這張照片中就是曼哈頓島的最南端，也就是紐約最核心的部分——downtown. 

世貿(mào)中心、華爾街和市政廳，都坐落在這里。

它既是城市地圖的最下面，也是城中心的所在。

那么，為什么市中心要被稱為downtown呢？

快來(lái)點(diǎn)開(kāi)今天的音頻，聽(tīng)聽(tīng)主播怎么說(shuō)吧~

Why is downtown called downtown?

級(jí)別: B1 Pre-intermediate

全文字?jǐn)?shù): 437

音頻時(shí)長(zhǎng): 2’56’’

建議閱讀時(shí)長(zhǎng): 4分鐘

主播: Lisa

Why downtown called downtown 來(lái)自開(kāi)言英語(yǔ)服務(wù)號(hào) 00:00 02:56

Hey guys! Welcome back to OpenLanguage Lite!

This is Lisa.

1. 什么是Downtown, Midtown和Uptown

Now, all of you know that downtown is the heart of the city and a place of entertainment and business. But, have you ever wondered why Americans call city centers downtown if they often aren’t at the bottom of the city? Also, what do they mean they say midtown and uptown?

• downtown: 市中心，下城

• heart of the city: 城市核心區(qū)

• city centers: 城市中心

• midtown: 中城

• uptown: 上城

Well, uptown refers to residential areas that are often quite fancy or elegant. In contrast, midtown is quite simply the area between downtown and uptown. But where did these terms come from?

• residential: 居住的，居民區(qū)的

• fancy: 豪華的，高檔的

• elegant: 高雅的

2. Downtown, Midtown和Uptown的由來(lái)

The words actually came from New York City back in the 1800s. And, if you’ve ever been to New York City, you’ll know that Manhattan it’s split into downtown, midtown and uptown. Downtown, which is on the southern end of the island, is the commercial hub and historical city center. But, as the city spread in the 19th century, it moved northwards and a new residential area that became uptown was built. So, downtown was down south, uptown was up north and midtown developed between the two.

• commercial hub: 商業(yè)中心

• historical: 歷史上的

• spread: 擴(kuò)展，鋪開(kāi)

• northwards: 向北

• residential: 居住的，居民區(qū)的

3. 如今的Downtown和Uptown

These days, downtown and uptown often don’t have much to do with north and south. Instead, downtown is just a general term for these business hubs. Uptown, by contrast, is outside the hustle and bustle of the working areas and are nice, wealthy neighbourhoods. As a result, uptown became connected to this idea of high society that appears frequently in popular culture.

• hustle and bustle: 喧鬧嘈雜

• wealthy: 富有的

• high society: 上流社會(huì)

• popular culture: 流行文化

So, some of you guys might have heard the classic song “Uptown Girl” by Billy Joel. In the song, a downtown man talks about his love for a classy uptown girl who seems to live in another world. A movie called “Uptown Girls” later came out in 2003 and was about a spoiled uptown girl that loses her money and has to learn to support herself. So, as you can see, the words uptown and downtown have become pretty common in everyday American language. However, in many European countries and in Britain they still prefer to use city center.

• classy: 時(shí)髦的，典雅的

• spoiled: 被寵壞的

4. Downtown + 什么介詞？

But, just remember that if you are going to use downtown, midtown and uptown as nouns don’t use prepositions in front of these words. So, we would normally say “I’m going downtown” and “I live uptown” without “to” and “in.” But, if you are using downtown like an adjective, you can have a preposition. For instance, I can say “I’m at a downtown cafe.”

• I'm going downtown: 我要去市中心

• I live uptown: 我住在上城

• I'm at a downtown cafe: 我在市中心一家咖啡館

Alright, but that brings us to the end of our little lesson on downtown! Please let us know what you thought about the lesson, and if there are any other words that you would like to know more about. We’ll be looking forward to reading those comments. Thank you for listening! Catch you again next time.

Source: https://en./wiki/Downtown#Origins

 關(guān)于downtown的來(lái)龍去脈，你學(xué)會(huì)了嗎？

今天的互動(dòng)小問(wèn)題是——

Where do you prefer to live, downtown or uptown? Why?