VOA慢速英語(yǔ):The City of Brotherly Love, and Beantown

Now, the VOA Special English program, WORDS and THEIR STORIES.

這里是美國(guó)之音慢速英語(yǔ)詞匯掌故節(jié)目。

Almost all American cities have nicknames. They help establish a city's identity. They can also spread unity and pride among its citizens.

幾乎所有的美國(guó)城市都有別名。別名有助于確立城市特性，還能激發(fā)民眾自豪感增進(jìn)團(tuán)結(jié)。

Two east coast cities -- Philadelphia and Boston -- were both important in the early history of the United States. Philadelphia is best known as The City of Brotherly Love.

美國(guó)兩個(gè)東部沿海城市--費(fèi)城和波士頓在美國(guó)早期歷史中都非常重要。費(fèi)城是最著名的“兄弟之愛之城”。

In sixteen eighty-one, King Charles the Second of England gave William Penn a large amount of land to establish a colony. The king named the colony Pennsylvania in honor of Penn's father. William Penn was a Quaker. He brought his beliefs about equality, religious freedom and brotherly love to this new land. Penn was also an expert in Latin and Greek. He established a city and named it Philadelphia, which is Greek for "brotherly love." An ancient city called Philadelphia was also noted in Christianity's holy book, the Bible.

1681年，英國(guó)國(guó)王查爾斯二世送給威廉·佩恩(William Penn)大片土地建立一個(gè)殖民地。為了紀(jì)念佩恩的父親，國(guó)王將這塊殖民地命名為賓夕法尼亞。佩恩是貴族，他把自己的信條：平等、宗教自由和兄弟之愛帶到了這片新的土地。佩恩還是一名拉丁語(yǔ)和希臘語(yǔ)專家。他建立了一個(gè)城市并把它命名為Philadelphia(費(fèi)城)，這個(gè)名字在希臘語(yǔ)中的意思是“兄弟之愛”。基督教《圣經(jīng)》中也提到了一個(gè)被稱為Philadelphia的古老城市。

Philadelphia became the social, political and geographical center of the American colonies. In the late seventeen hundreds, many events that took place in Philadelphia gave birth to the American Revolution and independence. For example, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed in the city. Philadelphia was the temporary capital of the new nation from seventeen ninety to eighteen hundred.

費(fèi)城成為了美國(guó)殖民地的社會(huì)、政治和地理中心。18世紀(jì)末期，許多事件都發(fā)生在費(fèi)城，催生了美國(guó)的革命和獨(dú)立。例如，美國(guó)獨(dú)立宣言和美國(guó)憲法都是在這個(gè)城市簽署的。從1790年到1800年，費(fèi)城還是美國(guó)這個(gè)新國(guó)家的臨時(shí)首都。

Some of Philadelphia's other nicknames are The Quaker City, The Cradle of Liberty and The Birthplace of America. Philadelphia is a long name. So many people just call it Philly.

費(fèi)城的其它別名還包括貴格城(Quaker City)，自由的搖籃和美國(guó)發(fā)源地。Philadelphia這個(gè)名字太長(zhǎng)了，所以很多人稱之為Philly。

51VOA注：貴格城別名源自基督新教派貴格會(huì)，具體請(qǐng)百度之。

Boston is another important city. It is one of the oldest cities in the United States. In sixteen thirty, Puritan settlers from England established Boston in what would become the state of Massachusetts.

波士頓是另一個(gè)重要城市。它是美國(guó)最古老的城市之一。17世紀(jì)30年代，來自英格蘭的清教徒在后來的馬薩諸塞州建立了波士頓。

Several major events took place in Boston before and during the American Revolution. You may have heard of the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party and the Battle of Bunker Hill.

美國(guó)革命前和革命期間，幾次重大事件都發(fā)生在波士頓。你可能已經(jīng)聽說過波士頓大屠殺，波士頓茶葉黨和邦克山戰(zhàn)役。

So, like Philadelphia, Boston is called The Cradle of Liberty. Another nickname is The Cradle of Modern America.

因此，和費(fèi)城一樣，波士頓也被稱為自由的搖籃。另一個(gè)別名是現(xiàn)代美國(guó)的搖籃。

However, Boston's most famous nickname is Beantown. But it was not because the city grew a lot of beans. In the seventeen hundreds, Boston was a major trading center. It received a lot of sugarcane from the West Indies. Beans baked in molasses, a sugar product, became a favorite food in the city. Today, no companies there make Boston baked beans. Restaurants in Boston rarely serve it. But many Americans eat this tasty dish at home.

然而，波士頓最著名的別名是豆城(Beantown)。但這并不是因?yàn)檫@個(gè)城市盛產(chǎn)豆子。18世紀(jì)時(shí)，波士頓是一個(gè)主要貿(mào)易中心，它收到了大量來自西印度群島的甘蔗。豆子在糖漿中烘烤后成為這個(gè)城市最受歡迎的食物。如今這里沒有哪家公司生產(chǎn)波士頓悶烤豆，波士頓的餐館也很少提供這種食物，但許多美國(guó)人在家里做這道美食。