island sits where the Delaware River meets the Atlantic Ocean. Mayor Robert Campbell says it seems Hurricane Sandy was a powerful influence on New Jersey officials. He says state agencies are now making policies aimed at forcing people to move away from the coast. The government is requiring use of strong, structural¹² supports to raise houses high above flood levels. And he says new costly¹³ rules are being ordered for waste and water systems.

Blue Acres is a state program that buys houses in flood zones. Renee Brecht is with the environmental group The American Littoral¹⁴ Society. It opposes using millions of government dollars to protect a small number of houses from rising sea levels.

Ms. Brecht says sea walls and other costly measures will only work for a short time. She would like to make much of the area a natural preserve for local wildlife. She notes a nearby project led by another organization, the Nature Conservancy. It turned 86 hectares of badly damaged neighborhoods into a protected area for plants and wildlife.

Adrianna Zito Livingston is with the Nature Conservancy. She says it will cost $35 million to care for the area over the next 50 years. Some people in Money Island are left wondering why such money is used for nature and not for the people who live there.

Florida Georgia Line

We have had a couple of shows recently about summer songs. They included not just songs that are about summer, but also songs that are big hits during the summer. They are sometimes called summer anthems¹⁵.

Next week we will play several of 2013s summer anthems. One of them comes from a two-man group called Florida Georgia Line. Mario Ritter tells about the band and plays songs from its first album.

Florida Georgia Line is Bryan Kelley and Tyler Hubbard. Guess where they are from? Georgia is Kelleys native state and Hubbard is from Florida.

Both men have been playing guitar since their teens. They met while attending Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee.

Florida Georgia Line had a hit song with their single Cruise. It has become one of the biggest songs of summer 2013.

Cruise is on the groups first full-length album Heres to the Good Times. It was released last December. Kelley and Hubbard say they wrote many of the songs while on the back of Hubbards truck. Tell Me How You Like It might be one of them. It talks about driving on rough road and sending dust flying into the air.

Bryan Kelley and Tyler Hubbard seem surprised by their sudden fame. On their website, Hubbard calls their success a whirlwind. Kelley describes it as a dream come true.

We leave you with Florida Georgia Line performing the party song, Tip It Back.

1 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。

2 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

3 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

4 craftsmen   

n. 技工

参考例句：

• rugs handmade by local craftsmen 由当地工艺师手工制作的小地毯
• The craftsmen have ensured faithful reproduction of the original painting. 工匠保证要复制一幅最接近原作的画。

5 cruise   

v.巡航，航游，缓慢巡行；n.海上航游

参考例句：

• They went on a cruise to Tenerife.他们乘船去特纳利夫岛。
• She wants to cruise the canals of France in a barge.她想乘驳船游览法国的运河。

6 accomplished   

adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的

参考例句：

• Thanks to your help,we accomplished the task ahead of schedule.亏得你们帮忙,我们才提前完成了任务。
• Removal of excess heat is accomplished by means of a radiator.通过散热器完成多余热量的排出。

7 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

8 joyful   

adj.欢乐的，令人欢欣的

参考例句：

• She was joyful of her good result of the scientific experiments.她为自己的科学实验取得好成果而高兴。
• They were singing and dancing to celebrate this joyful occasion.他们唱着、跳着庆祝这令人欢乐的时刻。

9 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

10 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

11 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

12 structural   

adj.构造的，组织的，建筑（用）的

参考例句：

• The storm caused no structural damage.风暴没有造成建筑结构方面的破坏。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities.北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。

13 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

14 littoral   

adj.海岸的；湖岸的；n.沿（海）岸地区

参考例句：

• We should produce the littoral advantage well.我们应该把海滨的优势很好地发挥出来。
• The reservoir sandstone was believed to have been deposited in a littoral environment.储集层砂岩就被认为是近海环境的沉积。

15 anthems   

n.赞美诗( anthem的名词复数 )；圣歌；赞歌；颂歌

参考例句：

• They usually play the national anthems of the teams at the beginning of a big match. 在大型赛事开始前，他们通常演奏参赛国国歌。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Rise please, rise for the anthems of & . 请全体起立，奏和两国国歌。 来自互联网