新視野大學英語讀寫教程第三冊unit4-a Five Famous Symbols of American Cultur

Section (A)

Five Famous Symbols of American Culture

The Statue of Liberty

In the mid-1870s, French artist Frederic Auguste Bartholdi was working on an enormous project called Liberty Enlightening the World, a monument celebrating US independence and the France-America alliance. At the same time, he was in love with a woman whom he had met in Canada. His mother could not approve of her son's affection for a woman she had never met, but Bartholdi went ahead and married his love in 1876.

That same year Bartholdi had assembled the statue's right arm and torch, and displayed them in Philadelphia. It is said that he had used his wife's arm as the model, but felt her face was too beautiful for the statue. He needed someone whose face represented suffering yet strength, someone more severe than beautiful. He chose his mother.

The Statue of Liberty was dedicated on an island in Upper New York Bay in 1886. It had his mother's face and his wife's body, but Bartholdi called it "my daughter, Liberty".

Barbie

Before all the different types of Barbie dolls for sale now, there was just a single Barbie. Actually, her name was Barbara. Barbara Handler was the daughter of Elliot and Ruth Handler, co-founders of the Mattel Toy Company. Ruth came up with the idea for Barbie after watching her daughter play with paper dolls. The three-dimensional model for Barbie was a German doll — a joke gift for adults described as having the appearance of "a woman who sold sex". Mattel refashioned the doll into a decent, all-American — although with an exaggerated breast size — version and named it after Barbara, who was then a teenager.

Since her introduction in 1959, Barbie has become the universally recognized Queen of the Dolls. Mattel says the average American girl owns ten Barbie dolls, and two are sold somewhere in the world every second.

Now more than sixty years old, Barbara — who declines interviews but is said to have loved the doll - may be the most famous unknown figure on the planet. Barbie's boyfriend, Ken, was introduced in 1961 and named after Barbara's brother. The real Ken, who died in 1994, was disgusted by the doll that made his family famous. "I don't want my children to play with it," he said in 1993.

American Gothic

Grant Wood instantly rose to fame in 1930 with his painting American Gothic, an often-copied interpretation of the solemn pride of American farmers. The painting shows a serious-looking man and a woman standing in front of a farmhouse. He was strongly influenced by medieval artists and inspired by the Gothic window of an old farmhouse, but the faces in his composition were what captured the world's attention.

Wood liked to paint faces he knew well. For the grave farmer he used his dentist, a sour-looking man. For the woman standing alongside him, the artist chose his sister, Nan. He stretched the models' necks a bit, but there was no doubt who posed for the portrait. Nan later remarked that the fame she gained from American Gothic saved her from a very boring life.

The Buffalo Nickel

Today, American coins honor prominent figures of the US government — mostly famous former presidents. But the Buffalo nickel, produced from 1913 to 1938, honored a pair of connected tragedies from the settlement of the American frontier — the destruction of the buffalo herds and the American Indians.

While white people had previously been used as models for most American coins, famed artist James Earle Fraser went against tradition by using three actual American Indians as models for his creation. For the buffalo on the other side, since buffalo no longer wandered about the great grasslands, Fraser was forced to sketch an aging buffalo from New York City's Central Park Zoo. Two years later, in 1915, this animal was sold for $100 and killed for meat, a hide, and a wall decoration made from its horns.

Uncle Sam

Fourteen-year-old Sam Wilson ran away from home to join his father and older brothers in the fight to liberate the American colonies from the British during the American Revolution. At age 23, he started a meatpacking business and earned a reputation for being honest and hard working. During a later war in 1812, Wilson gained a position inspecting meat for US Army forces, working with a man who had signed a contract with the government to provide meat to the army. Barrels of meat supplied to the army were stamped "EA-US", identifying the company (EA) and country of origin (US).

According to one story, when a government official visited the plant and asked about the letters, a creative employee told him "US" was short for "Uncle Sam" Wilson. Soon soldiers were saying all Army supplies were from "Uncle Sam".

After the war, a character called Uncle Sam began appearing in political cartoons, his form evolving from an earlier cartoon character called Brother Jonathan that was popular during the American Revolution. Uncle Sam soon replaced Brother Jonathan as American's most popular symbol. The most enduring portrait of Uncle Sam was created by artist James Montgomery Flagg in his famous army recruiting posters of World Wars I and II. That version — a tall man with white hair and a small white beard on his chin, a dark blue coat and a tall hat with stars on it — was a self-portrait of Flagg.

