VOA慢速英语:Words and Their Stories: Nicknames for Philadelphia and Boston

Now, the VOA Special English program, WORDS and THEIR STORIES. Almost all American cities have nicknames.  They help establish a city’s identity.  They can also spread unity and pride among its citizens.
现在，这里是美国之音慢速英语词汇掌故节目。几乎所有的美国城市都有绰号。它们有助于确立一个城市特性，还可以激发民众自豪感增进团结。

Two east coast cities -- Philadelphia and Boston -- were both important in the early history of the United States.  Philadelphia is best known as The City of Brotherly Love.
两个东部沿海城市--费城和波士顿，均在美国早期历史中都非常重要。费城是最有名的“兄弟之爱之城”。

In sixteen eighty-one, King Charles the Second of England gave William Penn a large amount of land to establish a colony.  The king named the colony Pennsylvania in honor of Penn’s father.  William Penn was a Quaker.  He brought his beliefs about equality, religious freedom and brotherly love to this new land.  Penn was also an expert in Latin and Greek. He established a city and named it Philadelphia, which is Greek for “brotherly love.”  An ancient city called Philadelphia was also noted in Christianity’s holy book, the Bible.
在1681年，英国国王查尔斯二世送给William Penn大量土地以建立一个殖民地。为了纪念Penn的父亲，国王将这块殖民地命名为宾夕法尼亚。 William Penn是贵族，他为这片土地带来了信仰平等、宗教自由和兄弟般的爱。Penn还是一名拉丁语和希腊语专家。他还建立了一个城市，并把它命名为费城，这在希腊语中的意思是“兄弟之爱”。基督教的圣书《圣经》中也提到了一个被称为费城的古老城市。

Philadelphia became the social, political and geographical center of the American colonies.  In the late seventeen hundreds, many events that took place in Philadelphia gave birth to the American Revolution and independence.  For example, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed in the city.  Philadelphia was the temporary capital of the new nation from seventeen ninety to eighteen hundred. 
费城成了美国殖民地的社会、政治和地理中心。18世纪后期，许多事件都发生在费城，催生了美国的革命和独立。例如，独立宣言和宪法都是在这个城市签署的。从1790年到1800年，费城还是这个新国家的临时首都。

Some of Philadelphia’s other nicknames are The Quaker City, The Cradle of Liberty and The Birthplace of America.  Philadelphia is a long name.  So many people just call it Philly.
费城的其它别名还包括贵格市，自由的摇篮和美国诞生地。Philadelphia这个名字太长了，所以很多人称之为Philly。

Boston is another important city.  It is one of the oldest cities in the United States.  In sixteen thirty, Puritan settlers from England established Boston in what would become the state of Massachusetts.
波士顿是另一个重要城市。它是美国最古老的城市之一。17世纪30年代，来自英格兰的清教徒在后来的马萨诸塞州建立了波士顿。

Several major events took place in Boston before and during the American Revolution. You may have heard of the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party and the Battle of Bunker Hill.
在美国革命之前和革命期间，波士顿发生了几件大事。你可能已经听说过波士顿大屠杀，波士顿茶叶党和邦克山战役。

So, like Philadelphia, Boston is called The Cradle of Liberty.  Another nickname is The Cradle of Modern America.
因此，像费城一样，波士顿也被称为自由的摇篮。另一个绰号是现代美国的摇篮。

However, Boston's most famous nickname is Beantown.  But it was not because the city grew a lot of beans.  In the seventeen hundreds, Boston was a major trading center.  It received a lot of sugarcane from the West Indies.  Beans baked in molasses, a sugar product, became a favorite food in the city.  Today, no companies there make Boston baked beans.  Restaurants in Boston rarely serve it.  But many Americans eat this tasty dish at home.
然而，波士顿最有名的别名是Beantown。但事实并非是这个城市长了很多豆子。18世纪时，波士顿是一个主要贸易中心，它收到了大量来自西印度群岛的甘蔗。豆子在糖浆中烘烤后成为这个城市最受欢迎的食物。现今，这里没有公司生产波士顿烤豆，波士顿的餐馆也很少提供，但许多美国人在家里吃这道美味的菜。

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