时间:2019-01-07 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2008年(九月)


英语课
Over the course of American history, several religious sects 2 and utopian societies have flowered, only to fade away. But out in the country in 28 U.S. states, a group that is deliberately 3 living in a 19th-century time warp 4 is prospering 5. The Amish drive horse-drawn buggies, plow 6 with draft horses rather than motorized tractors, and speak a form of German among themselves. They allow no electricity into their homes or workplaces, not because it represents modernity but because it would tie them to the outside world that the Amish wish to avoid.
 






At an Amish lumber 7 mill, where saws and pulleys are run by gasoline generators 8 rather than electricity, even sawdust is conserved 9 for use in making fiberboard



Married Amishmen wear beards and straw hats. Women wrap their hair tightly into buns beneath prayer coverings. Amish work – farming, weaving, furniture-making – is long and hard.
 






These quilts are designed as one of the Amish's few home decorations - wall hangings, not to warm a bed. They are sold in local shops and are quite expensive




Amish typically have five or more children. They build more and more wings onto their farmhouses 10 to accommodate new generations and aging adults. Given a free and open chance to leave the sect 1, four of five Amish young adults elect to stay.

All of which helps explain the following:

According to researchers at Elizabethtown College in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania – a region where gawking at the Amish has become a popular tourist activity – there are more than 225,000 Amish nationwide – almost twice as many as there were in 1992. In that time, Amish have moved into 16 new states as far west as Colorado.
 






Amish buggies keep to the far, far right on rural roads to allow automobiles 11 to pass. Local buggy and blacksmith shops are tourist attractions




The Amish, who came to America from the Alsace region of France in the early 1700s in search of religious tolerance 12, do not live in communes. Their handsome farms are spread among their non-Amish neighbors. There are no Amish churches or religious icons 13 other than the Christian 14 Bible, and no special creed 15 other than Christ's example of living simply and humbly 16 and helping 17 others.

The Amish made headlines two years ago by forgiving and embracing the widow of a homicidal milkman who killed five Pennsylvania Amish girls.

Living without telephones or computers, or even electricity, the Amish happily allow the Information Age to pass them by. Questioned about their apparent backward ways, they ask their neighbors, Where has progress gotten you? Are you happier? More fulfilled? More loved?



