66号公路吸引国际游客
时间：2019-01-12 作者：英语课 分类：2015年VOA慢速英语(十一)月
AS IT IS 2015-11-01 International Tourists Drawn 1 to Route 66 66号公路吸引国际游客
Shamrock, Texas is a small town 30 kilometers from the Oklahoma-Texas border. The nearest major international airport is some 140 kilometers away. Some might say it is “in the middle of nowhere.”
And yet, every year, Shamrock welcomes nearly 15,000 international visitors. What draws so many to this Texas town of 2,000 people? Route 66, the Main Street of America.
Most roads are used to get from point A to point B. But Route 66 is different.
Many decades ago, Route 66 travelers who passed through Shamrock were on their way west, seeking more opportunity and a better life.
For today’s travelers who make the long drive from Chicago to Los Angeles, the road itself is the attraction.
Route 66, often called the Mother Road, is known worldwide. And every year, thousands of international visitors come to see what makes it so special. You see them traveling in large groups on motorcycles or buses. You see them traveling in small groups, at a slower pace, in a car or recreational vehicle.
Diane Clonts works 2 at the U-Drop Inn 3 in Shamrock. The Art Deco-style inn began hosting travelers in the 1930s. Today, it is a friendly visitor’s center and a place for travelers to talk and enjoy some coffee before hitting the road again.
The center displays photographs from Route 66’s early period, and vintage clothing for visitors to try on. On its wall hangs a world map with hundreds of pushpins. Each one represents an overseas visitor.
“They're from all over. We have many Europeans, we have people from Russia. We have a lot of Australians...The appeal for many, they tell me, is that when you've lived in a country where there are borders, and you can not freely 4 go from state to state, country to country, like we can, the appeal is the amazing openness of getting on Route 66 and going from Chicago to Santa Monica, California. They love the beauty as well as the freedom.”
The freedom of the open road is what draws the large motorcycle groups from countries as far as Switzerland, Germany and Brazil. Certainly, they could go faster on the newer interstate highways. But this journey is not about speed.
From Illinois to Texas to California, and all of the places in between, international visitors who travel the Mother Road get a taste of small-town America. They experience a way of life far removed from the bright lights of New York and Miami, the two most popular destinations for foreign visitors to the U.S.
In Joliet, Illinois, about an hour outside of Chicago, a Swiss motorcycle group was at the very beginning of its Route 66 adventure. The bikers stopped to enjoy an ice cream cone 5 at Rich and Creamy. It is a kitschy roadside sweet shop, with a large green and pink sign that reads “Joliet: Kicks on 66.”
The 30 bikers in the motorcycle tour group had flown to Chicago from Europe. They rented Harley-Davidson motorcycles in Chicago, and planned to take three weeks to travel to LA, the end of Route 66.
One of the bikers said that, for them, taking a motorcycle along Route 66 is just “something you hear about and want to do.”
After some ice cream and a few stops at other roadside attractions, the group fueled up at Nelly’s Diner in nearby Wilmington, Illinois. In recent years, the diner has become a favorite lunch place for international visitors.
Flags from around the world hang in the cozy 6 restaurant, which mostly offers hamburgers and other sandwiches. People from all over have written their names and messages in dozens of languages on Nelly's walls.
Though it is a little stressful, the cooks and servers have become experts at quickly feeding big groups of hungry bikers all at once.
These days, foreign tourists far outnumber American tourists along Route 66.
Melba Rigg sees that every year, at her souvenir shop in Galena, Kansas. For the six months of the year that Cars on the Route is open, Melba meets and greets some 5,000 overseas visitors. In that same period, about 1,000 U.S. visitors stop at the store.
Melba and others along Route 66 say the appeal of the road is only growing.
Fran Houser runs a business at the geographical 7 midpoint of the Mother Road, in Adrian, Texas. While most of her visitors are from Europe, she says more tourists from Asia, Australia, and South America are coming each year.
“We are seeing this year tons of people from China, which we had not seen a few years ago. We see them from Japan, New Zealand…it’s all over the world. And it is wonderfully gratifying.”
