第1个回答 2007-08-11
Out of all of America's symbols, none has proved more enduring or evocative than the Statue of Liberty. This giant figure, torch in hand and clutching a stone tablet, has for a century acted as a figurehead for the American Dream; indeed there is probably no more immediately recognizable profile in existence. It's worth remembering that the statue is - for Americans at least - a potent reminder that the USA is a land of immigrants: it was New York Harbor where the first big waves of European immigrants arrived, their ships entering through the Verrazano Narrows to round the bend of the bay and catch a first glimpse of "Liberty Enlightening the World" - an end of their journey into the unknown, and the symbolic beginning of a new life.
These days, although only the very wealthy can afford to arrive here by sea, and a would-be immigrant's first (and possibly last) view of the States is more likely to be the customs check at JFK Airport, Liberty remains a stirring sight, with Emma Lazarus's poem, The New Colossus, written originally to raise funds for the statue's base, no less quotable than when it was written……
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. "Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she With silent lips."Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse to your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door."
The statue, which depicts Liberty throwing off her shackles and holding a beacon to light the world, was the creation of the French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, who crafted it a hundred years after the American Revolution in recognition of solidarity between the French and American people (though it's fair to add that Bartholdi originally intended the statue for Alexandria in Egypt). Bartholdi built Liberty in Paris between 1874 and 1884, starting with a terracotta model and enlarging it through four successive versions to its present size, a construction of thin copper sheets bolted together and supported by an iron framework designed by Gustave Eiffel. The arm carrying the torch was exhibited in Madison Square Park for seven years, but the whole statue wasn't officially accepted on behalf of the American people until 1884, after which it was taken apart, crated up and shipped to New York.
It was to be another two years before it could be properly unveiled: money had to be collected to fund the construction of the base, and for some reason Americans were unwilling - or unable - to dip into their pockets. Only through the campaigning efforts of newspaper magnate Joseph Pulitzer, a keen supporter of the statue, did it all come together in the end. Richard Morris Hunt built a pedestal around the existing star-shaped Fort Wood, and Liberty was formally dedicated by President Cleveland on October 28, 1886, in a flag-waving shindig that has never really stopped. The statue was closed for a few years in the mid-1980s for extensive renovation and, in 1986, fifteen million people descended on Manhattan for the statue's centennial celebrations.
Today you can climb steps up to the crown, but the cramped stairway though the torch sadly remains closed to the public. Don't be surprised if there's an hour-long wait to ascend. Even if there is, Liberty Park's views of the lower Manhattan skyline, the twin towers of the World Trade Center lording it over the jutting teeth of New York's financial quarter, are spectacular enough.
所有进出美国的象征,但已证明比动人更加持久或自由神像. 这个数字巨人,手拿着火炬石碑,作为一个世纪的美国梦船头; 的确有可能不再存在,一眼就轮廓. 这是值得记忆的雕像--至少美国人--烈性提醒美国是一块移民:据纽约港的第一大浪欧洲移民到达时,他们的船只在进入弯道verrazano缩小到24条第一湾、钓一瞥"自由世界的启发"--一个结束了未知的旅途,象征新生命的开始. 这些天来,虽然只是巨富得起海路抵达此地,而可能成为移民的第一(可能去)鉴于美国可能会更甘乃迪机场海关检查时,依然动人景象自由,艾玛拉撒路的诗句,新巨人,原来写集资皇后的基地,至少比当初写的名言:: 在这里我海水洗、夕阳盖茨即告威武女子火炬的火焰是被囚禁的闪电,和她母亲的名字流亡. 从她指路手透着世界性的欢迎; 她的眼睛轻度指挥空中桥港区,双城帧. "保持古老土地,您轻车简从层"! 无声的呐喊她的嘴唇. "给我你累了,你差,你挤作一团群众渴望呼吸自由,拒绝你们倒霉不虞岸上. 这些派,无家可归,暴风雨-tost话,我本人灯具电梯旁的黄金门. " 雕像描绘她挣脱枷锁、自由的灯塔,照亮全世界举办,是创建法国雕塑家弗雷德里克奥古斯特bartholdi,精工它百年革命之后,美国承认法国和美国人民之间的团结(虽然它的本意是公平补充bartholdi塑像亚历山大对埃及). 1874年建成自由bartholdi在巴黎和1884年之间,开始了秦始皇兵马示范和扩大它通过四个版本,到现在的规模,建筑瘦身张铜螺栓在一起,并由一个铁框架设计的古斯塔夫铁塔. 臂携火炬麦迪逊广场公园展出了七年,但整个雕像代表未正式接受美国人民,直到1884年后,它被送往遥远,灿烂起来,运到纽约. 另据两年才可以得到妥善亮相:金钱将收取的资金建造基地,而且由于某些原因,美国人不愿或不能--动用自己口袋. 只有通过竞选报业巨头约瑟夫普利策的努力,十分支持塑像,并在年底前全部走到一起. 基座周围建起了狩猎理查德莫里斯现有星型木炮台、人身自由被正式专用于克利夫兰总统1886年10月28日,在国旗挥舞shindig从未真正停止. 皇后闭了几年在八十年代中期广泛革新,1986年为1500.0万人落下曼哈顿塑像周年校庆. 今天你能爬起来的步骤冠,但仍不幸的火炬虽局促梯级封闭市民. 别惊讶,如果有一小时的漫长等待升天. 即使有,自由公园的曼哈顿天际的看法,对世界贸易中心双塔在路上牙齿独霸纽约金融季,精彩不足