VOA慢速英语:Words and Their Stories: State Nicknames, Part 3

Today, we tell about more interesting nicknames of American states.
今天我们将讲述更多美国各州有趣的别名。

The mid-Atlantic state of Maryland is called the Free State. A Baltimore newspaper first called it that during the nineteen twenties when the manufacture and sale of alcohol were banned for a time.  Maryland said it wanted to be free from this prohibition.
位于大西洋中部的马里兰州被称为“自由之州”。二十世纪二十年代，巴尔的摩的一家报纸首次使用该名。当时一度禁止酒类的生产和销售，而马里兰州称他们要摆脱这项禁酒令。

Mississippi is the Magnolia State. It is named for a tree with big, beautiful white flowers that grows in that hot, southern state.
密西西比州别名是“木兰花州”。它以生长在这个炎热的南部州，盛开出硕大的美丽白花的木兰树命名。

The midwestern state of Missouri is called the Show Me State. The people of that frontier state were once famous for not believing everything people told them.
中西部的密苏里州被称作“索证之州”。这座边陲之州的居民曾因不相信别人告诉他们的任何事情而著名。

If you visit the western mountain and plain state of Montana you will know why it is known as Big Sky Country.
如果你游览一下西部蒙大纳州的高山和平原，你就会知道它缘何被称为“长空之乡”了。

Nebraska is the only state to have a nickname that honors sports teams!  The state university's athletic teams are nicknamed Cornhuskers in recognition of one of the area's chief crops.  The state borrowed the Cornhusker nickname from the university.
内布拉斯加州是唯一一个别名用来纪念运动队的州。该州州立大学的运动队以当地的一种主要作物为名，给自己取名“剥玉米皮的乡巴佬”。内布拉斯加州从这所大学借来了“剥玉米皮的乡巴佬”这个别名。

The western desert state of Nevada is called the Silver State. It was once home to many silver mines and towns that grew up around them. Today, most of them are empty “ghost towns.”
内华达州位于西部沙漠地区，别名是“产银之州”，这里曾经盛产银矿，拥有众多围矿而建的城镇。如今，大部分的城镇成为了空无一人的“鬼城”。

New Hampshire, in the northeast area called New England, is the Granite State because of that colorful rock.
新罕布什尔位于美国东北部新英格兰区域，因盛产鲜艳多彩的岩石而被称为“花岗岩州”。

New Jersey is between the big cities of New York, New York and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  It got its nickname, the Garden State, because New Jersey truck farms once provided vegetables to those big cities.
新泽西位于纽约州的纽约市和宾夕凡尼亚州的费城市之间。新泽西洲的昵称是“花园州”，因为新泽西的蔬菜农场曾为这些大城市提供蔬菜。

New York, which always thinks big, was called the Empire State because of its natural wealth.  The most famous Manhattan skyscraper got its name from the state.  It is, of course, the Empire State Building.
人们总觉得纽约州很大，它因含有丰富的自然财富被称为“帝国之州”。最富盛名的曼哈顿摩天大楼——没错，就是帝国大厦——就是根据这个州的昵称而命名的。

If you get a chance to see a red sunset over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of New Mexico, you will know why that southwestern state is called the Land of Enchantment.
如果你有机会在新墨西哥洲的桑格累得克利斯托山脉欣赏红色的夕阳，你就会知道为什么这个西南部的州被称为“迷人之地”了。

North and South Carolina were one colony until seventeen twenty-nine.  South Carolina's nickname is the easier of the two: It is the Palmetto State because of a fan-leafed palm tree that grows there.  North Carolina is the Tar Heel State. That is because many of the men who worked to gather substances from trees wore no shoes. They would make turpentine from tar and get the black, sticky tar on the heels of their feet.
在1729年以前，南北卡罗来纳州一直是块殖民地。和前两者相比，南卡罗来纳州的昵称较为简单，该地因为生长风扇叶棕榈树被称为“矮棕榈之州”。北卡罗来纳州则被称为“焦油脚印之州”，因为这里许多人从树上收集焦油时并不穿鞋。他们用焦油制作松节油，因此脚后跟会沾上黑色黏稠的焦油。

Next week, we will finish telling about the colorful nicknames of American states.
下周，我们将结束对美国各州别名的讲述。

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