THIS IS AMERICA - Seeking to Protect the 'Most Endangered Hi

THIS IS AMERICA - Seeking to Protect the 'Most Endangered Historic¹ Places' in America
By Jerilyn Watson

Broadcast: Monday, July 11, 2005

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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 endangered places. These are historic places threatened by age, disrepair or development.

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VOICE ONE:

The National Trust for Historic Preservation² is a private, non-profit organization. An act of Congress established the National Trust in nineteen forty-nine. Two hundred seventy thousand members and thousands of community groups support its work.

Each year since nineteen eighty-eight, the National Trust has released a list. The list is called America's Eleven Most Endangered Historic Places. The hope is that informing the public about the risks to these sites will lead to their rescue.

 
Hemingway's Cuba Home - Back Exterior³
This year, the list includes a small college in the Midwest that is now a museum. A system of millions of hectares of land in the West is also on the list. So is a house in Cuba. The house is where Ernest Hemingway wrote such classics as "For Whom the Bell Tolls⁴" and "The Old Man and the Sea."

This is the first time the National Trust has listed a place outside the United States.

VOICE TWO:

Another place on the endangered list this year is Camp Security in York County, Pennsylvania. It is described as the last remaining site of a prison camp from the Revolutionary War in the late seventeen hundreds. Camp Security held captured British soldiers and their families.

Farmers have used the land ever since. National Trust officials say they believe objects from the camp are still buried there.

Local officials in York County rejected a request by a developer to build homes on the land where Camp Security stood. But the developer brought legal action. That resulted in a court order to approve the development.

The National Trust says it hopes a group interested in preservation will buy the land and save this part of American history.

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VOICE ONE:

The National Trust lists the home and family farm of Daniel Webster as another endangered place. The property is in Franklin, New Hampshire.

Daniel Webster, born in seventeen eighty-two, was a famous statesman⁵. He was an important speaker for the powers of the federal government. Lines from his speeches helped fuel the spirit of Union soldiers during the Civil War in the eighteen sixties.

The public can visit the Webster Farm. The government has declared it a national historic landmark⁶. But the National Trust says that without a new plan to protect it, the land may be cleared for a development.

VOICE TWO:

The Union won the Civil War. Slavery ended in the South. But even before that, a tiny college in the Midwest was educating blacks and women. Eleutherian College in Madison, Indiana, was one of the first in the nation to offer such equality. Many of its leaders and students helped shelter runaway⁷ slaves. The school opened in eighteen forty-eight.

Today Eleutherian College is a museum. It stands as a monument to education and equality. But the National Trust for Historic Preservation says the college needs money for restoration.

VOICE ONE:

An area of land in three states also is on the endangered list this year. It is called the Journey through Hallowed Ground Corridor. It includes six homes of American presidents and a large number of Civil War battlefields. There are places of special meaning to blacks and Native Americans.

The area extends from Pennsylvania to Maryland to Virginia. The National Trust says the corridor has lost thousands of hectares to development since the nineteen eighties. Public and private agencies have launched an effort to permit balanced growth but also to protect history. The National Trust says "four hundred years of American heritage⁸ may be lost" if the effort fails.

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VOICE TWO:

The Belleview Biltmore Hotel in Belleair, Florida, on the Gulf⁹ of Mexico, is often called "the White Queen of the Gulf." The hotel opened in eighteen ninety-seven. Presidents, kings and queens, business leaders, movie stars and other important guests have stayed there. During World War Two, the Belleview Biltmore Hotel provided housing for the United States Army.

The hotel is still popular. But its owners want to destroy it. The National Trust says developers can get more money with homes on the land. The historic preservation group hopes someone will save the White Queen of the Gulf.

VOICE ONE:

In California, the National Trust notes the sad condition of the Ennis-Brown House in Los Angeles. One of America's most imaginative¹⁰ architects designed the house. Frank Lloyd Wright used concrete blocks decorated with designs. He finished the home in nineteen twenty-four.

The Ennis-Brown House was popular with visitors. Today it is unsafe and needs major repairs.

VOICE TWO:

The National Trust for Historic Preservation says it is also concerned about preserving the history of Detroit, Michigan. Detroit is known as the traditional capital of American car manufacturing. But for years now, the city has suffered from unemployment and poverty. Many buildings are empty and in poor condition.

The city plans to destroy more than one hundred such buildings in downtown Detroit. But the National Trust says: "Detroit's leaders need to work with developers and preservationists to breathe new life into old buildings."

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VOICE ONE:

Greater Boston, Massachusetts, is divided into more than three hundred fifty Roman Catholic¹¹ parishes. Last year, church officials began to sell properties owned by the church in some of those areas. The Catholic Church in Boston needs millions of dollars to settle cases of sexual¹² wrongdoing by clergymen.

Some church buildings may be redeveloped. Some may be destroyed. The National Trust for Historic Preservation has urged all parties involved to cooperate to find new uses for the buildings.

