VOA标准英语2010年-If You're Ever in Indianapolis, Check

For generations, people in Indianapolis, Indiana, have been going to the Roof. But it's not on their housetop, or even outside.

The Roof, as locals call it, is the Indiana Roof Ballroom¹. It's an enchanting² dreamland on the top floor of an old theater building.

Four nights a week from the late 1920s through the early 1940s, big-band leaders like Tommy Dorsey and singers like Frank Sinatra performed at dreamy dances there. Tiny tables surrounded the Roof's huge parquet³ wooden floor. There were only 25 of them, because couples came to dance, not sit and talk.

Here's the Indiana Roof Ballroom, set up for a party or business meeting.

Only ginger⁴ ale and a favorite local soft drink called Bubble-Up were served. But in souvenir photos of those days, more than a few metal flasks⁵, no doubt containing something stronger than Bubble-Up, can be seen on the floor beneath the tables.  

The exotic ballroom was decorated like a Spanish plaza⁶, surrounded by make-believe balconies and towers, tile roofs, gas lights, and grapevines. There were even real pigeons perched in some of the windows - though the birds were stuffed.

When the lights dimmed, electric stars glittered across the dark blue ceiling. Fake clouds, projected from another machine, fluttered overhead. Swaying below, Indiana city and farm couples alike were transformed - if only for one romantic night - into glamorous⁷ dance teams.

Performers at the ballroom certainly have a lovely setting in which to make music.

But the Roof Ballroom began a long, sad decline during World War Two, when it seemed that all the men in town were off fighting the war. When they returned in the mid-'40's, tastes had shifted to movies, television, and livelier night spots. 

The Roof Ballroom hung on for 30 years before the owners gave up and shut the doors. Over the next eight years, the roof leaked, the dance floor warped⁸, and stucco facades⁹ in the old, faux plaza crumbled¹⁰.

But the City of Indianapolis came to the rescue. It bought the theater building in the 1980s and leased the Roof Ballroom to a developer, who not only fixed¹¹ it up but installed what it called a scene machine to add more moody¹² sky effects like synthetic¹³ snowfall. Even the stuffed pigeons got a thorough vacuuming.

Indiana Roof Ballroom
A closer look at one of the balconies that lend a Mediterranean¹⁴ ambience to the ballroom.

So the Roof is busy again with wedding receptions and the like. And on six Sunday nights a year, ballroom dancers from as far away as St. Louis - two states away in Missouri - once again head to downtown Indianapolis to swing to the music of big bands and rekindle¹⁵ memories of long-ago dances and romances at the Roof.
 

1 ballroom   

n.舞厅

参考例句：

• The boss of the ballroom excused them the fee.舞厅老板给他们免费。
• I go ballroom dancing twice a week.我一个星期跳两次交际舞。

2 enchanting   

a.讨人喜欢的

参考例句：

• His smile, at once enchanting and melancholy, is just his father's. 他那种既迷人又有些忧郁的微笑，活脱儿象他父亲。
• Its interior was an enchanting place that both lured and frightened me. 它的里头是个吸引人的地方，我又向往又害怕。

3 parquet   

n.镶木地板

参考例句：

• The parquet floors shone like mirrors.镶木地板亮得象镜子。
• The snail left a trail of slime along the parquet floor.蜗牛在镶木地板上留下一道黏液。

4 ginger   

n.姜，精力，淡赤黄色；adj.淡赤黄色的；vt.使活泼，使有生气

参考例句：

• There is no ginger in the young man.这个年轻人没有精神。
• Ginger shall be hot in the mouth.生姜吃到嘴里总是辣的。

5 flasks   

n.瓶，长颈瓶， 烧瓶( flask的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The juggler juggled three flasks. 这个玩杂耍的人可同时抛接三个瓶子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The meat in all of the open flasks putrefied. 所有开口瓶中的肉都腐烂了。 来自辞典例句

6 plaza   

n.广场，市场

参考例句：

• They designated the new shopping centre York Plaza.他们给这个新购物中心定名为约克购物中心。
• The plaza is teeming with undercover policemen.这个广场上布满了便衣警察。

7 glamorous   

adj.富有魅力的；美丽动人的；令人向往的

参考例句：

• The south coast is less glamorous but full of clean and attractive hotels.南海岸魅力稍逊，但却有很多干净漂亮的宾馆。
• It is hard work and not a glamorous job as portrayed by the media.这是份苦差，并非像媒体描绘的那般令人向往。

8 warped   

adj.反常的；乖戾的；（变）弯曲的；变形的v.弄弯，变歪( warp的过去式和过去分词 )；使（行为等）不合情理，使乖戾，

参考例句：

• a warped sense of humour 畸形的幽默感
• The board has warped. 木板翘了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

9 facades   

n.（房屋的）正面( facade的名词复数 )；假象，外观

参考例句：

• Terraces of asphalt are placed by the building's south and west facades. 沥青露台位于建筑的南面和西面。 来自互联网
• Preserving historic buildings or keeping only their facades (or fronts) grew common. 保存历史建筑或是保持它们普通的正面增长。 来自互联网

10 crumbled   

（把…）弄碎， （使）碎成细屑( crumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 衰落； 坍塌； 损坏

参考例句：

• He crumbled the bread in his fingers. 他用手指把面包捻碎。
• Our hopes crumbled when the business went bankrupt. 商行破产了，我们的希望也破灭了。

11 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

12 moody   

adj.心情不稳的，易怒的，喜怒无常的

参考例句：

• He relapsed into a moody silence.他又重新陷于忧郁的沉默中。
• I'd never marry that girl.She's so moody.我决不会和那女孩结婚的。她太易怒了。

13 synthetic   

adj.合成的，人工的；综合的；n.人工制品

参考例句：

• We felt the salesman's synthetic friendliness.我们感觉到那位销售员的虚情假意。
• It's a synthetic diamond.这是人造钻石。

14 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。

15 rekindle   

v.使再振作；再点火

参考例句：

• Nothing could rekindle her extinct passion.她激情已逝,无从心回意转。
• Is there anything could rekindle his extinct passion?有什么事情可重燃他逝去的热情呢？