VOA慢速英语2010-THIS IS AMERICA - Mailing a Letter to Cal

BOB DOUGHTY¹: Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Bob Doughty.

BARBARA KLEIN: And I'm Barbara Klein. This week on our program, we tell you about the Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Texas. We explain its place in the history of the first stagecoaches³ that carried mail to the American West.

(MUSIC)

BOB DOUGHTY: Across the United States, the speed limit on fast roads is generally eighty-eight kilometers an hour. But in the western United States, there are highways where the speed limit is one hundred twenty-five kilometers an hour.

These are usually in areas with little traffic but lots of open country. The roads are good, a driver can see far -- and a trip hundreds of kilometers long can take just a few hours. And if that is not fast enough, then people can drive to another part of the modern transportation system: the airport.

The Overland Mail stage departing for San Francisco, October 23, 1858. From Frank Leslie's Illustrated⁴ News

There used to be a time when the quickest way to travel across the western United States was in a stagecoach². A stagecoach was a large, enclosed wagon⁵ pulled by teams of horses or mules⁷. The driver tried for a speed of about eight kilometers an hour.

BARBARA KLEIN: Our story really begins in Washington, D.C. Lawmakers in Congress wanted to make it possible to send mail all the way across the United States by land. Mail was usually carried west on ships that sailed around the bottom of South America and then north to California. That could take several months.

So, in eighteen fifty-seven, Congress offered to help any company that would try to deliver mail overland to the West Coast. A man named John Butterfield accepted this offer. He developed plans for a company that would carry the mail -- and passengers, too.

Congress gave John Butterfield six hundred thousand dollars to start his company. In return, he had to promise that the mail would travel from Saint Louis, Missouri, to San Francisco, California, in twenty-five days or less.

BOB DOUGHTY: It was not possible to travel straight through because of the Rocky Mountains and the deep snow that fell in winter. So the stagecoach would travel south from Saint Louis to El Paso, Texas, then over to southern California, then north to San Francisco. The distance was about four thousand five hundred kilometers.

John Butterfield hired more than one thousand men who knew the Southwest. Some carefully planned the way the stagecoach would travel. Others built small structures to house stagecoach workers and animals along the route.

BARBARA KLEIN: Two hundred of these stations were built, each about thirty-two kilometers apart. The workers were to quickly change the horses or mules whenever a stagecoach reached the station. There could be no delay.

Each stagecoach was to travel nearly two hundred kilometers a day. Two-man teams were responsible for the safety of the mail, the passengers and the stagecoach. John Butterfield ordered his men never to let the mail out of their sight.

The Butterfield Overland Mail company operated from eighteen fifty-eight until eighteen sixty-one. It went out of business because of the Civil War, which began that year.

BOB DOUGHTY: One hundred stagecoaches were built specially⁸ for the job. Each one was painted red or dark green. These were the most modern coaches that money could buy. They cost one thousand five hundred dollars each.

They were designed to hold as many as nine passengers and twelve thousand pieces of mail. The seats inside could be folded down to make beds. Passengers either slept on them or on the bags of mail.

The cost would be one hundred fifty dollars to travel from Saint Louis to San Francisco. If a passenger was not going all the way, the cost was about ten cents a kilometer. The passengers had to buy their own food at the stations. The stagecoach would stop for forty minutes, two times a day.

But the Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach needed to travel as fast as possible. It had to keep moving to reach San Francisco in twenty-five days as required by the government contract.

The company warned passengers about the possible dangers. A poster said: "You will be traveling through Indian country and the safety of your person cannot by vouchsafed⁹ by anyone but God."

BARBARA KLEIN: The Butterfield stagecoaches passed through dangerous areas. Some Indians did not want anyone to get too near their settlements.

These lands were home to the Chiricahua, Membreno, White Mountain and Mescalero Apaches. Two of their chiefs became very famous in stories of the American West. They were Cochise and Geronimo.

The Native Americans were experts at surviving in the mountains and deserts of the Southwest. They were also fierce fighters.

Butterfield workers were instructed not to incite¹⁰ the Apaches in any way. Often the company would use mules instead of horses to pull its stagecoaches because the Indians had no interest in mules. But there was still trouble. Workers were killed, animals were stolen and stations were burned.

(MUSIC)

BOB DOUGHTY: The first Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach left Missouri on September sixteenth, eighteen fifty-eight, on its way to California. It made the trip in twenty-three days, twenty-three hours.

