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VOA慢速英语2014 AS IT IS 2014-05-01 New York's Sherpas Mourn Everest Avalanche Victims 纽约的夏尔巴人哀悼珠穆朗玛峰雪崩的遇难者

时间:2014-05-06 14:11:32

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AS IT IS 2014-05-01 New York's Sherpas Mourn Everest Avalanche1 Victims 纽约的夏尔巴人哀悼珠穆朗玛峰雪崩的遇难者

Hello.  I’m Jim Tedder2 in Washington. Let’s do it again. It is time to learn and improve your American English.  Today we travel to New York to visit with some famous mountain climbers.  They are still sad about losing some of their own recently in a faraway land.

Then we travel to the southwestern United States to learn about the work of a man who built some of the most famous buildings in America.

As It Is …on the Internet, on television, and on radio …is on the air.

Sherpas continue to mourn the 16 mountain guides who died in an avalanche on Mount Everest.  The avalanche, or snow slide, overpowered and killed the guides on April 18th.  At the time, the group was preparing a path so that Westerners could climb the world’s highest mountain. 

New York City is home to the largest Sherpa community outside Nepal.  VOA’s Adam Phillips is in New York.  Christopher Cruise has his report.

The New York neighborhood of Elmhurst, Queens is home to an estimated 3,500 Sherpas.  Many of them were busy at work last Saturday.  They were preparing for a community-wide memorial service in the Buddhist3 center at the headquarters of the United Sherpa Association.

 

Ang Geljen Sherpa, a Nepalese-American, is head of the association.

“New York is a busy life.  But yet we keep in touch with our community back home, and we are all connected through e-mails or through phones.  So people knew these people.  And you know, most of them were brought up there around the Everest region.  So definitely the feeling was more sorrow.”

Ang Geljen Sherpa is pleased with his people’s tradition of safely guiding climbers, usually from the West, up Mount Everest.  Many climb to the nearly 9,000 meter high summit -- the highest point on the mountain’s surface.

“And the climbers who go up the mountain they know that the risk factor is there.  Every year people get killed on the mountain.  But still they are willing to take this risk because they have to put food on the table.  Of course, the safety concern is like, it’s very important.  But you know, you can’t do nothing about the avalanches4.”

However, one can do safer work, even it is far less profitable than guiding groups up the mountain and carrying their equipment.  That is what Pasang Kanchee Sherpa told her brother before he died in the accident.  Many years earlier, her other brother was also killed there. 

Ngawang Dhondup is a Buddhist religious worker or monk5.  He saw Pasang Kanchee Sherpa crying all during the eight-hour traditional funeral ceremony for her brother.  The monk had both an emotional reaction and a spiritual explanation.

“It’s really sad it happened there.  But people have to die because of their karma.  According to Buddhism6, when people die they are born again…in a good place.  So we just have to pray for them.”

Karma is said to be the force created by a person’s actions.  Some people believe it causes good or bad things to happen to that person.

United Sherpa Association President Ang Geljen Sherpa says it was not only karma that brought death to those Sherpas on Mount Everest.  It was economic reasons and few other choices.

“That’s why, you know, we are in America, you know.  We have to tell our kids we have to focus on education.  So we have to break this cycle of, like, climbing.”

He hopes Sherpas will learn to strike a balance between the traditions of the past and present day safety concerns on the world’s tallest mountain.  I’m Christopher Cruise.

If You Build It, They Will Come!

Frank Lloyd Wright has been called the father of modern American architecture.  Wright designed hundreds of buildings and other structures during his lifetime.  He died in 1959.

The grand expanse of his designs can be seen at two historic properties in the western state of Arizona.  One is Taliesin West.  It served as Wright’s winter home and architecture school.  And just a short drive from the property is a Wright-influenced hotel.  Caty Weaver7 serves as our guide.

The sound of water hitting the ground is unusual in the dry sagebrush foothills that surround Taliesin West.  But the water comes from a fountain operating on the grounds. 

Frank Lloyd Wright began work on this 200 hectare property in 1939.  The buildings include an airy theater for live performances, an underground “kiva” for watching movies, and the place where Wright lived until his death.

Guide Mark Coryell leads visitors toward the office where Wright met with people from around the world.

“This way.  We’re going to head on in.”

Tall visitors must bend down so they do not hit their heads against Wright’s low doorways8.  They can stand up again in his office.  The room is built of native stone.  It also has high ceilings that seem to float because they are clear enough to let light pass through.

Mark Coryell says Wright was able to create this effect by using simple canvas cloth.

“Mr. Wright always kind of felt that they were camping out here in the desert.”

