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这张照片中就是曼哈顿岛的最南端，也就是纽约最核心的部分——downtown. 世贸中心、华尔街和市政厅，都坐落在这里。 它既是城市地图的最下面，也是城中心的所在。 那么，为什么市中心要被称为downtown呢？ 快来点开今天的音频，听听主播怎么说吧~ Why is downtown called downtown? 级别: B1 Pre-intermediate 全文字数: 437 音频时长: 2’56’’ 建议阅读时长: 4分钟 主播: Lisa Hey guys! Welcome back to OpenLanguage Lite! This is Lisa. 1. 什么是Downtown, Midtown和Uptown Now, all of you know that downtown is the heart of the city and a place of entertainment and business. But, have you ever wondered why Americans call city centers downtown if they often aren’t at the bottom of the city? Also, what do they mean they say midtown and uptown?
Well, uptown refers to residential areas that are often quite fancy or elegant. In contrast, midtown is quite simply the area between downtown and uptown. But where did these terms come from?
2. Downtown, Midtown和Uptown的由来 The words actually came from New York City back in the 1800s. And, if you’ve ever been to New York City, you’ll know that Manhattan it’s split into downtown, midtown and uptown. Downtown, which is on the southern end of the island, is the commercial hub and historical city center. But, as the city spread in the 19th century, it moved northwards and a new residential area that became uptown was built. So, downtown was down south, uptown was up north and midtown developed between the two.
3. 如今的Downtown和Uptown These days, downtown and uptown often don’t have much to do with north and south. Instead, downtown is just a general term for these business hubs. Uptown, by contrast, is outside the hustle and bustle of the working areas and are nice, wealthy neighbourhoods. As a result, uptown became connected to this idea of high society that appears frequently in popular culture.
So, some of you guys might have heard the classic song “Uptown Girl” by Billy Joel. In the song, a downtown man talks about his love for a classy uptown girl who seems to live in another world. A movie called “Uptown Girls” later came out in 2003 and was about a spoiled uptown girl that loses her money and has to learn to support herself. So, as you can see, the words uptown and downtown have become pretty common in everyday American language. However, in many European countries and in Britain they still prefer to use city center.
4. Downtown + 什么介词？ But, just remember that if you are going to use downtown, midtown and uptown as nouns don’t use prepositions in front of these words. So, we would normally say “I’m going downtown” and “I live uptown” without “to” and “in.” But, if you are using downtown like an adjective, you can have a preposition. For instance, I can say “I’m at a downtown cafe.”
Alright, but that brings us to the end of our little lesson on downtown! Please let us know what you thought about the lesson, and if there are any other words that you would like to know more about. We’ll be looking forward to reading those comments. Thank you for listening! Catch you again next time. Source: https://en./wiki/Downtown#Origins 关于downtown的来龙去脉，你学会了吗？ 今天的互动小问题是—— Where do you prefer to live, downtown or uptown? Why? |
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