您现在的位置是:首页 > 英语听力 > VOA英语听力下载|VOA news > voa标准英语|美国之音常速英语下载|在线收听
正文
VOA常速英语:What Lights in Yonder Desert Shine?
2010-05-07来源:和谐英语
Update Required
To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.
Along a downtown casino row that's often called Glitter Gulch, building facades pulsate with millions of lights and glowing neon displays. Even bigger illuminated signs and animated marquees line the Las Vegas Strip of casino resorts just outside city limits. Vegas shimmers all night long.
According to Nevada's power company, the electricity needed to illuminate just the outdoor signs on the Las Vegas Strip could power an entire city of 25,000 people.
Seventy or so years ago, the tradition of light spectacles began downtown, and glittering Fremont Street became world-famous. But as the fancy new resorts on the Strip lured away more and more tourist traffic, downtown Vegas declined into a collection of worn-out casinos and run-down motels.
The city responded in the late 1990s by turning five blocks of downtown into a pedestrian and entertainment mall called the Fremont Street Experience, covered by a canopy of 2 million lightbulbs and 218 giant speakers that erupt into a spectacular show each night.
These are not ordinary lightbulbs. Each is engineered to last 25,000 hours.
And a more delicate lighting experience - neon - is making a comeback as a decorative feature on the city's newest high-rise casino hotels.
Downtown, neon treasures from a bygone era were stored in a dusty field called the Neon Boneyard. It has evolved into a museum, full of old-time signs from places like Sassy Sally's casino and the Horseshoe Club.
Casino owners in the place they call Sin City are sometimes asked to dim their lights in the dead of night to help conserve energy for the regional power grid. The requests are usually ignored. Their city without lights, they say, would be like Venice without canals, India without the Taj Mahal, or Bali without the sea.
相关文章
- VOA常速英语:日增20万确诊病例,印度疫情失控
- VOA常速英语:美国驱逐10名俄罗斯外交官
- VOA常速英语:US Marks One Year of Pandemic Shutdown with Hope, Concern
- VOA常速英语:US Senate Nears Vote on $1.9 Trillion Biden COVID Aid Package
- VOA常速英语:What Is Clubhouse and Why Did It Get So Popular?
- VOA常速英语:Thermal Water Helps Recovering COVID Patients
- VOA常速英语:Deadly Drug Overdoses Epidemic Rages On
- VOA常速英语:International Women’s Day Marks Year of Increased Hardships for Women Worldwide
- VOA常速英语:US States Relax Restrictions, Health Officials Warn Against It
- VOA常速英语:Virginia Starts Reopening Schools for In-Person Learning