The United States has had fifty states for fifty years. Alaska and Hawaii both joined the Union in nineteen fifty-nine. They were the first new states admitted since New Mexico and Arizona in nineteen twelve. And they are the subject of our program today. 美国五十年来已经拥有五十个州。阿拉斯加和夏威夷同在1959年加入联邦。他们是自新墨西哥和亚利桑那在1912年加入联邦以来最新加入联邦的州。他们就是我们今天节目的主题。
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VOICE ONE:
Alaska and Hawaii are the only states not connected to the mainland, or "the lower forty-eight" as Alaskans call it. The Hawaiian Islands are in the Pacific Ocean almost four thousand kilometers west of California. Alaska is on the border of northwestern Canada, far enough north that part of it is within the Arctic Circle. 阿拉斯加和夏威夷是仅有的两个不和美国大陆接壤的州，或者就像阿拉斯加人所说的：四十八州以外的州。夏威夷位于太平洋中，大约在加利福尼亚以西四千公里。阿拉斯加位于加拿大西北部边界，它的一部分远至北极圈。
Alaska and Hawaii are very different states, but they shared attention last year during the presidential campaign. Hawaii is the birthplace of President Barack Obama. Alaska is the home of Governor Sarah Palin, the Republican candidate for vice president.阿拉斯加和夏威夷是很不一样的州，但在去年的总统竞选中它们都受到关注。夏威夷是总统奥巴马的出生地。阿拉斯加是共和党副总统竞选人萨拉怕林的家乡。
Alaska is the biggest of the fifty states by territory but one of the smallest by population. People have lived in Alaska for thousands of years. The population grew nine percent between two thousand and two thousand seven. Still, fewer than seven hundred thousand people live in Alaska. 阿拉斯加是五十个州中领土面积最大，但人口最少的州。人类居住在阿拉斯加已经有几千年。人口数量在2000年到2007年间增长了百分之九。尽管如此，居住在阿拉斯加的人口还没超过700 000人。
VOICE TWO:
Like to fish? Alaska has more than three thousand rivers and three million lakes. It also has about one hundred thousand glaciers, or slow-moving mountains of ice. 喜欢钓鱼吗？阿拉斯加拥有超过3000条河流和三百万个湖泊。还有大概100 000个冰川，或移动的冰山。
Seventeen of the tallest mountains in the United States are in Alaska. They include the tallest mountain in North America. Mount McKinley is almost six thousand two hundred meters high.美国最高的17座山都在阿拉斯加。包括北美最高的山。麦金利山高达6200米。
And speaking of mountains, Alaska has more than seventy volcanoes that are potentially active, meaning that someday they could erupt. 谈到山，阿拉斯加有超过17座活火山，那意味着有一天他们可能爆发。
Because of volcanic activity, Alaska also has a lot of earthquakes. The Alaska Volcano Observatory records five thousand a year. Most of the shaking is not very strong, but Alaska has had some of the biggest quakes ever recorded.因为火山活动，阿拉斯加也有很多地震。阿拉斯加火山观测站每年记录五千次。多数地震不强烈。但阿拉斯加曾有过一些有记录以来的最强的地震。
VOICE ONE:
Alaska is just across the Bering Strait from Russia. Russia took control of the territory in the seventeen hundreds. The United States bought it in eighteen sixty-seven for seven million dollars.阿拉斯加和白令海峡另一面的俄罗斯隔海相望。俄国在十七世纪控制阿拉斯加。美国在1867年以7百万美元买下了它。
Many Americans criticized the purchase. But it was one of the best deals the country ever made. Alaska proved rich in oil and minerals.很多美国人曾批评这个交易。但它是美国做过的最好的交易。已证明阿拉斯加有丰富的石油和矿产。
