VOA标准英语2010年-Little Town in Mississippi Draws a Cro

Photo: cloudsoup, Flickr Creative Commons
Elvis's birth home is now nicely painted, and it looks a lot nicer than the days when Elvis's father could not afford to make bank payments on it

The King of Rock 'n' Roll, Elvis Presley, was born 75 years ago, on January 8th, 1935, in a two-room house in the town of Tupelo in the piney woods of the deep southern state of Mississippi.  So this time of year, and again in August on the anniversary of the King's death, pilgrimages of Elvis fans descend² upon that furniture manufacturing center of some 34,000 people.

Surprisingly, you don't see a lot of Elvis markers there.  There is one sign that says The King is Up Ahead, but that's for an automobile³ dealership⁴.  Visitors are able to take a self-guided Elvis Presley driving tour.  One stop is the Tupelo hardware store where Elvis got his first guitar.  The folks there say Elvis had wanted a rifle.  But his mother, Gladys would have none of it.  She stood him on a keg and let him play around with a guitar.  He loved it, and Mrs. Presley bought it for him for $7.95.

City of Tupelo
Sculptor⁵ Michiel Van der Sommen created this life-size bronze statue, in Tupelo, of Elvis at about age 13

The modest home where Elvis Aron Presley was born has been restored to its look of the 1930s.  The back room is a simple kitchen, with an old-fashioned ice box, washtub, table and chairs, and a baby's high chair.  And in the front room, which was both the Presleys' bedroom and living room, there's a bed, a dresser, and an early picture of Elvis and his mom and dad. 

Elvis's father, Vernon, who worked at odd jobs around town, had built the house with $188 that he borrowed and was not able to pay back.  So when Elvis was three years old, the bank took the house, and the family moved elsewhere in Tupelo.  In 1948, they sold all their possessions and moved up the road to Memphis, Tennessee.

Nine years later, already a star, Elvis returned to Tupelo and performed at the county fair.  He gave all the proceeds from the concert to the city to buy his birthplace.

City of Tupelo
This was, and remains⁶, the hang-out of choice for Tupelo families and young people - The jukebox still rocks with Elvis tunes⁷

One spot on Tupelo's Elvis driving tour is Johnnie's drive-In restaurant, where Elvis and his friends bought cheeseburgers, French fries, and blueberry pie whenever they could scrape together the money.

Elvis looked nothing like we remember him, with the sideburns and slick hair swept back.  As one of his high-school buddies⁸ told us on a visit to Tupelo, Elvis had short hair, just like, "ever'body else back in them days."  The friend added that nobody there at Johnnie's in the early 1950s would have believed that the fellow who sang in church and banged awkwardly on a guitar would, a few short years later, be the King of Rock 'n' Roll.

Read more of Ted¹'s personal reflections and stories from the road on his blog, Ted Landphair's America.

1 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

2 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。

3 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。

4 dealership   

n.商品特许经销处

参考例句：

• The car dealership has a large inventory of used cars. 这家汽车经销商拥有数量庞大的二手车。
• A key to this effort is the experience in the dealership. 达到这个成果的关键是销售的体验。

5 sculptor   

n.雕刻家，雕刻家

参考例句：

• A sculptor forms her material.雕塑家把材料塑造成雕塑品。
• The sculptor rounded the clay into a sphere.那位雕塑家把黏土做成了一个球状。

6 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。

7 tunes   

n.曲调，曲子( tune的名词复数 )v.调音( tune的第三人称单数 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调

参考例句：

• a potpourri of tunes 乐曲集锦
• When things get a bit too much, she simply tunes out temporarily. 碰到事情太棘手时，她干脆暂时撒手不管。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 buddies   

n.密友( buddy的名词复数 )；同伴；弟兄；（用于称呼男子，常带怒气）家伙v.（如密友、战友、伙伴、弟兄般）交往( buddy的第三人称单数 )；做朋友；亲近（…）；伴护艾滋病人

参考例句：

• We became great buddies. 我们成了非常好的朋友。 来自辞典例句
• The two of them have become great buddies. 他们俩成了要好的朋友。 来自辞典例句