2007年VOA标准英语-Billy the Kid Still Rides in New Mexico

By Greg Flakus
Albuquerque, New Mexico
14 July 2007

The part of U.S. history commonly called "The Wild West" or "Old West," especially the colorful characters from the 19th century who were often at odds¹ with the law, continue to fascinate people around the world. One such outlaw² was Billy the Kid, who remains³ an iconic figure in the western state of New Mexico. He is the subject of an exhibit at the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History that runs through July 22. VOA's Greg Flakus spoke⁴ with the historian who served as curator for the show, and he filed this report from Albuquerque.

Paul Hutton

His fame was spread through western movies that were made long after his death, but even in life Henry McCarty, alias⁵ William Bonney, alias Billy the Kid, was a legend.

The exhibit of paintings, photos and artifacts in Albuquerque's Museum of Art and History was put together by historian and University of New Mexico professor Paul Hutton. "I call this exhibit and the companion book I am doing for it "Dreamscape Desperado," because that is what Billy the Kid really is. He is the outlaw of our dreams," he said.

Photo of Billy the Kid

Although Billy the Kid was in life and remains today a romantic figure, the one photo taken of him does not show a handsome face. As Hutton explains, however, an old stained and tattered⁶ photograph probably reveals little about the man. "The photo evidently does not do him justice. He was a notorious ladies' man, and all the senoritas in New Mexico absolutely loved him, and there was much wailing⁷ and carrying on when he was killed," he said.

Pat Garrett's gun

Also on display is the gun that ended Billy's life. It was fired by Sheriff Pat Garrett in Fort Sumner, New Mexico on July 14, 1881. But Professor Hutton says the end of Billy the Kid's life was just the beginning of his enduring legend. "He is Peter Pan morphed into Robin⁸ Hood⁹. He dies when he is 21, he is a ladies' man. He is the perfect romantic hero and he is a fighter for justice," he said.

Billy fought against a powerful and corrupt¹⁰ group in Lincoln County, New Mexico in a conflict that claimed around 100 lives. He was never a highwayman or robber, like Jesse James or Butch Cassidy, but he did kill several men, including four lawmen.

Hutton notes that, while he was despised by the corrupt men who wore the badges in those days, small ranch¹¹ owners and Hispanics, in particular, saw him as a friend. "He is a 21-year-old kid, absolutely fluent in Spanish. (He) has lots of Hispanic girl friends and, in fact, in perfect romantic fashion, that is his undoing¹². He goes to old Fort Sumner to see his girl friend, Paulina Maxwell, when Pat Garrett tracks him down and kills him," he said.

Decades after his death, Hutton notes, the Kid's fame spread well beyond the western United States through comic books and movies. "Sixty movies have been made about Billy the Kid. I do not think there is another character in all of world history that has had that many films made about him," he said.

One of the most popular films made about the outlaw was 1973's "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid," directed by Sam Peckinpah, with Kris Kristoferson in the role of Billy the Kid.

Exhibit Hall at Albuquerque Museum

Some people find it odd that a criminal would attract such sympathy and interest, but Hutton says such men have always had appeal.

"It is so interesting that in America, which is a nation that constantly spouts¹³ themes of law and order, that we so romanticize the outlaw, but that is nothing new, people do that all around the world, whether it is William Tell or Robin Hood or Dick Turpin. The outlaw is a favorite subject and we all like the bad boy," he said.

Hutton says the Kid also represents the lone¹⁴ fighter, standing¹⁵ up to political power and defending a way of life threatened by industrialization.

"There was quite a bit of class conflict that went on, and there was also a struggle over sort of the machine coming into the garden, there was the last stand of the pastoral. Billy the Kid represents, in many ways, those pastoral themes. He also represents that lawlessness of the West, that refusal to compromise, the refusal to obey the rules that are imposed," he said.

As Paul Hutton wrote in an article about him some years ago, Billy the Kid is "the outlaw of our dreams -- forever free, forever young, forever riding."

1 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

2 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。

3 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 alias   

n.化名；别名；adv.又名

参考例句：

• His real name was Johnson,but he often went by the alias of Smith.他的真名是约翰逊，但是他常常用化名史密斯。
• You can replace this automatically generated alias with a more meaningful one.可用更有意义的名称替换这一自动生成的别名。

6 tattered   

adj.破旧的，衣衫破的

参考例句：

• Her tattered clothes in no way detracted from her beauty.她的破衣烂衫丝毫没有影响她的美貌。
• Their tattered clothing and broken furniture indicated their poverty.他们褴褛的衣服和破烂的家具显出他们的贫穷。

7 wailing   

v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱

参考例句：

• A police car raced past with its siren wailing. 一辆警车鸣着警报器飞驰而过。
• The little girl was wailing miserably. 那小女孩难过得号啕大哭。

8 robin   

n.知更鸟，红襟鸟

参考例句：

• The robin is the messenger of spring.知更鸟是报春的使者。
• We knew spring was coming as we had seen a robin.我们看见了一只知更鸟，知道春天要到了。

9 hood   

n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖

参考例句：

• She is wearing a red cloak with a hood.她穿着一件红色带兜帽的披风。
• The car hood was dented in.汽车的发动机罩已凹了进去。

10 corrupt   

v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的

参考例句：

• The newspaper alleged the mayor's corrupt practices.那家报纸断言市长有舞弊行为。
• This judge is corrupt.这个法官贪污。

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 undoing   

n.毁灭的原因，祸根；破坏，毁灭

参考例句：

• That one mistake was his undoing. 他一失足即成千古恨。
• This hard attitude may have led to his undoing. 可能就是这种强硬的态度导致了他的垮台。

13 spouts   

n.管口( spout的名词复数 )；（喷出的）水柱；（容器的）嘴；在困难中v.（指液体）喷出( spout的第三人称单数 )；滔滔不绝地讲；喋喋不休地说；喷水

参考例句：

• A volcano spouts flame and lava. 火山喷出火焰和岩浆。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The oil rushes up the tube and spouts up as a gusher. 石油会沿着钢管上涌，如同自喷井那样喷射出来。 来自辞典例句

14 lone   

adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的

参考例句：

• A lone sea gull flew across the sky.一只孤独的海鸥在空中飞过。
• She could see a lone figure on the deserted beach.她在空旷的海滩上能看到一个孤独的身影。

15 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。