Gold was found in the nearby Yukon area of Canada in the eighteen nineties. Thousands of gold seekers traveled to the Yukon through Alaska hoping to get rich. Most never did. But some of them decided to stay in Alaska. Mainly they earned their money as miners, fishermen, animal trappers and store owners.十八世纪九十年代在加拿大育空地区附近发现黄金。几千的希望暴富的淘金者穿过阿拉斯加到育空地区。多数没成功。但一些人决定留在阿拉斯加。他们主要靠作矿工，渔民，猎人或开商店赚钱。
VOICE TWO:
Alaska became an official territory of the United States in nineteen twelve. Four years later, the first Alaskan statehood bill was proposed in Congress. Opponents argued that Alaska was far away, disconnected from the other states and little populated. Only about fifty-eight thousand people lived there at the time. 阿拉斯加在1912年正式成为美国领土。四年后，国会提出阿拉斯加州地位法案。反对者争论说阿拉斯加太遥远，和其他州是分离的而且没什么人居住。当时只有大约58000人居住在那里。
Yet those were not the only concerns. Historians say Congress was also unsure about the loyalties of the Alaska natives -- the Aleuts, Indians and Eskimos. But during World War Two, national leaders recognized the importance of the territory to security in the Pacific. 那些还不是唯一的担忧。历史学家说国会对当地人的忠诚也不放心——阿留申人，印第安人，爱斯基摩人。但在二战期间，领导人意识到这块领土对太平洋安全的重要性。
The United States entered the war in December of nineteen forty-one after Japanese planes attacked the Navy base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The surprise attack sank many ships. After that, Congress provided billions of dollars in defense spending for Alaska. Today, federal spending is one of the most important parts of the state economy.1941年十二月，日本飞机攻击了夏威夷的珍珠港海军基地，美国随即参战。偷袭击沉了很多船只。在那以后，国会为阿拉斯加提供了几亿国防资金。现在，联邦资金是该州经济最重要的一部分。
VOICE ONE:
After the war, Alaskans were more serious than ever about statehood. They formed a Statehood Committee in nineteen forty-nine to work toward that goal. 战后，阿拉斯加人比以前更重视州的地位。他们组织了州委员会来实现那个目标。
Finally, in nineteen fifty-eight, Congress passed the Alaska Statehood Bill and President Dwight Eisenhower signed it into law. Alaskans accepted it, and on January third, nineteen fifty-nine, President Eisenhower declared Alaska the forty-ninth state.最后在1958年，国会通过了阿拉斯加州地位法案，并由艾森豪威尔签署。阿拉斯加人接受了法案，在1959年一月三日，艾森豪威尔总统宣布阿拉斯加为美国第四十九个州。
VOICE TWO:
Today, Alaska's economy is tied to a large extent to the oil industry. Oil and gas was found in nineteen sixty-eight near Prudhoe Bay on the North Slope of Alaska. The discovery of the largest oil and gas field in North America led to the Alaska Pipeline. After the pipeline was built, the field began production in nineteen seventy-seven. 现在，阿拉斯加的经济很大程度上依赖石油。在1968年，阿拉斯加北坡普拉德霍湾附近发现了石油和天然气。北美最大石油天然气田的发现导致阿拉斯加输油管线的出现。1977年在输油管建成后，油田开始生产。
But twenty years ago, in March of nineteen eighty-nine, the tanker ship Exxon Valdez created a huge oil spill along the Alaskan coast. That disaster led Congress to pass new measures to prevent oil pollution. 但二十年前，1989年三月，瓦尔敌兹号油轮在阿拉斯加海岸严重泄露。这次灾难导致国会通过新措施防止石油污染。
Today environmental groups are fighting proposals to open protected areas of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil drilling. But supporters of drilling say America needs it to reduce its dependence on foreign oil.
