美国国家公园

52 美国国家公园

DATE=6/18/01
TITLE=THIS IS AMERICA #1069 - National Parks 
BYLINE=Jerilyn Watson

VOICE ONE:
Millions of people are spending part of their summer holiday visiting national parks in the United States.  The National Park Service (1) operates almost four-hundred protected areas across the nation.   I'm Sarah Long.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Steve Ember. America's National Park system is our report today on the VOA Special English program, THIS IS AMERICA.
((INSTEAD OF THEME, "GRAND CANYON¹ SUITE²"))
VOICE ONE:
Many Americans say it would not seem like summer without a visit to a national park.  But conditions at some of the parks have caused President Bush to (2) announce plans for improvements.  
The president recently proposed spending almost five-thousand-million dollars over five years for structural³ repairs at the parks.  Bridges, visitor centers and other buildings would be improved.  So would systems for heating, (3) electricity and safety.
Mister Bush also named Fran Mainella as the new National Park Service (4) director.  She has been heading the state parks in Florida.
VOICE TWO:
The Bush Administration says the national parks need repairs to prevent harm to people, wildlife and natural areas.  (5) Environmentalists had (6) criticized the (7) Administration for placing top importance on structural repairs.  They say it is more important to improve air and water quality at the parks. 
The administration now has decided⁴ to move ahead with a proposal made by (8) former President Clinton.  This plan is aimed at improving air quality by (9) reducing pollution in many of the parks. 
VOICE ONE:
Administration support and (10) federal money are extremely important to the National Park Service. The service was created in Nineteen-Sixteen as part of the Department of the (11) Interior⁵. Today the National Park Service operates three-hundred-eighty-four protected areas across the nation.  These include large areas that offer many activities.  They also include monuments, seashores, historical areas, battlefields, rivers and walking (12) trails.
High gasoline prices have made car travel costly⁷ this summer.   But officials say about two-hundred-eighty-five-million people will visit almost sixty major national parks this season.
((MUSIC BRIDGE))
VOICE TWO:
Visitors to America's national parks walk in the woods.  They climb ropes, rocks and mountains.  They swim, ride horses and visit underground caves.  They attend classes about wildlife and history led by experts.   They sleep outdoors in (13) temporary (14) shelters.  They prepare food outdoors. They enjoy the beauty and wonders of nature. 
The most popular national parks are the Great Smoky Mountains, the (15)Grand Canyon and (16) Yosemite. Almost eighteen-million people visited these places last year.  About the same number are expected this year.
VOICE ONE:
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is on the border between (17) North Carolina and (18) Tennessee.  A (19) mist that looks like smoke usually covers the mountaintops. The trees help create the (20) dense⁸ wet atmosphere.    Environmentalists hope new measures to improve air quality will reduce this substance.  But until this happens, the mountains have earned their name. 
More than ten-million people visit the Great Smoky Mountains each year.  This is more than any other national park.  Some of the mountains are about two-thousand meters high.  About one-hundred-fifty kinds of trees grow in the park.  People fish in many clear rivers.   A number of these rivers have beautiful waterfalls. 
The (21) Cherokee Indians were the first people to live in the Great Smoky Mountains. Later, the first white settlers built houses.  Visitors can see some of these very old wooden cabins in the park.  
VOICE TWO:
The Grand Canyon in Arizona may be the most famous national park in the United States.  It (22) extends four-hundred-fifty kilometers along the Colorado River.  Visitors enjoy this beautiful place in many ways. They stand near the edge and look over the (23) canyon.  They walk or ride a (24) mule⁹ down into the canyon.  They fly over it in helicopters or small airplanes.  They ride in boats in the sometimes fast-moving waters of the Colorado River.  
The Grand Canyon is huge, silent, peaceful and deep.  Some visitors say it makes them think about their own very small place in the natural world. 
VOICE ONE:
Yosemite National Park is in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California.  It has more than one-thousand kilometers of walking paths.  Most of these trails lead upward to mountaintops, rivers and lakes of the High Sierra.   Many animals live there, including bears and deer.   Huge ancient (25) sequoia¹⁰ trees grow in Yosemite.  A tree called the Grizzly¹¹ Giant is two-thousand-seven-hundred years old.  It is thought to be the oldest living sequoia tree in the world. 
In Yosemite Valley, visitors see waterfalls pour down rock walls formed by ancient ice mountains.  Bridalveil Falls and Yosemite Falls are among the most famous waterfalls.  Huge rocks rise from the floor of the valley. One of these is called El Capitan.  It is more than one-thousand meters high.
((MUSIC BRIDGE))
VOICE TWO:
People can also visit many historic⁶ places in the national park system. One of these is Alcatraz Island in northern California.  It is in the Golden Gate National (26) Recreation Area in San Francisco Bay.  In the Eighteen-Hundreds, the United States Army built a major defense¹² center on the island.  During the Civil War in the Eighteen-Sixties, this center helped protect San Francisco from the (27) Confederate army. 
But Alcatraz is most famous as a (28) top-security federal prison.  A few famous criminals like Al Capone served sentences there.  The prison closed in Nineteen-Sixty-Three.  Six years later a group of Native Americans (29) occupied the island for nineteen months.  They seized the island to show the problems of American Indians.
VOICE ONE:
The Cape¹³ Cod¹⁴ National Seashore in Massachusetts is another national protected area.  It is sixty-four kilometers long.  There are no stores or other businesses.  Visitors enjoy a peaceful ocean area.  (30) Seagulls and other birds fly over sandy shores. Tall grass and wildflowers grow in the sand.  One of the many swimming areas is close to a historic spot.  In this area Guglielmo Marconi built radio towers in the early Nineteen-Hundreds.  He successfully sent and received radio signals across the Atlantic Ocean with this equipment.
((MUSIC BRIDGE))
VOICE TWO:
The Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico protects the (31) ruins of a complex ancient civilization. The Chacoan culture began more than one-thousand-one-hundred years ago.  The Chacoan people built huge houses.  The largest of these contained more than six-hundred rooms.  Experts believe the people used these buildings for ceremonies, meeting and trading. 
The national park also protects the night sky above Chaco Canyon. The ancient Chacoan people observed the movement of planets and stars.  This helped them plan ceremonies and design their buildings.  Today park workers reduce lighting¹⁵ so visitors can get a clear look at the night skies. 
VOICE ONE:
The Dayton Aviation¹⁶ Heritage¹⁷ National Historical Park is in Ohio.  It honors Orville and Wilbur Wright.  They invented the first successful airplane.  Visitors can see the building where the brothers operated their bicycle (32) manufacturing and printing businesses.  It also is where they created plans for their airplane.  They first flew it in North Carolina in Nineteen-Oh-Three.  
The park also honors the Wright brothers' friend Paul Laurence Dunbar. Mister Dunbar was a famous African American writer of novels, poems, plays, and short stories.  
The Wright brothers published a newspaper Mister Dunbar wrote for the African American (33) community. A memorial to Mister Dunbar is in the home he bought for his mother.  Visitors can see historic objects including a bicycle made for him by Orville and Wilbur Wright.  
VOICE TWO:
Americans hope the National Park Service will continue to operate and protect their special places.  Composer Ferde Grofe (FUR-dee Grow-FAY) liked one of the parks so much that he wrote music about it.   It is called the "Grand Canyon Suite."
(INSTEAD OF THEME, "GRAND CANYON SUITE"))
VOICE ONE:
This program was written by Jerilyn Watson.  It was produced by George Grow.  Our studio engineer was Keith Holmes. I'm Sarah Long.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Steve Ember.  Join us again next week for another report about life in the United States on the VOA Special English program, THIS IS AMERICA.

