(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
I'm Barbara Klein. And I'm Steve Ember with the VOA Special English program PEOPLE IN AMERICA. Today we tell about Milton Hershey. He built one of the sweetest towns in the United States. Milton Snavely Hershey was born in eighteen fifty-seven in central Pennsylvania. His mother was a member of the Mennonite Church. The religious group valued self-denial and community service. His father worked at many different jobs. The Hershey family moved several times during Milton's childhood. His parents did not have a happy marriage. They lived separately for much of their lives. Missus Hershey finally rejected her husband after a daughter died in eighteen sixty-seven.
Milton Hershey stopped attending school when he was twelve years old. He first went to work as an assistant for a man who published a German language newspaper. Milton did not like the job. He was dismissed after dropping his hat into a machine. Milton then got a job with a candy and ice cream maker in the town of Lancaster. There, he learned how to mix sugar and water to make candy products. At the time, American candy makers used chocolate mainly to cover candies. Reports say it was bitter tasting and not at all like the taste of chocolate today. Milton moved to the city of Philadelphia when he was eighteen years old. He had already learned all he could about candy production. His mother and her family offered to help him set up a candy store. But the business failed after six years.
Milton decided to join his father in the western state of Colorado. The younger Hershey found a job with a candy maker in Denver. There, he worked with a kind of sticky candy: caramel. He also learned the importance of using fresh milk in making good caramel. Milton later attempted candy businesses in Chicago and New York City. But like before, each business failed. Milton returned to Lancaster. Most family members considered him a failure. But he continued to receive help from his mother's sister and a man who had worked at the Philadelphia store. Milton began making caramels his own way – with fresh milk. His caramels were softer than others being sold and less sticky. One day, an English importer tasted Hershey's caramels and placed a large order. Soon the Lancaster Candy Company was a success. Hershey became one of Pennsylvania's top businessmen. He was selling his candies all across the United States and Europe.
Things began changing for Hershey after he visited the Chicago World's Fair in eighteen ninety-three. At the World's Fair, he saw chocolate-making machines from Germany. He decided that chocolate was the future of the candy business, and bought the machines. He had them moved to Pennsylvania, and sold the Lancaster Candy Company. He was developing an unusual plan -- to build a large chocolate factory and a town to support it. Michael D'Antonio wrote a book about Milton Hershey. It says Hershey got the idea for his town from the Cadbury family in Britain. The Cadburys made chocolates. They also built a factory surrounded by a town. The book says Hershey decided to do the same. He paid for many buildings in his town. He wanted to create a place where his factory's workers could own their own houses. In this way, he prevented Hershey, Pennsylvania from becoming a factory town in which the workers were forced to pay their employers for a place to live. Hershey's town was modern. It had nice houses, large public buildings, and an electric railway system for easy transportation. Nearby farms provided the chocolate factory with fresh milk for its products.
Milton Hershey and his company found a way to make large amounts of milk chocolate. The secret was using fat free milk with the seeds of cacao trees and heating them slowly. The Hershey Candy Company was on its way to success. Most of the company's workers loved Milton Hershey. He made it possible for them to earn good wages and live well. The book "Hershey" says he sometimes shared the company's financial success with them. Yet Milton Hershey was not always fair. Writer Michael D'Antonio says not everyone was happy living in a place where one man and his company attempted to control so much.
Milton Hershey did not marry until he was over forty years old. He surprised his family when he married Catherine Sweeney in eighteen ninety-eight. Some members of his family did not approve of her. She was a Roman Catholic from New York State. Milton called her Kitty. The Hersheys first lived in Lancaster. They later moved to a large house near the factory. The land around the house was known for its many flowers and plants. Catherine Hershey was sick for much of her married life. She died in nineteen fifteen at the age of forty-two. The Hersheys were unable to have children, so they decided to help needy children by creating a school for them. Milton Hershey said the school had been his wife's idea. She reportedly wanted to provide a safe place for those in need of a good home and a better chance in life.
In nineteen-oh-nine, the Hersheys created the Hershey Industrial School for boys who had lost one or both parents. They established a special legal agreement, or trust, to provide money for the school. They gave nearly two hundred hectares of farmland to the trust. At first, ten white boys attended the school. But more and more boys attended as time went on. The school provided the boys with a good education and farming skills. After his wife died, Milton Hershey gave shares of Hershey Chocolate Company stock worth sixty million dollars to the trust. This money made it possible for the school to expand. After Hershey died, the name of the school was changed to the Milton Hershey School. Later, the school opened its doors to boys and girls of all races and religions.
