VOA慢速英语2011--Letterboxing: A Modern-Day Treasure Hunt

THIS IS AMERICA - Letterboxing: A Modern-Day Treasure Hunt

BOB DOUGHTY 1: Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I’m Bob Doughty.

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: And I’m Shirley Griffith. This week on our program, we explore letterboxing. And later, we look at what a growing number of writers are doing to get their books published.

(MUSIC)

BOB DOUGHTY: Letterboxing is an activity that requires a container, usually a plastic box. People put a notebook and personal rubber stamp inside. Then they hide it in a public place and offer clues and directions for other letterboxers to search for it.

Those who find it mark their own notebook with the stamp. And they leave an imprint 2 of their stamp in the notebook in the box. Then they put the letterbox back in its hiding place for the next treasure hunter to find.

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: On this day, James and Nancy Hartigan and their two children are in western Ireland, planning the rest of the day’s drive.

JAMES HARTIGAN: “Killimer to Knock around Kilmore to Lab, and then back to Kilkerrin. And then we will hit the Battery at Lackyle, back out, probably hit the cemetery 3, and then up the road.”

The Hartigans have come from Ashland, Virginia, to see family and leave behind a letterbox.

JAMES HARTIGAN: “We have been doing this letterboxing thing for a while. And it is just a kind of neat way of connecting with people, you know, as opposed to sending emails and whatnot. It is something that you have travel to go get.”

BOB DOUGHTY: Ten-year-old Sean Hartigan carved the design of a train to use as his personal stamp.

SEAN HARTIGAN: “I definitely like the whole letterbox thing. I am actually kind of hoping for, like, next time we come, eight or nine notes in there.”

Sean’s older sister, Maggie, has written an introductory passage in the notebook.

MAGGIE HARTIGAN: “I wrote about my hat and about how awesome 4 Ireland is, and I am going to move here when I get rich, along with many other things. [Laughs]”

But, first, the Hartigans have to hide their box. That involves a long drive through the rain over bumpy 5 roads. They arrive after dark at the final resting place for many of James Hartigan’s ancestors.

JAMES HARTIGAN: “This is Kilkerrin cemetery. The gravestones would be several hundred years old.”

The Hartigans place their letterbox in a crack in the cemetery wall. They have given clues to family members about where to search for it.

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Randy Hall is an American software engineer and author of “The Letterboxer’s Companion.” He says letterboxing began in Devon, England, in eighteen forty-five.

RANDY HALL: "A gentleman left his calling card out on the moors 6 and said, 'Anyone to find this also do the same or write a little note,' that sort of thing."

Hikers started leaving their cards in remote areas. Directions for finding them spread by word of mouth as one person would tell another. In time, stamps replaced cards. But for more than one hundred years, the activity was limited to a small number of people in England.

BOB DOUGHTY: In nineteen ninety-eight, a magazine story in the United States introduced letterboxing to many Americans. Its popularity grew with the Internet. The Internet has become the main method for letterboxers to share clues.

Randy Hall says clues in Britain often require people to use a compass to find a letterbox. But Americans often give directions in the form of a puzzle.

RANDY HALL: “It’s kind of like setting up treasure hunts. It is like a mental activity, a brainy activity.”

Mr. Hall is known for his complex puzzles. For example, the only clue he provides for locating a letterbox in North Carolina is a poem written like a Japanese haiku:

Roll’s pal 7 in a noose 8

Sign marks his lupine brother

Pine tree to the north

RANDY HALL: “I like people to have an ‘aha’ experience when they figure it out. They feel ‘Wow, that is really cool. To create a sense of discovery. I do not like it when it is just ‘Walk down the path and look under a rock.’”

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Some people like to do letterboxing while on vacation. Andrea Wyman and her family make it a part of every vacation they take, including a trip last year to Ohio.

ANDREA WYMAN: “We were letterboxing on Lake Erie and we ended up in a forest area that we probably would not have gone to at all. But the letterbox was hidden within a little campground.”

Ms. Wyman is a professor at Edinboro University in Pennsylvania. She has designed a course on letterboxing for grandparents and their grandchildren.

She says letterboxing encourages generations to work together while enjoying the outdoors and exploring new places. Also, solving the puzzles and following the clues are good workouts for the brain.

ANDREA WYMAN: “When you are trying to help someone find your letterbox, you are editing, reading and reviewing everything that you write down on your clue list so that you can help someone come and find your hidden book.”

BOB DOUGHTY: Her eleven-year-old daughter, Hannah, has found many letterboxes. Hannah's stamp is a snowflake. She says letterboxing allows her to do "cool stuff" that does not involve computers.

HANNAH WYMAN: “We went to this park and then it said from this certain tree take forty-two third-grader steps. And I was a third-grader at the time, so I got to figure out where the letterbox was.”