n.派别,宗教,学派,派系
  • When he was sixteen he joined a religious sect.他16岁的时候加入了一个宗教教派。
  • Each religious sect in the town had its own church.该城每一个宗教教派都有自己的教堂。
n.宗派,教派( sect的名词复数 )
  • Members of these sects are ruthlessly persecuted and suppressed. 这些教派的成员遭到了残酷的迫害和镇压。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He had subdued the religious sects, cleaned up Saigon. 他压服了宗教派别,刷新了西贡的面貌。 来自辞典例句
adv.审慎地;蓄意地;故意地
  • The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
  • They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。
vt.弄歪,使翘曲,使不正常,歪曲,使有偏见
  • The damp wood began to warp.这块潮湿的木材有些翘曲了。
  • A steel girder may warp in a fire.钢梁遇火会变弯。
成功,兴旺( prosper的现在分词 )
  • Our country is thriving and prospering day by day. 祖国日益繁荣昌盛。
  • His business is prospering. 他生意兴隆。
n.犁,耕地,犁过的地;v.犁,费力地前进[英]plough
  • At this time of the year farmers plow their fields.每年这个时候农民们都在耕地。
  • We will plow the field soon after the last frost.最后一场霜过后,我们将马上耕田。
n.木材,木料;v.以破旧东西堆满;伐木;笨重移动
  • The truck was sent to carry lumber.卡车被派出去运木材。
  • They slapped together a cabin out of old lumber.他们利用旧木料草草地盖起了一间小屋。
n.发电机,发生器( generator的名词复数 );电力公司
  • The factory's emergency generators were used during the power cut. 工厂应急发电机在停电期间用上了。
  • Power can be fed from wind generators into the electricity grid system. 电力可以从风力发电机流入输电网。 来自《简明英汉词典》
v.保护,保藏,保存( conserve的过去式和过去分词 )
  • He conserved his energy for the game. 他为比赛而养精蓄锐。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Under these conditions, the total mechanical energy remains constant, or is conserved. 在这种条件下,总机械能保持不变或机械能保存。 来自辞典例句
n.农舍,农场的主要住房( farmhouse的名词复数 )
  • Then perhaps she is staying at one of cottages or farmhouses? 那么也许她现在住在某个农舍或哪个农场的房子里吧? 来自辞典例句
  • The countryside was sprinkled with farmhouses. 乡间到处可见农家的房舍。 来自辞典例句
n.汽车( automobile的名词复数 )
  • When automobiles become popular,the use of the horse and buggy passed away. 汽车普及后,就不再使用马和马车了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Automobiles speed in an endless stream along the boulevard. 宽阔的林荫道上,汽车川流不息。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
n.宽容;容忍,忍受;耐药力;公差
  • Tolerance is one of his strengths.宽容是他的一个优点。
  • Human beings have limited tolerance of noise.人类对噪音的忍耐力有限。
n.偶像( icon的名词复数 );(计算机屏幕上表示命令、程序的)符号,图像
  • Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons. 用图标来区分重要的文本项。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
  • Daemonic icons should only be employed persistently if they provide continuous, useful status information. 只有会连续地提供有用状态信息的情况下,后台应用程序才应该一直使用图标。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒
  • They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
  • His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。
n.信条;信念,纲领
  • They offended against every article of his creed.他们触犯了他的每一条戒律。
  • Our creed has always been that business is business.我们的信条一直是公私分明。
adv. 恭顺地,谦卑地
  • We humbly beg Your Majesty to show mercy. 我们恳请陛下发发慈悲。
  • "You must be right, Sir,'said John humbly. “你一定是对的,先生,”约翰恭顺地说道。
n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的,辅助的
  • The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
  • By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。
学英语单词
absolute defense
admit to
Aerzen
Afrasian language
agency for healthcare research and quality (ahrd)
aircraft parking
Alanson's amputation
Albright syndrome
amplitude of resonance
antenna foundation
atmospheric perspective
basic graphic extensions
Belmopan
betow
binding attachment
Brucea javanica
cell motor
closed amortisseur
cocktail party effect
coffee creams
Commiphora myrrha
comparable with
competitive positioning
country collection
Cranihemals
cryo-milling
defo
dibutyl thiophosphite(DBTP)
dual federalism
dysgeusis
encompass system
fixed open hearth furnace
fly-wheel type friction welding
foil-borne
forestallest
formal languages
formation axis
fortuituous
granular fracture
hand-feed pump
high alkalinity
hoaxers
hydrophone tank
in apposition to
in times to come
individual ergodic
Ineuil
infinite extent
innermost DO range
International Marine Radio Co.
IPCC
isentropic motion
isolytic
jenequen
keff
key-schemes
killer factor
lammergeiers
last spring
low-cost housing
lysenkoes
magnetic stripe card reader
MUAMC
My Hung
neo-colonialisms
nonassociative operator
nonchanged
nordstroms
Olympianism
p'o ti yu
parallelarity
Petrohué
physiological stress
picrolite
plate follower
post-trematic branch
pressure domes
rapid river
rapid scanning infrared spectrometer
reality of law
redfree
riverboating
ruptural
satellite dishes
schwarzbaum
scuts
single rectification column
Soilbrom 85
speak true
spectral phonocardiograph
Sterlibashevo
swayne
tack welded hafnium crystal bar electrode
tawakoni l.
tea-times
Tigharry
tricarboxylic acid cycle
tweeked
underwater telephone
unliquidated encunmbrance
ventriculo-atrial
vesicularia flaccida