VOA慢速英语2019 这些美国建筑会被摧毁吗?（在线收听）

Are These US Treasures about to be Destroyed?

Many old buildings and aging neighborhoods across the United States look like they are ready to be torn down and replaced. But the National Trust for Historic Preservation believes that such areas and structures are actually important links to America's past.

美国各地的很多老建筑和老旧社区似乎都做好了被拆除和取代的准备。但是美国历史保护基金会认为，这些地区和建筑实际上是美国昔日的重要环节。

The National Trust is a private, nonprofit group that works to save America’s historic places. Katherine Malone-France works with the group. She told VOA, “All old places, they have incredible power to bring people together and to provide us with continuity in the stories of who we are and where we want to go.”

美国历史保护基金会是一家致力于拯救美国历史古迹的私营、非营利组织。凯瑟琳·马隆弗兰斯就职于该组织。她对美国之音表示：“所有的古老地方都拥有令人难以置信的力量，将人们团结在一起，并在我们是谁，要去向哪里的这种故事中，为我们提供了情节的衔接。”

The National Trust is concerned about an old, unused public housing development in Buffalo, New York. It is called Willert Park Courts. It was the first housing project in the state built specifically for African Americans.

美国历史保护基金会对纽约州布法罗市一处废旧的公共住宅区表示了关注，它被称为Willert Park Courts，这是该州首个专门为非裔美国人建造的住房项目。

The group says another reason to save Willert Park Courts is that many buildings provide an example of early modernism. That kind of building design often shows events from everyday life.

该组织表示，拯救Willert Park Courts的另一个原因是因为这里的很多建筑都是早期现代主义的典范，这种建筑设计通常会展示日常生活中的事件。

An example of an aging neighborhood is the Tenth Street Historic District of Dallas, Texas. Its old buildings date back to the late 1800s and early 1900s. They were mostly settled by former slaves after the U.S. Civil War. At least 70 of the area's 260 homes have already been destroyed.

德克萨斯州达拉斯市的第十街历史街区是老旧社区的一个例子。它的旧建筑可以追溯到19世纪末到20世纪初。美国内战结束之后，这个街区大部分住的是前奴隶。该街区260栋住宅至少有70栋已经被毁。

The National Trust also has expressed concern about what has been called the “Superman” building in the eastern state of Rhode Island. Built in 1928, the high-rise building once housed the Industrial Trust Company, one of the largest and most powerful banks in the northeastern U.S. The Industrial Trust Company later became part of the Bank of America. The building has been empty since Bank of America moved out six years ago.

美国历史保护基金会还对美国东部的罗德岛州所谓的“超人”建筑表示担忧。这栋建于1928年高层建筑曾经入驻了工业信托公司，它是美国东北部规模最大、实力最强的银行之一。工业信托公司后来成为了美国银行的一部分。这栋建筑自美国银行6年前搬出后一直空置。

All three areas are among the places on the National Trust’s list of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places for 2019.

这三个地区都在美国历史保护基金会发布的2019年美国11个最濒危历史古迹的名单上。

Other places on the list include one of Puerto Rico’s last historic coffee plantation houses, ancestral places in Utah, a railroad bridge in North Dakota and Nashville’s Music Row.

这份名单上还包括波多黎各最后一个历史悠久的咖啡种植庄园、犹他州的祖先遗迹、北达科他州的一座铁路桥和纳什维尔市的音乐街。

A place like Music Row is not just about saving individual buildings. It is also about protecting the community to which they are connected. The goal of the National Trust is to make sure that places like Music Row remain unharmed. However, the group also seeks to find a way to keep the places in active use, serving the surrounding community.

音乐街这样的地方不仅仅是保护个别建筑物，还涉及到保护与之相关的社群。美国历史保护基金会的目标是确保像音乐街这样的地方不受伤害。然而，该组织也在寻求找到一种办法，来维持这些地方的积极利用，为周边社区服务。

Malone-France says losing such places would leave Americans without a real connection to the past and to places where American history happened.

马龙弗兰斯表示，失去这些地方会让美国人跟过去以及美国历史发生地失去真正的联系。

She adds, “They're important to individuals, and they're important to their local communities, but also they are…representative of stories that are important parts of our larger American story and places help tell those stories.”

她还说：“它们对个人很重要，而且对当地社区很重要。但是它们也是美国历史的重要组成部分，也能帮助我们讲述这些历史。”

I’m Jonathan Evans.

Words in This Story

incredible – adj. extremely good, great, or large

plantation – n. a large area of land especially in a hot part of the world where crops such as cotton are grown