VOA慢速英語:美國各州別名

[ti:Words and Their Stories State Nicknames, Part 4] [ar:] [al:WORDS AND THEIR STORIES] [00:00.00]Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES. [00:17.16]Today, we finish telling about the interesting nicknames [00:21.83]that have been given to the fifty American states. [00:25.50]The state of Ohio is in the midwest. It is named the Buckeye State [00:33.14]after a tree that produces nuts similar to chestnuts. [00:37.82]The Great Plains state of Oklahoma is called the Sooner State. [00:44.20]That is because of a sale of land in eighteen eighty-nine. [00:49.73]Some people arrived in the territory to claim their land [00:54.74]earlier than they were supposed to. They cheated and got there "sooner." [01:00.97]Pennsylvania's nickname is the Keystone State. [01:05.94]Just as a keystone holds together a stone arch, [01:10.72]Pennsylvania was seen as holding together the young American republic. [01:16.84]Pennsylvania is also sometimes called the Quaker State. [01:22.21]Its founder, William Penn, and most of his followers, [01:27.06]were members of the Protestant Quaker religion. [01:30.97]Rhode Island's nickname is Little Rhody because of its size. [01:37.09]The state is smaller than the area around Los Angeles, California. [01:43.20]Tennessee got its nickname -- the Volunteer State -- [01:47.73]because of the bravery of its citizens. [01:51.31]They volunteered to join Tennessean Andrew Jackson [01:56.57]to defend the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, [02:00.37]against the British army in the War of Eighteen Twelve. [02:04.43]Texas is called the Lone Star State. [02:09.30]It gets its nickname from the single star on its flag. [02:14.26]This represents the short time Texas was an independent [02:19.33]nation battling Mexico for self-rule. [02:23.05]The Beehive State of Utah has no more beehives than any other state. [02:30.52]The nickname is from the Mormon Church's symbol for hard work. [02:35.64]The eastern state of Vermont is proud of its beautiful Green Mountains [02:43.12]so it calls itself the Green Mountain State. [02:47.19]The southern state of Virginia is called the Old Dominion. [02:52.50]Long ago, King Charles the Second of England [02:56.61]added the colony's coat of arms to his shield. [03:00.68]It joined his other dominions of England, Ireland, and Scotland. [03:06.61]West Virginia broke away from Virginia in the eighteen sixties. [03:13.27]It is called simply the Mountain State for the ancient Appalachian mountains. [03:19.95]And we have saved perhaps the most American nickname for last. [03:26.41]The western state of Wyoming was once an area where cattle were transported east. [03:34.16]And where there are cattle, there are men -- and now women -- to move them. [03:40.38]So Wyoming is the Cowboy State.

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