美国国家公共电台 NPR--How a Virginia city turned things around and attracted businesses to its downtown

How a Virginia city turned things around and attracted businesses to its downtown

Transcript¹

Danville, Va., might be the model of how to turn things around for struggling American downtowns.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Danville, Va., is the latest city working to revitalize its downtown. A lot of big cities have recovered in the last 25 years as old center cities refilled with global businesses and hipsters and so forth². For smaller cities, the results have been mixed, with some of them quite lively and others less so. Danville is an older city of just over 40,000 people with old industries - tobacco and textiles. Diana Schwartz, of a local group called the River District Association, says the city declined when those industries did.

DIANA SCHWARTZ: Roads and sidewalks and buildings began to crumble³, quite frankly⁴, you know, as people began to move out of the downtown and move their businesses out of the downtown.

INSKEEP: Danville began to turn things around in 2017 with simple fixes.

SCHWARTZ: Things like sidewalk repair, road repair, plumbing⁵, sewer⁶, internet, utilities - things that may not seem quite so sexy, but these are very important things if you're going to begin to have investors⁷ look at your community seriously to begin development.

INSKEEP: Yes, you would like to know that the sewers⁸ are up to code. Next up was getting residents back.

SCHWARTZ: And so there was a conversion⁹ of many of our former tobacco warehouse¹⁰ buildings into beautiful and very affordable¹¹ lofts¹² in the downtown.

INSKEEP: Oh, I've seen this in a bunch of cities. Rochester, N.Y., now has office towers that are apartment buildings. The final piece here was attracting businesses such as Fashion Haus, owned by Kelly Cunningham.

KELLY CUNNINGHAM: Fashion Haus is a creative agency. Within the creative agency, we focus on model development.

INSKEEP: And Cunningham says the support she got from that organization, the River District Association, helped her succeed. And her small Black-owned business is helping¹³ Danville thrive again.

CUNNINGHAM: Small businesses now are not what they used to look like when I was growing up. There are so many different small businesses that can make a downtown complete.

INSKEEP: Now, what we're describing is an approach laid out by Main Street America which is a national organization. Danville is one of the winners of this year's Great American Main Street Award.

SCHWARTZ: Whether you be a town, a small town of any size, or even a larger city that has distinct commercial corridors, there is a way for the program to work for everyone, even if you only utilize¹⁴ certain bits and parts.

INSKEEP: And in that way, smaller cities are hoping to follow the revivals¹⁵ of the big ones.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

3 crumble   

vi.碎裂，崩溃；vt.弄碎，摧毁

参考例句：

• Opposition more or less crumbled away.反对势力差不多都瓦解了。
• Even if the seas go dry and rocks crumble,my will will remain firm.纵然海枯石烂，意志永不动摇。

4 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

5 plumbing   

n.水管装置；水暖工的工作；管道工程v.用铅锤测量（plumb的现在分词）；探究

参考例句：

• She spent her life plumbing the mysteries of the human psyche. 她毕生探索人类心灵的奥秘。
• They're going to have to put in new plumbing. 他们将需要安装新的水管。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 sewer   

n.排水沟，下水道

参考例句：

• They are tearing up the street to repair a sewer. 他们正挖开马路修下水道。
• The boy kicked a stone into the sewer. 那个男孩把一石子踢进了下水道。

7 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

8 sewers   

n.阴沟，污水管，下水道( sewer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sewers discharge out at sea. 下水道的污水排入海里。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Another municipal waste problem is street runoff into storm sewers. 有关都市废水的另外一个问题是进入雨水沟的街道雨水。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

9 conversion   

n.转化，转换，转变

参考例句：

• He underwent quite a conversion.他彻底变了。
• Waste conversion is a part of the production process.废物处理是生产过程的一个组成部分。

10 warehouse   

n.仓库；vt.存入仓库

参考例句：

• We freighted the goods to the warehouse by truck.我们用卡车把货物运到仓库。
• The manager wants to clear off the old stocks in the warehouse.经理想把仓库里积压的存货处理掉。

11 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

12 lofts   

阁楼( loft的名词复数 )； （由工厂等改建的）套房； 上层楼面； 房间的越层

参考例句：

• He lofts it into the air, and hugs his head in the deep secret embrace. 他抬手甩了出去，然后赶忙把头紧紧的抱了个密不透风。
• Spring Loaded Bed Loft-Lofts bed, freeing up extra storage space underneath. 弹性床铺抬高器---抬高床铺，释放更多床底下的空间。

13 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

14 utilize   

vt.使用，利用

参考例句：

• The cook will utilize the leftover ham bone to make soup.厨师要用吃剩的猪腿骨做汤。
• You must utilize all available resources.你必须利用一切可以得到的资源。

15 revivals   

n.复活( revival的名词复数 )；再生；复兴；（老戏多年后）重新上演

参考例句：

• She adored parades, lectures, conventions, camp meetings, church revivals-in fact every kind of dissipation. 她最喜欢什么游行啦、演讲啦、开大会啦、营火会啦、福音布道会啦--实际上各种各样的娱乐。 来自辞典例句
• The history of art is the history of revivals. 艺术的历史就是复兴的历史。 来自互联网