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VOA标准英语2012--Nantucket Island Offers Paradise at a Price

时间：2012-08-01 05:54:23

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Nantucket Island Offers Paradise at a Price

Forty-three kilometers off the coast of the northeastern state of Massachusetts lies the island of Nantucket.

It’s the size of New York City’s Manhattan Island, but with about a million and a half fewer residents. Just 10,000 or so year-round - but at least five times that number each summer.

There’s no bridge or tunnel to the island, so you have fly or take a ferry to get there. Its isolation1, and the treacherous2 shoals that surround it, kept Massachusetts’ early settlers away and the landscape wild.

Nantucket was once the biggest and busiest whaling port in the nation - the place from which the fictional3 Captain Ahab set off in search of the great white whale Moby Dick in Herman Melville’s novel.

These days, Nantucket is still relatively4 unspoiled. It’s a peaceful place with none of the high-rise hotels, honky-tonk boardwalks, amusement parks, or shopping centers of other beachfront resorts.

There is just one town, with cobblestone streets, cottages with flower boxes and gardens and white picket5 fences, and expensive restaurants and guest houses with porches full of wicker furniture - perfect for reading or dozing6.

Nantucket also has 90 kilometers of pristine7 beaches and a picturesque8 harbor with some of the fanciest yachts you’ll see. The island is often so fog-bound that it got the nickname, “The Gray Lady.”

And 45 percent of the island is preserved for all time as free and open space and nature preserves.

This unusual preservationist victory traces to the work of one man - Walter Beinecke, Jr., the heir to a trading-stamp fortune.

In the 1950s, Nantucket Harbor was decayed and declining. Beinecke bought 55 percent of the commercial space and began building reproductions of 18th-century architecture.

And he purchased whole swaths of open land and set them aside as protected space.

Beinecke’s efforts completely changed the character of Nantucket, from a dingy9 outpost that many people avoided to a highly desirable summer destination - for those who can afford it.


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1 isolation 7qMzTS     
n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离
参考例句：
  • The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
  • He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。
2 treacherous eg7y5     
adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的
参考例句：
  • The surface water made the road treacherous for drivers.路面的积水对驾车者构成危险。
  • The frozen snow was treacherous to walk on.在冻雪上行走有潜在危险。
3 fictional ckEx0     
adj.小说的，虚构的
参考例句：
  • The names of the shops are entirely fictional.那些商店的名字完全是虚构的。
  • The two authors represent the opposite poles of fictional genius.这两位作者代表了天才小说家两个极端。
4 relatively bkqzS3     
adv.比较...地，相对地
参考例句：
  • The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
  • The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。
5 picket B2kzl     
n.纠察队；警戒哨；v.设置纠察线；布置警卫
参考例句：
  • They marched to the factory and formed a picket.他们向工厂前进,并组成了纠察队。
  • Some of the union members did not want to picket.工会的一些会员不想担任罢工纠察员。
6 dozing dozing     
v.打瞌睡,假寐 n.瞌睡
参考例句：
  • The economy shows no signs of faltering. 经济没有衰退的迹象。
  • He never falters in his determination. 他的决心从不动摇。
7 pristine 5BQyC     
adj.原来的，古时的，原始的，纯净的，无垢的
参考例句：
  • He wiped his fingers on his pristine handkerchief.他用他那块洁净的手帕擦手指。
  • He wasn't about to blemish that pristine record.他本不想去玷污那清白的过去。
8 picturesque qlSzeJ     
adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的
参考例句：
  • You can see the picturesque shores beside the river.在河边你可以看到景色如画的两岸。
  • That was a picturesque phrase.那是一个形象化的说法。
9 dingy iu8xq     
adj.昏暗的，肮脏的
参考例句：
  • It was a street of dingy houses huddled together. 这是一条挤满了破旧房子的街巷。
  • The dingy cottage was converted into a neat tasteful residence.那间脏黑的小屋已变成一个整洁雅致的住宅。

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