VOA慢速英语2013 National Parks Called America’s Best Idea

 

National Parks Called America’s Best Idea

Welcome to This Is America in VOA Learning English. I'm Jim Tedder¹.

And I'm Kelly Jean Kelly. This week on our program, we talk about national parks in the United States. 

The United States established its first national park in 1872. Yellowstone, in the western state of Wyoming, is home to grizzly² bears, wolves and other animals.

Yellowstone was not only the first national park in America. It was the first in the world. 

Since then, about 100 nations have followed the example. They have established over 100,000 national parks and protected areas for the enjoyment³ of people today and generations to come.

The National Park Service in the United States manages a total of 401 "units," as it calls them. These include national parks, historical sites, monuments, buildings and battlefields. They also include recreation areas, seashores, rivers, trails and parkways—almost 34 million hectares of land in all.

Visitors can hike in the woods. Climb mountains. Photograph animals. Explore Civil War battlefields. Go swimming or river-rafting. Ride horses. Or just enjoy a day outdoors with the beauty of nature.

The National Park Service was created in 1916. President Woodrow Wilson signed an act to make the National Park Service part of the Interior Department.

The National Park Service has two main jobs. One is to protect the national parks. The other is to help visitors enjoy them. In 2009, director Ken⁴ Burns made a movie about the history of the National Parks. He called them “America’s Best Idea.” 

One way the National Park Service is able to operate is through the fees it charges. One hundred thirty-three sites charge entrance fees between $5 and $25.  Each entrance fee is good for seven days. However, visitors can buy a yearly pass for $80. And people over 62- years-old can buy a lifetime pass for $10.  A free lifetime pass is offered to people with disabilities.

In 2012, almost 287 million people visited the American national park system.  

Today the United States has 59 national parks. Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve is the largest park in the United States.   It is in Alaska and covers over five million hectares of land—larger than the size of Switzerland. 

Wrangell-St. Elias sells permits only to do research.  Scientific research of fisheries, climate change, pollution, rock formation and ice mountains takes place in the park.

The park also includes historic areas where the Athabascan people lived thousands of years ago. Villages, camping and hunting areas of the Athabascan people can be found in the area.

The park has many historical structures and buildings of other prehistoric⁵ groups. The National Park Service says the structures represent periods of exploration, mining and transportation. 

The smallest preserve in the United States is the Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial. 

The memorial is in Kosciuszko's home in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was a military engineer who left Poland to help fight for independence for the United States.

He is known for the battle sites and forts he built during the American Revolution. His greatest assistance was preparing for the defense⁶ of Saratoga. The battle of Saratoga is one of the most famous in the struggle for independence from the British.  

The places under the care of the National Park Service are not all refuges of peace and quiet. Some are historic sites in the middle of busy cities.

For example, Fort Stevens is located in Washington, DC, off a busy road that goes between Maryland and Washington. During the American Civil War, Union soldiers protected Washington at Fort Stevens.

On July 12, 1864, President Abraham Lincoln visited Fort Stevens to witness the battle. He was shot at by opposing Confederate soldiers. The event was the only time in American history that a serving president was shot at by an enemy fighter. 

One of the most memorable⁷ units is Mesa Verde National Park, in Colorado. Spanish explorers had named the area. The high, flat mountaintop is covered with many green juniper and pine trees. It looks like a huge green table, a “mesa verde” in Spanish.

A man named Richard Wetherill and his brother-in-law rediscovered the area in 1888, when they were trying to find some missing cattle. 

The two men came to the edge of a deep canyon⁸. Through the falling snow, they saw what looked like a small city across the canyon. It was suspended in the middle of the rock wall. There were many connected rooms built into a natural opening in the rock.

It looked as if the people who had lived there had just walked out, leaving everything they owned. Cooking pots by the fireplaces. Food bowls on the floors. Shoes in the corners. Digging sticks by the doors.

The ruins had been home to the ancestors of the present-day members of the Pueblo⁹ tribes. They were named Anasazi, or ancient ones, by the Navajo Indians. They moved to Mesa Verde about 1,500 years ago and left 700 years ago. 

Today, from a distance, Mesa Verde appears as it did centuries ago.  It rises more than 540 meters above the floor of the valley. Visitors can drive up to the top of Mesa Verde on a winding¹⁰ mountain road. 

When you reach the top, you are 2,400 meters above sea level.  In the distance are the flatlands and mountains of the Four Corners area. That is where the states of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona meet.

Some of the ruins in the Four Corners area belong to the earliest people who lived there. They were hunters and gatherers, now known as Basket Makers¹¹. The Basket Makers lived in simple caves. Their civilization existed 2,000 years ago.

The first evidence that ancient people had moved to Mesa Verde is from about the year 500. Those people lived in pit houses. Pit houses were large holes in the ground with roofs of wood and mud.

In about the year 750, the early Pueblo people began building square structures of large connected rooms, or pueblos¹², above ground. 

Finally, in about 1100, they climbed down the canyon walls and began building cliff dwellings¹³. Today, visitors to the park can see some of the remains¹⁴ of all four kinds of settlements.

