THIS IS AMERICA - Campaign to Reopen the Statue of Liberty

THIS IS AMERICA - Campaign to Reopen the Statue of Liberty
By Jerilyn Watson

Broadcast: Monday, January 26, 2004

(THEME)

VOICE ONE:

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

VOICE TWO:

 
Graphic¹ Image
And I'm Faith Lapidus. This week, learn about a campaign to let the public back inside one of America's most famous symbols, the Statue of Liberty.

(THEME)

VOICE ONE:

Before September eleventh, two-thousand-one, two-million people a year visited Liberty Island in New York Harbor. Then, terrorist² hijackers flew airplanes into the World Trade Center buildings three kilometers away. The attacks by al Qaeda on the United States that day killed more than three-thousand people.

Liberty Island closed immediately. The island reopened in December of that year. But not the great landmark³. People still cannot go inside the statue. Attendance⁴ at the island was down five percent last year.

Officials say the statue must be made more secure. New communication systems are needed in case of fire or other emergency. And more emergency doors to get visitors out safely.

VOICE TWO:

A five-million-dollar campaign is in progress to reopen the Statue of Liberty. To help lead the effort, movie director Martin Scorsese [score-ZAY-zay] made a television movie for the History Channel. The movie is called "Lady by the Sea: The Statue of Liberty."

The goal is to get the public to give at least one-million dollars to add to improvements already made by the government.

The American Express company paid for the movie, and Mister Scorsese gave his time. American Express also has guaranteed at least three-million dollars to the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation. The Folger's coffee company has promised one-million dollars.

The foundation cares for Liberty Island and nearby Ellis Island. The nonprofit group works in cooperation with the National Park Service.

Ellis Island served for many years as the main immigration center for people who arrived in America. Now parts of it are a museum. Ellis Island was closed after September eleventh. But, like Liberty Island, it has been open again since December of two-thousand-one.

VOICE ONE:

In his movie, Martin Scorsese explains the spirit of cooperation with France that brought the Statue of Liberty to the United States. "Lady by the Sea" also celebrates the idea that the statue was meant as a way to mark the end of slavery in the American South. The Frenchman who had the idea for the statue was against slavery. But today, others argue that any relationship to slavery was lost as the project moved ahead.

In any case, the Statue of Liberty has special meaning for Martin Scorsese. He says it had a great effect on his grandparents. Like so many immigrants, they saw it when they first arrived from Italy early in the last century.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

People like to say the Statue of Liberty is in good condition for someone her age. France gave the statue to the United States in eighteen-eighty-four. The full name is "Liberty Enlightening⁵ the World." Ships that sailed into New York Harbor carried millions of immigrants past the statue.

The statue is forty-six meters tall. It is made mostly of copper⁶. The color was reddish-brown, until time and weather turned it green. Liberty's right arm is high in the air and holds a torch, a golden light. Her left hand holds a tablet with the date July fourth, seventeen-seventy-six -- the date of the American Declaration⁷ of Independence.

VOICE ONE:

On the head of the Statue of Liberty is a crown with seven points. Each of these rays is meant to represent the light of freedom as it shines on seven seas and seven continents. A chain that represents oppression lies broken at her feet. The people of France gave the Statue of Liberty to the United States as a gift to honor freedom.

The two nations became friends during the American Revolution against Britain. France helped the revolutionary armies defeat the soldiers of King George the Third. The war officially ended in seventeen-eighty-three. A few years later, the French rebelled against their own king.

VOICE TWO:

A French historian⁸ and politician named Edouard-Rene Lefebvre de Laboulaye thought of the idea for a statue. He was giving a party in his home near Versailles in eighteen-sixty-five. This was the year the American Civil War ended. Slavery also ended in the United States.

It was a time when Laboulaye and others were struggling to make their own country democratic against the rule of Napoleon the Third. Laboulaye suggested that the French and Americans build a monument together to celebrate freedom.

One of the guests at the party was a young sculptor⁹, Frederic Auguste Bartholdi. For years Bartholdi had dreamed of creating a very large statue. By the end of the party he had been invited to make one for the United States.

VOICE ONE:

In eighteen-seventy-five the French established an organization to raise money for Bartholdi's creation¹⁰. Two years later the Americans established a group to help pay for a pedestal to support the statue.

American architect Richard Morris Hunt was chosen to design the pedestal. It would stand forty-seven meters high. In France, Bartholdi designed a small version of his statue. Then he built a series of larger copies.

Workers created wooden forms covered with plaster¹¹ for each main part. Then they placed three-hundred pieces of copper on the forms. The copper "skin" was less than three centimeters thick.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Now, in addition to a pedestal, the Statue of Liberty needed a structure that could hold its weight of more than two-hundred tons. Engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel created this new technology. Later he would build the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Eiffel and his helpers worked in Paris to produce a strong support system for the statue. The design also needed to let the statue move a little in strong winds.

France had hoped to give the statue to the United States on July fourth, eighteen-seventy-six. That was the one-hundredth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. But technical problems and lack of money delayed the project by eight years.