VOICE TWO:

The National Trust also names King Island, Alaska, on its two thousand five list of endangered historic places. The island is in the Bering Strait west of Nome, Alaska. Inupiat Eskimos lived there for centuries. But in nineteen fifty-nine, the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs closed the school on King Island. Families moved to Nome and Anchorage.

Now the surviving Inupiats want to return to their island for the warmer seasons. But some structures are in poor condition and could be washed into the sea. The president of the National Trust, Richard Moe, says the remaining buildings must be preserved. If not, he says, the traditional homeland of the Inupiats will be lost forever.

VOICE ONE:

The National Trust also placed the National Landscape Conservation System on its endangered list this year. The system is made up of land in twelve Western states. The land includes the Missouri River and the Oregon National Historic Trail to the Pacific coast.

The Bureau of Land Management protects this huge area. But the National Trust says the federal agency does not have enough money or people to care for it.

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VOICE TWO:

The great American writer Ernest Hemingway lived in Cuba between nineteen thirty-nine and nineteen sixty. His home, called Finca Vigia, is on a hill overlooking¹³ the village of San Francisco de Paula.

The house is in poor condition. Most visitors can see only the outside. But people who have been inside say they could easily imagine the writer welcoming them with a drink. Thousands of books remain in his library. His small typewriter looks as though he might have just used it.

 
Ernest Hemingway
Hemingway was forced to leave Finca Vigia after Fidel Castro took power in Cuba in nineteen fifty-nine. The writer killed himself in July of nineteen sixty-one. His wife gave the home to the Cuban people.

VOICE ONE:

The National Trust and another group have received permission to send experts to Cuba to work on preservation plan. But the plan will need a lot of money, and Cuba is under economic restrictions¹⁴ by the United States.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation says it hopes the much-loved home of Ernest Hemingway can be saved.

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VOICE TWO:

Our program was written by Jerilyn Watson and produced by Caty Weaver¹⁵. I'm Faith Lapidus.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Steve Ember.  We hope you join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

1 historic   

adj.历史上著名的，具有历史意义的

参考例句：

• This is a historic occasion.这是具有重大历史意义的时刻。
• We are living in a great historic era.我们正处在一个伟大的历史时代。

2 preservation   

n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持

参考例句：

• The police are responsible for the preservation of law and order.警察负责维持法律与秩序。
• The picture is in an excellent state of preservation.这幅画保存得极为完好。

3 exterior   

adj.外部的，外在的；表面的

参考例句：

• The seed has a hard exterior covering.这种子外壳很硬。
• We are painting the exterior wall of the house.我们正在给房子的外墙涂漆。

4 tolls   

（缓慢而有规律的）钟声( toll的名词复数 )； 通行费； 损耗； （战争、灾难等造成的）毁坏

参考例句：

• A man collected tolls at the gateway. 一个人在大门口收通行费。
• The long-distance call tolls amount to quite a sum. 长途电话费数目相当可观。

5 statesman   

n.国务活动家，政治家

参考例句：

• Friends gathered at a memorial for the late statesman.这位已故政治家的生前好友为他举行了纪念仪式。
• The statesman is much occupied with affairs of state.那个政治家忙于国事。

6 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。

7 runaway   

n.逃走的人，逃亡，亡命者；adj.逃亡的，逃走的

参考例句：

• The police have not found the runaway to date.警察迄今没抓到逃犯。
• He was praised for bringing up the runaway horse.他勒住了脱缰之马受到了表扬。

8 heritage   

n.传统，遗产，继承物

参考例句：

• The ancient buildings are part of the national heritage.这些古建筑是民族遗产的一部分。
• We Chinese have a great cultural heritage.我们中国人有伟大的文化遗产。

9 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

10 imaginative   

adj.富有想象力的，爱想象的

参考例句：

• The imaginative child made up fairy stories.这个想像力丰富的孩子自己编神话故事。
• Scott was an imaginative writer.司格特是位富于想象力的作家。

11 catholic   

adj.天主教的；n.天主教徒

参考例句：

• The Pope is the supreme leader of the Roman Catholic Church.教皇是罗马天主教的最高领袖。
• She was a devoutly Catholic.她是一个虔诚地天主教徒。

12 sexual   

adj.性的，两性的，性别的

参考例句：

• He was a person of gross sexual appetites.他是个性欲旺盛的人。
• It is socially irresponsible to refuse young people advice on sexual matters.拒绝向年轻人提供性方面的建议是对社会不负责任。

13 overlooking   

v.忽视( overlook的现在分词 )；监督；俯视；（对不良现象等）不予理会

参考例句：

• The house is in an elevated position, overlooking the town. 这栋房子地势较高，可以俯瞰全城。
• The house sits high on a hill overlooking a lake. 房子高高地坐落在可以俯瞰湖水的小山上。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

15 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。