时间:2019-01-14 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2012年(二月)


英语课

New Orleans Artists Prepare for Mardi Gras


New Orleans explodes into a carnival 1 every year for Mardi Gras. And on that final day before the beginning of Lent, giant colorful floats parade down the city's streets. Groups known as "krewes" are responsible for planning and paying for the floats, but the hard work of building them is left to artists. Ninety percent of the floats are created in Mardi Gras World in New Orleans.

The Mardi Gras festival in New Orleans may only last days, but it takes a whole year to prepare.

Artists are hard at work getting ready for next year's parade on February 21. Mardis Gras is French for "Fat Tuesday" and marks the last day of feasting before Lent, the 40-day period before Christians 2 celebrate Easter.

Sean Lanny is making flowers at Mardi Gras World that will adorn 3 some of the floats.

"We started in September making the flowers," said Lanny. "But the whole process starts earlier. It starts with the idea-making process then they have to draw pictures and it continues on. The art director and the artist get together and decide what is going to be the theme for the year and what each float is going to look like."

Mardi Gras World artists shape the props 4 from Styrofoam or fiberglass. Then they're covered in papier-mache and painted. Many are recognizable: historical people or characters from films and popular culture. Some are more than five meters tall.

Mardi Gras World is a family run-business started by a man named Blaine Kern in 1947.

His grandson, Brian Kern, says that a lot has changed since then.

"The original floats of New Orleans carried 12 riders on, now we are doing floats that with multiple 5 sections can carry up to 250 people," Kern noted 6. "My father just wanted to push the envelope, make things larger, bigger prettier, more lighting 7, everything; it's just something we do."

The floats are central to New Orleans' world famous parades, which have been taking place for around 150 years. Some of the floats are as long as 15 meters.

Kern says the floats have helped to make Mardi Gras a major tourism attraction.

"Mardi Gras, I think it defines 8 the city," Kern added. "It's a billion-dollar industry. About 40,000 or 50,000 people actually participate in carnival krewes either in the parade or in the ball so it is a large part of our culture."

Mardi Gras World doubles as a workshop and a museum where tourists can look behind the scenes.

One visitor from New York said her partner had advised her against going to the festival.

"He goes, "Oh no, you are not going to be happy with Mardi Gras.' So I said. 'OK,' but after seeing this, it just seems like a lot of fun, a lot of color, just a good time," she said.

A good time that takes a lot of hard work. The artists at Mardi Gras world will be working seven day weeks before the festival begins.



n.嘉年华会,狂欢,狂欢节,巡回表演
  • I got some good shots of the carnival.我有几个狂欢节的精彩镜头。
  • Our street puts on a carnival every year.我们街的居民每年举行一次嘉年华会。
n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )
  • Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
  • His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。
vt.使美化,装饰
  • She loved to adorn herself with finery.她喜欢穿戴华丽的服饰。
  • His watercolour designs adorn a wide range of books.他的水彩设计使许多图书大为生色。
小道具; 支柱( prop的名词复数 ); 支持者; 道具; (橄榄球中的)支柱前锋
  • Rescuers used props to stop the roof of the tunnel collapsing. 救援人员用支柱防止隧道顶塌陷。
  • The government props up the prices of farm products to support farmers' incomes. 政府保持农产品价格不变以保障农民们的收入。
adj.多个(或多项、多种)的;n.(数)倍数
  • The number 8 is a multiple of 4.八是四的倍数。
  • The most common multiple births are twins,two babies born at the same time.最常见的多胎是双胞胎,两个婴儿同时出生。
adj.著名的,知名的
  • The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
  • Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。
n.照明,光线的明暗,舞台灯光
  • The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
  • The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。
规定( define的第三人称单数 ); 使明确; 精确地解释; 画出…的线条
  • This name defines us all. 这个名字造就了我们。 来自演讲部分
  • The range of incomes over which this happens defines the 'poverty trap'. 发生在这种情况的收入范围,称为“贫困陷阱。”
学英语单词
-ase
advanced rheology
american code for pressure piping
Appleton layer
aural polyp snare
baby stroller
backburned
billing category
bodv
boxwood T square
brick press
brood feeding secretion
case la bandera
chainette tower
Chanthaburi
chemical engineering thermodynamics
concurrency relation
configuration testing
core-ply textured yarn
creative mind
crosstail
d'Alembert inertial force
Davis, Shani
derangings
dishwasher detergents
dispensary system
double act
Eifelian Age
electrogoniometry
electrostatic spray
embedded figure test (eft)
emitter characteristic
epizoological
expirydate
flux evaluation
full quenching
function character
gallows tree
geography of fishery
global zone
gloter-
governmentalises
grain price
Habenaria fargesii
hat cr.
hdhhs
height of C.G.
Helderberg formation
hibas
jellygraphs
kirsties
kuin'
liquid chromatogram
lithoscope
longwool
low pressure adjusting spring seat
madrilenos
magnetic valve type surge arrseter
mammoth stucture
man-one
manaced
Meleuz
memomes
micro-scale
microscopic camera
minutes
New Hampshirites
operations researcher
path of the bat
PCI local bus
per ampoule
performance activity center
poly-N-acetylglucosamin
Probne
prowls
pseudocolpus
pseudoplasmodium
ramicandelaber brevisporus
Ramus diploicus
reel something off
Ribes palczewskii
Salgado de São Félix
schkuhrin
search and rescue net
second instance judgement
seed-tree method
stand-alone superminicomputer
steel perforating rule
sunspot period
supererogation
taraxacum dissectum ledeb.
terminal i/o wait
tile edging
tilling speed
tin sheet iron
transport expenditure
tripod fish
tripping circuit
venularization
voltage recovery time
width of oxidized coal zone