Lesson1 Let's Visit New York!
Let’s Visit New York!
New York, New York. The city so nice they named it twice.
These words were used to describe New York when it was by far the largest, richest, and most developed city in the United States. New York still remains the largest and most famous city in the U.S. today, but some of its “nice” reputation has fallen over the past thirty years with stories of rampant crime making headlines around the world. How true are these stories? Is New York still a “nice” place to visit? If so, what can a tourist do in New York? Let’s take a closer look at America’s premier city.
First, as personal and social security are always uppermost in the minds of travelers, just how “dangerous” a city is New York? Despite the glaring headlines, New York, located in the northeastern U.S., is one of the safest cities in the U.S… In fact, New York state (which includes New York city—thus, " New York, New York, the city so nice they named it twice" ) ranks below other big-population states like California in both violent crime( of much concern to the tourist)and property crime. Other major cities have higher crime rates, too. Thus, the foreign traveler to New York city can feel more secure here than in most other large metropolitan areas of the U.S…
Besides safety, why do more foreigners visit New York than any other American city? The answer lies in the character of New York itself. No other city in the world is more cosmopolitan . A walk through its hundreds of residential neighborhoods is like walking around the world itself. Place names like Chinatown and little Italy can be found on any map of New York, but smaller ethnic neighborhoods also abound . Also, all these groups sponsor annual or seasonal festivals, so that nearly every week one or more of these peoples will share their cultural experiences (and food!)with other New Yorkers.
Because of this unsurpassed ethnic diversity , the restaurant goer will feel that he has died and gone to heaven while in New York. There is hardly a cuisine on the planet that is not represented here. Even better, many of these exotic restaurants are reasonably priced . One is never far from a restaurant in New York . There are thousands of Chinese restaurants alone.
Besides the internationally famous sight-seeing attractions—mostly in the borough (district) of Manhattan—such as the Statue of Liberty, the World Trade Center with its two 110-story towers, Wall Street, the United Nations, and Broadway , many other interesting places await the curious traveler. The Bronx Zoo in the northern borough of the Bronx is one of the world’ s best. The borough of Queens offers a great variety of ethnic residential neighborhoods. Brooklyn contains the Botanical Gardens, Coney Island (a beach with an amusement park) and J. F. K. International Airport. Finally, Staten Island, the smallest borough, still affords a look at what New York used to be like,including a farm!
For culture lovers, New York has more museums than any other city, but some of these are not internationally known. A visit to any of these historical, technical, ethnic, or academic museums is well worth the time. New York’s art, music, dance, and fashion scenes are a mecca for the young and professional alike. The Internet website for specific information on New York city and state tourism is www . iloveny.state.ny.us. A toll-free number for tourists already in the U.S. or Canada is also available at 1-800-CALL-NYS.
No matter what your interest is, if it can be found in an urban environment, it can be found in New York. Its eight million citizens hail from every corner of the globe ,but they are united in the love of their challenging but rewarding city. As the locals there say, “Sure,you have to be a little crazy to live in New York, but you’ d be nuts to live anywhere else!”
