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IN 1989 Edward Kennedy tried to stop time. TheUnited States Coast Guard was preparing toautomate and remove all remaining personnelfrom the old lighthouse in Boston Harbour. ButKennedy, a liberal senator from a family withdeep roots in Boston, sponsored a bill requiring theBoston Light to be permanently manned. And so itsoldiered on for nearly another decade,stubbornly holding to the old ways. Built in 1783,it is one of Americas oldest lighthouses . In 1998 time and Senator Kennedy reached a compromise:the light itself was at last automated, but it remains the last one with resident Coast Guardkeepers. 爱德华.肯尼迪试图让时间定格1989年。当时，美国海岸防卫队正准备从波士顿港撤走所有留守人员，实现灯塔全自动化。然而与波士顿有着深厚渊源的自由派参议员肯尼迪，提出了一份议案，要求派人长期驻守灯塔。因此，灯塔由士兵守候了又是近十年光景，这样灯塔顽强地得以维持其原状。兴建于1783年的波士顿灯塔是美国最古老的灯塔之一。经过长期的争取，肯尼迪最终于1998年出台了一项折衷方案：波士顿灯塔最终实现自动化，而且也是全美唯一一座由海岸警卫队驻守的灯塔。 The Coast Guard took charge of Americas more than 1,000 lighthouses in 1939, when itabsorbed the United States Lighthouse Service. But it has been slowly letting them go. In2000 the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act allowed the sale or transfer oflighthouses deemed excess to service requirements by the Coast Guard to private entities.Since then the federal government has moved 84 lighthouses of the 600 that were left off itsbooks. Most have been transferred to local governments or non-profits, but 28 have beenauctioned off to private individuals. | 
