VOA标准英语2009年-New York City Celebrates 400th Anniversary

By Martin Phillips
New York
26 September 2009

 
An artist's rendering¹ of New York City when it was New Amsterdam
Four hundred years ago this month, Henry Hudson, looking for a sea route to Asia, sailed into what is now New York Harbor. His arrival is celebrated² as the beginning of Dutch settlement in North America. A few years later, Dutch traders established New Amsterdam to trade animal furs with local Indians. Today that settlement is known as New York City.

New York City has such a distinctive³ look it's hard to imagine it was once a small Dutch settlement.
 
But at New York's South Street Seaport⁴ Museum, a centuries-old document proves the Dutch did indeed pay for this land. 

 
Martin Berendse, the Director of the Netherlands National Archives, translated the letter, written by a Dutch official in 1624.

BERENDSE: "All mighty⁵ lords of the State General. I heard a ship, the New Amsterdam, came in from New Netherlands to Amsterdam. I spoke⁶ to the captain and he told me. Our people are doing well. Children are born. The settlement is going good. And we bought the island of Manhattan for the worth of 60 guilders. By the way the ship has so many furs with it."

The letter is on loan from the Netherlands for New York's 400th anniversary.

 
A map of New Amsterdam
"It's the testimony⁷ of the creation of a Dutch settlement called New Amsterdam which now became the big city of New York," explained Berendse.

A map of the area is also on display, showing houses and roads at the new settlement.

Another shows just how small Manhattan was. That changed after the British took over.

Architectural historian Barry Lewis says the British filled in part of what's known as the East River with garbage because they needed the real estate. Waves of immigrants, mostly from Europe, kept on coming.

 
Barry Lewis
"We had only about 100,000 people at the beginning of the 19th century," he said. "By 1875 the population of Manhattan is over one million. By 1910, over 2 million people are living in Manhattan Island."

Manhattan real estate became expensive. In 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was built so people could buy land, further out, on Long Island where it was cheaper.

"You could go across by carriage, freight or passengers. You could walk across," added Lewis.

Then came the subway.

 
A New York City subway station
 
"The brilliance⁸ of the New York subway system is that for one nickel it took you miles and miles away from the central business district and opened up cheap real estate in the outlying parts of the metropolitan⁹ area. So the average person could at least afford a house, an apartment a nice place," Lewis explained.

But businesses needed to be in Manhattan. So developers started building up, and the skyscraper¹⁰ was born.

"People were afraid it would fall down in the first windstorm," said Lewis. "And anyone who had property in the commercial buildings next to it they were terrified that no one would rent in their buildings because that thing was next door."

But more of 'those things' rose. The Woolworth Building, the Chrysler Building. The Empire State Building. Each one outdoing the other.

"It's money, lets face it. This is a city built by real estate speculators," said Mr. Lewis.

But that's not why everything in New York was built.

The Washington Square Arch designed by Stanford White and the Guggenheim Museum by Frank Lloyd Wright, among other buildings, have enhanced New York's architectural landscape. 

Still that small sliver¹¹ of land that began 400 years ago as a trading post is today still about money.

The area the Dutch settled to trade furs with the Indians is now Wall Street, the world's financial center.

1 rendering   

n.表现，描写

参考例句：

• She gave a splendid rendering of Beethoven's piano sonata.她精彩地演奏了贝多芬的钢琴奏鸣曲。
• His narrative is a super rendering of dialect speech and idiom.他的叙述是方言和土语最成功的运用。

2 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

3 distinctive   

adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的

参考例句：

• She has a very distinctive way of walking.她走路的样子与别人很不相同。
• This bird has several distinctive features.这个鸟具有几种突出的特征。

4 seaport   

n.海港，港口，港市

参考例句：

• Ostend is the most important seaport in Belgium.奥斯坦德是比利时最重要的海港。
• A seaport where ships can take on supplies of coal.轮船能够补充煤炭的海港。

5 mighty   

adj.强有力的；巨大的

参考例句：

• A mighty force was about to break loose.一股巨大的力量即将迸发而出。
• The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。

6 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

7 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。

8 brilliance   

n.光辉，辉煌，壮丽，（卓越的）才华，才智

参考例句：

• I was totally amazed by the brilliance of her paintings.她的绘画才能令我惊歎不已。
• The gorgeous costume added to the brilliance of the dance.华丽的服装使舞蹈更加光彩夺目。

9 metropolitan   

adj.大城市的，大都会的

参考例句：

• Metropolitan buildings become taller than ever.大城市的建筑变得比以前更高。
• Metropolitan residents are used to fast rhythm.大都市的居民习惯于快节奏。

10 skyscraper   

n.摩天大楼

参考例句：

• The skyscraper towers into the clouds.那幢摩天大楼高耸入云。
• The skyscraper was wrapped in fog.摩天楼为雾所笼罩。

11 sliver   

n.裂片，细片，梳毛；v.纵切，切成长片，剖开

参考例句：

• There was only one sliver of light in the darkness.黑暗中只有一点零星的光亮。
• Then,one night,Monica saw a thin sliver of the moon reappear.之后的一天晚上，莫尼卡看到了一个月牙。