美国国家公共电台 NPR--After years of drought, whitewater rafting is roaring back to life in California

After years of drought, whitewater rafting is roaring back to life in California

Transcript¹

As California's massive winter snowpack melts, the whitewater rafting industry is roaring back to life after years of debilitating² drought.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

After years of drought, rivers across California are flowing fast and furious, as they say. Well, anyway, there's a movie by that name - several of them.

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

People like it. People like it.

INSKEEP: People like it. People like them. The melting of a big snowpack is pushing water down from the mountains. And that flooding, of course, has done damage. It is good news, though, if your business is whitewater rafting. Joshua Yeager of our member station KVPR takes us to the Sierra Nevada mountains on the upper Kern River.

(SOUNDBITE OF WATER RUSHING)

JOSHUA YEAGER, BYLINE³: Almost as soon as we launch our boat into the river, the directions start coming in a cascade⁴ as swift as the water

MILES CURTIS: Forward, forward. Keep going.

YEAGER: Our guide is Miles Curtis. He's been navigating⁵ the Kern for decades, which is a good thing because we've got a major rapid right ahead of us, and the water feels like ice, even through my wetsuit.

CURTIS: Dig in. Keep going. Yeah, baby.

YEAGER: Millions of gallons of white foaming⁶ water swirl⁷ around us. This rapid is called Powerhouse, named after a century-old hydroelectric plant that towers overhead. After about 45 seconds of adrenaline-pumping paddling, we're through it.

MATT VOLPERT: So we are having what we call a big water year.

YEAGER: That's Matt Volpert, who runs Kern River Outfitters here. His shop looks like a stable. Big rafts hang from the ceiling. We talk outside.

VOLPERT: We've had flows now that are higher than anything we've seen since 1983.

YEAGER: The snowpack here in the southern Sierra is 300% of average.

VOLPERT: And when that starts melting, we have high water, and people love high water. Think of, like, the best powder day you've ever had.

YEAGER: But the high water also brings more risk. Authorities are urging people to be extra safe on surging, freezing rivers. Already this year, several people have been swept away. Volpert says customers have to show that they're fit enough to raft, and guides are doing extra training.

VOLPERT: They have to know every rock, every wave, every hole.

YEAGER: The potential danger hasn't deterred⁸ customers from enjoying the massive flows. In fact, here on the Kern, a big water year means big business.

VOLPERT: It means we're going to be really busy. So we opened on April 1, and we expect to be running until mid-September.

YEAGER: That's months longer than the most recent seasons, if you could even call them that. The Kern was barely a trickle⁹ before a dozen-plus atmospheric¹⁰ rivers drenched¹¹ California this winter. Drought conditions have been so severe at times that they forced Volpert to close his business. At one point, he considered quitting for good.

VOLPERT: We actually talk about it all the time. Like, man, what are we doing here?

YEAGER: It's a question outfitters throughout the West ask with increasing frequency. That's according to Aaron Bannon, director of America Outdoors. He represents 300 whitewater companies nationwide. He says many in California are working hard to adapt to the state's extreme weather whiplash, worsened by human-caused climate change. Some have modified trips when flows are piddly.

AARON BANNON: Maybe you, you know, do two half-day trips instead of one full-day trip.

YEAGER: Despite biblical-seeming challenges - the pandemic, wildfires, drought, flooding - Bannon and others say outfitters are a resilient bunch.

CURTIS: Forward two. Forward two.

YEAGER: Back on the river, we've just gone through another rapid. Our guide, Curtis, has his fingers crossed that the so-called big melt of the record snowpack doesn't happen too fast and make the river too dangerous. In the meantime, Curtis says rafters should make the most of a banner season.

CURTIS: Yep, this is the season to raft.

BANNON: And as high temperatures rise across the Sierra, the high water might be the place to beat the heat.

For NPR News, I'm Joshua Yeager on the upper Kern River.

(SOUNDBITE OF NIKLOUDS AND BILLA QAUSE'S "RED SEA HAZE")

1 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。

2 debilitating   

a.使衰弱的

参考例句：

• The debilitating disease made him too weak to work. 这个令他衰弱的病，使他弱到没有办法工作。
• You may soon leave one debilitating condition or relationship forever. 你即将永远地和这段霉运说拜拜了。

3 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。

4 cascade   

n.小瀑布，喷流；层叠；vi.成瀑布落下

参考例句：

• She watched the magnificent waterfall cascade down the mountainside.她看着壮观的瀑布从山坡上倾泻而下。
• Her hair fell over her shoulders in a cascade of curls.她的卷发像瀑布一样垂在肩上。

5 navigating   

v.给（船舶、飞机等）引航，导航( navigate的现在分词 )；（从海上、空中等）横越；横渡；飞跃

参考例句：

• These can also be very useful when navigating time-based documents, such as video and audio. 它对于和时间有关的文档非常有用，比如视频和音频文档。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Vehicles slowed to a crawl on city roads, navigating slushy snow. 汽车在市区路上行驶缓慢，穿越泥泞的雪地。 来自互联网

6 foaming   

adj.布满泡沫的；发泡

参考例句：

• He looked like a madman, foaming at the mouth. 他口吐白沫，看上去像个疯子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He is foaming at the mouth about the committee's decision. 他正为委员会的决定大发其火。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 swirl   

v.(使)打漩，(使)涡卷；n.漩涡，螺旋形

参考例句：

• The car raced roughly along in a swirl of pink dust.汽车在一股粉红色尘土的漩涡中颠簸着快速前进。
• You could lie up there,watching the flakes swirl past.你可以躺在那儿，看着雪花飘飘。

8 deterred   

v.阻止，制止( deter的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• I told him I wasn't interested, but he wasn't deterred. 我已告诉他我不感兴趣，可他却不罢休。
• Jeremy was not deterred by this criticism. 杰里米没有因这一批评而却步。 来自辞典例句

9 trickle   

vi.淌，滴，流出，慢慢移动，逐渐消散

参考例句：

• The stream has thinned down to a mere trickle.这条小河变成细流了。
• The flood of cars has now slowed to a trickle.汹涌的车流现在已经变得稀稀拉拉。

10 atmospheric   

adj.大气的，空气的；大气层的；大气所引起的

参考例句：

• Sea surface temperatures and atmospheric circulation are strongly coupled.海洋表面温度与大气环流是密切相关的。
• Clouds return radiant energy to the surface primarily via the atmospheric window.云主要通过大气窗区向地表辐射能量。

11 drenched   

adj.湿透的；充满的v.使湿透( drench的过去式和过去分词 )；在某人（某物）上大量使用（某液体）

参考例句：

• We were caught in the storm and got drenched to the skin. 我们遇上了暴雨，淋得浑身透湿。
• The rain drenched us. 雨把我们淋得湿透。 来自《简明英汉词典》