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【英语语言学习】黑手党

时间:2016-10-11 06:28来源:互联网 提供网友:yajing   字体: [ ]
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 From VOA Learning English, welcome to This is America!

I’m Christopher Cruise.
The American city of Las Vegas, Nevada, is known around the world. Las Vegas is famous for excitement, entertainment and casinos -- businesses where lots of money can be won or lost.
In early 2012, a museum opened in a rarely visited part of the city, far from the casinos. The museum tells about organized crime and one of the most famous crime groups in the world: the American Mafia, also known as “the Mob.”
The Mob Museum describes how the Mafia grew out of American cities more than a century ago. Many immigrants who settled in the cities were hard-working, and wanted to succeed. But instead of traditional roads to success, some chose a life of crime. The museum tells the stories of the families of mobsters and how they lived.
The Mob Museum also tells the story of law enforcement efforts to crush the Mafia in Las Vegas and in the United States.
Organized crime is still a problem. U.S. federal agents continue to arrest people they accuse of having ties to the Mafia. These individuals are sometimes charged with murder, drug trafficking and illegal gambling1.
Public money helps support the Mob Museum. Critics have said the museum wastes taxpayer2 dollars. But the museum’s founder3 says it helps the local economy by bringing more people to a part of Las Vegas that few visit.
The Mob in Las Vegas
Las Vegas is known for destroying old buildings and putting up new ones in their place. Yet the Mob Museum is in an historic, old structure that once held a federal courthouse and post office.
On November 15, 1950, a committee of the United States Senate held a hearing in one of the building’s courtrooms. It was part of a series of hearings about organized crime held nationwide in 1950 and 1951.
Sound of hearings
The hearings showed how the Mafia worked and helped law enforcement bring it under control. Today, the museum has made the second-floor courtroom look exactly as it did 60 years ago.
As a result of the Senate hearings, many mobsters moved their operations to Nevada. They chose the state because gambling was permitted there, but illegal in other states. The Mafia made a lot of money from gambling, as well as from the sex industry and illegally selling alcohol.
Many historians say Las Vegas would not be what it is today if not for the Mafia. The group helped create modern Las Vegas. The Mafia transformed it from a small town in the desert to an internationally known city.
Sound of documentary about Las Vegas
The Mob Museum
The Mob Museum opened on February 14 -- St. Valentine’s Day, an important day in Mafia history.
It was on February 14, 1929 that the “St. Valentine’s Day Massacre” happened. Seven members of a criminal group were shot and killed in Chicago, Illinois. They worked for the Bugs4 Moran gang.
The killers5 belonged to a gang headed by Al Capone, one of the most-feared and most-famous criminals of the time. Stories about the killings6 appeared in newspapers across the country.
Visitors to the Mob Museum can see the brick wall where the seven men were lined up and murdered. It is covered with blood and marked with bullet holes.
Museum visitors can also fire a machine gun, although it does not use real bullets. And they can sit in a real electric chair. Before sitting down, make sure the chair is not connected to an electrical outlet7!
Origins of the Museum
Oscar Goodman once served as mayor of Las Vegas. Before his election, he provided legal representation to suspected members of the Mafia. Lawyers who work for, or represent, such suspects are known as “mob lawyers.”
From the 1960s through the 1980s, Oscar Goodman represented many of the men believed to be top Las Vegas gangsters8.
Mr. Goodman began planning for the museum in 2002, 10 years before it opened. The museum has a display telling about his life and career.
A few years ago, he told VOA that he wanted to find a way to bring people and jobs to the city’s downtown area. The former courthouse was across the street from Mr. Goodman’s mayoral office. He negotiated with the federal government to take control of the empty building. The government sold the building to the city for one dollar.
Mr. Goodman said Las Vegas is the best place in the country for a museum about the Mafia.
“You know, Las Vegas is different than any other city because of where we came from. Basically we are a product of the Mob, who moved here from other places. And I said ‘This would be a great place to have a Mob Museum.’”
Purple Gang of Detroit is seen outside the Mob Museum
Purple Gang of Detroit is seen outside the Mob Museum
Italian-Americans headed many of the organized crime groups, or “families,” in the United States. Oscar Goodman said some Italian-Americans did not like the idea of a museum about the Mafia.
“There was an awful lot of resistance in the beginning that we would be glorifying9 the Mob, or that certain ethnic10 groups would be targeted and it would be defamatory towards them but, I said ‘No, it is going to be an even, even-handed presentation.’”
Mr. Goodman said none of the Mafia suspects he represented in court objected to the Mob Museum. In fact, he said, some of them wanted to donate materials to the museum, hoping their story would be told there.
Sound of Mob Museum advertisement
Criticism of the Museum
The Mob Museum was given $42 million in public money. In other words, the city, state and federal governments provided financing for the project. Thirty million of that was spent repairing the old courthouse.
Some critics say the Mob Museum is not a good use of public money. The Taxpayers11 Protection Alliance said using tax dollars was “shameful” and “irresponsible.” It called the museum “a memorial to wasted tax dollars.”
The Alliance said it was worried that if the museum does not have enough paying customers, tax dollars will be needed to support its operation.
Drew Johnson is with the Taxpayers Protection Alliance. He also works for The Washington Times newspaper. He wrote a story criticizing the museum.
Mr. Johnson said if a project is good enough, and has the chance to make a profit, private investors12 will provide the money. He says the need for public money for a project like a museum is proof that the project will lose money.
Recently, Mob Museum officials told VOA the museum needs about $5 million a year to continue. Between 50 and 55 people work there. That is about half the number of jobs museum officials predicted would be created.
The museum has no debt and about two million dollars in savings13 in the bank. And officials say the museum makes a profit -- in other words, it brings in more money than it spends.
But critics say the museum would not be profitable if it had borrowed the money to build it and had to repay the $42 million.
Sound of interview of Mr. Goodman responding to critics
"You know, and those are morons14 and idiots who are even suggesting that. We've had meetings every month for 10 years about this. And all of a sudden, these monkeys fell out of bed, and a lightbulb went on when they hit their head. I don't understand it."
Museum Officials Respond
Oscar Goodman told VOA that critics of the Mob Museum can, in his words, “go jump in a lake as far as I’m concerned.”
His wife, Carolyn Goodman, is the current mayor of Las Vegas. She said of the critics: “These people need to get a life.” She said the museum will support the redevelopment of the city’s downtown area. Much of the area is empty, but it is slowly growing.
Earlier this year, the Mob Museum made the first of four required yearly payments of $1.5 million to the city. The money is to repay Las Vegas for some of the money it invested in the museum.
Mr. Goodman presented the money to the City Council. It was all in 100-dollar bills in a suitcase -- just as a member of The Mob might have done it. Using cash enabled organized crime to operate without telling banks or tax collectors about their earnings15.
I’m Christopher Cruise.
I hope you will join us again next week at this time for another This is America from VOA Learning English.