(1)       operate [`Rp[reit] v.操作, 运转, 开动
(2)       announce [E`naUns] vt.宣布, 通告
(3) electricity [ilek`trisiti] n. 电
(4)       director [di`rekt[] n.导演 (团体)理事
(5)       environmentalist [in9vaiErEn`mentlist] n.环境保护论者, 环境论者
(6) criticize [`kritisaiz] v.批评, 责备
(7) administration [Edminis`treiFEn] n.管理, 经营, 行政部门
(8) former [ `fR:mE] adj.从前的, 以前的
(9) reduce [ri`djU:s] vt.减少, 缩小
(10) federal [ `fedErEl] adj.联邦的
(11) interior [in`tiEri[] adj.内部的, 内的
(12) trail [treil] n.踪迹, 痕迹, 形迹
(13) temporary [ `tempErRri] adj.暂时的, 临时的, 临时性
(14) shelter [`FeltE] n.掩蔽处,掩蔽
(15) Grand Canyon n. (美)大峡谷
(16) Yosemite [jEU`semiti] (=National Park) (美国加利福尼亚州中部)约塞米蒂国         　　家公园
(17) North Carolina n.美国北卡罗来纳州
(18) Tennessee [9tene`si:] n.田纳西州
(19) mist [mist] n.薄雾
(20) dense [dens] adj.密集的, 浓厚的
(21) cherokee [9tFer[`ki:] n.切罗基族人
(22) extend [iks`tend] v.扩充, 延伸, 伸展
(23) canyon [ `kAnj[n] n.<美>峡谷, 溪谷
(24) mule [mjU:l] n.骡子
(25) sequoia [si`kRi[] n.[植] 美洲杉
(26) recreation [rekri`eiFEn] n.消遣, 娱乐
(27) confederate army n. 联邦军
(28) top-security adj. 顶级安全的
(29) occupy [ `RkjUpai] vt.占, 占用, 占领, 占据
(30) seagull [ `si:^Ql] n.海鸥
(31) ruin [rUin] n.废墟, 遗迹
(32) manufacturing [9mAnjU`fAkt[riN] n.制造业
(33) community [kE`mjU:niti] n.公社, 团体, 社会

