VOA标准英语2011--Texas County Recovering from Wildfires

Texas County Recovering from Wildfires

Bastrop County, in the southern U.S. state of Texas, was hit by the most destructive wildfires in the state's history earlier this year. More than 1,600 homes were wiped out and the state park was decimated. Now, Bastrop State Park is working hard to bring its woods back to life, by securing the area, controlling soil erosion and replanting trees. Our reporter went to the park to find out what can be done to reverse the impacts of wildfires.

Page Handy is using a chain saw to cut up fallen trees at Bastrop State Park.

She is a volunteer working hard to bring the park to life.

The first step is making the park safe for visitors.

"What we're doing is taking out hazard trees," said Handy. "So, anything that is burnt out a lot at the base, that has a high risk of falling over in wind or anything like that. And, we're also working on burned down walkways because the fire just like totally eliminated trail features, water drains and things like that. "
Handy is part of a team of volunteers working to rejuvenate¹ Bastrop Park. Ninety-six percent of it was hit by wildfires in September.

Some trees survived and still stand tall with green foliage².
But many areas have been destroyed. Charcoal³ black trunks are all that remain.
The park's site manager, Roger Dolle, says rejuvenation⁴ is beginning.
"Once we have the park safe and at least most of it open for visitors to come out and enjoy, hopefully get some revenue back into the park, the next big step is going to be erosion control," said Dolle.

Dolle says protecting the soil from rain and wind is a big project. That done, new trees will be planted.

They have more than one million seeds to plant. But Dolle says drought in Texas could last years and that creates problems for growth.

"It would be really bad for us to go ahead and put these 1.1 million, or however many seedlings⁵ we do get out of these seeds, in the ground and for them all to die because of lack of rainfall and moisture," he said. "So, we have to wait for rain and a lot of it."
The whole process will take longer than Dolle's own lifetime.

"It's going to be probably 10-20 years before this park gets back to something that looks more or less like a park, mostly greens where you won't really see black anymore," said Dolle. "A lot of the erosion will be taken care of. A lot of the ground cover will be back. And we are looking at probably 50 to 100 years before we get the pine trees back to the way they were three months ago."

Environmental worker Eric Hudson says it's a long process but nature is resilient.
"The human impact of wildfires is really devastating," said Hudson. "People lose their houses and it's really tough, really tragic⁶. But ecosystems⁷ like this are adapted to have wildfires. The severity changes. The severity of this one is very high and so it has an impact but this eco-system has seen this before. We tend to see things on a human time scale and that may not be applicable here."

He says, with time and hard work, the trees and the park will revive.

1 rejuvenate   

v.(使)返老还童；(使)恢复活力

参考例句：

• The mountain air will rejuvenate you.山里的空气会使你恢复活力。
• Exercise is perhaps the most effective way to rejuvenate your skin.锻炼可能是使皮肤恢复活力的最好手段。

2 foliage   

n.叶子，树叶，簇叶

参考例句：

• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage.小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。
• Dark foliage clothes the hills.浓密的树叶覆盖着群山。

3 charcoal   

n.炭，木炭，生物炭

参考例句：

• We need to get some more charcoal for the barbecue.我们烧烤需要更多的碳。
• Charcoal is used to filter water.木炭是用来过滤水的。

4 rejuvenation   

n. 复原，再生, 更新, 嫩化, 恢复

参考例句：

• Prolonged starvation and aging might lead to rejuvenation of embryogenic potential. 长期的饥饿和衰老可以导致胚胎发生能力的复壮。
• All this signs rejuvenation of agriculture. 所有这些都预示着农业将复苏。

5 seedlings   

n.刚出芽的幼苗( seedling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Ninety-five per cent of the new seedlings have survived. 新栽的树苗95%都已成活。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• In such wet weather we must prevent the seedlings from rotting. 这样的阴雨天要防止烂秧。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

7 ecosystems   

n.生态系统( ecosystem的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There are highly sensitive and delicately balanced ecosystems in the forest. 森林里有高度敏感、灵敏平衡的各种生态系统。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Madagascar's ecosystems range from rainforest to semi-desert. 马达加斯加生态系统类型多样，从雨林到半荒漠等不一而足。 来自辞典例句