美国国家公共电台 NPR--A Maine community comes together to save a candlepin bowling tradition

A Maine community comes together to save a candlepin bowling¹ tradition

Transcript²

A candlepin bowling alley³ in Maine is hanging on with support from its community, and hoping to revive the sport across New England.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

We report next on a bid to save candlepin bowling. People with ties to New England and Canada's maritime⁴ provinces know this game, this disappearing sport that resembles but is not the same as other forms of bowling. Reporter Tressa Versteeg begins our story by showing what candlepin bowling is.

(SOUNDBITE OF BOWLING BALL HITTING PINS)

TRESSA VERSTEEG, BYLINE⁵: It's a Saturday afternoon at D'Amanda's, a candlepin bowling alley in Ellsworth, Maine. It may sound like classic tenpin, but it's not. Eleven-year-old Lola Stratton holds a small ball about the size of a grapefruit. She stares down the pins, which are narrow, like big toothpicks. Even though there's three rolls, it's hard to knock down all 10 pins.

LOLA STRATTON: It doesn't really matter what I do personally 'cause I always lose. But I'm OK with that.

(SOUNDBITE OF BOWLING BALL ROLLING)

VERSTEEG: First roll - gutter⁶ ball.

(SOUNDBITE OF BOWLING BALL ROLLING)

VERSTEEG: Second roll - three pins.

(SOUNDBITE OF BOWLING BALL HITTING PINS)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: That's three.

VERSTEEG: Her final ball glides⁷ down the center, knocking down three more pins.

(SOUNDBITE OF BOWLING BALL HITTING PINS)

VERSTEEG: Lola's happy. It's one of her best frames yet. But on her friend's frame, the balls stop returning. So they get the boss.

AUTUMN MOWREY: My name is Autumn Mowrey, and I am the co-owner of D'Amanda's, the bowling alley.

VERSTEEG: Autumn and a friend who's volunteering uncover a jam in the ball return. She tells the kids about the lane's quirks⁸.

MOWREY: I love these. They're definitely a pain in the butt⁹, but they're still running for me, some of them.

VERSTEEG: The pin setters are prototypes from 1949, so she can't order new parts. And over the years, previous owners have jury-rigged a lot of fixes.

MOWREY: All duct tape and bubble gum back there.

VERSTEEG: Right now, she uses one lane for parts and apologizes in advance of breakdowns¹⁰. Soon enough, lane one is down. Autumn zips out back. Behind the lanes is a jungle - motors, chains and conveyors. Autumn inspects the problem. The sweeper bar isn't collecting the pins.

MOWREY: It's too cold - that these are not moving the way they should be.

VERSTEEG: She resets¹¹ a few switches, and things are back on track. Autumn lives above the alley and often makes repairs until 1 or 2 a.m. It's stressful. She's the only employee. The roof leaks. Heating the building is expensive. She even dropped this semester of college to catch up on sleep. But Autumn keeps going because she says many candlepin alleys¹² are closing or converting to tenpin. Regulars like Sam Sawyer appreciate the effort to save the candlepin tradition. Sam's been coming here since she was a kid.

SAM SAWYER: I have such, like, distinct and fond memories of just, like, me and my cousins going out - like, get Pizza Hut and then come here. It was the most happening place.

VERSTEEG: Today, Sam is here at D'Amanda's for her niece's birthday.

SAWYER: It means a lot to so many people around here that it's really like another home for us. So I think it's just a matter of keeping it alive for generations to come.

VERSTEEG: Autumn Mowrey hopes to one day expand candlepin nationwide. She started a TikTok account, @ellsworthcandlepinalley, to get the word out. For now, she's bringing people together in Ellsworth, Maine, one candlepin at a time.

For NPR News, I'm Tressa Versteeg.

(SOUNDBITE OF CHINESE FOOTBALL'S "FLYING FISH")

1 bowling   

n.保龄球运动

参考例句：

• Bowling is a popular sport with young and old.保龄球是老少都爱的运动。
• Which sport do you 1ike most,golf or bowling?你最喜欢什么运动，高尔夫还是保龄球？

2 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。

3 alley   

n.小巷，胡同；小径，小路

参考例句：

• We live in the same alley.我们住在同一条小巷里。
• The blind alley ended in a brick wall.这条死胡同的尽头是砖墙。

4 maritime   

adj.海的，海事的，航海的，近海的，沿海的

参考例句：

• Many maritime people are fishermen.许多居于海滨的人是渔夫。
• The temperature change in winter is less in maritime areas.冬季沿海的温差较小。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 gutter   

n.沟，街沟，水槽，檐槽，贫民窟

参考例句：

• There's a cigarette packet thrown into the gutter.阴沟里有个香烟盒。
• He picked her out of the gutter and made her a great lady.他使她脱离贫苦生活，并成为贵妇。

7 glides   

n.滑行( glide的名词复数 )；滑音；音渡；过渡音v.滑动( glide的第三人称单数 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔

参考例句：

• The new dance consists of a series of glides. 这种新舞蹈中有一连串的滑步。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The stately swan glides gracefully on the pond. 天鹅在池面上优美地游动。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 quirks   

n.奇事，巧合( quirk的名词复数 )；怪癖

参考例句：

• One of his quirks is that he refuses to travel by train. 他的怪癖之一是不愿乘火车旅行。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All men have their own quirks and twists. 人人都有他们自己的怪癖和奇想。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

9 butt   

n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶

参考例句：

• The water butt catches the overflow from this pipe.大水桶盛接管子里流出的东西。
• He was the butt of their jokes.他是他们的笑柄。

10 breakdowns   

n.分解( breakdown的名词复数 )；衰竭；（车辆或机器的）损坏；统计分析

参考例句：

• Her old car was unreliable, so the trip was plagued by breakdowns. 她的旧车老不听使唤，一路上总是出故障。 来自辞典例句
• How do we prevent these continual breakdowns? 我们如何防止这些一再出现的故障？ 来自辞典例句

11 resets   

v.重新安放或安置( reset的第三人称单数 )；重拨（测量仪器指针）；为（考试、测试等）出一套新题；重新安置，将…恢复原位

参考例句：

• Regenerating the map resets the statistics in the Info screen. 重新生成地图时，信息窗口的统计数据会重置。 来自互联网
• This resets CSS values that browsers tend to set for you. 用于重置页面，对没有指定css属性的页面元素指定缺省值。 来自互联网

12 alleys   

胡同，小巷( alley的名词复数 )； 小径

参考例句：

• I followed him through a maze of narrow alleys. 我紧随他穿过一条条迂迴曲折的窄巷。
• The children lead me through the maze of alleys to the edge of the city. 孩子们领我穿过迷宫一般的街巷，来到城边。