书城外语课外英语-美国各州小知识(七)(双语版)
45807600000022

第22章 内华达州(5)

In 1935,the Nevada State Flag Association was formed in response to the lack of flags.The Association enlisted(赞助,支持)the American Legion of the state to provide monetary(货币的,金钱的)support and needlewomen of the Works Project Administration(WPA)to hand-make the flags.In 1937,a new flag was presented to the battleship,and by 1939,new flags had been produced for the University of Nevada and the Governor’s Office.

Don Schellbach,the state flag’s designer,left Nevada to work at the Museum of the American Indian in New York City in May 1927.Known as “Mr.Grand Canyon”when he died on September 22,1971in Tucson(图森[美国亚利桑那州南部城市])at the age of 83,he had worked for more than 24years for the National Park Service at Grand Canyon[(美)大峡谷].

In November 1989,Nevada legislative researcher Dana Bennett discovered a clerical error(笔误)in the flag’s legislation of 60years earlier.That error compromising legislative intent was independently substantiated(使实体化,证实)by State Archives and Records Administrator Guy Rocha after examining legislative records in the State Archives.The Assembly did amend the bill to place the word “Nevada”around the star,but the Senate refused to concur in(赞成)that amendment.A conference committee was established on March 19and reported back on March 20,1929.On March 21,1929,the last day of the session,both houses adopted the committee report,which did not place “Nevada”in a circle.Instead,the committee agreed on the following sentence:“The word ’Nevada’shall also appear immediately below the sprays(喷雾,飞沫)in silver Roman letters to conform with the letters appearing in the words ‘Battle Born’.”

Yet,the language of the report was somehow omitted from the copy of the hill signed by the leaders of the Senate and Assembly and approved by the Governor.Consequently,the conference committee’s agreement did not appear in the appropriate chapter of Statutes of Nevada 1929nor in the corresponding section of NRS;thus,every state flag produced after the session was not in the design approved by the Nevada Legislature.

In 1991,due to finding this mistake,the Nevada Legislature changed the placement of the word “Nevada”on the state flag.The members chose to keep the word “Nevada”intact,as did the 1929conference committee,but placed it above the sprays and in gold.The earlier action placed the word below the sprays and in silver.

Only once has a proposed state flag design failed.In the closing days of the 1953session,Senate Bill 231,which proposed a radically different design for the banner,was introduced and passed by both houses of the legislature and sent to the Governor.According to Reno’s Nevada State Journal the measure was promoted by the Elko,Reno,and Las Vegas Chambers of Commerce who complained that the existing flag was too expensive to manufacture and,therefore,many Nevada organizations could not afford to display it.The proposal would cut the manufacturing cost from 20to around 7for each flag.

However,Governor Charles H.Russell vetoed the bill.His message stated that the 1929flag,“while,probably,...not an adequate(适当的,足够的)display symbol for the State,...has a dignity(尊严,高贵)which is not found in the proposed flag.Furthermore,it is my considered judgment that the proposed flag is not symbolic of Nevada.”Governor Russell suggested that any new banner be proposed by a commission that conducts “a careful study made to embody true Nevada tradition into[the flag’s]meaning”.By the time the 1955session convened(召集,集合),the earlier support for the new flag had evaporated((使)蒸发,消失),and the legislature sustained the veto.

The current Nevada State Flag design was adopted March 26,1929,and revised(修订,修正,修改)in 1991.On a cobalt blue(钴蓝色,艳蓝色)background in the upper left quarter is a five-pointed silver star between two sprays of sagebrush crossed to form a half wreath;across the top of the wreath is a golden scroll with the words,in black letters,“Battle Born”.The name “Nevada”is beneath the star in gold letters.

State Song州歌

Home Means Nevada

Way out in the land of the setting sun,

Where the wind blows wild and free,

There’s a lovely spot,just the only one

That means home sweet home to me.

If you follow the old Kit Carson trail,

Until desert meets the hills,

Oh you certainly will agree with me,

It’s the place of a thousand thrills.

Home means Nevada

Home means the hills,

Home means the sage and the pine.

Out by the Truckee,silvery rills,

Out where the sun always shines,

Here is the land which I love the best,

Fairer than all I can see.

Deep in the heart of the golden west

Home means Nevada to me.

Whenever the sun at the close of day,

Colors all the western sky,

Oh my heart returns to the desert grey

And the mountains tow’ring high.

Where the moon beams play in shadowed glen,

With the spotted fawn(小鹿)and doe(母鹿),

All the live long night until morning light,

Is the loveliest place I know.

Home means Nevada

Home means the hills,

Home means the sage and the pines.

Out by the Truckee’s silvery rills,

Out where the sun always shines,

There is the land that I love the best,

Fairer than all I can see.

Right in the heart of the golden west

Home means Nevada to me.

Facts and Trivia相关资料

1.In 1899Charles Fey invented a slot machine named the Liberty Bell.The device became the model for all slots to follow.

2.The Reno Ice Pavilion is a 16,000-square-foot rink once dismantled(拆除)and moved to Reno from Atlantic City,New Jersey.

3.Bugsy Siegel named his Las Vegas casino “The Flamingo”for the long legs of his showgirl(歌舞女郎)sweetheart,Virginia Hill.

4.The Imperial Palace on the Las Vegas strip is the nation’s first off-airport airline baggage check-in service.

5.Bertha was a performing elephant that entertained for 37years at John Ascuaga’s Nugget casino located in Sparks.She was 48years old when she died.

6.There were 16,067slots in Nevada in 1960.In 1999Nevada had 205,726slot machines,one for every 10residents.

7.While Samuel Clemens took the penname “Mark Twain”as a reporter working for the “Territorial Enterprise”,he began his writing career as a reporter in the Midwest some years before moving to Virginia City in 1862.