火山口湖国家公园：一颗蓝色的宝石

Crater¹ Lake National Park: A Blue Jewel 火山口湖国家公园：一颗蓝色的宝石

This week on our national parks journey, we travel to the northwestern state of Oregon. Here, you find will a huge, deep lake. It waters seem impossibly blue. It is the deepest lake in America and one of the deepest lakes in the world. Its water among the clearest and purest found on Earth.

Around the lake runs the wall of an extinct volcano. In the middle of the lake a small island rises over 230 meters above the surface.

Welcome to Crater Lake National Park.

The lake’s beauty inspires artists, photographers and nature lovers. That beauty was born from the violent burst of Mount Mazama about 7,700 ago. Hot liquid -- called magma -- rose from deep under the mountain, causing it to collapse².

The powerful burst destroyed the surrounding area. Huge amounts of ash fell on the land. The burst also left an enormous, circular hole in the mountain’s center. Scientists call this a caldera.

Over the next hundreds of years, rain and snow filled the hole with water. Rainfall and snowfall are the lake’s only source of water. It has no connections to the rivers and streams around it. That is what keeps its waters so pure.

As water collected, plants began to grow in the area again and animals returned. Scientists say it took about 250 years for the lake to rise to its current level.

Crater Lake is 592 meters deep. It is one of the 10 deepest on Earth. But, its depth is not the only remarkable³ quality. People are awed⁵ by its water color and clarity.

Crater Lake is so clear that, on most days, you can see nearly 30 meters below the surface. The lake takes on its intense blue color because of the water’s clarity. Sunlight reaches deep into the water.

Crater Lake gets its name from geology. A crater is a large bowl-shaped area on top of a volcano. The crater that formed the lake sits within the larger caldera.

Human History

Native Americans were in the area even before the lake’s formation. Researchers have found artifacts buried under layers of ash and dust from the Mount Mazama's huge eruption⁶.

Following the burst, Native Americans considered Crater Lake to be a holy place. Ancient Native American stories describe the eruption of Mount Mazama.

European explorers and settlers did not arrive in the area until the middle 1800s. In 1865, a hunter became one of the first non-Native Americans to reach the shores of Crater Lake.

In 1870, a boy in Kansas read a newspaper article about the strange lake in Oregon. The story about Crater Lake fascinated the young William Gladstone Steel. He promised himself he would one day see this lake.

In 1872, Steel’s family moved to Portland, Oregon, about 375 kilometers north of the lake. Thirteen years later, Steel honored his promise and visited Crater Lake. Its beauty moved him greatly. He began a 17-year fight to preserve the area as a public park.

Steel was a writer. He described one of his first visits to Crater Lake in 1886 in the “West Shore” magazine.

“Not a foot of the land about the lake has been touched or claimed. An overmastering conviction came to me that this wonderful spot must be saved, wild and beautiful, just as it was, for all future generations.”

His proposal of creating a national park did not please nearby sheep herders and miners.

But, his efforts succeeded anyway. On May 22, 1902 Crater Lake became the country’s fifth national park. It remains⁷ the only national park in Oregon. And William Gladstone Steel is called the “Father of Crater Lake.”

Visiting the Park

Crater Lake National Park covers 740 square kilometers. The lake itself makes up less than 10 percent of the park. It also includes surrounding mountains and thick forests. The trees shelter many kinds of animals, from black bears to elk⁹ to spotted¹⁰ owls¹¹.

About 480,000 people visit Crater Lake National Park each year. They explore by car, bicycle, or on foot.

Roads that encircle Crater Lake usually are open from July through October, depending on weather. They provide breathtaking displays of the lake’s unusual blue color as well as the thick forests around it.

Crater Lake National Park also has more than 140 kilometers of hiking trails. The Cleetwood Cove⁸ Trail drops more than 200 meters down to the edge of Crater Lake. It leads to a spot where swimming is permitted.

The water is extremely cold. Most swimmers cannot stay in for more than a few minutes. Crater Lake’s average water temperature is just three degrees Celsius¹². In summer, the lake’s surface warms to about 10 degrees Celsius.

