Passage 19 大快活城和罪恶之城 The Big Easy and Sin City

Step 1 阅读行不行

Many cities have interesting nicknames. Nicknames1 can help establish the identity2 of a city. They can also spread pride among its citizens.

New Orleans, Louisiana probably has more nicknames than any other American city. One web site lists more than twenty nicknames. The most famous is The Big Easy. It describes the gentle, slow and easy-going way of life in New Orleans.

So how did the city get this nickname? In the early 1900s, there was a dance hall in New Orleans called The Big Easy. But the nickname did not become famous until the early 1970s. That was when a Louisiana newspaper writer began calling New Orleans by this name. She compared the easy-going way of life there to the hurried3 pace of life in New York City.

In 1970s, James Conaway wrote a crime novel called“The Big Easy”. The story was set in New Orleans. In 1987, that book was made into a film which made the nickname even more popular.

New Orleans has other nicknames. One of them is The Crescent4 City. During the nineteenth century, new neighborhoods expanded out from what is now known as the French Quarter. These areas followed the great curve5 of the Mississippi River, giving New Orleans the shape of a crescent.

Another nickname is the Birthplace of Jazz because that kind of music started in New Orleans. It is also called Mardi Gras City for the wild celebrations and parades6 that take place there every year. And, there is a nickname that uses the short way to write New Orleans and Louisiana. If you do not want to use the complete name, you can call the city NOLA.

One of America's most exciting cities is Las Vegas, Nevada. There you can play games of chance all night long. The city's night clubs are also open all night for eating, drinking and dancing. So it is not surprising that Las Vegas is called The Gambling Capital of the World and The Entertainment Capital of the World.

Another nickname for Las Vegas is Sin City because you can find many kinds of adult entertainment there. Many people who come to Las Vegas in hopes of winning lots of money do not know when to stop gambling. They may lose a great deal of their hard-earned money. So the city is also called something that sounds like Las Vegas—Lost Wages.

keywords and phrases

1 nickname /'nɪkneɪm/ n. 绰号；诨名；昵称

2 identity /aɪ'dentətɪ/ n. 身份；个性

3 hurried /ˈhʌrɪd/ adj. 仓促的，匆忙地；草率的

4 crescent /'kresnt/ n. 新月，月牙

5 curve /kɜːv/ n. 弧线，曲线；曲线状物

6 parade /pə'reɪd/ n. （部队的）检阅；游行

phrase to know

compare A to B 在本文中的意思是“将A与B相比”，如：The writer was compared to Shakespeare. 表示“把这个作家与莎士比亚比较。”这个短语还可以表示“把……比作，喻为”，如：Life is compared to a voyage. 意为“人生好比航海”。

make into 表示“把……转变为，使成为”，如：make a story into a play意为“把故事改编成戏剧”；还可以表示“制成，做成（后面跟产品，制成品）”，如：make glass into bottle（把玻璃制成瓶子）; make material into dress（把衣料制成衣服）。

Mardi Gras 在美国被誉为“狂欢节”，来源于天主教徒在复活节之前的斋戒仪式，在斋戒之前，通常会大吃大喝狂欢一番，而Mardi Gras就这样应运而生了。通常庆祝活动会持续两个星期，过节的气氛一天比一天热烈，一直持续到Mardi Gras Day那天达到最高潮！由于Mardi Gras是依据阴历去推算的，可能是介于2月3号到3月9号之间的任何一个星期二，所以有时候美国人也会用Fat Tuesday来表示Mardi Gras Day。

Step 2 手写行不行

★ 我忌讳别人叫我的外号。(call sb by...)

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★ 警方不久就查出了窃贼的真实身份。(identity)

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★ 史蒂夫吃完晚饭就匆匆忙忙离开了。(hurried)

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★ 昨晚天上挂着一弯闪闪发亮的新月。(crescent)

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★ 火车司机在拐弯处减速了。(slow clown)

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★ 由于游行，交通瘫痪了两小时。(be tied up)

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Step 3 口语行不行

Q1 Do you know the famous nickname of the New York City？你知道纽约市最有名的别称吗？

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Q2 In China, do women change their names when they get married？在中国，女性结婚后要改姓氏吗？

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Q3 Does your name have any special meaning？你的名字有什么特殊的含义吗？

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试题解答篇

Step 2 手写行不行答案

1．I resent being called by my nickname.

2．The police soon found out the thief's true identity.

3．Steve ate a hurried dinner and left.

4．The moon was a brightly shining crescent last night.

5．The driver of the train slowed down at a curve.

6．Traffic was tied up for two hours because of the parade.

Step 3 口语行不行答案

1．The most famous nickname of New York is The Big Apple. In the early nineteen seventies, the city had many problems. The number of visitors was falling. So a campaign was launched to give the city a new image.The head of the New York Conventions and Visitors Bureau decided to call the city, The Big Apple.

2．Chinese women generally do not change their surnames after marriage. While their legal names are left unmodified, it is common for them to be addressed in a similar fashion to Western custom as“Mrs. plus her husband's family name”. In Chinese, this is usually written with their husband's surname first, followed by tàitai , or furen for more formal occasions.

3．I presume you are referring to my Chinese name. Yes, the English equivalent of my family name would mean“yellow”, and in the case of my first name it would be “virtue and love”since my parents lay much value on the virtues and morals. My English name was given by one of my high school English teachers, and it means“knowledgeable and wise”.