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发帖数: 30882 | 1 请聆听上帝通过重大事件传达的巨大脚步声吧
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美國國家聖誕樹倒了
发信站: BBS 未名空间站 (Mon Feb 21 21:42:08 2011, 美东)
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/20/us/20tree.html?_r=1&hp
February 19, 2011
Winds Topple National Christmas Tree
By EMMARIE HUETTEMAN
WASHINGTON — High winds whipped through the metropolitan Washington area on
Saturday, downing
power lines, fueling brush fires and even toppling the National Christmas
Tree.
The National Weather Service had issued a high wind warning for the area,
cautioning that some gusts
could reach 60 miles per hour.
No one was reported injured from the fires in Montgomery County, Md., or the
fallen lines. which left
thousands without power at various times during the day in Washington and
suburban Maryland. By
Saturday evening, all but 1,800 customers had power restored, said Bob
Hainey, a spokesman for Pepco,
the local utility.
The National Christmas Tree, a Colorado blue spruce more than 40 feet tall
and nearly 48 years old, was
donated by a family in Pennsylvania, according to the National Christmas
Tree Web site. It was moved by
the National Park Service in 1978, the Web site says, becoming a permanent
fixture on the Ellipse in
President’s Park. The tree had no known health problems when it fell, said
a Park Service spokesman, Bill
Line.
Knowing the tree would not live forever, Mr. Line said, the agency
identified a successor two years ago but
was not ready to reveal that tree’s location. The fallen spruce is expected
to be replaced in late spring.
As part of an annual tradition dating to the Coolidge administration in 1923
, the National Christmas Tree is
decorated and then lighted by the president in a widely attended, nationally
broadcast celebration. Recent
ceremonies have featured guests including the poet Maya Angelou, the hip-hop
artist Common and the
singer Sheryl Crow. | w*********g
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