International visitors along Route 66 leave their mark – literally 8! Not far from the road’s midpoint in Texas is Cadillac Ranch 9. It is one of the most famous – and visible 10 – roadside attractions of them all.
Ten old Cadillac cars rise, half-buried, from the ground. Their classic 11 tailfins point to the wide Texas sky. The art installation 12 is meant to represent the golden age of cars – a period of history when Route 66 thrived 13.
The site attracts plenty of tourists, many of whom come with a can of spray 14 paint. Visitors are permitted to paint the cars.
Susana was visiting Cadillac Ranch from Spain. She rented a car in Los Angeles and was on her way to Chicago via Route 66. At Cadillac Ranch, she wrote her name on one of the old cars before continuing her travels.
“Well, we actually love it. We saw it on pictures, on Internet before, so we said, like, ‘we have to stop here.’ It's really nice.”
The Route 66 journey is one that many people around the world have long dreamed of.
Ednilson Gablak was at the end of that journey. He and 15 other bikers from Brazil enjoyed the final moments of their Route 66 experience at the Santa Monica Pier 15, where the Mother Road meets the Pacific Ocean.
"We just finish(ed) our dream trip. We start(ed), like 15 days ago. Well, it's kind of a dream. We saw movies; we saw on the television, magazines, saw photos. Today, we can see (on) the Internet so many videos. So I think everybody knows something about Route 66, right?"
Words in This Story
recreational vehicle - n. a large vehicle that often has a bathroom, kitchen, and beds for use during travel and camping
kitschy - adj. describing things (such as movies or works of art) that are of low quality and that many people find amusing 16 and enjoyable
diner - n. a small, informal, and inexpensive restaurant
cozy - adj. small, comfortable, and warm
fuel up - phrasal verb/idiomatic. (in this usage) to eat
souvenir - n. something that is kept as a reminder 17 of a place you have visited, an event you have been to, etc.
- 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。
- We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
- The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。
- I shall lodge at the inn for two nights.我要在这家小店住两个晚上。
- We stayed in a small village inn,right off the map.我们住在一家偏僻的乡村小店里。
- She was unable to keep back her tears,and wept freely.她抑制不住泪水，痛痛快快地哭了起来。
- A liquid flows freely and has no fixed shape.液体能自由流动，无固定形态。
- Saw-dust piled up in a great cone.锯屑堆积如山。
- The police have sectioned off part of the road with traffic cone.警察用锥形路标把部分路面分隔开来。
- I like blankets because they are cozy.我喜欢毛毯，因为他们是舒适的。
- We spent a cozy evening chatting by the fire.我们在炉火旁聊天度过了一个舒适的晚上。
- The current survey will have a wider geographical spread.当前的调查将在更广泛的地域范围內进行。
- These birds have a wide geographical distribution.这些鸟的地理分布很广。
- He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
- Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。
- He went to work on a ranch.他去一个大农场干活。
- The ranch is in the middle of a large plateau.该牧场位于一个辽阔高原的中部。
- It is a visible star in the sky.这是一颗在天空中可见的星星。
- The warning lights were clearly visible.警示信号灯清晰可见。
- The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。
- The football match was a classic.那场足球比赛堪称典范。
- All large ships now have a wireless installation.所有的大型船舶现在都有无线电装置。
- When will the installation be completed?安装工作什么时候可以完成？
- The party thrived under his leadership . 这个党在他的领导下兴旺起来。
- He thrived on the adulation of his henchmen. 他是靠下属的奉承而发迹的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- The liquid came out of the bottle in a spray.液体从瓶子里呈雾状喷出。
- We were wet with the sea spray.我们被海水的浪花溅湿。
- The pier of the bridge has been so badly damaged that experts worry it is unable to bear weight.这座桥的桥桩破损厉害，专家担心它已不能负重。
- The ship was making towards the pier.船正驶向码头。
- The girl was amusing herself with a doll.那女孩在玩洋娃娃自娱。
- He related some amusing stories in his childhood to his children.他向孩子们述说了他少年时代的一些趣事。