新西兰英语 196 Gold and Oil Mining

　　The government will consider mining in some areas where there are national parks.
The Minister for Energy and Resources¹, Gerry Brownlee, said that New Zealand is a country which is rich in minerals. In 2008, we exported $2 billion worth of coal, metal and minerals for industry including gold. The two big open-caste gold mines are in Coromandel at Waihi, and Macraes mine in Central Otago. If you visit these two areas, you can see trucks and other big machines taking rock from the ground. When all the gold is gone, the hole will be filled with water to make a lake.
The government wants to find out if other parts of New Zealand have minerals like gold, silver or oil. Brownlee said that mining will be allowed only in places which are not the most important conservation² areas. However, the Green Party has found out that the government will consider three National Parks, Fiordland, Kahurangi and Paparoa, all on the West Coast of the South Island. Fiordland National Park has mountains, lakes, rivers and forests as well as the famous Milford Sound. It is a very big national park, 1.2 million hectares³. Kahurangi National Park, about half a million hectares, is famous for its caves and forest tracks⁴. Paparoa National Park, is the smallest, about 30,000 hectares. It is famous for the Pancake Rocks at Punakaiki.
If mining is allowed in these national parks, it will have to be in areas where most people do not go. The Minister also said that mining companies would clean up the land when the mining was finished.

1 resources   

n.勇气；才智；谋略；有助于实现目标的东西；资源( resource的名词复数 )；[复数]物力；办法；来源

参考例句：

• The world's resources are rapidly diminishing. 世界资源正在迅速减少。
• a policy to equalize the distribution of resources throughout the country 使资源在全国分布均衡的政策

2 conservation   

n.保存，保持，守恒

参考例句：

• She is interested in conservation of environment.她对环境保护这个问题十分关心。
• Our community is a leader in the conservation of wildlife.我们社区在野生动物保护方面走在前头。

3 hectares   

n.公顷（等于2。471英亩）( hectare的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Thousands of hectares of forest are destroyed each year. 每年都有几千公顷的森林遭到破坏。
• There sugar-beet plantation areas were expanded to 176000 hectares. 他们的甜菜种植面积增加到176000公顷。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 tracks   

n.小路( track的名词复数 )；跑道；路径；轨道v.跟踪( track的第三人称单数 )；跟踪摄影；留下（脏）足迹；追随（潮流等）

参考例句：

• Tracks led up the mountainside. 小径沿着山坡向上延伸。
• All the tracks have been digitally remastered from the original tapes. 所有的曲子都已经从原始录音带转录到了数码母带上。