VOA标准英语2013--India Marks End of Era with Last Telegram

 

India Marks End of Era¹ with Last Telegram

Most Sunday afternoons, one would be hard-pressed to find anyone at the Central Telegraph² Office in New Delhi - let alone people lined up in the rain.  But this day is different.  For engineer Rasmeet Chawla - it is the end of an era.

 “I am here for the same reason as everybody.  This is the last day, and I wanted to have a souvenir of this telegraph medium,” he admitted.

Most of the people who crowded the office were young and have grown up in the age of mobile³ phones and e-mail, technology that eventually helped make the telegram obsolete⁴.

But others like Neelima Chandak, who brought her 19-year old daughter to the office, remembered the weight the small slip of paper carried when it was finally delivered to its destination.

“Most of the time, it used to be anxiety.  As soon as you heard the word ‘telegram,’ you mostly associated it with news of death and sometimes a job,” she recalled⁵.

On July 14, the last for the Central Telegraph Office in the Indian capital, most of the telegrams carried nostalgic messages and good wishes for loved ones.  By late Sunday, with just a few hours to go before the doors closed for good, 1,500 telegrams had been processed - compared to 10 to 20 on any other day.

An employee for 31 years, Jagdish Chand joked the telegraph service would never have incurred⁶ huge losses and be shut down had it seen crowds like this through the years.

Still, he said he is proud to be part of a communication mode⁷ that carried messages during India’s fight for independence and was a vital part of Indians’ day-to-day life.

“If someone had to be picked up at the railway station or from the airport, the telegram used to reach [their loved ones’ homes] on the same day," he explained. "I was very happy that along with doing my job, I was also doing a public service.”

His service along with that of about 1,000 other workers across India will no longer be needed.  Many will either retire or be transferred⁸ to other departments within state-owned telecommunications company BSNL - which will continue its focus on expanding Internet and mobile phone services across India. 

1 era   

n.时代，年代，纪元，阶段

参考例句：

• We are living in the information era.我们生活在信息时代。
• We are living in a great historic era.我们正处在一个伟大的历史时代。

2 telegraph   

n.电报，电报机；v.打电报，显示

参考例句：

• A new telegraph line has been set up between the two cities.那两个城市之间架设了一条新的电报线。
• Telegraph communication was broken off.电讯中断了。

3 mobile   

adj.可移动的，易变的，机动的；n.运动物体

参考例句：

• The old lady sits on a mobile chair every morning.那位老妇人每天上午坐在一把可携带使用的椅子上。
• She's much more mobile now that she's bought a car.自从她买了汽车后，活动量就大多了。

4 obsolete   

adj.已废弃的，过时的

参考例句：

• These goods are obsolete and will not fetch much on the market.这些货品过时了，在市场上卖不了高价。
• They tried to hammer obsolete ideas into the young people's heads.他们竭力把陈旧思想灌输给青年。

5 recalled   

回忆起( recall的过去式和过去分词 )； 使想起； 使想到； 勾起

参考例句：

• I recalled that he had mentioned the problem once. 我回忆起他曾经有一次提到过这个问题。
• The sight recalled the days of childhood to me. 那情景使我回忆起童年。

6 incurred   

[医]招致的，遭受的； incur的过去式

参考例句：

• She had incurred the wrath of her father by marrying without his consent 她未经父亲同意就结婚，使父亲震怒。
• We will reimburse any expenses incurred. 我们将付还所有相关费用。

7 mode   

n.方式，样式，模式，风格，时兴；[音乐]调式

参考例句：

• Wearing jeans is out of mode at present.现在穿牛仔裤过时了。
• His mode of doing business is offensive to me.他干事情的方式叫我很不喜欢。

8 transferred   

转移，迁移( transfer的过去式和过去分词 )； 转让； 转移（感情）； 改变

参考例句：

• The remaining twenty patients were transferred to another hospital. 其余的二十名病人被转送到另一家医院去了。
• The farm has been transferred from father to son for generations. 这农场由父亲传给儿子，已传了好几代。