VOICE ONE:现在环保组织正与开放阿拉斯加的北极野生动物保护区来钻油井的提议斗争。但支持者说，美国需要这个油田来减少对外国石油的依赖。
Another important industry in Alaska is tourism, much of it involving cruise ships. The Alaska Travel Industry Association says tourism directly pumps a billion and a half dollars a year into the state economy. Nine percent of Alaska's total employment is in tourism. 阿拉斯加另一个主要产业是旅游业。多数是巡航游。阿拉斯加旅游业协会说旅游业每年为阿拉斯加经济注入15亿美元。阿拉斯加百分之九的就业在旅游业中。
State economists say Alaska had twenty-one years of economic growth through two thousand eight. But now those economists are unsure of the future. There are more questions than answers, they say, about how the worldwide economic downturn will affect Alaska. 经济学家说，阿拉斯加到2008年已有21年的经济增长。但现在经济学家对未来不能确定。问题很多，他们说。要看世界范围的经济低迷怎样影响阿拉斯加。
Oil prices have collapsed from their record highs of last year. But that is not the only problem. Because of the recession, people are traveling less. Not good, as Alaska heads toward its busiest time of year, the summer vacation season.石油价格已经从去年的最高纪录崩塌下来。但这不是唯一的问题。因为经济不景气，人们旅游少啦。对于正在进入一年里最忙时候——暑假的阿拉斯加来说，这可不好。
阿拉斯加给人的印象是狂野，我看过一些电影是关于阿拉斯加的，印象较深的是那部《荒野生存》，大山大水，威严而壮美。待续
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VOICE TWO:
Travel is even more important to Hawaii. The tropical weather and beaches bring people from all over the world. But Hawaii is also experiencing problems from the downturn. 旅游对夏威夷更加重要。热带气候和海滩吸引世界各地的人们来夏威夷。但夏威夷也在受经济低迷的影响。
Last year was the first year since two thousand four that Hawaii has had fewer than seven million visitors. The state had six million eight hundred thousand arrivals in two thousand eight. That was a decrease of ten percent from the year before.去年是2004年来首次游客低于七百万人的一年。2008年这个州曾有六百八十万游客。比去年少了百分之十。
State officials expect a decrease this year of another two percent. And they expect no growth in the economy through most of the year. 官方今年还会有两个百分点的下降，而且这一年多数时间不会有经济增长。
VOICE ONE:
Around one million three hundred thousand people live in Hawaii. The state has eight major islands. Most people live on the four largest. 大概一百三十万人居住在这个州。该州有八个主要岛屿，多数人住在第四大岛上。
The Hawaiian Islands were formed starting millions of years ago by hot liquid rock flowing from undersea volcanoes. Visitors can still watch the process take place on the largest island, which like the state is named Hawaii. People usually just call it the Big Island. On the Big Island, red-hot lava has been flowing from the Kilauea volcano since the early nineteen eighties. 夏威夷是在几百万年前有海底火山喷出的岩浆形成的，人们现在仍可以在最大的岛，夏威夷岛上看到这个过程。人们一般称它为大岛。在大岛上，从基佬维亚火山喷出的熔岩从八十年代到现在一直喷涌。
VOICE TWO:
Experts say Polynesian people first sailed to Hawaii about two thousand years ago. A king ruled the islands when the eighteenth-century British explorer James Cook arrived. At first, Hawaiians treated Captain Cook like a god. But in the end, he was killed on the Big Island in seventeen seventy-nine. 专家说波利尼西亚人最早在两千年前到达这个岛。在十八世纪英国的库克船长到来之前一直有一个国王统治。一开始，岛民把库克船长当做上帝，他在1779年被杀。
Britain gave the islands their independence in eighteen forty-three. Then, fifty years later, a group of American businessmen ousted the ruler and established the Republic of Hawaii. It became an American territory in nineteen hundred. 英国在1843年允许夏威夷独立。后来，五十年后，一群美国商人 逐出了统治者建立了夏威夷共和国，在1900年成为美国的领土。
That was three years after the United States established a naval base at Pearl Harbor, on the island of Oahu. Oahu served as the command base for American operations in the Pacific during World War Two. 那是美国海军在瓦胡岛珍珠港建立基地的三年后。在二战期间，瓦胡岛是美国的作战司令部。
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Hula dancers perform for visitors in Waikiki |
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After the war, two-thirds of the people of Hawaii supported statehood. In Congress, though, there was resistance from southern states because of Hawaii's non-white native population. But Congress passed the Hawaii Statehood Bill in nineteen fifty-nine. Hawaiians accepted it, and on August twenty-first, President Eisenhower declared Hawaii the fiftieth state.战后，三分之二的夏威夷人支持加入联邦。但在国会，南方一些州反对这个提议，因为夏威夷土著居民是非白种人。但国会还是在1959年通过了这个法案，在八月二十一日，艾森豪威尔总统宣布夏威夷为美国第五十个州。
Today, Hawaiians are thinking about their future. Hawaii wants to re-invent itself as more than a "sun, sand and surf destination," in the words of David Young, a state information specialist. 现在，夏威夷人在思考未来，用夏威夷资讯专家戴维杨的话说，夏威夷不想只是作阳光沙滩和冲浪基地。
A report last month from a government committee, the Sustainability Task Force, outlined goals for Hawaii's future. These include increasing affordable housing and strengthening public education. Other goals are creating better transportation between the islands and controlling development to preserve the state's natural beauty.上个月的政府委员会报告说，一个可持续性研究工作组，为夏威夷描绘了将来的目标。包括发展经济适用房和公共教育。还有加强岛屿间的运输和控制发展以保护自然。
[此贴被系统于2009-3-19 18:58:57编辑过]
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