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VOICE ONE:
Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I’m Barbara Klein.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Steve Ember. This week, explore the biggest city in Texas.
Houston is home to cowboy culture, space travel, art cars and much more.
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VOICE ONE:
Two brothers established Houston in eighteen thirty-six. Augustus and John
Allen were land developers from New York state.
They purchased more than twenty-five square kilometers of land in a low-lying
area near a small river, or bayou. They named the
town after a hero of Texas history, Sam Houston. The Allens wanted to build a
city that would become a center of government and commerce. They succeeded.
Houston soon became a center for the cotton trade, then later the oil
industry. The Port of Houston links the city to the shipping traffic in the
nearby Gulf of Mexico.
The capital of the state of Texas is Austin. But Houston for a time in its
early years was the capital of the Republic of Texas.
Texas was part of Mexico until a rebellion by Anglo-American colonists and
Tejanos, Mexicans living in Texas. After that, the territory was an independent
republic for almost ten years.
In 1846, Texas became the twenty-eighth state.
VOICE TWO:
Today, Houston is the fourth largest city in the United States. Two million
people live there.
The area now spreads over more than one thousand six hundred square
kilometers of southeastern Texas.
Oil and gas exploration are still important to the Houston economy. But other
industries have also grown over the years. One of these is the space industry.
Houston is home to the Johnson Space Center. Astronauts train there. And it
is also where the NASA space agency has its Mission Control. Controllers direct
space shuttle flights from Houston, just as they did with the old Apollo flights
to the moon.
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Movies like "Apollo Thirteen" have only added to the image of Houston as
"Space City."
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VOICE ONE:
Houston is also a center of culture. For example, visitors to the Museum
District can explore the Menil Collection. This is considered one of the finest
private collections of art in the world. John and Dominique de Menil created the
museum for their personal collection.
Next to the museum is the Rothko Chapel. The Menils created this, too. It
represents a work of both religious and modern art.
VOICE TWO:
The space serves as a place of worship for people of all religious beliefs.
Visitors can stand or sit in an eight-sided room with high walls. On the walls
are fourteen huge paintings that the artist Mark Rothko created for this
purpose. The paintings are mixtures of dark color that help create a calm
environment.
Visitors to the Museum District can find many art museums as well as others
devoted to science and history.
VOICE ONE:
Tall office buildings rise in the center of Houston. Some of these shining
glass structures were designed by world-famous architects.
Downtown Houston is also home to the Theater District. Many performing arts
organizations are located there. In fact, Theater District officials say Houston
has more to offer than most other American cities. Houston has its own permanent
professional companies in all of the major performing arts: opera, ballet, music
and theater.
VOICE TWO:
But art does not have to be traditional to be enjoyed. Every year in Houston,
people gather for the Art Car Parade. They come from around Texas and other
parts of the country to see who has the best design for making a car into art.
In the parade, the cars are driven slowly down a main street. People stand on
the sidewalks and cheer when they see ones they like.
One winning car, for example, was covered in shining pieces of silver glass
and colorful round pieces of plastic. Attached to the back of the car were
life-size sculptures of people playing music.
Another artist had a small car designed as a piece of fruit. He painted his
old Volkswagen Beetle orange and placed a big leaf on top. This art car was
called “Orange-A-Peel."
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VOICE ONE:
Houston is a big modern city. But many Houstonians wear cowboy hats and
boots. They enjoy country music and dance the Texas two-step.
The tradition of the old western cowboy is a part of Texas culture that
remains important to many people. Yet there are still many cattle ranches in
Texas. So cowboy culture lives on.
VOICE TWO:
Every year, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo creates much
excitement around the city. This event is described as the largest of its kind
in the world. It was started in the nineteen thirties. People compete to see who
raised the best farm animals. At the rodeo, visitors can watch competitions
based on traditional cowboy skills.
Thousands of people give their time to organize these events. The Houston
Livestock Show and Rodeo raises millions of dollars. The money helps provide
financial aid to students all over Texas.
VOICE ONE:
Texans have a tradition of doing things in a big way. The Houston Astrodome
is a good example. This huge ballpark opened in nineteen sixty-five. It was
named for the Houston Astros of Major League Baseball, who have since moved.
When the Astrodome was built, some people called it the eighth wonder of the
world. They had never seen a ballpark with a roof over the playing field. It
meant that the climate-controlled stadium could be kept cool even in the heat of
the Texas summer.
The roof was covered in glass. But players soon found that sunlight shining
off the glass made baseballs hit in the air difficult to see. So workers painted
over the glass on the roof. Without sunlight, however, the grass on the field
died.
A new invention called Astroturf soon replaced the real grass. This
artificial grass became popular on playing fields around the world.
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VOICE TWO:
Are you hungry? Houston has plenty of different restaurants. In fact,
Houstonians are said to eat out more than people in any other American city.
There are foods from around the world. But the city is especially well known
for Tex-Mex, Texas cooking combined with traditional foods from Mexico
Texas barbecue is also popular. The smoke from burning wood gives a rich
flavor to the meat. And to clean your plate, be sure and try a piece of hot
cornbread.
VOICE ONE:
Houston has a large Latino population. It also has one of the largest
populations of ethnic Vietnamese in the United States. Many Nigerians also live
there. In fact, if you listen carefully, it is possible to hear about ninety
languages being spoken in the Houston area.
Houston continues to grow, sometimes in unexpected ways. In late two thousand
five, Houston received many of the people forced from their homes in New Orleans
by Hurricane Katrina. Officials say ninety thousand, and perhaps as many as one
hundred fifty thousand, remain in Houston and surrounding areas.
VOICE TWO:
To many people, Houston is a city that has it all. In fact, it is one of the
least costly cities in America. But not everything that is said about Houston is
good.
For example, the company MapQuest has declared Houston the most difficult of
major cities in the United States for visitors to navigate. The Houston
Chronicle reported this under the headline: "It's easy to get lost in our big,
fat, hot, polluted city."
The story said: "In survey after survey, Houston has been picked on for being
the fattest, the hottest and the most polluted of U.S. cities." The newspaper
noted that a public opinion study had even just found Houstonians terrible at
cleaning up after their dogs.
Yet some people do not seem to mind too much that Houston appears on lists
like these. A city spokesman told the Chronicle: "Houston is fast becoming the
third-largest city in the United States, so somebody is not reading the bad
lists."
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VOICE ONE:
Our program was written by Dana Demange and produced by Caty Weaver. Read and
listen to our programs at voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Barbara Klein.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Steve Ember. To send us e-mail, write to [email protected]. We hope
you listen again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.
bayou : 小河灣；河口