For Hannah and other letterboxers, the treasure is in the hunt.

(MUSIC)

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: More and more writers are self-publishing their work. Self-publishing means you not only write the book, but handle production and sales as well. In the past, most publications were self-published. Over time the job of author and publisher became separate.

But finding a publisher can be difficult. So in the last few years, a growing number of new authors have chosen to do it themselves. In fact, industry experts say more books are now self-published than come from traditional publishers.

BOB DOUGHTY: Patricia Ruth’s first novel is called "Holly 9 Heights."

PATRICIA RUTH: “It’s a slice of suburban 10 life and a story everyone can relate to.”

After she wrote and edited the book, her next step was to look for a publisher.

PATRICIA RUTH: “I did try to go the traditional publishing route by sending inquiries 11 to agents and publishers.”

It was a long and unsuccessful process.

PATRICIA RUTH: “I’m a member of a very popular club of authors that get rejected by agents and publishers. I’d get rejections 12 from agents. It would come on a strip of paper, maybe two inches long, not even the courtesy of a full page letter. It’s outrageous 13 the stuff you get back.”

A visit to a book fair showed Patricia Ruth that she did not have to depend on traditional publishers.

PATRICIA RUTH: “I saw that there was so much going on with self-publishing and empowering authors. You know, I felt it was very doable.”

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: The first step was to discover how to do it.

PATRICIA RUTH: “It’s easy to start as just Googling the word self-publishing, and you’ll see that there is quite a number of companies that do provide self-publishing services. It’s really very simple.”

One company that provides self-publishing services is CreateSpace, a part of Amazon.com. Libby Johnson McKee is the managing director of CreateSpace.

LIBBY JOHNSON McKEE: “One of the key challenges for authors is coming up with their cover. We’ve created a tool called a cover creator which allows you to use some of our preformatted templates to create your own cover. Once your title is finished and ready for production, we then produce that book, print on demand.”

Print on demand avoids the problem of printing more copies of a book than an author can sell. But Patricia Ruth says marketing 14 a book is often more difficult than writing it.

PATRICIA RUTH: “My recommendation is to start local. In my community, my local bookstore has a table for local authors. So it’s a matter of getting them to pick your book, maybe do a book signing. I did one. You want to write a press announcement and send it to local radio, TV and newspapers.”

BOB DOUGHTY: Lorin Rees of the Rees Literary Agency says self-publishing has its limitations. Mr. Rees represents authors to traditional publishers.

LORIN REES: “Obviously self-publishing gives a lot of control to authors and allows them to fulfill 15 their goals without having to go through a pretty difficult, tiresome 16 and lengthy 17 process and rejections. However, there are limitations to self-publishing, particularly distribution, packaging, editorial support and credibility.”

Margaret Hollister self-published “Inheriting China." Her book is a memoir 18 about growing up as the daughter of missionaries 19 in China in the nineteen twenties and thirties. She agrees with Lorin Rees about the limitations of self-publishing.

MARGARET HOLLISTER: “It’s impossible, very, very, stressful, so much work and so expensive. Maybe you write naturally. Maybe that’s a natural thing for you. Publishing and formatting 20 a book and trying to find a market, all that, that is not natural. You need to learn that just as you would learn a profession.”

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: David Minckler is an editor who helped Margaret Hollister publish her book last year. His advice to other authors who want to follow her example?

DAVID MINCKLER: “I’d say they would have to learn some software and be pretty good at it. They should know enough to be able to scan pictures, organize a text and proofread 21.”

Digital technology makes it easier for authors to self-publish. But David Minckler says traditional publishers are here to stay.

DAVID MINCKLER: “A lot of self-published books seem to be pretty trivial and really not of much interest to a wide audience. So if you’re talking about a wide audience, I think established publishers will continue.”

BOB DOUGHTY: Libby Johnson McKee at CreateSpace agrees, but says self-publishing is also here to stay.

LIBBY JOHNSON MCKEE: “Since two thousand two, the growth of independently published books is over eight thousand percent. So there is really a movement in the industry, because anyone who wants to tell their story can be out there. I think that trend of democratization of the publishing process will continue.”

(MUSIC)

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Our program was written and produced by Brianna Blake, with reporting by Susan Logue and Faiza Elmasry. I'm Shirley Griffith.

BOB DOUGHTY: And I’m Bob Doughty. Do you like letterboxing? Have you ever self-published a book? Tell us about it at voanews.cn. While you're there, you can find transcripts 22, MP3s and podcasts of our programs. We also have activities for people learning English. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

点击收听单词发音  






1
doughty

  
 


adj.勇猛的，坚强的


参考例句：





Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质：脾气倔强，性格刚强。
The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。












2
imprint

  
 


n.印痕，痕迹；深刻的印象；vt.压印，牢记


参考例句：





That dictionary is published under the Longman imprint.那本词典以朗曼公司的名义出版。
Her speech left its imprint on me.她的演讲给我留下了深刻印象。












3
cemetery

  
 


n.坟墓，墓地，坟场


参考例句：





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。












4
awesome

  
 


adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的


参考例句：





The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.












