时间:2019-02-07 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2010年(三月)


英语课

One hundred years ago, a Delaware chemical tycoon 1, William duPont, ordered a train depot 2 built at Montpelier, which was once the Virginia estate of America's fourth president, James Madison.  DuPont owned Montpelier at the time.


The station was needed for trains that brought in supplies, rural farm workers, and the duPont family's fancy private coaches.




John Strader, The Montpelier Foundation


The station's ticket agent sat in a room that faced both black and white waiting areas. Patrons could see into each room, but African-American patrons could not venture beyond their own area.


Like other southern states, Virginia was a place where blacks and whites lived together but very much apart.


Racist 3 laws required African Americans to drink from separate public drinking fountains, climb back stairs to sit in the balconies of theaters, and wait in much smaller rooms at bus and train stations.


So William duPont built his depot from a standard Southern Railway floor plan that specified 4 one entrance marked "White" and another marked "Colored."




The Montpelier Foundation


On the floor plan for the Montpelier Station, you will note significant differences in the sizes of the White and Colored waiting rooms.


Passenger trains have not run to Montpelier for 40 years, and the depot closed in 1974. Its freight room stayed open as the estate's post office. 


Montpelier is now owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation 5. It set up a foundation that has been renovating 6 buildings throughout the estate. And when it got around to the train station, it made a controversial call.


The restored depot would look just like it had in 1910 - with its "White" and "Colored" entrances. 


This was highly unusual, since most places in the South have tried to paint over or tear down remnants of their segregationist 7 past.  Black leaders who opposed the move said the station would be, as Washington Post reporter Philip Kennicott put it, one of the toxic 8 byproducts of oppression.




Photo by Kenneth M. Wyner, courtesy of The Montpelier Foundation


This is the manse on the Montpelier property, built and owned by President James Madison, the principal author of the U.S. Constitution. Like its little train depot, it has been faithfully restored.


But other African Americans, including journalist Juan Williams, who spoke 9 at the dedication 10, supported re-marking the "White" and "Colored" entrances.


"This is a place of healing," he told the audience at the dedication. "This is a place that can . . . help us understand what took place here."

 



n.有钱有势的企业家,大亨
  • The tycoon is on the verge of bankruptcy.那名大亨濒临破产的边缘。
  • The tycoon has many servants to minister to his needs.那位大亨有很多人服侍他。
n.仓库,储藏处;公共汽车站;火车站
  • The depot is only a few blocks from here.公共汽车站离这儿只有几个街区。
  • They leased the building as a depot.他们租用这栋大楼作仓库。
n.种族主义者,种族主义分子
  • a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
  • His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。
adj.特定的
  • The architect specified oak for the wood trim. 那位建筑师指定用橡木做木饰条。
  • It is generated by some specified means. 这是由某些未加说明的方法产生的。
n.保护,维护,保存,保留,保持
  • The police are responsible for the preservation of law and order.警察负责维持法律与秩序。
  • The picture is in an excellent state of preservation.这幅画保存得极为完好。
翻新,修复,整修( renovate的现在分词 )
  • The increased production was largely attained by renovating old orchards and vineyards. 通过更新老果园和葡萄园,使生产大大增加。
  • Renovating that house will cost you a pretty penny. 为了整修那所房子,你得花很多钱。
隔离主义者
  • Recent federal action undermined the segregationist position. 近期的联邦行动消弱了隔离主义者的地位。
adj.有毒的,因中毒引起的
  • The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
  • There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说
  • They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
  • The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
n.奉献,献身,致力,题献,献辞
  • We admire her courage,compassion and dedication.我们钦佩她的勇气、爱心和奉献精神。
  • Her dedication to her work was admirable.她对工作的奉献精神可钦可佩。
学英语单词
additional provision
amblyomma helvolum
analyzer for physical property
assessment of petroleum resources
bang holes
beadleship
beauvaiss
bque.
brassinosteroid
chromatographic process
chromel-alumel thermometer
co-patentee
collagist
corpus fibrosum simplex
debittering yeast
deputize
dot image
double wish-bone arm type
dyctee
eddy-built bar
El Chilar
encephalomyopathies
energy coefficient
euphthiracarids
exchequered
fault-tolerant distributed system
floroacetamide
FUMG
gaufrage
get under
gibberone
haplopappus spinulosuss
high-latitudes
homobasidium
hydrogen value
hypoid-gear
juliferous
karst geomorphy
leakpan
linkifies
Little Bahama Bk.
livehood economy
lock onto
long throws
magneto block
make delivery
mania for winning cups and medals
matzas
maxillae setosae
Mecheria
megatest
modal number
month jumper spring
Muscoda
nanolattices
newspaper clippings
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev
nuria
Orchis limprichtii
orsis
os costale
oxy-Tobias acid
part payment
permeabilise
photodermatosis
PICC Protection Indemnity Clause
poork
postpuberal
psychosurgeons
puppetly
pyrasteel
re-focus
received for shipment bill of lading
referencing function subprogram
reorganizes
restart command circuit
reusably
schiff's
second-order trigonal prism
sine-Gorden equation
single-frame motor
sohmer
static excitation equipment
superabsorbers
survival kit
Swertia emeiensis
swiftboated
synchronous tie
systematic risk
TBF1
technical safety appraisal(TSA)
tegmen mastoideum
thawing condition
thumbboards
tie-rod arm
tonnage of freight despatched
trebuler
trs.
Uithuizermeeden
volatile product
wonder-stricken
Zoysia pungens