雨水让利福尼亚的花儿第二次绽放

Rain Brings Second California Super Bloom¹ in Two Years

Some desert flowers stay dormant² for many years until the right weather conditions come along. That is exactly what is happening right now in the state of California. It is experiencing a “super bloom” – a rare happening in which huge amounts of desert flowers open at the same time.

The state’s rainy winter – which was followed by warm weather – has brought endless fields of wildflowers to its Anza-Borrego desert. The colors are so bright that they can be seen from hundreds of meters high in the mountains.

This is the state’s second super bloom in two years. Usually, super blooms³ are much rarer. In California, super blooms usually happen about once every 10 years in one area. They have been happening even less often because of years-long drought⁴ conditions.

The 2017 super bloom was the best and brightest the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park had seen in 20 years. It was so big that it could be seen from outer space. The bloom brought huge crowds to Borrego Springs, a town of 3,500 people that sits next to the park.

There is a chance that the 2019 super bloom could create an even bigger, better show of nature’s beauty.

Betsy Knaak is executive⁵ director of the Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Association⁶, which follows the blooms. She told the Associated Press, “There’s just an abundance⁷ in where it’s blooming and it’s coming in waves.”

Knaak recently saw hundreds of people in the fields trying to capture⁸ the beauty in pictures.

Stephen Rawding drove to the desert with his girlfriend from the city of Carlsbad, north of San Diego. The two were there to take pictures after a friend told Rawding that this year’s super bloom was better than the one in 2017.

“It’s unreal,” Rawding said. “It’s just like they said — so beautiful.”

Many of the flowers are pink, purple, yellow and white.

There are the bright pink Bigelow’s Monkeys, purple Sand Verbena, white and yellow Evening Primrose⁹ and the desert lilies. The lilies bloomed extremely early this season – in December. That was a sign that a super bloom might come.

Bright orange poppy flowers are also covering the sides of Southern California highways.

Jim Dice¹⁰ is with the Steele/Burnand Anza-Borrego Desert Research Center, part of the University of California Natural Reserve System. He said that, right now, the flowers are “a painting of colors…in many of the areas.”

So far, six times the amount of rain has fallen in the Anza-Borrego desert this weather season compared to last year, Dice said.

If insects and freezing temperatures stay away, the beautiful flowers could spread to other areas into the spring.

The Anza-Borrego is California’s largest state park. It has hundreds of kinds of plants, such as the tall ocotillo, which produces bright orange-red flowers.

A researcher at Dice’s center recently went to the top of Anza-Borrego’s Coyote Mountain to take a picture of purple fields 914 meters below.

“It was pretty spectacular¹¹ to see that from up above,” Dice said.

I’m Alice Bryant.

Words in This Story

dormant – adj. not active but able to become active

abundance – n. a large amount of something

highway – n. a main road that connects cities and towns

spectacular – adj. causing wonder and admiration

1 bloom   

n.花，花期；vi.开花；容光焕发，显露出健康

参考例句：

• The park is a picture when flowers are in bloom.当鲜花盛开时，这个公园的景色美极了。
• The flowers in the garden are now in full bloom.花园里的花盛开。

2 dormant   

adj.暂停活动的；休眠的；潜伏的

参考例句：

• Many animals are in a dormant state during winter.在冬天许多动物都处于睡眠状态。
• This dormant volcano suddenly fired up.这座休眠火山突然爆发了。

3 blooms   

n.（常指供观赏的）花( bloom的名词复数 )；最佳时期；茂盛时期；健康有精神的面貌

参考例句：

• the exotic blooms of the orchid 奇异的兰花
• This plant blooms between May and June. 这种植物在5月至6月间开花。 来自辞典例句

4 drought   

n.旱灾，干旱，久旱

参考例句：

• The plants are growing in again,despite the drought.尽管干旱，植物又长出来了。
• The ground is as hard as stone after the drought.长期干旱后土地硬得就像石头一样。

5 executive   

adj.执行的，行政的；n.执行者，行政官，经理

参考例句：

• A good executive usually gets on well with people.一个好的高级管理人员通常与人们相处得很好。
• He is a man of great executive ability.他是个具有极高管理能力的人。

6 association   

n.联盟，协会，社团；交往，联合；联想

参考例句：

• Our long association with your company has brought great benefits.我方和贵公司的长期合作带来了巨大的利益。
• I broke away from the association ten years ago.我10年前就脱离了那个团体。

7 abundance   

n.大量，丰富，充足

参考例句：

• At the feast there was food and drink in abundance.宴会上有丰富的饮食。
• There is an abundance of commodity supplies on the markets.商品供应充足。

8 capture   

vt.捕获，俘获；占领，夺得；n.抓住，捕获

参考例句：

• The company is out to capture the European market.这家公司希望占据欧洲市场。
• With the capture of the escaped tiger,everyone felt relieved.逃出来的老虎被捕获后，大家都松了一口气。

9 primrose   

n.樱草，最佳部分，

参考例句：

• She is in the primrose of her life.她正处在她一生的最盛期。
• The primrose is set off by its nest of green.一窝绿叶衬托着一朵樱草花。

10 dice   

n.骰子；vt.把（食物）切成小方块，冒险

参考例句：

• They were playing dice.他们在玩掷骰子游戏。
• A dice is a cube.骰子是立方体。

11 spectacular   

adj.引人注目的，出色的，与众不同的

参考例句：

• This is a spectacular film.这是一部场面壮观的电影。
• This is the most spectacular financial crash of the decade.这是10年里最引人注目的金融破产事件。