This “camp” includes windows placed so high that only the desert sky can be seen.  One visitor notes the sharp difference between the blue sky and the floors, which Wright painted a bright Chinese red.

“And the colors and just everything is so nice out here.

During the 1930s, most American architects liked to design buildings with traditional white columns.  These tall supports were often added to straight, traditional-looking buildings, surrounded by orderly green lawns.

The columns at Taliesin West are not straight.  They slant9, creating surprising images as the sun travels across the sky.  The stone walls mix well with the native plants and desert trees.  Visitors say they really like Wright’s ideas.

“He’s uniquely American, and he wanted to break from us just copying other cultures like we did in Washington.  Beautiful, obviously, but it’s not unique.  So that’s really one of the legacies10.”

“I have a niece and a nephew that are both young architects.  And they’re all drawn11 to those that came before.  It’s the continuity of history.  And I love it.”

To keep that continuity, the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation spends over one million dollars a year on Taliesin West.  The group also directs the architecture school on the property. 

Only 30 minutes from Taliesin West is another building Frank Lloyd Wright would like.  The Arizona Biltmore Hotel rises like the official home of a great leader.

It was designed by one of Wright’s students.  But the famous architect offered suggestions for creating the hotel’s beautiful walls.  They are made from concrete “Biltmore Blocks,” that include palm frond12 designs.  Details like these have persuaded presidents, movie stars and others to visit the Biltmore, even today. I’m Caty Weaver.


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1 avalanche 8ujzl     
n.雪崩,大量涌来
参考例句:
  • They were killed by an avalanche in the Swiss Alps.他们在瑞士阿尔卑斯山的一次雪崩中罹难。
  • Higher still the snow was ready to avalanche.在更高处积雪随时都会崩塌。
2 tedder 2833afc4f8252d8dc9f8cd73b24db55d     
n.(干草)翻晒者,翻晒机
参考例句:
  • Jim Tedder has more. 吉姆?特德将给我们做更多的介绍。 来自互联网
  • Jim Tedder tells us more. 吉姆?泰德给我们带来更详细的报道。 来自互联网
3 Buddhist USLy6     
adj./n.佛教的,佛教徒
参考例句:
  • The old lady fell down in adoration before Buddhist images.那老太太在佛像面前顶礼膜拜。
  • In the eye of the Buddhist,every worldly affair is vain.在佛教徒的眼里,人世上一切事情都是空的。
4 avalanches dcaa2523f9e3746ae5c2ed93b8321b7e     
n.雪崩( avalanche的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The greatest dangers of pyroclastic avalanches are probably heat and suffocation. 火成碎屑崩落的最大危害可能是炽热和窒息作用。 来自辞典例句
  • Avalanches poured down on the tracks and rails were spread. 雪崩压满了轨道,铁轨被弄得四分五裂。 来自辞典例句
5 monk 5EDx8     
n.和尚,僧侣,修道士
参考例句:
  • The man was a monk from Emei Mountain.那人是峨眉山下来的和尚。
  • Buddhist monk sat with folded palms.和尚合掌打坐。
6 Buddhism 8SZy6     
n.佛教(教义)
参考例句:
  • Buddhism was introduced into China about 67 AD.佛教是在公元67年左右传入中国的。
  • Many people willingly converted to Buddhism.很多人情愿皈依佛教。
7 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。
8 doorways 9f2a4f4f89bff2d72720b05d20d8f3d6     
n.门口,门道( doorway的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The houses belched people; the doorways spewed out children. 从各家茅屋里涌出一堆一堆的人群,从门口蹦出一群一群小孩。 来自辞典例句
  • He rambled under the walls and doorways. 他就顺着墙根和门楼遛跶。 来自辞典例句
9 slant TEYzF     
v.倾斜,倾向性地编写或报道;n.斜面,倾向
参考例句:
  • The lines are drawn on a slant.这些线条被画成斜线。
  • The editorial had an antiunion slant.这篇社论有一种反工会的倾向。
10 legacies 68e66995cc32392cf8c573d17a3233aa     
n.遗产( legacy的名词复数 );遗留之物;遗留问题;后遗症
参考例句:
  • Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind. 书是伟大的天才留给人类的精神财富。 来自辞典例句
  • General legacies are subject to the same principles as demonstrative legacies. 一般的遗赠要与指定数目的遗赠遵循同样的原则。 来自辞典例句
11 drawn MuXzIi     
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的
参考例句:
  • All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
  • Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。
12 frond Jhbxr     
n.棕榈类植物的叶子
参考例句:
  • The weavers made a hat from palm fronds.织工用棕榈叶织成了一顶帽子。
  • The village hut was thatched with palm fronds.乡村小屋用棕榈叶作顶。

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