City - 英语听力

City LRC歌词

[00:10.98]Now, the VOA Special English program

[00:14.37]WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

[00:16.86]Many cities have interesting nicknames.

[00:20.54]Nicknames can help establish the identity of a city.

[00:25.37]They can also spread pride among its citizens.

[00:29.40]New Orleans, Louisiana probably has more nicknames

[00:34.87]than any other American city.

[00:37.96]One web site lists more than twenty nicknames.

[00:42.34]The most famous is The Big Easy.

[00:46.38]It describes the gentle, slow

[00:49.76]and easy-going way of life in New Orleans.

[00:54.10]So how did the city get this nickname?

[00:57.27]In the early nineteen hundreds,

[01:00.55]there was a dance hall in New Orleans called The Big Easy.

[01:05.49]But the nickname did not become famous

[01:08.52]until the early nineteen seventies.

[01:11.91]That was when a Louisiana newspaper writer

[01:17.08]began calling New Orleans by this name.

[01:20.78]She compared the easy-going way of life there

[01:25.11]to the hurried pace of life in New York City.

[01:29.29]In nineteen seventy, James Conaway

[01:33.13]wrote a crime novel called "The Big Easy."

[01:37.22]The story was set in New Orleans.

[01:40.81]In nineteen eighty-seven,

[01:43.15]that book was made into a film

[01:46.15]which made the nickname even more popular.

[01:50.00]New Orleans has other nicknames.

[01:52.99]One of them is The Crescent City.

[01:56.73]During the nineteenth century,

[01:59.86]new neighborhoods expanded out

[02:03.00]from what is now known as the French Quarter.

[02:06.76]These areas followed the great curve of the Mississippi River,

[02:12.58]giving New Orleans the shape of a crescent.

[02:16.37]Another nickname is the Birthplace of Jazz

[02:21.05]because that kind of music started in New Orleans.

[02:26.33]It is also called Mardi Gras City for the wild celebrations

[02:31.85]and parades that take place there every year.

[02:35.98]And, there is a nickname that uses the short way

[02:40.57]to write New Orleans and Louisiana.

[02:44.35]It you do not want to use the complete name,

[02:47.89]you can call the city NOLA.

[02:51.37]One of America's most exciting cities is Las Vegas, Nevada.

[02:58.40]There you can play games of chance all night long.

[03:03.78]The city's night clubs are also open all night

[03:08.21]for eating, drinking and dancing.

[03:12.04]So it is not surprising that Las Vegas

[03:15.92]is called The Gambling Capital of the World

[03:19.95]and The Entertainment Capital of the World.

[03:24.09]Another nickname for Las Vegas is Sin City

[03:28.91]because you can find many kinds of adult entertainment there.

[03:34.78]Many people who come to Las Vegas

[03:38.32]in hopes of winning lots of money

[03:40.91]do not know when to stop gambling.

[03:45.00]They may lose a great deal of their hard-earned money.

[03:49.43]So the city is also called something

[03:53.06]that sounds like Las Vegas – Lost Wages.

[03:58.07]In nineteen sixty-four,

[04:01.25]Elvis Presley starred in a movie called "Viva Las Vegas."

[04:06.92]Here he sings the title song from that movie.

[04:11.25](MUSIC)

[04:42.06]This program was written by Shelley Gollust.

[04:45.34]I'm Barbara Klein.