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
'Aïn Salah
a man born of woman
alaska cedars
altar bell
andaspis mori
anticentromere
Arbury
area franchise
arseniopleite
attributes inspection
automobile drivers
basic leaching chromate
blind P
boletellus emodensis
bored to death
brush cuts
bums out
camphorated validol
cellodextrin
circulating gas
contraction of indicates
contrecoup injury
control volume
cost-based transfer price
crowdy
cryptozoology
defamation law
distributing-valve
east-northeast
edge decoration
emit
entering group
existing customer
faiths
fibromatoid nodular fasciitis
field flyback pulse
filing office
filter press mud
fire machine
fry cook
gyrocenters
HN1
hydraena leei
hyperbolic partial differential equations
Igel'veyem
Immenreuth
induced curvature
inflorescent
interface distributor
irregular french curve
Kikori
kixen
kpu
Lahnasjärvi
Lebedyanskiy Rayon
littman
low pressure test cell
makelove
marine equipment
mountainboard
movable-head disk
muzz
Myxobacterales
name brand
oldcastles
operation definition
oxford-cloth
peroxy-acid
phase white
phenyl-thiosemicarbazide
phymatosorus membranifolius
Piru Lishāri
polymer fibre reinforced cement composite
pool clearing account
pre-finishing
pregorexia
problemos
prostheticss
PSRO
Quim Ninja
reorganization order
Ripsǒk
Rokitansky's diverticulum
roxilon
rule of low
semicure
Shelburne Falls
silicon rectifying equipment
sissified
skurry
Teleng
tough baby
trail behind mower
transferable currencies
tumor of renal capsel
tyndallization
upsiloid
vasoligate
VCNR
venerial
web-fingered
Wilms's tumor/tumour