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VOA慢速英语2013 Boston Tries to Keep Visitors Coming to the City

时间:2013-06-04 09:32:40

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Boston Tries to Keep Visitors Coming to the City

Welcome to This Is America from VOA Learning English. I’m Kelly Jean Kelly.

And I’m Mario Ritter.  Today we talk about the city of Boston, Massachusetts. Boston has been in the news recently because of the two bombs that exploded during the Boston Marathon on April 15. Boston is also a popular place for visitors from the United States and around the world—partly because the city played an important role in American history.

Three people died and more than 260 people were hurt at the Boston Marathon bombings.  Some of the most seriously injured victims have already said they want to run again. Boston also wants to make sure that travelers keep coming to the city.

Jason Clampet is one of the founders1 of a company called Skift. Skift studies the travel industry. Mr. Clampet says some travel agencies had to cancel trips to Boston after the bombings. He says no one knew what was happening between the Monday when the bombs exploded and the Friday when the second suspect was captured alive. 

“So I think everybody who was planning a trip hit the pause button.”

Mr. Clampet says that in recent weeks, travel to the city has returned to normal. He says one reason is because transportation networks and hotels were not seriously affected2. The Boston bombings did not have as big an effect as the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York City or Hurricane Katrina in 2005 in New Orleans.

Mr. Clampet says people come to Boston for many reasons.

“You know, in addition to being the colonial3 capital in a way, it also has major universities there and some very popular sports teams.”

In fact, Mr. Clampet says more people may want to visit Boston now. He says they may have heard the phrase “Boston strong” that many residents are using to describe their feeling of pride in their city.

“It’s become kind of a fan favorite this year in U.S. tourism. So if a family in the mid-Atlantic is deciding, 'Oh do I go to Philly this summer for the trip or do I go to Boston,’ or, ‘do I go to DC or do I go to Boston?' They’ve got a lot of good reasons to go to Boston this year, and I think their heart’s going to point them in that direction.”

Mr. Clampet says international tourists may also be more interested in Boston this year. He says tourism boards around the world announced they were encouraging their citizens to visit Boston.

“And so you had a very rare instance of Tourism Dubai and Tourism Israel agreeing on the same thing. They’re saying, 'Go to Boston.'”

Boston Is One of America’s Oldest Cities

Boston is the largest city in Massachusetts and the state capital.  More than four million people live in the greater Boston area.  A little more than 600,000 live in the city itself.

Boston is a center of finance4, 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 135 square kilometers along the Atlantic coast.

Boston is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The first people of Massachusetts were Native Americans.

In 1630, a group of Christians6 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.

American schoolchildren learn that Boston is the birthplace of the nation’s freedom.  Boston is where the war that separated the American colonies from Britain began in 1775.

Today, lots of people learn about the city's part in the American Revolution by walking the Freedom Trail in Boston.  This trail is almost five kilometers long.  It takes people to 16 historic7 places.  One of these is the Old North Church. Lights placed at the top of the church warned American colonists8 that the British would soon attack.

Also along the walk is the area where 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 1635. 

People Love Boston for Many Reasons

The Boston area is full of colleges and universities.  Harvard, in nearby Cambridge, was established in 1636. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher education in the United States. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is also in Cambridge.

The city of Boston is home to many top medical centers. The city is also known for its museums and libraries. The Boston Public Library opened in 1854 and soon opened the first space just for children. The Children’s Room had more than 3,000 books.  Marie Shedlock from France introduced the art of storytelling in the Boston Children’s Room in 1902.

Music lovers have the Boston Symphony9.  There is also the Boston Pops Orchestra10.  It performs popular and semi-classical music in the spring and summer.  John Williams is a famous American composer who conducted the Boston Pops for 13 years.  In 2012, John Williams wrote music to celebrate the 100th anniversary of a very special place in Boston – Fenway Park, where the Boston Red Sox play baseball.

Downtown Boston contains a mix of tall modern office buildings, old factories and historic landmarks11. Major building and improvement projects in the 1960s and 1970s gave the city some of its more current look.

But the city also keeps its historic feel. Some narrow streets are still laid with red brick. And 18 hectares of downtown is the park called Boston Common. In the 1600s, women accused of being witches were hanged on Boston Common.  During the Revolutionary War, British soldiers camped there. 

The Public Garden is a historic botanical garden next to Boston Common. Many people like to ride the boats that look like swans on the lake in the Public Garden. 

