2007年VOA标准英语-Pennsylvania Railroad Celebrates 175th Annivers

By Retno Pinasti and Rafael Setyo
Washington
21 August 2007
 

A coal-powered engine on the Strasburg Railroad

A visit to Strasburg, Pennsylvania is a trip to the past, a time when steam powered the railroads and horse-drawn implements¹ were used to farm the land. Strasburg is located in the heart of Lancaster County's picturesque² Amish country and its railroad has been connecting the community to the national rail system for more than a century and a half. For producers Retno Pinasti and Rafael Setyo, VOA's Jim Bertel takes us for a nostalgic ride on the Strasburg Rail Road.

This is America's oldest short-line railroad.

The Strasburg Rail Road takes tourists on a 45-minute journey through countryside that has barely³ changed for more than 100 years.

Wayne helps passengers understand the history of the railroad

Wayne is a "red cap," who meets and greets passengers. "This goes back to 1832," he says. "It is one of the oldest train right-of-ways [strip of land for transportation] in the world, in fact. And these cars are vintage railcars."

Railcars that tell a tale of America's history.

President Abraham Lincoln inaugurated⁴ the railroad's passenger service in 1861, when he rode the train to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It was months before the start of the U.S. Civil War.

At the turn of the last century, competition from other American rail services forced the Strasburg to stop running regular passenger trains. And after World War Two, improved highways took even more business away from the railroad.

Riders on one of the vintage cars of the Strasburg Rail Road

But the Strasburg reopened as a tourist railroad in 1959. Today, it has been restored to its former glory as a coal-burning steam railroad.

"It takes a lot of man hours to keep those engines running," says Wayne.

Those engines have been running for 175 years now, taking passengers on a journey back to the golden age of the American railroad.

1 implements   

n.工具( implement的名词复数 )；家具；手段；[法律]履行（契约等）v.实现( implement的第三人称单数 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• Primitive man hunted wild animals with crude stone implements. 原始社会的人用粗糙的石器猎取野兽。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• They ordered quantities of farm implements. 他们订购了大量农具。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 picturesque   

adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的

参考例句：

• You can see the picturesque shores beside the river.在河边你可以看到景色如画的两岸。
• That was a picturesque phrase.那是一个形象化的说法。

3 barely   

adv.仅仅，几乎没有，几乎不

参考例句：

• The male bird is barely distinguishable from the female.雄鸟和雌鸟几乎无法辨别。
• He took barely enough money to keep the children in bread.他赚很少的钱仅够孩子们勉强糊口。

4 inaugurated   

为…举行就职典礼( inaugurate的过去式和过去分词 )； 为…举行仪式，为…举行落成[开幕]仪式； 开创，创始

参考例句：

• Mr. Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation. 普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。
• Concord inaugurated a new era in airplane travel. 协和飞机开创了空中旅行的新纪元。