Words: 900

New Words

　statue n. 雕像，塑像，鑄像
　liberty n. 1.自由，自由權 2.許可，準許 3.放肆，無禮，冒昧行為
▲enlighten vt. 啟發(fā)，開導
　monument n. 紀念碑，紀念館
　alliance n. 同盟，聯盟
　approve vi. 贊成，稱許 vt. 批準，同意
　affection n. 1.喜愛 2.愛情，愛慕之情
　assemble vt. 組裝，裝配 v. （使）集合，（使）聚集
　torch n. 1.火炬 2.手電筒
　bay n. （?；蚝吹模?br /> 　exaggerate v. 夸張，夸大
　breast n. 1.乳房 2.前胸，胸部
　version n. 1.版本；型號 2.敘述，說法
　universal a. 1.全體的，一致的，普遍的 2.通用的，廣泛的，萬能的 3.宇宙的，全世界的
　Universally ad. 全體地，普遍地，無例外地
　sixty num. 六十，六十個
　fame n. 名譽，名望
　interpretation n. 1.解釋，說明，描述 2.（表演、演奏的）藝術處理
　solemn a. 1.莊嚴的，肅穆的 2.嚴肅的
▲medieval a. 中古的，中世紀的
　inspire vt. 1.給……以靈感 2.鼓舞，激勵
　grave a. 1.（指人）表情嚴肅的，端莊的 2.嚴重的 n. 墳墓，墓穴
▲dentist n. 牙科醫(yī)生
　alongside prep. 在... ...旁邊，和... ....一起 ad. 在旁邊，并排地
　stretch vt. 1.拉長，拉緊，伸展 2.使盡全力，到（超過）... ... 的極限 vi. 擴展，延伸，延續(xù)
　portrait n. 肖像，畫像
◆buffalo n. 水牛，野牛
▲nickel n. （美國或加拿大的）五分鎳幣，五分錢
　tragedy n. 1.悲劇，慘案，不幸的事件 2.悲?。ㄋ囆g）
　settlement n. 1.殖民，移民，拓居 2.解決；協議
　frontier n. 1.邊境，邊界，（美國靠近未開發(fā)地帶的）邊遠地區(qū) 2.前沿，新領域
　herd n. 獸群， 牧群 vt. 使集中在一起，把……趕在一起
　horn n. 1.（牛、羊、鹿等的）角 2.喇叭，號角，警報器
　liberate vt. 解放，釋放
　reputation n. 名聲，名望
　inspect vt. 1.檢查 2.視察
　contract n. 合同，契約 v. 訂合同，訂契約
　evolve v. （使）演變，（使）演化，（使）發(fā)展
　recruit vt. 招募，征兵，吸收（新成員） n. 新兵，新成員
　poster n. 招貼（畫），海報，布告
　beard n. 胡子，胡須
　chin n. 下巴

Phrases and Expressions

　work on sth. 從事于，致力于
　be in love with sb. 與……戀愛，相愛
　approve of sth. 贊成，稱許，滿意
　go ahead 繼續(xù)；進行
　for sale 出售，待售
　come up with 找到，想出（答案、解決辦法等）
　rise to fame 成名
　name after sb. 以某人姓名命名
　save sb. from 拯救，使免于
　go against 與... ... 相反，違背
　run away from 突然離開，逃離

Proper Names

　the Statue of Liberty 自由女神像
　Frederic Auguste Bartholdi 弗里德里克·奧古斯特·巴托爾迪（1834-1904，法國雕塑家）
　Liberty Enlightening the World "自由照耀世界"
　Philadelphia 費城（美國賓夕法尼亞州東南部港市）
　New York Bay 紐約灣（靠美國紐約州東南岸和新澤西州東北岸，臨哈得遜河）
　Barbie 芭比娃娃（一種十分暢銷的金發(fā)碧眼玩具娃娃的商標名）
　Barbara Handler 芭芭拉·漢德勒
　Elliot Handler 艾略特·漢德勒
　Ruth Handler 魯思·漢德勒
　Mattel Toy Company 馬特爾玩具公司
　Ken 肯（人名）
　American Gothic 《美國哥特式》（格蘭特·伍德的名畫）
　Grant Wood 格蘭特·伍德
　Nan 南（人名）
　Indian 印第安人
　James Earle Fraser 詹姆斯·厄爾·弗雷澤
　Central Park Zoo （紐約）中央公園動物園
　Uncle Sam 山姆大叔（指美國政府或美國人）
　Sam Wilson 山姆·威爾遜
　the American Revolution 美國獨立戰(zhàn)爭（1775-1783）
　US Army 美國陸軍
　Brother Jonathan 喬納森大哥（原為18世紀英國兵對美國民兵的謔稱，現可指美國或典型的美國男人）
　James Montgomery Flagg 詹姆斯·蒙哥馬利·弗拉格（1877-1960，美國插圖和廣告畫家）