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THIS IS AMERICA - Boston

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THIS IS AMERICA - Boston
By Jerilyn Watson

Broadcast: Monday, July 26, 2004

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Gwen Outen.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember. We take you to Boston where the Democratic National Convention opens today.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

 
Graphic1 Image
More than four thousand delegates are in Boston for the Democratic convention. Thousands of other visitors are there to report on the events or just to watch.

The convention will end Thursday night after Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts accepts the nomination2 for president. On Wednesday night, Senator John Edwards of North Carolina is to accept the nomination for vice3 president. Other speakers this week will include former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter and former vice president Al Gore4.

VOICE TWO:

 
US Coast Guard patrols Boston Harbor
Boston is under heavy security against terrorist attacks during the Democratic convention.

Republicans will meet in New York next month. They will officially nominate President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for the general election in November.

The national conventions are held in a different city every four years. They are a chance for the parties to show support for their candidates. But political experts say these events are less important than they once were. Candidates are now chosen through state nominating elections.

 
Workers prepare stage area for Democratic National Convention at FleetCenter in Boston
In fact, the major television broadcasters do not show much of the conventions live anymore. They leave that to the news networks on cable television.

For Boston, this is the city's first national convention of either major party.

VOICE ONE:

Boston seems a natural choice for a political convention. The city played an important part in the birth of the United States. And politics are an important part of Boston life.

Boston is the state capital of Massachusetts and the largest city. More than three million people live in the greater Boston area. About five-hundred-ninety-thousand of them live in the city itself.

Boston is a center of finance, education and music. And it is a major seaport5. The city and nearby communities form the largest industrial center in the New England area of the Northeastern United States. Boston occupies about one-hundred-thirty-five square kilometers along the Atlantic coast.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Boston is one of the oldest cities in the United States. There are still narrow streets laid with red brick. But Boston is also modern. Major building and improvement projects in the nineteen-sixties and seventies gave the city some of its more current look.

Boston has a number of neighborhoods that seem like cities in themselves. Some are Back Bay, North End, South Boston and Roxbury.

American schoolchildren learn that Boston is the birthplace of the nation's freedom. This is where the war that separated the American colonies from Britain began in seventeen-seventy-five.

VOICE ONE:

Today, lots of people put on their best walking shoes and follow the Freedom Trail in Boston. This trail is almost five kilometers long. It takes people to sixteen historical places. One of these is the Old North Church. A sign tells how lights placed at the top of the church warned American colonists6 that the British would soon attack.

Also along the walk is the area where the Boston Massacre7 took place. In seventeen-seventy, British soldiers shot into a crowd and killed five colonists. The anger that followed helped fire the spirit that produced the American Revolution.

From the Boston Freedom Trail you can also see the first public school in the United States. Students first attended Boston Latin School in sixteen-thirty-five.

VOICE TWO:

 
Graphic Image
The Boston area is full of colleges and universities. Harvard, in nearby Cambridge, became the nation's first college in sixteen-thirty-six. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology also is in Cambridge.

The city of Boston is home to many top medical centers along with Harvard Medical School. The city is also known for its museums and libraries. The Boston Public Library opened in eighteen-fifty-four as the first major free library in the country.

Music lovers have the Boston Symphony. There is also the Boston Pops Orchestra. It performs popular and semi-classical music in the spring and summer.

VOICE ONE:

Downtown Boston contains a mix of tall modern office buildings, old factories and historic landmarks8. Eighteen hectares of downtown is the park called Boston Common. Many people like to ride the boats that look like swans on the lake in the Public Gardens there.

In the sixteen-hundreds, women accused of being witches were hanged on Boston Common. The same was true for members of the Quaker religion.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

The first people of Massachusetts were the Native Americans. In sixteen-thirty, Christians9 known as Puritans arrived from England to escape religious oppression. Many Puritans came from the English city of Boston. So that is what they named their new home. Boston is also known as "Bean Town." Beans were an important trade crop for the city in colonial days.

In recent years, the population of Boston has changed. Many Hispanics and Asians have moved to the city. Boston also has a large African American population.

Black people began to move there in large numbers from the Southern states after World War One ended in nineteen-eighteen. Many African Americans and Hispanics live in Roxbury, in the center of the city.

Non-Hispanic whites are no longer a majority in Boston. But leaders of other groups say white Bostonians still control the city.

VOICE ONE:

Many people of Italian ancestry10 live in North End. This area is along the waterfront. Ships brought large numbers of immigrants to Boston from southern and eastern Europe between eighteen-eighty and nineteen-fourteen. Many Italians arrived to start a new life in America.

The Irish population in Boston began to grow sharply in about eighteen-forty-five. Large numbers of people left Ireland when potato crop failures led to starvation. The traditional center of the Irish-American community in Boston is South Boston. People call it "Southie."

