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
-tomous
A7
Aeolis
after-acquired property clause
arborator
asbestos gaiter
autopiloted aircraft
bakema
belt of earthquakes
beymer
butterly
cable guard arm
cacanthrax
cant board
Cennetabat
chartered handling equipment time based charge
city line
container handling efficiency
convective transport
current coordinate
cyclopolyolefine
data aquisition
debeth
density factors for glass
deuteranopid
diagnosis resolution
dip coating
dishorns
electroprecipitator
Ellerslie
episode of care id
family zingiberaceaes
Ficus septica
functional scheme
fuselier
green monkey diseases
gries
hand-off operation
have no time
Heisenberg representation
Hipswell
horizontal condyle path
how do i know
hydrogen donor
intemerateness
invariant set
Jamalabad
jungleless
lift-type valve
low loss waveguide
man on the other side of the desk
means of medical evacuation
merchandise cost
Michaelmas daisies
midsp
multicapillary
Nesselrode, Count Karl Robert
non-net
nonstop run
ordinary ticket price
parabolic beam transmission
parliamentary debates
personams
phenyl propionate
phenylacetylurea
phosphorous anhydride
piddingtons
pokeberry
porta potties
portabilit
potential wake
price in bond
Primula limbata
propane carboxylic acid
pulham
r-k
resetting time-delay switch
Rubarth's disease
Sambhal
scagged
select error exception
sequential scheduler
special use permit
specialized skill
SS-FSE
staggered intermittent weld
stairstep cost
standardizers
Streptothrix caprae
strip to the shirt
submerged marsh
tag block
taughtens
tax-reform
three-dimensional element
ticket-booths
Turkey work
UCATT
underrelaxation method
uproot
US-CERT
zero-phonon