在线英语听力室_免费在线英语听力学习网站

　　Spring has just sprung in the Northern Hemisphere, and that means an annual natural spectacular is just a couple of weeks away, deep in the heart of Texas.
春天已经来到了北半球，这也意味着在德克萨斯州的中心地区，一年一度的自然界盛事即将到来。
There are no other natural wonders in the rugged¹ Texas Hill Country. No awe-inspiring canyons², no snow-covered peaks or rain forests or raging mountain streams. Most of the time, the appeal of this tapestry³ of cedar⁴ and oak trees, lazy streams, and low limestone⁵ cliffs is more modest.
德克萨斯州崎岖的希尔山地没有什么奇特的自然景观。那里既没有让人产生敬畏之心的大峡谷，也没有白雪皑皑的山峰，更没有热带雨林或者奔腾的山间溪流。一年中的大部分时间，人们在这里看到的就是杉树和橡树枝繁叶茂，小溪缓缓流淌，以及低矮的石灰崖延伸至远方，一切都显得那么平淡。
But there’s nothing modest about a Hill Country spring. In 1991, George Oxford⁶ Miller⁷ published a book of photographs of the region. In the text, the environmental photojournalist wrote that "excitement comes in small packages." He found what he described as "air unadulterated with human additives⁸, stars undimmed by city lights, the uninterrupted sounds of nature, and fields of flowers unblemished by footprints."
但是，希尔山地的春天绝不平淡。1991年，环境摄影师乔治·米勒出版了一本该地区的摄影集。米勒在书中写道，“这里纯净的空气没有被人类活动污染，满天的繁星没有被城市的灯光遮掩，大自然的声音没有受到惊扰，无际的野花没有被踩在脚下。”
Four hundred species of flowers, including Indian paintbrushes, prickly poppies, flowering herbs, and the most compelling blossom of all - the bluebonnet, the Texas state flower.
德克萨斯州有400多种野花，包括印第安火焰草、蓟罂粟、草药花、以及盛开怒放的德克萨斯州花矢车菊。
"Everybody that I know of, and probably 90 percent of all Texans, have got a picture of either their dog or their child or somebody in the bluebonnet fields," John Thomas told us. He founded Wildseed Farms, the largest flower-seed-producing operation in the nation in the Hill Country town of Fredericksburg.
野花种子农场的创办人约翰·托马斯告诉记者，他认识的每个人，以及大约90%的德克萨斯人，都至少有一张家里的宠物狗、孩子或者其它家人在矢车菊花海中照的照片。托马斯经营的农场位于希尔山地的弗雷德里克斯堡市，是全国最大的花籽生产基地。
The area is also known as Tex-Deutsch country. Fredericksburg was founded by German settlers when the area was still open prairie.
这个地区通常被人们称为“德克萨斯德国郡”。弗雷德里克斯堡当年是德国定居者创建的，当时那里还是一片荒蛮的大草原。
You’ll still find German architecture, oom-pah bands, German dresses and lederhosen - even Mexican-style tacos stuffed with sausage and sauerkraut.
如今，人们还可以在那里找到德国建筑物，演奏巴伐利亚传统音乐欧帕帕的乐队，德国服装，以及德式皮短裤，甚至在典型的墨西哥食物Taco玉米卷中，当地人都塞满了德国人喜欢的香肠和泡菜。
But the big spectacle is reserved for spring, when thousands of tourists, 80 per cent of them Texans, come to see the hillsides ablaze⁹ in wildflowers - especially the bluebonnet.
不过，当地最大的盛事仍然是每年春天，成千上万的游客，其中80%来自德克萨斯州各地，纷纷涌入希尔山地，去观赏漫山遍野如潮的野花和盛开的矢车菊。