纽约，纽约。这座城市如此美妙，以至于被命名了两次。
这些词汇曾被用来形容纽约，当时它是美国迄今为止最大、最富有且最发达的城市。如今，纽约仍是美国最大且最著名的城市，但在过去三十年里，随着猖獗犯罪的报道成为全球头条新闻，它的一些“美好”声誉有所下降。这些报道有多真实呢？纽约仍是一个“值得游览”的好地方吗？如果是，游客在纽约能做些什么呢？让我们更深入地了解一下这座美国的首要城市。
首先，由于人身安全和社会安全始终是旅行者最为关心的问题，纽约到底有多“危险”呢？尽管有那些耸人听闻的头条新闻，但位于美国东北部的纽约却是美国最安全的城市之一。事实上，纽约州（包括纽约市——因此有“纽约，纽约，一座如此美好的城市以至于被命名了两次”的说法）在暴力犯罪（这是游客非常关注的）和财产犯罪方面，排名低于加利福尼亚等其他人口众多的州。其他主要城市的犯罪率也更高。因此，前往纽约市的外国游客在这里会比在美国其他大多数大城市感觉更安全。
除了安全因素，为什么来纽约的外国游客比去美国其他任何城市的都多呢？答案在于纽约自身的特点。世界上没有其他城市比纽约更具世界性。漫步在它数百个居民区，就如同环游世界一般。像唐人街和小意大利这样的地名在纽约的任何地图上都能找到，但较小的民族聚居区也比比皆是。此外，所有这些群体都会举办年度或季节性的节日，这样几乎每周都会有一个或多个这样的民族与其他纽约人分享他们的文化体验（还有美食！）。
由于这种无与伦比的种族多样性，在纽约，热衷于去餐厅就餐的人会觉得自己仿佛置身天堂。地球上几乎没有哪种烹饪风格在这里找不到代表。更棒的是，许多这些异国风味的餐厅价格都比较合理。在纽约，人们永远不会远离餐厅。仅中餐馆就有成千上万家。
除了国际知名的观光景点——大多位于曼哈顿区，如自由女神像、拥有两座110层塔楼的世界贸易中心、华尔街、联合国以及百老汇——许多其他有趣的地方也在等待着好奇的游客。位于布朗克斯区北部的布朗克斯动物园是世界上最好的动物园之一。皇后区有各种各样的民族聚居区。布鲁克林有植物园、科尼岛（一个带有游乐园的海滩）和约翰·F·肯尼迪国际机场。最后，斯塔滕岛是最小的行政区，仍然能让人领略到纽约过去的样子，包括一个农场！
对于文化爱好者来说，纽约的博物馆比其他任何城市都多，但其中一些并不为国际所熟知。参观这些历史、科技、民族或学术博物馆中的任何一个都非常值得花时间。纽约的艺术、音乐、舞蹈和时尚领域对年轻人和专业人士来说都是一个圣地。关于纽约市和纽约州旅游业具体信息的互联网网站是www.iloveny.state.ny.us。在美国或加拿大的游客还可以拨打免费电话1 - 800 - CALL - NYS。
无论你的兴趣是什么，只要是能在城市环境中找到的，在纽约都能找到。它的八百万市民来自全球各个角落，但他们都因热爱这座充满挑战却又回报丰厚的城市而团结在一起。正如当地居民所说：“当然，你得有点疯狂才能住在纽约，但要是住在别的地方，你可就疯了！”
Vocabulary & Idioms
- rampant——泛滥的
- by far + the + 最高级形容词 + 名词——最……的
- This is by far the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to me
- over/during/for the past + 数字 + 表时间的名词——过去……（时间）以来
- We’ re having a drought because over the past seven months it has rained only twice
- headline——(新闻报道等的)标题
- make(the)headlines/hit the headlines 成为报上的头条新闻
- The news of the earthquake hit the headlines immediately
- Despite + N/Ving,S + V = In spite of+ N/Ving,S + V
- Despite the fact + that 子句，S + V —— 尽管/虽然
- Despite the drizzle,we decided to go for a walk anyway=Despite the fact that it was drizzling,we decided to go for a walk anyway
- cosmopolitan——世界性的，来自世界各地的
- abound——大量存在;充满 ，富于
- The Great Plains of North America abound in grain crops.
- unsurpassed——无比的，没人胜过的
- Alexander’ s achievement in anthropology surpassed his predecessors
- One is never far from a restaurant in New York=Restaurants are everywhere in New York
- mecca——向往的地方，希望一游之地
- A and B alike——A 与 B（=both A and B）
- Juvenile crime is of concern to parents and law enforcement officials alike.
- hail from——（人）来自于 （=come from）
- metropolitan——大都会
- goer——常去的人