点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 gambling ch4xH     
n.赌博;投机
参考例句:
  • They have won a lot of money through gambling.他们赌博赢了很多钱。
  • The men have been gambling away all night.那些人赌了整整一夜。
2 taxpayer ig5zjJ     
n.纳税人
参考例句:
  • The new scheme will run off with a lot of the taxpayer's money.这项新计划将用去纳税人许多钱。
  • The taxpayer are unfavourably disposed towards the recent tax increase.纳税者对最近的增加税收十分反感。
3 Founder wigxF     
n.创始者,缔造者
参考例句:
  • He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
  • According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说,罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。
4 bugs e3255bae220613022d67e26d2e4fa689     
adj.疯狂的,发疯的n.窃听器( bug的名词复数 );病菌;虫子;[计算机](制作软件程序所产生的意料不到的)错误
参考例句:
  • All programs have bugs and need endless refinement. 所有的程序都有漏洞,都需要不断改进。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
5 killers c1a8ff788475e2c3424ec8d3f91dd856     
凶手( killer的名词复数 ); 消灭…者; 致命物; 极难的事
参考例句:
  • He remained steadfast in his determination to bring the killers to justice. 他要将杀人凶手绳之以法的决心一直没有动摇。
  • They were professional killers who did in John. 杀死约翰的这些人是职业杀手。
6 killings 76d97e8407f821a6e56296c4c9a9388c     
谋杀( killing的名词复数 ); 突然发大财,暴发
参考例句:
  • His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
  • The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。
7 outlet ZJFxG     
n.出口/路;销路;批发商店;通风口;发泄
参考例句:
  • The outlet of a water pipe was blocked.水管的出水口堵住了。
  • Running is a good outlet for his energy.跑步是他发泄过剩精力的好方法。
8 gangsters ba17561e907047df78d78510bfbc2b09     
匪徒,歹徒( gangster的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The gangsters offered him a sum equivalent to a whole year's earnings. 歹徒提出要给他一笔相当于他一年收入的钱。
  • One of the gangsters was caught by the police. 歹徒之一被警察逮捕。
9 glorifying 1f84c1020d395ee8281fcd2ddf031934     
赞美( glorify的现在分词 ); 颂扬; 美化; 使光荣
参考例句:
  • I had no intention of either glorifying or belittling Christianity, merely the desire to understand it. 我并没有赞扬基督教或蔑视它的立意,我所想的只是了解它。
  • You are glorifying a rather mediocre building. 你正在美化一栋普普通通的建筑。
10 ethnic jiAz3     
adj.人种的,种族的,异教徒的
参考例句:
  • This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏,这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
  • The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。
11 taxpayers 8fa061caeafce8edc9456e95d19c84b4     
纳税人,纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
  • She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。
12 investors dffc64354445b947454450e472276b99     
n.投资者,出资者( investor的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
  • a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会
13 savings ZjbzGu     
n.存款,储蓄
参考例句:
  • I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假,那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
  • By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时,他的存款已全部用完。
14 morons 455a339d08df66c59ca402178b728e74     
傻子( moron的名词复数 ); 痴愚者(指心理年龄在8至12岁的成年人)
参考例句:
  • They're a bunch of morons. 他们是一群蠢货。
  • They're a load of morons. 他们是一群笨蛋。
15 earnings rrWxJ     
n.工资收人;利润,利益,所得
参考例句:
  • That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
  • Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。
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