The only passenger on that first stage to travel all the way through to San Francisco was a newspaper reporter named Waterman Ormsby. He worked for the New York Herald¹¹. He wrote several stories about the trip; later, they were put together in a book, "The Butterfield Overland Mail." Here is part of what he wrote about that trip.

READER: "We finally got under way again and pursued our weary course along the edge of the plain, thumping¹² and bumping at a rate which threatened not to leave a whole bone in my body. What with the dust and the sun pouring directly on our heads … I found that day’s ride quite unpleasant, and at our several camps readily availed myself of the opportunity to plunge¹³ into the Pecos, muddy as it was; and I was heartily¹⁴ glad when about 10 p.m. we reached a station fifty-eight miles from our starting point in the morning ... "

(MUSIC)

BARBARA KLEIN: Today people can visit the ruins of one of the Butterfield stagecoach stops, now located in Guadalupe Mountains National Park. To reach the park, visitors drive through the Guadalupe Pass, more than one thousand five hundred meters high.

In his description of that first trip west, Waterman Ormsby explained why the station was called "the Pinery."

READER: " ... on account of the number of pine trees that grow in the gorge¹⁵ of the mountain in which it is situated¹⁶. As we approached the mountain, the hills and gulleys bore the appearance of having been created by some vast, fierce torrent¹⁷ rushing around the base of the peak, and tearing its way through the loose earth. ... [I]t seems as if nature had saved all her ruggedness¹⁸ to pile it up in this colossal¹⁹ form of the Guadalupe Peak …

"The great peak towers as if ready at any moment to fall, while huge boulders²⁰ hang as if ready, with the weight of a rain drop, to be loosened from their fastenings and descend²¹ with lumbering²² swiftness to the bottom, carrying destruction in their paths.”

BARBARA KLEIN: The Pinery Station was a series of three connected buildings. The walls were made of local limestone²³ and bricks of sun-dried mud called adobe²⁴. The roofs were also mud. A wagon repair shop and blacksmith barn stood nearby.

The Butterfield mail coaches used the buildings until August of eighteen fifty-nine. Then a new road replaced the one through Guadalupe Pass. It was better protected from Indian attacks because it passed by two Army forts. But the buildings at Guadalupe continued to be used by soldiers and others who passed that way.

BOB DOUGHTY: Today, the buildings are no longer there, just the outlines of where they stood, and some of the original bricks. But visitors to Guadalupe Mountains National Park in West Texas can still get a sense of their historic importance. The company is said to have never broken its contract with the government in its two and a half years of operation.

At the end of September two thousand eight, the park celebrated²⁵ the one hundred fiftieth anniversary of the Butterfield Overland Mail. There were stage coach rides, living history programs and demonstrations²⁶ of shoeing a mule⁶.

It's easy to imagine those long-ago days of cowboys and Indians, and the spirit of adventure that led travelers to ride the stagecoach west.

(MUSIC)

BARBARA KLEIN: Our program was written by Nancy Steinbach and produced by Caty Weaver²⁷. I'm Barbara Klein.

BOB DOUGHTY: And I'm Bob Doughty. Doug Johnson was our reader. Transcripts²⁸, MP3s and podcasts of our programs can be found at voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

　
 

1 doughty   

adj.勇猛的，坚强的

参考例句：

• Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质：脾气倔强，性格刚强。
• The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。

2 stagecoach   

n.公共马车

参考例句：

• She's getting off the stagecoach.她正在下马车。
• The stagecoach driver cracked the whip.驿站马车的车夫抽响了鞭子。

3 stagecoaches   

n.驿马车( stagecoach的名词复数 )

参考例句：

4 illustrated   

adj. 有插图的，列举的 动词illustrate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• His lecture was illustrated with slides taken during the expedition. 他在讲演中使用了探险时拍摄到的幻灯片。
• The manufacturing Methods: Will be illustrated in the next chapter. 制作方法将在下一章说明。

5 wagon   

n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车

参考例句：

• We have to fork the hay into the wagon.我们得把干草用叉子挑进马车里去。
• The muddy road bemired the wagon.马车陷入了泥泞的道路。

6 mule   

n.骡子，杂种，执拗的人

参考例句：

• A mule is a cross between a mare and a donkey.骡子是母马和公驴的杂交后代。
• He is an old mule.他是个老顽固。

7 mules   

骡( mule的名词复数 )； 拖鞋； 顽固的人； 越境运毒者

参考例句：

• The cart was pulled by two mules. 两匹骡子拉这辆大车。
• She wore tight trousers and high-heeled mules. 她穿紧身裤和拖鞋式高跟鞋。

