国家地理 退田护河

Out of the Blue Ridge¹ Mountains in northwest Georgia, the cold waters of the Conasauga River descend² toward Tennessee.

在佐治亚州西北部的蓝脊山外，Conasauga河冰冷的水静静地流向田纳西州。

Flowing back and forth³ across the state line, the River's abundant wildlife and unspoiled beauty is a remnant of the past

这条河沿着田纳西州边境蜿蜒曲折，丰富的野生物种和未被损坏的美景已经成为过去

--a fading memory that Carton Petty wants to restore.

——Carton Petty希望重建的褪色的记忆。

"I found out it phased out. Take care of the land and it'll take care of you."

“我发现这里的美景逐渐消失了。你关照土地，它也会关照你。”

It break, if you didn't. Petty purchased this land several years ago to grow corn and raise dairy cattle.

如果你不好好对它，终有一天它会崩溃。Petty几年前购买了这片土地，主要用于种植玉米和养殖奶牛。

Today, his farm covers more than 7,000 acres, 170 of them along the Conasauga.

如今他的农场占地7,000多英亩，其中170多亩是在Conasauga河岸。

To preserve the beauty of the river and his property,

为了保住河流的美景和他的财产，

Petty has built buffer⁴ zones--dedicated strips of land to stop chemicals he spreads on his crops from running into the river, and to prevent bank erosion.

Petty建立的缓冲区——一些防止他施用在作物上的化学物质流入河流，防止河岸侵蚀的专用土地带。

"Yep, this, this is just the new buffer we put in and it just, They were sold in November. And it'll take about a year for you to get established good. "

“这是我们投入的新的缓冲带，11月份刚刚买过来的，大约要用一年的时间才能建好。”

Buffers⁵ are an idea from the Conservation Reserve Program--a United States Department of Agriculture backed initiative that brings landowners,

缓冲区是来自美国自然保护计划（Conservation Reserve Program，简称CRP）——美国农业部为了将土地所有者，

local alliances, and other government agencies together.

当地联盟和其他政府机构联合起来而设立的项目。

Nevertheless, keeping an old river like this one healthy in a modern world is difficult.

但是，在现代化的世界里，要想保持这样的河流的健康是非常困难的。

Beneath the surface of these waters, a pollutant⁶ is killing⁷ one of its oldest residents --a rare kind of mussel.

在河面一下，污染物正在杀戮河中最古老的居民——一种稀有贻贝。

And no one knows exactly where it is coming from. "This animal's, probably, 20 to 30 years old... "

没人确切的知道它来自哪里。“这种动物，年龄可能在20到30岁之间……”

Paul Johnson with the Tennessee Aquarium⁸ has the task of figuring out how to preserve the mussels and help them reproduce.

田纳西水族馆的Paul Johnson负责找出保护这些贻贝和使它们再生的方法。

"This animal's called... Its scientific name is Cora-bean Hellene. Its common name is the Georgia Pigtail.

“这种动物叫做……它的学名是Cora-bean Hellene，通俗名称是Georgia Pigtail。

It was believed to be extinct, then we found this species alive in the Conasauga River,

大家都确信它已经灭绝了，但是我们在Conasauga河又发现了这个物种。

and as far as we know, Conasauga is the sole river that contains this species."

据我们了解，Conasauga河是唯一有这种物种生存的河流。”

It is a race against time. As long as they cannot figure out what is killing the mussels, that something poses a threat to the whole river.

这是一场与时间的比赛。如果他们找不出是什么原因导致贻贝死亡，会对整条河流造成威胁。

While the work goes on, the Petties will keep doing their part.

在工作进行的过程中，Petty一家还将继续做好他们自己的工作。

"It's lucky we got something special here with the Conasauga. So, I think we all well understand and start to realize that.

“能够和Conasauga河有这种特殊的关系我们感到很幸运。所以，我觉得我们会理解，并且开始意识到这一点。

And we're trying to do the appropriate steps to keep it a clean and beautiful view."

我们正在努力采取适当的措施，以保证Conasauga河清洁美丽的风景。”

1 ridge   

n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭

参考例句：

• We clambered up the hillside to the ridge above.我们沿着山坡费力地爬上了山脊。
• The infantry were advancing to attack the ridge.步兵部队正在向前挺进攻打山脊。

2 descend   

vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降

参考例句：

• I hope the grace of God would descend on me.我期望上帝的恩惠。
• We're not going to descend to such methods.我们不会沦落到使用这种手段。

3 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

4 buffer   

n.起缓冲作用的人(或物)，缓冲器；vt.缓冲

参考例句：

• A little money can be a useful buffer in time of need.在急需时，很少一点钱就能解燃眉之急。
• Romantic love will buffer you against life's hardships.浪漫的爱会减轻生活的艰辛。

5 buffers   

起缓冲作用的人（或物）( buffer的名词复数 )； 缓冲器； 减震器； 愚蠢老头

参考例句：

• To allocate and schedule the use of buffers. 分配和计划缓冲器的使用。
• Number of times the stream has paused due to insufficient stream buffers. 由于流缓冲区不足导致流程暂停的次数。

6 pollutant   

n.污染物质，散布污染物质者

参考例句：

• Coal itself is a heavy pollutant.煤本身就是一种严重的污染物。
• Carbon dioxide may not be a typical air pollutant.二氧化碳可能不是一种典型的污染物。

7 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

8 aquarium   

n.水族馆，养鱼池，玻璃缸

参考例句：

• The first time I saw seals was in an aquarium.我第一次看见海豹是在水族馆里。
• I'm going to the aquarium with my parents this Sunday.这个星期天，我要和父母一起到水族馆去。