1 canyon   

n.峡谷，溪谷

参考例句：

• The Grand Canyon in the USA is 1900 metres deep.美国的大峡谷1900米深。
• The canyon is famous for producing echoes.这个峡谷以回声而闻名。

2 suite   

n.一套(家具)；套房；随从人员

参考例句：

• She has a suite of rooms in the hotel.她在那家旅馆有一套房间。
• That is a nice suite of furniture.那套家具很不错。

3 structural   

adj.构造的，组织的，建筑（用）的

参考例句：

• The storm caused no structural damage.风暴没有造成建筑结构方面的破坏。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities.北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 interior   

adj.在内的，内部的，内地的，国内的；n.内部

参考例句：

• There is water in the interior of the cave.在山洞的内部有水。
• They went into the interior room.他们进了内室。

6 historic   

adj.历史上著名的，具有历史意义的

参考例句：

• This is a historic occasion.这是具有重大历史意义的时刻。
• We are living in a great historic era.我们正处在一个伟大的历史时代。

7 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

8 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。

9 mule   

n.骡子，杂种，执拗的人

参考例句：

• A mule is a cross between a mare and a donkey.骡子是母马和公驴的杂交后代。
• He is an old mule.他是个老顽固。

10 sequoia   

n.红杉

参考例句：

• The sequoia national forest is at the southern end of the sierra nevada range.红杉国家公园位于内华达山脉南端尽头处。
• The photo shows the enormous general Sherman tree in California's sequoia national park.照片显示的是加利福尼亚州红杉国家公园内巨大的谢尔曼将军树。

11 grizzly   

adj.略为灰色的，呈灰色的；n.灰色大熊

参考例句：

• This grizzly liked people.这只灰熊却喜欢人。
• Grizzly bears are not generally social creatures.一般说来，灰熊不是社交型动物。

12 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

13 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

14 cod   

n.鳕鱼；v.愚弄；哄骗

参考例句：

• They salt down cod for winter use.他们腌鳕鱼留着冬天吃。
• Cod are found in the North Atlantic and the North Sea.北大西洋和北海有鳕鱼。

15 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

16 aviation   

n.航空，航空学，飞机制造业

参考例句：

• Ten years ago,they began to develop the aviation. 十年前，他们开始发展航空工业。
• Pilots of large aircraft are masters of aviation.大型飞行器的驾驶员是航空学方面的专家。

17 heritage   

n.传统，遗产，继承物

参考例句：

• The ancient buildings are part of the national heritage.这些古建筑是民族遗产的一部分。
• We Chinese have a great cultural heritage.我们中国人有伟大的文化遗产。