托福阅读丨拉斯维加斯

美帝国人民周末都去哪里嗨？是什么地方让《生活大爆炸》里的Penny跟两个姐妹们为之疯狂？一个淘金客的聚集的村庄为何成了世界大纸醉金迷的地方？除了迪拜，沙漠中的另一颗璀璨明珠在哪里？那个只在赌侠电影中听说过的城市到底啥样子？喜欢不喜欢，适合不适合，就像长沙新航道一样，只有了解过体验过才知道。

本期托福阅读栏目，带你进入美利坚内陆的娱乐大都会- 拉斯维加斯。

Las Vegas, officially the City of Las Vegas and often known as simply Vegas, is a city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, the county seat of Clark County, and the city proper of the Las Vegas Valley. Las Vegas comes from Spanish which means ‘fertile grassland’. There used to be a vast desolate desert in which Vegas is the only oasis with springs. At the time when the whole nation started to build railroads throughout the country, this place became the hub and transfer station for gold diggers to wait and to lead a befuddled life. Now Las Vegas has become an internationally renowned major resort city known primarily for gambling, shopping, fine dining, and nightlife and is the leading financial, commercial, and cultural center for Southern Nevada. Maybe you haven’t heard of the other nicknames of the city, for starters, ‘The Entertainment Capital of the World’ and ‘The City of Wedding’, in which located nine out of ten world’s biggest resort hotels. This small ‘city of sins’ somewhere in Nevada is no longer the tiny village it was one hundred years ago, but instead, transforms into a huge resort metropolis.

Las Vegas is the 29th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 603,488 at 2013. The city is one of the top three leading destinations in the United States for conventions, business, and meetings. Also it is in a basin on the floor of the Mojave Desert and is surrounded by mountain ranges on all sides. Much of the landscape is rocky and arid with desert vegetation and wildlife. The peaks surrounding Las Vegas reach elevations of over 3,000m, and act as barriers to the strong flow of moisture from the surrounding area. A bit of bad ass kind of view for a business trip eh?

Well, I really like sun shines, and I also like to hangout with people, so I always have to choose the city I’d like to move in for whether there’s plenty of sunshine or if there are many people and developed and open. Las Vegas' seems like a good choice of visiting if the American people do not be stupid enough to go to war, and unlikely as it may be. The climate there is a subtropical, hot desert climate, typical of the Mojave Desert in which it lies. The city enjoys abundant sunshine year-round, it has an average of about 310 sunny days per year.It is virtually free of tornadoes and ice storms.

The summer months of June through September are very hot and mostly dry, with a July daily average temperature of 33.6°C, while nighttime temperatures often remain above 27°C. Humidity is very low, often under 10%. The winters are short and the season is generally mild. December, the coolest month, averages 8.7°C. The mountains surrounding Las Vegas accumulate snow during the winter, but snow is rare in the Las Vegas Valley itself. Annual precipitation on average falls 26–27 days per year.Most of the precipitation falls in the winter, but even the wettest month (February) has on average only four days of precipitation.

Shimmering from the desert haze of Nevada, Las Vegas is the most dynamic, spectacular city on earth. At the start of the twentieth century, it didn’t even exist; now it’s home to two million people, and boasts nineteen of the world’s twenty-five largest hotels, whose no-expense-spared casinos lure in thirty-seven million tourists each year.Las Vegas has been stockpiling superlatives since the 1950s. Although Las Vegas is an unmissable destination, it’s one that palls for most visitors after a couple of days. If you’ve come for gambling, there’s not much to say beyond the fact that all the casinos are free, and open for 24 hours per day.

Arguably the most popular table game in Las Vegas, is the blackjack. Blackjack, also known as twenty-one, is also the most widely played casino game in the world. The player or players are dealt a two-card hand and add together the value of their cards. Face cards (kings, queens, and jacks) are counted as ten points. A player and the dealer can count an ace as 1 point or 11 points. All other cards are counted as the numeric value shown on the card. After receiving their first two cards, players have the option of getting a "hit", that means to take an additional card. The objective of the game is to beat the dealer in one of the following ways:

1. Get 21 points on the player's first two cards (called a "blackjack" ), without a dealer blackjack;

2. Reach a final score higher than the dealer without exceeding 21;

3. Let the dealer draw additional cards until his or her hand exceeds 21.

If you happen to be a newbie that you come to the casino for the first time, Roulette is probably the best choice for you. It is deceptively simple and my guess is that the spinning ball’s hypnotic power helps soothe the nerves of the newbie gambler. It might not be the game with the best odds out of the various Vegas casino games, roulette remains popular for its easy play and low stress approach.

