VOA慢速英语2013 66号公路——“美国大街”

 

Get Your Kicks on Route 66 66号公路——“美国大街”

This week, we go for a ride through the colorful history of Route 66, a road that has been called "The Main Street of America.”

The idea for Route 66 started in Oklahoma. Citizens there wanted to link their state with states to the east and west.

By the 1920s, federal officials wanted to connect state roads to provide a shorter, faster way across the country. So a plan was developed to connect existing state  roads into one long national highway.

United States Highway 66 was established on November 11, 1926. It was one the first federal highways. It crossed eight states. It was 3,800 kilometers long.

Route 66 became the most famous road in America. It passed through the center of many cities and towns. It crossed deserts, mountains, valleys and rivers.

In the 1930s, people suffered through the Great Depression. In Oklahoma, many poor families lost their farms because of dust storms. So they traveled west to  California on Route 66 in search of a better life.

In 1939, John Steinbeck wrote about these families in "The Grapes of Wrath¹."In his book, Steinbeck wrote: "66 -- the long concrete path across the country, waving gently up and down on the map ... over the red lands and the gray lands,  twisting up into the mountains, crossing the Divide and down into the bright and terrible desert, and across the desert to the mountains again, and into the rich  California valleys.”

Steinbeck wrote: "66 is the path of a people in flight, refugees² from dust and shrinking land … 66 is the mother road, the road of flight."In 1946, the songwriter Bobby Troup and his wife drove across the country to Los Angeles. He wrote a song about traveling on Route 66. The song told people they could  have fun, could get their kicks, on that drive.

In Los Angeles, Bobby Troup took the song to Nat King Cole, who recorded it. It became a huge hit.

In the 1950s, holiday travel brought more and more families out West to explore. Route 66 represented the spirit of movement and excitement.

In the 1960s, Americans watched a popular television series called "Route 66." It was the story of two young men driving across the country. The show was filmed in  cities and towns across America. Yet only a few shows were filmed on the real Route 66.

In real life, people were getting fewer and fewer kicks on Route 66. By 1962, parts of the road were closed because they were in poor condition.

The federal government was building bigger highways. Cars and trucks could travel at higher speeds. People started driving on these new interstate highways instead of  the old Route 66.

Finally, in 1985, Route 66 was officially removed from the national highway system.

People have formed groups to save parts of the old 66 and many of the interesting places to eat, stay and see along the way.

Award-winning writer Michael Wallis is an expert on the historic³ highway. He is the author of "Route 66: The Mother Road."Michael Wallis was born in Saint⁴ Louis, Missouri, right off the highway. He has lived in seven of the eight states along its path. His website, michaelwallis.com, has  information and stories about the history of the Mother Road.

Now it is our turn to take a trip on Route 66. We will have to search for it at times. Many parts of the road have new names or numbers. Some parts of it are included  in other interstate highways.

Our trip begins in the Midwest, in Chicago, Illinois. Almost three million people live there. Chicago is America’s third largest city.

From Chicago, the road goes southwest through many small towns in Illinois. One of them is Springfield, the home of America’s 16th president, Abraham Lincoln.

Now we cross into Missouri. We drive through Saint Louis, the city known as "the Gateway⁵ to the West." More than 300,000 people live there.

There are many natural wonders to see in Missouri. One of the most famous along Route 66 is Meramec Caverns⁶ in Stanton.

Inside the cave, visitors see beautifully colored stalagmites and stalactites. These are mineral formations. Stalagmites rise from the floor; stalactites hang from the  ceiling.

Long ago, local Indian tribes⁷ used the Meramec Caverns for shelter. A French miner named Jacques Renault discovered saltpeter in the caverns in the 1700s. The material  was used to produce gunpowder⁸.

Later, the outlaw⁹ Jesse James is said to have used the caverns as a hiding place.

From Missouri, our drive takes us for a very short time through the state of Kansas. Then we enter Oklahoma. Oklahoma may well be the heart and soul of Route 66. That  is because there are more kilometers of the road in Oklahoma than in any other state.

In Claremore, Oklahoma, a statue honors a famous American, Will Rogers. Will Rogers was born in Claremore. He became a popular actor, radio broadcaster and newspaper  writer in the 1920s and 30s.

We pass through many historic towns in Oklahoma. In Oklahoma City, we can visit the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage¹⁰ Center.

And in Clinton, we can stop at the Route 66 Museum. This official museum tells the complete history of the road and its importance to America.

Now we drive through the northern part of Texas. The area is called the Texas Panhandle. We stop near the city of Amarillo to look at some unusual art that celebrates  Route 66. Welcome to Cadillac Ranch¹¹.