Around Mesa Verde National Park, archeologists have recovered many objects that the ancient people used—pots, tools and jewelry¹⁵.  Many of the objects are shown in the visitor’s center.

However, human remains or any object from a grave may not be touched or shown.  This is to honor the wishes of the modern Puebloan people who live in the area today.

In 2012 the most visited area under the care of the National Park Service was the Blue Ridge¹⁶ Parkway in the eastern United States. 

The road goes almost 755 kilometers along the Blue Ridge Mountains between North Carolina and Virginia.  The area is filled with wildlife and colorful flowers. It also includes some of the oldest pre-historic and European settlements.

Workers began building the parkway during the Great Depression in the early 20th century as part of a program to help put people to work.

Another parkway is the Natchez Trace Parkway, which celebrated¹⁷ its 75th anniversary in 2013.

It runs through Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee. 

Long before the parkway became an official road, local Indians hunted large animals in the area and created many paths. Later the paths were linked and used for transportation, communication and trade.

We leave you with a few words from one of the most famous residents of a National Park: Yogi Bear. Yogi Bear is a cartoon character who first appeared on American television in the 1950s. He lives in Jellystone Park—a place that is a lot like Yellowstone Park.

“Let me point out that we bears were here before you rangers¹⁸, and we made out okay. Now it’s don’t do this, and don’t do that, and we’re always tripping over the red tape.”

But despite the rangers, Yogi Bear and his friend Boo-Boo manage to steal a lot of “pic-a-nic” baskets. Then again, as he says, he is smarter than the average bear.

Our program was written by Nancy Steinbach and Kim Varzi. I'm Kelly Jean Kelly.

And I'm Jim Tedder. For transcripts¹⁹ and podcasts of our programs, go to learningenglish.voanews.com. Join us again next week for This Is America.

1 tedder   

n.（干草）翻晒者，翻晒机

参考例句：

• Jim Tedder has more. 吉姆？特德将给我们做更多的介绍。 来自互联网
• Jim Tedder tells us more. 吉姆？泰德给我们带来更详细的报道。 来自互联网

2 grizzly   

adj.略为灰色的，呈灰色的；n.灰色大熊

参考例句：

• This grizzly liked people.这只灰熊却喜欢人。
• Grizzly bears are not generally social creatures.一般说来，灰熊不是社交型动物。

3 enjoyment   

n.乐趣；享有；享用

参考例句：

• Your company adds to the enjoyment of our visit. 有您的陪同，我们这次访问更加愉快了。
• After each joke the old man cackled his enjoyment.每逢讲完一个笑话，这老人就呵呵笑着表示他的高兴。

4 ken   

n.视野，知识领域

参考例句：

• Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
• Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.

5 prehistoric   

adj.（有记载的）历史以前的，史前的，古老的

参考例句：

• They have found prehistoric remains.他们发现了史前遗迹。
• It was rather like an exhibition of prehistoric electronic equipment.这儿倒像是在展览古老的电子设备。

6 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

7 memorable   

adj.值得回忆的，难忘的，特别的，显著的

参考例句：

• This was indeed the most memorable day of my life.这的确是我一生中最值得怀念的日子。
• The veteran soldier has fought many memorable battles.这个老兵参加过许多难忘的战斗。

8 canyon   

n.峡谷，溪谷

参考例句：

• The Grand Canyon in the USA is 1900 metres deep.美国的大峡谷1900米深。
• The canyon is famous for producing echoes.这个峡谷以回声而闻名。

9 pueblo   

n.（美国西南部或墨西哥等）印第安人的村庄

参考例句：

• For over 2,000 years,Pueblo peoples occupied a vast region of the south-western United States.在长达2，000多年的时间里，印第安人统治着现在美国西南部的大片土地。
• The cross memorializes the Spanish victims of the 1680 revolt,when the region's Pueblo Indians rose up in violent protest against their mistreatment and burned the cit

10 winding   

n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈

参考例句：

• A winding lane led down towards the river.一条弯弯曲曲的小路通向河边。
• The winding trail caused us to lose our orientation.迂回曲折的小道使我们迷失了方向。

11 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 pueblos   

n.印第安人村庄( pueblo的名词复数 )

参考例句：

13 dwellings   

n.住处，处所( dwelling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The development will consist of 66 dwellings and a number of offices. 新建楼区将由66栋住房和一些办公用房组成。
• The hovels which passed for dwellings are being pulled down. 过去用作住室的陋屋正在被拆除。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

15 jewelry   

n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝

参考例句：

• The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
• Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。

16 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。

17 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

18 rangers   

护林者( ranger的名词复数 )； 突击队员

参考例句：

• Do you know where the Rangers Stadium is? 你知道Rangers体育场在哪吗？ 来自超越目标英语 第3册
• Now I'm a Rangers' fan, so I like to be near the stadium. 现在我是Rangers的爱好者，所以我想离体育场近一点。 来自超越目标英语 第3册

19 transcripts   

n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本

参考例句：

• Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
• You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句