VOA标准英语2010年-Want Just a Bite to Eat at the Amana C

You'd probably want to eat one of each of these desserts from the Ox Inn, but it's doubtful you'd have room after endless earlier helpings¹ of food.

In the Midwest state of Iowa, not far from the Mississippi River, there's a cluster of seven villages where, six days a week, buses from several states unload tourists.

The settlements are what remains² of the Amana Colonies, one of America's most notable communal³ religious societies.  Visitors come expecting to eat like . . . well, like the pigs for which Iowa is famous, for the Amanas' reputation for serving plates piled high with food is legendary⁴. They come to see and purchase quality crafts. 

And quite a few come expecting to catch a glimpse of people in plain black clothes like the Amish back East, who live without electricity and ride in buggies behind slowly trotting⁵ horses. 

The Amana Colonies are still very much a rural proposition. This is sunset outside the village of High Amana.

That's the one area in which they'll be disappointed, for the Amana society never rejected modern conveniences. In fact, these little communities even turned out Amana-brand electric refrigerators and freezers before the company was bought by a big corporation in 1965.

It was a search for a kind of Utopia — a place where people could share their labor⁶ and its bounty⁷ — that led to the founding of the colonies 155 years ago. The Amana people were members of a German religious sect⁸ called the Inspirationalists who had fled Europe.

In Iowa, they founded a village called Amana, which was the biblical name for a river that flows through Syria. The Inspirationalists believed God spoke⁹ through common men and women, not professional clergy¹⁰. To this day in their churches, lay elders run the services.

The Amana settlers were mechanical artisans as well as farmers. Their sturdy Amana-brand appliances were regarded as works of fine craftsmanship¹¹.
The Amana people did not own their homes; the community provided everyone with food, jobs, even credit at the general store.  Money was never exchanged.

This system lasted a remarkable¹² 77 years, until 1932, when the communal system was abandoned, in part because young people rebelled against the sect's strict ways.

You still find some communal touches, like the huge helpings of cottage cheese, cabbage salad called sauerkraut, meats, and gooey desserts, served family-style to visitors who get to eat like famished¹³ Amana farmers.
 

1 helpings   

n.（食物）的一份( helping的名词复数 )；帮助，支持

参考例句：

• You greedy pig! You've already had two helpings! 你这个馋嘴！你已经吃了两份了！
• He had two helpings of pudding. 他吃了两客布丁。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 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。

3 communal   

adj.公有的，公共的，公社的，公社制的

参考例句：

• There was a communal toilet on the landing for the four flats.在楼梯平台上有一处公共卫生间供4套公寓使用。
• The toilets and other communal facilities were in a shocking state.厕所及其他公共设施的状况极其糟糕。

4 legendary   

adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学）

参考例句：

• Legendary stories are passed down from parents to children.传奇故事是由父母传给孩子们的。
• Odysseus was a legendary Greek hero.奥狄修斯是传说中的希腊英雄。

5 trotting   

小跑，急走( trot的现在分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走

参考例句：

• The riders came trotting down the lane. 这骑手骑着马在小路上慢跑。
• Alan took the reins and the small horse started trotting. 艾伦抓住缰绳，小马开始慢跑起来。

6 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

7 bounty   

n.慷慨的赠予物，奖金；慷慨，大方；施与

参考例句：

• He is famous for his bounty to the poor.他因对穷人慷慨相助而出名。
• We received a bounty from the government.我们收到政府给予的一笔补助金。

8 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。

9 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。

10 clergy   

n.[总称]牧师，神职人员

参考例句：

• I could heartily wish that more of our country clergy would follow this example.我衷心希望，我国有更多的牧师效法这个榜样。
• All the local clergy attended the ceremony.当地所有的牧师出席了仪式。

11 craftsmanship   

n.手艺

参考例句：

• The whole house is a monument to her craftsmanship. 那整座房子是她技艺的一座丰碑。
• We admired the superb craftsmanship of the furniture. 我们很欣赏这个家具的一流工艺。

12 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

13 famished   

adj.饥饿的

参考例句：

• When's lunch?I'm famished!什么时候吃午饭？我饿得要死了！
• My feet are now killing me and I'm absolutely famished.我的脚现在筋疲力尽，我绝对是极饿了。