5
bumpy

  
 


adj.颠簸不平的，崎岖的


参考例句：





I think we've a bumpy road ahead of us.我觉得我们将要面临一段困难时期。
The wide paved road degenerated into a narrow bumpy track.铺好的宽阔道路渐渐变窄，成了一条崎岖不平的小径。












6
moors

  
 


v.停泊，系泊（船只）( moor的第三人称单数 )


参考例句：





the North York moors 北约克郡的漠泽
They're shooting grouse up on the moors. 他们在荒野射猎松鸡。 来自《简明英汉词典》












7
pal

  
 


n.朋友，伙伴，同志；vi.结为友


参考例句：





He is a pal of mine.他是我的一个朋友。
Listen,pal,I don't want you talking to my sister any more.听着，小子，我不让你再和我妹妹说话了。












8
noose

  
 


n.绳套，绞索（刑）；v.用套索捉；使落入圈套；处以绞刑


参考例句：





They tied a noose round her neck.他们在她脖子上系了一个活扣。
A hangman's noose had already been placed around his neck.一个绞刑的绳圈已经套在他的脖子上。












9
holly

  
 


n.[植]冬青属灌木


参考例句：





I recently acquired some wood from a holly tree.最近我从一棵冬青树上弄了些木料。
People often decorate their houses with holly at Christmas.人们总是在圣诞节时用冬青来装饰房屋。












10
suburban

  
 


adj.城郊的，在郊区的


参考例句：





Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。












11
inquiries

  
 


n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听


参考例句：





He was released on bail pending further inquiries. 他获得保释，等候进一步调查。
I have failed to reach them by postal inquiries. 我未能通过邮政查询与他们取得联系。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》












12
rejections

  
 


拒绝( rejection的名词复数 )； 摒弃； 剔除物； 排斥


参考例句：





Most writers endure a number of rejections before being published. 大部分作家经历无数次的退稿才守得云开，作品得到发表。
Supervise workers and monitors production quality to minimize rejections. 管理工人，监控生产质量，减少退货。












13
outrageous

  
 


adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的


参考例句：





Her outrageous behaviour at the party offended everyone.她在聚会上的无礼行为触怒了每一个人。
Charges for local telephone calls are particularly outrageous.本地电话资费贵得出奇。












14
marketing

  
 


n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西


参考例句：





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。












15
fulfill

  
 


vt.履行，实现，完成；满足，使满意


参考例句：





If you make a promise you should fulfill it.如果你许诺了，你就要履行你的诺言。
This company should be able to fulfill our requirements.这家公司应该能够满足我们的要求。












16
tiresome

  
 


adj.令人疲劳的，令人厌倦的


参考例句：





His doubts and hesitations were tiresome.他的疑惑和犹豫令人厌烦。
He was tiresome in contending for the value of his own labors.他老为他自己劳动的价值而争强斗胜，令人生厌。












17
lengthy

  
 


adj.漫长的，冗长的


参考例句：





We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。












18
memoir

  
 


n.[pl.]回忆录，自传；记事录


参考例句：





He has just published a memoir in honour of his captain.他刚刚出了一本传记来纪念他的队长。
In her memoir,the actress wrote about the bittersweet memories of her first love.在那个女演员的自传中，她写到了自己苦乐掺半的初恋。












19
missionaries

  
 


n.传教士( missionary的名词复数 )


参考例句：





Some missionaries came from England in the Qing Dynasty. 清朝时，从英国来了一些传教士。 来自《简明英汉词典》
The missionaries rebuked the natives for worshipping images. 传教士指责当地人崇拜偶像。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》












20
formatting

  
 


n.格式化v.使格式化( format的现在分词 )；规定…的格式（或形状、大小、比例等）；安排…的格局（或规格）；设计…的版面


参考例句：





Select the block of text and-click and choose Default Formatting. 选择目标文字块，点击鼠标右键，选择默认格式。 来自互联网
There are emerging conventions about the content and formatting of documentation strings. 这里介绍文档字符串的概念和格式。 来自互联网












21
proofread

  
 


vt.校正，校对


参考例句：





I didn't even have the chance to proofread my own report.我甚至没有机会校对自己的报告。
Before handing in his application to his teacher,he proofread it again.交给老师之前，他又将申请书补正了一遍。












22
transcripts

  
 


n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本


参考例句：





Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句