VOA标准英语2011--Historic Plantation Endures in Louisiana

Historic Plantation¹ Endures in Louisiana

 

The National Trust for Historic Preservation², a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., owns 19 historic properties, including a beautiful site in the little town of New Iberia, Louisiana, in the heart of what’s called “Cajun country.”

French-speaking people migrated there from the Acadia region of eastern Canada in the mid-18th century. In the swampy³ Louisiana lowlands, these Acadians, or “Cajuns,” found work as fishermen and laborers⁴ on sugar plantations⁵.

And the grandest plantation of all was an 81-hectare spread called, simply, “The Home Place,” because owner David Weeks also had several other houses and sugarcane operations nearby. More than 250 African slaves also labored⁶ at those houses and in the canebrakes.

The centerpiece of the Weeks plantation was a three-story mansion⁷, built in 1834, that featured some of the elements of a Greek Revival-style home - including eight enormous white columns.

Northern soldiers occupied the house during the U.S. Civil War of the 1860s. It survived but fell into disrepair until the 1920s, when Weeks’s great-grandson, Weeks Hall, inherited it and began a lifelong campaign to restore it.

One can picture southern aristocrats8 sitting on the mansion’s veranda9, sipping10 cocktails11 and looking out through the massive columns at the verdant12 landscape.

He called the place “Shadows-on-the-Teche.” That’s one of the nearby, slow-moving streams, or bayous. The shadows are cast by giant live oaks, their branches draped with swaying wisps of Spanish moss¹³, that line the path to the house.

Shortly before he died in 1958, Weeks Hall signed an agreement to donate Shadows-on-the-Teche to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. In the attic¹⁴, trust workers found dozens of old trunks containing 17,000 documents, 650 articles of clothing and troves of china and crystal collected by four generations of the mansion’s owners.

All told, the artifacts helped the trust put together the most complete family record of any of the classic old, southern plantations. And if ever there was a classic southern planation that survives, it is Shadows-on-the-Teche.

1 plantation   

n.种植园，大农场

参考例句：

• His father-in-law is a plantation manager.他岳父是个种植园经营者。
• The plantation owner has possessed himself of a vast piece of land.这个种植园主把大片土地占为己有。

2 preservation   

n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持

参考例句：

• The police are responsible for the preservation of law and order.警察负责维持法律与秩序。
• The picture is in an excellent state of preservation.这幅画保存得极为完好。

3 swampy   

adj.沼泽的，湿地的

参考例句：

• Malaria is still rampant in some swampy regions.疟疾在一些沼泽地区仍很猖獗。
• An ox as grazing in a swampy meadow.一头牛在一块泥泞的草地上吃草。

4 laborers   

n.体力劳动者，工人( laborer的名词复数 )；（熟练工人的）辅助工

参考例句：

• Laborers were trained to handle 50-ton compactors and giant cranes. 工人们接受操作五十吨压土机和巨型起重机的训练。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Wage-labour rests exclusively on competition between the laborers. 雇佣劳动完全是建立在工人的自相竞争之上的。 来自英汉非文学 - 共产党宣言

5 plantations   

n.种植园，大农场( plantation的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Soon great plantations, supported by slave labor, made some families very wealthy. 不久之后出现了依靠奴隶劳动的大庄园，使一些家庭成了富豪。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• Winterborne's contract was completed, and the plantations were deserted. 维恩特波恩的合同完成后，那片林地变得荒废了。 来自辞典例句

6 labored   

adj.吃力的，谨慎的v.努力争取(for)( labor的过去式和过去分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转

参考例句：

• I was close enough to the elk to hear its labored breathing. 我离那头麋鹿非常近，能听见它吃力的呼吸声。 来自辞典例句
• They have labored to complete the job. 他们努力完成这一工作。 来自辞典例句

7 mansion   

n.大厦，大楼；宅第

参考例句：

• The old mansion was built in 1850.这座古宅建于1850年。
• The mansion has extensive grounds.这大厦四周的庭园广阔。

8 aristocrats   

n.贵族( aristocrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Many aristocrats were killed in the French Revolution. 许多贵族在法国大革命中被处死。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• To the Guillotine all aristocrats! 把全部贵族都送上断头台！ 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

9 veranda   

n.走廊；阳台

参考例句：

• She sat in the shade on the veranda.她坐在阳台上的遮荫处。
• They were strolling up and down the veranda.他们在走廊上来回徜徉。

10 sipping   

v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• She sat in the sun, idly sipping a cool drink. 她坐在阳光下懒洋洋地抿着冷饮。
• She sat there, sipping at her tea. 她坐在那儿抿着茶。

11 cocktails   

n.鸡尾酒( cocktail的名词复数 )；餐前开胃菜；混合物

参考例句：

• Come about 4 o'clock. We'll have cocktails and grill steaks. 请四点钟左右来，我们喝鸡尾酒，吃烤牛排。 来自辞典例句
• Cocktails were a nasty American habit. 喝鸡尾酒是讨厌的美国习惯。 来自辞典例句

12 verdant   

adj.翠绿的，青翠的，生疏的，不老练的

参考例句：

• Children are playing on the verdant lawn.孩子们在绿茵茵的草坪上嬉戏玩耍。
• The verdant mountain forest turns red gradually in the autumn wind.苍翠的山林在秋风中渐渐变红了。

13 moss   

n.苔，藓，地衣

参考例句：

• Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
• He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。

14 attic   

n.顶楼，屋顶室

参考例句：

• Leakiness in the roof caused a damp attic.屋漏使顶楼潮湿。
• What's to be done with all this stuff in the attic?顶楼上的材料怎么处理？