Today, the school serves children in financial and social need. It provides education, housing, food, clothing, medical care and recreation to about one thousand eight hundred students. The students are between the ages of four and eighteen. They live in more than one hundred fifty student homes. Each home has the latest technological equipment, including computers. A married couple lives in each home. They serve as parents to between eight and thirteen students.
Many Americans experienced economic hardship during the Great Depression of the nineteen thirties. But Milton Hershey put many people to work in the town by building a large hotel and a sports center. He also created a not-for-profit organization to provide education and culture to the local townspeople. This organization continues to support the Hershey Theater and other cultural centers in the area. In the early nineteen sixties, the Milton S. Hershey Foundation gave money and land to the Pennsylvania State University for a medical center. The Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center opened in nineteen sixty-seven. Today it is a medical school, teaching hospital and research center. Milton Hershey died in nineteen forty-five. He left behind the company, the town, the school and the trust that supports it. At the time of his death, the company he built was said to have produced about ninety percent of all the milk chocolate made in the United States.
Today, Hershey, Pennsylvania is unlike any other town in the United States. For example, the streetlights are shaped like the candy called Hershey's Kisses. The air often smells like chocolate. Millions of people visit every year. They learn how chocolate is made at Hershey's Chocolate World. They stay at the Hotel Hershey. They enjoy Hersheypark, an amusement park with more than sixty rides. They can also visit the Hershey museum and Hershey gardens. This special town calls itself "The Sweetest Place on Earth."
重点解析
1.value 重视
I value the opinion of my husband and we agree on most things.
我重视我丈夫的意见，而且我们在大多数事情上看法一致。
2.dismiss 解散；解雇
She claims she was unfairly dismissed from her post.
她声称自己被无理免职。
3.set up 建立；装配；开业
The government announced the setting up of a special fund.
政府宣布设置了一项特别基金。
4.attempt 企图，试图
The prisoners attempted an escape, but failed.
囚犯企图逃跑，但失败了。
5.be surrounded by 被包围
He just liked to be surrounded by beautiful things and people.
他就是那样，喜欢被一切美好的事物包围着。
6.needy 贫困的；贫穷的
