当田纳西州纳什维尔因为亚马逊的物流中心而欣欣向荣的时候，美国很多其他落后的小城镇在萧条的路上越滑越远了。请看本报昨日的报道：

In the depths of the financial crisis, when the world was shunning debt and battening down for the worst, Nashville city officials zagged in what seemed a preposterous direction and spent US$600 million on a new convention center.

A decade later thousands of new hotel rooms soar over the site, including a 33-story Marriott that is just a tiny part of the investment and jobs boom that has made Nashville an envy of other U.S. cities trying to find their footing, an image cemented when Amazon announced it would put a 5,000-job logistics center here.

“Look at the skyline, see the activity — whether it is a Monday night or a Saturday night — the city is thriving,” said Tom Turner, president of the Nashville Downtown Partnership.

报道中的batten down就是“准备应对（困难）”的意思，这个词组的本意指把船舱钉上扣板准备应对暴风雨。例如：

People are battening down in preparation for a fierce storm.

人们正采取措施准备应对猛烈的暴风雨。