VOA标准英语2012--In US, Few Roadside Attractions Remain

 

In US, Few Roadside Attractions Remain

In the first half of the 20th Century, state governments furiously built highways to accommodate Americans’ growing passion for the automobile¹.

These roads were nothing like today’s wide, high-speed interstates. They were only two lanes, and they wound through every little town and big city. 

Because it took many days to get even part-way across the country, drivers and their families were always on the lookout² for something to break the monotony. 

So, all along the road, entrepreneurs built little amusement parks and restaurants and mom-and-pop motels called “motor courts.”

Snake farms, caves and caverns³, little zoos, and other attractions, too. Nearly every place was individually owned and run.

And some owners got really creative, turning their businesses into eye-catching tourist attractions, like giant coffee pots, or huge hamburgers, Dutch windmills, railroad passenger cars, or ships.

Not signs that looked like this. Entire buildings shaped like a life-sized blimp, or the old lady’s high-top shoe from a famous nursery rhyme. 

Near Everett, Pennsylvania, someone built an ice-cream shop in the shape of a scoop⁴ of ice cream, topped with chocolate sauce and a cherry. 

Elsewhere, you’d see businesses in the form of donuts, lighthouses - even a full-sized Lockheed Super G Constellation⁵ airplane, complete with propeller⁶. It was a cocktail⁷ lounge. 

But as high-speed interstate highways lured⁸ drivers off the two-lane roads and traffic on the old by-ways slowed to a trickle⁹, a lot of the odd attractions went out of business. 

And the traveling public became obsessed¹⁰ with uniformity. 

If we saw a Kentucky Fried Chicken sign in Wyoming, we knew the chicken would taste pretty much like it did in Indiana.

But if we saw a restaurant shaped like a chicken, we’d think, “That looks weird¹¹!” and probably not stop. Even if the food was good there, we knew the service would not be as speedy as it would be in a fast-food outlet¹².

A very few of the old, idiosyncratic places still stand, and even fewer are still in operation.

Most have been torn down and long forgotten. But for those who saw them, and stopped in, there are many smiles that go with the memories.

1 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。

2 lookout   

n.注意，前途，瞭望台

参考例句：

• You can see everything around from the lookout.从了望台上你可以看清周围的一切。
• It's a bad lookout for the company if interest rates don't come down.如果利率降不下来，公司的前景可就不妙了。

3 caverns   

大山洞，大洞穴( cavern的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Within were dark caverns; what was inside them, no one could see. 里面是一个黑洞，这里面有什么东西，谁也望不见。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）
• UNDERGROUND Under water grottos, caverns Filled with apes That eat figs. 在水帘洞里，挤满了猿争吃无花果。

4 scoop   

n.铲子，舀取，独家新闻；v.汲取，舀取，抢先登出

参考例句：

• In the morning he must get his boy to scoop it out.早上一定得叫佣人把它剜出来。
• Uh,one scoop of coffee and one scoop of chocolate for me.我要一勺咖啡的和一勺巧克力的。

5 constellation   

n.星座n.灿烂的一群

参考例句：

• A constellation is a pattern of stars as seen from the earth. 一个星座只是从地球上看到的某些恒星的一种样子。
• The Big Dipper is not by itself a constellation. 北斗七星本身不是一个星座。

6 propeller   

n.螺旋桨，推进器

参考例句：

• The propeller started to spin around.螺旋桨开始飞快地旋转起来。
• A rope jammed the boat's propeller.一根绳子卡住了船的螺旋桨。

7 cocktail   

n.鸡尾酒；餐前开胃小吃；混合物

参考例句：

• We invited some foreign friends for a cocktail party.我们邀请了一些外国朋友参加鸡尾酒会。
• At a cocktail party in Hollywood,I was introduced to Charlie Chaplin.在好莱坞的一次鸡尾酒会上，人家把我介绍给查理·卓别林。

8 lured   

吸引，引诱（lure的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The child was lured into a car but managed to escape. 那小孩被诱骗上了车，但又设法逃掉了。
• Lured by the lust of gold,the pioneers pushed onward. 开拓者在黄金的诱惑下，继续奋力向前。

9 trickle   

vi.淌，滴，流出，慢慢移动，逐渐消散

参考例句：

• The stream has thinned down to a mere trickle.这条小河变成细流了。
• The flood of cars has now slowed to a trickle.汹涌的车流现在已经变得稀稀拉拉。

10 obsessed   

adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的

参考例句：

• He's obsessed by computers. 他迷上了电脑。
• The fear of death obsessed him throughout his old life. 他晚年一直受着死亡恐惧的困扰。

11 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

12 outlet   

n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄

参考例句：

• The outlet of a water pipe was blocked.水管的出水口堵住了。
• Running is a good outlet for his energy.跑步是他发泄过剩精力的好方法。