VOA标准英语2016--从高尔夫球场到自由牧场

From Golf Range to Free Range 从高尔夫球场到自由牧场

GRAFTON, OHIO—

There’s a growing trend in the United States to let old or underused golf courses revert¹ back to nature. One parcel in Grafton, Ohio, converting 39 hectares of land back to green space is a lot more complicated than just not mowing² the fairway.

Expanding underused property

In the game of golf, a “mulligan” is slang for a second chance. Not long ago, Royal Oaks Golf Club got a major mulligan of its own when the underused property was turned into a nature preserve. Cart paths were converted to walking trails and water hazards became fishing ponds. That’s finally given Jerry Jewell a chance to enjoy the green space.

"I lived there before when it was a golf course but I never came back and played golf on it. So I never got a chance to see what it looked like as far as the landscape and stuff," said Jewell. 

Jewell’s story is something that Joe Leslie with Western Reserve Land Conservancy has heard many times. "There’s a select number of people who would use a golf course, whereas in the case of a passive or active recreation area for that matter, it gives the opportunity for many more people to use it," he said.

Western Reserve has worked on 10 similar projects in Ohio, and golf courses across the country are being returned to the “wild.” The trend is being fueled by a recovering real estate market, the declining popularity of golf, and the clubhouses and restrooms already on the site. But that return comes with costs.

"Because conversion³ to a golf course has stripped away some of those natural resource attributes that would allow us to get some of our public funding," Leslie explained.

Converting to natural reserves

So his team replaced the greenway grasses with native plants, and reintroduced native species. And they had to deal with the residual⁴ pesticides⁵ and fertilizers that kept the green, green.

Western Reserve partnered with the County Parks Department on the conversion. Parks director Jim Ziemnik said despite the cost, many of these projects add economical and ecological⁶ benefits to the community, such as flood prevention. "We also know historically that this used to have a lot of wetland — the soil type. So eventually, we’re looking at developing some wetlands," he added.

Returning Royal Oaks to its natural state will allow it to filter heavy snow melt or rainfall into the river instead of into the basements of surrounding homes and businesses as it has for years. 

Ziemnik said the key with projects like this is patience. Although the park is open, there’s still plenty to do. "It’s probably going to be in terms of trails, overlooks, wetlands, it’s probably going to be the better part of 10 years," he stated.

As for Jerry Jewell, who now uses the park every day, he doesn’t mind waiting. With what he’s seen so far, he believes things will only get better.

1 revert   

v.恢复，复归，回到

参考例句：

• Let us revert to the earlier part of the chapter.让我们回到本章的前面部分。
• Shall we revert to the matter we talked about yesterday?我们接着昨天谈过的问题谈，好吗？

2 mowing   

n.割草，一次收割量，牧草地v.刈，割( mow的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The lawn needs mowing. 这草坪的草该割了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• "Do you use it for mowing?" “你是用它割草么？” 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

3 conversion   

n.转化，转换，转变

参考例句：

• He underwent quite a conversion.他彻底变了。
• Waste conversion is a part of the production process.废物处理是生产过程的一个组成部分。

4 residual   

adj.复播复映追加时间；存留下来的，剩余的

参考例句：

• There are still a few residual problems with the computer program.电脑程序还有一些残留问题。
• The resulting residual chromatism is known as secondary spectrum.所得到的剩余色差叫做二次光谱。

5 pesticides   

n.杀虫剂( pesticide的名词复数 )；除害药物

参考例句：

• vegetables grown without the use of pesticides 未用杀虫剂种植的蔬菜
• There is a lot of concern over the amount of herbicides and pesticides used in farming. 人们对农业上灭草剂和杀虫剂的用量非常担忧。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 ecological   

adj.生态的，生态学的

参考例句：

• The region has been declared an ecological disaster zone.这个地区已经宣布为生态灾难区。
• Each animal has its ecological niche.每种动物都有自己的生态位.