-
(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
A 200-year-old Saguaro cactus1 has fallen due to a powerful monsoon2
Catalina State Park officials in Arizona believe powerful monsoon rains brought it down last month. Its trunk has splintered and its large arms are now sprawled4 on the ground.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
For around 200 years, a special saguaro cactus stood tall in the Arizona desert. Its longest arms stretched almost 30 feet into the air. And now that desert giant has fallen. Its trunks have splintered. And its large arms lay sprawled on the ground.
A MART?NEZ, HOST:
Steve Haas, the park manager at Catalina State Park, says monsoon rains likely led to its demise5.
STEVE HAAS: Mid-June through now, we've had about 12 1/2 inches of rain. And so it was very wet. It was very windy.
MART?NEZ: These slow-growing succulents can take seven years to reach a height of six feet. And though the death of this giant is sad news for some, it still has a role to play.
HAAS: The coolest part about it is, you know, as it rots over the next decades, you know, it's going to provide habitat. It's going to provide food. It's going to provide shelter for all sorts of creatures.
MARTIN: The remains6 of the cactus will stay where they are, full of holes from gila woodpeckers and cactus wrens7. This saguaro fell just a few weeks after a bacterial8 infection killed another iconic saguaro known as Strong Arm, which lived to 150 years.
MART?NEZ: In spite of the recent loss of these two beloved desert icons9, Haas notes that many others are still standing10 strong.
HAAS: There's a lot of younger ones here. And, you know, they grow so slowly. But it's neat to see a mix of - you want some old ones. But then you want a lot of regeneration, a lot of young saguaros.
MART?NEZ: Haas says saguaro are special in every season and in every season of their lives.
HAAS: When it's really hot, you know, that's when they send out their flower. And so then you have bats that pollinate it and birds that pollinate it. And then - you know, and then when they drop their fruit come monsoon season, all those red, little seeds, you know, everybody uses those seeds in terms of eating them. And, yes, it's sad that it fell. But now it's even providing more habitat for critters and stuff.
MART?NEZ: So the saguaro will slowly return to the soil right where it stood all that time along the Romero Ruins.
(SOUNDBITE OF NAIM AMOR'S "STUCK")
1 cactus | |
n.仙人掌 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
2 monsoon | |
n.季雨,季风,大雨 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
3 transcript | |
n.抄本,誊本,副本,肄业证书 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4 sprawled | |
v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的过去式和过去分词);蔓延;杂乱无序地拓展;四肢伸展坐着(或躺着) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
5 demise | |
n.死亡;v.让渡,遗赠,转让 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
6 remains | |
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
7 wrens | |
n.鹪鹩( wren的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
8 bacterial | |
a.细菌的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
9 icons | |
n.偶像( icon的名词复数 );(计算机屏幕上表示命令、程序的)符号,图像 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
10 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|