Level 4-Day 25.Yellowstone National Park

词汇提示

1.vocanic 火山产生的

2.indicates 表明

3.geysers 间歇泉

4.porous 多孔的

5.bubbles 冒泡

6.spurts 喷发

7.enthusiastic 热情地

8.majesty 雄伟

9.eroding 侵蚀

10.molten lava 熔岩

11.spray 水花

原文

Yellowstone National Park

The Rocky Mountains of North America are quite old.

Even though they were very volcanic millions of years ago, only a couple was still active today.

In Yellowstone National Park, however, there is a large area of land, which indicates recent volcanic activity.

This area contains hot springs, geysers and mud springs.

Hot springs, like geysers, are caused by underground water being heated by hot rocks down in the earth.

This hot water is then forced to the surface

When the surface rock is soft or porous, then the hot water bubbles up like a spring.

When the surface rock is hard, then the hot water shoots up through any hole in the rock that it can find.

These spurts of hot water are called geysers.

Yellowstone also contains mud pots or mud springs.

These happen when the hot water is turned to steam, and the steam carries mud and clay to the surface.

Yellowstone Park is high up in the Rocky Mountains of Wyoming.

Very few white people went there until the 1860s.

It is said that Indians avoided the area because they thought that evil spirits lived there.

In 1869, three men from Montana decided to explore this remote area.

They were very impressed with its natural wonders and talked about it to others.

Two other exploring expeditions followed in the next two years.

These visitors were so enthusiastic about the beauty and majesty of Yellowstone that they asked that it be made a national park.

At that time, there was no national park system in America.

Nonetheless, in 1872, the American government agreed to set aside these lands as a public park.

Why were the early visitors to Yellowstone so impressed?

First, the scenery is spectacular.

The Yellowstone River has created its own Grand Canyon through years of eroding its rocky banks.

It is the yellow color of these canyon walls that gave Yellowstone its name.

The area has many waterfalls, including the 308-foot high Lower Falls in the Yellowstone River.

There are many beautiful lakes, and the largest is Yellowstone Lake.

The area is rich in wildlife.

Among the mammals are black bears, grizzly bears, elk, moose, mule deer, bison, bighorn sheep, coyotes, pronghorn antelope, beaver and wolves.

Birds, especially waterfowl, are common all year.

These include the trumpeter swan, blue heron, cormorants, bald eagles, osprey, pelicans,Canada geese and many kinds of ducks.

Sport fish are also plentiful.

About 80% of the forests consist of lodge pole pine, but there are many other evergreens.

Wild flowers are numerous and varied.

But the chief attractions are the geysers and hot springs.

They occur in what was a very volcanic area a million years or so ago.

Here, hot molten lava from the center of the earth has remained close to the surface of the earth.

This lava heats the surface rocks, which in turn, heats the underground water.

The heated water shoots up to the surface as geysers, or bubbles up as hot springs.

The most famous geyser is Old Faithful which shoots its plume of water 150feet into the air every 65 minutes or so.

The eruption lasts up to five minutes.

There are 200 geysers in Yellowstone Park and about 50 of them are spectacular.

Some shoot their spray over 200 feet high.

Visitors from all over the world are delighted that this region has been preserved as a national park!

翻译

黄石国家公园

北美的落基山脉很古老。
尽管它们在数百万年前曾是火山爆发产生的，但今天只有几处仍然活跃。
然而，在黄石国家公园，有大片土地，表明最近的火山活动。
这个地区有温泉、间歇泉和泥泉。
像间歇泉一样，温泉是由地下热水被地下的热岩石加热而形成的。
然后，这些热水被强制流到表面
当表层岩石柔软或多孔时，热水就会像泉水一样冒出来。
当地表岩石变硬时，热水就会从岩石上的任何一个洞里涌出来。
这些喷出的热水被称为间歇泉。
黄石公园也有泥盆或泥泉。
当热水变成蒸汽，蒸汽把泥和粘土带到表面时，就会发生这种情况。
黄石公园位于怀俄明州落基山脉的高处。
直到19世纪60年代，很少有白人去那里。
据说印度人之所以避开这个地区，是因为他们认为恶魔住在那里。
1869年，三名来自蒙大拿州的男子决定探索这个偏远地区。
他们对这里的自然奇观印象深刻，并与其他人谈论。
接下来的两年里，又进行了两次探险。
这些游客对黄石公园的美丽和雄伟充满热情，他们要求将其建成国家公园。
当时，美国没有国家公园系统。
尽管如此，1872年，美国政府同意将这些土地作为公共公园。
为什么早期来黄石公园的游客如此印象深刻？
首先，景色壮观。
经过多年的侵蚀，黄石河已经形成了自己的大峡谷。
正是这些峡谷墙壁的黄色给黄石公园起了名字。
该地区有许多瀑布，包括黄石河308英尺高的瀑布。
有许多美丽的湖泊，最大的是黄石湖。
这个地区野生动物丰富。
这些哺乳动物中有黑熊、灰熊、麋鹿、驼鹿、骡鹿、野牛、大角羊、郊狼、叉角羚羊、海狸和狼。
鸟类，尤其是水禽，全年都很常见。
这些包括喇叭天鹅、蓝鹭、鸬鹚、秃鹰、鱼鹰、鹈鹕、加拿大鹅和许多种鸭子。
运动鱼类也很丰富。
大约80%的森林由短枝松组成，但还有许多其他常绿植物。
野花种类繁多。
但主要的景点是间歇泉和温泉。
它们发生在大约一百万年前的一个火山区。
在这里，来自地球中心的热熔岩一直靠近地球表面。
熔岩加热地表岩石，进而加热地下水。
加热后的水会像间歇泉一样喷到水面，或者像温泉一样起泡。
最著名的间歇泉是老忠实喷泉，每隔65分钟左右，喷出150英尺高的水柱。
喷发持续五分钟。
黄石公园有200个间歇泉，其中大约50个是壮观的。
有些喷雾剂的喷射高度超过200英尺。
来自世界各地的游客很高兴这个地区被保存为国家公园！