VOA标准英语2010年-In One Downtown's Shadow, Life Moves S

Old Salem in North Carolina revisits simple Moravian ways

Ted¹ Landphair | Washington DC 18 March 2010

This is a pleasant part of downtown Winston-Salem in the Winston part of town.

Across the United States, there are several places where two independent towns grew together to become one city — but kept both their names.

Winston-Salem is one of them. It's a mid-sized city in what's called the Piedmont, or plateau, between the Atlantic Coast and the inland mountains in the state of North Carolina.

The Winston part is a relatively² new place, founded early this century. It's a textile center and home to the nation's biggest open-air tobacco market.

The giant R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company's headquarters is in Winston-Salem, and Winston is the name of one of Reynolds' best-known cigarette brands. Fast-growing Winston soon surrounded the much older town of Salem, so in 1913, people in the area voted to combine them into a single place.

From a historical and tourist point of view, Salem, or Old Salem, as it's called today, is the interesting and unusual part of town.

The Single Brothers' House was the Moravians' dormitory for young, unmarried men.

Salem was founded in the 1700s by the Moravians, a strict Protestant sect³ originally from what is now the Czech Republic and eastern Germany. The Moravians spoke⁴ German, and their community was religiously based, with single men and single women living apart in what were called choirs⁵ or separate dormitories.

The Moravians greatly valued women's work and brainpower. In fact, one of the nation's oldest boarding schools for young women — the Moravians' Salem Academy founded in 1772 — is still in operation. But Salem became so worldly that, except for the academy, a beautiful church and a graveyard⁶ called God's Acre, Salem lost its Moravian character.

Old Salem has not only preserved historic houses but also re-created the kinds of gardens that were an extension of every household.

Over the years, Salem deteriorated⁷ and, by the 1950s, it was a slum. That all changed, though, when a nonprofit group began to rehabilitate⁸ the historic area. These days Old Salem is what's called a living history museum, with exhibits, music, and tours of 18th-Century houses, taverns⁹ and Moravian dormitory buildings just seven blocks from the tallest skyscraper¹⁰ in Winston-Salem.

The historic community is thriving again. Just as R. J. Reynolds is taking in millions of dollars making cigarettes across town, Old Salem is generating about $15 million a year in tourism revenue and donations.
 

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 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

3 sect   

n.派别，宗教，学派，派系

参考例句：

• When he was sixteen he joined a religious sect.他16岁的时候加入了一个宗教教派。
• Each religious sect in the town had its own church.该城每一个宗教教派都有自己的教堂。

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 choirs   

n.教堂的唱诗班( choir的名词复数 )；唱诗队；公开表演的合唱团；（教堂）唱经楼

参考例句：

• They ran the three churches to which they belonged, the clergy, the choirs and the parishioners. 她们管理着自己所属的那三家教堂、牧师、唱诗班和教区居民。 来自飘（部分）
• Since 1935, several village choirs skilled in this music have been created. 1935以来，数支熟练掌握这种音乐的乡村唱诗班相继建立起来。 来自互联网

6 graveyard   

n.坟场

参考例句：

• All the town was drifting toward the graveyard.全镇的人都象流水似地向那坟场涌过去。
• Living next to a graveyard would give me the creeps.居住在墓地旁边会使我毛骨悚然。

7 deteriorated   

恶化，变坏( deteriorate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Her health deteriorated rapidly, and she died shortly afterwards. 她的健康状况急剧恶化，不久便去世了。
• His condition steadily deteriorated. 他的病情恶化，日甚一日。

8 rehabilitate   

vt.改造(罪犯)，修复；vi.复兴，(罪犯)经受改造

参考例句：

• There was no money to rehabilitate the tower.没有资金修复那座塔。
• He used exercise programmes to rehabilitate the patients.他采用体育锻炼疗法使患者恢复健康。

9 taverns   

n.小旅馆，客栈，酒馆( tavern的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They ain't only two taverns. We can find out quick." 这儿只有两家客栈，会弄明白的。” 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险
• Maybe ALL the Temperance Taverns have got a ha'nted room, hey, Huck?" 也许所有的禁酒客栈都有个闹鬼的房间，喂，哈克，你说是不是？” 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险

10 skyscraper   

n.摩天大楼

参考例句：

• The skyscraper towers into the clouds.那幢摩天大楼高耸入云。
• The skyscraper was wrapped in fog.摩天楼为雾所笼罩。