发音：美式发音
语速：110词/分钟
使用方法：精听+听写
在上期中，我们一起分享了美国的一些州名别称。这一期，我们将继续了解这些有趣的别称以及它们背后的故事。
Idaho is known as the Gem State. This is not because it has diamonds but because it believes it is the jewel of the western Rocky Mountains. Illinois is the Land of Lincoln. It is named for Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president who led the nation through the Civil War in the 1860s.
The Midwestern state of Indiana is called the Hoosier State, but nobody is quite sure why. One story is that the word was used to mean poor farmers or uneducated people. No wonder the state legislature instead calls Indiana the Crossroads of America.
Iowa's nickname, the Hawkeye State, is in honor of Black Hawk, an Indian chief who spent most of his life in neighboring Illinois! Kansas also has a “howkish” nickname: the Jayhawk State. Jayhawkers were free-state guerrilla fighters opposed to the pro-slavery fighters in the years before the Civil War.
Kentucky is the Bluegrass State. Bluegrass is really bright green but looks bluish from a distance. Louisiana is the Bayou State. A bayou is a slow-moving stream. Hundreds of them flow through this southern state, and many are full of alligators!
Maine, in the nation's northeast, is the Pine Tree State because it is covered in evergreen woods. And directly across the country, on the Pacific Coast, is the state of Washington. It also has lots of evergreen trees, so not surprisingly, it is the Evergreen State.
The eastern state of Massachusetts is the Bay State. This body of water separates most of the state from famous Cape Cod.
Six state nicknames are taken from native animals. Michigan is the Wolverine State. A wolverine is a small, fierce mammal. The badger is a similar and equally fierce creature and Wisconsin is the Badger State.
Neighboring Minnesota, the Gopher State, is named for a much nicer animal that builds hills and tunnels. However, the Land of Ten Thousand Lakes is written on Minnesota's vehicle license plates. North Dakota gets its nickname, the Flickertail State, not from some bird, but from a little squirrel. South Dakota takes its nickname, the Coyote State, from an animal that thinks flickertails are good to eat! And Oregon, the Beaver State, borrows its nickname from the large, flat-tailed rodent that uses trees to build dams.
● 爱达荷州（Idaho）位于美国临太平洋的大西北心脏地带，与加拿大接壤，是个以壮观的自然风景和优质的生活环境而著名的地方。Idaho一词在印第安语中就是“山中的宝石”之意，这里山高林密，环境优美，有着丰富的矿产资源。19世纪这里曾出现“淘金狂潮”的经济景气，但如今已风光不再。不过，爱达荷州人认为该州是落基山西部山脉的一颗明珠，因此称其为“宝石州（the Gem State）”。
● 伊利诺斯州（Illinois）位于美国中北部偏东，我们熟悉的芝加哥市（Chicago）便位于该州。美国第16任总统亚伯拉罕·林肯（Abraham Lincoln）曾于19世纪60年代美国南北战争时期领导该州，因此被称为“林肯之地（the Land of Lincoln）”。
● 同样位于美国中北部偏东的印第安纳州（Indiana），原意是印第安人的土地。在美国，人们把来自印第安纳州的人叫做胡希尔人（Hoosier），印第安纳州叫做“胡希尔州（the Hoosier State）”，但是原因已无从考究了。有种说法是Hoosier一词指贫穷的农民或没有受过教育的人。而印第安纳州议会也将该州称为“美国十字路口（the Crossroads of America）”。
● 爱荷华州（Iowa）的别名是“鹰眼州（the Hawkeye State）”，这是为了纪念领导印第安人反抗白人屠杀的酋长“黑鹰”。
● 堪萨斯州（Kansas）位于美国中部，是美国第一个赋予非裔美国人选举权的州。堪萨斯州也有很“鹰派”的别称——“废奴游击州（the Jayhawk State）”。Jayhawkers指的是美国南北战争爆发前在密苏里和堪萨斯两州活动的拥护废除奴隶制的游击队员。
● 肯塔基州（Kentucky）是林肯的故乡，是美国中东部的一个州，有“蓝草州（the Bluegrass State）”的别称。蓝草（Bluegrass）是一种染料草，它并不是蓝色的，而是非常鲜艳的绿色，但从远处看呈现出浅蓝色。
● 为了纪念法国国王路易十四（Louis XIV）而得名的路易斯安那州（Louisiana）被称为“小河之州（the Bayou State）”，原因是该州有数百条小河流流经，并且大多数河流中鳄鱼密布。
● 位于美国东北部的缅因州（Maine）是全美森林覆盖率最高的州，达到89%，其中松树的数量尤多，因此被称为“松树州（the Pine Tree State）”。
● 华盛顿州（Washington）是为了纪念美国首位总统乔治·华盛顿（George Washington）而建立，也是美国唯一一个以总统名字命名的州。华盛顿州和缅因州一样，森林资源丰富，因此有“常青州（the Evergreen State）”的别称。
● 马萨诸塞州（Massachusetts）以其高质量的教育享誉全美，拥有世界一流学府哈佛大学（Harvard University）和麻省理工学院（Massachusetts Institute of Technology）。该州有“海湾州（the Bay State）”的别称，因为海水将其与著名的科德角半岛分隔开来。
● 美国各州除了以自然景观或历史人文来命名别称之外，还有六个州的别称是来源于动物的，非常有趣。密歇根州（Michigan）被称为“貂熊州（the Wolverine State）”；威斯康辛州（Wisconsin）被称为“獾州（the Badger State）”；“万湖之州（the Land of Ten Thousand Lakes）”——明尼苏达州（Minnesota）有“田鼠州（the Gopher State）”的别称；北达科他州（North Dakota）被称为“金花鼠州（the Flickertail State）”；南达科他州（South Dakota）则被称为“土狼州（the Coyote State）”；俄勒冈州（Oregon）的别称是“海狸州（the Beaver State）”。