The children and grandchildren of the first Irish families in Boston became political leaders of the city. These included politicians like John Francis Fitzgerald. He was known as "Honey Fitz." He served two terms as mayor.

One of his grandsons became a senator from Massachusetts. Then, in nineteen-sixty, that grandson was elected the thirty-fifth president of the United States. His name was John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

VOICE TWO:

Another early Irish-American mayor in Boston served four terms in office. His name was James Michael Curley. He and Honey Fitz Fitzgerald strengthened the political power of the Irish.

Today that tradition continues with politicians like Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts. He, too, is a grandson of Honey Fitz Fitzgerald, and a brother of President Kennedy.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

The racial and ethnic11 mixture of people in Boston helps give life to the city. But it has also caused deep divisions over the years.

In nineteen-seventy-four, a federal judge ruled that Boston school officials had illegally separated students by race. The judge ordered the city to transport students to different schools to create a balance between blacks and whites.

Many white parents protested. Some threw rocks at buses that carried black students to white schools.

VOICE TWO:

Busing continues as a way to balance school populations around Boston. But efforts at racial balance failed. Many white families moved their children to private schools. Or they moved out of the city. Today only about fifteen percent of the students in the Boston public schools are white.

A committee has been considering proposals about the future of busing. These include proposals for the first major changes in thirty years, to permit more students to attend schools close to home.

VOICE ONE:

As the capital city in Massachusetts, Boston is at the center of another civil rights issue these days. In May, Massachusetts became the first American state to permit same-sex marriage. Some people compare this to an act of rebellion that is one of the best known events in Boston history.

In seventeen-seventy-three, colonists dressed as Indians threw shiploads of British tea into Boston Harbor. They did it to protest British taxes. American schoolchildren still learn about the event that will be known forever as the Boston Tea Party.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Our program was written by Jerilyn Watson and produced by Caty Weaver12. This is Steve Ember.

VOICE ONE:

And this is Gwen Outen. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 graphic Aedz7     
adj.生动的,形象的,绘画的,文字的,图表的
参考例句:
  • The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
  • Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。
2 nomination BHMxw     
n.提名,任命,提名权
参考例句:
  • John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
  • Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。
3 vice NU0zQ     
n.坏事;恶习;[pl.]台钳,老虎钳;adj.副的
参考例句:
  • He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
  • They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。
4 gore gevzd     
n.凝血,血污;v.(动物)用角撞伤,用牙刺破;缝以补裆;顶
参考例句:
  • The fox lay dying in a pool of gore.狐狸倒在血泊中奄奄一息。
  • Carruthers had been gored by a rhinoceros.卡拉瑟斯被犀牛顶伤了。
5 seaport rZ3xB     
n.海港,港口,港市
参考例句:
  • Ostend is the most important seaport in Belgium.奥斯坦德是比利时最重要的海港。
  • A seaport where ships can take on supplies of coal.轮船能够补充煤炭的海港。
6 colonists 4afd0fece453e55f3721623f335e6c6f     
n.殖民地开拓者,移民,殖民地居民( colonist的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Colonists from Europe populated many parts of the Americas. 欧洲的殖民者移居到了美洲的许多地方。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Some of the early colonists were cruel to the native population. 有些早期移居殖民地的人对当地居民很残忍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
7 massacre i71zk     
n.残杀,大屠杀;v.残杀,集体屠杀
参考例句:
  • There was a terrible massacre of villagers here during the war.在战争中,这里的村民惨遭屠杀。
  • If we forget the massacre,the massacre will happen again!忘记了大屠杀,大屠杀就有可能再次发生!
8 landmarks 746a744ae0fc201cc2f97ab777d21b8c     
n.陆标( landmark的名词复数 );目标;(标志重要阶段的)里程碑 ~ (in sth);有历史意义的建筑物(或遗址)
参考例句:
  • The book stands out as one of the notable landmarks in the progress of modern science. 这部著作是现代科学发展史上著名的里程碑之一。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • The baby was one of the big landmarks in our relationship. 孩子的出世是我们俩关系中的一个重要转折点。 来自辞典例句
9 Christians 28e6e30f94480962cc721493f76ca6c6     
n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
  • His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。
10 ancestry BNvzf     
n.祖先,家世
参考例句:
  • Their ancestry settled the land in 1856.他们的祖辈1856年在这块土地上定居下来。
  • He is an American of French ancestry.他是法国血统的美国人。
11 ethnic jiAz3     
adj.人种的,种族的,异教徒的
参考例句:
  • This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏,这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
  • The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。
12 weaver LgWwd     
n.织布工;编织者
参考例句:
  • She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快,而且布的质量很好。
  • The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

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