VOA标准英语2013--Volunteers Help Revive LA's Concrete River

 

Volunteers Help Revive LA's Concrete River

Thousands of volunteers turned out on a recent weekend to remove the trash that has been deposited by winter rain storms.  The Los Angeles River was lined with concrete in the late 1930s and 1940s, after years of periodic flooding.  Today, it looks like a river again, at least in some places, says clean-up volunteer Carol Henning.

“It is beginning to look a little better.  My memory of the river was people having drag races in the LA River, on the cement bottom," said Henning.

The LA River was the scene of a famous drag race in 1978 film Grease.   Today, parts of the river have been restored as a recreation area.  There are plants growing along the water and some of the birds, fish and other wildlife have returned.

The river is no longer seen as the city's ugly back yard, says Lewis MacAdams, a poet who founded the group Friends of the LA River in 1986.

“Now it is increasingly the front yard of the city.  People do not ignore it.  More and more people come down.  This is the 24th annual LA River cleanup.  We figure at this point we have cleaned up and taken out about a million pounds [450,000 kilograms] of trash out of the LA River," said  MacAdams.

It is surprising to see the many discarded items that find their way to the river, says John Dubler, a volunteer from the nearby Disney Company.

“We find snack bags and clothing.  It is amazing what you see.  Little CDs," said Dubler.

There are grocery carts, construction materials and carpets.

Volunteer Jack¹ Lebic says one item is most common. “Tons and tons of plastic bags.  I think that is the number one.  And they are buried underneath² here," said Lebic.

It is a yearly effort that is paying off, with a river that is once again starting to look like a river. 

1 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

2 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。