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Now, the VOA Special English program, |
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WORDS and THEIR STORIES. |
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Almost all American cities have nicknames. |
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They help establish a city's identity. |
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They can also spread unity and pride among its citizens. |
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Two east coast cities -- Philadelphia and Boston |
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-- were both important |
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in the early history of the United States. |
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Philadelphia is best known as The City of Brotherly Love. |
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In sixteen eighty-one, King Charles the Second of England |
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gave William Penn a large amount of land to establish a colony. |
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The king named the colony Pennsylvania in honor of Penn's father. |
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William Penn was a Quaker. |
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He brought his beliefs about equality, |
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religious freedom and brotherly love to this new land. |
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Penn was also an expert in Latin and Greek. |
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He established a city and named it Philadelphia, |
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which is Greek for "brotherly love." |
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An ancient city called Philadelphia |
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was also noted in Christianity's holy book, the Bible. |
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Philadelphia became the social, |
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political and geographical center of the American colonies. |
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In the late seventeen hundreds, |
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many events that took place in Philadelphia |
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gave birth to the American Revolution and independence. |
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For example, the Declaration of Independence |
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and the Constitution were signed in the city. |
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Philadelphia was the temporary capital of the new nation |
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from seventeen ninety to eighteen hundred. |
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Some of Philadelphia's other nicknames are The Quaker City, |
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The Cradle of Liberty and The Birthplace of America. |
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Philadelphia is a long name. |
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So many people just call it Philly. |
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(Music) |
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Boston is another important city. |
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It is one of the oldest cities in the United States. |
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In sixteen thirty, Puritan settlers from England established Boston |
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in what would become the state of Massachusetts. |
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Several major events took place in Boston before |
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and during the American Revolution. |
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You may have heard of the Boston Massacre, |
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the Boston Tea Party and the Battle of Bunker Hill. |
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So, like Philadelphia, Boston is called The Cradle of Liberty. |
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Another nickname is The Cradle of Modern America. |
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However, Boston's most famous nickname is Beantown. |
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But it was not because the city grew a lot of beans. |
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In the seventeen hundreds, Boston was a major trading center. |
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It received a lot of sugarcane from the West Indies. |
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Beans baked in molasses, a sugar product, |
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became a favorite food in the city. |
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Today, no companies there make Boston baked beans. |
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Restaurants in Boston rarely serve it. |
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But many Americans eat this tasty dish at home. |
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(MUSIC) |
