North Dakota is digging out from a historic Spring blizzard

North Dakota is digging out from a historic Spring blizzard¹

Transcript²

That snowfall could offer some reprieve³ to farmers and ranchers who have been struggling through a punishing drought. Many of them have been teetering on bankruptcy⁵.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

North Dakota is digging out from a spring blizzard. It dropped 3 feet of snow just outside the city of Minot and shut down schools and businesses. For farmers and ranchers, it promised a temporary reprieve from a drought. NPR's Kirk Siegler reports.

KIRK SIEGLER, BYLINE⁶: James Green owns a cattle ranch⁴ west of Towner, N.D., where he also runs the town's lone⁷ supermarket. While scanning a customer's groceries, he's looking out the window to about 2 feet of snow, higher in the drifts.

JAMES GREEN: You know, it just - getting that big dump of snow for three days straight - it was just a nice shot of moisture, I guess, going into the spring.

SIEGLER: More snow than they got all winter, he figures. Even over the phone, you can tell he's grinning.

GREEN: I haven't seen a snowfall this heavy in a while.

SIEGLER: Towner and surrounding McHenry County calls itself North Dakota's cattle capital. Ranchers like Greene have been forced to downsize their herds⁸ recently as the state continues to experience a historic drought. No moisture means brown pastures, and producers who have been able to stay afloat have had to drive far to find expensive feed.

GREEN: It's a relief, just from the standpoint it gives us hope for the upcoming grazing season without having to sell off, you know, a bunch of cows.

SIEGLER: There is a downside. These blizzards⁹ are hitting right in the middle of calving season for most ranchers. And as folks dig out, reports are starting to come in that producers have lost some newborns. Rachel Wald is an agricultural extension officer with North Dakota State University.

RACHEL WALD: This is - I'm going to tell you - one heck of a way to get moisture, because it definitely puts a lot more stress on people keeping calves¹⁰ alive.

SIEGLER: Climate scientists warn that North Dakota, at the geographical¹¹ center of North America, is going to be even more vulnerable to erratic¹² weather swings as the Earth warms. Recent months have been some of the driest and warmest ever recorded and now the biggest spring blizzard in at least 25 years.

WALD: It is a lot of ups and downs. And I can tell you, being a part of historic events is getting kind of tiring.

SIEGLER: Wald says usually a spring blizzard hits, and then it warms up and melts quickly. But snow and unusually cold temperatures are forecast across North Dakota for much of the next week.

Kirk Siegler, NPR News.

1 blizzard   

n.暴风雪

参考例句：

• The blizzard struck while we were still on the mountain.我们还在山上的时候暴风雪就袭来了。
• You'll have to stay here until the blizzard blows itself off.你得等暴风雪停了再走。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 reprieve   

n.暂缓执行（死刑）；v.缓期执行；给…带来缓解

参考例句：

• He was saved from the gallows by a lastminute reprieve.最后一刻的缓刑令把他从绞架上解救了下来。
• The railway line, due for closure, has been granted a six-month reprieve.本应停运的铁路线获准多运行6 个月。

4 ranch   

n.大牧场，大农场

参考例句：

• He went to work on a ranch.他去一个大农场干活。
• The ranch is in the middle of a large plateau.该牧场位于一个辽阔高原的中部。

5 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

6 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

7 lone   

adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的

参考例句：

• A lone sea gull flew across the sky.一只孤独的海鸥在空中飞过。
• She could see a lone figure on the deserted beach.她在空旷的海滩上能看到一个孤独的身影。

8 herds   

兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众

参考例句：

• Regularly at daybreak they drive their herds to the pasture. 每天天一亮他们就把牲畜赶到草场上去。
• There we saw herds of cows grazing on the pasture. 我们在那里看到一群群的牛在草地上吃草。

9 blizzards   

暴风雪( blizzard的名词复数 )； 暴风雪似的一阵，大量（或大批）

参考例句：

• Even in the summertime we might be struck by blizzards. 甚至在夏天，我们也可能受到暴风雪的袭击。
• Blizzards battered Britain for the third day. 大风雪袭击英国已进入第三天。

10 calves   

n.(calf的复数)笨拙的男子，腓；腿肚子( calf的名词复数 )；牛犊；腓；小腿肚v.生小牛( calve的第三人称单数 )；（冰川）崩解；生（小牛等），产（犊）；使（冰川）崩解

参考例句：

• a cow suckling her calves 给小牛吃奶的母牛
• The calves are grazed intensively during their first season. 小牛在生长的第一季里集中喂养。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 geographical   

adj.地理的；地区(性)的

参考例句：

• The current survey will have a wider geographical spread.当前的调查将在更广泛的地域范围內进行。
• These birds have a wide geographical distribution.这些鸟的地理分布很广。

12 erratic   

adj.古怪的，反复无常的，不稳定的

参考例句：

• The old man had always been cranky and erratic.那老头儿性情古怪,反复无常。
• The erratic fluctuation of market prices is in consequence of unstable economy.经济波动致使市场物价忽起忽落。