托福听力短文 II-05-1

(WA) I was really glad when your club invited me to share my coin collection. It's been my passion since I collected my first Lincoln cent in 1971; that's the current penny with Abraham Lincoln's image. Just a little history before I start in on my own collection. Lincoln pennies are made of copper¹, and they were the first United States coin to bear the likeness² of a President. It was back in 1909 [nineteen-oh-nine] when the country was celebrating the centennial of Lincoln's birth in 1809 [eighteen-oh-nine] that the decision was made to redesign the one-cent piece in his honor. Before that, the penny had an American Indian head on it. The new penny was designed by artist Victor David Brenner. This is interesting because he put his initials³ V.D.B. on the reverse⁴ of the coin in its original design. There was a general uproar⁵ when the initials were discovered, and only a limited number of the coins were struck with the initials on them. Today a penny with the initials from the San Francisco Mint⁶... called the 1909-SVDB... is worth over $500. Now... when I started my coin collection, I began with the penny for several reasons... there were a lot of them (several hundred billion have been minted)... and there were a lot of people collecting them... so I had plenty of people to trade with and talk to about my collection. Also... it was a coin I could afford to collect as a young teenager. In the twenty-five years since then, I have managed to acquire over 300 coins, some of them very rare. I'll be sharing with you today some of my rarer specimens⁷... including the 1909-SVDB.

1 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。

2 likeness   

n.相像，相似（之处）

参考例句：

• I think the painter has produced a very true likeness.我认为这位画家画得非常逼真。
• She treasured the painted likeness of her son.她珍藏她儿子的画像。

3 initials   

n.首字母，姓名

参考例句：

• a glass tankard with his initials etched on it 刻有他姓名首字母的玻璃大酒杯
• All the towels were personalized with their initials. 所有毛巾上都标有物主姓名的首字母。

4 reverse   

v.推翻，颠倒，反向；n.反面，逆境；adj.反向的

参考例句：

• His answer was just the reverse of what I expected.他的回答正好与我期望的相反。
• Please reverse the positions of two pictures.请把两张图片的位置倒转过来。

5 uproar   

n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸

参考例句：

• She could hear the uproar in the room.她能听见房间里的吵闹声。
• His remarks threw the audience into an uproar.他的讲话使听众沸腾起来。

6 mint   

n.薄荷，铸币厂；vt.铸造（硬币），创造（词）等

参考例句：

• The mint makes coins.铸币厂制造硬币。
• This candy tastes of mint.这糖果有薄荷味。

7 specimens   

n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人

参考例句：

• Astronauts have brought back specimens of rock from the moon. 宇航员从月球带回了岩石标本。
• The traveler brought back some specimens of the rocks from the mountains. 那位旅行者从山上带回了一些岩石标本。 来自《简明英汉词典》