时间:2019-02-08 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2010年(七)月


英语课

The trend toward virtually indistinguishable shopping malls began about when this photo of the Meadowlane Shopping Center was taken in Anderson, California, in 1960.


The United States is often called a mosaic 1 - a savory 2 stew 3 of races, cultures, and points of view.


They coexist, sometimes uncomfortably. There is even diversity training in business to help executives and workers deal with growing numbers of Americans of dissimilar backgrounds.


The nation has always been regionally diverse as well, with distinctive 4 customs, vocabulary, accents, and even dress.  But some say THAT kind of diversity is fading. And they have lots of evidence:




Carol M. Highsmith

No Holiday Inn or Hilton looks like this. This is the Wigwam Motel in Arizona - one of what were once thousands of unique motels and tourist courts.




Shopping malls, with their huge parking lots, look the same from Hawaii to Florida to Upper Michigan. So do their franchised 5 stores, boutiques, and fast-food restaurants.


If you listen to radio, it's harder to find unique local personalities 6 with their quirky sayings and accents. Instead, all across the country, you hear standardized 7 music formats 8 and syndicated national talk shows beamed from New York or Los Angeles.


Along America's interstate highways - all built to the same specifications 9 - you see the same road signs and gasoline stations.


Even foods that were once exotic, like Tex-Mex tacos or Japanese sushi, are available in stores and restaurants all over the nation. Satellite dishes, the Internet and cable television have brought the outside world into what were once isolated 10 backwoods and mountain hollows.




Carol M. Highsmith

You don't get the usual, formulaic burger and fries at unusual restaurants like the Uranium Café along old U.S. Highway 66 in Grants, New Mexico.




And regional diversity is declining because Americans are moving about the nation and settling in places that once kept pretty much to themselves. And the newcomers are not wasting much time getting involved and taking leadership positions in their new communities.


In short, it can be argued that thanks to mass media, marketing 11, and migration 12, American tastes and habits - once dramatically different depending on the state or region - are rapidly blurring 13 into indistinctive, even boring, uniformity.

 



n./adj.镶嵌细工的,镶嵌工艺品的,嵌花式的
  • The sky this morning is a mosaic of blue and white.今天早上的天空是幅蓝白相间的画面。
  • The image mosaic is a troublesome work.图象镶嵌是个麻烦的工作。
adj.风味极佳的,可口的,味香的
  • She placed a huge dish before him of savory steaming meat.她将一大盘热气腾腾、美味可口的肉放在他面前。
  • He doesn't have a very savory reputation.他的名誉不太好。
n.炖汤,焖,烦恼;v.炖汤,焖,忧虑
  • The stew must be boiled up before serving.炖肉必须煮熟才能上桌。
  • There's no need to get in a stew.没有必要烦恼。
adj.特别的,有特色的,与众不同的
  • She has a very distinctive way of walking.她走路的样子与别人很不相同。
  • This bird has several distinctive features.这个鸟具有几种突出的特征。
v.给…以特许权,出售特许权( franchise的过去式和过去分词 )
  • He is starting the first school himself,but subsequent ones will be franchised to use the Fujita method. 他已经自己开办了第一所学校,但是以后的学校将被特许使用富士达方法。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Driving tests for franchised bus are held on request by bus companies. 专营巴士的驾驶考试只在巴士公司要求下才举行。 来自互联网
n. 诽谤,(对某人容貌、性格等所进行的)人身攻击; 人身攻击;人格, 个性, 名人( personality的名词复数 )
  • There seemed to be a degree of personalities in her remarks.她话里有些人身攻击的成分。
  • Personalities are not in good taste in general conversation.在一般的谈话中诽谤他人是不高尚的。
adj.标准化的
  • We use standardized tests to measure scholastic achievement. 我们用标准化考试来衡量学生的学业成绩。
  • The parts of an automobile are standardized. 汽车零件是标准化了的。
n.(出版物的)版式( format的名词复数 );[电视]电视节目的总安排(或计划)
  • They are producing books in all kinds of different formats. 他们出版各种不同开本的书籍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • A true GUI includes standard formats for representing text and graphics. 真正的图形用户界面包括表示文字和图形的标准格式。 来自互联网
n.规格;载明;详述;(产品等的)说明书;说明书( specification的名词复数 );详细的计划书;载明;详述
  • Our work must answer the specifications laid down. 我们的工作应符合所定的规范。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • This sketch does not conform with the specifications. 图文不符。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
adj.与世隔绝的
  • His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
  • Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。
n.行销,在市场的买卖,买东西
  • They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
  • He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。
n.迁移,移居,(鸟类等的)迁徙
  • Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
  • He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。
n.模糊,斑点甚多,(图像的)混乱v.(使)变模糊( blur的现在分词 );(使)难以区分
  • Retinal hemorrhage, and blurring of the optic dise cause visual disturbances. 视网膜出血及神经盘模糊等可导致视力障碍。 来自辞典例句
  • In other ways the Bible limited Puritan writing, blurring and deadening the pages. 另一方面,圣经又限制了清教时期的作品,使它们显得晦涩沉闷。 来自辞典例句
学英语单词
abies nephrolepis trautv.
abnormal overpressure
Acdeam
achrosis pulchra
affective education development center
aldeia da mata
Appalachian Highlands
bakerite
bond clay
British Standard Whiworth Thread
bronzewing pigeon
carry out one's bat
chaetodon melannotus
Cholargos
chull
church-chopper
complements and substitutes goods
covalent chromatography
covarimin
defecography
deformations
distribution education
dorfmanite
earthquake sequence
english-born
explosion point
ferrous fumarate
flanged motor
flat top chain conveyer
furoquinolines
fusion curve
gangrenous perniciosa
georgios
gotchies
granulogenesis
haplosomoides chengi
Heine's operation
hormomd
in apple - pie order
in the possession of sb.
Ingeniero Luiggi
initial microprogram loading
iodoforms
ipoes
irrazable
joint degree
laughing thrush
LCD Projectors
longitudinal movement
lubras
magnetoasymmetry
main air reservoir
mains ripple
margarete
MESGN
nit-picker
Normanno-
notefile
pinnotheridaes
postanal transverse groove
postpostive
postsoviet
private visit
pure fluid element
pyradol
quilonum
r-n.y
rapid amplification of cDNA end
reactance-drop compensation
rhodium telluride
rockamboy
roulette
rubber packing ring for food container
sapless
self-grafting
semilogarithmic curve
side-looking radar display
single-wickets
sit-upon
specifics
spray eliminator
St-Philbert-de-Bouaine
staircase wave
steam-turbine-driven altermator
stowage distribution
system assemble
tactile rod
tangled
test for urinary iodine excretion Bourget's test
theorematists
transessentiate
transpool
tweendeck bunker
unacquainted with
vacuum processing
venae brachiocephalica
VRDB
waggonage
weight carrying capacity
where are the toilets
work up period
Yo Dawg