Washington's Bike Party Wheels Keep Rolling
时间：2018-12-08 作者：英语课 分类：2018年VOA慢速英语(五)月
It is 10:30 on a warm May night in Washington, D.C. Emily Skeels and a few friends are outside talking and laughing. One friend plays music from a wireless 1 device 2.
Skeels and friends have just finished a bicycle ride around the city on an event called D.C. Bike Party.
Each month, hundreds of cyclists take to the city’s streets for this highly 3 imaginative 4 group ride. They meet at Dupont Circle and roll onto the road in colorful clothing as the sun sets. Event volunteers lead the adventure.
Skeels, who has lived in D.C. for many years, tells VOA what she likes about Bike Party.
“I love bikes and I love biking on streets without traffic and all of my friends go and the weather’s really nice right now.”
Technically 5, there is traffic, but the huge group finds safety in numbers. And that's not all they find.
A party on wheels
The name “Bike Party” is just right, since this is more of a celebration on wheels than a usual cycling event.
For one, it happens at night. And, there’s music – lots of it. For example, longtime event volunteer Danny Lesh brings along his “sound bike” – a bicycle with an oversized speaker system attached.
Lesh built the system in 2012. He says he “had a good feeling that great music” could build a following for a community bike ride in DC. He was right.
Each month, he makes music playlists that fit with the event themes. Tonight, Lesh played funk music for the event’s Photon Funk Ride, in honor 7 of the city’s yearly 8 Funk Parade.
And then there are the costumes. Many riders dress in creative, brightly colored clothing to go with the themes. In October, for example, they dress up for Halloween.
Washington, D.C. native Will Bien Duggan seriously regrets missing 9 one Halloween ride a few years ago. It was a rainy, cold night. But, Bike Party still went on. The event led cyclists to a party with live music at the Congressional Cemetery 10.
“I saw the video of everyone coming into it and it was just something otherworldly and I realized that only in D.C. and only with Bike Party could you ever have that kind of experience.”
Along with exciting themes, music and clothing, the party ride also brings out some very inventive bicycles.
Event founder 11 Lia Seremetis, a California native, says the creativity of the riders is always wonderful. Over the years, she has seen all kinds of bikes on Bike Party, including a penny-farthing and a one-wheeled vehicle called a unicycle.
In addition, every month, she says, a group of people on rollerblades take part and bring their own disco ball.
“So, it just…never ends. People are truly amazing.”
Some that take part in Bike Party do not use any wheels at all, says Los Angeles native and dog lover 12, Marla Larrave. She was excited to see a four-legged participant on a recent ride.
“And, there was a dog -- a little dog that was running the whole time alongside 13 all the cyclists with his human. That was super cute.”
Dance to the music
Larrave met Skeels through Bike Party and says the event is her favorite thing to do in DC.
“You know, I’ve got friends that I’ve made at Bike Party and then their friends become my friends too.”
About halfway 14 through every Bike Party, riders stop at a park. They set down their bicycles and talk, laugh, make new friends, eat, drink, listen to music. And, of course, they dance.
Larrave loves the musicality. She says last month’s ride took the group to a park filled with Japanese cherry trees.
“It was just beautiful riding through the park and seeing all those trees.”
Then, Brazilian music began to play and people danced by the trees.
It takes a village...
Seremetis was sad to leave behind the big group bikes rides from her hometown of San Jose, California. So, in 2012, two years after she moved to D.C., she started the D.C. Bike Party.
She says, as free-spirited as the ride is, event volunteers work hard to make sure it operates smoothly 15 each month. It is all volunteer-organized. About 30 people put the event together to make sure it is safe and responsible.
“I like to say that we take having fun very seriously.”
Bien Duggan says there is a special connectedness among those in the bicycle community around the world. A few years ago, he spent 14 months on a bicycle tour through South America. On many nights, cyclists opened their homes for him to stay the night.
Bien Duggan says he feels a similar sense of unity 6 on rides with the Bike Party.
He says it offers “...a sense of community and a good reminder 16 that the whole city isn’t just suit-and-tie and that’s a really great feeling.”
I’m Alice Bryant.
Words in This Story
adventure - n. an unusually exciting experience or activity
theme - n. the particular subject or idea on which the style of something, such as a party or room, is based
costume - n. the clothes that are worn by someone who is trying to look like a different person
otherworldly - adj. seeming to belong to or come from another world
Rollerblade - n. an in-line skate
disco ball - n. an object that reflects light directed at it in many directions
amazing - adj. causing amazement 17
super cute - expression. going beyond the normal range of cuteness
reminder - n. something that causes you to remember or to think about something
suit-and-tie - adj. describable as formal, serious and professional
- There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
- Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。
- The device will be in production by the end of the year.该装置将于年底投入生产。
- The device will save much time and effort for us.这种装置会使我们节省大量时间和气力。
- It is highly important to provide for the future.预先做好准备非常重要。
- The teacher speaks very highly of the boy's behaviour.老师称赞这个男孩的表现。
- The imaginative child made up fairy stories.这个想像力丰富的孩子自己编神话故事。
- Scott was an imaginative writer.司格特是位富于想象力的作家。
- Technically it is the most advanced equipment ever.从技术上说，这是最先进的设备。
- The tomato is technically a fruit,although it is eaten as a vegetable.严格地说，西红柿是一种水果，尽管它是当作蔬菜吃的。
- When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
- We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。
- I take your visit as a great honor.您的来访是我莫大的光荣。
- It is a great honor to receive that prize.能拿到那个奖是无上的光荣。
- The flower show is a yearly event in our town.我们镇上的花展一年举行一次。
- The yearly rental of her house is 2400 yuan.她这房子年租金是2400元。
- Check the tools and see if anything is missing.检点一下工具，看有无丢失。
- All the others are here;he's the only one missing.别人都来了，就短他一个。
- He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
- His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。
- He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
- According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。
- Every lover sees a thousand graces in the beloved object.情人眼里出西施。
- Mr.Smith was a lover of poetry.史密斯先生是一名诗歌爱好者。
- There was a butcher's shop alongside the theatre.剧院旁边有一家肉店。
- Alongside of him stood his uncle.他的身旁站着他叔叔。
- We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
- In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。
- The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
- Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。