City - 英语听力.mp3

[00:10.98]Now, the VOA Special English program
[00:14.37]WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.
[00:16.86]Many cities have interesting nicknames.
[00:20.54]Nicknames can help establish the identity of a city.
[00:25.37]They can also spread pride among its citizens.
[00:29.40]New Orleans, Louisiana probably has more nicknames
[00:34.87]than any other American city.
[00:37.96]One web site lists more than twenty nicknames.
[00:42.34]The most famous is The Big Easy.
[00:46.38]It describes the gentle, slow
[00:49.76]and easy-going way of life in New Orleans.
[00:54.10]So how did the city get this nickname?
[00:57.27]In the early nineteen hundreds,
[01:00.55]there was a dance hall in New Orleans called The Big Easy.
[01:05.49]But the nickname did not become famous
[01:08.52]until the early nineteen seventies.
[01:11.91]That was when a Louisiana newspaper writer
[01:17.08]began calling New Orleans by this name.
[01:20.78]She compared the easy-going way of life there
[01:25.11]to the hurried pace of life in New York City.
[01:29.29]In nineteen seventy, James Conaway
[01:33.13]wrote a crime novel called "The Big Easy."
[01:37.22]The story was set in New Orleans.
[01:40.81]In nineteen eighty-seven,
[01:43.15]that book was made into a film
[01:46.15]which made the nickname even more popular.
[01:50.00]New Orleans has other nicknames.
[01:52.99]One of them is The Crescent City.
[01:56.73]During the nineteenth century,
[01:59.86]new neighborhoods expanded out
[02:03.00]from what is now known as the French Quarter.
[02:06.76]These areas followed the great curve of the Mississippi River,
[02:12.58]giving New Orleans the shape of a crescent.
[02:16.37]Another nickname is the Birthplace of Jazz
[02:21.05]because that kind of music started in New Orleans.
[02:26.33]It is also called Mardi Gras City for the wild celebrations
[02:31.85]and parades that take place there every year.
[02:35.98]And, there is a nickname that uses the short way
[02:40.57]to write New Orleans and Louisiana.
[02:44.35]If you do not want to use the complete name,
[02:47.89]you can call the city NOLA.
[02:51.37]One of America's most exciting cities is Las Vegas, Nevada.
[02:58.40]There you can play games of chance all night long.
[03:03.78]The city's night clubs are also open all night
[03:08.21]for eating, drinking and dancing.
[03:12.04]So it is not surprising that Las Vegas
[03:15.92]is called The Gambling Capital of the World
[03:19.95]and The Entertainment Capital of the World.
[03:24.09]Another nickname for Las Vegas is Sin City
[03:28.91]because you can find many kinds of adult entertainment there.
[03:34.78]Many people who come to Las Vegas
[03:38.32]in hopes of winning lots of money
[03:40.91]do not know when to stop gambling.
[03:45.00]They may lose a great deal of their hard-earned money.
[03:49.43]So the city is also called something
[03:53.06]that sounds like Las Vegas – Lost Wages.
[03:58.07]In nineteen sixty-four,
[04:01.25]Elvis Presley starred in a movie called "Viva Las Vegas."
[04:06.92]Here he sings the title song from that movie.
[04:11.25](MUSIC)
[04:42.06]This program was written by Shelley Gollust.
[04:45.34]I'm Barbara Klein.