Visitors can also ride a boat from the end of Cleetwood Cove Trail. Park rangers¹³ lead visitors on boat rides around the lake. Visitors can also take boats to Wizard Island. The piece of land sits in the western part of the lake.

Volcanic¹⁴ eruptions¹⁵ formed Wizard Island. It rises over 760 meters above the lake floor. However, most of the island, about 500 meters, is underwater.

At Wizard Island, visitors can hike, swim and fish. It is also a wonderful place to relax and enjoy nature.

But, such extraordinary places can be found all over the park. Discovering one’s own is part of the magic to experience at Crater Lake National Park.

Words in This Story

extinct - adj. no longer active

enormous - adj. very great in size or amount

remarkable - adj. unusual or surprising : likely to be noticed

awe⁴ - v. to have a strong feeling of wonder or surprise

artifact - n. a simple object (such as a tool or weapon) that was made by people in the past

fascinate - v. to cause (someone) to be very interested in something or someone.

1 crater   

n.火山口，弹坑

参考例句：

• With a telescope you can see the huge crater of Ve-suvius.用望远镜你能看到巨大的维苏威火山口。
• They came to the lip of a dead crater.他们来到了一个死火山口。

2 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

3 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

4 awe   

n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧

参考例句：

• The sight filled us with awe.这景色使我们大为惊叹。
• The approaching tornado struck awe in our hearts.正在逼近的龙卷风使我们惊恐万分。

5 awed   

adj.充满敬畏的，表示敬畏的v.使敬畏，使惊惧( awe的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The audience was awed into silence by her stunning performance. 观众席上鸦雀无声，人们对他出色的表演感到惊叹。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I was awed by the huge gorilla. 那只大猩猩使我惊惧。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 eruption   

n.火山爆发；（战争等）爆发；（疾病等）发作

参考例句：

• The temple was destroyed in the violent eruption of 1470 BC.庙宇在公元前1470年猛烈的火山爆发中摧毁了。
• The eruption of a volcano is spontaneous.火山的爆发是自发的。

7 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

8 cove   

n.小海湾，小峡谷

参考例句：

• The shore line is wooded,olive-green,a pristine cove.岸边一带林木蓊郁，嫩绿一片，好一个山外的小海湾。
• I saw two children were playing in a cove.我看到两个小孩正在一个小海湾里玩耍。

9 elk   

n.麋鹿

参考例句：

• I was close enough to the elk to hear its labored breathing.我离那头麋鹿非常近，能听见它吃力的呼吸声。
• The refuge contains the largest wintering population of elk in the world.这座庇护所有着世界上数量最大的冬季麋鹿群。

10 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

11 owls   

n.猫头鹰( owl的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• 'Clumsy fellows,'said I; 'they must still be drunk as owls.' “这些笨蛋，”我说，“他们大概还醉得像死猪一样。” 来自英汉文学 - 金银岛
• The great majority of barn owls are reared in captivity. 大多数仓鸮都是笼养的。 来自辞典例句

12 Celsius   

adj.摄氏温度计的，摄氏的

参考例句：

• The temperature tonight will fall to seven degrees Celsius.今晚气温将下降到七摄氏度。
• The maximum temperature in July may be 36 degrees Celsius.七月份最高温度可能达到36摄氏度。

13 rangers   

护林者( ranger的名词复数 )； 突击队员

参考例句：

• Do you know where the Rangers Stadium is? 你知道Rangers体育场在哪吗？ 来自超越目标英语 第3册
• Now I'm a Rangers' fan, so I like to be near the stadium. 现在我是Rangers的爱好者，所以我想离体育场近一点。 来自超越目标英语 第3册

14 volcanic   

adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的

参考例句：

• There have been several volcanic eruptions this year.今年火山爆发了好几次。
• Volcanic activity has created thermal springs and boiling mud pools.火山活动产生了温泉和沸腾的泥浆池。

15 eruptions   

n.喷发，爆发( eruption的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There have been several volcanic eruptions this year. 今年火山爆发了好几次。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Over 200 people have been killed by volcanic eruptions. 火山喷发已导致200多人丧生。 来自辞典例句