聚焦新英格兰 FOCUS ON NEW ENGLAND

作者简介

Six states, a city called Boston, and home of the original Yankees - that's New England. It can claim to be the first clearly-defined region of the United States, without which there might not be a United States. Tucked away in the northeast corner of" the land, closest to the country that gave it its name, England, it was from New England that the earliest revolutionary talk came and where the first shot was fired in the American Revolution.    To look at some of" these perfect pastoral landscapes today, New England hardly has the look of revolutionary fervor, although the area still has a reputation for political individuality. That applies to some states more than others, of the six that make up New England: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island andVermont.    The region's largest center is Boston, always a maverick among American cities. It probably has more nicknames than any other city in the States, known among other things as The City on theHill, The Athens of America, The Cradle of Liberty or just plain old Beantown, thanks to its history of baked bean production.It's also known as Puritan City, as its founders were Puritans, and throughout these pages the Puritan/English influence can clearly be seen. Place names like Plymouth andTruro -and even Boston itself- hark back to the land the Pilgrim fathers left inorder to come to the New World and seek religious peace.    In so many ways New England is little changed since those days 0f the European settlers. The landscape was carved out 10,000 years ago when the last of the retreating glaciers left NorthAmerica and Canada, leaving behind in New England a jagged coastline, rugged mountains, lakes and hills. Mankind has encroached in the last few hundred years, but the area's 70,000 square miles, and population of fewer than 14 million people,still leaves plenty of breathing space.    Mount Washington in New Hampshire's White Mountains is, at 6,288fl, New England's highest point, and has the dubious distinction of` being the windiest place on earth, where the fastest winds have been recorded. The White Mountains cover about one-quarter of the state of New mphire, and part of Maine. The Appalachian Mountains also run through New England, taking with them the nation's longest waymarked footpath, the Appalachian Trail, which starts (or ends) in New ngland. Its beauty as it passes through regions like the Beartown State Forest is captured in these pages.    New England's beauty is not just in forests and mountain ranges, though, it can be seen in a single fall leaf. The area is renowned for having the most stunning displays of fall colors,whether it be in one of its state forests or in a small Boston park.But it is  colorfnl in other ways  too, from the  crimson cranberries of the Massachusetts bogs to the golden maple syrup and the vivid orange pumpkins found all over. Food is an important feature here, especially seafood. Due to the ravages of those ancient glaciers, Maine has been left with about 5,000 miles more coastline than California. In those inlets and harbors,Maine lobsters and oysters grow in ndance, and while the fishing industry may have grown much more commercial, to feed the appetites of millions ogAmericans, there are stii1 regular fishing communities to be found, where family boats with a small crew go out to haul in the bounty of the sea.    Lighthouses warn of the dangers and lobster pots hint at the rewards of this maritime life, and it's a heritage which lingers long. Boston's harbors are a link with the past, and the condoswhere boats line up outside show that the maritime memories remain. Indeed New England is a land where memories do remain, as the states are filled with buildings that keep the past alive. Some are museums, some are places of worship, and some continue to be family homes, often occupied by the same famrilies that have lived in them for several generations.    In Boston the John Hancock Tower, New England's tallest building, reflects in its windows a 19th-century church. The city's 18th-century Faneuil Hall now rubs shoulders with 21st-century bars and clubs. Harvard University, founded in 1836 and the oldest higher learning institution in the USA, still produces the nation's top scholars and presidents, artists and lawyers. Its old buildings, caught in the light of these pages, still inspire those who aspire to chieve. Throughout the beautiful and rich agricultural lands of New England, there are plenty who thinkthey already have the best that life has to offer, simply by living in one of these six states, in this corner of the USA.

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