Words and Their Stories: Pan
07/28/2012
Panning for gold does not always pan out
Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES. Today's word, pan, takes us back to the days of the gold rush in California.
On January twenty-fourth, eighteen forty-eight, a man named James Wilson Marshall discovered gold in the territory of California. The news spread quickly. Thousands rushed west. They traveled on foot, by horseback and by boat to reach the gold fields. By eighteen forty-nine, the great gold rush was on.
Towns and cities grew overnight. Throughout the territory – in the mountains, along the streams and rivers – thousands of people searched for gold. They had food to eat and blankets to cover them. They also had mules to ride, and picks and pans to search for gold.
Some found areas of mountain rock thick with gold. These men got rich. But such areas were few and quickly claimed by the first men to find them. Others searched for gold in the rivers coming down the mountains. They were after pieces of gold that the rains had washed down from above.
The only way to find this gold was by panning. First a gold miner put dirt in a metal pan and added water. Then he shook the pan so that the water would wash the dirt. Slowly, he poured the water out of the pan. If he was a lucky miner, pieces of gold would remain.
Across the nation, newspapers carried stories of the gold being found. One told how thousands of people climbed the mountains looking for gold. Some stories told how others followed the rivers and streams with pans. Each one hoped that the place he claimed panned out well – had some gold.
最新
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25