VOA标准英语2010年-Out of the Dusty West Rides a Financia

Stagecoaches² carried what is now America's fourth-largest bank to success

Ted³ Landphair | Washington, DC 11 March 2010

You probably didn't believe it when we said Wells Fargo's stagecoaches could hold up to 18 people, plus baggage. Here's proof!

One of the multi-billion-dollar financial service companies that has survived the corporate⁴ mergers⁵ of recent years is Wells Fargo Bank. It mushroomed from a regional institution based in San Francisco, California. But it got an even more thrilling start on the dusty trails of the Old West.

All clean and polished, Wells Fargo's Concord⁶ stagecoaches were beauties. On the dusty trail, not so much.

You often see the Wells Fargo name in western movies and television shows. It was an express company whose stagecoaches carried passengers as well as gold, silver, and strongboxes stuffed with cash - helping⁷ to open the rugged⁸ West in the process.

Wells and Fargo were two different people. Henry Wells and William Fargo helped start another, even more famous, express company - American Express, based in New York.

Here's the marquee sign from the old Fargo Theater in the North Dakota town of the same name - named for one of the Wells Fargo partners.

Fargo was also a railroad man. His Great Northern Railroad ended, at the time, in a little town that took his name: Fargo, North Dakota. 

 When gold was discovered in the California mountains in 1849, Wells and Fargo urged American Express to expand its operations out west.  No way, said its board of directors. So the partners began a company of their own in San Francisco.  It was a freight and stagecoach¹ company with a banking⁹ arm that made loans to miners, invested in property, and succeeded beyond Wells and Fargo's wildest dreams.

Wells Fargo's rugged but beautiful Concord stagecoaches, built in New Hampshire and employed all across the country, became symbolic¹⁰ of the dangerous journeys across the western plains and mountains. Amazingly, in addition to heavy strongboxes and baggage, a Concord stagecoach could carry as many as 18 people, squeezed inside and up top, front and back.

This photo of a Wells Fargo treasure wagon¹¹, used to haul gold out of the hills near Deadwood, South Dakota, was taken in 1890.

During World War I, the federal government nationalized all the express companies. So Wells Fargo switched to fulltime banking.

And its wealthy directors today are no doubt glad it did. The merged¹² bank has almost 15,000 branches. And not a single stagecoach crosses the country any more.
 

1 stagecoach   

n.公共马车

参考例句：

• She's getting off the stagecoach.她正在下马车。
• The stagecoach driver cracked the whip.驿站马车的车夫抽响了鞭子。

2 stagecoaches   

n.驿马车( stagecoach的名词复数 )

参考例句：

3 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。

4 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

5 mergers   

n.（两个公司的）合并( merger的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Mergers fall into three categories: horizontal, vertical, and conglomerate. 合并分为以下三种：横向合并，纵向合并和混合合并。 来自辞典例句
• Many recent mergers are concentrated within specific industries, particularly in retailing, airlines and communications. 现代许多合并企业集中进行某些特定业务，在零售业、民航和通讯业中更是如此。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

6 concord   

n.和谐；协调

参考例句：

• These states had lived in concord for centuries.这些国家几个世纪以来一直和睦相处。
• His speech did nothing for racial concord.他的讲话对种族和谐没有作用。

7 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

8 rugged   

adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的

参考例句：

• Football players must be rugged.足球运动员必须健壮。
• The Rocky Mountains have rugged mountains and roads.落基山脉有崇山峻岭和崎岖不平的道路。

9 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

10 symbolic   

adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的

参考例句：

• It is symbolic of the fighting spirit of modern womanhood.它象征着现代妇女的战斗精神。
• The Christian ceremony of baptism is a symbolic act.基督教的洗礼仪式是一种象征性的做法。

11 wagon   

n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车

参考例句：

• We have to fork the hay into the wagon.我们得把干草用叉子挑进马车里去。
• The muddy road bemired the wagon.马车陷入了泥泞的道路。

12 merged   

（使）混合( merge的过去式和过去分词 )； 相融； 融入； 渐渐消失在某物中

参考例句：

• Turf wars are inevitable when two departments are merged. 两个部门合并时总免不了争争权限。
• The small shops were merged into a large market. 那些小商店合并成为一个大商场。