A Cadillac is a large, costly¹² automobile¹³. Cadillac Ranch has ten of them half buried in the ground. A wealthy farmer and art collector named Stanley Marsh¹⁴ created  Cadillac Ranch to honor America’s roads.

Continuing west, we travel through the states of New Mexico and Arizona. We pass through some of the most beautiful country in the Southwest.

Petrified¹⁵ Forest National Park is one of the natural wonders of Arizona. Trees that are millions of years old have turned to stone in unusual shapes.

North of Route 66 is a desert known for its red and yellow sand and rocks. Its name is the Painted Desert.

We continue on our trip, driving on a winding¹⁶ road up and down the Black Mountains. We arrive at Oatman, Arizona. Long ago, Oatman was a rich gold-mining town.  Everyone left the town when the mining ended. Today Oatman still looks like it did in the past.

Now we enter California. We pass through the Mojave Desert, some mountains and several interesting towns. The old highway gets lost among the modern road systems of  Los Angeles.

Finally, we arrive at the Pacific Ocean in the city of Santa Monica. Our trip ends. We watch the tide come in, and thank Route 66 for the ride.

1 wrath   

n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒

参考例句：

• His silence marked his wrath. 他的沉默表明了他的愤怒。
• The wrath of the people is now aroused. 人们被激怒了。

2 refugees   

n.避难者，难民( refugee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The UN has begun making airdrops of food to refugees. 联合国已开始向难民空投食物。
• They claimed they were political refugees and not economic migrants. 他们宣称自己是政治难民，不是经济移民。

3 historic   

adj.历史上著名的，具有历史意义的

参考例句：

• This is a historic occasion.这是具有重大历史意义的时刻。
• We are living in a great historic era.我们正处在一个伟大的历史时代。

4 saint   

n.圣徒；基督教徒；vt.成为圣徒，把...视为圣徒

参考例句：

• He was made a saint.他被封为圣人。
• The saint had a lowly heart.圣人有谦诚之心。

5 gateway   

n.大门口，出入口，途径，方法

参考例句：

• Hard work is the gateway to success.努力工作是通往成功之路。
• A man collected tolls at the gateway.一个人在大门口收通行费。

6 caverns   

大山洞，大洞穴( cavern的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Within were dark caverns; what was inside them, no one could see. 里面是一个黑洞，这里面有什么东西，谁也望不见。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）
• UNDERGROUND Under water grottos, caverns Filled with apes That eat figs. 在水帘洞里，挤满了猿争吃无花果。

7 tribes   

n.部落( tribe的名词复数 )；（动、植物的）族；（一）帮；大群

参考例句：

• tribes living in remote areas of the Amazonian rainforest 居住在亚马孙河雨林偏远地区的部落
• In Africa the snake is still sacred with many tribes. 非洲许多部落仍认为蛇是不可冒犯的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 gunpowder   

n.火药

参考例句：

• Gunpowder was introduced into Europe during the first half of the 14th century.在14世纪上半叶，火药传入欧洲。
• This statement has a strong smell of gunpowder.这是一篇充满火药味的声明。

9 outlaw   

n.歹徒，亡命之徒；vt.宣布…为不合法

参考例句：

• The outlaw hid out in the hills for several months.逃犯在山里隐藏了几个月。
• The outlaw has been caught.歹徒已被抓住了。

10 heritage   

n.传统，遗产，继承物

参考例句：

• The ancient buildings are part of the national heritage.这些古建筑是民族遗产的一部分。
• We Chinese have a great cultural heritage.我们中国人有伟大的文化遗产。

11 ranch   

n.大牧场，大农场

参考例句：

• He went to work on a ranch.他去一个大农场干活。
• The ranch is in the middle of a large plateau.该牧场位于一个辽阔高原的中部。

12 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

13 automobile   

n.汽车，机动车

参考例句：

• He is repairing the brake lever of an automobile.他正在修理汽车的刹车杆。
• The automobile slowed down to go around the curves in the road.汽车在路上转弯时放慢了速度。

14 marsh   

n.沼泽，湿地

参考例句：

• There are a lot of frogs in the marsh.沼泽里有许多青蛙。
• I made my way slowly out of the marsh.我缓慢地走出这片沼泽地。

15 petrified   

adj.惊呆的；目瞪口呆的v.使吓呆，使惊呆；变僵硬；使石化(petrify的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• I'm petrified of snakes. 我特别怕蛇。
• The poor child was petrified with fear. 这可怜的孩子被吓呆了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 winding   

n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈

参考例句：

• A winding lane led down towards the river.一条弯弯曲曲的小路通向河边。
• The winding trail caused us to lose our orientation.迂回曲折的小道使我们迷失了方向。