发音：美式发音
语速：110词/分钟
使用方法：静听+听写
The mid-Atlantic state of Maryland is called the Free State. A Baltimore newspaper first called it that during the 1920s when the manufacture and sale of alcohol were banned for a time. Maryland said it wanted to be free from this prohibition.
Mississippi is the Magnolia State. It is named for a tree with big, beautiful white flowers that grows in that hot, southern state.
The midwestern state of Missouri is called the Show Me State. The people of that frontier state were once famous for not believing everything people told them.
If you visit the western mountain and plain state of Montana you will know why it is known as Big Sky Country.
Nebraska is the only state to have a nickname that honors sports teams! The state university's athletic teams are nicknamed Cornhuskers in recognition of one of the area's chief crops. The state borrowed the Cornhusker nickname from the university.
The western desert state of Nevada is called the Silver State. It was once home to many silver mines and towns that grew up around them. Today, most of them are empty “ghost towns”.
New Hampshire, in the northeast area called New England, is the Granite State because of that colorful rock.
New Jersey is between the big cities of New York, New York and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It got its nickname, the Garden State, because New Jersey truck farms once provided vegetables to those big cities.
New York, which always thinks big, was called the Empire State because of its natural wealth. The most famous Manhattan skyscraper got its name from the state. It is, of course, the Empire State Building.
If you get a chance to see a red sunset over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of New Mexico, you will know why that southwestern state is called the Land of Enchantment.
North and South Carolina were one colony until 1729. South Carolina's nickname is the easier of the two: It is the Palmetto State because of a fan-leafed palm tree that grows there. North Carolina is the Tar Heel State. That is because many of the men who worked to gather substances from trees wore no shoes. They would make turpentine from tar and get the black, sticky tar on the heels of their feet.
●马里兰州（Maryland）的别称源自20世纪20年代。1920年，美国国会颁布了禁酒令（又称《沃尔斯特法令》），严格控制酒类的酿造和出售。在此期间，马里兰州想要摆脱禁酒令，于是巴尔的摩的一家报纸第一次称其为“自由之州（the Free State）”并延续至今。
● 密西西比州（Mississippi）位于美国南部，它的名称来自州河——密西西比河，其别称“木兰之州（the Magnolia State）”则源于州花——木兰花。
● 密苏里州（Missouri）是美国著名作家马克·吐温的故乡，该州有“索证之州（the Show Me State）”的别称，原因是这里的居民比较多疑，不相信别人说的任何事情，秉持“眼见为实”的座右铭。
● 蒙大拿州（Montana）有非常壮观的自然景观，落基山位于该州西部，占该州面积的五分之二，其余地区是辽阔的大草原，正因为如此，蒙大拿州有“长空州（Big Sky Country）”的别称。
● 内布拉斯加州（Nebraska）位于美国中西部，这里盛产玉米，该州州立大学运动队的别名叫做“剥玉米壳的人（Cornhusker）”，这一别名也被借用成为该州的别称。
● 内华达州（the Silver State）有我们最耳熟能详的赌城——拉斯维加斯。这里除了赌博业非常发达之外，还曾经是淘金潮的热门地之一，因此有了“白银之州（the Silver State）”的别称。这里有盛产金和银的康斯塔克矿（Comstock Lode），由此使周围衍生了许多小镇，但是昔日的繁华已不再，如今这些小镇大多非常萧条。
● 新罕布什尔州（New Hampshire）位于美国新英格兰地区的东北部，因盛产花岗岩而被称为“花岗岩州（the Granite State）”。
● 新泽西州（New Jersey）位于纽约和费城之间，是美国第四小的城市。该州的别称是“花园之州（the Garden State）”，因为这里的菜圃曾经向大城市输送蔬菜。
● 纽约州（New York）由于其丰富的自然资源被称为“帝国州（the Empire State）”，位于该州曼哈顿地区最负盛名的摩天大楼也因此被命名为“帝国大厦（the Empire State Building）”。
● 新墨西哥州（New Mexico）享有“迷人之地（the Land of Enchantment）”的美誉。在该州北端可以看到落基山脉南端的“基督圣血（Sangre de Cristo）”，传说这里曾出现过“神迹”。
● 南卡罗来纳州（South Carolina）的别称——“矮棕榈州（the Palmetto State）”得名于该州的州树——棕榈树。
●北卡罗来纳州（North Carolina）则被称为“焦油脚后跟之州（the Tar Heel State）”，原因是许多采集树脂的人都光着脚，他们从树脂中提炼松节油，脚后跟上就会沾上这些黑色粘稠的焦油。