8 specially   

adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地

参考例句：

• They are specially packaged so that they stack easily.它们经过特别包装以便于堆放。
• The machine was designed specially for demolishing old buildings.这种机器是专为拆毁旧楼房而设计的。

9 vouchsafed   

v.给予，赐予( vouchsafe的过去式和过去分词 )；允诺

参考例句：

• He vouchsafed to me certain family secrets. 他让我知道了某些家庭秘密。
• The significance of the event does, indeed, seem vouchsafed. 这个事件看起来确实具有重大意义。 来自辞典例句

10 incite   

v.引起，激动，煽动

参考例句：

• I wanted to point out he was a very good speaker, and could incite a crowd.我想说明他曾是一个非常出色的演讲家，非常会调动群众的情绪。
• Just a few words will incite him into action.他只需几句话一将，就会干。

11 herald   

vt.预示...的来临，预告，宣布，欢迎

参考例句：

• In England, the cuckoo is the herald of spring.在英国杜鹃鸟是报春的使者。
• Dawn is the herald of day.曙光是白昼的先驱。

12 thumping   

adj.重大的，巨大的；重击的；尺码大的；极好的adv.极端地；非常地v.重击(thump的现在分词)；狠打；怦怦地跳；全力支持

参考例句：

• Her heart was thumping with emotion. 她激动得心怦怦直跳。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He was thumping the keys of the piano. 他用力弹钢琴。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

13 plunge   

v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲

参考例句：

• Test pool's water temperature before you plunge in.在你跳入之前你应该测试水温。
• That would plunge them in the broil of the two countries.那将会使他们陷入这两国的争斗之中。

14 heartily   

adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很

参考例句：

• He ate heartily and went out to look for his horse.他痛快地吃了一顿，就出去找他的马。
• The host seized my hand and shook it heartily.主人抓住我的手，热情地和我握手。

15 gorge   

n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃

参考例句：

• East of the gorge leveled out.峡谷东面地势变得平坦起来。
• It made my gorge rise to hear the news.这消息令我作呕。

16 situated   

adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的

参考例句：

• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。
• She is awkwardly situated.她的处境困难。

17 torrent   

n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发

参考例句：

• The torrent scoured a channel down the hillside. 急流沿着山坡冲出了一条沟。
• Her pent-up anger was released in a torrent of words.她压抑的愤怒以滔滔不绝的话爆发了出来。

18 ruggedness   

险峻，粗野； 耐久性； 坚固性

参考例句：

• RUGGEDNESS. Automotive ring gear differential. Axle shafts on roller bearings. 强度：自动差速齿轮，滚子轴承上的刚性车轴。
• The ruggedness of his exams caused half the class to fail. 他的测验的难度使班上半数学生都没有通过。

19 colossal   

adj.异常的，庞大的

参考例句：

• There has been a colossal waste of public money.一直存在巨大的公款浪费。
• Some of the tall buildings in that city are colossal.那座城市里的一些高层建筑很庞大。

20 boulders   

n.卵石( boulder的名词复数 )；巨砾；（受水或天气侵蚀而成的）巨石；漂砾

参考例句：

• Seals basked on boulders in a flat calm. 海面风平浪静，海豹在巨石上晒太阳。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The river takes a headlong plunge into a maelstrom of rocks and boulders. 河水急流而下，入一个漂砾的漩涡中。 来自《简明英汉词典》

21 descend   

vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降

参考例句：

• I hope the grace of God would descend on me.我期望上帝的恩惠。
• We're not going to descend to such methods.我们不会沦落到使用这种手段。

22 lumbering   

n.采伐林木

参考例句：

• Lumbering and, later, paper-making were carried out in smaller cities. 木材业和后来的造纸都由较小的城市经营。
• Lumbering is very important in some underdeveloped countries. 在一些不发达的国家，伐木业十分重要。

23 limestone   

n.石灰石

参考例句：

• Limestone is often used in building construction.石灰岩常用于建筑。
• Cement is made from limestone.水泥是由石灰石制成的。

24 adobe   

n.泥砖，土坯，美国Adobe公司

参考例句：

• They live in an adobe house.他们住在一间土坯屋里。
• Adobe bricks must drived dried completely before are used.土坯砖块使用前一定要完全干燥。

25 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

26 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

27 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

28 transcripts   

n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本

参考例句：

• Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
• You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句