2006年VOA标准英语-San Francisco Artist Designs US Olympic St

By David Byrd
Washington
12 January 2006

 
2006 Winter Olympics US Postage Stamp
  
The U.S. Postal¹ Service has dedicated² a new stamp to commemorate³ next month's Olympics in a ceremony in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  The new stamp was designed by a California artist and is the only stamp the Postal Service will issue to mark the 2006 Winter Games.

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The stamp, conceived by San Francisco-based graphic⁴ designer John Mattos, depicts⁵ a skier⁶ cutting into a turn at full speed. 

The Olympic rings and "USA" are in the upper right hand corner with "2006 Olympic Games" in the lower right.  Mattos, who won the gold medal from the New York Society of Illustrators, says three years ago he contacted the Postal Service with some examples of his work, and one week later, he had the contract.

"I was reading a magazine and realized that the names of all the people on the board that decides who does stamps were in this one magazine article," he said.  "And so I looked them up, they live all over the United States, and I sent them a letter, and it took seven days.  So the next Monday they called and said, 'Would you like to do this project?'"

The stylized female skier wears a blue and white uniform, the colors of the Turin Olympics.  The stamp is worth 39 cents to reflect the recent two cent increase in the price of a first class letter mailed within the United States.

David Failor is the executive director of Stamp Development for the Postal Service.  He told VOA Sports that Mattos's design caught the attention of the Service's art directors, and they are very pleased with the result.

"Well, I think that as far as the image goes, it is a wonderful image," he said.  "It really, in my mind, captures a lot of the speed and the grace that you associate with the Winter Olympics, especially downhill skiing.  And the colors, it is just a great looking stamp.  It is going to be a great part of our program this year."

John Mattos says that his biggest challenge in designing the stamp was creating the image since no specific athlete, sponsor or sports equipment could be featured.

"The main thing I was thinking was 'keep it simple.'  There are not that many edges and defined things about it," he explained.  "Whenever I could eliminate something, I tried to eliminate it.  It sort of became a little game to see how much of it I could take out and still convey the image."

The Turin Olympics commemorative stamp is available for public purchase through Post Offices in the United States and online at the Postal Service's Internet site

1 postal   

adj.邮政的，邮局的

参考例句：

• A postal network now covers the whole country.邮路遍及全国。
• Remember to use postal code.勿忘使用邮政编码。

2 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

3 commemorate   

vt.纪念，庆祝

参考例句：

• This building was built to commemorate the Fire of London.这栋大楼是为纪念“伦敦大火”而兴建的。
• We commemorate the founding of our nation with a public holiday.我们放假一日以庆祝国庆。

4 graphic   

adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的

参考例句：

• The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。

5 depicts   

描绘，描画( depict的第三人称单数 )； 描述

参考例句：

• The book vividly depicts French society of the 1930s. 这本书生动地描绘了20 世纪30 年代的法国社会。
• He depicts the sordid and vulgar sides of life exclusively. 他只描写人生肮脏和庸俗的一面。

6 skier   

n.滑雪运动员

参考例句：

• She is a skier who is unafraid of danger.她是一名敢于冒险的滑雪者。
• The skier skimmed across the snow.滑雪者飞快地滑过雪地。