[ti:City]
[ar:英语听力]
[al:VOA慢速英语：词汇典故]
[by:lrc.d4321.com]
[00:10.980] Now, the VOA Special English program
[00:14.370] WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.
[00:16.860] Many cities have interesting nicknames.
[00:20.540] Nicknames can help establish the identity of a city.
[00:25.370] They can also spread pride among its citizens.
[00:29.400] New Orleans, Louisiana probably has more nicknames
[00:34.870] than any other American city.
[00:37.960] One web site lists more than twenty nicknames.
[00:42.340] The most famous is The Big Easy.
[00:46.380] It describes the gentle, slow
[00:49.760] and easy-going way of life in New Orleans.
[00:54.100] So how did the city get this nickname?
[00:57.270] In the early nineteen hundreds,
[01:00.550] there was a dance hall in New Orleans called The Big Easy.
[01:05.490] But the nickname did not become famous
[01:08.520] until the early nineteen seventies.
[01:11.910] That was when a Louisiana newspaper writer
[01:17.080] began calling New Orleans by this name.
[01:20.780] She compared the easy-going way of life there
[01:25.110] to the hurried pace of life in New York City.
[01:29.290] In nineteen seventy, James Conaway
[01:33.130] wrote a crime novel called "The Big Easy."
[01:37.220] The story was set in New Orleans.
[01:40.810] In nineteen eighty-seven,
[01:43.150] that book was made into a film
[01:46.150] which made the nickname even more popular.
[01:50.000] New Orleans has other nicknames.
[01:52.990] One of them is The Crescent City.
[01:56.730] During the nineteenth century,
[01:59.860] new neighborhoods expanded out
[02:03.000] from what is now known as the French Quarter.
[02:06.760] These areas followed the great curve of the Mississippi River,
[02:12.580] giving New Orleans the shape of a crescent.
[02:16.370] Another nickname is the Birthplace of Jazz
[02:21.050] because that kind of music started in New Orleans.
[02:26.330] It is also called Mardi Gras City for the wild celebrations
[02:31.850] and parades that take place there every year.
[02:35.980] And, there is a nickname that uses the short way
[02:40.570] to write New Orleans and Louisiana.
[02:44.350] It you do not want to use the complete name,
[02:47.890] you can call the city NOLA.
[02:51.370] One of America's most exciting cities is Las Vegas, Nevada.
[02:58.400] There you can play games of chance all night long.
[03:03.780] The city's night clubs are also open all night
[03:08.210] for eating, drinking and dancing.
[03:12.040] So it is not surprising that Las Vegas
[03:15.920] is called The Gambling Capital of the World
[03:19.950] and The Entertainment Capital of the World.
[03:24.090] Another nickname for Las Vegas is Sin City
[03:28.910] because you can find many kinds of adult entertainment there.
[03:34.780] Many people who come to Las Vegas
[03:38.320] in hopes of winning lots of money
[03:40.910] do not know when to stop gambling.
[03:45.000] They may lose a great deal of their hard-earned money.
[03:49.430] So the city is also called something
[03:53.060] that sounds like Las Vegas – Lost Wages.
[03:58.070] In nineteen sixty-four,
[04:01.250] Elvis Presley starred in a movie called "Viva Las Vegas."
[04:06.920] Here he sings the title song from that movie.
[04:11.250] (MUSIC)
[04:42.060] This program was written by Shelley Gollust.
[04:45.340] I'm Barbara Klein.