Boston’s Neighborhood Are Like Small Cities

Boston has neighborhoods with names like Back Bay, North End, South Boston and Roxbury. 

Many people of Italian ancestry12 live in North End.  This area is along the waterfront. Ships brought large numbers of immigrants to Boston from southern and eastern Europe between 1880 and 1914. Many Italians arrived to start a new life in America.

The Irish population in Boston began to grow sharply13 in about 1845.  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, or “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 senator14 from Massachusetts.  Then, in 1960, that grandson was elected the 35th president of the United States.  His name was John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

“And so my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.”

Boston’s Mix of People Help Gives Life to the City

The population of Boston has been changing. The city's Hispanic and Asian populations have grown. 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 1918.  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.

The racial and ethnic15 mixture of people in Boston helps give life to the city.  But it has also caused deep divisions over the years. 

In 1974, 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.

 A new transportation plan will start in 2014. Many more students will go to school closer to their homes.  But some parents still criticize the new plan. Efforts at racial balance have failed. Many white families moved their children to private schools. Or the families moved out of the city.  Today only about 13 percent of the students in the Boston public schools are white.  Most of the students are Hispanic or black, and three-fourths of them are poor.

As the capital city in Massachusetts, Boston was at the center of another civil rights issue.  In 2004, Massachusetts became the first American state to permit same-sex marriage.  Some people compared the measure to an act of rebellion16 that is one of the best known events in Boston -- and American -- history.

That event happened in 1773. Colonists dressed as Indians threw shiploads of British tea into Boston Harbor.  They were protesting British taxes. The protest is known as the Boston Tea Party.     

Our program was written by Jerilyn Watson.  I’m Mario Ritter.

And I’m Kelly Jean Kelly.  Join us again next week for This Is America from VOA Learning English. 

Karen Legett contributed to this report.


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 founders 863257b2606659efe292a0bf3114782c     
n.创始人( founder的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • He was one of the founders of the university's medical faculty. 他是该大学医学院的创建人之一。 来自辞典例句
  • The founders of our religion made this a cornerstone of morality. 我们宗教的创始人把这看作是道德的基石。 来自辞典例句
2 affected TzUzg0     
adj.不自然的,假装的
参考例句:
  • She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
  • His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。
3 colonial Hq9zJ     
adj.殖民地的,关于殖民的;n.殖民地,居民
参考例句:
  • The natives were unwilling to be bent by colonial power.土著居民不愿受殖民势力的摆布。
  • The people of Africa have successfully fought against colonial rule.非洲人民成功地反抗了殖民统治。
4 finance cktxR     
n.财务管理,财政,金融,财源,资金
参考例句:
  • She is an expert in finance.她是一名财政专家。
  • A finance house made a bid to buy up the entire company.一家信贷公司出价买下了整个公司。
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 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。
7 historic AcNxw     
adj.历史上著名的,具有历史意义的
参考例句:
  • This is a historic occasion.这是具有重大历史意义的时刻。
  • We are living in a great historic era.我们正处在一个伟大的历史时代。
8 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》
9 symphony 4H3zL     
n.交响乐(曲),(色彩等的)和谐
参考例句:
  • The Ninth Symphony of Beethoven is a famous one.贝多芬的第九交响乐非常有名。
  • They play over the whole symphony.他们把整个交响乐重新演奏了一遍。
10 orchestra 90OyN     
n.管弦乐队;vt.命令,定购
参考例句:
  • He plays the violin in an orchestra.他在管弦乐队中演奏小提琴。
  • I was tempted to stay and hear this superb orchestra rehearse.我真想留下来听这支高超的管弦乐队排练。
11 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
12 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。
13 sharply UiRziL     
adj.锐利地,急速;adv.严厉地,鲜明地
参考例句:
  • The plane dived sharply and rose again.飞机猛然俯冲而后又拉了起来。
  • Demand for personal computers has risen sharply.对个人电脑的需求急剧增长。
14 senator UzJwm     
n.参议员,评议员
参考例句:
  • The senator urged against the adoption of the measure.那参议员极力反对采取这项措施。
  • The senator's speech hit at government spending.参议员的讲话批评了政府的开支。
15 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。
16 rebellion stVyI     
n.造反,叛乱,反抗
参考例句:
  • The next year they rose up in rebellion.第二年他们就揭竿起义了。
  • The new government quickly suppressed the rebellion.新政府迅速把叛乱镇压下去。

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