拉斯维加斯市，简称维加斯，是位于美国内华达州人口的城市，克拉克郡政府所在地，四周被拉斯维加斯大峡谷包围。Las Vegas 来自西班牙语，意思是：“肥沃的青草地”。这里过去曾是荒凉的的戈壁沙漠，只有拉斯维加斯是以前有泉水的绿洲。在美国大兴铁路的时候，这里逐渐成了驿站与交通中转站，各地淘金客来这里歇脚，等待，醉生梦死。时至今日，维加斯已是世界上的主要旅游城市之一，以其赌博业，购物，餐饮以及夜生活闻名于世，它还是南内华达地区的金融，商务与文化中心。也许你并不知道，这里被称为“世界娱乐之都”和“结婚之都”的美称，世界上十家的度假旅馆就有九家是在这里。内华达州这个曾经被人讽刺为“罪恶之城”的赌城，从一百年前的小村庄变成了一个巨型旅游城市。

拉斯维加斯2013年市区人口为603488，在全美人口排名第二十九。维市还是美国三个最热门的展会，商务，与会议城市。维市位于莫哈维沙漠中的盆地中，四面都被山脉包围。地表景观多是荒芜嶙峋的沙漠栖息于此的野生动植物。维市四周的山脉海拔达到了3000米，像屏障一样阻隔了外部的暖湿气流。对于商务目的来的人们，这里的景点挺屌的对吧！

我个人很喜欢阳光，所以我要搬到别处住的时候经常会有很很多选择上的麻烦：是选择一个环境好阳光充沛的地方，还是人多发达开放的地方。如果美帝没有蠢到跟我们开战的话，我觉得也不会开战，拉斯维加斯确实是个值得去转转的城市。那里的气候属于典型的亚热带沙漠气候，跟莫哈维沙漠其他地区的气候是一样的。整个城市沐浴在充沛的阳光里，全年有310天是晴天，而且几乎是不可能出现龙卷风或者冰雪暴天气的。（我勒个去，在这么多的无雾霾晴好天气里住个一年，是不是以后看到阳光就想吐？）

每年夏季的六月到九月是非常干燥炎热的季节（我住的城市是又湿又闷热，杀了我吧！），七月白天平均气温达到33.6摄氏度，夜间平均气温也有27度左右。湿度很低，一般只有不到10%。冬季很短，而且气温也很温和，最冷的十二月也有8.7摄氏度。维加斯周围的山脉在冬季会有积雪，不过又是沙漠地区，学量也不会很大。全年的降水只有26-27天，大部分都在冬季。最潮湿的二月也仅有4天有降水。

拉斯维加斯闪耀在内华达荒漠的薄雾中，它是地球上最动感，最壮观的城市。20世纪初，它根本还不存在，现在它是二百万人的家乡。世界上25家的酒店有19家在这里，一掷千金风气盛行的各家酒店跟赌场每年都能吸引3700万游客前往。维市在上世纪五十年代就成了高手云集的地方。虽然这是个不容错过的地方，游客在这里呆了几天之后也会感到有点无聊（每天都是玩嗨嗨玩），但是如果你来这就是好好赌上几把，那除了让你知道这里所有赌场都24小时开放全免费之外，其他真没什么好说的了。

事实证明“黑杰克”是维加斯的桌游。所谓黑杰克就是大名鼎鼎的21点，也是世界上的赌场游戏。玩家们一开始有两张手牌，你得将牌面数字相加得到一个新的数字。脸谱牌比如K、Q、J 和 10 牌都算作 10 点，玩家与庄家都可以把A当成1点或者11点，其余所有2 至9 牌均按其原面值计算。开始两站牌发完后，玩家可以继续要牌。游戏的目标就是用下下三种方法赢庄家：

1. 刚开始发的两张牌就能“黑杰克”（表示两牌点数相加正好是21点），而庄家却没有“黑杰克”；

2. 最终点数比庄家大但是未超过21点；

3. 庄家手上的牌点数相加大于21点。

如果你是次进赌场的新手，转盘赌局也许是最适合你的游戏。它有种魔力，容易上手，却奥妙无穷，而有催眠功能的旋转球又能让新手很快放松下来。在维加斯众多的赌场游戏中，它也许不是来钱最快的，但是很简单，玩起来很轻松，所以它仍然是颇受欢迎的桌游。

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