VOICE ONE:

At last France presented the statue to the United States. The celebration took place in Paris on July fourth, eighteen-eighty-four. Americans started to build the pedestal that same year. But they had to stop. People had not given enough money to finish it.

A New York newspaper urged Americans to give more money for the pedestal. People gave one-hundred-thousand dollars more.

Now the huge statue had a pedestal to stand on. In France, the statue was taken apart for shipping¹² to the United States. It arrived in two-hundred-fourteen wooden boxes.

VOICE TWO:

On October twenty-eighth, eighteen-eighty-six, President Grover Cleveland officially accepted Liberty Enlightening the World. He said: "We will not forget that Liberty has here made her home."

Over the years Americans shortened¹³ the name of the statue. They called it the Statue of Liberty, or Miss Liberty.

VOICE ONE:

Twelve-million immigrants passed the Statue of Liberty by ship between eighteen-ninety-two and nineteen twenty-four. By then, Ellis Island had stopped much of its operations. The great wave of European immigrants was mostly over.

But millions of visitors kept coming to see the Statue of Liberty. By the nineteen-eighties, the statue badly needed repairs. Again people on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean raised money. Fireworks lit the sky at the celebration for the restored Statue of Liberty on July fourth, nineteen-eighty-six.

VOICE TWO:

Even if the current campaign gathers enough money, there is still another step before the Statue of Liberty can reopen. The National Park Service must get permission within the government.

Liberty Island is open to visitors. But many people look forward to the day when they can again visit the museum inside the pedestal. Some want to climb the three-hundred-fifty-four steps to the crown. Others want to ride up to observation areas in an elevator to look at New York Harbor.

They say a symbol of freedom that has welcomed so many newcomers to America should once again welcome visitors inside.

(THEME)

VOICE ONE:

Jerilyn Watson wrote our program, and Caty Weaver¹⁴ produced it. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Faith Lapidus. Join us again next week for another report about life in the United States on the VOA Special English program, THIS IS AMERICA.

1 graphic   

adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的

参考例句：

• The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。

2 terrorist   

n.恐怖主义者，恐怖分子

参考例句：

• Without the gun,I'm a sitting duck for any terrorist.没有这支枪，我就成了恐怖分子下手的目标了。
• The district was put on red alert during a terrorist's bomb scare.这个地区在得到恐怖分子炸弹恐吓后作了应急准备。

3 landmark   

n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标

参考例句：

• The Russian Revolution represents a landmark in world history.俄国革命是世界历史上的一个里程碑。
• The tower was once a landmark for ships.这座塔曾是船只的陆标。

4 attendance   

n.出席，出席人数，护理，照料

参考例句：

• The attendance of this class never dropped off.这个班的出席人数从未下降。
• The young man danced attendance on his rich aunt.这个年轻人小心侍候他有钱的姑妈。

5 enlightening   

a.有启迪作用的，使人感悟的

参考例句：

• I find what you say most enlightening. 你这一说，我心里头亮了。
• It is interesting and enlightening to consider the derivative of a vector. 这对研究矢量的导数来说是重要的，而且富有启发性。

6 copper   

n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的

参考例句：

• The students are asked to prove the purity of copper.要求学生们检验铜的纯度。
• Copper is a good medium for the conduction of heat and electricity.铜是热和电的良导体。

7 declaration   

n.宣布，宣告，宣言，声明（书），申报

参考例句：

• We read the declaration posted on the bulletin board.我们读了贴在布告板上的声明。
• At the recent convention a declaration was adopted.在最近举行的大会上通过了一项宣言。

8 historian   

n.历史学家，编史家

参考例句：

• As a historian,he was most typical of the times in which he lived.作为历史学家，他是他所处时代最有代表性的人物。
• He calls himself a historian,but his books are a mere journalism.他自称为历史学家，但是他的书都是些肤浅的通俗作品。

9 sculptor   

n.雕刻家，雕刻家

参考例句：

• A sculptor forms her material.雕塑家把材料塑造成雕塑品。
• The sculptor rounded the clay into a sphere.那位雕塑家把黏土做成了一个球状。

10 creation   

n.创造，创造的作品，产物，宇宙，天地万物

参考例句：

• Language is the most important mental creation of man.语言是人类头脑最重要的产物。
• The creation of new playgrounds will benefit the local children.新游戏场的建立将有益于当地的儿童。

11 plaster   

n.石膏，灰泥，膏药；v.涂以灰泥，敷以膏药，使...平

参考例句：

• He mixed up some plaster to repair the wall.他和了一些灰泥去补墙。
• She applied the plaster on his shoulder.她将膏药贴在他的膀子上。

12 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。

13 shortened   

v.弄短，缩短( shorten的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She shortened the skirt by an inch. 她把裙子缩短了一英寸。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Vacations have lengthened and the work week has shortened. 假期延长，工作周就缩短了。 来自辞典例句

14 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。