It's a charity that provides help for needy children.
是慈善机构为贫困孩子提供帮助。
参考译文
我是芭芭拉·克莱恩。我是史蒂夫·恩贝尔。这里是VOA慢速英语栏目《美国人物志》。今天我们将讲述密尔顿·赫尔希。他建立起了美国最甜蜜的小镇之一。密尔顿·史内夫里·赫尔希于1857年出生于宾夕法尼亚州中部地区。他的母亲是孟诺教派成员。该宗教重视忘我和社会服务。他的父亲做很多工作。赫尔希一家在密尔顿童年时期搬过几次家。他父母的婚姻并不幸福。他们各自生活。赫尔希太太最终在1967年女儿去世后和她的丈夫离婚。密尔顿·赫尔希12岁辍学了。起初他成为了一家德国报纸出版商的助理。密尔顿不喜欢这份工作，他的帽子掉进机器里后，他就被解雇了。然后密尔顿在兰卡斯特的糖果冰淇淋生产商那工作。在那里，他学会了如何混合糖和水制成糖果。那时，美国糖果制造商主要用巧克力包裹糖果。报道称那时的巧克力很苦，和现在的巧克力味道不一样。
密尔顿18岁的时候，搬到了费城。他学会了糖果制造的所有知识。他的母亲和她一家帮助他开了一家糖果店，但是六年后，生意失败了。密尔顿决定去科罗拉多找他的父亲。年轻的赫尔希在丹佛的一家糖果店工作。在那里他接触到了一种黏黏的糖：焦糖。他还学到了在制作好的焦糖中使用鲜牛奶的重要性。之后密尔顿尝试在芝加哥和纽约做糖果生意。但是和之前一样，每次都失败了。密尔顿回到兰卡斯特。家人都认为他很失败。但是他继续接受来自母亲姐妹的帮助，还有一个在费城商店工作过的男人在帮助他。密尔顿开始用自己的方式制作焦糖—用鲜牛奶。他的焦糖比店里卖的其他焦糖更柔软。没那么黏。
一天，一名英国进口商尝试了赫尔希的焦糖并订了大批他的焦糖。很快兰卡斯特糖果公司取得成功。赫尔希成为了费城顶级商人之一。他的糖果在全美和欧洲售卖。1893年，赫尔希参观芝加哥世界博览会后，事情开始发生改变。在博览会上，他看到了来自德国的巧克力制造机。他认为巧克力是糖果事业的未来，并购买了机器。他将机器搬到了费城，并卖掉了兰卡斯特糖果公司。他制定了一个不同寻常的计划—建立一个大型巧克力工厂以及一个支撑该工厂的小镇。迈克尔·德安东尼奥写了一本关于密尔顿·赫尔希的书。书中说赫尔希建造小镇的想法来自于英国的凯德伯里家族。凯德伯里家族做巧克力。他们在小镇周围建起了一家工厂。书中说赫尔希也决定这么做。
他买下了镇上的几幢建筑。他希望建立起这么一个地方：他工厂中的工人可以在这里拥有自己的房子。因此，他没有让赫尔希镇成为一家工厂小镇，在镇上工人被迫为雇主干活，只为谋生。赫尔希的小镇很现代化。有漂亮的房屋、大型公共建筑以及用于建议运输的电动铁路系统。附近的农场为巧克力工厂提供新鲜的牛奶。密尔顿.赫尔希和他的公司发现了一种大量生产牛奶巧克力的方法。秘密在于使用脱脂牛奶混合可可树的种子并将它们慢慢加热。好时公司即将取得成功。公司大部分员工都很敬爱密尔顿·赫尔希。他为他们提供了好的报酬和好的生活。《Hershey》一书中写到，他有时会和工人们分享公司的经济回报。但是密尔顿.赫尔希并非一直公平。作家迈克尔·德安东尼奥称并不是每个生活在这个地方的都感到快乐，在这里一个男人和他的公司想要掌控一切。
密尔顿.赫尔希直到40多岁才结婚。1898年，当他和凯瑟琳·斯威尼结婚时，家人都很吃惊。一些家庭成员并不赞成这桩婚事。她是一名来自纽约的罗马天主教徒。密尔顿称她为基蒂。赫尔希一家先是住在兰卡斯特、之后又搬到了工厂附近的一个大房子里。房子周围的土地因其种植的鲜花和植物而出名。凯瑟琳·赫尔希婚后总是生病。1915年，她就去世了，年42岁。
赫尔希一家没能有孩子，因此他们决定帮助为那些贫困儿童建立学校。密尔顿·赫尔希表示建学校是他妻子的主意。据称，他希望为那些需要住所和改变命运的人提供一个安全的地方。1909年，赫尔希一家为那些没有父母或来自单亲的男孩子建立了赫尔希工业学校。他们设立了一个特别的法定协议或者说是信托，为这所学校提供资金支持。他们给信托捐赠了近两百公顷的农田。起初，10个白人男孩来上学。但是随着时间流逝，来这里上学的男孩越来越多。学校为这些男孩子们提供了好的教育并传授农业技能。妻子去世后，密尔顿·赫尔希将好时巧克力公司价值6千万美元的股份交给了信托。有了钱后，学校得以扩张。赫尔希去世后，这所学校的名字变更为了密尔顿·赫尔希学校。之后，这所学校对所所有的男孩和女孩开放，不论种族与宗教。
如今，这所学校为那些贫困的孩子，需要社会关注的孩子提供帮助。学校为1800位学生提供教育、衣食住行、医疗保健和娱乐。这些学生年龄在4到18岁之间。他们住在150多所学生之家中。每个房子都有最新的科技设备，包括电脑。每个家中居住者一对已婚夫妻。他们给这些8到13岁的孩子充当父母的角色。很多美国人在上世纪30年代的大萧条时期经历经济困难。但是密尔顿·赫尔希通过在镇上建造大型酒店和体育中心的方式为他们提供工作。他还建立了一个非营利组织帮助为镇民提供教育和文化。这个组织继续为赫尔希剧院和其他文化中心提供支持。上世纪60年代早期，密尔顿·S·赫尔希基金会为宾夕法尼亚州立大学医疗中心捐钱和土地。宾夕法尼亚州立大学密尔顿·S·赫尔希医疗中心成立。如今这成为一所医疗学校、医学院的附属医院和研究中心。密尔顿·赫尔希于1945年去世。他留下了这家公司、这个小镇、这所学校以及信托支持。据称，在他去世时，他的公司生产了美国约90%的牛奶巧克力。
今天，赫尔希镇和美国其他任何小镇都不一样。例如，小镇上路灯的形状像是好时之吻糖果。这里的空气闻起来都像巧克力一样。 每年百万游客来此游玩。他们在好时巧克力世界学习如何制作巧克力。他们住在赫尔希酒店。他们在好时主题乐园游玩，这是一个有60多种设备的游乐园。他们还可以参观好时博物馆以及好时花园。这个特别的小镇自称为“地球上最甜蜜的地方”。
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