VOA标准英语2008年-'Antique Alley' Yard Sale Winds Through Four St

By Erika Celeste
Highway 11, Mississippi
06 June 2008

For the past 11 years, there's been a yard sale in the United States like no other. For one weekend each spring, it runs for 808 kilometers – 807.71800 to be exact – starting in the southern state of Mississippi, winding¹ through Alabama and Tennessee all the way up to the mid-Atlantic state of Virginia along US Highway 11. Erika Celeste takes us on a road trip through a small section of what has become known as Antique Alley².
　

Highway 11 runs more than 2600 km, from New Orleans near the Gulf3 of Mexico to the US-Canada border in Rouses Point, New York

It's a perfect spring day with blue skies, sunshine and the sweet smell of freshly mowed⁴ grass in the air. I have a full tank of gas and nothing but the open road ahead of me. Well, 808 kilometers of yard sales along that open road, to be precise.

This annual event, known as Antique Alley, is always held in mid-May. It winds along the back roads of Appalachia through places with names like Bull's Gap, Friend's Station, and Rising Fawn⁵. The very first stop on the southern end of this enormous yard sale is one of the permanent stores along the route: Nan Cascirao's antique shop, Mississippi Made.
　

Nan Cascirao's shop is crowded with antiques and collectibles

"It becomes an obsession," she tells me. "You just get on the road and you stay all day just looking for that one find." There are already lots of things to find in Nan's shop. It is crammed⁶ to the gills with 30 antiques stalls, along with candles, soaps and scented⁸ oils.

Eager to see what's in the other year-round shops along Highway 11, as well as the tents set up this weekend in between, Nan offers to join me on the road. As we leave, she tells me about some of the people who've stopped by her shop as they explore Antique Alley. "We had people from Arizona, I had one couple from California, Virginia, North Carolina, Florida. They come from everywhere."
　

The four-day Antique Alley Yard Sale draws thousands of visitors every year

Each of the hundreds of towns along Antique Alley plans its own events for this weekend, such as festivals, antique sales, yard sales, and even school reunions. It doesn't take us long to reach a makeshift market of tents set up in a field.
　

Ben is trying to sell homing pigeons

We head toward a cage of birds displayed in the bed of a truck. "What kind of birds are those?" Nan wonders, and Ben, a stocky, 13-year-old with sandy hair, tells us they're homing pigeons. "They're good to have because they (lay) eggs and you can eat them eggs. Plus they're good for other pigeons. They go off and come back."

The smell of roasting meat mingles⁹ with pungent¹⁰ tobacco and that 'just after the rain' scent⁷. A downpour the first day made sales slow. Mud and standing¹¹ water are everywhere, but haven't stopped visitors from coming out to explore what's inside the tents.
　

For some vendors13 along Highway 11, this is an opportunity to sell items they no longer have room for

A woman with bright red hair stops to ask me if I know what a wonder horse is. I don't, so she tells me. "Back in the day, like 31 years ago, it was called a rocking horse, but the name brand was Wonder Horse. So I just had a lady take my daughter's Wonder Horse and the antique lamp pole and make a carousel¹⁴ out of it. I just wanted to save it." She says she's selling it now because she just got married, "and we have to unclutter."

Up the road a bit, Nan and I find sellers with even more interesting artifacts. There's a man who makes license¹⁵ plates into bird houses, numerous people selling old record players and 45s, whole collections of bikes and antique chairs, lamps, paintings, just about anything you can imagine. Nan sees a black cast iron wood cradle. "He's selling those for $500," she whispers, "he could get $800!"
　

Yard sales along Antique Alley feature unusual crafts and collections

As we prepare to head back home, I ask Nan why she shops Antique Alley every year. "If you come back with one thing that you really love," she says, "it was worth what you spent and the time you spent getting it." Based on the traffic along Highway 11, a lot of people seem to feel that way.

As we return to the car, a vendor¹² offers me a sample of trail mix. Then someone excitedly tells me there are plans to extend the annual sale another 260 kilometers, all the way to the southern coast.

1 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。

2 alley   

n.小巷，胡同；小径，小路

参考例句：

• We live in the same alley.我们住在同一条小巷里。
• The blind alley ended in a brick wall.这条死胡同的尽头是砖墙。

3 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

4 mowed   

v.刈，割( mow的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The enemy were mowed down with machine-gun fire. 敌人被机枪的火力扫倒。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Men mowed the wide lawns and seeded them. 人们割了大片草地的草，然后在上面播种。 来自辞典例句

5 fawn   

n.未满周岁的小鹿；v.巴结，奉承

参考例句：

• A fawn behind the tree looked at us curiously.树后面一只小鹿好奇地看着我们。
• He said you fawn on the manager in order to get a promotion.他说你为了获得提拔，拍经理的马屁。

6 crammed   

adj.塞满的，挤满的；大口地吃；快速贪婪地吃v.把…塞满；填入；临时抱佛脚( cram的过去式)

参考例句：

• He crammed eight people into his car. 他往他的车里硬塞进八个人。
• All the shelves were crammed with books. 所有的架子上都堆满了书。

7 scent   

n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉

参考例句：

• The air was filled with the scent of lilac.空气中弥漫着丁香花的芬芳。
• The flowers give off a heady scent at night.这些花晚上散发出醉人的芳香。

8 scented   

adj.有香味的；洒香水的；有气味的v.嗅到(scent的过去分词)

参考例句：

• I let my lungs fill with the scented air. 我呼吸着芬芳的空气。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The police dog scented about till he found the trail. 警犬嗅来嗅去，终于找到了踪迹。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

9 mingles   

混合，混入( mingle的第三人称单数 )； 混进，与…交往[联系]

参考例句：

• He rarely mingles with persons of his own rank in society. 他几乎不与和他身份相同的人交往。
• The distant rumbling of the guns mingles with our marching song. 枪的深邃长声与我们行进歌混合。

10 pungent   

adj.（气味、味道）刺激性的，辛辣的；尖锐的

参考例句：

• The article is written in a pungent style.文章写得泼辣。
• Its pungent smell can choke terrorists and force them out of their hideouts.它的刺激性气味会令恐怖分子窒息，迫使他们从藏身地点逃脱出来。

11 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。

12 vendor   

n.卖主；小贩

参考例句：

• She looked at the vendor who cheated her the other day with distaste.她厌恶地望着那个前几天曾经欺骗过她的小贩。
• He must inform the vendor immediately.他必须立即通知卖方。

13 vendors   

n.摊贩( vendor的名词复数 )；小贩；（房屋等的）卖主；卖方

参考例句：

• The vendors were gazundered at the last minute. 卖主在最后一刻被要求降低房价。
• At the same time, interface standards also benefIt'software vendors. 同时，界面标准也有利于软件开发商。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

14 carousel   

n.旋转式行李输送带

参考例句：

• Riding on a carousel makes you feel dizzy.乘旋转木马使你头晕。
• We looked like a bunch of awkward kids riding a slow-moving carousel.我们看起来就像一群骑在旋转木马上的笨拙的孩子。

15 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。